De Bruyne?

If that's the case Ric then this thread will drag on for another 2 weeks at least - possibly 5 till the window shuts.
 
Daz_Blue said:
Going into the season adding just Delph and Sterling to the first team would be suicide.....still 2 short in midfield and also dont have a decent left back or back up right back ......and we rely on Bony and Nacho if Aguero is out ....
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Got to agree. Delph looks a great acquisition but we need 2 quality players in to be realistic challengers.
 
waspish said:
why do you think that
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At the risk of veering this thread further off topic, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest we need to sign a high quality central midfielder. Our two best are on the wrong side of 30, and unless there was something else afoot last season it was pretty clear that we can't accommodate Yaya in a midfield 2 anymore. At the very least signing a quality CM who can grow into the team is prudent planning, if not immediately necessary. To say we're ok because we finished 2nd is a bit disingenuous. The season after winning our first title under Mancini we also finished 2nd (And an FA Cup final), yet management still recognized the need to sign 4 quality players, at least 3 of which were instrumental in us winning the league the season after.

Edit: Thought I was in the Pogba thread, but the point still stands with De Bruyne. I think both would be an excellent start, along with Sterling, to building a side to conquer Europe.
 
adrianr said:
At the risk of veering this thread further off topic, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest we need to sign a high quality central midfielder. Our two best are on the wrong side of 30, and unless there was something else afoot last season it was pretty clear that we can't accommodate Yaya in a midfield 2 anymore. At the very least signing a quality CM who can grow into the team is prudent planning, if not immediately necessary. To say we're ok because we finished 2nd is a bit disingenuous. The season after winning our first title under Mancini we also finished 2nd (And an FA Cup final), yet management still recognized the need to sign 4 quality players, at least 3 of which were instrumental in us winning the league the season after.
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fair response and some good points, for me last year we very rarely played our best 11 plus yaya for what ever reason had a poor season, adding sterling and Delph has improved us Mangala with a season behind him kompany back to full fitness, says to me we have the team to compete for the league, oh it's a myth now that when your 33 you gone as a player, wasn't landed 37 and he was pretty good when on the pitch...
 
franksinatra said:
So who would you drop then to accommodate this midfield three?. If we base the team on my system of a 4-2-3-1 with the three being Nasri/De Bruyne, Silva, Sterling and Aguero up top which player would you drop. I fail to see how dropping any of those three for Fernando or Delph would help us retain the ball better. I can understand being more pragmatic in certain games but a typical game, particularly at the Etihad, is primarily based in the oppositions half. Removing a creative player to allow a midfield three to counter a non-existent attacking threat seems pretty pointless.
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In your scenario i'd go with what you suggest. Like we've both said, we'll have more than the majority of the ball against most teams so we shouldn't need that extra man at the base. My post was mainly pointing towards a system to play against the bigger teams in the league and the champs league especially where we routinely get picked apart defensively. And I'd drop Nasri/De Bruyne without much hesitation. A midfield 3 from Yaya Delph Fernando Fernandinho and potentially Pogba with Silva Sterling and Aguero infront of them would be a far stronger side imo.
 
ninjamonkey said:
In your scenario i'd go with what you suggest. Like we've both said, we'll have more than the majority of the ball against most teams so we shouldn't need that extra man at the base. My post was mainly pointing towards a system to play against the bigger teams in the league and the champs league especially where we routinely get picked apart defensively. And I'd drop Nasri/De Bruyne without much hesitation. A midfield 3 from Yaya Delph Fernando Fernandinho and potentially Pogba with Silva Sterling and Aguero infront of them would be a far stronger side imo.
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Fair enough mate. I am not sure De Bruyne would react so favourably to being dropped for the big premiership or Champs League matches or we would be pursuing him for the reported fee if that was our intention. If we did get Pogba the scenario is more likely but I cannot see it happening to accommodate Fernando or Delph
 
waspish said:
fair response and some good points, for me last year we very rarely played our best 11 plus yaya for what ever reason had a poor season, adding sterling and Delph has improved us Mangala with a season behind him kompany back to full fitness, says to me we have the team to compete for the league, oh it's a myth now that when your 33 you gone as a player, wasn't landed 37 and he was pretty good when on the pitch...
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I'm not saying that Yaya and Fernandinho are gone as players because they're over 30, just that it's not the worst time to be planning for their departure. Yaya still has something to offer, but IMO we're drifting into the realms of changing the team to accommodate him, unless the plan is to always play with 3 midfielders.

If Jovetic and Dzeko both leave as planned, we absolutely must sign at least De Bruyne. I'm not so fussed about replacing Dzeko as I think our fascination with having 4 strikers has been one of the things really holding us back, but we'll definitely need another solid ACM. Remember that despite signing Delph and Sterling, we have lost Milner and Lampard already.

I agree that last season we had some rotten luck with injuries, but there was always a very large feeling that we'd be figured out just a few too many times. The best teams adapt, and usually the best way of doing that is new players bringing different skills. The thought of having to figure out what to do with Sterling on top of Aguero and Silva will already be giving coaches nightmares.
 
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