It's Quiet 17 - Glory Thread

[Centurions]

Jesus - gone
Sterling - going
Dinho - gone
Zinchenko - ?
Ake - ?

Could end up a mini-overhaul. Pound for pound we’ve upgraded on the outgoings in Haaland / KP so far, but regardless, less than ideal maybe?

Pep tends to prefer evolution over revolution - the incomings will need to settle a little quicker than we usually expect for Pep signings. Grealish needs to be tall this season too, from the off.

The upside is that the entire starting XI, at least that which doesn’t contain Gabby, is unchanged. The core of the important players remains the same, we’ve not had an outgoing in the shape of a Kompany or Dilva (assuming Bernardo stays, which I’d expect given Barca’s situation).

Negatives - few more departures than we wanted *might* happen.

Positives - best XI remains intact, man for man upgrades on the outgoings, Palmer set to break through too, and Grealish hopefully shaken off first season syndrome.

On the whole, very positive. Winning the quadruple and World Cup.

Plus Alvarez and an upgraded 2nd choice goalie, it's looking good so far to me.

 

[LIBlue]

I am surprised we would sell both Sterling and Jesús to domestic clubs, especially the Big Six.
I would be even more surprised if there is no replacement.

Or maybe they know something we don’t ;) like awful finishing maybe

 

[DanJ210]

surely we get a replacement in with the world cup clogging up fixtures, it feels too risky to leave it as is

 

[wolviedinho]

Safe to say Sterling is gone if Chelsea pay up. No way of holding a grudge against the guy for leaving to a rival given what he's done for us over the last 7 years.

Frustrating? Yes, at times. Brilliant too? Yes, at times.

The only real downside to this, in my opinion, is needing to replace his pace on the wings. He's the only one who really drives full backs back because they're shit scared of his pace and movement. I just hope we replace that in some way.

It's sad to see players like Jesus and Sterling going (despite it needing to be done) but it's exciting seeing a big overhaul. Giving me 17/18 vibes when we just blew the league away with a new style.

Sterling hasn’t used his pace for 2 seasons. Cuts inside every time he receives the ball. We don’t suit his play anymore. I don’t begrudge him going to a team that plays with less possession and more on the counter. Only pep knows why he has wanted to change from direct wingers to having them cut inside.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

All the best Raz. Been such a huge player for us since signing. Leaves with our best wishes and we’ll show the difference between a football club and a cult when he faces us at The Etihad. Should get a great reception.

 

[Gumzy97]

It would be incredibly stupid going into a new season with a smaller squad than last season especially with the amount of fixtures also the world cup and also Nations league is still going on.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

I am surprised we would sell both Sterling and Jesús to domestic clubs, especially the Big Six.
I would be even more surprised if there is no replacement.

Both players were going to run their contracts down if we didn’t sell them, and the PL is where the money is. So unless we want to lose them for nothing, potentially to the exact same clubs, then selling for around £100m is clearly the lesser of two evils.

 

[vincent]

It would be incredibly stupid going into a new season with a smaller squad than last season especially with the amount of fixtures also the world cup and also Nations league is still going on.

You don’t trust Pep and his team to make the right call?

 

[DanJ210]

the worry is can alvarez (if he were to play on the wing) and palmer take over sterlings minutes to a good enough standard, hopefully they can

 

[Vester]

It would be incredibly stupid going into a new season with a smaller squad than last season especially with the amount of fixtures also the world cup and also Nations league is still going on. Injuries nearly killed us last season.

We wont go into the new season with a smaller squad than last season, with Haaland, Alvarez, Phillips coming in and Sterling, Jesus, Fernandinho going out (+ possibly Cucurella, Ortega in, Steffen, Zinch out). Torres left 6 months ago and was in Peps own words replaced by Palmer in the squad. With that said I would prefer us to have a bigger squad this season, and I hope Sterling out means at least a winger is coming in, preferably another LB/RB as well since I think only having 3 is almost like asking for problems.