crucial signing

[ecmurphy]

Vidal. We don't need an attacking midfielder as a playmaker we need a defensive one. De Jong actually contributed a lot to city in my opinion. We need another defensive midfielder to be a playmaker and get the ball out of our defense and into the attacking third. We lacked that in the Swansea game. Falcao would be great, but we already have enough strikers. Vidal would be the best(realistic) signing we could make.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Balo,Sinclair,Kolo and Nasri out

Bale,Wilshere,Pique and Falcao in

 

[Harlequin]

If you look at our team as it is right now, it's clear to most of us that we're a few crucial cogs away from the ideal set-up. As much as I love Barry, I think he's starting to show his age a little, possibly due to his recent injury. He was never a fast player, hence, why Nige was such an excellent option in the squad; but lately a holding midfield of Gareth, Yaya, Garcia, Rodwell seems woefully slow. It's unlikely to be addressed until next Summer since Rodwell and Javi Garcia have been brought in, and that's what we have to work with.

So, point one was lack of a faster, aggressive holding midfield who can recycle possession. Secondly, and, probably most importantly given our current lack of creativity, we need a deep-lying playmaker. Poor old Silva is too heavily relied upon to create chances. I'd echo what others have said, Nasri has been disappointing: he's tidy but he's not nearly good enough to be our sole creative player when Silva's out. The problem could potentially be solved by bringing in Isco, but then he'd likely bench-ride when Silva's fit. We'd still only have the one creative spark on the park at a time, unless Isco was to move out wide.

Thirdly, a complete lack of pace and width. I know Mancini is married to his full-backs providing width; hence why our only pacy winger is Sinclair - the definition of a squad player. Rather than faffing around with three at the back as our 'tactical change' I'd love to see us purchase a pure out and out wide player who could a) deliver for Dzeko/Aguero/Balo and b) stretch the opposition allowing players like Silva/Nasri more bloomin' room in the middle. That way we could stick with our 4-2-3-1 which works very well as a tight, unified, system, but be able to change the way we play within it via personnel changes, rather than going to 3 at the back in a blind panic and having half our player swapping positions.

So which players could we purchase to provide these options, preferably realistic targets at sensible prices (no football manager ridiculousness):

Daniele De Rossi - would solve problems one and two above, able to recycle possession, not a slouch, great range of passing. Issue still remains whether he'll ever leave Roma.

Arturo Vidal - again solves one and two, possibly to a lesser extent as he's not a playmaker, but he's certainly got a similar range of passing to DDR. HOWEVER, unlikely to leave Juve so I'd say a pursuit would go nowhere.

Benat - solves our creative issues, would likely form a good partnership with Silva, likely to be available at a good price - would be my priority

Isco - Similar to Silva, could alleviate pressure when Silva's side-lined but may end up another version of Nasri + they can't all play in the same team; available at a good price due to Malaga's financial woes + 17.5m release clause

Gareth Bale - The marquee signing that would solve our lack of width and pace. I'd love him, however, he'd obviously be costly and with Real Madrid, rags etc. sniffing around no guarantee he'd want to come. To be honest though his signing would open up a whole new facet to our game + he's UK home-grown so all-out pursuit if I was Marwood/Mancini.

Hatem Ben Arfa - In my book a better Nasri; only really suggesting him as a luxury buy. He provides movement and when he runs at defenders at pace he cause all sorts of mayhem and open space. His work rates also improved beyond the moon.

So, long post, but in my book we could improve simply by snapping up Benat in January.
Then next Summer go hard for two high profile signings - Bale and DDR/Vidal.

As for outs - next Summer I'd say we could be saying goodbye to Kolo, Balo, Milner/Barry (preferably Barry currently for me), Nasri (if he doesn't shape up)

 

[yazen]

Superb post Harlequin! Spot on. Only thing I would say is, the deep-lying playmaker is a necessity and I think Benat would be a great buy in January, but the best buy IMO would be Ilkay Gundogan. When we played against Dortmund this kid was a beast, can't remember who got MoM but he was outstanding. He's quite creative and quick, maybe needs to work on his defensive capabilities but hey, you can't have everything. And he's only 22, we should be looking to pursue this kid IMO.

 

[Harlequin]

Superb post Harlequin! Spot on. Only thing I would say is, the deep-lying playmaker is a necessity and I think Benat would be a great buy in January, but the best buy IMO would be Ilkay Gundogan. When we played against Dortmund this kid was a beast, can't remember who got MoM but he was outstanding. He's quite creative and quick, maybe needs to work on his defensive capabilities but hey, you can't have everything. And he's only 22, we should be looking to pursue this kid IMO.

I'd love Gundogan for us, but I can't see it happening for another two years. He's settled and established in Dortmund at the moment and obviously part of a fantastic squad of players where he performs a key role. Until we improve continentally, which hopefully will be next year, and he begins to want a new challenge (bearing in mind last year was his first with the club), I can't see it happening.

Of all the deep-lying playmakers floating around at the moment though he'd be right up there with Alonso, Modric and company, if just a shade below. He's probably a better option to Benat but availabilty would be the issue.

 

[cordonbleu]

For me , if we were to sign a falcao for example, it would be awesome.

But the most necessary signing for me is somebody who can feed the strikers consistently throughout a game.

Yep. Just said in the La Liga thread in General, Falcao would be a great signing but the service has to be better. We seem to labour our way through too many games, waiting for that one chance that has lead to many nail-biting games we've been fortunate to win. Full-backs should be getting the ball in the box and playmakers should be finding space to put the forwards through. Silva, who was a master of the latter, is struggling to find that space and Nasri while a very neat and tidy player is not really an effective playmaker. Which indicates we need an attacking playmaker with fresh ideas, ala Isco or someone of his ilk, and/or a creative midfielder sitting further back who can link defence and attack better than we are now. Against Ajax and Swansea for most of both games we seemed at a loss as to how to create chances for our forwards. It's bizarre after how much we've spent but a clear problem that is only magnified when Silva is out. Nasri not doing enough for me, he plays OK and does nothing especially wrong (and chips in with some goals), but had we landed Hazard he'd be keeping the bench quite warm I think. I think we need a tricky, speedy, direct playmaker to compliment Silva... to be honest I thought we were getting that with Nasri but he's extremely cautious for some reason.

We should get a versatile #10 playmaker who can dictate the game, and create chances with great passing ability, quick thinking and great vision. A playmaker who can play basically anywhere in the midfield and play a quick one two passing football with the likes of Silva, Nasri, Kun, etc.

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

For me , if we were to sign a falcao for example, it would be awesome.

But the most necessary signing for me is somebody who can feed the strikers consistently throughout a game.

Yep. Just said in the La Liga thread in General, Falcao would be a great signing but the service has to be better. We seem to labour our way through too many games, waiting for that one chance that has lead to many nail-biting games we've been fortunate to win. Full-backs should be getting the ball in the box and playmakers should be finding space to put the forwards through. Silva, who was a master of the latter, is struggling to find that space and Nasri while a very neat and tidy player is not really an effective playmaker. Which indicates we need an attacking playmaker with fresh ideas, ala Isco or someone of his ilk, and/or a creative midfielder sitting further back who can link defence and attack better than we are now. Against Ajax and Swansea for most of both games we seemed at a loss as to how to create chances for our forwards. It's bizarre after how much we've spent but a clear problem that is only magnified when Silva is out. Nasri not doing enough for me, he plays OK and does nothing especially wrong (and chips in with some goals), but had we landed Hazard he'd be keeping the bench quite warm I think. I think we need a tricky, speedy, direct playmaker to compliment Silva... to be honest I thought we were getting that with Nasri but he's extremely cautious for some reason.

We should get a versatile #10 playmaker who can dictate the game, and create chances with great passing ability, quick thinking and great vision. A playmaker who can play basically anywhere in the midfield and play a quick one two passing football with the likes of Silva, Nasri, Kun, etc.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCdTZHQJGpc[/youtube]

 

[cordonbleu]

Superb post Harlequin! Spot on. Only thing I would say is, the deep-lying playmaker is a necessity and I think Benat would be a great buy in January, but the best buy IMO would be Ilkay Gundogan. When we played against Dortmund this kid was a beast, can't remember who got MoM but he was outstanding. He's quite creative and quick, maybe needs to work on his defensive capabilities but hey, you can't have everything. And he's only 22, we should be looking to pursue this kid IMO.

I'd love Gundogan for us, but I can't see it happening for another two years. He's settled and established in Dortmund at the moment and obviously part of a fantastic squad of players where he performs a key role. Until we improve continentally, which hopefully will be next year, and he begins to want a new challenge (bearing in mind last year was his first with the club), I can't see it happening.

Of all the deep-lying playmakers floating around at the moment though he'd be right up there with Alonso, Modric and company, if just a shade below. He's probably a better option to Benat but availabilty would be the issue.

I am not sure if it is a deep-lying playmaker that we need. We have Yaya and Garcia.<br /><br />-- Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:59 pm --<br /><br />

Yep. Just said in the La Liga thread in General, Falcao would be a great signing but the service has to be better. We seem to labour our way through too many games, waiting for that one chance that has lead to many nail-biting games we've been fortunate to win. Full-backs should be getting the ball in the box and playmakers should be finding space to put the forwards through. Silva, who was a master of the latter, is struggling to find that space and Nasri while a very neat and tidy player is not really an effective playmaker. Which indicates we need an attacking playmaker with fresh ideas, ala Isco or someone of his ilk, and/or a creative midfielder sitting further back who can link defence and attack better than we are now. Against Ajax and Swansea for most of both games we seemed at a loss as to how to create chances for our forwards. It's bizarre after how much we've spent but a clear problem that is only magnified when Silva is out. Nasri not doing enough for me, he plays OK and does nothing especially wrong (and chips in with some goals), but had we landed Hazard he'd be keeping the bench quite warm I think. I think we need a tricky, speedy, direct playmaker to compliment Silva... to be honest I thought we were getting that with Nasri but he's extremely cautious for some reason.

We should get a versatile #10 playmaker who can dictate the game, and create chances with great passing ability, quick thinking and great vision. A playmaker who can play basically anywhere in the midfield and play a quick one two passing football with the likes of Silva, Nasri, Kun, etc.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCdTZHQJGpc[/youtube]

Juve never sell their best player, unfortunately.

 

[Harlequin]

I am not sure if it is a deep-lying playmaker that we need. We have Yaya and Garcia.

Yaya and Garcia are not even close to a deep-lying playmaker. If you had to slap labels on them Garcia's an anchor-man and Yaya's your typical box-to-box midfielder. Neither possess the creativity or passing range that someone like Benat, Gundogan, Verrati or even DDR have. Yaya is, as we all know, a potent offensive weapon, but this is due to his ability to make his trademark surging runs, not because he can play a pinpoint pass into a strikers path.

We should be after a deep-lying playmaker for the simple reason that we are at times completely bereft of a creative spark. If Silva is off his game, or on the sidelines, it's very difficult to see where the creativity will come from. Nasri hasn't looked like providing at all this year, he's tidy but he's certainly not a replacement for Silva. With a player like Benat in the squad we have the option of having two wholesale creative players on at the same time: Benat deep, alongside Yaya most likely, and Silva more advanced. For home games when teams come and park the bus it'd give us more options where an assist could potentially come from. Similarly if we had a player like Isco it may take some of the pressure off when Silva is injured. The game against Swansea was a perfect example, one poor shot in an entire half of football at home with little to no penetration is poor. We need to be looking to adapt and add more weapons to our arsenal or risk stagnating.

 

[itisrising]

1 - Sell Nasri. Silva, Aguero, Yaya are all important players but Nasri isn't. He is neat and tidy but is just that. We need a player that will make the difference and Nasri isn't that player.

2- Buy a new AM. There are many to choose from. Benat, Lamela and James Rodriguez. We need a player that will make the difference upfield with his pace a movement. We need a direct player.