There is literally no argument who has had a better summer. Its beyond debate
Our Rivals' squads next year - Manchester City (2016/2017)
- Thread starter Wumminator
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There is literally no argument who has had a better summer. Its beyond debate
If Arsenal sign Lacazette (which they will eventually this window), I think they'd be the best in attack.
In terms of now I agree but long term, who knows.
Lacazette is no better to Arsenal than what Giroud is. Manchester City are definitely the best attack in the league, unless somebody signs a genuinely top class forward.
I'm not sure about that. He's a fast player and adds a different kind of threat that they lacked. Great eye for goal and can interchange freely with any of the front 3, unlike Giroud.
Aren't Lyon supposed to be the single worst team to try and get a deal done with though?
They've reportedly put out an asking price (think it was £40m?), which makes the transfer pretty straight forward.
City pre-season minutes in full (max.270)
235: Fernandinho
219: Aleks Kolarov
207: Tosin Adarabioyo
170: Gael Clichy
163: Fernando
158: Fabian Delph
135: Willy Caballero & Pablo Maffeo
127: Jesus Navas
126: Angelino
113: Sergio Aguero
112: Kelechi Iheanacho
102: David Silva
100: Aleks Zinchenko
96: Yaya Toure
90: Angus Gunn & Wilfried Bony
86: Raheem Sterling
80: Aleix Garcia
69: Nolito
64: Pablo Zabaleta
45: Joe Hart, Jason Denayer, Nicolas Otamendi & Brandon Barker
35: Bersant Celina
27: Kevin De Bruyne
26: Bacary Sagna
25: Sinan Bytyqi
0: Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan, Samir Nasri & Man Utd Garcia
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...all-news/man-city-pre-season-minutes-11718987
235: Fernandinho
219: Aleks Kolarov
207: Tosin Adarabioyo
170: Gael Clichy
163: Fernando
158: Fabian Delph
135: Willy Caballero & Pablo Maffeo
127: Jesus Navas
126: Angelino
113: Sergio Aguero
112: Kelechi Iheanacho
102: David Silva
100: Aleks Zinchenko
96: Yaya Toure
90: Angus Gunn & Wilfried Bony
86: Raheem Sterling
80: Aleix Garcia
69: Nolito
64: Pablo Zabaleta
45: Joe Hart, Jason Denayer, Nicolas Otamendi & Brandon Barker
35: Bersant Celina
27: Kevin De Bruyne
26: Bacary Sagna
25: Sinan Bytyqi
0: Eliaquim Mangala, Vincent Kompany, Leroy Sane, Ilkay Gundogan, Samir Nasri & Man Utd Garcia
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...all-news/man-city-pre-season-minutes-11718987
For all their praise, they really do have a huge clearout ahead of them.
Wouldn't be suprised if Fernandinho performs better than most their players this season, the guy is never injured and he never stops running. My fav city player alongside De Bruyne and Kun, I've never understood why people thought he was shit.
A lot depends on Aguero if he can stay fit. Their most important player, they have no cover that comes close to him. Brilliant player.
Wenger will offer 39.9m and he will go on tge nearly signed him list.
It's just a shame that the best players in each key position could potentially miss many games.
CB (Kompany), CM (Gundogan), AM (De Bruyne), and ST (Aguero) is probably the best spine.
If you could rely on all of their fitness then I'd make City standout favourites. Shame really.
Wouldn't count de Bruyne in there. One impact injury from last season was all he suffered from memory. Gundogan's injury problems are overstated as well. Agreed overall about our squad and injury problems though. This season our biggest enemy is going to be ourselves for sure.
Sane and Gabriel are two of the best young talents in the world
They have signed players for the future which is smart because before they had an old squad.
They both play in the same position and are replacing / competing with early 20's Sterling and KDB.
These signing do nothing to cure an aging side.
At the start of the summer I thought City were justifiably favourites for the title, but now I'm not sure anymore. Was expecting Pep to plug a few more holes, there's still time but they need 2/3 top players imo.
Initially I thought Nolito was a good signing because the guy was really immense for Celta, but he was quite disappointing at the Euros I thought.
On that basis, Pogba is...
Yeah was just popping him in the spine of the team to emphasise how good it is when all are fit. The injuries will find Kompanys calf and Agueros hamstring for sure. Just feels like a matter of when and not if.
No they're really not
The more I look at City's squad, the more I believe that they're depending hugely on Pep to improve players. Honestly though, how often is it that a manager makes a player? Not very. At Barcelona, he was gifted a ridiculous squad and at Bayern he had similar, whilst buying any other player he wanted. I'm keen to see what happens with the likes of Sane, Stones, Nolito etc, but I don't think they'll set the world alight just because Pep is in charge.
Think there'll be a huge reality check for City this season. You need quality players, and aside from Kompany, de Bruyne, Aguero and (now very arguably) Silva, they don't have that.
Think there'll be a huge reality check for City this season. You need quality players, and aside from Kompany, de Bruyne, Aguero and (now very arguably) Silva, they don't have that.
City under Pep only bought young players so far for a lot of money. You can see that Pep likes young players he can still form and that he knows he will struggle with older players. The feedback from past players has not been too good either.
He will need time to develop those youngsters while the rest of the team is rather old. Let's see if he's given enough time and how he can turn things around
He will need time to develop those youngsters while the rest of the team is rather old. Let's see if he's given enough time and how he can turn things around
The Uefa coefficient is more accurate than any system you put in place as you are using personal judgement on what "you remember." e.g. Monaco have done well in Europe recently because they knocked out Arsenal once where as Werder Bremen got to the quarters of the champions league. In fact 4 German teams got to the knockouts stages of Europe and 1 from France. It is based on your performances against the rest of the continent so is a fairer method than saying "our league has better teams" with no measure to prove it.Pointing out PSG's superiority is fair play. Nevertheless Monaco is doing okay in Europe in recent years, Arsenal were beaten by them in the knockout stages. The Eredivisie hasn't produced a star for quite some time, players like Depay and Luuk de Jong have been flops so far while Traoré (Chelsea) who looked good there, needs a lot more time in England. Therefore i'd like to state that the overall quality of the individual in France has been much higher. Sure football is a team game, but individual quality does count at the end of the day and France is ahead at the moment (Ligue 1 and Eredivisie compared), imo.
The Uefa coefficient doesn't tell you the whole truth. The Bundesliga has been ahead for some time now but i wouldn't say that their league is ahead of the Premiership, there's only Bayern and maybe Dortmund who would challenge for the title. So it's all fair and square to take the Uefa coefficient into account, but never forget to take it with a pinch of salt.
I'll give you that the Ligue 1 is the fifth wheel in Europe, but it's not that far away. They're good at football and on their day some of these clubs can beat a lot of high ranked teams.
As already aformentioned the goal Ibrahimovic scored against Gala is magnificent, you either have it in you or you don't. You can score these type of goals anywhere, he hasn't unlearned a thing, imo. But new league, new team, a lot can happen, i'll give you that.
That's still four. I'd also argue we have Fernandinho who is quality. Question marks over Sane, Sterling, Stones etc if they can step up but there's potential there.
Yup. Played 50 matches in the last three seasons and out still September this year. But yeah it's overstated.
What I mean is he is not someone like Kompany or Aguero who suffer recurrent muscular injuries. He seems to have been very unlucky to suffer a few freak injuries, but once he returns to fitness, I don't see him as someone like Kompany whose thigh could just go at any minute or Aguero whose hamstring could tweak during any sprint.
Plus it's 80 matches over the last three seasons. 40 alone last year in all competitions which is far from awful.
If a player has missed 18 or so months due to injury in the last three-four years, then it's 100% a risky signing. Just checked his injury history and you're right that it's not on the same body part but according to the link below, he seems to be getting niggling injuries every month or so.
http://www.transfermarkt.com/ilkay-gundogan/verletzungen/spieler/53622
Missed ten or so matches even before he missed the whole of last season after April.
Cheers for the link. The telling thing is he's missed 88 games with the spinal injury he suffered, after that the most one injury has sidelined him for is 10 games, then 6. I do not disagree that he is a risky signing and he does suffer injury problems, that much is obvious, but a lot of people talk about him like he's Abou Diaby's German cousin, when really if you take the freak spinal problem out the equation then he's not doing too bad for injuries in his career.
--------------------Aguero------------------ --------------------Iheanacho------------------- -----------------------Bony------------------------
-------Sterling-----KDB-------Sane------ ----------Nolito-------Jesus--------Silva------ --------Nasri-----Zinchenko-------Navas----- Barker, Man Utd Garcia
--------Gundogan---Fernandinho------ ----------------Yaya-----Fernando------------ ---------------Delph-----Garcia------------------ Celina, Bytyqi
--Kolarov--Stones--Kompany--Sagna-- --Clichy--Otamendi--Mangala--Zabaleta- --Angelino--Adarabioyo--Denayer--Maffeo
--------------------Hart---------------------- --------------------Cabalero--------------------- ----------------------Gunn----------------------
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Their reserve team's reserve team has reserves. And almost all of them are promising youngsters waiting in the flanks. Injuries are not really what City are worried about, I'd say, it's about managing their resources properly.
-------Sterling-----KDB-------Sane------ ----------Nolito-------Jesus--------Silva------ --------Nasri-----Zinchenko-------Navas----- Barker, Man Utd Garcia
--------Gundogan---Fernandinho------ ----------------Yaya-----Fernando------------ ---------------Delph-----Garcia------------------ Celina, Bytyqi
--Kolarov--Stones--Kompany--Sagna-- --Clichy--Otamendi--Mangala--Zabaleta- --Angelino--Adarabioyo--Denayer--Maffeo
--------------------Hart---------------------- --------------------Cabalero--------------------- ----------------------Gunn----------------------
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Their reserve team's reserve team has reserves. And almost all of them are promising youngsters waiting in the flanks. Injuries are not really what City are worried about, I'd say, it's about managing their resources properly.
Theyve spent more then we have this window so far (going by transfermarkt). Of course Jesus isnt there yet but it still counts. They are a lot of good future signings IMO, the type of signings you make in football manager since its fun to develop into top players. They needed it, while we needed the top, ready made players after having promising players like martial, shaw and rashford and others. Going to be an interesting season for sure, with the two manchester clubs significantly strengthening.
Their current weakness lies at fullback and still center back, though stones and another can develop into a partnership. Also midfield still given Gubdogans injuries and fernandinhos age, and the lack of any other midfielders good enough to play there IMO.
Their current weakness lies at fullback and still center back, though stones and another can develop into a partnership. Also midfield still given Gubdogans injuries and fernandinhos age, and the lack of any other midfielders good enough to play there IMO.
tbh they've had a pretty good window. buying youth was essential with their ageing squad, and they should supplement the team well. they will start favourites. injuries will be a key issue for them though. their attack is clearly the best in the league, but definite doubts elsewhere.
Wonder how keen Pep is now to get rid of Hart if he really wants to make his style of play successful in England.
I do like Fernandinho to be honest, doesn't get anywhere near as much credit as he should. The issue is can they step up and play the way he likes - especially in the Premier League?
I think he'll struggle to get tiki taka implemented here. He'll need to adjust his approach.
I keep reading that, but do people really generally believe he's shit? If anything, I think people rate him pretty accurately: ok player, very hard worker, and very reliable.
Quality players AT CB and CM. Good wide players, young and experienced and a top, top CF in Aguero. Good depth mostly. Fullbacks are an issue for them and if Aguero gets injured also. He stays fit and they reinforce both fullbacks and it's a very good squad. Shaw, DDG, Pogba, Martial and maybe Ibra would walk into their first eleven. Maybe Smalling also. I am happier with our squad although Fernandinio would be nice. This season could be epic.
It's probably the best, but how can you say clearly? United, Chelsea and Arsenal (if they sign a striker) may all lay claim to having the best attack in the league. Of course, this assumes signings will click, but on paper, the aforementioned teams are pretty close.
A question mark still over Stirling. I'm astonished at his form last season. Stones is a fantastic footballer and Sane?? I know little about. Overall yr window has been good so you should be made up. Aguero needs cover. He can't be asked to go the full term without some rest but I can't see you spending again. Good luck this season mate. It's gonna be epic!
Ditto mate, it's probably going to be horrible for one of us come May because I reckon the title is coming back to Manchester one way or the other. Despite the rivalry it's great for Manchester than city and United are both gunning for the title.
What do City fans have to say about the relationship between Yaya & Pep, I find that an interesting storyline to follow