Txiki Begiristain

Big Yaya Wilko 12 said:
Not getting a striker in has been a failure. No way anyone can believe otherwise.

Pep pulled off a miracle last season rotating false 9s. It won’t happen again. Especially when everyone else has improved their attacking options.

We needed a striker, have done for 2 years really. And we don’t have one. We were told X is the price and spent 3 months haggling over a fee that was set at the start and wasn’t there to be negotiated down. But we still did anyway. A Sisyphian exercise in futility & again, at best it’s naive from the board…
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You’re right, it won’t happen again, as we are playing with Torres as a striker this season. He’s played as a #9 in every game so far.
 
Txiki's job is not to buy players at short notice because the knowledge on Bluemoon says it must be so; he is the Director of Football of a team that is the most successful of the decade in England and has just won, in 2020-2021, the Premier League, Carabao Cup, U18 league and U23 league. In his time as Director, City has grown into one of Europe's leading clubs, setting standards in terms of structure, style, and science that are generally considered as examples for the world to follow. Most fans of other clubs look at us with envy, at every level, and are extremely vocal about us because of that envy. We have been told over the years that the owners will get bored, that Pep won't come, that Pep won't stay, that we have no fans, that we don't have any academy players in the team, and all of it has proven to be absolute shite. We are a long way from Peter Swales and, as blues, we should celebrate everything we have, right now, because these are the absolute best of times.
 
Can everyone stop going on about a striker now, please.
Pep has built this team to adapt to different problems against different opponents.
We score goals. Lots of them. Sometimes we don't score any, sometimes we even lose. But scoring, over the season, is not our issue.
For over a decade Pep has laid waste to all opponents before him. His methodology works.
If Pep says "it's a false 9 system, again" it's a fucking false 9 system again. No complaints from me, and nor should there be from any other City fan. The guy has proved himself to our club, and Football in general.
Our squad is one of the best EVER assembled. We are the league benchmark, and no other current manager comes close to matching the ability Pep has to get the best out of this squad.
If Txiki didn't pull in a striker it's because the management team didnt think any available striker would improve our game.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
You’re right, it won’t happen again, as we are playing with Torres as a striker this season. He’s played as a #9 in every game so far.
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To be fair, there are not many proven strikers in the PL and only a very small number in other comparable leagues. Yes, we should have done much better this window and we will probably suffer because of it during the season, but the media’s obsession with Lukaku is something I cannot understand. In the old days he would be classed as a “donkey” and a bully. In my mind Dias will sort him out, no problem, anytime. The difference is that Dias is strong , clever with an abundance of suitable skills.
I am disappointed with the club’s transfer activity this year and they need to look at themselves and their inaction but City will do okay. We have no right to win everything, every time But winning the Champion’s league This season will be great (speaking as a fan who went to Porto to witness a team selection and performance which could have been much better)
 
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well in a way yes, in a way no. but I also struggle to justify the fee spent on Grealish when they go out and spend 35 on Jota and 40 on Diaz who slot right in from debut and keep scoring every game for them almost. and we let Kun leave, let Torres leave, sign a striker from River who might arrive July, next Jan or spend 5 years at Girona before we sell him and dont get me started on the Charlie Kane transfer special last summer where Levy didnt pick up the phone while we were entertaining Charlie Kane who talked his brother into signing a way too long contract in the first place.

we should have put ourselves in much better situation in the transfer market last summer then splashing the cash for Grealish who is good to have but would this team be levels worse if he didnt arrive? is it levels better with him? it probably pushed Sterling, Jesus closer to the door to leave due to somewhat less game time (Torres too), but Grealish will always struggle in the stat department in terms of assist/goals while Sterling was our main scorer in last 5 years behind Kun probably and he played a lot from the left where Grealish is playing now, but we wont be able to expect similar goal stats from Grealish so others have to chip in more but we are on a knife edge with that because none of the guys are clinical.

to be honest I am still not 100% sure he will deliver Haaland or a top striker next summer. we could be here in end of August and wondering if Foden or Gundo should be the false 9 going forward.
 
Damanino said:
well in a way yes, in a way no. but I also struggle to justify the fee spent on Grealish when they go out and spend 35 on Jota and 40 on Diaz who slot right in from debut and keep scoring every game for them almost. and we let Kun leave, let Torres leave, sign a striker from River who might arrive July, next Jan or spend 5 years at Girona before we sell him and dont get me started on the Charlie Kane transfer special last summer where Levy didnt pick up the phone while we were entertaining Charlie Kane who talked his brother into signing a way too long contract in the first place.

we should have put ourselves in much better situation in the transfer market last summer then splashing the cash for Grealish who is good to have but would this team be levels worse if he didnt arrive? is it levels better with him? it probably pushed Sterling, Jesus closer to the door to leave due to somewhat less game time (Torres too), but Grealish will always struggle in the stat department in terms of assist/goals while Sterling was our main scorer in last 5 years behind Kun probably and he played a lot from the left where Grealish is playing now, but we wont be able to expect similar goal stats from Grealish so others have to chip in more but we are on a knife edge with that because none of the guys are clinical.

to be honest I am still not 100% sure he will deliver Haaland or a top striker next summer. we could be here in end of August and wondering if Foden or Gundo should be the false 9 going forward.
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It’s not down to txiki to deliver the player though? The targets are selected and txiki sounds them out with clubs and agents and discusses personal terms etc but they final decision on any fee etc is with Soriano and khaldoon?
 
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