It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[DMA's]

We can’t go again with what we have, Rodri gets injured we are in trouble. When Rodri doesn’t play it’s like a basketball game our midfield has a massive hole in it. We’ve been very lucky that Rodri has been able to stay fit and not get injured but that news coming out of the Spanish camp is worrying.

We've spent money on players that can’t do what Rodri can. Kovacic isn’t aggressive enough , Nunes the same , they can dribble and keep control and are good at that, but breaking up play and tackling they can’t do it. Funny enough Kalvin was perfect but his decline we couldn’t see coming, the Kalvin at Leeds was exactly what we needed as a back up

So we desperately need a player that has the skill set like Rodri. No one will be as good as Rodri but we can try. Right now we are again one Rodri injury away from teams being able to cut us open at will.

The games Rodri didn’t play last season and Kovacic did we couldn’t control counter attacks we were cut open. The six is so important in Peps system Fernandinho was our most important player when he was here , Rodri is now.

This summer we need a back up or a player to push for the starting spot. Frenkie or Bruno would fit perfectly stat wise

Well unfortunately we may have to pay for the poor recruitment. That’s really my main point. I disagree with your opinion on Phillips to me it was very clear he was no where near the level, nunes was a panic buy and kovavic is good but his injury record is awful.

We simply don’t have the space in the squad unless we get rid of 2 of those 3. We know pep likes a small squad and I can’t see that changing. Who is paying the money for Nunes not to mention his wages? Getting rid of Phillips will be hard enough!

We have the bodies but sadly we don’t have the quality to cover for Rodri. Letting gundo go, missing out on Bellingham plus rice and then paqueta to Nunes has left us in a very bad position

 

[Mad 4 It]

Well unfortunately we may have to pay for the poor recruitment. That’s really my main point. I disagree with your opinion on Phillips to me it was very clear he was no where near the level, nunes was a panic buy and kovavic is good but his injury record is awful.

We simply don’t have the space in the squad unless we get rid of 2 of those 3. We know pep likes a small squad and I can’t see that changing. Who is paying the money for Nunes not to mention his wages? Getting rid of Phillips will be hard enough!

We have the bodies but sadly we don’t have the quality to cover for Rodri. Letting gundo go, missing out on Bellingham plus rice and then paqueta has left us in a very bad position

Not if we get FDJ and Neves and ship out Nunes and Phillips

 

[blueparrot]

Well unfortunately we may have to pay for the poor recruitment. That’s really my main point. I disagree with your opinion on Phillips to me it was very clear he was no where near the level, nunes was a panic buy and kovavic is good but his injury record is awful.

We simply don’t have the space in the squad unless we get rid of 2 of those 3. We know pep likes a small squad and I can’t see that changing. Who is paying the money for Nunes not to mention his wages? Getting rid of Phillips will be hard enough!

We have the bodies but sadly we don’t have the quality to cover for Rodri. Letting gundo go, missing out on Bellingham plus rice and then paqueta to Nunes has left us in a very bad position

Maybe, but we bought Phillips as an international,and thought we could improve him. Saw this in an article about Southgates post match comments

"Phillips was a phenomenal England player, their best at the last Euros. But his inexorable decline has not been sudden; not since joining Manchester City in summer 2022 has he played either regular or good football. "

There were good reasons we bought him at the time.

 

[richards30]

Not if we get FDJ and Neves and ship out Nunes and Phillips

Really cant see where Nunes goes if he doesnt want to? Kovacic was rumoured to have a big offer from Saudi though?

 

[DMA's]

Maybe, but we bought Phillips as an international,and thought we could improve him. Saw this in an article about Southgates post match comments

"Phillips was a phenomenal England player, their best at the last Euros. But his inexorable decline has not been sudden; not since joining Manchester City in summer 2022 has he played either regular or good football. "

There were good reasons we bought him at the time.

Southgate is just trying to save his job. He is talking absolute shit. Phillips had a good purple patch but he was hardly Toni kross.

Just went through my old posts re Phillips when he joined and I posted this.

“phillips is tidy but nothing more imo. He doesn’t have unbelievable
athleticism, he isn’t a world class passer and he certainly isn’t a brilliant defensive player. He is an above average premier league player but I feel we almost rely on pep to make him “city level” and as a result we are our happy to overpay due to his technical prowess.”

I’m not posting that to say I am so sort of genius who never gets anything wrong because of course I get loads wrong. I’m pointing out that Phillips was to a lot of people a poor purchase at the time despite what a desperate Southgate may say.

 

[FMwkdsoul]

Really cant see where Nunes goes if he doesnt want to? Kovacic was rumoured to have a big offer from Saudi though?

kova isnt rumoured to want to take it either. both staying

 

[DMA's]

Not if we get FDJ and Neves and ship out Nunes and Phillips

Sadly we don’t live on fifa

 

[blueparrot]

Southgate is just trying to save his job. He is talking absolute shit. Phillips had a good purple patch but he was hardly Toni kross.

Just went through my old posts re Phillips when he joined and I posted this.

“phillips is tidy but nothing more imo. He doesn’t have unbelievable
athleticism, he isn’t a world class passer and he certainly isn’t a brilliant defensive player. He is an above average premier league player but I feel we almost rely on pep to make him “city level” and as a result we are our happy to overpay due to his technical prowess.”

I’m not posting that to say I am so sort of genius who never gets anything wrong because of course I get loads wrong. I’m pointing out that Phillips was to a lot of people a poor purchase at the time despite what a desperate Southgate may say.

It wasn't Southgate saying that though,he was very good at the Euros, he was looked at by a few teams. We obviously thought he had enough talent for us to work with.It's not that we bought a player obviously not good enough, it just turned out he didn't have what it takes to adapt to Peps game.
Anyway that done and dusted now.He either gets sold or loaned, doubt it impacts who we bring in next,one way or the other.

 

[DMA's]

It wasn't Southgate saying that though,he was very good at the Euros, he was looked at by a few teams. We obviously thought he had enough talent for us to work with.It's not that we bought a player obviously not good enough, it just turned out he didn't have what it takes to adapt to Peps game.
Anyway that done and dusted now.He either gets sold or loaned, doubt it impacts who we bring in next,one way or the other.

Agree to disagree on Phillips but will say it does impact because Phillips is on huge wages and still has 4 years contracted at city. With the stringent psr rules crap buys like Phillips and nunes matter greatly

 

[blueparrot]

Agree to disagree on Phillips but will say it does impact because Phillips is on huge wages and still has 4 years contracted at city. With the stringent psr rules crap buys like Phillips and nunes matter greatly

Think we have a fair bit of leeway on PSR, not made a loss for a few years and our net spend is quite low. Don't think we are in any danger of failing. Nunes is a totally different story linking him with Phiilps,saying he'll definitely fail makes no more sense than saying he'll definitely prove people wrong like Ake did. Very much wait and see, but he's already shown far more than Phillips.