It's quiet... summer 2018.

[TonyColemansbagofapples]

Ask yourselves, who you would rather have : Gundogan, Pogba, Horrenderson, Dier, Noble, Mkhitaryan or any number of other overhyped premiership midfielder.

 

[OB1]

Tosin goes on loan, we have 5 CBs, often playing three at the back and then Vinnie leaves/retires next season.

I don't think we will play three at the back very often but it might happen a bit more than it did this season. We may see a wider variety of formations next season but the 4-3-3 that ends up 3-4-3 with defensive midfielder splitting the centre backs will remain core.

Pep was adamant Stones won't be going anywhere. Ota going to a big Spanish club is conceivable but I don't expect it. I remain steadfastly of the view that Pep and the club will make an exception for Vinnie and have him as the plus 1 to four centre backs. I don't even think the club will let him go unless he chooses to and can see a one year contract being offered this time next year.

 

[OB1]

Not at all. He's an absolute quality player. Why is it that there is always a whipping boy at City. The first one in my time was Ian Bowyer, followed by Tony Towers.

Gundogan being vastly superior to either of those two. But we do always seem to have to have a whipping boy and people don't learn from the fact that some of those have gone on demonstrate their worth. Bowyer of course won the European Cup at Forest. Player like Corrigan, Power and Bond all got the treatment and, IIRC, went on to be our player of the year at a later point.

Gundogan would be a starter at most clubs but makes a damn fine squad player at City. If that is not enough for him then fair do's and he should go with good wishes but no way I see him being moved on otherwise.

 

[City_Sean]

I think we could well use Zinchenko in a deal for Jorginho, Napoli were eager to sign him last summer. Tosin, Mangala, Hart and possibly Angelino could be sold which would hopefully free us a decent amount of wages. I also wouldn't be surprised if someone like Gundogan left and also I think we need to make a difficult decision on Kompany - especially if we're moving for De Ligt.

 

[Gabriel]

I don't think we will play three at the back very often but it might happen a bit more than it did this season. We may see a wider variety of formations next season but the 4-3-3 that ends up 3-4-3 with defensive midfielder splitting the centre backs will remain core.

Pep was adamant Stones won't be going anywhere. Ota going to a big Spanish club is conceivable but I don't expect it. I remain steadfastly of the view that Pep and the club will make an exception for Vinnie and have him as the plus 1 to four centre backs. I don't even think the club will let him go unless he chooses to and can see a one year contract being offered this time next year.

Agree with much of that, though I actually dread the return of the 3 at the back. I thought it horrible to watch in many of the pre-season games last year and especially in the opening games against Brighton and Everton. Admittedly Mendy's absence left us lopsided, but Walker's sending off saw the shackles come off that night and there was far greater fluidity in the team.

 

[simon23]

Ask yourselves, who you would rather have : Gundogan, Pogba, Horrenderson, Dier, Noble, Mkhitaryan or any number of other overhyped premiership midfielder.

To answer your question, none of them...but that is not the point.

Ilky is a fantastic player, but unfortunately he doesn't have a role to fill at city...creatively he is not as good (and never will be) as David Silva or KDB....he is nowhere near their level and replacing either one of those two with Ilky sees a drop off in performance for the whole team.

Likewise he is not a defensive midfielder - he is the worst out of any of them defensively including silva, kdb, Ferna....replacing any of those 3 with Ilky sees a drop off in performance both creatively and defensively. Infact, defensively he is nearly as much as a liability as Yaya had been in the past.

We need to replace him with either a much more creative player (one at the level of Silva/KDB - highly unlikely)...or one who is better defensively.......this is the more likely option.

When the very sad say comes that Silva can play no more/leaves us we will have to find a replacement (unless Foden/Diaz can rise to the challenge - not impossible)

The one worrying think for next season for me is that Pep has already gone on record saying silva may not play as much.....we don't have anyone to play instead of him and when he doesn't play KDB suffers (and likewise the other way around).....Ilky isn't an able replacement in terms of creativity or control of a game/ability to influence a game.

 

[simon23]

i would certainly sell to raise funds..we stood still on a couple of occasions after winning the league...we don't want to make that mistake for the third time.

The fringe players/not wanted any more list esp Hart, Mangala should definitely be sold. Nothing I've seen of Tosin makes me think he can make it at the very top either so id be happy for him to leave
Zinchenko is such a difficult one..Ive never seen him play in his natural position and he adapted so well to playing at left back that that alone shows that he is an incredible talent...after all he is an attacking midfielder isn't he? getting delp to play left back was good but turning him into a left back was an absolute miracle so id be tempted to keep him

 

[shak]

Horrenderson

I like it.

 

[MarsLlama]

Why would we consider selling our best CB who has just signed an extension?

If someone offers upwards of £50m, we'd probably be interested.

 

[OB1]

Agree with much of that, though I actually dread the return of the 3 at the back. I thought it horrible to watch in many of the pre-season games last year and especially in the opening games against Brighton and Everton. Admittedly Mendy's absence left us lopsided, but Walker's sending off saw the shackles come off that night and there was far greater fluidity in the team.

I've probably repeated this too many times but I'm not a fan of three 3 CB's either; however, I do like the virtual 3 at the back as I call it with 2 Cb's split wide and a DM in between. Even better is when we dominate so much that we essentially have two at the back.