An absolutely terrible job at projecting player potential...
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The Squad planning thread
- Thread starter HaalandEffect
- Start date
That's shit team building...I was so disappointed that Lavia was not repurchased when we had the opportunity to do so. That's life.
What an utterly bullshit breakdown...Lmao. There's so much pathetic revisionism here it's untrue.
Pedro Porro hasn't been contracted to City for almost three years and has been utterly ordinary for Spurs throughout his time there. At the time of Porro's sale to Sporting we had Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo as our RB options. Nobody batted an eyelid when we sold him and rightly so. His goal today changes nothing.
Palmer, I guess I can give you. But at the time of his sale he'd shown virtually nothing in a City shirt to indicate he could hold down a place under Pep. He'd started 13 games in three seasons, wasn't that keen on staying, and Chelsea offered us £45m. We can't just hold on to every Academy player we produce because they might end up being world class.
The same can be said of Lavia, for what it's worth. Since leaving us Lavia has been part of a rubbish Southampton team that went down with 25 points and has played a grand total of eight games in two seasons for Chelsea due to repeated injuries. What would he have brought us last season that Kovacic didn't?
If we'd activated Lavia's buyback clause last season and decided not to go for Kovacic, you would have spent all season complaining that we "put all our trust in an untested kid who can't stay fit" when we could have "signed an experience PL midfielder for peanuts". Hindsight's 20/20 but come on, man. Don't take the piss.
As for Rogers - when we made the decision to sell him to Middlesbrough our midfield options were Rodri, Gundogan, Stones, De Bruyne, Foden, Palmer, and Bernardo Silva. He was never going to get in the team. We then sold him to a Championship side because that was his level at the time. None of us even knew he'd been attached to City until about six months ago.
But let's say we'd kept Rogers. Say we'd sold McAtee instead. In another world McAtee is starring for a good Villa side while Rogers is holding a place on our bench. You can't get every call about every young player completely right. If you were banging on about us keeping all these lads at the time we sold them, fair enough, but don't come in here acting all smug when all you're doing is selective hindsight.
So we should have just hoarded Porro, Palmer, Lavia, and Rogers?What an utterly bullshit breakdown...
At least come back with some substance mate.
Ok, not looking for a beef. Here's some substance. All 4 would be starting for us right now...we didn't keep any of the 4. All 4 are better players than Rico, Doku, Nunes, McAtee while washed players like Walker and Gundo are still here starting. I'm sorry but IMO we grew arrogant in terms of selling off young talent and failed in recognizing the potential of players like Rogers. You and I can miss it but not Pep and Txiki. They failed to see a mere 2 years down the road and brought in inferior players to the ones that went out the door. Thoughts?So we should have just hoarded Porro, Palmer, Lavia, and Rogers?
At least come back with some substance mate.
But again, at the time we sold them all, it was the right decision. And if we'd kept them all, what would they have contributed? Who would they have replaced in our squad? The easiest one is Palmer who would probably be here instead of Doku, so I can give you that.Ok, not looking for a beef. Here's some substance. All 4 would be starting for us right now...we didn't keep any of the 4. All 4 are better players than Rico, Doku, Nunes, McAtee while washed players like Walker and Gundo are still here starting. I'm sorry but IMO we grew arrogant in terms of selling off young talent and failed in recognizing the potential of players like Rogers. You and I can miss it but not Pep and Txiki. They failed to see a mere 2 years down the road and brought in inferior players to the ones that went out the door. Thoughts?
We sold Pedro Porro in 2022. Our full-back options at that time were Walker, Zinchenko, and Cancelo. Were any of them going to sit on the bench while Porro learned his way? Would Porro have accepted sitting on the bench at the age of 22 while Walker and Cancelo started week in week out?
We sold Lavia to Southampton and inserted a £40m buyback fee. He was relegated with Southampton. Meanwhile Rodri, Stones, and Gundogan were all above him in the pecking order at City. So Chelsea bought him instead. He's played eight games since he joined them because he's simply never fit. Again I say, if we decide not to buy Kovacic and trust Lavia instead, but he spends the whole season injured, you get people complaining that we didn't get Kovacic for peanuts - leaving Rodri further exposed throughout the 23/24 season where we ultimately win the league.
Rogers was sent on loan to League One and the Championship over three years and did virtually nothing. He was a winger at the time - he played 38 games for Blackpool in two seasons and scored once. He was 20 years old and looked like he'd be a good Championship player, so we sold him to Boro. Absolutely nobody suggested that we should keep him at the time - many of us didn't even know he existed! He looked good for Boro for six months so Villa took a punt on him. It seems to have more or less worked out for him.
But... what, are you suggesting we just held on to all of these players? We just keep Pedro Porro throughout the 22-23 and 23-24 season, never really playing him, and then suddenly throwing him in now? We bring Lavia back last season and don't sign Kovacic, so we're without a CM/DM all season due to Lavia's injury? And, what, we just keep this fairly ordinary Championship winger who didn't even play well for Blackpool in the hopes that he becomes a good CM three years down the line?
It's madness. Football doesn't work like a computer game. We've seen it already with Palmer, Gundogan, Alvarez, Mahrez, etc. And we'll see it again with McAtee later this season. If players can't be assured of game time, they leave. Are you saying Porro, Lavia, and Rogers would have been happy if they'd been told to hang around the club for 2-3 years, not really playing, just getting loaned to Buttfuck Nowhere FC waiting for the day someone at City gets injured? Nonsense.
For every "mistake" like Palmer, Porro, Rogers, etc. there's an Iheanacho, Marcos Lopes, Pablo Maffeo, Sancho, Trippier, James Trafford, Ellis Simms, etc. Players we sell, make a tidy profit on them, and they don't really rip up trees after they leave. You can't just hoard academy lads and keep them on the bench until they're 23. That's not fair and not how football works.
We'll agree to disagree. Our internal squad building under Pep has not been remotely good. Phil became PFPY, that's it. Rico has been shown favored nation status. No one else has made a dent. Harwood Bellis is getting called up to England's MNT. Nmecha is getting some pt for Germany's MNT. Callum Doyle won't get a sniff. McAtee can't even get in over Rico as an 8. I didn't say we could keep everyone, but we keep NOONE...But again, at the time we sold them all, it was the right decision. And if we'd kept them all, what would they have contributed? Who would they have replaced in our squad? The easiest one is Palmer who would probably be here instead of Doku, so I can give you that.
We sold Pedro Porro in 2022. Our full-back options at that time were Walker, Zinchenko, and Cancelo. Were any of them going to sit on the bench while Porro learned his way? Would Porro have accepted sitting on the bench at the age of 22 while Walker and Cancelo started week in week out?
We sold Lavia to Southampton and inserted a £40m buyback fee. He was relegated with Southampton. Meanwhile Rodri, Stones, and Gundogan were all above him in the pecking order at City. So Chelsea bought him instead. He's played eight games since he joined them because he's simply never fit. Again I say, if we decide not to buy Kovacic and trust Lavia instead, but he spends the whole season injured, you get people complaining that we didn't get Kovacic for peanuts - leaving Rodri further exposed throughout the 23/24 season where we ultimately win the league.
Rogers was sent on loan to League One and the Championship over three years and did virtually nothing. He was a winger at the time - he played 38 games for Blackpool in two seasons and scored once. He was 20 years old and looked like he'd be a good Championship player, so we sold him to Boro. Absolutely nobody suggested that we should keep him at the time - many of us didn't even know he existed! He looked good for Boro for six months so Villa took a punt on him. It seems to have more or less worked out for him.
But... what, are you suggesting we just held on to all of these players? We just keep Pedro Porro throughout the 22-23 and 23-24 season, never really playing him, and then suddenly throwing him in now? We bring Lavia back last season and don't sign Kovacic, so we're without a CM/DM all season due to Lavia's injury? And, what, we just keep this fairly ordinary Championship winger who didn't even play well for Blackpool in the hopes that he becomes a good CM three years down the line?
It's madness. Football doesn't work like a computer game. We've seen it already with Palmer, Gundogan, Alvarez, Mahrez, etc. And we'll see it again with McAtee later this season. If players can't be assured of game time, they leave. Are you saying Porro, Lavia, and Rogers would have been happy if they'd been told to hang around the club for 2-3 years, not really playing, just getting loaned to Buttfuck Nowhere FC waiting for the day someone at City gets injured? Nonsense.
For every "mistake" like Palmer, Porro, Rogers, etc. there's an Iheanacho, Marcos Lopes, Pablo Maffeo, Sancho, Trippier, James Trafford, Ellis Simms, etc. Players we sell, make a tidy profit on them, and they don't really rip up trees after they leave. You can't just hoard academy lads and keep them on the bench until they're 23. That's not fair and not how football works.
You have several long quotes and some of it valid.So we should have just hoarded Porro, Palmer, Lavia, and Rogers?
At least come back with some substance mate.
However, we have to take a chance with some of the younger players.
This season we have loaned/ sold Kabore, Couto, Callum Doyle, THB and several more over the previous 2 seasons. I'm excluding the likes of the regular first team players like Mahrez, Laporte, Jesus, Zinchenko etc.
Surely one of Gittens, Delap, Doyle etc. would be beneficial to us now. Pep likes a small squad but you still need a few players involved who may not necessarily be 1st teamers but who can contribute.
Dizbuster
Active Member
This is eminently possible, though not proven. Either way, we did him no favor in that regard.We contributed in Rodri's injury. By overplaying him in terms of both playing time and tactical demands.
I would snap someone's hand off it was offered now!If we don’t buy in January then we will struggle to get top 4 imo