It's Quiet Thread 15 - Txiki Blinders

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BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
>> Name me a realistic signing at left back who is better than Zinchenko and played at an equally high level or higher.
Hell, the janitor down the street has higher potential - meaning potential to become a first choice starter - so gifted that were he to come onto the xfer window - top clubs would pursue him as a starter.

Zin is obviously gifted and I really do want him to stay on as a backup. As starter though... no way. Do you really think that any top club - by-in-large - would trade Zin for their current starting LB? I do not - at all.
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RE no DM in CL.
Who knows. But answer me this. If we did have a very gifted, fit, DM, would Pep have been more likely to field him in the final? What might or might not have transpired from there is speculation. The consensus football pundit opinion though is that we'd have been much better off with a DM in the final. And I tend to agree.
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Messi ;)
 
Sibierskii said:
He also reckons he'll be the highest paid footballer in the history of English football @ £370k p/w...so what were villa offering him?
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The chance to keep his club car, if he went along with the story that they offered to match City's wage.
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
I thought he was going to be our Frank de Boer for a hot second there
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Well this is what we're saying isn't it? Everyone under Pep seems to change positionally.

Delph and Zinchenko went from midfield to LB. Navas to RB (and look how he's pushed on). Walker spends a third of the game as a CB. Cancelo into midfield. Gundogan to DM (only 2019, 2021 never happened...) KDB, Silva, and Bernardo all move into CM from wider positions. Sterling, Foden, Mahrez all stay glued to the wing instead of their former drift inside styles. All the false 9s.

And yet this is all exclusively Pep stuff, with the exception of De Bruyne which Martinez mirrors. So when Pep goes, things could really change. Not in a bad way, but in a big way.


And as an aside, I always wonder what would have happened if Kolarov didn't decide to leave in 2017. I don't think it's spoken of because of the success that followed but I think Pep might have really seen him as one that got away.
 
FromPollockToSilva said:
The thing with Zinchenko is, some people massively undervalue the things he's excellent at, and hugely overstate the areas he's least good at. That and they have a calcified view of his abilities from when he first got into the team and was very much learning the role on the job.

There are few players in the league in any position who are better at taking a pass under pressure and keeping possession, and they all also play at City. He will always show for the ball. His first touch is superb and his passing is exceptional. He also understands how and when to move into more central positions in a way that most career left-backs do not. Luke Shaw could not do what Zinchenko does as well as Zinchenko does it. Neither could Robertson, or Chilwell, or any other "traditional" left backs.

He wins more headers than any of those other players. He makes more interceptions. His pass completion is significantly higher and he is dispossessed less often. He also concedes far fewer fouls than his cohort too.

His only real downsides are that he isn't particularly quick, and he doesn't get many assists. Not much we can do about the first one, although as his positioning keeps improving we don't find ourselves being undone by sheer pace down his flank too often. Not getting assists is more to do with him playing largely as an inverted and/or deeper fullback role and therefore not really getting into crossing position very often compared to someone like Robertson. Also, not really having anyone to cross to a lot of the time.

Would other top clubs want him? Irrelevant if they're not coached by Guardiola. Nobody else is asking fullbacks to play the way Pep does. That said, I think Bielsa would love Zinchenko too.
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Spot on. This forum is very guilty of looking at players from other clubs and imagining that in our team completely ignoring the fact they would not be askedor even allowed to do those things. Many did it when Robertson and TAA were getting all the plaudits and it's not just fullback either we do it all over the pitch.

Pep wants his fullback to do exactly what zinchenko does, he doesn't want flying fullbacks, he choose to let angelino go because he didn't want that, we've got cancelo who made his name doing that at juventus and we have him in midfield. Left back is not an issue. I question whether the people that think a left back is required actually watch us play.
 
Sibierskii said:
He also reckons he'll be the highest paid footballer in the history of English football @ £370k p/w...so what were villa offering him?
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So it was reported a month ago Villa were going to double his £100k a week wages to £200k to overcut our offer. Now he's signed we've suddenly decided to nearly double that and nearly quadruple his wages. You have to be on a different planet and special sauce to swallow this shit. He isn't close to our top earner.
 
ninjamonkey said:
Spot on. This forum is very guilty of looking at players from other clubs and imagining that in our team completely ignoring the fact they would not be askedor even allowed to do those things. Many did it when Robertson and TAA were getting all the plaudits and it's not just fullback either we do it all over the pitch.

Pep wants his fullback to do exactly what zinchenko does, he doesn't want flying fullbacks, he choose to let angelino go because he didn't want that, we've got cancelo who made his name doing that at juventus and we have him in midfield. Left back is not an issue. I question whether the people that think a left back is required actually watch us play.
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For the record, I would like another left back to rotate with Zinchenko as we don't seem to be able to rely on Mendy and I'm not overly convinced by Cancelo at left back on a semi-regular basis. But we categorically do not need a new "first-choice" left back, Zinny's great
 
ninjamonkey said:
Spot on. This forum is very guilty of looking at players from other clubs and imagining that in our team completely ignoring the fact they would not be askedor even allowed to do those things. Many did it when Robertson and TAA were getting all the plaudits and it's not just fullback either we do it all over the pitch.

Pep wants his fullback to do exactly what zinchenko does, he doesn't want flying fullbacks, he choose to let angelino go because he didn't want that, we've got cancelo who made his name doing that at juventus and we have him in midfield. Left back is not an issue. I question whether the people that think a left back is required actually watch us play.
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Hallelujah!
Someone else actually gets it. We've not actually needed a 'traditional' left or right back since Pep arrived.
The modern game is won and lost in midfield.
 
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