If you were bobby,..

[mcfc-mark]

Nzogbia.

 

[Rodney Marsh's Hair]

Hoilett
Bale
Hazard

We desperately need width we can rely on next season. That is the key to taking some pressure off Merlin and giving us more reliable outlets in play.

 

[El Mago Silva]

I still don't rate hazard as a wide player.

Eden could absolutely play wide for City. No, you do not see him crossing the ball all that often, but that is not what Lille ask him to do. They often rely on 1-2's down the right hand side and Eden works them beautifully with Mathieu Debuchy. In fact, when Nolan Roux (Lille's best striker right now) is on the pitch, there is really no one to even cross the ball to since Nolan is more of a finesse player.

Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that Eden is a tremendous taker of (indirect) free kicks - better than anyone on City. He is also faster and "trickier" than anyone City currently play wide. His ability to beat defenders one on one and experience working 1-2's (with the likes of Debuchy, Roux, Dmitri Payet, etc) alone make him worth buying.

Would he provide the service that a target man like Dzeko needs? Perhaps not, but he certainly would force defenders to stray from the middle of the pitch and Nasri and Silva would love playing with him.

 

[brian the blue]

Was thinking about this the other day, but would wingers see the end of Silva?

A lot of peoples teams have Silva behind Aguero, but I don't see the point of wingers if we're only going to have Aguero up front. I firmly believe Aguero plays best with a partner, whether that be Dzeko, Balotelli or whoever. I would've thought a system with wingers would work best with this set up:

----------Toure---Barry----------

--Di Maria----Aguero-------Bale--

--------------Dzeko--------------

(I don't think we'll get either Bale or Di Maria, just using them as an example of out and out wingers)

Now obviously we could go for the overlap on one side and a winger on the other like this:

-----Silva---Aguero------Bale--

-------------Dzeko------------

With Richards bombing on past Silva on the right.

 

[kun]

Lavezzi, Hoilett and Weiss

 

[MCFC4EVR]

Was thinking about this the other day, but would wingers see the end of Silva?

A lot of peoples teams have Silva behind Aguero, but I don't see the point of wingers if we're only going to have Aguero up front. I firmly believe Aguero plays best with a partner, whether that be Dzeko, Balotelli or whoever. I would've thought a system with wingers would work best with this set up:

----------Toure---Barry----------

--Di Maria----Aguero-------Bale--

--------------Dzeko--------------

(I don't think we'll get either Bale or Di Maria, just using them as an example of out and out wingers)

I don't know about that I think we have a good chance he is one of the lowest paid players in the Madrid team on about like 60k paid less than likes of Milner and we have a few Argentinian and Spanish speaking players as well.

 

[Matt the Giant]

Was thinking about this the other day, but would wingers see the end of Silva?

I know many here scream out for wingers, but I don't think that's in Mancini's plans at all.
He is not trying to play a Man United, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich kind of game, but more of a Barcelona-type football. The problem is the only team in the world who has reached success with that style is Barcelona so trying to emulate their strategy could prove to be impossible, or at least it would take many many years to master, and the right players of course. The fact they we were very close to sign Sanchez last year, and reports coming in now about our interest in Hazard suggest I'm right.

Here's how a typical Barcelona side looks:

------------------ Pique ---------- Puyol -------------------
Alves ----------------------------------------------- Abidal
------------------------ Busquets ---------------------------
------------------- Xavi ---------- Iniesta -------------------

---Sanchez -------------------------------------- Pedro ---
-------------------------- Messi ------------------------------

The key to their football, is found all the way down in the back line, where good passing, short and long, is absolutely necessary. We don't have a great passing central defender, someone like Vertonghen or even better Hummels. Vinnie is okay.

Then to, what I feel is, possibly the most important position in order to make this system work; the defensive midfielder, the Busquets role. Look at Barca play and notice how much of the build-up which goes via him, how well he gets the ball forward and constantly works together with the two in front of him, Xavi and Iniesta.
De Jong is useless in this position, Mancini knows that and have tried playing YaYa there with limited success. He's got the passing ability but not the stamina. Also he is more needed further up the pitch where he does his best job, in Xavi's position.
So, we absolutely need a new defensive midfielder á la Busquets, and I can't think of anyone more suitable for this than Javi Martinez from Bilbao. (Possibly Yann M'vila could be a decent alternative.)

Silva could be played in the Iniesta position and as said above Yaya in Xavi's.

Surely our interest in Hazard means he will play in Sanhez's position, as a right-sided attacking midfielder/winger. And he will without doubt do a cracking job there.

Our Pedro could have been Balotelli, but that'll never happen. Nasri does not really do his job there but is okay I guess. If the money was available I wouldn't mind seeing Bale or Di Maria there, but for now I assume they would be too expensive.

Up front we have Aguero, so we could look like this:



------------ Kompany ---------- Hummels --------------
Richards ------------------------------------------- Clichy
------------------------ Martinez ---------------------------
----------------- Yaya ------------- Silva -------------------

--- Hazard -------------------------------------- Nasri ---
------------------------- Aguero -----------------------------


And if you put Bale in Nasris place we'd have the best starting XI in the world.

It's a very attack-oriented side, and good passing/control is a must.

So instead of thinking in terms of "we need wingers", I think we should try to think about how to realize and complete the work already begun. So, wingers/wide players would not mean the end of Silva, it would just place him a bit deeper.



Alves drifting up on the right side, or Pedro on the left, but neither of them of course is a wingers. Silva would probably do a very good job playing in Iniesta's role, if he had high quality players such as Busquets and Xavi around him.
Our Xavi could be played by Yaya but we have no one like Busquets, no one even close. If we bought Javi Martinez our Barca-inspired midfield would be complete.

 

[richards30]

Was thinking about this the other day, but would wingers see the end of Silva?

I know many here scream out for wingers, but I don't think that's in Mancini's plans at all.
He is not trying to play a Man United, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich kind of game, but more of a Barcelona-type football. The problem is the only team in the world who has reached success with that style is Barcelona so trying to emulate their strategy could prove to be impossible, or at least it would take many many years to master, and the right players of course. The fact they we were very close to sign Sanchez last year, and reports coming in now about our interest in Hazard suggest I'm right.

Here's how a typical Barcelona side looks:

------------------ Pique ---------- Puyol -------------------
Alves ----------------------------------------------- Abidal
------------------------ Busquets ---------------------------
------------------- Xavi ---------- Iniesta -------------------

---Sanchez -------------------------------------- Pedro ---
-------------------------- Messi ------------------------------

The key to their football, is found all the way down in the back line, where good passing, short and long, is absolutely necessary. We don't have a great passing central defender, someone like Vertonghen or even better Hummels. Vinnie is okay.

Then to, what I feel is, possibly the most important position in order to make this system work; the defensive midfielder, the Busquets role. Look at Barca play and notice how much of the build-up which goes via him, how well he gets the ball forward and constantly works together with the two in front of him, Xavi and Iniesta.
De Jong is useless in this position, Mancini knows that and have tried playing YaYa there with limited success. He's got the passing ability but not the stamina. Also he is more needed further up the pitch where he does his best job, in Xavi's position.
So, we absolutely need a new defensive midfielder á la Busquets, and I can't think of anyone more suitable for this than Javi Martinez from Bilbao. (Possibly Yann M'vila could be a decent alternative.)

Silva could be played in the Iniesta position and as said above Yaya in Xavi's.

Surely our interest in Hazard means he will play in Sanhez's position, as a right-sided attacking midfielder/winger. And he will without doubt do a cracking job there.

Our Pedro could have been Balotelli, but that'll never happen. Nasri does not really do his job there but is okay I guess. If the money was available I wouldn't mind seeing Bale or Di Maria there, but for now I assume they would be too expensive.

Up front we have Aguero, so we could look like this:



------------ Kompany ---------- Hummels --------------
Richards ------------------------------------------- Clichy
------------------------ Martinez ---------------------------
----------------- Yaya ------------- Silva -------------------

--- Hazard -------------------------------------- Nasri ---
------------------------- Aguero -----------------------------


And if you put Bale in Nasris place we'd have the best starting XI in the world.

It's a very attack-oriented side, and good passing/control is a must.

So instead of thinking in terms of "we need wingers", I think we should try to think about how to realize and complete the work already begun. So, wingers/wide players would not mean the end of Silva, it would just place him a bit deeper.



Alves drifting up on the right side, or Pedro on the left, but neither of them of course is a wingers. Silva would probably do a very good job playing in Iniesta's role, if he had high quality players such as Busquets and Xavi around him.
Our Xavi could be played by Yaya but we have no one like Busquets, no one even close. If we bought Javi Martinez our Barca-inspired midfield would be complete.

Wow!!!! That city team would be sensational!!! And not massively unattainable in my opinion.

 

[Dax777]

I still don't rate hazard as a wide player.

Eden could absolutely play wide for City. No, you do not see him crossing the ball all that often, but that is not what Lille ask him to do. They often rely on 1-2's down the right hand side and Eden works them beautifully with Mathieu Debuchy. In fact, when Nolan Roux (Lille's best striker right now) is on the pitch, there is really no one to even cross the ball to since Nolan is more of a finesse player.

Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that Eden is a tremendous taker of (indirect) free kicks - better than anyone on City. He is also faster and "trickier" than anyone City currently play wide. His ability to beat defenders one on one and experience working 1-2's (with the likes of Debuchy, Roux, Dmitri Payet, etc) alone make him worth buying.

Would he provide the service that a target man like Dzeko needs? Perhaps not, but he certainly would force defenders to stray from the middle of the pitch and Nasri and Silva would love playing with him.

So you agree with me then. I don't rate him as a wide player. I have nothing against him as a talent, but as a wide player, I see no justification for why every CIty fans thinks he is the answer.

From what I have seen, he is a less cautious Nasri. And no, he is not particularly fast. Tricky? Yes! Fast? No! No faster than Nasri or Johnson. He seems to be better in the middle too. Does more good work there, and more dribbling when he is outside (which includes more losing the ball, and more fouls).

He is not a natural crosser of the ball. This is not a function of what is asked of him, but a function of his make up. That is not his game. Can he cross? Sure! SIlva can too. But that is not their natural instinct. It is Bale's though!

Not that I am saying one over the other. But lets understand what we are talking about here. For those who keep screaming we need Width and pace (as in a wide player with pace who can whip a ball into the box) Hazard is not that player!

 

[El Mago Silva]

I still don't rate hazard as a wide player.

Eden could absolutely play wide for City. No, you do not see him crossing the ball all that often, but that is not what Lille ask him to do. They often rely on 1-2's down the right hand side and Eden works them beautifully with Mathieu Debuchy. In fact, when Nolan Roux (Lille's best striker right now) is on the pitch, there is really no one to even cross the ball to since Nolan is more of a finesse player.

Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that Eden is a tremendous taker of (indirect) free kicks - better than anyone on City. He is also faster and "trickier" than anyone City currently play wide. His ability to beat defenders one on one and experience working 1-2's (with the likes of Debuchy, Roux, Dmitri Payet, etc) alone make him worth buying.

Would he provide the service that a target man like Dzeko needs? Perhaps not, but he certainly would force defenders to stray from the middle of the pitch and Nasri and Silva would love playing with him.

So you agree with me then. I don't rate him as a wide player. I have nothing against him as a talent, but as a wide player, I see no justification for why every CIty fans thinks he is the answer.

From what I have seen, he is a less cautious Nasri. And no, he is not particularly fast. Tricky? Yes! Fast? No! No faster than Nasri or Johnson. He seems to be better in the middle too. Does more good work there, and more dribbling when he is outside (which includes more losing the ball, and more fouls).

He is not a natural crosser of the ball. This is not a function of what is asked of him, but a function of his make up. That is not his game. Can he cross? Sure! SIlva can too. But that is not their natural instinct. It is Bale's though!

Not that I am saying one over the other. But lets understand what we are talking about here. For those who keep screaming we need Width and pace (as in a wide player with pace who can whip a ball into the box) Hazard is not that player!

I actually don't think he would be better in the middle. Yes, he plays centrally often now, but that says more about how he has developed as a player (the through balls he plays through the middle were not part of his repetoire even last year) than his "natural tendencies".

If City were to stick with their current style of attacking (ie full backs getting forward and crossing the ball), Hazard would be most useful as a player who would force defenders outside of the box. Nasri is quite different in that he always comes inward. Johnson could probably play on the left and stay wide, but he does not have the quality to beat defenders without losing possession. Thus, Hazard (who might I add is the most fouled player in Ligue 1 by some distance - if that attests to his winger like qualities) offers something different.

I think you view him as a central playmaker because he is more cerebral than some of the other popular wingers in England, but playing wide wouldn't deprive him of the ability to express creativity. Doesn't a team need this type of player all over the pitch?

I don't know much about Bale to be honest, but I would worry about how much of the ball he would need to see. Would he not be somewhat of a disruptive influence? He also dives :P

 

[Dax777]

I actually don't think he would be better in the middle. Yes, he plays centrally often now, but that says more about how he has developed as a player (the through balls he plays through the middle were not part of his repetoire even last year) than his "natural tendencies".

Even when he played predominantly wide last year, he wasn't a ball crosser then either. For City, he might be good in the Nasri/Silva roles, but that is exactly the point. He is not the hug the line speedster/crosser that City fans are salivating for. Bale/Di Maria better represents that ideal.

If City were to stick with their current style of attacking (ie full backs getting forward and crossing the ball), Hazard would be most useful as a player who would force defenders outside of the box.

I don't disagree with this, but that butresses my point made earlier of not being sold on him as a winger. in our current system, Yes! As an out and out speed winger lots of City fans whine about? No! He is simply not that guy.

Nasri is quite different in that he always comes inward. Johnson could probably play on the left and stay wide, but he does not have the quality to beat defenders without losing possession. Thus, Hazard (who might I add is the most fouled player in Ligue 1 by some distance - if that attests to his winger like qualities) offers something different.

Until a few weeks ago Nene was the most fouled player in the league, and Hazzard 2nd. Hazzard just jumped ahead in the last 2 weeks, and they are pretty close. But being fouled a lot says nothing about your abilities as a winger. It might suggest you are tricky (which I already stated he is) but not necesarily fast or a good crosser. That is not something you can determine based on how often you are fouled.

I think you view him as a central playmaker because he is more cerebral than some of the other popular wingers in England, but playing wide wouldn't deprive him of the ability to express creativity. Doesn't a team need this type of player all over the pitch?

I don't know much about Bale to be honest, but I would worry about how much of the ball he would need to see. Would he not be somewhat of a disruptive influence? He also dives :P

Yes teams need those types of players, and I have said many times I wouldn't mind him on the squad. I was just expressing the opinion that he wasn't the speed winger City fans hope for every day. Just a very talented Attacking player.

 

[Mad 4 It]

Martinez, Hazard, Gotze and Hummels bring back Guidetti. This is the best combination money can buy as Gotze and Hazard can play on the wings or in the middle. Cost circa £110 mill less deadwood sales = £50mill and that figure does not include Balo or Dzeko but if both were to leave just buy one striker and net spend would be about £40mill which is well within budget.

 

[spurspinter1]

I don't know much about Bale to be honest, but I would worry about how much of the ball he would need to see. Would he not be somewhat of a disruptive influence? He also dives :P

You do know he's British right? It's called shielding yourself from dangerous career ending tackles, not diving.

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

I would go all out for bale especially if spurs dont get CL football, ive never seen hazzard play so I cant really comment on but what we don't need is another silva/nasri/johnson type player we need someone who direct with loads of pace and also helps out the back 4.
In a perfect world we would sign both but that isn't going to happen, johnson is going to leave hopefully for around 10 mill so we can make some profit on him and weiss will return and should be given the pre season to prove himself after two good loan spells. If we do sell him though then a cheap winger like cerci or especially hoilett along with bale could happen.

 

[Dax777]

Martinez, Hazard, Gotze and Hummels bring back Guidetti. This is the best combination money can buy as Gotze and Hazard can play on the wings or in the middle. Cost circa £110 mill less deadwood sales = £50mill and that figure does not include Balo or Dzeko but if both were to leave just buy one striker and net spend would be about £40mill which is well within budget.

Except for the small problem of Gotze and Hummels not being for sale, and others being interested in Hazzard and Martinez. We are not the only ones in the market for players, and it is going to be tough, specially if we don't win the league.

 

[fatbloke]

We have to go all out for Bale, he would be the perfect compliment to our already outstanding midfield. It's not about replacing Silva, Nasri or Johnson in the first team, it's about giving ourselves extra options throughout the 60-65 games a season when injuries, suspensions and players just suffering fatigue all have such a huge impact. Bale has played in the Premiership, knows exactly how tough it is and wouldn't need anytime at all to settle, he's also torn defences to shreads in the Champions League although only in one season. His pace, ability to beat a man, crossing range and his ability to fit in with our passing game make him ideal. Personally I think he would turn us from contenders to title winners instantly, he is worth every single penny of the £40m it would probably cost to get him. Final piece in the jigsaw.

 

[richards30]

Martinez, Hazard, Gotze and Hummels bring back Guidetti. This is the best combination money can buy as Gotze and Hazard can play on the wings or in the middle. Cost circa £110 mill less deadwood sales = £50mill and that figure does not include Balo or Dzeko but if both were to leave just buy one striker and net spend would be about £40mill which is well within budget.

Except for the small problem of Gotze and Hummels not being for sale, and others being interested in Hazzard and Martinez. We are not the only ones in the market for players, and it is going to be tough, specially if we don't win the league.

every player is for sale at the right price dax and you know it!!! aguero is not for sale but if anyone offered £100m then we`d sell him! the price of a player is what the buying club think hes worth? if quoted £35m and we think over 5-8 years potentially hes worth it then without question we would pay it! its these sort of players we need to spend big on as although already fantastic players will get even better and be superstars at hopefully our club for years to come.

 

[Mad 4 It]

All I'm going say is "fortune favours the bold" So if buying Hummels, Martinez, Hazard and Gotze takes us from being a world top 10 squad to a top 4, then I think after all the investment we have already made I can't see the owners wanting to pull back/standstill in terms of our rise to the top table. These acquisitions would propel us to Barca, Madrid levels.

Sales of deadwood would allow us to achieve this. We are so close. Can't see anything but a positive outcome this summer.

 

[adrianr]

I think anyone seriously believing we can get in Hummels, Martinez, Hazard and Gotze are in lala land. Hazard knows he can move onto bigger and better things, but the other three all have the very best options in their own country. We still have a hell of a lot to prove on the top stage before we can just go poaching the best talents like Real.

 

[blue12]

If the story this morning is true that bale will be sold by spurs if they fail to qualify for the champs league,then if it were to happen he would be my choice.
Bale would turn dzeko into the striker we know he can be overnight.