The club must have been happy with Zin. You do have to question why we did not notice Cucu before the Brighton move. Pep must not have rated him. Strange to pay over the odds now.Where were the scouting team when he signed for Brighton for 15m?
Not a bad shout. Give Ake plenty of game time and allow the new Cb to settle. Wouldn’t be the worst plan.I wonder if there isn't a suitable left back to go for this year whether we would go for a centre half instead and have Ake as permanent left back
My point is we always seem to wait for a player to fully develop before buying, this guy must have been know by Pep and Txiki and it's reported we were aware of him for some time.The club must have been happy with Zin. You do have to question why we did not notice Cucu before the Brighton move. Pep must not have rated him. Strange to pay over the odds now.
The club must have been happy with Zin. You do have to question why we did not notice Cucu before the Brighton move. Pep must not have rated him. Strange to pay over the odds now.
Huge drop off when in possession, simply not good enough on the ball.Not a bad shout. Give Ake plenty of game time and allow the new Cb to settle. Wouldn’t be the worst plan.
That's ok but when Brighton or any other club for that matter take the risk on a player, they want the reward when they sell them on.Because we as club need proven player to win every single throphy possible every season, we can't gambling at that time to buy Barca reject from Getafe. Let the other club like Brighton risk him to play in PL to prove themselves until they can be considered good enough for our squad.
I agree. Change in strategy needed. We should have snapped up Cucu from Getafe and gave him a chance. Someone has dropped the ball here.My point is we always seem to wait for a player to fully develop before buying, this guy must have been know by Pep and Txiki and it's reported we were aware of him for some time.
We spend a lot of money on players who we all know will never even full on our shirt, players that go into the CFG clubs and are then sold on, it a highly successful policy but I would like to see more effort put into players around our first team, take a few risks on players with huge potential, like we have done with Alvarez.
LB has been an issue for a long time, it was clear long ago that Mendy was done after his injury, Zinch a makeshift and whatever anyone says often a weakness in the big games, Ake again makeshift, ok for emergencies but nowhere near good enough on a regular basis.
Huge drop off when in possession, simply not good enough on the ball.
Maybe not but can defend better than Cancelo. In the big games I would like to see us use Ake and Philips. Our midfield can get overrun at times and we look raggy at the back.Huge drop off when in possession, simply not good enough on the ball.
And that makes us far easier to defend against, we need width on both sides.Walker will be drop so Cancelo can play as RB instead. Ake will become defensive LB just like Walker but minus his pace.
it's been a shit show for a long time, in the big games where were genuinely tested ( few games I admit) it's clearly a weakness the opposition target.How have we actually got to the shit show that is this left back situation?!
Ok but then are our wide players then good enough?Maybe not but can defend better than Cancelo. In the big games I would like to see us use Ake and Philips. Our midfield can get overrun at times and we look raggy at the back.
All these people saying this. We’re an attacking side so let’s weaken that strength to put an extra less technically able player in the team. That will be successful.Maybe not but can defend better than Cancelo. In the big games I would like to see us use Ake and Philips. Our midfield can get overrun at times and we look raggy at the back.
You are right, its great to start the season with only 2 senior fullbacks, its of course impossible to start negotiating with someone earlier than 1-2 weeks before the season starts. Especially since we had only sold players for 200m or so this year before we let Zinchenko leave, so we could obviously not start negotiations prior to that, we are basically skint and need to sell to be able to buy just like Leeds, Burnley, Everton and other poor clubs. Nobody could have seen the need for this coming and everything Txiki does is perfect, so suggesting he could have done one thing a bit better must mean you are a wum. It was stupid of me to even suggest we should at least have 1 senior fullback on the bench when the season starts and thinking this should be possible to sort out in only 10 weeks time. My apologies.You expecting to catch many with that?
it's been a shit show for a long time, in the big games where were genuinely tested ( few games I admit) it's clearly a weakness the opposition target.
Ye I still do reckon we are gonna go in with a more reasonable offer for him this week just a pay up situation, when we look back at it 3 years later it could be a steal really but the difference between quality of cucu and the other targets is just that big. Unless he went on strike and made it a bad atmosphere in the changing room then I don’t see them reducing the asking price.Agreed! City might value Cucurella at £40m but with the amount we have brought in with sales this summer if pep pushes for Cucurella with a plan then FFS offer £45m with £5m and strengthen the fucking squad in a key area! This attitude that someone can fill in a position is truly baffling to be honest and behind the scenes pep must get pissed off at times having to find solutions to basic things the management don’t help him with.
Yes and that is a valid argument. I am sure pep will get it right. The only reason I would advocate Ake over Cancelo is due to the big man up front needing time. I would rather we stay compact and hard to break down while Haaland is adjusting. Cancelo can be released at the appropriate time in games or when the new players are up to speed with the system/tactic.All these people saying this. We’re an attacking side so let’s weaken that strength to put an extra less technically able player in the team. That will be successful.
Agreed! City might value Cucurella at £40m but with the amount we have brought in with sales this summer if pep pushes for Cucurella with a plan then FFS offer £45m with £5m and strengthen the fucking squad in a key area! This attitude that someone can fill in a position is truly baffling to be honest and behind the scenes pep must get pissed off at times having to find solutions to basic things the management don’t help him with.