Full Backs?

[Marvin]

Imo Marwood etc have done an absolutely fantastic job setting up the academy only for successive managers to use the kids purely as cannon fodder.

Too early yet to see if Pep is following on the same.

Guardiola made some remarks about there being a huge gap between the academy and the first team which makes it difficult for him to transition players into the first team. That made immediate sense to me. And I thought it was quite good that he was honest about this problem. However you can still see as a Football Director the ages of your first team squad. Three of four years ago you should be planning ahead and bringing young players in, and then at 18 or so getting them a loan etc all for these moments in mind

And if the players aren't there then you have your scouts working on every single prospect and you find out their circumstances, and before the transfer window you sit down with everyone and go through it all with every contingency covered. Perhaps we have all this in place, but I doubt it. The fact that we went for Alves in the first place suggested to me that there was no back up for Walker.

 

[Jonsilfab]

Well he wasn't in the training photos/video yesterday so I assume he's already on his way to Girona with Garcia and anyone else who could have played in the first team this year.

I though I saw Aleix in the first day video as the players were making their way to the training pitch. He was talking to Agüero.

 

[domalino]

I though I saw Aleix in the first day video as the players were making their way to the training pitch. He was talking to Agüero.

Aleix was there, but he's going to be in Girona, it's only a matter of time. Maffeo wasn't there at all.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Guardiola made some remarks about there being a huge gap between the academy and the first team which makes it difficult for him to transition players into the first team. That made immediate sense to me. And I thought it was quite good that he was honest about this problem. However you can still see as a Football Director the ages of your first team squad. Three of four years ago you should be planning ahead and bringing young players in, and then at 18 or so getting them a loan etc all for these moments in mind

And if the players aren't there then you have your scouts working on every single prospect and you find out their circumstances, and before the transfer window you sit down with everyone and go through it all with every contingency covered. Perhaps we have all this in place, but I doubt it. The fact that we went for Alves in the first place suggested to me that there was no back up for Walker.

Yes but the players Guardiola has are mostly youth team players.

The older ones who should be first team squad candidates, were all left to rot in the EDS, then loaned out as teir careers started to go backwards.

Over in ragland, most of them would have played some kind of role in the first team & one or two would probably have become squad players, ahead of the next batch.

Imo if Denayer was the fresh, fast, fit, brilliant talent who came back from Celtic, rather than the disgruntled, wheezing, plodder we see now, he could easily fill a cb & rb job.

 

[domalino]

Guardiola made some remarks about there being a huge gap between the academy and the first team which makes it difficult for him to transition players into the first team. That made immediate sense to me. And I thought it was quite good that he was honest about this problem. However you can still see as a Football Director the ages of your first team squad. Three of four years ago you should be planning ahead and bringing young players in, and then at 18 or so getting them a loan etc all for these moments in mind

And if the players aren't there then you have your scouts working on every single prospect and you find out their circumstances, and before the transfer window you sit down with everyone and go through it all with every contingency covered. Perhaps we have all this in place, but I doubt it. The fact that we went for Alves in the first place suggested to me that there was no back up for Walker.

Guardiola's remarks made sense at first but if you actually look at them they don't hold up.

He says that players like Maffeo needed experience in somewhere like Segunda divison, like his Barca B kids, so he could trust them.

But if that's the case why did he keep Angelino and Maffeo at the club until January? Why did Garcia hang around to play about an hour of football all year?

And now, Maffeo has played in 2 seasons for Girona, got them promoted, played 30 odd games and it's still not enough to get a chance.

So it seems he needs our players to have 3+ seasons of first team football before trusting them, which is an impossible benchmark.

 

[bugsyblue]

Yes but the players Guardiola has are mostly youth team players.

The older ones who should be first team squad candidates, were all left to rot in the EDS, then loaned out as teir careers started to go backwards.

Over in ragland, most of them would have played some kind of role in the first team & one or two would probably have become squad players, ahead of the next batch.

Imo if Denayer was the fresh, fast, fit, brilliant talent who came back from Celtic, rather than the disgruntled, wheezing, plodder we see now, he could easily fill a cb & rb job.

Denayer was the most ridiculous thing ever. Went on loan, proved himself, won young player of the year, comes back here and we renew a 60 year olds contract. Madness.

 

[domalino]

Denayer was the most ridiculous thing ever. Went on loan, proved himself, won young player of the year, comes back here and we renew a 60 year olds contract. Madness.

Demichelis' contract was renewed in February. Denayer returned in July.

 

[Dobsy]

Demichelis' contract was renewed in February. Denayer returned in July.

I still agree with the broader point though. If excelling in Scotland isn't going to be considered a good enough benchmark to be a squad player so be it; but then don't loan players to clubs in that division.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Denayer was the most ridiculous thing ever. Went on loan, proved himself, won young player of the year, comes back here and we renew a 60 year olds contract. Madness.

We are now seeing one kind of example, of why it's bad for the club.

I've been saying it for years & it keeps being proven over & over again. It doesn't matter if these kids don't actually make it to the very top, so long as they fill a situation at the club when needed.

One or two, will surprise everyone & go up a level, thus opening a place for transfers, saving a run when hit by injuries, etc etc etc.

Money should not always be the answer.

 

[Marvin]

Guardiola's remarks made sense at first but if you actually look at them they don't hold up.

He says that players like Maffeo needed experience in somewhere like Segunda divison, like his Barca B kids, so he could trust them.

But if that's the case why did he keep Angelino and Maffeo at the club until January? Why did Garcia hang around to play about an hour of football all year?

And now, Maffeo has played in 2 seasons for Girona, got them promoted, played 30 odd games and it's still not enough to get a chance.

So it seems he needs our players to have 3+ seasons of first team football before trusting them, which is an impossible benchmark.

I think Girona is potentially a very valuable asset for City. It's a tremendous opportunity for young City players to play at a very good level. I don't know the answers to your questions. There were times in games last season where I would have brought young players on.

Even if there is a problem with the structure of English football, there must be workarounds, and the City Football Group is ideal, or use the loan system. That worked many yeaers ago for Jermain Defoe. I remember he went out on loan, possibly to Bournemouth, and scored about 10 goals in 10 games as a kid.

Disappointing that the adademy hasn't produced full backs for us. Or maybe they have and we don't know it. And the other issue is Txiki and Guardiola should know well in advance what our options are when we release all these full backs and have loads of options worked out. If I had decided that Kyle Walker was my No. 1 senior target I'd have made certain that at the same time I secured a young alternative and I'd have gone through the list until I had him

We dom't seem to be doing the obvious things.