Declan Rice

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Let's see if a deal can be struck,if any of our players are going to spam and whether he choses City oyer Arse.

We also have a 'left field under the radar' signing lined oop later in the window which people will be pleased / surprised by.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
Playing a back 4 with Stones moving into midfield when we were in possession won us the treble, not playing with a back 3. It would be impossible for Stones to do the same role as part of a 3, he wouldn't have the licence to roam as he does now.
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You’re running last years race, and forgetting not only what Pep said about Walker, but the fact that Walker was dropped multiple times at the end of last season.

What is NEXT SEASON’S iteration of Pep’s City is what we are talking about.

As for his “licence to roam,” I think you are confusing the fact that Pep was using him as a midfield overload last season and it wasn’t until the second half of the CL that Pep told him to push forward, into the 8 position (to get behind the Inter press or drag them back) that Stones truly “roamed” at all.

Previously, Stones role was as a second player to overload the opposition midfield when they pushed a midfielder up on Rodri or pulled their CF back to mark him.

City need to create the angle for the DM to pick up the ball if he is going to play the pivot role. If Rodri is being man-marked, we had been shifting it wide to Akanji/Ake/Walker, but teams realize these are the weakest ball players in the team, and are constrained by the touchline, so they can squeeze them and force the long ball or a bad/hurried pass into an already tight midfield.

What the SECOND DM does is to create another angle for that “behind the first press” pass to release us into midfield.

If you watch, Rodri & Stones are involved in a simple “dance” where they keep sliding left/right or forwards/backwards to be available for the pass. Their movement is not choreographed but decided by the movement of the other players and whether the other DM receives the ball or not. It’s simply triangles in fluid motion to create the angle for that first attacking pass, so that the ball can then be played wide or through to the striker(s).

Against a retreating opposition, there is no need for a rigid Back 3, or especially 4, so we often find ourselves with only two “defenders,” even though they are ball playing defenders, often well inside the opposition half!!!
 
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Matt.D said:
Tbf I don’t think there are many city fans who doubt whether Rice is a very good player it’s more whether he is the right player to play no. 8 for us.

In this Pep team we’ve seen Silva, De Bruyne, Gundogan and Bernardo in our number 8 positions and more recently Foden. Rice just isn’t at their level in terms of skill, close control and ability to score and create chances.

He has lots of other qualities and if we didn’t have Rodri he would be good enough to play as a number 6 here. But we do have Rodri who is the best 6 in the world.

Maybe Pep has looked around world football and not seen players as good as the 8s he’s had before so has gone for a different profile - imo there is a real lack of depth in quality in world football in all attacking positions at the moment in comparison to previous eras. Obviously if we are bidding 100m then Pep has a vision about how him and Rodri can play together and also sees him covering for Rodri to give him a break too.

Fwiw at the moment I see him being more likely to end up at Arsenal.
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Jogon 127 said:
Will be Buzzin if this comes off….fucking class player
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If we do pull this off can we go after mo salah to end up with a nice Rice salad.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
You’re running last years race, and forgetting not only what Pep said about Walker, but the fact that Walker was dropped multiple times at the end of last season.

What is NEXT SEASON’S iteration of Pep’s City is what we are talking about.

As for his “licence to roam,” I think you are confusing the fact that Pep was using him as a midfield overload last season and it wasn’t until the second half of the CL that Pep told him to push forward, into the 8 position (to get behind the Inter press or drag them back) that Stones truly “roamed” at all.

Previously, Stones role was as a second player to overload the opposition midfield when they pushed a midfielder up on Rodri or pulled their CF back to mark him.

City need to create the angle for the DM to pick up the ball if he is going to play the pivot role. If Rodri is being man-marked, we had been shifting it wide to Akanji/Ake/Walker, but teams realize these are the weakest ball players in the team, and are constrained by the touchline, so they can squeeze them and force the long ball or a bad/hurried pass into an already tight midfield.

What the SECOND DM does is to create another angle for that “behind the first press” pass to release us into midfield.

If you watch, Rodri & Stones are involved in a simple “dance” where they keep sliding left/right or forwards/backwards to be available for the pass. Their movement is not choreographed but decided by the movement of the other players and whether the other DM receives the ball or not. It’s simply triangles in fluid motion to create the angle for that first attacking pass, so that the ball can then be played wide or through to the striker(s).

Against a retreating opposition, there is no need for a rigid Back 3, or especially 4, so we often find ourselves with only two “defenders,” even though they are ball playing defenders, often well inside the opposition half!!!
Click to expand...
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