Letting Aymeric Laporte go.

The OP made a good comment. I am starting to like this young City side but I feel the one remaining area we need to address is central defence. We have some good players there but they are never fit. Will they ever be?

I am very excited about the potential of Echeverri. If he develops as he might, we have a spectacular offensive side. We are almost ready for lift-off. I get why Pep appears content at the moment. I think the jig-saw pieces are falling into place.
 
BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
Gvardiol has proven to be a so-so defender whose primary benefit is that he's very good going forward.
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He can be got at isolated one on one as can most defenders. He is not the quickest but that isn't everything. In my opinion Gvardiol is one of the best defenders in the world game and we are extremely fortunate to have him. If we didn't we'd be completely dead this season.
 
Marvin. said:
He can be got at isolated one on one as can most defenders. He is not the quickest but that isn't everything. In my opinion Gvardiol is one of the best defenders in the world game and we are extremely fortunate to have him. If we didn't we'd be completely dead this season.
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fbref.com

Joško Gvardiol Stats, Goals, Records, Assists, Cups and more | FBref.com

Check out the latest domestic and international stats, match logs, goals, height, weight and more for Manchester City FC, Croatia men's national team and RB Leipzig playing for Joško Gvardiol in the Champions League, Premier League and Bundesliga
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Great going forward - below average tackling, and clearances, other defensive numbers not especially impressive.
 
Don’t think we can get worked up about selling him. He wasn’t in the treble team and we won the league the year after.
 
Berti No Show said:
Top player. One of the most underrated defenders to play in the premier league. Brilliant for club and country.
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Yep agreed. He’d be the joint best defender at the club with Ake if he were here now. But Ake is so often injured, like Stonesy.

Gvardiol isn’t fit to lace his boots as an actual defender. Dias isn’t as consistent as he was. Akanji neither.

But like a previous guy said, hindsight is a wonderful thing. Tbh I wasn’t throwing my toys out of the pram when he left but tbf Stones and Dias were looking like the best central defensive partnership in Europe at that time.
 
BlueMoonAcrossThePond said:
fbref.com

Joško Gvardiol Stats, Goals, Records, Assists, Cups and more | FBref.com

Check out the latest domestic and international stats, match logs, goals, height, weight and more for Manchester City FC, Croatia men's national team and RB Leipzig playing for Joško Gvardiol in the Champions League, Premier League and Bundesliga
fbref.com fbref.com

Great going forward - below average tackling, and clearances, other defensive numbers not especially impressive.
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He's only 23..how good was van dyke at that age.
 
sk3ptical said:
He's only 23..how good was van dyke at that age.
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Well Josko had higher tackles and blocks than Virgil Van Dyke in that season. Almost identical in interceptions and with VVD being better in aerials won. It's almost as if individual statistics of very specific actions aren't particularly useful, especially for players playing in different positions. World class centre backs are usually pretty low in tackles, for example, because if you have to make a tackle, you've probably already made a mistake. They're also like goalkeepers in that your stats look better if you play for a worse team, because you're having to do more defending.
 
Was the correct decision, people.are moaning about Dias drop in form, Laporte was even worse, in or off form.

If he hadn't replalced mangala he would not be rememebered so fondly, was full of bad passing and lapses in concentration.

Thise saying we never replaced him, once Ake was here and city he wiped the floor with him on passing skill, football intelegence, heading and technical skill, Laporte was fortunate Ake was injury prone of he would hardly have plalyed from 2020 onwards
 
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In my experience, the top players who leave at the right time (Kompany) are the ones we miss the most when things start going wrong
We certainly wouldn't have missed Kompany if he'd left after missing most of the 15-16 season

Laporte and Mahrez both played a huge role in the treble season by slotting in, here and there, such as the FA Cup Semi Final victory over Sheffield United

However they had both morphed into squad players and never started in the games that really mattered

Laporte hasn't been replaced but then again, it's not that easy to find a central defender of such high calibre who would be happy to sit on the bench

More importantly we won the PL the following season,.and but for a penalty shootout might easily have retained the CL

It's only now that we're missing him
 
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Marvin. said:
The OP made a good comment. I am starting to like this young City side but I feel the one remaining area we need to address is central defence. We have some good players there but they are never fit. Will they ever be?

I am very excited about the potential of Echeverri. If he develops as he might, we have a spectacular offensive side. We are almost ready for lift-off. I get why Pep appears content at the moment. I think the jig-saw pieces are falling into place.
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Spectacular offensive side? Hmm.
 
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