No rush, Give him August and part of September off. 12 points behind at Christmas, reel the Arse in again (make them give back the PL December trophy). Champs League and FA Cup again. 'They' are right - football has become so predictable!I fear that'll only happen if we buy a viable alternative to Rodri. A player who can not only cover, but challenge him & when played there's no perceived drop off in quality.
This is as big a summer for Pep at City, as his second season where we needed to spend £200m on a new defence & went on to become Centurions.
I feel like this is not the time of the season we would rest Rodri. If we started next season without him for a few weeks it would be more understandable. Kovacic/Lewis paired can fill in but not all the time. Hopefully we sign another CDM.I fear that'll only happen if we buy a viable alternative to Rodri. A player who can not only cover, but challenge him & when played there's no perceived drop off in quality.
This is as big a summer for Pep at City, as his second season where we needed to spend £200m on a new defence & went on to become Centurions.
No rush, Give him August and part of September off. 12 points behind at Christmas, reel the Arse in again (make them give back the PL December trophy). Champs League and FA Cup again. 'They' are right - football has become so predictable!
Alternatively, he will be even more tired playing on farmers fields in league 2!
Rodri's too important to City. I commented on the favourite current City player thread that whilst I don't have a current favourite, Rodri's our most important player by a country mile.I feel like this is not the time of the season we would rest Rodri. If we started next season without him for a few weeks it would be more understandable. Kovacic/Lewis paired can fill in but not all the time. Hopefully we sign another CDM.
This year we played without Haaland for a decent amount of time and Alvarez is a better deputy than Phillips is to Rodri but hopefully shows we can get by just fine until the business end of the season.
Although I agree and think it’s a priority to get it sorted it’s now reached the stage he’s asked for a rest and commenting about minutes. We also want to tie him to a new contract.Rodri's too important to City. I commented on the favourite current City player thread that whilst I don't have a current favourite, Rodri's our most important player by a country mile.
We tried with Philips & it's failed, but the issue for us is, was Kovacic supposed to be a CDM replacement for Philips/Gundog? If so, it's not working.
Kova can play as a double pivot, but he can't replace Rodri, Gundog or KDB, hence why our purchase of him baffled me. He's a decent player, but a downgrade on all the above imo.
This summer our priority has to be resolving the Rodri issue, before we completely burn him out like Benitez burned out Gerrard & Torres, who neither recovered their previous levels again.
It's how the slippery slope starts. In terms of using Kovacic, Lewis & Nunes where we can, in place of Rodri, I firmly believe we need a like for like replacement for Rodders now, in the form of another Rodri or a new Fernandinho.Although I agree and think it’s a priority to get it sorted it’s now reached the stage he’s asked for a rest and commenting about minutes. We also want to tie him to a new contract.
It’s important we don’t jump into a transfer and don’t sign another Phillips. I think the short term solution is to use players like Kov/Lewis/Nunes when we can and long term we will buy a player to help and to push him.
He’s to important for us to not look after his best interests.
Kovacic for me was a make shift signing. Someone Pep has admired for years and is clearly a good player. I think he’ll have a better season next year not because of ‘City second season’ but we are in a transition on how we play. We needed to replace Gundo and we didn’t realistically know how long KDB would be out for. We wanted Bellingham and Rice at one point and think Paqueta was 3rd on that list, Nunes was the reaction signing and we just are a little off balance currently. But we’ve challenged in all 3 competitions so far so we are no way in a bad position.
The sheer number of current players mentioned (8) plus those that we cannot shift for money (2) underlines just how much work and just how difficult the job of squad development is. There’s just no way that we’ll get everything done in the one summer.It's how the slippery slope starts. In terms of using Kovacic, Lewis & Nunes where we can, in place of Rodri, I firmly believe we need a like for like replacement for Rodders now, in the form of another Rodri or a new Fernandinho.
Our drop off in quality is too great without Rodders even in the easier games. As for rest? I wish Soain would give him the summer off, but there's little chance of that ever happening. Then there's pre-season & the season kicks off again early August. We'll run him into the ground at this rate.
Personally, I think it's time to get ruthless & to flex our financial might for once, & damn others carping on about City ruining football (which we've not).
Ideally I'd like us to sell Cancelo, Philips, Gomez, Nunes & I'd even consider Kovacic too who see as a squad player. We need to trim the fat & get back to previous levels whereby we would've had enough to topple a "defend deep & hit em on the break" Real Madrid.
Crucial ties like that, & games against ArseAnal & the Dippers are decided by small margins. The tiny slip in the quality of our squad's DNA is all it takes for potential wins to become draws, & draws to become defeats. We've had far too many of this in crucial games this season.
Agreed we also need to replace Gundog & Mahrez too. Hopefully we can get Paqueta done this summer.
The other issue we’ve got is the eventual phasing out of KDB, Walker & the annual will he/won't he Bernardo transfer merry-go-round. I think Kev & Kyle have both got another season in them at least, but we must start the succession planning from now.
Personally I think the club should give Bernie a latest date to secure a transfer this summer, so we can secure a replacement. No chance we need the uncertainty dragging on into next season.
I think that’s why we are seeing reports of Pep wanting Bruno because he’s confident he could step in immediately. Same with Paqueta. Nice to see links to Kimmich as well. Would like the same quality player at RW to replace Mahrez properly like you say.It's how the slippery slope starts. In terms of using Kovacic, Lewis & Nunes where we can, in place of Rodri, I firmly believe we need a like for like replacement for Rodders now, in the form of another Rodri or a new Fernandinho.
Our drop off in quality is too great without Rodders even in the easier games. As for rest? I wish Soain would give him the summer off, but there's little chance of that ever happening. Then there's pre-season & the season kicks off again early August. We'll run him into the ground at this rate.
Personally, I think it's time to get ruthless & to flex our financial might for once, & damn others carping on about City ruining football (which we've not).
Ideally I'd like us to sell Cancelo, Philips, Gomez, Nunes & I'd even consider Kovacic too who see as a squad player. We need to trim the fat & get back to previous levels whereby we would've had enough to topple a "defend deep & hit em on the break" Real Madrid.
Crucial ties like that, & games against ArseAnal & the Dippers are decided by small margins. The tiny slip in the quality of our squad's DNA is all it takes for potential wins to become draws, & draws to become defeats. We've had far too many of this in crucial games this season.
Agreed we also need to replace Gundog & Mahrez too. Hopefully we can get Paqueta done this summer.
The other issue we’ve got is the eventual phasing out of KDB, Walker & the annual will he/won't he Bernardo transfer merry-go-round. I think Kev & Kyle have both got another season in them at least, but we must start the succession planning from now.
Personally I think the club should give Bernie a latest date to secure a transfer this summer, so we can secure a replacement. No chance we need the uncertainty dragging on into next season.
True. It's unfortunate that we're surrounded by idiots who latch onto a false narrative and run with it spreading the narrative to other idiots as they go. We see this with City over and over again. As long as we do our thing they can shove their opinions you know where : )i know that, i meant the public perception, most people believe city paid 100m pounds for him (even some city content creators).