An Update (of sorts)...

[Mancio]

The incoming central midfielder will henceforth be known as Mr. X

you really should stop reading italian shitpress mate

 

[southern muppet]

Again, if it were Lavezzi, I'd be baffled as to why my contact couldn't name him...the secrecy suggests to me that it's one that is either going to be controversial, or one that is a real real long shot and City don't want a Kaka situation of being publicly snubbed.

do you remember a while back now, tolmie said we had a bid on the table for Iniesta?

im pretty sure that it will be Hamsik ... Mancini has rated him so highly for so long - the reason it could be hush hush so far is because the club president a week or so ago said it would take 100euros to get him - thus seen as a massive signing by the fans of the club

In reality though Hamsik isn't a bigger name than Lavezzi

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

Very pleased with the boards decision on eto

Me too. It always seemed like a strange move. We have 3 top strikers in Aguero, Balo, Dzeko already. It's extremely rare to see a club with more than that. The 4th striker is usually a young talent (e.g. Bojan for Barca) or an experienced pro (e.g. Owen for United). In both cases, they have to be willing to spend most of the season on the bench. While you could in theory class Balo as 'young talent', I doubt he'd be happy playing only 15-20 games.

It seems bizarre to me that fellow posters aren't more concerned with our midfield options, and I'm very glad the board seem to have picked up on the problem (if Billy's info is correct). Teams that are successful in all competitions always have an absolute shedload of central midfielders. Take United, and compare to ours:

Man United: Anderson, Gibson, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Fletcher, Cleverley (looks good enough to step up), *looking to add to another*
City: De Jong, Yaya Toure, Barry, Milner, *looking to add Nasri*. (Some may say Silva but his game is suited to the position he plays now, as a drifting trequartista).

Now obviously Gibson and Anderson are fucking awful, and Carrick isn't much better. But the point is that they have strength in depth. Gibson, as terrible as he is, was able to slot into one of the central 3 spots against lower Prem teams last season, and so long as Park or Giggs were alongside him, they'd do fine.

We don't have the numbers to rotate. And it's a big problem. That period after Christmas where it all briefly went pear-shaped is, in my opinion, directly attributable to the injury De Jong suffered. Yaya and Barry were playing every 3 days and looked knackered; Vieira and Milner did ok, but tended to need someone better playing alongside them. Now we've lost Vieira, without replacing him. I repeat: it's a big problem.

Excellent post.

i had this conversation (same lines) with a fellow blue after the cup semi, re: player rotation at swamp, versatility of city players and discipline necessary to play multiple rolls within a team.

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

yes great post indeed gone are the days when we always seemed to be 3-4 players short of a good team.Now we have the team and are rapidly building the sqaud.When i used to look at the rags midfield it always looked strong but now when you compare ours with theres we have overtook them and we are just getting stronger and stronger.If we do indeed sign nasri and get another strong midfielder this is going to be fantasy football and i for one dont fear anybody, roll on sunday and the new season.

 

[N-Word-Joe]

do you remember a while back now, tolmie said we had a bid on the table for Iniesta?

im pretty sure that it will be Hamsik ... Mancini has rated him so highly for so long - the reason it could be hush hush so far is because the club president a week or so ago said it would take 100euros to get him - thus seen as a massive signing by the fans of the club

In reality though Hamsik isn't a bigger name than Lavezzi

why? because one is slovkian and one is from argentina? .... hamsik in slovakia is im sure as big of a name as lavezzi in argentina and in italy im sure hamsik is an even bigger name - especially to the napoli fans as he has been their jewel in their crown for the past 3 years

but im saying it could be kept under wraps as the president/napoli board know there would be a huge backlash from the fans for selling hamsik without looking like they are playing arsenel fabregas type hardball over any interest in him.

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

im pretty sure that it will be Hamsik ... Mancini has rated him so highly for so long - the reason it could be hush hush so far is because the club president a week or so ago said it would take 100euros to get him - thus seen as a massive signing by the fans of the club

In reality though Hamsik isn't a bigger name than Lavezzi

why? because one is slovkian and one is from argentina? .... hamsik in slovakia is im sure as big of a name as lavezzi in argentina and in italy im sure hamsik is an even bigger name - especially to the napoli fans as he has been their jewel in their crown for the past 3 years

but im saying it could be kept under wraps as the president/napoli board know there would be a huge backlash from the fans for selling hamsik without looking like they are playing arsenel fabregas type hardball over any interest in him.

yes and i remember lombardo saying one of cavani hamsik or lavezzi wud fit into our team and he scores goals (hamsik) that is but where wud we fit him in and who would drop out?

 

[BlueJill]

While that's true, Mancini would rarely countenance playing 3 forwards AND Silva (who, surely, must play if available) if last season is anything to go by. I can only remember a handful of games where that happened: Aris, Dynamo Kiev, Sunderland. I think I even remember him saying 'we won't do this often'.

Surely the far more likely scenario is two strikers (one acting as an inside forward, which Aguero and Balotelli can both do) and Silva drifting around, then the standard midfield 3 that we've come to expect from Mancini's teams.

That being the case, I don't think 4 established strikers is the way forward. Midfield is the problem area.

I can't disagree more. He didn't have the personnel last year to play attacking football. I think Sunderland is a perfect example of the type of football we will play this year.

If he sticks to the 4-2-3-1 that 3-1 is going to rip holes into defenses. I expect to see this type of lineup up for most games:

----de jong ------yaya-------

aguero-------silva-------mario

-------------dzeko----------

 

[southern muppet]

im pretty sure that it will be Hamsik ... Mancini has rated him so highly for so long - the reason it could be hush hush so far is because the club president a week or so ago said it would take 100euros to get him - thus seen as a massive signing by the fans of the club

In reality though Hamsik isn't a bigger name than Lavezzi

why? because one is slovkian and one is from argentina? .... hamsik in slovakia is im sure as big of a name as lavezzi in argentina and in italy im sure hamsik is an even bigger name - especially to the napoli fans as he has been their jewel in their crown for the past 3 years

but im saying it could be kept under wraps as the president/napoli board know there would be a huge backlash from the fans for selling hamsik without looking like they are playing arsenel fabregas type hardball over any interest in him.

Essentially, yeah. I'm not talking about what I think is justified or not, I'm just talking about the way most of the world probably sees it. Ashley Young and Lee Chung-Yong are roughly equivalent in ability but guess who will be seen as the bigger name? Same thing really, that's just the way it works.

Anyway, for a totally different angle on this thread....what about Mancini 'doing a Vieira' with Stankovic? He can play both positions, has bags of experience which Mancini would value and the club (board, really) might want it to be a case of one expensive buy (Nasri) and one cheap experienced option.

 

[Blue-man chu]

last few posts on the nasri thread seem to back up billys original post re cash bid put in for nasri & one goes further to suggest its been accepted tonight with possibility of papers running it i tomorrow if they can get little more confirmation.

 

[LoveCity]

Hamsik is really not that great and I for one would be underwhelmed if he was the "big name".