Thiago Alcantara

[Blue warrior]

Bayerns youth just aren't all that so not surprised nobody made the cut!
Edit sick of this auto correct.

 

[Dax777]

As a Bayern supporter, I would love for this move to happen. He's struggled a bit lately (partially due to fitness) and I don't really see his fit in Ancelotti's side. Pep is the only manager to get something out of him and we are in more need of an attacking midfielder. Perfect midfielder for Pep and when paired with a defensive minded-coverage midfielder, he'll excel with Gundogan.

Unlike many here I hope we don't go for or get Thiago. We have enough injury prone guys already. We don't need another talented player we have to wait on every few weeks. Please keep him.

 

[SWP's back]

De Bruyne , Silva, and Nasri are not CM's they are CAMs. Sane and Nolito are wide men/forwards.
Which again only leaves you with a currently injured Gundogan. Fernandinho who is obviously good enough but can't play every game and then Fernando and Delph who are both not good enough.

I'm not even going to count Yaya as his legs have gone and he will not fit in to the Guardiola system

I remember a time before Champs Manager when there were defenders, midfielders and forwards.

It's cute though.

 

[TrueBlueMike]

Neither Coman nor Kimmich were Bayern youth players. Coman was from France via Juve, and Kimmich from Stuttgart via Leipzig.

I think the point Sudkv is making is not to confuse Pep showing faith in young players he hand picks for showing faith in the team's youth players. These are 2 different things

I Accept that. Maybe I worded it wrong, in that I should say Pep gives youth a chance, regardless whether bought or brought through .

He had a decent Academy at Barca, which he used, or at least put to test. No reason why he wouldn't look to do that with City.

At Bayern the academy is crap, therefore he bought youth and coached it.

 

[Dax777]

I Accept that. Maybe I worded it wrong, in that I should say Pep gives youth a chance, regardless whether bought or brought through .

He had a decent Academy at Barca, which he used, or at least put to test. No reason why he wouldn't look to do that with City.

At Bayern the academy is crap, therefore he bought youth and coached it.

At Barca, he coached most of the kids at the academy so it was an easier and more emotionally attached promotion. At Bayern, he seemed to just find kids that fit his philosophies. But yes you are right. One of Pep's advantages over old school coaches is that he takes the risk based on talent. Most coaches will play experience over talent out of fear.

It's hard to fire a coach who loses playing those deemed the best by the public. But if you play Celina and Garcia over Silva and DeBryune and you lose, management and the fans will turn on you quick. It will matter not that you saw in practice that the young bucks were better.

Coaches are often risk adverse. Pep has shown a penchant for not being that. Let's hope that continues at City.

 

[PrezIke]

Fernando is better than Casemiro and he played starring role in Madrids champs league win. Delph is a completely unique scenario to our league due to his homegrown status. We have to sacrifice on quality somewhere because of the sheer lack of quality of players from our country, Barca/Madrid have the luxury of the likes of Pique/Ramos/Alba/Busquets/Iniesta/Morata etc etc that qualify as homegrown and Bayern have it just as good whereas we have to fight with more clubs for considerably fewer and vastly inferior players. For a player that knows he's primarily backup, Delph is perfectly adequate and replacing him with somebody better makes no sense, as it means we'll have to sacrifice quality elsewhere on the pitch. Filling homegrown status with backup players like Delph is the most efficient way of doing it other than backup keepers. Comparing him to a squad player from a top team in Europe is utterly pointless.

It's not even all about the lack of quality from England as also the price to pay for it that exists due of this issue and if we pay mega fees for players they become lightning rods for criticism from the English media and fans.

Delph will stay one more season at least, surely. He had a decent run of games that some seem to forget, like Fernando before his hidden injury issue the season before and can offer some things pep should like. Yes he may be a sick note, but he's fine as a squad player until he either shows he can be more or our own homegrown players become good/experienced enough to earn a place in the squad.

 

[capiloton]

can City sign tall midfielder?
someone that we can call midfield general or midfield enforcer.
perhaps City find someone to replace Yaya, if he do leave us.
i'm not comfortable playing midgets in the middle, all games all season.
especially in the games when facing rough, physical and a bully team.
who love to kick at the feet all the times, and referee just don't give a damn.

 

[Ric]

It's Kroos OR Thiago if there's even chance of getting one of them

Yeah, there's no chance it'd be both.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

can City sign tall midfielder?
someone that we can call midfield general or midfield enforcer.
perhaps City find someone to replace Yaya, if he do leave us.
i'm not comfortable playing midgets in the middle, all games all season.
especially in the games when facing rough, physical and a bully team.
who love to kick at the feet all the times, and referee just don't give a damn.

You'll probably get some grief for that post from some of the resident experts on here, but based on the players we're looking at my biggest fear is that we'll be bullied out of the trophy hunt next season. I know height and muscle don't count for much in some leagues, but they are an important aspect of winning consistently in the PL, and you can usually measure the difference between going to places like Anfield and losing horribly every single year like we do (Navas, Sterling, Silva and Aguero this year was an utter lightweight fucking disaster), or going there with a team of 6ft juggernauts and winning there like the rags always do, in actual inches and pounds.
What every squad needs of course is a balance. We had height, weight AND flair in 2012, but last season we were lacking physically IMO. Stones, Nolito, Sane, Thiago, Gundogan, they're fine players, but in a squad that already includes the 4 attackers I named earlier, we absolutely need some height and power as well, or we will win fuck all next season, however good Pep is.

 

[Omnia Vincit Riot]

You'll probably get some grief for that post from some of the resident experts on here, but based on the players we're looking at my biggest fear is that we'll be bullied out of the trophy hunt next season. I know height and muscle don't count for much in some leagues, but they are an important aspect of winning consistently in the PL, and you can usually measure the difference between going to places like Anfield and losing horribly every single year like we do (Navas, Sterling, Silva and Aguero this year was an utter lightweight fucking disaster), or going there with a team of 6ft juggernauts and winning there like the rags always do, in actual inches and pounds.
What every squad needs of course is a balance. We had height, weight AND flair in 2012, but last season we were lacking physically IMO. Stones, Nolito, Sane, Thiago, Gundogan, they're fine players, but in a squad that already includes the 4 attackers I named earlier, we absolutely need some height and power as well, or we will win fuck all next season, however good Pep is.

Pogba and Bale. We only need those two and with the squad we have we'd piss the league and probably pick up a cup next season. I'm so disappointed we're not in for them. Players like Nolito and Gundogan and even Stones don't transform 4th place to champions. We should have done anything it took to sign Pogba and Bale.