Discussion: Txiki Begiristain (2015/16)

[BlueDejong]

Txiki is god.

 

[BillyShears]

I like his style. Start off slowly so all those who can't cope with not signing WC players in every position fly off the handle and call him every name under the Sun, then finish strongly, making those same folk look like reactionary fools.
Honestly, people need to get it out of their heads that this man is a chancer, someone who's in the right place at the right time or got the job because he's mates with somebody. He's the real deal and the club will go from strength to strength whilst he's here.
Sort KDB out and you're watching the start of a revolution that'll finish with us winning the fucking lot one day.

The reaction in this thread to the De Bruyne thing the other day when he was made to say he was staying at Wolfsburg was quite telling. It's hard not to feel like there's at least a small element on this forum who actively want him to fail just so they can foam at the mouth.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

The reaction in this thread to the De Bruyne thing the other day when he was made to say he was staying at Wolfsburg was quite telling. It's hard not to feel like there's at least a small element on this forum who actively want him to fail just so they can foam at the mouth.

Of course there is, but they aren't credible posters.

 

[crystal_mais]

Of course there is, but they aren't credible posters.

All day long - the guy is making changes at all levels of the club - most of it we don't even see

bloody shallow people - we have somebody at the club who is putting the pieces together for growth and success and all they can do is slag him off. The sort of people that order a pint and ask the barman to empty half of it

 

[Vienna_70]

Not to sound like a flapper but I think he is doing a pretty abysmal job.

First I'd like to congratulate him on the fine work he is doing. The infrastructure at the club is excellent and his work and vision with the academy teams is frankly outstanding.

But.. I know it's only a friendly but we were humiliated yesterday. Txiki has brought the Barcelona philosophy to City. But it's not as simple as that. He appears to have no idea that simply trying to emulate Barcelona is not enough.
He brought in Pellegrini to help implement the 433 that we are obviously trying to instal throughout the club. That's fine if 433 is the blueprint then so be it. But we need the players to fit it. We simply aren't getting them.

Pellegrini gets a lot of stick often rightly so, but he can only use the players he has. How can/could he be expected to keep 4 strikers happy and only play 1 up front? How can he be expected to play three central midfielders with no players suited to it? Our squad is totally unbalanced, it's taken 4 years to address the glaring weakness we had at forward left. Sterling is a great signing. Txiki got that job done, but I'm sure most of us could have got that job done armed with £44 million.

In Barry and DeJong we had two very good ball winners. A spine of a side that no one would get the better of easily. We were or could be very solid.
They have been long gone. We haven't replaced them and certainly haven't bettered them. I like Fernandinho, a very good player, but at 29 and costing £30 million he should be. He is neither a defensive lynchpin or an attacking force. Fernando not good enough, nor was Garcia. How are they better than DeJong? Or Barry?
This isn't Spain, you need aggression in England. We haven't got it. The space in front of the back 4 is alarming and it's turning our back four into a mess. How many times do teams just run right through the middle? YaYa is often badly exposed due to the formation, we all pretty much agree that we have a glaring weakness in midfield yet we're playing our last preseason game with George Evans. YaYa needs help, neither Pellegrini or Txiki have addressed this. That is woeful preparation no matter how you look at it.
I'm watching Chelsea now, they have chopped and changed managers, spent less than us for the last few years yet their system never changes. They just improve it. They have solid players all over, they don't have any dross like we do. Not so close to the starting xi anyway.

For us to play 433, we need rid of Navas, not suited to it. Fernando needs to be drastically improved on to be at the base of the midfield. Compare Fernando to Matic. YaYa could sit at the base of the three, but he'd need a lot of legs with him. Perhaps a YaYa, Fernandinho & Delph is good enough but not in my opinion. And an injury to any one of them and the step down to Fernando is alarming. Fernandinho and Delph should be the step downs.
If we are going to play 433 Fernandinho and Delph should be 4th and 5th choice. So as I see it we need two central midfielders to be where we want to be. Will we get them?

We had a truely shambolic window last summer. I like Mangala, but our system and squad are not making it easy for him. The media are on his back and rightly so. He was £30 million and at times has looked like a Sunday league player.

This summer we've signed Delph and Sterling both good signings but not enough. The squad looks well under prepared, the team look under prepared. If we want to change shape, the key players to the shape change should have been the first through the door.

I understand that transfers when it comes to City are complicated, but we should be used to that now. I think DeBruyne would be a fantastic signing, but do we really need him? Personally I see him as the last peice of the puzzle. Pogba is another player we are obviously trying to sign, a truly great player but it's obviously complicated. If Txiki doesn't get them through the door we've wasted our summer window in my opinion.

I like most see our glaring weaknesses. A truly World class central defensively minded midfielder should have first through the door followed by a left back.
I'm not 10, I don't just want a team of stars, I just think we are well off the pace when it comes to midfield.

We have had the entire media highlighting our need for homegrown players, so the price of any domestic talent goes through the roof. How has Txiki allowed it to be so apparent? Why have we got Sagna, Navas, Willy taking up HG spots? I didn't especially like Milner, but he's right to demand more relevant game time. No he shouldn't be playing centre mid for City, but nor should fucking Fernando. Milner is home grown and better than Navas, yet we've still got Navas and Fernando and Milner left on a free.

If it's true and we do get Pep surely he will want better players than we have?

Txiki has spent a lot of money and we are no better, arguably worse than we were when Mancini won the league. People can call me a flapper all they want, but that has to be Txiki's fault. Mancini's side had a very solid spine, we could play DeJong & Barry with YaYa and never look like conceding, or leave DeJong out and play a 4222 and be very attacking.
Pellegrini is said to have no plan B, the squad has no plan B.

Txiki is or has been employed to change the club, he is doing that internally and fantastically well too. If we are going to play 433 we need the players suited to it. Surely that is his role? Jovetic, Navas, Fernando all not suited to it or good enough. In my opinion we've missed out on some really good players perfectly suited to a 433 that have cost much more than we've spent on others. Alexis Sanchez springs to mind. Perfectly suited to a 433. Hard working, skilful and technically brilliant.

Rant over.

I bet you wish you'd never bothered, now!

 

[schfc6]

Credit where credit is due. I even state I think he was doing a very good job.

I wasn't panicing or flapping.

I will admit that his vision for the squad is playing out in front of our eyes and we look more balanced than ever.

As I said I think he's doing a very good job, and am I huge fan of Pellegrini and have always defended him.

I would still like an additional centre mid, I think 4 centre mids for a 433/4231 is a little light especially as one is Fernando.

Now, with the signing we've made subject to De Bruyne coming in, I think we have an attack and defence capable of a CL challenge. I still think we'll be light in midfield.

Txiki is doing a fantastic job. I never questioned that.

I still don't think our squad is suited to the 433 we are looking at playing from 14's to first team.

It is however suited to 4231.

If we signed a centre mid that was of the level of De Bruyne, Otamendi or Sterling we'd be much better for it.

In a way I'm right, we are still not suited to 433.

More than one way to skin a cat though.

 

[aguero93:20]

I think 4 centre mids for a 433/4232 is a little light especially as one is Fernando.

Very hard to build a deep squad for a 4-2-3-2 with only 25 players.

 

[I.bleed.blue]

In my eyes the biggest weakness that everybody knows about is CM

I was expecting an overhaul in central midfield to be honest as last season proved we couldn't play Toure and Fernandinho especially in Europe

Fernando albeit a decent player not had the desired effect. Yes we have signed Fabien Delph - I hope he proves me wrong and is a world beater but he's not quite the addition I was expecting.

So I will judge him on whether he adresses the midfield in the next few weeks - which given what we're about to spend Otamemdi and KDB it's highly unlikely

Just hope we can keep our great start going - though I fear in Europe it will be the same old story. Many posters reading will be in agreement

Maybe you should review your thinking about playing Yaya and Fernandinho together. So far this season that combination is working a treat - largely due to having three attacking (2 wide) midfielders in front of them. Whilst combinations are important I think it is far too simplistic to look at them in isolation. It's the combinations plus the combination of combinations, etc which is crucial. There are so many variations and machinations - that's why anyone who thinks managing, coaching or playing at the top level is easy is a fool.
So far this season the signs are good that the overall team pattern is gelling - the sum of the parts adding to far more. And most of those parts (players) are stars on the top of their game. I think by far the best City squad I have ever seen assembled - in terms of skill, fitness, application and commitment.

 

[malg]

Just how I see it mate, but don't forget Delph. At £8m there isn't a team in the premier league who wouldn't have wanted him. But we boxed him off early and did the deal. I have no basis for this, but even the fact that he U-Turned reflects well on Txiki and our club. I guess that when his agent delivered the bad news, Txiki was sensible and said he understood, maybe kept in touch, kept the door open etc, rather than being a bellend and acting all affronted.

What a window. What a squad we are assembling. A mate of mine was with one of our management team last week who said "ADUG will not stop until we win the Champions League". It's coming, and soon. What a club we are becoming, top to bottom.

Agree about Delph, I still can't believe we got him for £8m, fucking daylight robbery.

 

[schfc6]

Very hard to build a deep squad for a 4-2-3-2 with only 25 players.

I think it would be more of an issue getting permission to play 4232, perhaps when we draw Barcelona we could ask?