Catastrophic transfers are killing us.

[jamielowndes]

Sick of people acting like Gundogan was some huge blunder by the club.

We got him on a free because Barca didn't want him. We didn't pass on fucking Musiala or Wirtz to sign him.

Also, we all saw Palmer at City. Anyone who says they knew he would have broken out like this for City is full of shit. He was never going to get games at attacking mid.

Transfers haven't killed us. We have a lot of raw young players who haven't rounded out their game yet, a lot of veterans who are aging out and realistically are at the end of the line at City, and a giant fucking list of injuries. The transfer policy hasn't been great the last 2 years, but it hasn't killed us because we arent fucking dead.

No we probably wouldn't have won the league anyway this year, but being 7th in December after 14 straight years of making the Champions League (a streak that NOBODY in the Prem comes close to) has got some of you standing on the ledge looking for anything and everything to pin it on, looking for someone to sell or someone to sack. Its December, there's a lot of football left.

 

[calumdown]

oh joy.
yet another negative thread on our current situation.
there's already loads of them to post comments in.
and like all the others, this one will go round in circles.

 

[CC1]

Sick of people acting like Gundogan was some huge blunder by the club.

We got him on a free because Barca didn't want him. We didn't pass on fucking Musiala or Wirtz to sign him.

Also, we all saw Palmer at City. Anyone who says they knew he would have broken out like this for City is full of shit. He was never going to get games at attacking mid.

Transfers haven't killed us. We have a lot of raw young players who haven't rounded out their game yet, a lot of veterans who are aging out and realistically are at the end of the line at City, and a giant fucking list of injuries. The transfer policy hasn't been great the last 2 years, but it hasn't killed us because we arent fucking dead.

No we probably wouldn't have won the league anyway this year, but being 7th in December after 14 straight years of making the Champions League (a streak that NOBODY in the Prem comes close to) has got some of you standing on the ledge looking for anything and everything to pin it on, looking for someone to sell or someone to sack. Its December, there's a lot of football left.

Well said. Our injuries have been a killer. No team could manage without 10 first team players as we had to do - followed by having to play some of those injured players before they were fully fit.

We can put this right & I trust Pep to do so

 

[CC1]

So we shouldn't analyze our transfers. What did I say that's wrong, other than getting Savinho's price mixed up. It's Ok to reflect on what we've bought and sold....don't lump me in with the matchday moaners:-)

The problem is you’ve taken one aspect of running the club without taking into consideration the catastrophic injury situation for the last 2 months. Without those injuries our transfer policy would look different and there had probably been a plan to get in top players in during the summer when the new guy arrives. But we have been undone by some circumstances beyond our control.

It’s pretty easy at this point in time to stand on a soap box and say what should have been done. Hindsight eh….

 

[knuckles]

yes, recruitment is big. without right recruitment Arsenal would have never improved up to be where they came up to in last two seasons compared to where they were from constant 4th place and then few years outside of CL.

dippers now would not be anywhere if they mess up replacing their old midfield of Henderson, Fabinho, Keita. now they brought in Mcallister, Grevenbarch, Szoboszlai all kind of work horses with some good technical ability. neither if they would have hold onto Henderson, Fabinho until today while they were past it which is what we are doing now.

Villa and Newcastle done well on transfers over last 3-4 seasons and it helped them earn a CL season for them. then Newcastle mostly due to PSR was slowed down couldnt build on the momentum they had and boom and their level dropped a lot.
dont forget Villa were in Champo, not long ago.

Chelsea could be much more ahead also if they had signed a great player for 80m instead the total flop of Mudryk. they got a gem for half of that in Palmer. imagine at least another Palmer in their attack would take some stopping...

our transfers since the treble is very much off and shows Txiki did not have in him to give this squad a proper rebuild or start one.very few incomings were better than the ones they replaced. how this is great?

when we lost Kun we wanted Kane and bit of delay but ended up with Haaland. we need that kind of mentality. when we lose KDB are we ok with Morgan Gibbs White as he is decent for Forest? or are we going for the Musiala, Wirtz etc level?

The mentality should always be to aim for the best. If KDB is leaving, the target should be top-tier talents like Musiala or Wirtz, who can keep the team at the pinnacle of competition.

To sum up, City needs to get back to adopting a proactive and strategic approach to recruitment to get back to being dominant.

Bringing in someone like Bruno Guimaraes or Martin Zubimendi (maybe both?) could add much-needed solidity and creativity while the big rebuild starts. - If we could get them that is!

One of the things thats really puzzled me though is that for the last decade we've continually been told about how good we are at planning for the long term, something has really gone wrong with that planning somewhere in the last year or so.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

oh joy.
yet another negative thread on our current situation.
there's already loads of them to post comments in.
and like all the others, this one will go round in circles.

I’ve stopped reading most threads, they all seem to be being started by posters I’ve never heard of before.

Personally I’m quite relaxed with our situation. The sudden downturn is a shock of course, no more so than to the players themselves, but in some ways I am quite pleased we probably won’t be enduring the stress of another long season going toe to toe, game after game having to match another team’s results. Even not qualifying for Europe won’t bother me if it happens and the club can afford it. Just get to 40pts and regroup. Missing out on Wembley will save me a bit of money too, although if we do manage to recover our form and get there I’ll find the money.

Just a pity it’s happened in the new CWC format year but I can live with that.

At least Klopp has fucked off, now that would have been annoying if he was still around.

 

[Damanino]

The mentality should always be to aim for the best. If KDB is leaving, the target should be top-tier talents like Musiala or Wirtz, who can keep the team at the pinnacle of competition.

To sum up, City needs to get back to adopting a proactive and strategic approach to recruitment to get back to being dominant.

Bringing in someone like Bruno Guimaraes or Martin Zubimendi (maybe both?) could add much-needed solidity and creativity while the big rebuild starts. - If we could get them that is!

One of the things thats really puzzled me though is that for the last decade we've continually been told about how good we are at planning for the long term, something has really gone wrong with that planning somewhere in the last year or so.

something did break a bit indeed in terms of transfer planning. maybe the success we had caused it, thinking we can get away with it. maybe Txiki got tired. he said himself he was ready to retire before the treble season. other talked him into to continue. same as Walker he was ready to go, Ederson was ready to go. some players want to leave we talk them into staying. some others we say we wont hold onto anyone bring a good offer and off you can go. maybe it was so we dont need to find replacements? or delay their replacements another two years?

another thing, Berrada was really highly rated inside City, even went that far how much of a help he became to Txiki on transfer dealings. he left and no sign of replacement. apparently we solved it internally albeit no names provided at all. so we had a Txiki getting old and bit tired of overseeing not just City but the CFG model in some way and ready to retire who was helped by Berrada more and more over the year.
we got a bit comfortable in this sense as well.

Khaldoon needs to get involved a bit more and make sure recruitment is top class. recently it isnt at all. why would he have top class manager, academy, infrastructure, network model if we let ourselves down on recruitment despite often spending serious sums on flops or squad players only.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

I think Savinho will be world class for us. He's quick, great feet and gets into the box but I agree his final ball isn't quite there yet. I think the same about Doku as well

However, no one else in the team is finding the final ball either so I suspect it's a 'team thing'. When we find our feet again, I think Savinho will be a magnificent player.

To be honest, I'd rather watch Doku and Savinho over any other wide player we have.

 

[Dr Marvin]

Injuries have killed us because the squad has less quality given: the ageing of our world class players, the sale of gifted academy players, and some poor buys. We went from having wide forwards in Sterling and Mahrez, who would each get 10-15 goals a season, to Doku and Savinho who are developing, promising players but not players who should be starting for the Champions.

Integrating young players into the side is Pep's weakness. He is too loyal to players like de Bruyne. De Bruyne might be injured, or simply old, but his performances have been really weak. Why isn't Mcatee getting games instead of de Bruyne?

 

[Dr Marvin]

I think Savinho will be world class for us. He's quick, great feet and gets into the box but I agree his final ball isn't quite there yet. I think the same about Doku as well

However, no one else in the team is finding the final ball either so I suspect it's a 'team thing'. When we find our feet again, I think Savinho will be a magnificent player.

To be honest, I'd rather watch Doku and Savinho over any other wide player we have.

Salah struggled at his age. I remember seeing him play for Basle before he made his name. He was sensational in some respects but very raw. Savinho is raw. So is Doku. They should be impact subs. Savinho played well vs Everton. It was his best game in a City shirt.