Guardiola rules out any January signings.

A centre half is the priority; but we NEED a leader, be he a centre-half or midfielder.

Someone who has the ultimate respect of the players and is a leader both on and off the field.

I would gladly back the club spending three figures to find the right person.

A Vincent mk II is my dream...but is there one out there?

Koulibaly fits the centre-half berth perfectly, but is he a captain/leader? I don't know that much about him, other than he is a fantastic player.​
 
caseball said:
One of the things I've never understood about Guardiola is that he doesn't see fast CBs as a necessity. He talks about making the pitch as big as possible in possession but you obviously have to spread your team a bit thin to do that and leave spaces in the middle. He then talks about the importance of winning the ball back high up through the forwards and midfielders so he knows the danger. He also mentions needing defenders who can defend big spaces and win one on ones. So he knows the problem there. He's completely aware of the dangers presented by his way of playing the game. Yet he buys ponderous John Stones, rather slow Aymeric Laporte, persists with over the hill Otamendi. He buys the slow as treacle Gundogan. Rodri doesn't look like he's a sprinter. De Bruyne's not that fast. Mahrez isn't fast for a winger. Everything he does and says about football points to a need for some quick, mobile players in the team but he buys plodders. All good on the ball but they can get left for dead one on one. I think he's assembled too many of this type of player at City. The current problems are also due to copping for injuries to all the left-sided players but the number of one-paced blue shirts behind the ball is a self-inflicted problem.
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It's amazing we could win a game with all those statues let alone a shit load of trophies, setting record after record along the way. I would leave the thinking to the club, they will get it right eventually eh?
 
If we don't buy in Jan, it's not really a risk, we'll finish not far behind Liverpool, who will earn a title outright to be fair. What might be important is City first of all getting cleared by UEFA FFP investigation (that might be in our thinking) and then going aggressive in the summer. And REALLY aggresive.
 
Salford_Blue said:
A centre half is the priority; but we NEED a leader, be he a centre-half or midfielder.

Someone who has the ultimate respect of the players and is a leader both on and off the field.

I would gladly back the club spending three figures to find the right person.

A Vincent mk II is my dream...but is there one out there?

Koulibaly fits the centre-half berth perfectly, but is he a captain/leader? I don't know that much about him, other than he is a fantastic player.​
Click to expand...
True. However that’s a summer signing. No way Napoli let him go in January, then it begs the question if you still want him, he’ll be 29 next season, and it’s likely to cost €80-100m. We may very well still want him but it would be against everything were told our transfer policy is.
 
caseball said:
I wondered how long it would take.

So you don't think there's a certain similarity in Stones, Laporte, Otamendi, Puyol, Pique and a couple of his Bayern CBs? So he likes defenders who can play a bit. But when in need, he makes Fernandinho the regular not Stones or Otamendi. Last season, when the chips were down, Kompany was the main man. He recognizes the value of speed and decisiveness alright. In my post, I just wondered why he hasn't bought those qualities more often.

Back to gazing at his picture on the wall.

Oh aye. Back in his first season when the initial good run faltered, I posted on here that we needed to improve in both penalty areas. A week or so later, the manager said the same. ;o)
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So are you saying Fernandinho cannot play a bit?, your post reads like that. All managers like pace, but pep does not do pace without the ability and intelligence to do as he wants.
I think we will not agree on this.
 
Pep said he will not sign players this Jan, but we constantly buy players albeit youth, then there is the wording he may not but Trixi might?, it does look like we will not make a statement signing so there is not much out there, except Camavinga, we do not have pace through the middle, and as far as i can see no youth ready to play box to box.
Then again Pep might just be trying to stop an auction starting?
 
asahartford1 said:
So are you saying Fernandinho cannot play a bit?, your post reads like that. All managers like pace, but pep does not do pace without the ability and intelligence to do as he wants.
I think we will not agree on this.
Click to expand...

It doesn't read like that at all. You've made that up.

So you've decided to actually post a proper answer to my first post. In other words, your real answer is that you don't think any quick CBs who could also play have been available.

You could be right.
 
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