The Squad planning thread

The whole Sav Lewis thing is weird as neither will be at the level required to hold down the positions they play in. Why give them new contacts? And all that happens is they end up blocking youth coming through and affecting are ability to buy others
Lewis I understand slightly more as he's club trained etc but there was no reason at all to give Savinho an extension, as he was already on a long contract. Should have let him prove he deserves an extension
 
The disappearance of our press has had a devastating effect on us.
We do lack physicality & mobility in midfield. I am wondering if Stephan Mfuni could be tried in that position. I know his main positions are left back & left centre back but when I watch him he consistently drives forward with the ball & he seems to possess that physicality & mobility we lack & together with his defensive skills I would imagine he would be good at pressing & winning the ball back when the opposition counter.
 
I think our RW could really be improved by having Foden/Cherki play there.

If we were to have a proper fullback you'd back in the counter and in 1v1's it would add an element of stability.

Also means we could get some more muscle in midfield. I think when Rodri is back pairing him with Nico could be brilliant.
 
I think our RW could really be improved by having Foden/Cherki play there.

If we were to have a proper fullback you'd back in the counter and in 1v1's it would add an element of stability.

Also means we could get some more muscle in midfield. I think when Rodri is back pairing him with Nico could be brilliant.
I am beginning to wonder if Rodri is nearing the end of his City career. It is imperative that we obtain a suitable holding mid in January. We simply cannot count on him to return and Nico can't play all the minutes himself. It really is a shame that Kova isn't available, but nothing can be done about that.
 
Lewis I understand slightly more as he's club trained etc but there was no reason at all to give Savinho an extension, as he was already on a long contract. Should have let him prove he deserves an extension
Agreed. He attempted to force his way out of the club. So much for all his chatter about how starring for City was his dream.
 
I’d argue it’s almost a must now
I'd fully agree with that, although there may be suitable alternatives. I'm not sure how "gettable" Livramento is at this point. OTOH, if Newcastle again encounter PSR problems, a Trafford plus ££ swap for him may well be possible. If Rodri leaves in the summer, I would like to see a midfield rotation of Nico, Anderson and Ederson. That might prevent us from ever being overrun in the middle of the park again.
 
As much as we need to address the right side up top and at the back, our midfield is horribly balanced and has no depth. We essentially have four 10s and a 6 who are currently fit. Rodri will be available soon, but we can't rely on him to play 180 minutes across 3 games in a week. Then we have no idea what the deal is with Kovacic and Phillips might as well be gone.

Need to get another 6 and a couple 8s over the next two windows because any injuries to Gonzalez or complications to Rodri leave us in a terrible place.
 
I am beginning to wonder if Rodri is nearing the end of his City career. It is imperative that we obtain a suitable holding mid in January. We simply cannot count on him to return and Nico can't play all the minutes himself. It really is a shame that Kova isn't available, but nothing can be done about that.
I’m not so sure.

We will see minutes for Stones, Lewis, Reijnders, Bernie & Kova when fit at DM if Nico is first choice and needs a rest.

We’d have to completely give up on Rodri as what’s the point of spending 60+ on a player that when he comes back definitely won’t get time. It’s a very big decision to make.

Another 8 that can play 6 if needed is always valuable - after all we will lose a few in the summer for sure.
 
I’m not so sure.

We will see minutes for Stones, Lewis, Reijnders, Bernie & Kova when fit at DM if Nico is first choice and needs a rest.

We’d have to completely give up on Rodri as what’s the point of spending 60+ on a player that when he comes back definitely won’t get time. It’s a very big decision to make.

Another 8 that can play 6 if needed is always valuable - after all we will lose a few in the summer for sure.
The only one of those players I would have any degree of comfort playing in that role would be Kova, and he's due back sometime in March. He'll need at least three weeks to ramp up and that suggests to me a possible return in early April, at best. Unless Rodri returns to action soon, I do not believe that we can take the risk in not bringing in another player there. If Nico goes down, we're screwed, and given the logjam behind The Arse in the table, we might find ourselves struggling for CL qualification again.

I do not believe that Rodri's return this season is inevitable, though I wish it were. He made a massive error in attempting to return to action two months ahead of schedule, and until he demonstrates a return to fitness on the pitch, I do not believe there is any way we can extend him at this point.

Maybe O'Reilly can step into that role, but he will need some time to master the role. I think Pep may be able to pull that off, but it will also require bringing in a left back in addition to another right back for next season.
 
Whilst I agree that Greenwood is a terrible shout and don’t want him, for me it’s not about knee-jerk reactions to a defeat, it’s more about seeing the lack of quality we have.

Our best XI on a good day is a match for anyone, but beyond that there is a huge drop off.

For me, I don’t see any evidence from numerous chances they’ve had that Savinho, Bobb or Lewis will ever be the level we need. Furthermore if we waste time waiting for them, we’ll slip further behind when someone else buys Semenyo, Vinicius, etc as Arsenal already did with Eze.

We absolutely fucked up not selling Savinho and Lewis when Spurs and Forest offered reasonable money for them. That’s their level, and we want to be better than Spurs and Forest!

The club needs to get ruthless on these passengers, and more ambitious in the transfer market.
We have PTSD from Palmer’s sale.
 

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