Ferran Soriano & Txiki Begiristain

[Blue warrior]

What's going on today then Bluemoon?

The genuises here still selling 15 players in the summer?

I agree, whilst it's obvious we need make improvements smashing the squad to pieces will be taking strides backwards to move forwards. This club need evolution not revolution, let's hope they get it right.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

Those contracts ensure we get good fees for those players, fees that could well fund this summers spending.

Still believe their stock was higher in the last summer and we should have shipped them out at that time. It would require astronomical fees to replace them with potentially world-class players, players like rodriguez and kevin de bruyne are having stormer of a season and we would again have to resort to average players.

The reason those players signed contracts in the summer was to decrease the wage bill a lot of players are on performance based bonus contracts now which doesn't count towards ffp! I'm adamant that this why yaya had a dicky fit in the summer because the club wanted to drop his basic wage and he wanted more! Same with jimmy at the moment he's thinking am I going to get enough game time/appearances to get these bonuses? They've done a great job with our finances but must admit that player in comings have been average but not put any real pressure on thd first choice 11.

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

What's going on today then Bluemoon?

The genuises here still selling 15 players in the summer?

I agree, whilst it's obvious we need make improvements smashing the squad to pieces will be taking strides backwards to move forwards. This club need evolution not revolution, let's hope they get it right.

If we look at the clubs that have dominated over a 20 year period namely the Dippers and the Scum evolution has been the key.
Where the Scum went wrong was the GPC at the end was chasing one last title rather than rebuilding an old team for his successor
to inherit.

We definitely need to start the rebuilding process this Summer but I would see it taking maybe 3 Summers. If we do it right we can
remain competitive throughout the process.

The last few years have been more about bulking up the squad through signing good but not great players. At the time this was the
right strategy even though unsurprisingly some of the signings have failed. I would hope that going forward we can start to bring
players through (maybe Lopes & Rekik this Summer) to enable us to concentrate our funds on one or two top class signings each Summer.
At the very least we should be able, like Chelsea, to sell a number of young players each Summer to fund squad replacements if they aren't
quite good enough for us. We haven't had this option in the past and although I've been critical of Txiki's transfer record this is one area
where we are hopefully about to reap rewards.

 

[sam663]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

That isn't our "core" eleven. Those are the eleven that remain at the club from Txiki's arrival to now.

A European 11 will never be universally agreed so your whole question is pointless. I've also seen that you believe Yaya and Zabaleta to be the reason for our failings in Europe. That's absolute bollocks. Against Barcelona last season Yaya was very good and we were competitive throughout the game, nerves and being too respectful to Barcelona... and injuries were why we didn't make the most of things in that game.

You'll see in the return fixture just how much better we will be with Yaya added to our side. On their day Kompany, Yaya, Zabaleta, Silva and Aguero would get into any side in Europe. We have been working under regulations that mean we can't spend £60m - £100m on individual players. When things start to improve on that front we can buy the best players and look to improve. We are still Manchester City, we aren't Barcelona, Real or Bayern - those are teams with names that precede them. We cannot compete if they come calling for players, sometimes even if we offered more money.

Offering "juicy" contracts... just screams of negativity. They are footballers, they're on good money, get over it. We offered them contracts to ensure we can sell them and get some money. We could pay Milner £20,000 a week and let him leave for free... that's £1m we've paid him over one year. Had we offered him an improved £50,000 contract for a year and sold him for £5m we've paid out £2.5m and therefore made a profit. Spend money to ensure you can get more. That's why players like Reus get bumper deals with huge transfer clauses. It costs the club a lot in the short term but gets them the security of a high return on their investment. It's simple really... It's funny that you don't seem to get that...

Absolute bollocks if you think we would be able to make profit let alone high return on what we paid for these players, one of the main reason of chavs success in transfer dealings is that their players are on much resonable wages than us, players like Reus get bumper deals because they put consistent shift week in, week out unlike Dzeko, Kolarov and Nasri.


It's funny you are mentioning a single game over the course of a four year campaign, even though in that game time after time Zabaleta proved his shitteness and shortcomings at Europe. Anyway if i remember correctly a midfiled of Milner, Toure and Barry was overran by Eriksen and a Liverpood reject. A certain game at Etihad in which Ronaldo destroyed our whole defence(including Zabaleta), Kompany ducking out of the way of every single shot at Bernabeu, contemptible performances of Toure and Zabaleta against Napoli, i can go on but the point is that they are simply not good enough if we want to be competible in Europe.

FFP is not to blame that we went for Jovetic rather than Eriksen, or that we bought ouctopuss and Bony in prefernce to addressing our creativity problems.

 

[Marvin]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

That isn't our "core" eleven. Those are the eleven that remain at the club from Txiki's arrival to now.

A European 11 will never be universally agreed so your whole question is pointless. I've also seen that you believe Yaya and Zabaleta to be the reason for our failings in Europe. That's absolute bollocks. Against Barcelona last season Yaya was very good and we were competitive throughout the game, nerves and being too respectful to Barcelona... and injuries were why we didn't make the most of things in that game.

You'll see in the return fixture just how much better we will be with Yaya added to our side. On their day Kompany, Yaya, Zabaleta, Silva and Aguero would get into any side in Europe. We have been working under regulations that mean we can't spend £60m - £100m on individual players. When things start to improve on that front we can buy the best players and look to improve. We are still Manchester City, we aren't Barcelona, Real or Bayern - those are teams with names that precede them. We cannot compete if they come calling for players, sometimes even if we offered more money.

Offering "juicy" contracts... just screams of negativity. They are footballers, they're on good money, get over it. We offered them contracts to ensure we can sell them and get some money. We could pay Milner £20,000 a week and let him leave for free... that's £1m we've paid him over one year. Had we offered him an improved £50,000 contract for a year and sold him for £5m we've paid out £2.5m and therefore made a profit. Spend money to ensure you can get more. That's why players like Reus get bumper deals with huge transfer clauses. It costs the club a lot in the short term but gets them the security of a high return on their investment. It's simple really... It's funny that you don't seem to get that...

Absolute bollocks if you think we would be able to make profit let alone high return on what we paid for these players, one of the main reason of chavs success in transfer dealings is that their players are on much resonable wages than us, players like Reus get bumper deals because they put consistent shift week in, week out unlike Dzeko, Kolarov and Nasri.


It's funny you are mentioning a single game over the course of a four year campaign, even though in that game time after time Zabaleta proved his shitteness and shortcomings at Europe. Anyway if i remember correctly a midfiled of Milner, Toure and Barry was overran by Eriksen and a Liverpood reject. A certain game at Etihad in which Ronaldo destroyed our whole defence(including Zabaleta), Kompany ducking out of the way of every single shot at Bernabeu, contemptible performances of Toure and Zabaleta against Napoli, i can go on but the point is that they are simply not good enough if we want to be competible in Europe.

FFP is not to blame that we went for Jovetic rather than Eriksen, or that we bought ouctopuss and Bony in prefernce to addressing our creativity problems.

Zabaleta was widely acknowledged to be the best right back in the country last season. He was outstanding in many games including games against the best English clubs.

I can't say any City player has excelled in Europe but then that's more an issue of City getting used to European competition rather than the competence of individual players. Last season Yaya Toure and Zabaleta were amongst the best players in European football and to say otherwise is just ridiculous.

I don't know what you are trying to achieve other make a fool of yourself

 

[sam663]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

Zabaleta was widely acknowledged to be the best right back in the country last season. He was outstanding in many games including games against the best English clubs.

I can't say any City player has excelled in Europe but then that's more an issue of City getting used to European competition rather than the competence of individual players. Last season Yaya Toure and Zabaleta were amongst the best players in European football and to say otherwise is just ridiculous.

I don't know what you are trying to achieve other make a fool of yourself

Yeah Zabaleta was world class against mighty Plzen and CSKA, did i criticize his league form anywhere?
Dortmund and APEOL have achieved much more in Europe than us in a short span of time with considerable lesser budget , Tottenham under Harry weren't bad either.

 

[B\connellblue]

By the time we get "used to playing in Europe or experienced in Europe" our present players will be nearing retirement. Fucking hell is it that hard for 11 players to go out and put in an honest 90 minute shift and see how that goes?

 

[sam663]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

The reason those players signed contracts in the summer was to decrease the wage bill a lot of players are on performance based bonus contracts now which doesn't count towards ffp! I'm adamant that this why yaya had a dicky fit in the summer because the club wanted to drop his basic wage and he wanted more! Same with jimmy at the moment he's thinking am I going to get enough game time/appearances to get these bonuses? Soriano has done a great job with our finances but must admit that player in comings have been average but not put any real pressure on thd first choice 11.

It explains the reason behind the decline in league form of Dzeko, Nasri, and Kolarov that they are inspired by £££ but even then i doubt that decrease is any significant. The point i was trying to make that they all have been average this season and we should have sold them when their stock was higher, now in order to decrease the wage bill to accommodate new signings, we will sell them for peanuts. Though i have my suspicions that we would ever be able to force Nasri out.

 

[Marvin]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

The reason those players signed contracts in the summer was to decrease the wage bill a lot of players are on performance based bonus contracts now which doesn't count towards ffp! I'm adamant that this why yaya had a dicky fit in the summer because the club wanted to drop his basic wage and he wanted more! Same with jimmy at the moment he's thinking am I going to get enough game time/appearances to get these bonuses? Soriano has done a great job with our finances but must admit that player in comings have been average but not put any real pressure on thd first choice 11.

It explains the reason behind the decline in league form of Dzeko, Nasri, and Kolarov that they are inspired by £££ but even then i doubt that decrease is any significant. The point i was trying to make that they all have been average this season and we should have sold them when their stock was higher, now in order to decrease the wage bill to accommodate new signings, we will sell them for peanuts. Though i have my suspicions that we would ever be able to force Nasri out.

Nasri has had a good season. Why are you posting this rubbish, and to what end?

 

[sam663]

Re: Is there any way back for Cook?

Nasri has had a good season. Why are you posting this rubbish, and to what end?

Just like Fernando had a good game against Barcelona? Shut up and don't reply if you think it's rubbish.