Manchester City under Pep Guardiola | Pep on City v Liverpool ref: "He likes to be special"

But if Walker was a sure thing then why go in for Alves?
Isn't there the rumour that Bakayoko will be their last sale this summer as a condition for Mbappe to stay?
We would be bricking it if we were in their situation.
They need 4 fullbacks. 3 if they send Kolarav back to the role and sign a center half.
 
If Alves signs for PSG then Spurs will take City for a big ride.
 
Btw anyone losing their shit over transfers saying "learn from City, Chelsea" all that nonsense, it's time to wake up and smell coffee. Market is ridiculous and clubs find it hard to close the deal now. Every big club is struggling, at least clubs who needs major reinforcements.
 
His first business of this summer should have been to get fullbacks and improve his defence. But off course pep being pep choses not to address this problem instantly. They may buy sanchez but with this defence and midfield they are going to win feck all
 
City are about to enter a world of hurt dealing with Daniel Levy.
He will drag it and drag it.
 
So what's the story with City's transfer business this summer? Their strongest link seems to be a longshot in Sanchez while the Walker and Mendy links have died a death.
Think City are focusing on Sanchez atm. The rest will come after.
 
I still think they need 3 or 4 new defenders.
 
Guys, I think I figured it out. Pep is buying a ton of attackers so he can convert some of them to fullbacks! Genius! Can't wait to see Silva and Sterling defending wingers during preseason :lol::lol:
 
His first business of this summer should have been to get fullbacks and improve his defence. But off course pep being pep choses not to address this problem instantly. They may buy sanchez but with this defence and midfield they are going to win feck all
You think it's Pep going out closing deals himself? That he's in charge of negotiating with opposition clubs? I'm sure he's given the City board a list of his targets like any modern manager does.
 
You think it's Pep going out closing deals himself? That he's in charge of negotiating with opposition clubs? I'm sure he's given the City board a list of his targets like any modern manager does.
They have not signed one defender ffs. They have been hardly linked to any Left back bar mendy and even that seems to be dead. Rb situation has become a mess.

With jose we can see he clearly has list of players who he wants to fill the position, sorry I can't see that with pep.
 
Btw i really do think that converting Sane and Sterling as wing-backs in 343 system (or actually 235 in attack and 532 in defence) is not strange to Pep at all. Let's wait and see but it is quite possible that City will play a certain amount of games in that formation next season.
 
Btw i really do think that converting Sane and Sterling as wing-backs in 343 system (or actually 235 in attack and 532 in defence) is not strange to Pep at all. Let's wait and see but it is quite possible that City will play a certain amount of games in that formation next season.
I hope so! They will ship goals with that team!
 
They have not signed one defender ffs. They have been hardly linked to any Left back bar mendy and even that seems to be dead. Rb situation has become a mess.

With jose we can see he clearly has list of players who he wants to fill the position, sorry I can't see that with pep.
Crikey.
Last week this board was up in arms thinking that United were being left behind and now after one big, unforeseen signing smugnessabounds.
City have been "on it" all along this year (they screwed up last year admittedly) but trying to extract players from team who don't need the money is a tough task.
GK-sorted. David Silva's potential replacement-sorted. Dani Alves-last minute u-turn. Kyle Walker-wants to come, tough sellers. Alexis Sanchez-wants to come, tough sellers. Benjamin Mendy-wants to come, tough sellers.

Add to that Bertrand and Bellerin, Inigo Martinez and goodness knows who else and we have not been sat on our asses smiling at the William Hill PL odds we are doing what we can to close tough deals.
We also have a lot of players to shift out too, some of which we need to find suitors for before we can conclude other deals.
 
Regardless of what happens in the market till it closes, they'll still start as favorites for the title. Their attacking firepower allows that.
 


He sounds like that fool Suleiman al Fahim, who everybody thought had bought city in 2008, but was actually Mansour's frontman. al Fahim predicted multiple Champion's Leagues, PLs and every other trophy over the first 10 years. The deadline is the end of next season.

Mansour quickly fired al Fahim, who then bought Portsmouth FC, and drove it into bankruptcy.
 
He sounds like that fool Suleiman al Fahim, who everybody thought had bought city in 2008, but was actually Mansour's frontman. al Fahim predicted multiple Champion's Leagues, PLs and every other trophy over the first 10 years. The deadline is the end of next season.

Mansour quickly fired al Fahim, who then bought Portsmouth FC, and drove it into bankruptcy.

Are United not targeting PL, CL, FAC and LC then?
He's not saying that we'll win them all but he expects that with the resources available we should be seriously competing on all fronts.
BTW that Tweet is a bit old isn't it?
 
Great to see Alves rejecting them. They ideally need 3 fullbacks and a centerback. I'm guessing Mendy and Walker will both cost a combined 100m.
 
Shall refrain from being so quick to gloat. City still have a formidable team and even if they are short of established defenders, there are other options. For example, what do we know about their youngsters?

Football is a team sport and if Guardiola manages to find a good formation that protects his "lesser" fullbacks well and play to their strengths, they will still be a threat. LCFC wining the title with no "world class" player is a relevant example of the system being more important than any individual.

And yes, I do not think that either Vardy or Marhrez is world class. And their stock rose because of Leicester's team performance over the course of the season.

All in all, I will not write City off just because they lack established defenders. That seems too simplistic as there are so many ways around it.
 
If PSG get Dani Alves, I see Aurier going to City....
Thing is with Danilo is close on Chelsea, City was not on free run with any FB. Aurier's character would find incompatible with Pep's management type. A robust player vs a coach who want submission withiut questions.
 
Reminds me of the LVG season where we sold our attack and didnt get any replacements.

City's defenders were all old at City but at least keep 1 out of them for backup till late in the window. Both for negotiating / not looking desperate and backup.
 
Shall refrain from being so quick to gloat. City still have a formidable team and even if they are short of established defenders, there are other options. For example, what do we know about their youngsters?

Football is a team sport and if Guardiola manages to find a good formation that protects his "lesser" fullbacks well and play to their strengths, they will still be a threat. LCFC wining the title with no "world class" player is a relevant example of the system being more important than any individual.

And yes, I do not think that either Vardy or Marhrez is world class. And their stock rose because of Leicester's team performance over the course of the season.

All in all, I will not write City off just because they lack established defenders. That seems too simplistic as there are so many ways around it.
We know that they don't have good yong defender or they wouldn't buy Stones or players full backs as CB, midfielder & winger as fb /wingback. One of their better young defender Delaney was on loan to Sunderland last season

Protecting weaker players, especially those of defenders is not a Pep thing. If anything, Pep is unproven coaching the underdog. His team often comes short against superior team. Your points may make sense with another coach, not with Pep
 
There's exactly 1 month till PL starts. They need to sign 2-4 defenders and possibly a DM replacement.

Available off the top of my head:
Aurier
Semedo
Walker
Rose
Antonio
Bellerin
Mendy
Bertrand

Those are probably the quality they need. Will they get 2/8 of those? Id say yes.
 
City are going to have spend out of their noses to get the defenders they need.

Can someone remind me how they mange to get under the FFP rules? Or is that not a thing anymore?
 
City are going to have spend out of their noses to get the defenders they need.

Can someone remind me how they mange to get under the FFP rules? Or is that not a thing anymore?

Pretty much doesn't apply to them because their massive self sponsorships that effectively break the FFP rules.
 
Shall refrain from being so quick to gloat. City still have a formidable team and even if they are short of established defenders, there are other options. For example, what do we know about their youngsters?

Football is a team sport and if Guardiola manages to find a good formation that protects his "lesser" fullbacks well and play to their strengths, they will still be a threat. LCFC wining the title with no "world class" player is a relevant example of the system being more important than any individual.

And yes, I do not think that either Vardy or Marhrez is world class. And their stock rose because of Leicester's team performance over the course of the season.

All in all, I will not write City off just because they lack established defenders. That seems too simplistic as there are so many ways around it.

Probably as much as they do, taking into consideration how many of them got a look in last season tbf.