It's Quiet the £250m return

[oldius]

We have an inbalanced group of players now. The assurance and power of Stones, Walker and Rodri are missing and it means that we can't cover counter-attacks. This has been a problem for a year now and we have not addressed this directly. We bought very young defenders in but they are so young they have only played a handful of games.

Unless we buy defenders, we are reliant on Rodri and or Stones getting fit. I am not sure this will work.

You cannot replace their level of skill and experience in the market.
We have to accept that we will have a changeover period.
That is why some of those players will stay and will be picked as the younger ones become more familiar with how we play.

 

[blueparrot]

First and foremost get move on Walker, Grealish, Phillips and McAtee. Despite the urge for Gundo to be moved in this window more than likely move on next summer. Especially with Rodri's set back. Possibly Kovacic in this window although same with Gundo he is needed for depth. Akanji should be let go but again Pep may have another say in that. Nico Gonzales is looking more likely despite on being signed in January. Stones needs to be kept for quota purposes.

We need to move none homegrown players because we can’t register them all, and why would we need to keep Stones there is no quota just a limit.Philips. Walker Phillips and Grealish most likely go Stones might,then we need 4 players to leave from the none homegrown list.As much as you can’t accept it Gundogan and Kovacic are the most likely to be 2 of them.

 

[RayCTID]

We need to move none homegrown players because we can’t register them all, and why would we need to keep Stones there is no quota just a limit.Philips. Walker Phillips and Grealish most likely go Stones might,then we need 4 players to leave from the none homegrown list.As much as you can’t accept it Gundogan and Kovacic are the most likely to be 2 of them.

We still need to keep Stones for the HG quota, especially with both Phillips and Walker being amongst the summer departures. Gonzales is looking more likely as he isn't being heavily featured. Going off Gundo's recent interview he is here for one more season and Pep is continuing to use him despite apparaently being linked away. Possibly Kova but again that is partially down to clubs meeting our valuation and his recovery. There are others if the necessity is to move a couple more on.

 

[nmc]

Dias and Lewis are the priorities? A bit surprised.

Rodri’s contract should be our priority!

 

[LongsightM13]

ive said previously that the defence needs a lot of work.

Last season I mentioned the very important need for a right back as none of our options are good enough (Lewis and Nunes)

I also said months ago that a priority should be replacing Stones and Ake (and you can probably add Akanji to that list as well).

None of this has been addressed....Reis is too inexperienced to go in as first choice centre half as is Khusonov...both should be third and 4th choices behind two more experienced defenders..

Issue s that you cant pair Dias with Gvardiol as that means we are so vulnerable to counter attacks with no pace at all at the back.....infact the only defender that has any real pace is Khusonov.

If we go into the season with this choice of centre halves and the Peps wanting to playing this really high line we can forget regaining the league title...if Al hilal can cause us problems most teams in the prem will do so as well on the break.

There are still smart arses/idiots on here who still insist pace at the back and midfield isn’t important
The game has moved on. They need to as well

 

[IOWBlue]

Less than 50% of that fever dream is happening

 

[better dead than red]

Maybe he should have stuck with the girlfriend he had, or at least split from that one first. Needs to get his head/life/fitness in order

Took lessons from Kyle, did he?

 

[The Stockport Iniesta]

Perhaps, but there needs to be more to his game than pace and physicality.

You've just described peak Kyle Walker, who was never a technically gifted player.

We are crying out for a player with a similar skill set if the high line and lack of pace in central defence persists.

 

[King Jay]

Out :

Walker
Stones
Ake
Akanji
Gundogan
Mcatee
Grealish
Doyle
Phillips
Wilson Esbrand
Kovacic
Bah ( loan )
In:

Livramento
Gibbs White

Better. I have doubts for Ake and Kovacic. One is HG and left footed. Can’t see pep making Khusanov and Reis number 3-4. the other injured .

 

[richards30]

Rodri’s contract should be our priority!

I sense they will see how he does over the next few months

 

[Blue_Lightsaber]

This is what I'd do.. and I admit it would be massive shakeup:



Savinho on loan somewhere in the PL.
I would give Bobb and McAidoo a shot on the wing

Nico Gonzalez can cover for Kovacic.
Reijnders/ Foden can fill in for Gundo.

And if Pep is going to play our CB's 40 yards from goal and leave us vulnerable to counters, we need new keepers and defenders with counter attacking pace so ship out the slower players.

 

[Skrastins]

This is what I'd do.. and I admit it would be massive shakeup:

View attachment 161767

Savinho on loan somewhere in the PL.
I would give Bobb and McAidoo a shot on the wing

Nico Gonzalez can cover for Kovacic.
Reijnders/ Foden can fill in for Gundo.

And if Pep is going to play our CB's 40 yards from goal and leave us vulnerable to counters, we need new keepers and defenders with counter attacking pace so ship out the slower players.

that would be ideal, but it will be very hard to move Kovacic with his injury

also i think it would be better to loan Reis and Echemessi to gain more game time

McAidoo is too young imho, maybe in cup games ? but still it is a stretch, we have Cherki, Foden, Doku, Savinho for the right wing

 

[bluemoon32]

There are still smart arses/idiots on here who still insist pace at the back and midfield isn’t important
The game has moved on. They need to as well

So does Pep

 

[Protein Junkie]

Manchester City will sign 15-year-old Caelan-Kole Cadamarteri from Sheffield Wednesday in a £1.5m deal. The forward is the son of former Everton striker Danny. (Mail, external)

Who is going to be brave enough to start chanting “Give me a C”.

 

[SiMCFC]

I'd sooner we stopped making our defenders look like shit playing them miles away from goal and just play with a proper defensive shape but can't see Pep abandoning it now, its been an obvious problem for a while.

 

[richardtheref]

I'd sooner we stopped making our defenders look like shit playing them miles away from goal and just play with a proper defensive shape but can't see Pep abandoning it now, its been an obvious problem for a while.

This is what I have thought for ages. The problem is the system. Every team seems to have worked it out

 

[Ajm1985]

This is what I have thought for ages. The problem is the system. Every team seems to have worked it out

Not too difficult to figure out - pass into central area, bounce it back to a midfielder, who then plays it over the top of CBs/behind FBs for someone quick to run onto. Pretty much how United play against us. It's just who can execute it

 

[blueparrot]

This is what I have thought for ages. The problem is the system. Every team seems to have worked it out

It hasn't just been worked out it has been obvious to every other coach for the last 10 years how we play and the weakness in it ,for most of that time they couldn't do anything about it. The key is to get back to that and we will. This been worked out stuff is nonsense.

 

[Damanino]

its sad but our most of our British core has to leave.
Philips, Grealish, Walker, Stones, Mcatee. we are lucky if we can get one decent homegrown player in this window.

its very poor planning from Txiki imo in last few years but it is what it is. there was very little clever forward planning in his work in recent years in terms of HG quota annd also in general. and then the January kind of panic window with big spend for players that Pep might even fancy which followed a horrible summer...

 

[TonyM]

Not too difficult to figure out - pass into central area, bounce it back to a midfielder, who then plays it over the top of CBs/behind FBs for someone quick to run onto. Pretty much how United play against us. It's just who can execute it

The fix I think is...
1. Our CBs need to be very fast, tall and tough. Like Kompany years ago. They get to the threat fast and obliterate it.
2. Our CBs to be excellent passers, long and short passing, so that they aren't dwelling on the ball too much. Like Stones or LaPorte years ago.
3. Our CBs need to play a little further back to that there is more space in the middle and they have less of a race.
4. Our FBs and midfielders must not amble back to help. They need to bust a gut because often the treat is the 2nd or 3rd pass from the break.
5. We need to vary our attacking style by dropping back and creating space when the squeeze method is repeatedly not working. This involves everyone stretching over the entire pitch imo. Invite the opposition to catch us with offside but have tge quality to beat it and get into the space.

Essentially we need all 11 players to create more space, be excellent at passing short and long and be very fast in body and mind.

Or something else that Pep comes up with but for crying out loud come up with it soon Pep.