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The boring Man City discussion


Jourdan

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18 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

City have already told Mangala he has no future there, as he isn't good enough.

So if they sold Mangala, they are left with three CB's in Kompany, Stones and Otamendi. Considering they will be playing three at the back a fair few times this season, they obviously need to bring in another.

Jonny Evans is an experienced CB and they're probably looking at him as a short-term fix.

As for Alexis Sanchez, he has one year left on his contract and Pep knows all about him. Why wouldn't he try and sign him? I don't think he will sell Sterling though. Then again, Sterling doesn't have a football brain so he must be so frustrating to work with.

City have bought in plenty of younger players, bringing down the average age of the first-team squad.

I'm really looking forward to watching them this season to see their progress.

Even for the Best Coach In The World Ever????  Pffft, he's obviously not that good then.  Brendan Rodgers was able to elevate Stirlings game to another level, why hasn't Pep???

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4 hours ago, ramsbottom said:

Even for the Best Coach In The World Ever????  Pffft, he's obviously not that good then.  Brendan Rodgers was able to elevate Stirlings game to another level, why hasn't Pep???

Sterling had the best season of his career last season, or so it has been said.

I personally think if he wasn't fast he'd be a League One player.  Don't rate him at all.

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5 hours ago, tomsdubs said:

Amazing going forward, s**** at the back. Can't win titles like that, Evans would be good for them but the price is crazy.

City aren't that bad defensively. They've only conceded twice this season, and one of those was an unstoppable worldie.

I'm intrigued to see how they do against Liverpool in their next match. They failed to beat Klopp's side last season.

 

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22 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Sterling had the best season of his career last season, or so it has been said.

I personally think if he wasn't fast he'd be a League One player.  Don't rate him at all.

You've missed my point.  If Pep is such a magnificent coach, why hasn't been able to make him a better player???  And before you say it's due the fact he's English and hasn't got good technique and/or a footballing brain, how come he wasn't able to drill Zabaleta, Clichy, Koralov or Sanga to play to his requirements??  Why hasn't he been able to get Aguero to press the opposition's defense how he wants??

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1 hour ago, ramsbottom said:

You've missed my point.  If Pep is such a magnificent coach, why hasn't been able to make him a better player???  And before you say it's due the fact he's English and hasn't got good technique and/or a footballing brain, how come he wasn't able to drill Zabaleta, Clichy, Koralov or Sanga to play to his requirements??  Why hasn't he been able to get Aguero to press the opposition's defense how he wants??

Sterling has become a better player at City. He was in ruins prior to Pep's arrival. At Euro 2016 he was utter dogsheet. 

But he has limits. He's never going to be a world class player, due to his limitations - mainly technique and footballing brain.

He wasn't able to drill the fullbacks to his requirements because they were all in their 30's, slow and ageing.

How can you train a 33-year-old Zabaleta to play like a prime Dani Alves? It's impossible.

Sure he could have adapted a way to cover his former fullbacks' deficiencies, but City didn't hire him to make do, City hired him to create a world class team with a world class style of play.

Aguero has never been a Pep player. He just naturally doesn't have the mobility like Gabriel Jeses has.

Pep had ample opportunities to sign Aguero for Barca when he was at Atletico. He's really close friends with Messi too. You would have thought Barca would have signed him in 2009, especially considering his age and potential.

But there is a reason Pep opted not to and bought David Villa instead.

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40 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Sterling has become a better player at City. He was in ruins prior to Pep's arrival. At Euro 2016 he was utter dogsheet. 

But he has limits. He's never going to be a world class player, due to his limitations - mainly technique and footballing brain.

He wasn't able to drill the fullbacks to his requirements because they were all in their 30's, slow and ageing.

How can you train a 33-year-old Zabaleta to play like a prime Dani Alves? It's impossible.

Sure he could have adapted a way to cover his former fullbacks' deficiencies, but City didn't hire him to make do, City hired him to create a world class team with a world class style of play.

Aguero has never been a Pep player. He just naturally doesn't have the mobility like Gabriel Jeses has.

Pep had ample opportunities to sign Aguero for Barca when he was at Atletico. He's really close friends with Messi too. You would have thought Barca would have signed him in 2009, especially considering his age and potential.

But there is a reason Pep opted not to and bought David Villa instead.

Then why try, simply coach them to be better fullbacks through positioning and tactics that suit them.  The best managers know how to accentuate players strengths to cover their weaknesses.  I bet Ancelotti would've won the league with that squad last season.  

Pep is a very good coach, but I think he falls into the trap of believing his own hype... 

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50 minutes ago, ramsbottom said:

Then why try, simply coach them to be better fullbacks through positioning and tactics that suit them.  The best managers know how to accentuate players strengths to cover their weaknesses.  I bet Ancelotti would've won the league with that squad last season.  

Pep is a very good coach, but I think he falls into the trap of believing his own hype... 

Nobody would have won them the league with that squad last season. 

Considering Chelsea recorded the second highest PL points tally since its creation, it would be nigh on impossible to beat that with a team who were way off challenging the previous two years.

How do you train a 33-year-old to be a better fullback than what he was in his prime four or five years earlier?

The body just doesn't allow it, especially in a position which requires athleticism and speed.

The key thing is though is that Pep wasn't brought in to win the league with that squad. That wasn't his job. He has been tasked with creating a squad to challenge for years to come. You can't do that if most of your players are already in their 30s.

 

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1 hour ago, Bris Vegas said:

Nobody would have won them the league with that squad last season. 

Considering Chelsea recorded the second highest PL points tally since its creation, it would be nigh on impossible to beat that with a team who were way off challenging the previous two years.

How do you train a 33-year-old to be a better fullback than what he was in his prime four or five years earlier?

The body just doesn't allow it, especially in a position which requires athleticism and speed.

The key thing is though is that Pep wasn't brought in to win the league with that squad. That wasn't his job. He has been tasked with creating a squad to challenge for years to come. You can't do that if most of your players are already in their 30s.

Isn't that what all managers are brought in for?

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17 hours ago, Bris Vegas said:

Sterling has become a better player at City. He was in ruins prior to Pep's arrival. At Euro 2016 he was utter dogsheet. 

But he has limits. He's never going to be a world class player, due to his limitations - mainly technique and footballing brain.

He wasn't able to drill the fullbacks to his requirements because they were all in their 30's, slow and ageing.

How can you train a 33-year-old Zabaleta to play like a prime Dani Alves? It's impossible.

Sure he could have adapted a way to cover his former fullbacks' deficiencies, but City didn't hire him to make do, City hired him to create a world class team with a world class style of play.

Aguero has never been a Pep player. He just naturally doesn't have the mobility like Gabriel Jeses has.

Pep had ample opportunities to sign Aguero for Barca when he was at Atletico. He's really close friends with Messi too. You would have thought Barca would have signed him in 2009, especially considering his age and potential.

But there is a reason Pep opted not to and bought David Villa instead.

You can't coach a 33 year old fullback to improve on what he's got, but that wasn't the point I made, you can put them in a team structure that brings the best out of them (and the rest of team) to give you the best chance of winning games of football.  Why did he try and turn them into auxiliary midfielders?  Why try and reinvent the wheel, especially with the tools you have to hand?  A pragmatist like Ancelotti would have coach the team how to defend, concede less stupid goals, and won more football games.

If Pep wasn't meant to win the league, or another significant trophy, would he still have been in the job, if they finished 8th, and didn't make it out the group stage of the Champions League???  I've got my doubts...

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8 hours ago, ramsbottom said:

You can't coach a 33 year old fullback to improve on what he's got, but that wasn't the point I made, you can put them in a team structure that brings the best out of them (and the rest of team) to give you the best chance of winning games of football.  Why did he try and turn them into auxiliary midfielders?  Why try and reinvent the wheel, especially with the tools you have to hand?  A pragmatist like Ancelotti would have coach the team how to defend, concede less stupid goals, and won more football games.

If Pep wasn't meant to win the league, or another significant trophy, would he still have been in the job, if they finished 8th, and didn't make it out the group stage of the Champions League???  I've got my doubts...

Pep wasn't brought in to be pragmatic. He could have focused on a team structure to get the best out of his ageing fullbacks, but how would that have helped the players like Stones, Sane, Sterling and Jesus who are there for the long haul?

Last season was just the start for Pep and City. Putting the building blocks in for future success. 

I like how your phrase 'reinvent the wheel' as that's exactly what he would have pitched to City's owners upon his arrival.

Pep wasn't brought in to do a 'Mourinho' ie. Short-term success and by the 3rd season be on the wane.

Pep was brought in for long-term success. To reach his ideal squad playing to his tune was never a one or two season job.

You could argue Pep is in a privileged position where most other managers wouldn't be given such luxury, finance and importantly time to get things right.

Yet, they pursued and appointed him for a reason. They must truely believe he is the greatest coach in the world and after seeing his work at Barca and Bayern I'm a firm believer of that too.

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All this talk of Pep being brought in for long term success, what is happening at Barca now? Shows how quickly things can fall apart and he had 4 years to build that team. Achieved great success whilst he was there but another season or two and that side will be a shadow of it's former self.

Do you not think Man City would like similar success whilst this team is being built, if you write this season off as another stage of the building process he only has another season left, do you see him staying beyond that? I don't.

This long term success plan that has taken 3 years could be dismantled in one summer. City don't have those release clauses or the lure of Barca to hold on to their stars.

I would be very surprised if City bosses are sat around saying slowly slowly catchy monkey. I would also be very surprised if this appointment was partly down to branding/merchandise and pull in more fans around the world, as you say he's seen as the best. 

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2 hours ago, David said:

All this talk of Pep being brought in for long term success, what is happening at Barca now? Shows how quickly things can fall apart and he had 4 years to build that team. Achieved great success whilst he was there but another season or two and that side will be a shadow of it's former self.

Do you not think Man City would like similar success whilst this team is being built, if you write this season off as another stage of the building process he only has another season left, do you see him staying beyond that? I don't.

This long term success plan that has taken 3 years could be dismantled in one summer. City don't have those release clauses or the lure of Barca to hold on to their stars.

I would be very surprised if City bosses are sat around saying slowly slowly catchy monkey. I would also be very surprised if this appointment was partly down to branding/merchandise and pull in more fans around the world, as you say he's seen as the best. 

That's where it helps to have a footballing director. Barca have gone to pot.

All the ideas Pep put in place have been ruined.

During his tenure, aside from his best XI, he gave the likes of Cuenca, Bartra, Afellay, Pedro, Thiago, Tello, Rafinha opportunities and had them in and around the first-team squad. Now, theyve all been sold and aside from Sergi Roberto none have come through.

Pep will do the same at City, but they need to continue the tradition.

I think he will be there beyond the intial three years. I think this could be his final job in football, and one where he can really put his name in the history books.

I also think the lure of Pep plus the PL riches will help keep their better players.

I actually think for the first time in years the PL this year, well at least the top teams, will be the strongest league in Europe.

I think we will see more PL teams in the latter stages of the CL than any other country.

 

 

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Not surprised, in the last 5 years.....

13/14 - £116m spent, £11m sold
14/15 - £88m spent, £30m sold
15/16 - £213m spent, £67m sold
16/17 - £213m spent, £35m sold
17/18 - £244m spent, £96m sold

Total: £874m spent, £239 sold. £-635m net

For what? 1 Premier League title and 2 League Cups

Barca
17/18 - £192m spent, £226m sold
16/17 - £122m spent, £33m sold
15/16 - £51m spent, £38m sold
14/15 - £166m spent, £81m sold
13/14 - £101m spent, £28m sold

Total: £632 spent, £406m sold. £-226m net
 

Real
17/18 - £46m spent, £123m sold
16/17 - £30m spent, £37m sold
15/16 - £85m spent, £15m sold
14/15 - £131m spent, £112m sold
13/14 - £175m spent, £113m sold

Total: £467m spent, £400m sold, £-67m net

With Man City's net £-635m, not hard to see why La Liga might be frustrated watching on although they could look at selling themselves a little better like the Premier League does.

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Saw a stat the other day claiming that pep guardiola has spent more money than any other football manager in the prem over their entire managerial careers. Surely this can't be right, the worlds greatest coach ever needing to spend more money than that crap Jose bloke who has no idea how to coach and has to buy success?

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