Hughes Transfer Strategy ?

[chrisb182]

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Organisation, quality, call it what you want, conceding 50 goals, 24 of them in your own 6 yard box is terrible. I think its great that we have fans loyal to Dunne, but defensively we can do a lot better and MH is making that happen as I type.[/quote]

Got to admit, I have the up-most admiration for Richard Dunne and we have to thank Stuart Pearce and/or Kevin Keegan for that.

They sorted him out and turned him into the model professional he is now (despite his abundance of red cards and own goals... ha ha).

But seriously, I'd be sad if he leaves. I would much prefer to see him stay on at City but if he did leave I'd like him to come back and be part of the back-room staff.

 

[smiles]

I think its great that we have fans loyal to Dunne, but defensively we can do a lot better and MH is making that happen as I type.

It's not a matter of being loyal to Dunne.

I'm more than happy for us to sign a replacement for him, and of the two that finished the season I'd rather get games into Ned than Dunne over the course of the season.

But it's not just a matter of finding a replacement thats a good centre half, he will need to have attributes that we will lose if Dunne moves out of the side. Otherwise it won't be much of an upgrade at all.

I think its clear that we're only in for first class players these days so any new CB will be more than capable. In terms of leadership qualities we have them all over now, and even if Dunne was our only 'leader' I really don't think its enough to keep him in the team.

 

[moomba]

Not leadership, organisation (and I appreciate you don't rate him in this regard).

As far as organisation goes, I can see the logic in choosing a lesser defender that can organise, over one that can't (obviously depending on the strengths of the rest of your defence.

 

[smiles]

Not leadership, organisation (and I appreciate you don't rate him in this regard).

As far as organisation goes, I can see the logic in choosing a lesser defender that can organise, over one that can't (obviously depending on the strengths of the rest of your defence.

In all honesty, I think there is a long list of defensive pairings that would do a better job than what we had last season.....

Onouha has age and inexperience to blame, and of course the promise of improving as a player in the future. Dunne has none of these excuses.

 

[smiles]

Lets put things in perspective-

premiership rankings 08/09

Man city attacking- 5th best with 58 goals

Man city defending- 11th best with 50 goals


Home form- Man city 3rd best

Away from- Man city 17th....

 

[Fuzzmaster101]

Lets put things in perspective-

premiership rankings 08/09

Man city attacking- 5th best with 58 goals

Man city defending- 11th best with 50 goals


Home form- Man city 3rd best

Away from- Man city 17th....

See, regardless of our defensive frailties we still were only 5th best for goals scored. That's not good enough even if our defense was excellent. Now with quality target men up front we should score a few more away from home and in tight 0-0 games which will improve our away form too.

I can't imagine our away form can possibly be as bad as last year or that our defense will be as bad either. We should do much better (I hope). Having a strong target man up front also helps the defense and Barry will make a massive difference on the left side. I have high optimism as you all know, I just can't wait for the season to start.

 

[Somud]

Lets put things in perspective-

premiership rankings 08/09

Man city attacking- 5th best with 58 goals

Man city defending- 11th best with 50 goals


Home form- Man city 3rd best

Away from- Man city 17th....

See, regardless of our defensive frailties we still were only 5th best for goals scored. That's not good enough even if our defense was excellent. Now with quality target men up front we should score a few more away from home and in tight 0-0 games which will improve our away form too.

I can't imagine our away form can possibly be as bad as last year or that our defense will be as bad either. We should do much better (I hope). Having a strong target man up front also helps the defense and Barry will make a massive difference on the left side. I have high optimism as you all know, I just can't wait for the season to start.

What is the most important in away games are leadership on the pitch, high work rate, determination, aggression and attitude and the ability to give some real pain to the opposition when needed. What do you think?

 

[realsparky]

Richard Dunne has earned his place in the sun,we need links to the past and Dunne has been immense for us over the last 4 or 5 years,as a club i like to think we have always had a little more soul than most,now is the time to show it

 

[portisheadblue]

"premiership rankings 08/09

Man city attacking- 5th best with 58 goals
Man city defending- 11th best with 50 goals

Home form- Man city 3rd best
Away from- Man city 17th...."

Then let's take a look at Sparky's strategy in light of the above statsitics ..!!!!

We have added three new strikers to the fifth best in the League last year (one of whom seems to be very injured (hope to be proven wrong on that one)) ... and one new defender (so far that is and still almost four weeks left in the window).

In mid feld we have acquired one new player (GB) and sold one (Elano) ... numerically the same but with different skill sets and it's arguable as to whether we are better or about the same but with different balance or maybe even worse off.

The net result is we have more goal scoring capacity, the same mid field and a slightly (at the moment) improved defence ... so we score more goals (likley to be against weaker teams) ... and we'll show more effort and so hopefully concede fewer away from home .... which will give us a few more points (assuming all else stays the same) ... so we go up a few places to ... sixth or seventh....?????

We've spent close on £100M this window so far .... and the result is not, in my view, a "frightening" ensemble of talent ... there is still time ... and we have not seen anything like our starting line up yet .... so here's looking forward to Rangers tie tonight. Cheers

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

Kind of see your point portisheadblue, but Barry is a big step up from elano for various reasons.