Alexis Sanchez

[kun]

feck me.
aguero, sanchez, jesus, sane, sterling, bernardo, de bruyne, silva, gundogan & roberts.
10 players rotating to play in front 5 next season.

Reckon Roberts will go out on loan or be sold with a buy-back clause this summer. 9 is enough for 5 places.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

If we missed out on Sanchez what other (realistic) attackers would you like us to go for.

Mbappe regardless of whether we get Sanchez. He is a once in a generation player.

 

[MCFC1993]

feck me.
aguero, sanchez, jesus, sane, sterling, bernardo, de bruyne, silva, gundogan & roberts.
10 players rotating to play in front 5 next season.

Roberts will be loaned out and Gundogan will be eased back in, possibly in the deepest role competing with Dinho/Yaya. So it's more likely 8 players competing for 5 positions.

Add to that Sterling and Sane will be rotated being young wingers. Jesus and Aguero will rotate. Plus we're not going to keep everyone injury free/suspension free.

Also not out of the realms to see something like this against weaker opposition:

-------------------------------Ederson
-----------Kompany---------Otamendi---------Mendy
B.Silva-----------D.Silva--------------Dinho-------------Sane
------------Sanchez----------Aguero-------------Jesus

Subs: Bravo, New CB, Sterling, KDB, Walker, Gundogan, Yaya

Plenty of flexibility with something like the above, allows you to get more attacking players onto the pitch. Could put Walker or Sterling where B.Silva is, could move Mendy to where Sane is and bring in the New CB. Could go completely mental and play Kev/B.Silva where Dinho is. Could drop one of the front 3 and play an extra centre mid.

I definitely think 3 at the back will be in Pep's thinking given the amount of attacking players we have/will have.

 

[colesy]

I honestly think that unlike before, City has so much to offer all of the top players. Before they were all classed as money grabbers for joining us, but the way the business has been built, the way things are in place, players wages are discussed far less as the only reason in the media. We have a great infrastructure now in place, the owners have been around long enough for all to realise that they are no fly by nighters, and we have one of, if not the best coach in the World. In the old days, like when we tried to sign "the bottler", City was really just talk. However now we have risen from relegation candidates, to regular Champs League qualifiers and contenders. We are the most consistent performer in the EPL over the past 5 years, so players genuinely would like to sign for us. It was so good to hear Silva continually talk about "the project", it is clear we now have something earth shattering to offer any player who has ambition.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Roberts will be loaned out and Gundogan will be eased back in, possibly in the deepest role competing with Dinho/Yaya. So it's more likely 8 players competing for 5 positions.

Add to that Sterling and Sane will be rotated being young wingers. Jesus and Aguero will rotate. Plus we're not going to keep everyone injury free/suspension free.

Also not out of the realms to see something like this against weaker opposition:

-------------------------------Ederson
-----------Kompany---------Otamendi---------Mendy
B.Silva-----------D.Silva--------------Dinho-------------Sane
------------Sanchez----------Aguero-------------Jesus

Subs: Bravo, New CB, Sterling, KDB, Walker, Gundogan, Yaya

Plenty of flexibility with something like the above, allows you to get more attacking players onto the pitch. Could put Walker or Sterling where B.Silva is, could move Mendy to where Sane is and bring in the New CB. Could go completely mental and play Kev/B.Silva where Dinho is. Could drop one of the front 3 and play an extra centre mid.

I definitely think 3 at the back will be in Pep's thinking given the amount of attacking players we have/will have.

I don't think 3 at the back is in Pep's calculus, as he wants flying full backs (midfielders in disguise) and the extra defender costs him an attacker.

More likely, we have a deep lying midfielder who slots into the middle of the back four to pick up the ball for distribution, as the full backs push forward. That allows a few things to happen...wide two of three attackers to tuck in, the remaining two midfielders to roam behind the front 3/5, just as those full backs can also now become the wide midfielders, allowing the wingers to get down the wing.

The fluidity of Pep's formation requires two main things: the ability to retain the ball when we are exposed in our attacking formation, and the ability of the non-defenders (everyone except the center backs and DM) to move freely in and out of understood formations that do not always directly translate to their "position" on the field, but rather are based on where other players have found themselves.

To do both of those things requires special players. We have a handful of them already (Merlin, KDB, Yaya) and Pep is trying to teach the others, and must have already seen this ability (or the ability to adapt to him) in this summers targets, because this season is about not messing around, about having quality replacements fo injuries, late game fatigue or lack of performance, and to be able to rotate players without any noticeable drop off in quality or performance.

There has always been this notion that teams require the squad to have two full teams and a few spares. This may be the first season where we actually witness a squad that literally contains two first teams that can compete with any team, on any given day, with almost zero overlap of personnel...especially in the key midfield area.

The future is Blue!

P.S. All that said, he may well have seen Chelsea's success and decided that Walker and Mendy can operate as actual midfielders allowing his middle two and forward three to operate as a pack. Personally, I'd like to see us play the 5-3-2/3-5-2 and swarm teams with SEVEN attackers and defend with EIGHT defenders/midfielders. Can hardly wait to see how this all unfolds...!

 

[SebastianBlue]

I don't think 3 at the back is in Pep's calculus, as he wants flying full backs (midfielders in disguise) and the extra defender costs him an attacker.

More likely, we have a deep lying midfielder who slots into the middle of the back four to pick up the ball for distribution, as the full backs push forward. That allows a few things to happen...wide two of three attackers to tuck in, the remaining two midfielders to roam behind the front 3/5, just as those full backs can also now become the wide midfielders, allowing the wingers to get down the wing.

The fluidity of Pep's formation requires two main things: the ability to retain the ball when we are exposed in our attacking formation, and the ability of the non-defenders (everyone except the center backs and DM) to move freely in and out of understood formations that do not always directly translate to their "position" on the field, but rather are based on where other players have found themselves.

To do both of those things requires special players. We have a handful of them already (Merlin, KDB, Yaya) and Pep is trying to teach the others, and must have already seen this ability (or the ability to adapt to him) in this summers targets, because this season is about not messing around, about having quality replacements fo injuries, late game fatigue or lack of performance, and to be able to rotate players without any noticeable drop off in quality or performance.

There has always been this notion that teams require the squad to have two full teams and a few spares. This may be the first season where we actually witness a squad that literally contains two first teams that can compete with any team, on any given day, with almost zero overlap of personnel...especially in the key midfield area.

The future is Blue!

P.S. All that said, he may well have seen Chelsea's success and decided that Walker and Mendy can operate as actual midfielders allowing his middle two and forward three to operate as a pack. Personally, I'd like to see us play the 5-3-2/3-5-2 and swarm teams with SEVEN attackers and defend with EIGHT defenders/midfielders. Can hardly wait to see how this all unfolds...!

Be honest, how many edits before your seal of completion for this one? ;-)

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Be honest, how many edits before your seal of completion for this one? ;-)

Did the P.S. Then realized I'd made an error and quickly tried to correct that. Sorry, mate. Just trying to be "complete!" :-)

 

[SebastianBlue]

Did the P.S. Then realized I'd made an error and quickly tried to correct that. Sorry, mate. Just trying to be "complete!" :-)

You don't have to apologise to me—I'm known as King Edit XVI in these lands.

I just wanted to know for the annals.

 

[Nasri's Hair]

I just can't see this one happening. Hope it's on and will be very excited if it does go through, but I have my doubts.

 

[Ashleymcduff]

Paddy powers 6-1 has halved and turned into 3-1 over night.

Not quite the Bernardo Silva odds drop but hey that was a immentant transfer.

Still people who took the 6-1 have the value