Ferran Soriano & Txiki Begiristain

[Love Bites and Everything]

Soriano has done a good job. Avoiding FFP sanctions first time round was an impossible task but overall he has done an excellent job in increasing revenue and putting us on a sound footing.

Begiristain has failed miserably, he's done an awful job. The first team squad has regressed on his watch and we have the highest average age in the league. For him to preside over that, FFP sanctions are not (we have spent big money), is criminal. Those are two of his key objectives and he has made a massive balls up.

He should be gone in the summer.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Soriano has done a good job. Avoiding FFP sanctions first time round was an impossible task but overall he has done an excellent job in increasing revenue and putting us on a sound footing.

Begiristain has failed miserably, he's done an awful job. The first team squad has regressed on his watch and we have the highest average age in the league. For him to preside over that, FFP sanctions are not (we have spent big money), is criminal. Those are two of his key objectives and he has made a massive balls up.

He should be gone in the summer.

I find it hard to disagree with this. I think txiki should just look after the academy and let the manager build the squad. Never going to happen though.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

Txikis transfer dealing have been a huge disappointment so far. Yes he may have been constrained by FFP but he hasn't made best use of what funding he had.

Constrained by FFP? Since he's been at City we've spent around £180m. He's only been here since November 2012, just over two years, just two Summer windows.

 

[Marvin]

Soriano has done a good job. Avoiding FFP sanctions first time round was an impossible task but overall he has done an excellent job in increasing revenue and putting us on a sound footing.

Begiristain has failed miserably, he's done an awful job. The first team squad has regressed on his watch and we have the highest average age in the league. For him to preside over that, FFP sanctions are not (we have spent big money), is criminal. Those are two of his key objectives and he has made a massive balls up.

He should be gone in the summer.

I find it hard to disagree with this. I think txiki should just look after the academy and let the manager build the squad. Never going to happen though.

Disagree entirely. Yes we have been poor, but the reason is not new signings but old ones: Kompany, Zabaleta and Yaya Toure.

I watched the highlights of last season and the performance of players like Yaya Toure and Zabaleta were amazing. We're talking standards of performance that really were exceptional. Those two players were the best there were in their position in Europe.

 

[SilverFox2]

Frankly I know very little about tactics etc. but as a very interested lifetime City supporter I have observed the good decision to get Frank Lampard.
I then saw that he has been used mainly as a sub presumably because that is the way to use older players to maximum effect, ie we did not expect a full game from him.
We then saw the media and many Chelsea fans questioning our use of their former star who was supposed to be in a different continent for his final payoff.

Longer term we have seen Chelsea buy younger replacements who have been integrated without too much trouble into their new team with every chance to build on their initial success.

We had the right idea as to how to use an older player with massive experience yet ignored the same symptoms with perhaps some of our own players. Maybe we should use them sparingly as they age rather than seeing them as the basis to build our team around ?
This would tactically force us to blood younger players from either academy or purchase source who need the experience then maybe see an impact when our experienced players are introduced later in a game.

Perhaps our FFP restrictions forced us to buy our current batch of seemingly average new players but in that case the purchase prices were hardly a bargain.
Some PL teams seem to be able to handle change seamlessly (eg Chelsea, Southampton and dare I say Liverpool) yet we struggle. Why should this be ?
Is this bad buying, bad management, player power, or perhaps the notorious City factor rearing its ugly head yet again ?.

 

[supercity88]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

Txikis transfer dealing have been a huge disappointment so far. Yes he may have been constrained by FFP but he hasn't made best use of what funding he had.

Constrained by FFP? Since he's been at City we've spent around £180m. He's only been here since November 2012, just over two years, just two Summer windows.

That's a key point and one that many seem to forget. Txiki has had an extremely difficult task. From the Hughes era, through Mancini we bought a hell of a lot of players on long term contracts for huge wages. That was because we couldn't offer Champions league football initially and it was the only way to get players to the club. When Txiki arrived we had just won the league and had followed it up that summer by buying Rodwell, Garcia, Sinclair, Maicon, Nastasic and Richard Wright...

Add to that the following players who have left the club through loans/transfers - Richards, Lescott, Barry, Kolo, Tevez and Pantilimon.

That leaves Hart, Kompany, Zabaleta, Milner, Nasri, Dzeko, Kolarov, Aguero, Silva, Clichy, Yaya... 11 players that remain since Txiki was brought into the club. I’d argue only Kolarov and perhaps Dzeko depending on your opinion, should be sold/upgraded from that list.

In terms of who we have bought… well it’s a mixed bag. On the showing of last season you’d say Txiki did a fantastic job as in the summer of 2013 he offloaded many of those I’ve already mentioned, and added;

Negredo – contributed to our success and we will recoup money from his sale
Demichelis – started slowly but our most consistent defender since he settled
Caballero – for me a waste of money, I don’t feel Hart has shown much improvement during his time at the club either.
Mangala – all the attributes to be a fantastic player, young and one to play for us for a number of years. Jurys out.
Navas – added that pace and width we lacked for a decent price. No Bale/Hazard but he’s been a good option for us, the ball out wide or over the top for him is a good plan B against possession sides like Bayern/Barca.
Lampard – experienced and effective – scored key goals for us.
Sagna – hasn’t had a settled run in the side, played well in certain games but been poor in most.
Fernandinho – was excellent last season, the reason we had such a good balance to our side. Been poor so far this season… getting past his peak possibly and maybe the World Cup was his inspiration.
Fernando – Simply awful… the worst signing of Txiki’s time.
Bony – looks like he can be a great signing for the club, settled in England, an upgrade on Negredo and possibly a great partner for Aguero. Early days.
Jovetic – on paper/youtube a fantastic signing… injury record was and remains poor and he’s got all the talent of a great no.10 in a side that has several other options in that position. Not shown consistent good performances so you have to say a poor signing.

I’d say that’s a mixed bag. In times where we’ve had to restructure our spending and wages it’s perhaps no surprise. Moving forward I expect to see younger players be used in the squad so more money is available for big name signings. There’s more chopping and changing to be done, but the 11 listed above were improvements on the 12 that have been sold/loaned from the club during the Txiki era.

We need to do the same now, but he’s shown he can and I think we will do what is required this summer. The bigger task is looking to replace Yaya and how we go about that.

 

[sam663]

I watched the highlights of last season and the performance of players like Yaya Toure and Zabaleta were amazing. We're talking standards of performance that really were exceptional. Those two players were the best there were in their position in Europe.

It's because of players like Yaya Toure that we fail miserably year after year in Europe. Zabaleta regardless of his Premier League form has always been and will always be shit in Europe.

 

[Marvin]

I watched the highlights of last season and the performance of players like Yaya Toure and Zabaleta were amazing. We're talking standards of performance that really were exceptional. Those two players were the best there were in their position in Europe.

It's because of players like Yaya Toure that we fail miserably year after year in Europe. Zabaleta regardless of his Premier League form has always been and will always be shit in Europe.

What? I can't respond seriously to that.

 

[sam663]

What? I can't respond seriously to that.

You don't need to, our abysmal record in Europe is enough to explain what i wanted to say.

 

[sam663]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

That leaves Hart, Kompany, Zabaleta, Milner, Nasri, Dzeko, Kolarov, Aguero, Silva, Clichy, Yaya... 11 players that remain since Txiki was brought into the club. I’d argue only Kolarov and perhaps Dzeko depending on your opinion, should be sold/upgraded from that list.

Apart from Aguero and Silva(only if he improves his pressing game) how many players from that " core " eleven would make into Europe XI? Offering juicy contracts to Kolarov, Nasri, Dzeko and Yaya was nothing short of criminal.