The are we allowed the "it's quiet" thread yet? thread.

[Cityisland]

Stones and Zinchenko this week then.

 

[TonyM]

I don't care who we get once we are direct and not going to tippy tappy around the box again this season. That is not attractive football...that is boring shite. I want quick exact passing that lead to shots on target.

Obviously I'll fret about us not getting the big names or them going to rivals but if we played attractive top class football I'd not care if we ended with trophies. Again I don't mean tippy tappy as that is crap.

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

I don't care who we get once we are direct and not going to tippy tappy around the box again this season. That is not attractive football...that is boring shite. I want quick exact passing that lead to shots on target.

Obviously I'll fret about us not getting the big names or them going to rivals but if we played attractive top class football I'd not care if we ended with trophies. Again I don't mean tippy tappy as that is crap.

Shots on target isn't a real thing though.

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

Oh for fucks sake IBH i houht we established years ago, buzzer is not reliable source :-)

 

[pride in battle]

Don't start using video clips, fuck me speak or shut up please !!

 

[manimanc]

......the state of play in this thread right now.

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

If we get stones, sane and peres in addition to gundogan and nolito its a good summer. Dont forget the outstanding talent we have in midfield waiting to be unleashed, althogh hopefully we can nab kroos still.

 

[Ric]

If you listen to the interview, the way he says it makes it sound like he's talking about other deals.





http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04094lr

If you listen to the interview, he says we never wanted an overhaul, but this summer is just a normal one with 3-5 players coming in.

So if you take him at his word, no, 8/9 players is not happening.

He also says we'll be done very soon.

I would expect the 5 to be Nolito, Gundogan, Stones, Sané and Peres.

Zinchenko probably doesn't count as he wouldn't be in the squad next season.

This is how I see it, the first 4 you mentioned being the most likely (Sane still sounds like he has a decision to make after Euros though), and the 5th being a fullback.

Whilst offloading Kolarov, Zabaleta, Toure, Demichelis & perhaps Bony (although not sure as it doesn't sound we have a replacement lined up).

Yeah, on the basis of Soriano's quotes that sounds about right to me. Never thought 8/9 signings in one window was likely tbh.

Think Toure could yet stay though, and have a hunch we'll go for a left back rather than a right back.

Cant believe people are talking about being underwhelmed at "only" spending £150m! Well, I can but some expectations just aren't realistic. At least three of those signings will go straight into the starting XI, and you can't just rip apart a team overnight. Evolution, not revolution and all that.

Still think if an opportunity, like say Kroos, presented itself then we'd go for it (as with Otamendi last summer) but I wouldn't pin all my hopes on it.

 

[Ryanl2801]

Yeah, on the basis of Soriano's quotes that sounds about right to me. Never thought 8/9 signings in one window was likely tbh.

Think Toure could yet stay though, and have a hunch we'll go for a left back rather than a right back.

Cant believe people are talking about being underwhelmed at "only" spending £150m! Well, I can but some expectations just aren't realistic. At least three of those signings will go straight into the starting XI, and you can't just rip apart a team overnight. Evolution, not revolution and all that.

Still think if an opportunity, like say Kroos, presented itself then we'd go for it (as with Otamendi last summer) but I wouldn't pin all my hopes on it.

Are mid got ripped apart last season, pep would need to work his magic if he was to only add Gundogan to that mid

 

[simon23]

The beauty of having Pep as a manager is not needing marquee signings.

He will take good signings, like Sané, Gundogan, stones and make them into marquee players.

I'd be ok with Nacho as back up striker as well. He's shown all the signs of being a potential world beater and he's delivered whenever needed to so far.

After that Nolito is a good goalscorer, and Sané or Sterling could fill in, as could Silva in the false 9 role he's played well before for us and Spain.

Pep doesn't want a huge squad, and trusting a kid becomes necessary with that. But frankly when the kid has Nacho's record it's much less of a risk.

Nacho is a good player but he is not a lead striker yet and still has a lot to prove (not saying he cant or won't but its no certain and is nowhere near a world beater yet)

Nolito isn't a centre forward.......nothing to suggest that he could replace Kun long term

Sterling's finishing is awful - yes he could improve
Silva's one weakness is his goal scoring

The only player Id have any confidence in is KDB

 

[simon23]

Yeah, on the basis of Soriano's quotes that sounds about right to me. Never thought 8/9 signings in one window was likely tbh.

Think Toure could yet stay though, and have a hunch we'll go for a left back rather than a right back.

Cant believe people are talking about being underwhelmed at "only" spending £150m! Well, I can but some expectations just aren't realistic. At least three of those signings will go straight into the starting XI, and you can't just rip apart a team overnight. Evolution, not revolution and all that.

Still think if an opportunity, like say Kroos, presented itself then we'd go for it (as with Otamendi last summer) but I wouldn't pin all my hopes on it.

not underwhelmed at the amount

underwhelmed at what we have spent it on

so far Id be very happy with Gudongan and stones....nolito and sane are either or for me......they could be amazing but equally could be very average (nolito is an upgrade on navas but that doesn't take much as an attacking threat)

 

[BlueMedic]

Yeah, on the basis of Soriano's quotes that sounds about right to me. Never thought 8/9 signings in one window was likely tbh.

Think Toure could yet stay though, and have a hunch we'll go for a left back rather than a right back.

Cant believe people are talking about being underwhelmed at "only" spending £150m! Well, I can but some expectations just aren't realistic. At least three of those signings will go straight into the starting XI, and you can't just rip apart a team overnight. Evolution, not revolution and all that.

Still think if an opportunity, like say Kroos, presented itself then we'd go for it (as with Otamendi last summer) but I wouldn't pin all my hopes on it.

Toure staying only works for me if he decides to actually play for the team rather than hang on a year for a paycheck & a free transfer. Was hoping we'd sign 2 CM's this summer, but if all we're getting is an injured Gundogan who'll miss an important part of the season then perhaps holding on to Toure would be best.

Agree with your last statement, all these big names being thrown out I have no doubt that City would love to sign them, and if the opportunity arises we'll be there with a number of other clubs trying to get them signed - but I don't see any of them being available this summer (other than Pogba which our interest/progress has already been well documented). My hopes lie in Madrid buying Pogba as a new shiny toy & offloading Kroos, but even that doesn't make great sense given they could just as easily offload James/Isco instead & fit Kroos/Pogba into the same 11 (the offloading of Ozil/Di Maria gives me hope that they'd make a strange decision though!).

 

[CitizenTID]

Yeah, on the basis of Soriano's quotes that sounds about right to me. Never thought 8/9 signings in one window was likely tbh.

Think Toure could yet stay though, and have a hunch we'll go for a left back rather than a right back.

Cant believe people are talking about being underwhelmed at "only" spending £150m! Well, I can but some expectations just aren't realistic. At least three of those signings will go straight into the starting XI, and you can't just rip apart a team overnight. Evolution, not revolution and all that.

Still think if an opportunity, like say Kroos, presented itself then we'd go for it (as with Otamendi last summer) but I wouldn't pin all my hopes on it.

If it is a 5 of Gundogan, Nolito, Stones, Sane, Peres - by my use of underwhelmed earlier, I just mean it would be disappointing to not address the areas I feel we have ignored for too long which contributed to a another sub-par season to what is expected. It'd be another window of another centre back (realise Demi gone, so if 1 CB in that's sensible) whilst not addressing both fullback positions. Angelino, despite having MLS experience, I feel wouldn't be experienced enough for the pressures of the prem - he also, self-admittedly is very attack minded and needs to work on his defensive game - a European/championship loan could help ready him and allow us to test the waters with him. I think if we kept Zab (I hope we do), he'd get back into a very useful form for us as he makes more intelligent runs than Sagna (who, in his favour is more consistent defensively) but I think we need a young, reliable fullback on either side that Pep can mould into fullbacks we can rely on for years to come. Admittedly, unless one is utilised in a different position occasionally by Pep, I would prefer to keep both Sagna and Zab and a replacement for Kolarov (brilliant player for the club in the past), who i think is right to move on at this time.

If we go into the season with Bony and no new forward, that would be extremely disappointing, he clearly isn't cut for us. It'd be a real challenge for Pep to make him a benefit to the team. We can't rely on Aguero all season and Iheanacho on his own (if Aguero is out) - we'd probably still see similar struggles we've experienced in the past in this scenario.

Would Nolito be the new forward/backup striker? I don't know enough about him. Sane and Nolito on the wings otherwise at who's expense?

If Sterling comes out of this trial of the hate/scapegoating campaign with the right mentality, he should become a very resilient person and an excellent player for it - hopefully he does and becomes a key player for us once he grows older and gains more experience.

Also, I have to say - Yaya needs to go - spreads lethargy in the team.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Saw the scouting thing again today, and they mentioned about 3/4 targets per position. Going off that we're in for...
GK: Tried to sound out Ter-Stegen as first choice, now it's rumours of Valdes or Rulli. Right number of options.
RB: Lichtsteiner/Vrsaljko/Peres, 3 there so says to me we are genuinely sounding it out.
LB: Not really the same fuss being made, so perhaps we either have sewn someone up quietly, biding time or not interested.
CB: was clearly Stones + Laporte, so for me just Stones.

CM: Still links to Kroos/Thiago and others despite already signing Gundogan, so says to me there's 1 more to come.
Wingers: Clearly Nolito and Sane and that'll be it.
ST: Maybe if everything fell into place within the remaining budget. Perhaps the young Brazilian would be the one and be used as a squad player, Aubameyang seemed an option but cost-prohibitive.

So for me that's Nolito, Sane, Gundogan, Stones, GK, RB, CM & maybe a ST. That's 8. I think 5 under £150m is a conservative estimate.

 

[Daz_Blue]

That Soriano interview where he mentions 2 done and only 3 to follow.....who are the 3 if he is telling the truth....Zinchenko, Ruli and ?

Pick one from Stones, Thiago, Sane, Liechsteiner, Perez, Kroos, Suarez etc

His numbers do not add up ....

 

[oakiecokie]

That Soriano interview where he mentions 2 done and only 3 to follow.....who are the 3 if he is telling the truth....Zinchenko, Ruli and ?

Pick one from Stones, Thiago, Sane, Liechsteiner, Perez, Kroos, Suarez etc

His numbers do not add up ....

A smoke screen.

 

[Tevez City]

kroos would not improve us really?

We can rely on Fernandinho with Gundogan instead of Kroos.

and then we have back up of Yaya, Nando & Delph.

Pep may also use Nasri as a CM.

 

[itisrising]

Looking at everybody we've signed/linked with, won't we suffer tremendously in aerial battles? Ota, Denayer, Stones, Gundogan, Fernandinho, Thiago/Kroos all aren't great in the air. I can see teams reverting to long-balls and us struggling to deal with it.

 

[TheThirdDeano]

If he's only talking about signings already made, we made 3
Gudongan, Nolito & Mooy.

That (and the optimism of youth) make me think he's talking about new players

 

[Dax777]

That Soriano interview where he mentions 2 done and only 3 to follow.....who are the 3 if he is telling the truth....Zinchenko, Ruli and ?

Pick one from Stones, Thiago, Sane, Liechsteiner, Perez, Kroos, Suarez etc

His numbers do not add up ....

The 3 seem to be Stones, Sane and one more.