It's Quiet Thread 15 - Txiki Blinders

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nmc said:
The window is now closed and I guess we all have our views on how it went from a City perspective... The overriding emotion from many blues is disappointment; are we right to be disappointed? when we have just signed one of England's brightest talents for £100m? Probably not - when you can recall the days of signing Ben Thatcher and Danny Mills. I guess the issue this summer was expectations... expectations driven by the perceived financial advantage we thought we'd have - who'd have thought that Arsenal and Man United would both outspend us? Expectations driven by bullish comments from the Chairman that proved to be unhelpful in a wider context. We were linked with Kane for many months and history told us that when City hang in there it usually means we get our man - but on this occasion this proved to be incorrect and many of us are left wondering why we hung in there so long (giving us false hope) when it seems that City and Levy were always miles apart. Maybe Kane's naivity that Levy would let him go carried too much weight... we can dislike Levy all we like but Kane was his asset and he simply didn't have to sell and he chose not to - end of story.

In comparative terms Chelsea are the big winners they have strengthened immeasurably and they will give us one hell of a fight for the title and come May we may be left wondering why we got so outmaneuvered by them in the transfer market and allowed them to tip the scales firmly in their favour. Outside of Chelsea i don't think too many teams have done great business - the Rags have made a big splash but have they addressed long term issues - I'm not convinced that have... and they have certainly pushed their wage bill into a stratosphere that may impact their ability to sign big names in the immediate term. The Rags are also resigned to losing Pogba on a free now next summer. Only Sancho represents a decent long term addition to their squad and he is perhaps not as good as he clearly thinks he is. Arsenal have had a disastrous window - pissing £140m plus and not really addressing any of their fundamental weaknesses. I fear that outlay may pave the beginning of the end for Arteta.

As for City - there are those that say we have played a clever game, we didn't give in to Levy - but missed out on Kane. As a lifelong blue I have to confess that whilst I thought Kane would be a success here - I never quite saw Kane as the type of player (or personality) you paid £150m for - you kind of want someone a bit more charismatic - even flash... Kane is just dull, good but dull. A few are suggesting we are now in the box seat for Haaland - having dragged United into resigning Ronaldo - personally I never subscribe to such over zealous conspiracy theories but some people feel comforted by such things. Personally, I don't think we will pay either the wages or the agent fees to attract Haaland and we will see him go elsewhere - probably Bayern. On any level we failed to land a striker this summer and we put all our eggs into a single basket and somewhere along the way we got it wrong and the club will be investigating why and will no doubt learn from it.

The positives are we did get Grealish - a good signing who will do well for us, we clearly have transfer funds available and we have the discipline to be strategic and patient (in contrast to United), opportunities will present themselves in the future and we will bag a striker... as I have said before maybe we don't need someone world class - anyone who's an accomplished finisher would get a hatful in our side - maybe we need to be more creative. Perhaps the best news from this transfer window - is the fact that we managed to keep Laporte and Bernardo - talk of them being sold for circa £40m was ridiculous and some of the swaps discussed made no sense. We have a fabulous squad, a fabulous coach and Chelsea et al will have to get more than 90 points I would suggest to win the league - so we will be right there in the mix. Its not been a great transfer window but we didn't need it to be... come on you blues we can have a fabulous season.
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Very balanced
 
Oldham Exile said:
Like others you fail to mention who you consider to be the alternative targets if - as happened - Kane became unobtainable

Targets that are genuinely top quality

I suggest it is the critics being unable to do that - but them still demanding the club should be criticised - that leave them open to being considered entitled etc.
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Why is that your point or a feasible issue?
It is the club who pointedly made Kane their only choice in replacing Aguero - as Khaldoon stated was a goal and Pep alluded to. Either the club need goals and a no 9 (in which they should have multiple targets if Plan A fails - i.e Dias scenario) or Kane is the only/perfect choice and they believed (falsely) they could get the deal done. The former allows lots of options; The latter was a risk and it didn't pay off for them.

By all accounts, Spurs made it clear early on what the price would be to start a conversation (more than we were willing) and by, Pep's account, didn't enter any negotiations. The morning that Kane tweeted that he was staying, Jack G, one of the most well briefed & connected City journos, wrote that City were still confident. City journos and others on here also stated the high confidence - everything being set up for his arrival. Transfers often fall apart but this was a massive misjudgement of the situation - coming from the same board who misjudged the Super League.

In contrast, Chelsea wanted Haaland realised he was unobtainable at a price they were willing to pay and moved onto Lukaku. Messi went on a 'free' to PSG. Ronaldo went to United (after we flirted). Ings went to Villa. Daka to Leicester etc If goals were the need, there were options; if it's only Kane, then there are not.
 
Alan Harper's Tash said:
Whilst this sounds exciting, I don have to wonder what life will be like post Pep. Not many other managers utilise a false 9 and we’ll have a gaping hole there. We can, of course, buy a 9 then, but our other players will have to learn how to play with one again.
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Different managers have different styles, the nest one may not fancy Dias and want a Phil Jones.
 
lasereyes said:
Foden prob can be a decent 9, but we then lose his quality on the left wing which was pretty dazzling in the second half of last season. Was the first time we had held a real wide and pacey threat like that since Sane's heyday in 2017/18.
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Grealish. Sterling. Jesus. Mahrez. Kev can all play both wider positions in a 4-3-3. They can also all play the false 9 in a 4-3-3 just as Foden can.
 
Rascal said:
Grealish. Sterling. Jesus. Mahrez. Kev can all play both wider positions in a 4-3-3. They can also all play the false 9 in a 4-3-3 just as Foden can.
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True, on the other hand, we haven't played a false 9 this season. Torres has played more or less as a 9, of a type.
 
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