It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[balotelli's back pocket]

If someone had said in January "the only squad change is Cancelo leaves, does that make us stronger or weaker?" what would your answer have been?

Football isn't played on paper, Pep knows he's only got 2 years left and I don't believe he'd go into his penultimate season half-baked. If you want to label me an apologist, fine, I'd rather have some trust in the people that got us this far and if worst comes to worst and they make a rare mistake and we have a season that's slightly worse than our best season ever, I can live with that.

I agree with your general point, but I think the context of Cancelo's departure can't be compared with Gundo's, or even Riyad's.

On paper, losing Cancelo and not replacing him weakened us. But it's clear it was totally necessary and ultimately positive. I doubt the club feel the same about this summer so far.

We wanted to sign Bellingham, he chose Madrid. We wanted Kovacic, and we landed him early, for a good price. We wanted to keep Gundo, he chose Barca. We wanted to sign Rice, he chose Arsenal. We wanted to keep Riyad, he chose Saudi (whether we should have let him go is another debate). We want rid of Cancelo, but he may end up staying. We've had attractive offers for Phillips, but he refuses to leave. We want to keep Walker, but he has one foot out the door. We're happy to move Laporte on, but nobody wants to pay for him. We want to sign Gvardiol, but we don't want to meet Leipzig's valuation. We want to give Bernardo a massive new contract, but he doesn't want to sign it. We want a new winger, but we can't find any that we like.

That's the story of our summer so far. Now, I'm not sure how much the club could or should have done differently in regards to the above - and the window doesn't shut for a month - but I suppose I can't blame people for being anxious.

What I can blame people for is calling out Txiki, which is totally ignorant and childish. He doesn't do this alone, but even if he did - just look at our success.

The signings he's made have almost all been successful. Almost every instance of us walking away from a deal has proved to be the right call.

Just last year we got 3 of the bargains of the window in Alvarez, Akanji and Ortega - not to mention beating every big club in the world to Haaland's signature. And we won the fucking treble.

We'll be fine.

 

[Kamaro011]

Their decline was down to off the pitch changes and decline as much as managers. Keep the club structure intact and that kind of decline should be avoided.

We can only hope, it's hard to predict because you know it's not certain in football on and off the pitch.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Ok. It doesn't help me though as I don't believe I needed any help. In the long run, his decision has little effect on my day to day life. That said, I do hold an opinion on the matter.

 

[rice10]

I am quite relaxed this season, amazing what winning a treble does for you!!

Every year I go into the season thinking we are short and last season I thought after signing Haaland we let too many leave, the squad didn’t look balanced, and we just didn’t have enough players to challenge on all fronts. What I hadn’t factored in was that Pep is an absolute genius and who would have expected us to end last season with a treble playing a 3 2 5 formation with John Stones because one of the worlds best DMs. In short I used to always panic at the beginning of a season and at the end we’ve won it all again.

As things stand I do think we look weaker than last season but we could suddenly sign a winger and defender and Pep might invent another new formation. I say invent but I personally reckon Pep copies his formations from the early 20th century with the old WM. Maybe our opponents could add plagiarism to our list of charges .

I just think it will all be alright in the end. It is an uneasy truth I’m starting to reluctantly accept.

 

[MadchesterCity]

We all know the answer to that

It’s easier to say weaker as we’ve lost Gundogan and Mahrez but you also have to consider that Foden, Alvarez, Haaland are all a year more experienced

 

[Sheikh rattle and roll]

It’s easier to say weaker as we’ve lost Gundogan and Mahrez but you also have to consider that Foden, Alvarez, Haaland are all a year more experienced

Plus Alvarez and Foden didn’t play or a regular basis last year
Now the tour is over the recruitment will be ramped up

 

[pavelsrnicek]

After the pre season tour it feels like we are decent shape bar a concern over a lack of creativity without KDB.

I think as a result of those matches Perrone will leave on loan. Not sure where we stand with respect to Palmer, Bobb and McAtee. I’d expect at least one to be moved out either permanently or on loan.

Despite the positive noises I can’t see Cancelo having much future. He plays in a position that we don’t really use and he’s fairly unhappy if he doesn’t play.

No idea what’s happening with Gvardiol but I guess it will sorted soon which means Laporte will be off.

Phillips is a strange one, he’s going to 3rd choice DM behind Rodri, Kovacic possibly Lewis and behind Bernardo, KDB, Kovacic, Foden and Lewis as an 8. Not sure if he’s going to get much game time. With the Euros next summer he’s going to have think hard on his future.

Not as worried about whether Walker stays or goes. He won’t be first choice as it stands but if he goes he’ll need to be replaced. I’d prefer if he did stay but would completely understand him taking on a new challenge.

The tour shows the creativity from Mahrez and to an extent Gundogan need to replaced. Whether by a midfielder or a wide player but there’s definitely a need for another creative spark in the squad.

 

[Delphinho]

Think we need another player that can do a job immediately, and not some young proapect that’s barely better than Palmer/Bobb, like Olise, Cherki and Barcola. Don’t think any of those three strengthen us on the short term, and we have plenty of good young prospects in the club.

Controversial, but I think Dybala would be a perfect fit. Similarly to Grealish he’s more of a 10 that often played out wide for Roma last season. His ball retention is very good, elite finisher in the box and from long range and one of the best creators in the top 5 leagues by stats. Got a goal or assist every 96 minutes for a Mourinho side that finished 6th last season (technically 7th because of Juves point deduction). He has also expressed in the past he’d like to play for City and he has a release clause of €12m for non-Italian CL clubs. Would ease some of the pressure on Kev as he can play both RW and attacking midfield (and false 9). Gundo and Mahrez got 46 G&A between them last season, we need someone that can do a job in his first season. Would be a very good Pep winger on the right

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

It’s easier to say weaker as we’ve lost Gundogan and Mahrez but you also have to consider that Foden, Alvarez, Haaland are all a year more experienced

Mahrez and Gundogan had a combined goal involvement of over 40 goals last season. Even if you think Haaland only needs to pick up a quarter of that it would mean he would be looking at 70 goals/assists this season.

As things stand right now we are weaker.

 

[DeBlueLou]

Mahrez and Gundogan had a combined goal involvement of over 40 goals last season. Even if you think Haaland only needs to pick up a quarter of that it would mean he would be looking at 70 goals/assists this season.

As things stand right now we are weaker.

Careful, you cannot say that! ;)