De Bruyne?

FanchesterCity said:
Go read ALL my posts, and you'll discover you're talking out of your arse. 'Nearly always post negative stuff' is just hyperbole and factually incorrect.
There is not point in saying 'I think we'll win the league' if I don't think it. I'd rather be honest and say I think it's going to be tough, and Sterling and Delph alone aren't going to be enough. KdB would help, but we also still need defensive problems to be rectified, and midfield still isn't stellar. I believe we need to address those issues if we want to step up a level, so I'm expressing that belief.
If everybody else things we have enough strength in the current squad then great - nobody should be moaning about missing out on Pogba or KdB then. The fact that so many are wanting at least one of those players suggests plenty of City fans are like me and think we need more (better) than we currently have.
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Your absolutely correct mate, people misinterpret having a realistic opinion for a negative one sometimes, they really do.
 
karen7 said:
You said name an addition that made an impact and you left him off your list
Fact is he was here and had a great impact
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I also said 'signings in the last two years' and he wasn't signed in the last two years (but that's nit picking). The point is the conversation was about the state of the team now compared with two years ago, and how much we have (or haven't) improved.
IMO, we've not really improved in the last two years. Others may disagree, as is their right, but I'm asking people to name people in the current squad, signed in the last two years who have improved us considerably, and I don't believe there is one. Mangala and Sterling MAY do so - we will have to wait and see!
 
karen7 said:
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:)
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The GIF's are flowing today :)
 
FanchesterCity said:
Go read ALL my posts, and you'll discover you're talking out of your arse. 'Nearly always post negative stuff' is just hyperbole and factually incorrect.
There is not point in saying 'I think we'll win the league' if I don't think it. I'd rather be honest and say I think it's going to be tough, and Sterling and Delph alone aren't going to be enough. KdB would help, but we also still need defensive problems to be rectified, and midfield still isn't stellar. I believe we need to address those issues if we want to step up a level, so I'm expressing that belief.
If everybody else things we have enough strength in the current squad then great - nobody should be moaning about missing out on Pogba or KdB then. The fact that so many are wanting at least one of those players suggests plenty of City fans are like me and think we need more (better) than we currently have.
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everyone wants to see some of the best players in the world in a City shirt.....but I agree with what you have said. The attacking strength in the team would be phenomenal if De Bruyne joined. In fact I think it is already, but whether we dare unleash it as I think we originally planned without a Pogba in midfield I don't know.

Much depends on Toure and how fit he is. I like the fact that he went back to City after the Real Madrid game. Suggests to me club and player are really intent on getting him fit this Summer, but that might just be wishful thinking
 
I suppose to bring it back on topic, KdB might improve us.
To be fair, when we sign most players it's with a view to improving is, but some don't work out.
When we bought MdM, it felt like an interim solution, as he was already past his best, but fortunately he's actually turned out to be decent for us (bearing in mind he it still on the downward slope though).
KdB is the opposite - he's on the upward slope.
The only issue I'd have with KdB is that he's yet another creative midfielder, and we might be short of a midfield battler. If we're going to go down the 'we score more than the other team' route - then we're in for a very exciting season - but not sure it's a solution suitable for CL football.

If we're going for a more 'rounded' approach, then we might be a bit top heavy on the 'flair player' front, and lacking a bit of guile.
 
supercity88 said:
Whilst we do need to strengthen in midfield, Silva is getting older and has been relied upon so much by City since he arrived. He's a player the opposition know they need to man mark if they want to beat us and now we've added Sterling it means we're an even bigger threat. De Bruyne has the potential to add the creativity we sometimes have lacked and fill in for Silva over the long term. Ideally they can play together for several seasons but once Merlin is gone, we'll have someone to fill that role (though I can't imagine anyone doing it quite like Silva does). It's still a signing that we very much need.

When we get Barcelona in the CL what does everyone look at? How will our defence cope with Messi, Neymar and Suarez? Last season they were only really worried about Aguero and Silva and that meant they could commit a few players further forward and hope to contain those two.

If we instead have a side with Aguero, Silva, Sterling and De Bruyne they then have a lot more to deal with and if Alves decides he wants to get forward so be it, he'll wish he hadn't when the ball gets to one of those players. We're an entirely different proposition. If we sign Pogba as well then we can also compete in the midfield battle and look to run the game a little better. We close the gap considerably to the likes of Real, Barca and Bayern with these two additions. Without them we're likely to play Navas or Nasri... not quite the same proposition.
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Yes i completely agree, De Bruyne is needed, but the reason i feel that CM is needed the most is because in the Champs league, we get completely found out in the middle. Plenty of times i have seen our midfield get overrun because Yaya does not want to do his defensive duties. Don't get me wrong, i absolutely love Yaya as a player, i think he is absolutely fantastic, but i just think we need another deep lying playmaker to take the burden off Yaya defensively and provide Yaya with more of a platform where he can hurt opposition teams in the final third. I just think Fernandinho was doing so much of the donkey work on his own last season and i don't think Fernando is good enough. Delph is a decent player, but at this stage, that is all he is at the moment.

I would love De Bruyne, especially as another attacking option as he is such an incisive player, but as a team we need to be stronger in the middle of the park, that is where games are won and lost. If we have the strongest CM in the league, the likelihood is we will win the league, if we don't the likelihood is that we won't. I saw us at Old Trafford get completely destroyed in the middle off the Rags towards the end of last season and i for one do never want to witness that again. We was completely chasing shadows and we even went with a 4-5-1 that game. We need to toughen our spine and add more quality in order to not make us as vulnerable as last season. We had the best defensive record for 3 seasons on the trot under Mancini and the reason for that was Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong. Protected the defence to an absolute tee. If we can add another CM with the tactical awareness of a Gareth Barry, but with the ability of a Fernandinho on the ball, i will be absolutely ecstatic.
 
FanchesterCity said:
I suppose to bring it back on topic, KdB might improve us.
To be fair, when we sign most players it's with a view to improving is, but some don't work out.
When we bought MdM, it felt like an interim solution, as he was already past his best, but fortunately he's actually turned out to be decent for us (bearing in mind he it still on the downward slope though).
KdB is the opposite - he's on the upward slope.
The only issue I'd have with KdB is that he's yet another creative midfielder, and we might be short of a midfield battler. If we're going to go down the 'we score more than the other team' route - then we're in for a very exciting season - but not sure it's a solution suitable for CL football.

If we're going for a more 'rounded' approach, then we might be a bit top heavy on the 'flair player' front, and lacking a bit of guile.
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I think that's true, but we have reportedly spent most of the season trying to buy the best available central midfielder.

The way the transfer market works you can't always take who you want. If we get De Bruyne, we'll have bought 2 star players which is probably better than most could hope for, and yes, in an ideal world we would have got Pogba, or someone similar. We need to see how Delph does. And Fernando. They both could perform a lot better than most expect. We're going to need central midfielders who can defend, and those 2 certainly can
 
citizens_1976 said:
Yes i completely agree, De Bruyne is needed, but the reason i feel that CM is needed the most is because in the Champs league, we get completelt found out in the middle. Plenty of times i have seen our midfield get overrun because Yaya does not want to do his defensive duties. Don't get me wrong, i absolutely love Yaya as a player, i think he is absolutely fantastic, but i just think we need another deep lying playmaker to take the burden off Yaya defensively and provide Yaya with more of a platform where he can hurt opposition teams in the final third. I just think Fernandinho was doing so much of the donkey work on his own last season and i don't think Fernando is good enough. Delph is a decent player, but at this stage, that is all he is at the moment.

I would love De Bruyne, especially as another attacking option as he is such an incisive player, but as a team we need to be stronger in the middle of the park, that is where games are won and lost. If we have the strongest CM in the league, the likelihood is we will win the league, if we don't the likelihood is that we won't. I saw us at Old Trafford get completely destroyed in the middle off the Rags towards the end of last season and i for one do never want to witness that again. We was completely chasing shadows and we even went with a 4-5-1 that game. We need to toughen our spine and add more quality.
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We definitely think alike. I love the old Newcastle (you score 4, we'll score 5) attacking approach - it's incredibly exciting with a forward line like ours, but sometimes, you have do a Chelsea and slog it out, particularly in Europe when the defences are better and their attacks more incisive. I'd love KdB too, but on balance I do wonder if we are neglecting weaker areas.
 
FanchesterCity said:
I also said 'signings in the last two years' and he wasn't signed in the last two years (but that's nit picking). The point is the conversation was about the state of the team now compared with two years ago, and how much we have (or haven't) improved.
IMO, we've not really improved in the last two years. Others may disagree, as is their right, but I'm asking people to name people in the current squad, signed in the last two years who have improved us considerably, and I don't believe there is one. Mangala and Sterling MAY do so - we will have to wait and see!
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I agree with you... De Jong and Gareth Barry were better options than Delph and Fernando... Tevez is a far better player than Wilfried Bony...

Infact... i even preferred Lescott as a defender for us than Mangala (or what he has showed so far)

We need to go forwards as a club this time and not backwards.
 
bluemoon98 said:
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Do you believe Navas has done more for City than Bellamy did?
Or anybody out on the left?
Name them.

12 goals in 40 games for Bellamy.
4 goals in 65 games for Navas.

Admittedly, goals aren't everything, but he single handedly dragged us back into some games, which is something Navas has never done.
Destroyed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and almost restored some pride at Old Trafford (were it not for 7 extra minutes). Navas has never had that impact on a game.
 
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FanchesterCity said:
We definitely think alike. I love the old Newcastle (you score 4, we'll score 5) attacking approach - it's incredibly exciting with a forward line like ours, but sometimes, you have do a Chelsea and slog it out, particularly in Europe when the defences are better and their attacks more incisive. I'd love KdB too, but on balance I do wonder if we are neglecting weaker areas.
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Yeah i agree, its all well and good having an exciting attacking team on paper, but if we play gung ho all the time against the worlds best, they will just pick us off at will.

I love the attacking philosophy, but we have to strike a balance between defence and attack. If the managerial team at City do not think that we need another CM, then i clearly don't know what they are watching. I hope they share most of our fan's opinion and realise it is our biggest weakness.
 
Mightor said:
That's the rub, isn't it? Silva isn't capable of starting every match, and I wouldn't be surprised if he spends several weeks on the injured list either. Nasri is simply not consistent enough to be a valid replacement. And if Aguero gets sidelined? We are in real trouble! And then there's the switch to 433 which has been shown in preseason but I'm not too keen on it. Not so sure we can challenge Chelsea when our only first team signings have been Sterling (a great addition going forward but does nothing to address the middle or the defense) and Delph (good but not a world class signing). Are those two really enough to make up 8 points? Is Delph really an improvement over Milner or just a younger, like-for-like swap?

I wish I had your confidence. I would feel much more comfortable if we sign KdB, a top class CM (doesn't have to be Pogba), and another defender (preferably one that can play LB and CB).
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I'm not confident mate, because like you, i don't think we can keep everyone fit. We've shown we can't over the last 3 or 4 seasons. We have about 3 or 4 top quality players who are unfortunately a little bit injury prone. Like you, i think we need a left back, a central midfielder and is till think we probably need a forward. An injury to Aguero (which seems fairly likely unfortunately) leaves us with Bony as our only tested forward, and as quality as he is, we will have to adapt our game slightly to get the best out of him. Nacho can obviously play there too but he is just a kid (no matter how talented he is) so will probably blow a little bit hot and cold. Sterling is quality, but i don't think he is a striker.

I still think we need goals from midfield. Lampard won us between 7-11 points last season with his goals and we could do with replacing that, rather than relying on Toure to outgun his total from last year (which may or may not happen).

I think the main areas of concern will probably be addressed next summer when they new manager comes in. If it's Pep, he will no doubt have his own ideas so i suppose it is a bit silly to blow a load of money this window and then only have to re-spend again next summer.

As it stands, with an injury free season, i think we will win the league. We will struggle in the CL again though as we haven't brought anyone in to address our european issues as of yet.
 
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