Assessment of our business this summer | Poll Added

[It'sBlue93:20]

Firstly , I don’t think any of the signings have been particularly bad. I just don’t think any of them have been level-raisers or instant first team contenders which we have seen from: Haaland , Dias , Akanji etc.

Kovacic has probably performed the best of the bunch and I really like the way he keeps the play ticking - his cameo vs Liverpool shows the qualities he possesses.

Gvardiol - I think has massive potential. I think people really forget how young he is. He isn’t actually much older than some of the academy boys. But I think he’s done fairly well albeit perhaps not in his strongest position. I do think defensively we are quite strong in terms of personnel. Don’t doubt he will be a future hit though.

Doku - I’m maybe a little bit against some people on here but I really like Doku. I don’t think he is the kind of player we have been accustomed to seeing at City lately. I think he’s unpredictable , a nightmare to defend against and if he improves his decision-making and learns to retain the ball better , I honestly think he could be one of the best wingers in the world. I thought his cameo vs Liverpool was very good. I also think people are quickly forgetting he is coming back from a long-term injury is very young and like Gvardiol needs a bit of patience and time to get things wrong , he is young , he is gonna make mistakes.


Nunes - He is perhaps the weakest this far of the Pep signings. It’s interesting as he isn’t a typical Pep midfielder. Although I do think with Doku , Kova , Gvardiol and Nunes there was perhaps an attempt to make us more transitional. But with Nunes he’s very athletic , a good ball carrier. Looks better in wide areas but isn’t a controller or have the ability in possession that we typically see from a Pep midfielder. I think we have seen flashes of brilliance but also flashes of very poor play. I would give him time though. Perhaps long-term he is a wide outlet. Personally I want a player that is effective in all games not just games for his ball-carrying. Against Liverpool where we were struggling to control the midfield we couldn’t turn to Nunes to help us and that just shows that he isn’t trusted yet. I’d give him another season and if that doesn’t work out then I’d say he’s off. But I do have faith in him.

 

[Paul1970]

Really disappointed with Doku, makes all the wrong decisions fails to beat his man on crosses more often than not. Shooting 9 times out of 10 is way off, slows the game down at the wrong time. I don’t see him improving tbh and I’m not having this first season bollocks, a complete waste of £50 mill

Buf harsh that mate

 

[Mad 4 It]

Gvardiol - Poor season, but feel long term he will come good. I don't think he was worth £80m though.

Kovacic - No brainer signing considering his experience and price. I like him as an rotational player and impact sub.

Doku - Needed another season at Rennes. The jump up has been too much too soon I feel, albeit I think he needs another season to see what happens. I still think Kvaratsckhelia would have been the better buy.

Nunes - Panic buy. Shows moments but ultimately he will never be good enough for where City want to be.

Overall, in regards to ins and outs it was our worst window since 2012. We were due one I suppose because Txiki has been a king in relation to recruitment the past 10 years give or take a few.

Summed up perfectly, I’d rather have given more minutes to Palmer and spent more to get Rice. Rice and Gvardiol would have been good enough if we couldn’t have got anyone else. We’d have saved money for wirtz Musiala etc

 

[Mad 4 It]

Buf harsh that mate

I would of kind of agreed but after wimping out of heading the ball and letting it bounce to then nearly give a pen away in probably the most important game of the season so far says it all for me

 

[nellyonthewing]

When you are top of the pile sitting there to admire the view is a sure way of getting caught up. We needed to push on and maintain the gap in quality we enjoyed .In hindsight we didn't.

 

[Brewster's millions]

When you are top of the pile sitting there to admire the view is a sure way of getting caught up. We needed to push on and maintain the gap in quality we enjoyed .In hindsight we didn't.

I don’t disagree with us not pushing on, but I also think a number of things transpired against us last summer which meant it was always going to be hard to improve the quality of the squad.

I do think some of our main targets were simply not available last summer, and we’ve had to wait for them with the view of getting them this year or move onto other players. Paqueta is the obvious one but Musiala is hopefully another. I think Rice would have been a good signing, but I happened by chance to speak to someone who knows him a couple of months ago and they were sceptical that he was ever really committed to coming up north.

The second thing was a question of how ruthless or disruptive we wanted to be to the squad after winning the treble, particularly with Gundogan and Mahrez having chosen to leave. It may have been the time to move other senior players on, but there was possibly a reluctance to do this with important players having already left and the hierarchy may have placed additional weight on a bit of continuity.

Obviously all of the above only really offers an explanation for one poor summer window, and we need to get our ducks in a row this summer and add some genuine quality to the squad, signing players for the first XI rather than just the squad. We also need to get quite a few out of the door, so we could see an unusually large turnover in the squad this year.

 

[Mad 4 It]

I don’t disagree with us not pushing on, but I also think a number of things transpired against us last summer which meant it was always going to be hard to improve the quality of the squad.

I do think some of our main targets were simply not available last summer, and we’ve had to wait for them with the view of getting them this year or move onto other players. Paqueta is the obvious one but Musiala is hopefully another. I think Rice would have been a good signing, but I happened by chance to speak to someone who knows him a couple of months ago and they were sceptical that he was ever really committed to coming up north.

The second thing was a question of how ruthless or disruptive we wanted to be to the squad after winning the treble, particularly with Gundogan and Mahrez having chosen to leave. It may have been the time to move other senior players on, but there was possibly a reluctance to do this with important players having already left and the hierarchy may have placed additional weight on a bit of continuity.

Obviously all of the above only really offers an explanation for one poor summer window, and we need to get our ducks in a row this summer and add some genuine quality to the squad, signing players for the first XI rather than just the squad. We also need to get quite a few out of the door, so we could see an unusually large turnover in the squad this year.

I understand everything you have said and agree with most. The thing I don’t get is why buy inferior players for the sake of it. You can’t tell me that Palmer is inferior to Doku and Nunes was a panic buy. Very summer 2012 all over again. If there’s no one to buy keep your powder dry and wait, we have an excellent academy use some from there instead of buying what can only be described as “stocking fillers”

 

[Paul1970]

When you are top of the pile sitting there to admire the view is a sure way of getting caught up. We needed to push on and maintain the gap in quality we enjoyed .In hindsight we didn't.

Very difficult to come back every year to keep winning the title and that is why it’s never been done before . Team is tired and so is pep I thibk .

 

[Kamaro011]

Improved us from what though? We won the treble last season and have won three PLs on the trot, it would have been ridiculous if they had short term.

That we’re still in with a shout of replicating that feat the very next season is far far better than most do.

We’re clearly in a transition phase and still competing/winning.

It's insane how people expectation are, some people think treble every fucking season is new norm now just because we did it last season.

 

[Alias]

Kovacic the best of an uninspiring bunch. Could happily do without the rest.

Nunes was a waste, Gvardiol wasn’t needed and I’d rather have kept Palmer than signed Doku.

 

[Mad 4 It]

It's insane how people expectation are, some people think treble every fucking season is new norm now just because we did it last season.

It’s not that but it’s clear Doku and Nunes aren’t good enough. Getting help/cover for Rodri was far more important. Rice was there for the taking if we out bid the Arse plus it would have stopped them from strengthening.

 

[meltonblue]

It’s not that but it’s clear Doku and Nunes aren’t good enough. Getting help/cover for Rodri was far more important. Rice was there for the taking if we out bid the Arse plus it would have stopped them from strengthening.

Dokus only 21. If we’d have bought Rice, we’d have played him as well as Rodri, not as cover and that would have meant changing our whole system.

 

[Cityfan]

It’s not that but it’s clear Doku and Nunes aren’t good enough. Getting help/cover for Rodri was far more important. Rice was there for the taking if we out bid the Arse plus it would have stopped them from strengthening.

I think its far from clear that Doku is not good enough, loads of players have taken time to settle at City , before his injury he was skinning defenders for fun. I cannot remember the last wide player to be an obvious success for City in their 1st season. Grealish, Mahrez, Bernardo Sterling and Sane were not.

I haven't given up on Nunes either he may be a slow settler and there clearly is some talent there though I would say he looks less likely at the moment.

 

[nellyonthewing]

Very difficult to come back every year to keep winning the title and that is why it’s never been done before . Team is tired and so is pep I thibk .

I agree we look knackered maybe a bigger squad with some top notch additions would have eased this.

 

[Damanino]

looking at Palmer numbers, 11G + 8 A in PL in a quite bad Chelsea side, did not expect that from him when he decided to leave for Chelsea.

he wanted lot more game time but I guess he would have been fully OK with Doku's game time so far as even that would have been a huge increase on his previous average game time.

wonder if we sold him cheaper than what Doku cost and which player has the higher ceiling. Palmer also already knew the City way with good pressing, technique. lets hope now Doku will turn on next season.

 

[Middedon]

The second thing was a question of how ruthless or disruptive we wanted to be to the squad after winning the treble

I don’t think this is mentioned enough. You bring in a bunch of big guns and tell last years treble winners they now have to split time. I don’t feel like that would have gone over well with either group. I do think maybe they weren’t as aggressive in the window and felt it was better to be a little underwhelming than disrupt that cohesion. Putting ability aside, there has been a lot of chat that it’s “unfair” on the defensive side this year because not everyone can start.

Gvardiol wasn’t needed

Out of four existing defenders, 3 are at or close to 30. We’d need someone eventually, even if not him. Better to have a season or two of overlap, no?

 

[meltonblue]

looking at Palmer numbers, 11G + 8 A in PL in a quite bad Chelsea side, did not expect that from him when he decided to leave for Chelsea.

he wanted lot more game time but I guess he would have been fully OK with Doku's game time so far as even that would have been a huge increase on his previous average game time.

wonder if we sold him cheaper than what Doku cost and which player has the higher ceiling. Palmer also already knew the City way with good pressing, technique. lets hope now Doku will turn on next season.

Palmers more like Foden than Doku though. Think people are forgetting we’ve been essentially a man down in Grealish this season too, the point of signing Doku to me was to give us more options and the plan would have been to use him more as an impact sub or against certain teams more than use as much as we have had to this season.

The other thing I’d say with Palmer too is you stick any of our forward line into a mid table team and they’d be getting similar numbers too. Sometimes we forget how good our players are because we have so many good players.

 

[christened at st marks]

Very poor with the exception of Kova
Gvadiol may be great in a few years, sorry don't rate Doku and Nunes,
again Doku may come good with time, Palmer is great now, I'd like to see a year on loan.

 

[Mad 4 It]

Palmers more like Foden than Doku though. Think people are forgetting we’ve been essentially a man down in Grealish this season too, the point of signing Doku to me was to give us more options and the plan would have been to use him more as an impact sub or against certain teams more than use as much as we have had to this season.

The other thing I’d say with Palmer too is you stick any of our forward line into a mid table team and they’d be getting similar numbers too. Sometimes we forget how good our players are because we have so many good players.

We lost 2 world Class players with goals in them and replaced them with 2 massively inferior players at a cost of £100mill. What we’ve actually done is place more pressure on the original players from the treble season. Not sure how that makes any sense whatsoever especially as De Bruyne isn’t getting any younger and Rodri looks knackered.

 

[Kippax Street 1880]

Lets be honest. Its a Rodwell Sinclair level transfer window. Going for players the calibre of Bellingham and Rice and ending up with Nunes is embarrrassing. Selling Palmer is turning out to be a fucking horror show aswell.

I think Josko will be a good player in the long term and Kovacic would be very useful if he wasn't injured all the time. But we managed to waste about 2 months in a bidding war with ourselves over that and I hardly expected us to spend that sort of money on the best young centre half in Europe only to turn him into a mediocre wing back.