The Squad planning thread

City’s best team ever was the proper treble team with the highest elo rating in our history. 4th highest of any team ever. The peak rating, although at the start of the following season, is 95% the treble season.


No doubt the Centurions was our most entertaining.

This PSG team is the best they have ever had but comes in at number 19. Our treble team would wipe the floor with them….so let’s not get carried away just because they won the final by the largest margin. Let’s see if they can build on it.

The standard in Europe has been pretty poor this season. I've watched a completely dross City side still finish third. People have tried to suggest the PL has improved, it hasn't. It's just the teams at the top are worse than they used to be, which is giving the mid table teams a chance to beat them. Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Fulham all these wonderful mid table teams having great seasons ended up mid table.

PSG played the dippers and edged them. They played Villa and Arsenal who don't have European pedigree. Then they played an Inter side who were miles off it and beat them. They had a very good path to the final. Real were a million miles away from their usual standard in Europe. Bayern aren't as balanced as they need to be to win the CL, and I still question whether Vinny is good enough at the elite level. Barca can't defend and didn't have the game management.

PSG were a very good side to watch and deserved to win the tournament, but pressure ramps up now. The target is on their back. Everyone else knows where they need to get to and will invest to close the gap and I'm certain it won't be PSG lifting it next year.
 
Goal:
Ederson
Ortega
Carson

Def:
Walker
Akanji
Ake
Gvardiol
Dias
Khusanov
Reis
Stones
Bah
Lewis
Nunes

Midfield:
Rodri
Nico
Kovacic
Gündogan
Silva
De Bruyne
McAtee
Echeverri
O`Reilly
Foden

Offense:
Haaland
Marmoush
Grealish
Doku
Savinho
Bobb

At the moment it looks like, that Cherki and Reijnders will be added.

So we have a size of 32 players.

Out for sure:
Walker
De Bruyne

So it is 30 players. If there will be more transfers (what will happen for sure), I think Pep wants a squad with maybe 20-22 players. So a lot will change. 22 players would be perfect, every position with two players.
 
Goal:
Ederson
Ortega
Carson

Def:
Walker
Akanji
Ake
Gvardiol
Dias
Khusanov
Reis
Stones
Bah
Lewis
Nunes

Midfield:
Rodri
Nico
Kovacic
Gündogan
Silva
De Bruyne
McAtee

Echeverri
O`Reilly
Foden

Offense:
Haaland
Marmoush
Grealish
Doku
Savinho
Bobb

At the moment it looks like, that Cherki and Reijnders will be added.

So we have a size of 32 players.

Out for sure:
Walker
De Bruyne

So it is 30 players. If there will be more transfers (what will happen for sure), I think Pep wants a squad with maybe 20-22 players. So a lot will change. 22 players would be perfect, every position with two players.
I've taken the liberty of highlighting players in red who I think will leave permanently and those who will be loaned in blue.
That brings us to 20 before any in-comings. If we do sign players for all of the rumoured positions, I.E, 3x midfield 2x full back, bringing us to 25 (if you include Carson, which we probably shouldn't). I don't see Pep being "too" mad about that, assuming we don't go through a full season without a single injured player.
My concern would be if we had a major academy breakthrough that we need to incorporate into the first team, just as we have with Nico this season. Not too sure how we plan to balance that.
 
...
My concern would be if we had a major academy breakthrough that we need to incorporate into the first team, just as we have with Nico this season. Not too sure how we plan to balance that.
wouldnt need to register them anyway luckily, they can just go into the rotation, all eligible for B List in the CL or u21 in the PL.
 
wouldnt need to register them anyway luckily, they can just go into the rotation, all eligible for B List in the CL or u21 in the PL.
Ah cool. Wasn't too worried about the registration, more of a minutes thing.
I probably shouldn't worry, though. Chances are, if we do have a breakthrough academy star, it'll be because of injuries or extremely low performance in certain areas.
 
City’s best team ever was the proper treble team with the highest elo rating in our history. 4th highest of any team ever. The peak rating, although at the start of the following season, is 95% the treble season.


No doubt the Centurions was our most entertaining.

This PSG team is the best they have ever had but comes in at number 19. Our treble team would wipe the floor with them….so let’s not get carried away just because they won the final by the largest margin. Let’s see if they can build on it.
That team made me feel like I'm alive.
 
I've taken the liberty of highlighting players in red who I think will leave permanently and those who will be loaned in blue.
That brings us to 20 before any in-comings. If we do sign players for all of the rumoured positions, I.E, 3x midfield 2x full back, bringing us to 25 (if you include Carson, which we probably shouldn't). I don't see Pep being "too" mad about that, assuming we don't go through a full season without a single injured player.
My concern would be if we had a major academy breakthrough that we need to incorporate into the first team, just as we have with Nico this season. Not too sure how we plan to balance that.
That certainly looks realistic. The only question marks remain in my opinion:

- Bernardo (might stay)
- Nunes
- O'Reilly (will probably get too little playing time with the new additions)
- Lewis
- Khusanov

I don't mean that all of them will be sold or loaned, in addition to those highlighted in red, but they may be candidates.
 
The standard in Europe has been pretty poor this season. I've watched a completely dross City side still finish third. People have tried to suggest the PL has improved, it hasn't. It's just the teams at the top are worse than they used to be, which is giving the mid table teams a chance to beat them. Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth, Fulham all these wonderful mid table teams having great seasons ended up mid table.

PSG played the dippers and edged them. They played Villa and Arsenal who don't have European pedigree. Then they played an Inter side who were miles off it and beat them. They had a very good path to the final. Real were a million miles away from their usual standard in Europe. Bayern aren't as balanced as they need to be to win the CL, and I still question whether Vinny is good enough at the elite level. Barca can't defend and didn't have the game management.

PSG were a very good side to watch and deserved to win the tournament, but pressure ramps up now. The target is on their back. Everyone else knows where they need to get to and will invest to close the gap and I'm certain it won't be PSG lifting it next year.
Given that it is rarely won back-to-back (Real Madrid, AC Milan, Nottingham Forest the last three), PSG will inevitably struggle. However, they now have the experience of having won it, will themselves invest, and have a young team on which to develop. With less pressure domestically than other teams, they also have the luxury of being able to pace themselves (finished 15th in the original table) so as to end strongly in the spring.
 
Wouldn't be sure either of those will still be here next season.
I hope you're right, but strangely I also hope that you're wrong, as a fully fit and mobile Stones provides us with so many more options

The main issue is that we deal with it professionally one way or the other and don't find history repeating itself with Stones on the treatment table after 4-5 games.

If his condition hasn't improved then show him the door.
 
I've taken the liberty of highlighting players in red who I think will leave permanently and those who will be loaned in blue.
That brings us to 20 before any in-comings. If we do sign players for all of the rumoured positions, I.E, 3x midfield 2x full back, bringing us to 25 (if you include Carson, which we probably shouldn't). I don't see Pep being "too" mad about that, assuming we don't go through a full season without a single injured player.
My concern would be if we had a major academy breakthrough that we need to incorporate into the first team, just as we have with Nico this season. Not too sure how we plan to balance that.
If we sign two full backs, you can add Ake and Akanji to the red list.
 
That certainly looks realistic. The only question marks remain in my opinion:

- Bernardo (might stay)
- Nunes
- O'Reilly (will probably get too little playing time with the new additions)
- Lewis
- Khusanov

I don't mean that all of them will be sold or loaned, in addition to those highlighted in red, but they may be candidates.
Honestly, agree.

Pains me to say, but if I'm O'Reilly, then I'd probably be asking my agent to keep their eyes out for a potential new club, and being clear, I don't want that to happen, but unsure where his game time will come from.

Lewis is almost too useful for his own good. Can play in numerous positions and is highly dependable for a 6/10 performance each week. Part of me thinks we should be aiming for higher than 6/10 performances in every position, but again, that's still solid.

Nunes is a weird one, you know. I actually see the guy getting a lot more involvement this coming season with Lijnders now being involved. His energy and verticality (not a word I know), AND recovery speed suit that ideology extremely well. He could even be useful for a high-tempo midfield press.

Khusanov has got to stay and hopefully he moves higher in the pecking order.

Bernardo, could see him as captain next season, could also see him back at Benfica. Flip a coin, I guess!
 
Honestly, agree.

Pains me to say, but if I'm O'Reilly, then I'd probably be asking my agent to keep their eyes out for a potential new club, and being clear, I don't want that to happen, but unsure where his game time will come from.

Lewis is almost too useful for his own good. Can play in numerous positions and is highly dependable for a 6/10 performance each week. Part of me thinks we should be aiming for higher than 6/10 performances in every position, but again, that's still solid.

Nunes is a weird one, you know. I actually see the guy getting a lot more involvement this coming season with Lijnders now being involved. His energy and verticality (not a word I know), AND recovery speed suit that ideology extremely well. He could even be useful for a high-tempo midfield press.

Khusanov has got to stay and hopefully he moves higher in the pecking order.

Bernardo, could see him as captain next season, could also see him back at Benfica. Flip a coin, I guess!
OReilly has a new deal under his nose to be signed and confirmed soon enough according to reports, he wont be going anywhere.

Rico agree, jack of all, master of none. He'll be a utility player here as long as he wants to.
 
OReilly has a new deal under his nose to be signed and confirmed soon enough according to reports, he wont be going anywhere.

Rico agree, jack of all, master of none. He'll be a utility player here as long as he wants to.
I think the new deal has nothing to say. I like him a lot, but where should he play and gets enough playing time, with all the new additions. Nevertheless, I hope he will stay.
 
Imagine that our youth players get sold including O'Reilly and lewis and they end up at chelsea like palmer and dunlap and end up doing really well. We really haven't integrated youth except for foden and we are using them like utility players. With the potential new signings I don't see where Oreilly and lewis will play.
 
Imagine that our youth players get sold including O'Reilly and lewis and they end up at chelsea like palmer and dunlap and end up doing really well. We really haven't integrated youth except for foden and we are using them like utility players. With the potential new signings I don't see where Oreilly and lewis will play.
I personally don’t see Lewis as good enough anyway but O’Reilly will most likely get minutes as LB backup and CM backup. Would love to see him more integrated but that would need for Bernardo and Gundogan to leave while also not going for MGW now that Kovacic will 100% stay over the summer.
If everything went perfect I’d say our midfield options would look like this:
Rodri/ Wharton
Reilly/ Lewis
Reijnders/ MGW.

Due to our injury problems we bought Gonzalez who is sadly not homegrown.
 
So things are moving positively for Ait Nouri, Reijnders and Cherki

HG (7/8)
Foden
Bobb
Carson
McAtee
Grealish
Stones
Ake
(+ Rico Lewis / Phillips / Walker)

Non-HG (19/17)
Ederson
Ortega
Nunes
Dias
Akanji
Khusanov
Gvardiol
Ait-Nouri
Rodri
Kovacic
Gundogan
Nico
Reijnders
Bernardo
Doku
Savinho
Cherki
Marmoush
Haaland
(+ Echeverri & Reis)

Technically we're over our non-domestic quota (although for the Prem Savinho/Khusanov wouldn't need registering but would for CL)

If we get the 3 in we're talking about may not be any incoming untill a few start leaving
 
OReilly has a new deal under his nose to be signed and confirmed soon enough according to reports, he wont be going anywhere.

Rico agree, jack of all, master of none. He'll be a utility player here as long as he wants to.
I always think Rico is like our version of phil neville
 
So things are moving positively for Ait Nouri, Reijnders and Cherki

HG (7/8)
Foden
Bobb
Carson
McAtee
Grealish
Stones
Ake
(+ Phillips / Walker)

Non-HG (19/17)
Ederson
Ortega
Nunes
Dias
Akanji
Khusanov
Gvardiol
Ait-Nouri
Rodri
Kovacic
Gundogan
Nico
Reijnders
Bernardo
Doku
Savinho
Cherki
Marmoush
Haaland
(+ Echeverri & Reis)

Technically we're over our non-domestic quota (although for the Prem Savinho/Khusanov wouldn't need registering but would for CL)

If we get the 3 in we're talking about may not be any incoming untill a few start leaving
Walker and Phillips would be on the Non homegrown list if they stayed, so that takes you to 21.They won't I know.
 

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