That's a bit of a backward view in my opinion. Surely if the young lads are good enough, they're good enough. At that stage it doesn't matter if it's Koulibaly, Upamecano or whoever in their way. You shouldn't make it easy for the young lads, they should earn their place on merit, just as Phil Foden has had to do. If they're not up for the fight (Sancho) or think they'll be better off elsewhere (Garcia) or just don't make it, at least you've still got someone in place for a long period of time until someone is good enough to take his place.
Kalidou Koulibaly
- Thread starter Matt Diablo
- Start date
I’ve not seen a lot of him to be honest. Just meant he’s got that awkward stuff about him like the great man had. Hopefully he ends up a great buy.
Fernandinho definitely helped them out. I can’t really explain how we managed to win so much with them in central defence but maybe other teams wasn’t used to the pressing. We surprised everyone with our brand of football in 17/18. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what happend back then. They’ve had a long timeperiod to prove that wasn’t an isolated seaso .
These guys have shown time and time again they have no place in this world star team. Otamendi either overcommit to a challenge and completely miss the opponents body, or he fouls them in dangerous territory. He’s not using his intelligence for one bit when defending, sadly.
Stones positioning is a joke, his reading of the game is absolutely nowhere, he doesn’t use his body to tackle anyone of the ball, he can’t slidetackle (I don’t think I’ve ever seen him do that). He seems afraid to defend, to actually commit to a challenge. Do you think Firmino could’ve just pushed Koulibaly or Aké off the ball as he did against Stones? It was a joke. He knows how to pass a ball sideways, that’s about it.
This thread was not meant to be used as a platform to trashtalk Stones and Otamendi, but guys like Koulibaly and Aké should have joined a long time ago. At least one year of our disappointments in a Champions League knockout game could’ve been avoided if we had guys how know how to defend. Just look at what we have in attack and midfield. Some of the very best in the world. Looking at our backline to compare, only Laporte (and maybe Walker) counts as world class like the rest of the team.
That’s why I think this transfer is so bloody important. We would finally have three high quality options in centreback position instead of just one. Signings like these wins you big games and ultimately big tournaments.
Gareth Barry Manilow
Well-Known Member
This is the problem, no one can explain the success without highlighting the real problem (a high line requires a high, intense press to be effective). However that doesn't suit the narrative for those who are desperate to sign Koulibaly, so it's downplayed, all anyone wants to about is the overhyped "defensive mistakes" of which we actually don't make that many judging by the goals conceded in the 9 games we lost.
We concede goals because teams have time and space to pick the perfect pass in between or over the top of an overly exposed defence (e.g. Lyon's first two goals) because there's no pressure on the ball. The biggest contributing factor is losing possession in central midfield, we didn't do that anywhere near as frequently the previous two seasons because we had more width and more pace in behind which stopped other teams pressing us as aggressively in those areas and we had David Silva who is the master at retaining possession.
Levy ?
Every day the price seems to go up. I would leave this well alone as I have said from the off he is overpriced. However, City if genuinely interested should give Napoli an ultimatum. Set an amount and give them a timeframe and if not accepted move on. I don’t see anyone else really being mentioned in the frame for KK and they want to sell. I feel we are the ones holding the cards not Napoli but the tweets and the figures being quoted portray the opposite. Of course maybe City have done this and everything we are reading in regard to this transfer saga is total nonsense.
nmc
Well-Known Member
It’s all speculation and Twitter bollocks but the facts are - we need this done if it’s gonna get dome - relatively quickly. The club must be confident we can get a deal otherwise I think we’d have walked by now.
Harry Kane reference
