It's Quiet 18 - Wanna ring the bell?

[ninjamonkey]

Not a chance Pep plays him as a striker like Haaland, he would just revert to the false 9 which i don't think is a bad back up plan if Haaland does get an injury.

Reality is, Foden continues to play his position he did last season and only as a false 9 if really needed.

Striker, false 9, same difference for the point I was making. That being, it's not Phil Fodens natural or best position.

Moving the premier league's player of the year out of position should be an emergency contingency plan, not the go to plan as soon as Haaland is unavailable which is what it will be. It would be like moving Rodri to centre back being the plan if we had one injury at centre back, we can make it work if needs be but it shouldn't be the backup plan to have your best player, or one of, playing in a position that doesn't allow him to flourish.

Blitz teams, fast and direct. Hook Hattrick Haaland on 60 mins and pass the game out.

Hope we rarely see F9 as a perm option for 90mins

Expect this to be the plan. Which should hopefully mean no more sitting on 1 goal leads like we're 4-0 up at least. Haaland will be subbed off in literally every game we take a 2-3 goal lead and Pep see's as done. Not a chance he stays on the pitch when we are Winning 4/5 no matter how desperate he is to stay on and score more which will probably frustrate him somewhat but we will have to put him in bubble wrap at every possible moment

 

[ninjamonkey]

We definitely don’t need to put brakes on spending but who do you suggest we spend big on this summer and then next summer and who will be leaving? Pep stated many times he likes a small squad so I don’t see where all these expensive players, who will be excepting plenty of minutes, play.

I didnt say we had to spend big, merely said whatever is in the pipeline for next season or beyond won't have any impact on what we can or cannot do this summer.

I don't need to offer suggestions for my point to stand, i'm a fan on the outside, my suggestions are irrelevant. we've got the best, most extensive scouting network on the planet, I'm not having the idea they have all done their job and identified nobody that attainable.

I know Pep likes a small squad but he himself has acknowledged we were looking for a replacement. He also goes on about the ever increasing number of games we've got to play and just last night Txiki is quoted saying we need a deep squad to compete

 

[SebastianBlue]

For all those worried about reinforcements, I have it on very good authority that one of the most exciting young players in Europe will be joining the team in January.

He can play anywhere across the front three, is highly-rated by Pep, and is considered one of the biggest talents his country has produced in recent years.

Spoiler: “ I cannot disclose who it is, but I can share this music video as a vague clue.”

 

[Coatigan]

He's KFA

 

[handsofstone]

Have you got the stats to back that up ? We have more games now

GK: Ederson - Raya - Allison
GK: Orteta - ???? - Kelleher

Pretty much the same

RB: Walker - White - Arnold
RB: Rico - Tomiyasu - Ramsey
CB: Dias - Saliba - Van Dijk
CB: Akanji - Gabriel - Konate
CB: Stones - Calfiori - Quansah
CB: Ake - Timber - Gomez
LB: Gvardiol - Zinchenko - Robertson
LB: N/A - Kiwor - Tsimikas

We are a body short, but are Kiwor /Zinchenko or Tsimikas really that much better when our centre backs are so versatile?

CM: Rodri - Partey - Gravenberch
CM: De Bruyne - Rice - Szoboszlai
CM: Bernardo - Odegaard - Mac Allister
CM: Gundogan - Jorginho - Endo
CM: Nunes - Merino - Jones
Edit: Forgot Kovacic... so deffo our midfield clears

Given the uproar about how thin our midfield is, I'd argue that ours is "deeper" than the other 2

Again, our quality > than there's

AT: Foden - Saka - Salah
AT: Doku - Martinelli - Diaz
AT: Grealish - Trossard - Gakpo
AT: Savinho - Jesus - Elliot
AT: Bobb - Nelson - Nunes
AT: McAtee - N/A - Chiesa
AT: Haaland - Havertz - Jota

Again, similar depth here, maybe we lack a bit of experience and putting Bobb in is a cheat as he's injured, but he will be back and he's as talented as anyone on that list

 

[houraisen]

I fully support Pep's decision.
We do not need more bench warmers like Phillips and Nunes.

 

[johnny crossan]

For all those worried about reinforcements, I have it on very good authority that one of the most exciting young players in Europe will be joining the team in January.

He can play anywhere across the front three, is highly-rated by Pep, and is considered one of the biggest talents his country has produced in recent years.

Spoiler: “ I cannot disclose who it is, but I can share this music video as a vague clue.”

Europe you say...?

 

[Cobwebcat]

Why is it likely to be a panic buy? Because that suits your narrative? I'll support the club regardless of whether they add a second striker to the squad or not. I don't have to resign myself to anything. It's a simple matter of my believing they should have someone on the squad to back up Haaland that plays as a true 9 and you and some others thinking because we haven't done so it must be the best way to go. There's not a thing radical about my opinion on this matter. Yours on the other hand? Who in the world of football of any note is going to a false 9 system as a back-up plan to an established number 9? City have never even done that. But you know it's an iron clad plan and I'm being an alarmist, negative, or whatever other thing you want to say to discredit my opinion. C'mon Boss, what are we talking about here?

Well I’ve just listened to Pep and he repeated that Foden could play there and there wasn’t anyone he wanted available. Which is what I’ve been saying.

It’s an entirely reasonable train of thought.

I think you need to accept that Pep doesn’t agree with you and might know what he is doing.

 

[TonyM]

GK: Ederson - Raya - Allison
GK: Orteta - ???? - Kelleher

Pretty much the same

RB: Walker - White - Arnold
RB: Rico - Tomiyasu - Ramsey
CB: Dias - Saliba - Van Dijk
CB: Akanji - Gabriel - Konate
CB: Stones - Calfiori - Quansah
CB: Ake - Timber - Gomez
LB: Gvardiol - Zinchenko - Robertson
LB: N/A - Kiwor - Tsimikas

We are a body short, but are Kiwor /Zinchenko or Tsimikas really that much better when our centre backs are so versatile?

CM: Rodri - Partey - Gravenberch
CM: De Bruyne - Rice - Szoboszlai
CM: Bernardo - Odegaard - Mac Allister
CM: Gundogan - Jorginho - Endo
CM: Nunes - Merino - Jones


Given the uproar about how thin our midfield is, I'd argue that ours is "deeper" than the other 2

Again, our quality > than there's

AT: Foden - Saka - Salah
AT: Doku - Martinelli - Diaz
AT: Grealish - Trossard - Gakpo
AT: Savinho - Jesus - Elliot
AT: Bobb - Nelson - Nunes
AT: McAtee - N/A - Chiesa
AT: Haaland - Havertz - Jota

Again, similar depth here, maybe we lack a bit of experience and putting Bobb in is a cheat as he's injured, but he will be back and he's as talented as anyone on that list

Just goes to show that any of the 3 teams could win. It's mostly down to management, mental character, officiating and luck.

 

[PragueBlue]

GK: Ederson - Raya - Allison
GK: Orteta - ???? - Kelleher

Pretty much the same

RB: Walker - White - Arnold
RB: Rico - Tomiyasu - Ramsey
CB: Dias - Saliba - Van Dijk
CB: Akanji - Gabriel - Konate
CB: Stones - Calfiori - Quansah
CB: Ake - Timber - Gomez
LB: Gvardiol - Zinchenko - Robertson
LB: N/A - Kiwor - Tsimikas

We are a body short, but are Kiwor /Zinchenko or Tsimikas really that much better when our centre backs are so versatile?

CM: Rodri - Partey - Gravenberch
CM: De Bruyne - Rice - Szoboszlai
CM: Bernardo - Odegaard - Mac Allister
CM: Gundogan - Jorginho - Endo
CM: Nunes - Merino - Jones


Given the uproar about how thin our midfield is, I'd argue that ours is "deeper" than the other 2

Again, our quality > than there's

AT: Foden - Saka - Salah
AT: Doku - Martinelli - Diaz
AT: Grealish - Trossard - Gakpo
AT: Savinho - Jesus - Elliot
AT: Bobb - Nelson - Nunes
AT: McAtee - N/A - Chiesa
AT: Haaland - Havertz - Jota

Again, similar depth here, maybe we lack a bit of experience and putting Bobb in is a cheat as he's injured, but he will be back and he's as talented as anyone on that list

Kovacic seems to be missing.