Hugo Viana | Director of Football

[Centurions]

I think the biggest mistake we made is letting so much of our youth go. Imagine how many of our youth we sold would be playing now

Palmer, maybe. And that's it.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

Palmer, maybe. And that's it.

The only issue I have with Palmer going is that a possible loan to a Premier league club might have been a better option but I don't think anyone would have envisaged Palmer having such a good first season with Chelsea.

The other one is Lavia. Don't understand the reasoning in putting a buy back clause in that only became effective after 24 months.

I suppose every player is different and have agents with different agendas. THB is a typical example where Southampton had a compulsory purchase clause only if they got promoted.
There's part off me thinking I'd nearly have preferred them not getting promoted and THB still being on our books. From THBs perspective it has worked out perfect for him, culminating in an England cap.

 

[surprisedbygrass]

Given how much Pep likes new challenges is it possible that the appointment of Viana , one of the top DOF in Europe , was instrumental in helping him decide to extend . He likes to be surrounded with intelligent players and backroom staff .After all he has known we would need a replacement for some time so demonstrating to Pep that we mean to stick with the best could have been a shrewd decision .

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

It doesn't feel as though we're as strong as we were this time last year, and it's probably because we're not as strong as we were this time last year.
The injuries haven't helped, but not replacing Alvarez (especially with Bobb sidelined) have left us dangerously reliant on Haaland for goals

The next arrivals need to be better than what we've got, and none of this "They always do better in their 2nd season" mythology which might have been true for Rodri, but nobody else

 

[decmancity]

Lavia, Frimpong, Harwood Bellis, Palmer, Gittens, would have all got game time at City this season. Perhaps even Delap and Tosin. Not saying it was mistake to sell them all at a time when they needed to develop but it is certainly unfortunate.

McAtee is sat there and the lad is getting barely anything so that stops your argument straight away. Fact is, when you have an academy of extreme talents and your watching some of the best players in the world get signed every summer in the first team, you know you have little chance in making it.

All of those lads have gone onto top level teams, they aren't knocking around in League 2. Their ambition goes beyond just waiting around for the first team to have a mass injury crisis.

 

[Really_here]

McAtee is sat there and the lad is getting barely anything so that stops your argument straight away. Fact is, when you have an academy of extreme talents and your watching some of the best players in the world get signed every summer in the first team, you know you have little chance in making it.

All of those lads have gone onto top level teams, they aren't knocking around in League 2. Their ambition goes beyond just waiting around for the first team to have a mass injury crisis.

All very true but it's a fine balance and you'll never get it 100% right

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

The only issue I have with Palmer going is that a possible loan to a Premier league club might have been a better option but I don't think anyone would have envisaged Palmer having such a good first season with Chelsea.

The other one is Lavia. Don't understand the reasoning in putting a buy back clause in that only became effective after 24 months.

I suppose every player is different and have agents with different agendas. THB is a typical example where Southampton had a compulsory purchase clause only if they got promoted.
There's part off me thinking I'd nearly have preferred them not getting promoted and THB still being on our books. From THBs perspective it has worked out perfect for him, culminating in an England cap.

I thought the 2 year buy back was a reasonable idea. Also, I don’t imagine it meant we couldn’t go back after a year, we’d just have had to pay what the Chavs were willing to stump up, I suppose.

 

[Xhavenjoe]

I thought the 2 year buy back was a reasonable idea. Also, I don’t imagine it meant we couldn’t go back after a year, we’d just have had to pay what the Chavs were willing to stump up, I suppose.

We could have bought him via buy back for £20m after 24 months.
Any time before that was the market value which I think ended up at £40m from Chelsea
My understanding is that the other players we sold to Southampton at that time ( Bazunu, Larios, Edozie) had the buyback activating at 12 months.

 

[Spanishbob]

Got to remember we don’t just throw youngsters into the deep end straight away. Look how long it took Phil to get in the team. It’s really a trickle down effect with these young players. We don’t need to push kids like the rags did. Has for Palmer he didn’t want to do a foden he thought he was the real deal straight away. It don’t always work that way.

 

[ancoats]

McAtee is sat there and the lad is getting barely anything so that stops your argument straight away. Fact is, when you have an academy of extreme talents and your watching some of the best players in the world get signed every summer in the first team, you know you have little chance in making it.

All of those lads have gone onto top level teams, they aren't knocking around in League 2. Their ambition goes beyond just waiting around for the first team to have a mass injury crisis.

Asking a young player to play at 100% for a full season does not happen, Playing for City and being a first-team starter you have to be right at the top of your game every week, I think only Foden is now a nailed starter and that has taken 5 seasons of him being in and out, Having 4 or 5 youth players in the team is a wonderful for the fans to watch , But its not good for both player and club if you are at the top table,

How many of the class of 92 played into their late 30s at the top ? even Rooney was finished at 28ish because he had to play every week, At City they can be looked after by Pep and will have a longer career

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Asking a young player to play at 100% for a full season does not happen, Playing for City and being a first-team starter you have to be right at the top of your game every week, I think only Foden is now a nailed starter and that has taken 5 seasons of him being in and out, Having 4 or 5 youth players in the team is a wonderful for the fans to watch , But its not good for both player and club if you are at the top table,

How many of the class of 92 played into their late 30s at the top ? even Rooney was finished at 28ish because he had to play every week, At City they can be looked after by Pep and will have a longer career

28 and a glittering career will do for me.
Too much cotton wool can be as bad as too much game time and can cause inconsistency and slow development.

 

[ancoats]

28 and a glittering career will do for me.
Too much cotton wool can be as bad as too much game time and can cause inconsistency and slow development.

I remember being 28 was your peak but that was when footballers were just that, Now it's a whole different ball game and the longer you can stay in the game at the top levels the more you can win and earn big money, The young players that are in football for the love of it understand, But greedy young footballers want it all right now.

How many Young players are winning titles at the big clubs ? It takes a young player like a Messi or Ronaldo to demand he plays every week at clubs like City and under a manager like Pep

I have never seen a young player play every week at a top team that wants to win the title for a such long time
City now demands players give 100% every week, Nobody can hide in City's starting 11 and keep his place all season

Cole Palmer is a very good young talent, But goes missing in about 1 in 4 games, the bigger games demand your very best and Palmer is not there yet, I think because he takes the pen's stands him out in the media as it goes down as a goal and it fools a lot of people that he's on fire most weeks

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Asking a young player to play at 100% for a full season does not happen, Playing for City and being a first-team starter you have to be right at the top of your game every week, I think only Foden is now a nailed starter and that has taken 5 seasons of him being in and out, Having 4 or 5 youth players in the team is a wonderful for the fans to watch , But its not good for both player and club if you are at the top table,

How many of the class of 92 played into their late 30s at the top ? even Rooney was finished at 28ish because he had to play every week, At City they can be looked after by Pep and will have a longer career

Rooney wasn’t one of the crass of ‘92. He was finished early because he was a fat, drunken pisshead.

 

[Blueboy73]

Rooney wasn’t one of the crass of ‘92. He was finished early because he was a fat, drunken, granny shagging pisshead.

Edited for accuracy.

 

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Certainly more accurate than my description

 

[Centurions]

We could have bought him via buy back for £20m after 24 months.
Any time before that was the market value which I think ended up at £40m from Chelsea
My understanding is that the other players we sold to Southampton at that time ( Bazunu, Larios, Edozie) had the buyback activating at 12 months.

Given how things panned out I can't say we've done badly with Lavia. Obviously he may not have been injured if he'd stayed and missed all of last season but he's only started 5 PL games this season and is usually hooked after around the hour mark. Presumably they're being cautious as he's still only 20 but we wouldn't have been relying on him this season as it stands regardless.

 

[Holcombe bloo]

Gvardiol is solid on the ball generally but still prone to a lapse in concentration which is something you don't get away with being in the middle of the park. He's generally picking the ball up at LB without too much pressure and can handle that, it's a whole different game being in there to receive it and play out from the back. He could invert better than most options, but whilst Gvardiol is quicker and sharper with the ball than Stones, Johnny is so good at retaining possession which is vital for our defensive shape.

Neither Stones or Gvardiol weren’t great last night. But we are getting murdered physically in midfield and have no legs there, still think josko is worth a punt, it can’t possibly be any worse than last night?

 

[Stoned Rose]

This kid needs to be getting busy.

 

[krisblue]

Palmer, maybe. And that's it.

I dunno, I’d rather have had Porro than Walker last night that’s for sure.

 

[Keeper!]

Fuck me what a summer this lad is going to have to produce!!