In my humble opinion mate, I just think we need to try harder & do better where LB's concerned. We seem to be mitigating our weakness in that position because of our strengths surrounding LB.I think it’s fans’ expectations not being satisfied, rather than not prioritising the position. Maybe Kolarov didn’t satisfy fans despite costing a lot of money at the time (£17m?). Clichy was a top player at a successful club but parts of his game, like crossing, were poor. Mendy, £50m+ sick note.
Maybe it’s one position where our recruitment has been a bit lacking but it’s not for the want of trying.
We had this discussion yesterday and it is all about balance and keeping players onboard. I can't think of any club that has more quality at fullback than City if we sign Cucurella. If there are any clubs that have a better rotation of fullbacks than Cancelo/Walker/Cucurella, I would like to see itI'm well aware we've bought LB's, but the only specialist one I can recall is Mendy. Angelino was brought back to the club, but dispensed with within a season IIRC. This meant in the intervening period up until now, we've applied a mend & make do approach to LB which I don't agree with. It's that simple.
At RB we have Walker & Cancelo. At LB we HAD Mendy & Zinchenko. The way many are talking, they'd be happy with only Cucu arriving, with Cancelo, Aké & Laporté filling in again.
Maybe that'll be a way of keeping Cancelo playing & happy with his game time, but again what happens if injuries strike like they did in the final 6 weeks of the season?
I just don't get our apathy for having 2 quality LB's in a world class squad competing over 60+ games per season (hopefully) on four fronts? )(
At his self perceived level he sees his version of what he does on the football pitch as the thing they must pay for.I would imagine (guessing) money would be better attraction to Neymar than pep.
Would be happy to be proven otherwise
Danilo & Cancelo IIRC. Why?
In my humble opinion mate, I just think we need to try harder & do better where LB's concerned. We seem to be mitigating our weakness in that position because of our strengths surrounding LB.
Yes we mostly get away with it, apart from those moments of magic at the highest level where we all know a decent LB might have made a scintilla of a difference. It's those moments that decide if you progress to the next round, or if you're out.
My point has been totally missed. I'm not one of City's scouts. It's their job to find solutions to these problems, but what I'm saying is are any of the aforementioned players any worse than Mendy or Zinchenko? \0/I admire your attempt to make a list of defensive fullbacks but in doing so perhaps made tolmies point.
Bernat and Guerreiro are not good defensively, ask bayern or dortmund fans.
Alaba is a rare hybrid of a player who can play many positions.
The other 2 are very fast like Walker that is closer to the type of player you would want, they are indeed hard to find.
You would have better luck converting a fast winger to a fullback in this way imo.
But last season wasn't a freak set of circumstances, as it's happened to us in our recent past after Kompany left.We had this discussion yesterday and it is all about balance and keeping players onboard. I can't think of any club that has more quality at fullback than City if we sign Cucurella. If there are any clubs that have a better rotation of fullbacks than Cancelo/Walker/Cucurella, I would like to see it
Last season was a freak set of circumstances how we ended up with a makeshift defence and you can't have players sitting there just in case it happens again. If you need to use Ake/Laporte or a youngster then that is what happens at all clubs
These other names I have never heard of before and what is it about them that makes people believe they are of the same quality we already have.