A breakdown of what has gone wrong (and why we’ll be back)

[TueartsOHK]

Whilst I agree that we should have purchased a CB last Summer I don’t think the failure to buy Van Dick was a mistake that has contributed to our short comings this season. It is the lack of cover for LaPorte that has killed us not missing out on one decent player so not sure why this is being debated. We were never buying both and Van Dick could be on our treatment table now

 

[brummie blue]

The OP makes loads of decent points, what really frustrates most is it should never have happened, we've had a consistent problem that when we are strong and at the top of our game we fail to strengthen, it happened the first two times we won the premier league, and it happened in the last two windows.

Our transfer dealings last summer, needed two things - centre half's. Kompany left and Otimendi (who was 4th choice for the previous two seasons) wanted to leave. Instead we signed Angelino and Cancelo who add nothing to our squad, and Rodri who is decent and will improve, but that position should have been filled the previous summer when we missed out on Jorginho and ended up with Mahrez.

With two centre half's we'd have coped with the loss of Laporte for half the season, and not weakened our midfield by moving Fernandinho to centre half.

The powers that be at the club have messed up this summer/season, which is a huge shame as now we have to watch Liverpool win the league when we should have been looking at taking third title in a row.

 

[Blueknows]

The OP makes loads of decent points, what really frustrates most is it should never have happened, we've had a consistent problem that when we are strong and at the top of our game we fail to strengthen, it happened the first two times we won the premier league, and it happened in the last two windows.

Our transfer dealings last summer, needed two things - centre half's. Kompany left and Otimendi (who was 4th choice for the previous two seasons) wanted to leave. Instead we signed Angelino and Cancelo who add nothing to our squad, and Rodri who is decent and will improve, but that position should have been filled the previous summer when we missed out on Jorginho and ended up with Mahrez.

With two centre half's we'd have coped with the loss of Laporte for half the season, and not weakened our midfield by moving Fernandinho to centre half.

The powers that be at the club have messed up this summer/season, which is a huge shame as now we have to watch Liverpool win the league when we should have been looking at taking third title in a row.

I agree and looking back to the seasons after winning the league our strengthening has been poor...…….
12/13 season we bought
Rodwell ,Sinclair , Nastasic , Maicon Richard Wright and Jave Garcia
14/15 season
Sagna , Fernando , Caballero , Zuculini , Mangala and Bony
This season we spent 155m on a CM ,LB and RB when it was obvious to everyone we needed at least a CB and who the feck is Zack Steffen ? looks like we spent 14m on him and Pedro Porro (11m) that's 25m that could have gone towards a CB

 

[55yr old teenager]

That was the narrative after he signed for them.

Ok maybe my memory is.playing tricks with me!!

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Gone behind in 5 of our last 7 league games at the Etihad, and it would have been 6 out of 7 had it not been for VAR against Sheffield United. Virtually the same MO every time. Burned for pace on the counterattack. That’s something that absolutely has to be addressed in the summer and personally I think we’re taking an unnecessary risk, re the certainty of a top 4 finish, by not buying a centre half with some ‘legs’ in January

 

[richards30]

Is there no decent CB at Valencia that we could potentially use otamendi in a deal? I know them sort of deals don’t tend to happen these days but wasn’t that where nico wanted to go back to in the summer?

 

[Phil1]

Is there no decent CB at Valencia that we could potentially use otamendi in a deal? I know them sort of deals don’t tend to happen these days but wasn’t that where nico wanted to go back to in the summer?

Is that Mangala fella still there? Heard he’s pretty good.

 

[Thomas Hearns]

People are putting Laporte on a pedestal. He’s a very good centre half but his return alone won’t change much.

 

[Phil1]

People are putting Laporte on a pedestal. He’s a very good centre half but his return alone won’t change much.

He’s on a pedestal because he’s immense. How people are missing this is head scratching. His return will change everything, not least releasing Fernandinho to his proper position giving us even more cover at the back, which has been fucking shambolic for the best part of three months.

 

[HelloCity]

People are putting Laporte on a pedestal. He’s a very good centre half but his return alone won’t change much.

I can assure you that if you took Van Dijk out of Liverpool that there would be a negative impact to their results.

The same is true of Laporte at City. Not only does he add his own defensive qualities to the side, he improves the centre half who plays along side him. He is also very efficient at covering the left back spot when the full back is caught further up the pitch.

I appreciate this isn’t what you want to hear.