Ferran Soriano & Txiki Begiristain

[kunaguero10]

Are these two earning their crust?

Soriano we know has nothing to do with the playing side, but is Begiristain in charge of our transfer policy, and responsible for what is quite an average list of players recruited since 2012?

At a cost of £180m plus. I have listed them elsewhere but it doesn't make for pleasant reading.

They did more OK last season with our most successful year in 40 years.

Some people have short fucking memories.

When you shell out so much money on players you expect more than one good season out of them. Jovetic, Negredo, Fernandinho, Navas... if these players don't provide us with a few years of quality service then that is not an acceptable return on the investment.

 

[bitsmith]

Well, Negredo gave us 25 goals in a season and we made few bucks on him. That one is not bad I think.

Navas is giving us exactly what we paid for, you won't get better player for 15 mil. eur than him that easy.

Fernandinho is quality, he'll come back I hope, it's post WC season and he was never same after that German battering and injury he had in the second half of last season.

 

[BigOscar]

Far, far worse squads than us are doing far better in europe, so it's clearly not these guys fault. Always easier to blame the people who you can't see what they do, but the reality is that it's the manager and players who are responsible. The players we have are playing well below their level, which is nothing to do with Txiki or Soriano. (unless they are forcing Pellers to play this retarded 2 man midfield, which seems unlikely)

 

[TGR]

Far, far worse squads than us are doing far better in europe, so it's clearly not these guys fault. Always easier to blame the people who you can't see what they do, but the reality is that it's the manager and players who are responsible. The players we have are playing well below their level, which is nothing to do with Txiki or Soriano. (unless they are forcing Pellers to play this retarded 2 man midfield, which seems unlikely)

I'm not so sure anymore. The DoF decides the way we play and the manager's job is to implements that. No?

 

[Love Bites and Everything]

Well, Negredo gave us 25 goals in a season and we made few bucks on him. That one is not bad I think.

Navas is giving us exactly what we paid for, you won't get better player for 15 mil. eur than him that easy.

Fernandinho is quality, he'll come back I hope, it's post WC season and he was never same after that German battering and injury he had in the second half of last season.

There's a lad at Southampton who cost about 2/3s of that and looks twice the player.

 

[BigOscar]

Far, far worse squads than us are doing far better in europe, so it's clearly not these guys fault. Always easier to blame the people who you can't see what they do, but the reality is that it's the manager and players who are responsible. The players we have are playing well below their level, which is nothing to do with Txiki or Soriano. (unless they are forcing Pellers to play this retarded 2 man midfield, which seems unlikely)

I'm not so sure anymore. The DoF decides the way we play and the manager's job is to implements that. No?

That's not my understanding of what a DoF does, no. They might encourage a style of football they want us to play, but the tactics are the managers and it's up to him to get the players playing well.

 

[BillyShears]

Far, far worse squads than us are doing far better in europe, so it's clearly not these guys fault. Always easier to blame the people who you can't see what they do, but the reality is that it's the manager and players who are responsible. The players we have are playing well below their level, which is nothing to do with Txiki or Soriano. (unless they are forcing Pellers to play this retarded 2 man midfield, which seems unlikely)

I'm not so sure anymore. The DoF decides the way we play and the manager's job is to implements that. No?

That's not my understanding of what a DoF does, no. They might encourage a style of football they want us to play, but the tactics are the managers and it's up to him to get the players playing well.

You have to be pretty dim witted to think that a member of the board rocks up to Pellegrini's office and tells him which formation to play.

What a DoF does is hire a manager who plays the way he thinks the team should play. So Txiki hired Pellegrini because he knew Pellegrini's coaching philosophy.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

The director of football definitely has a say in the formation played, but only in the long term. It was reported that he wants the team to play 4-3-3 in the future, and so the coaches in the youth setup do have instructions to play that system. But in the first team, it's clear that we're playing the way that Pellegrini wants to play, which is fair enough. It's his neck on the line if it goes tits up, after all. It's way too early to judge the job that Txiki has done. It's a 10 year project and includes the entire youth setup in addition to the first team. If in 10 years, we're getting nothing through the academy, then I'd start to worry about his philosophy. But as of now, I think he's done a very good job with one arm tied behind his back. I really don't see how anyone can complain about the squad we've built. As far as I'm concerned, Pellegrini has everything he needs to do his job. Obviously, we're still not at the level of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, but that's not the reason we're going down 2-1 at home to CSKA Moscow.

 

[TGR]

I'm not so sure anymore. The DoF decides the way we play and the manager's job is to implements that. No?

That's not my understanding of what a DoF does, no. They might encourage a style of football they want us to play, but the tactics are the managers and it's up to him to get the players playing well.

You have to be pretty dim witted to think that a member of the board rocks up to Pellegrini's office and tells him which formation to play.

What a DoF does is hire a manager who plays the way he thinks the team should play. So Txiki hired Pellegrini because he knew Pellegrini's coaching philosophy.

I can understand its been a pretty hard week for you so I'll go easy on you as I'm in a good mood this afternoon ;-)
I (and a number of others from the PM's I've received today) have laughed as we have watched you attempt to reverse out of the Cul-de-sac you gleefully drove yourself into some time ago. However you reap what you sow...

I also prefer to discuss and debate City with like minded posters who actually do go to the stadium and watch the games for real - not from a comfy armchair somewhere overseas so I guess that kinda counts you out fella!

Oh and whilst I'm here please stop sending me PM's - as you have probably noticed I don't read them when that are from you.
Have a nice day 'Mr Appointment' ;-)

 

[supercity88]

Far, far worse squads than us are doing far better in europe, so it's clearly not these guys fault. Always easier to blame the people who you can't see what they do, but the reality is that it's the manager and players who are responsible. The players we have are playing well below their level, which is nothing to do with Txiki or Soriano. (unless they are forcing Pellers to play this retarded 2 man midfield, which seems unlikely)

The players in our squad have underperformed. It's as simple as that really. I also think the manager is being foolish for sticking to the 4-4-2. It worked last season yes, but largely because of Negredo and Aguero's partnership and the solidarity of Fernandinho and Yaya behind. This season Aguero has no natural partner to feed off, Yaya isn't having the same level of performances and Fernando hasn't been able to cover the midfield adequately in many games. We were creating numerous chances last season but also conceding a fair few and we were susceptible to counter attacks. This season we are failing to create or take as many chances and are vulnerable to every attack.