There isn’t a Man City thread this year
- Thread starter pedro1918
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He's never been the most durable guy on the pitch. He's immensely valuable, obviously, but somehow I think that Citeh will figure it out well enough to win again this year.
Introducing Manchester City’s new attacking formation: 4-2-5 (yes, you read that right) - The Athletic
I think Ederson was taking over playmaking duties anyways
I think Ederson was taking over playmaking duties anyways
How many players does Pep want that he doesn't have? Like, I don't think he'd want Mbappe on his team necessarily because he needs that player to put in more defensively and be positionally sound. But more generally, is there a position that Pep would realistically want to upgrade? I feel like he's more about crafting new tactics that perhaps need a different skillset, but with Foden, Grealish, and Bernardo, I don't expect too much dropoff, although no one can thread a killer 40-yard pass quite like KDB.
He could use a better keeper. Ederson’s great at distribution but is pretty mediocre in just about everything else.
Edit: mind you that distribution skillset may be valued over all else - especially given the paucity of shots he faces.
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Inside Manchester City’s history-making fourth Premier League title in a row - The Athletic (nytimes.com)
To quote the philosopher Mike Shinoda "I tried so hard and got so far/But in the end, it doesn't even matter "
Haaland's sacrifice and Walker's call to arms: How City won title (telegraph.co.uk)
To quote the philosopher Mike Shinoda "I tried so hard and got so far/But in the end, it doesn't even matter "
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Come on man, that's Chester's part. Chester sings/screams and Mike raps. Clearly defined roles.
I'm pretty sure Pep is through with Grealish
Jack Grealish emerges from Man City celebrations at 5am (telegraph.co.uk)
Will he even be named to the FA Cup final squad???
Jack Grealish emerges from Man City celebrations at 5am (telegraph.co.uk)
Will he even be named to the FA Cup final squad???
This is pretty fair. Rodri has to be at the top. I was going to say you could just do Silva and make it cover both David and Bernardo, but I guess it's already been four years since he left.
Is it cheating to put Guardiola first?
For all the deserved plaudits Guardiola gets as a tactical wizard, I think his man-management skills have been hugely underrated. It's incredibly difficult to keep a group of multimillionaires focused and committed for that many years without getting tuned out, and especially with his seemingly odd rotation and lineup choices, where players bounce in and out of the first XI and have their roles change.
For all the deserved plaudits Guardiola gets as a tactical wizard, I think his man-management skills have been hugely underrated. It's incredibly difficult to keep a group of multimillionaires focused and committed for that many years without getting tuned out, and especially with his seemingly odd rotation and lineup choices, where players bounce in and out of the first XI and have their roles change.
Yeah I brain farted on Rodri. I think Pep has so much credibility and success that players buy into his philosophy and sometimes unusual decisions because it is impossible to argue with the results. City also spend their money really wisely, in addition to having more of it than pretty much anyone else. Rarely do they make a big signing and have that person bomb, the way you might see at Chelsea or United.
They've had a few bombs. In the last two years, they spent 62m euros on Matheus Nunes and 50m euros on Kalvin Phillips, who played a combined 754 league minutes this season. They also spent 118m euros on Grealish and have only gotten one good season out of three from him; this year, he only played 1009 league minutes and had 1 goal and 3 assists.
Nunes was hardly a waste. Summer window didn’t shake out as expected when Paqueta investigation prevented that move and Nunes move was made for depth. He didn’t become a major player but he played some important minutes in a position City were light in. He’s still young and can likely be sold if they don’t feel he’s a long term solution.
Grealish probably was OK value for what top players are going for now but that fee will always be hard to justify without production. I wish he had spent some time as more of an 8 in Pep’s old system but we hardly play that football anymore. Phillips obviously is a complete miss of a signing.
The exercise proposed above is tricky because of the 5 year part which makes longevity really important and maybe even precludes Haaland in my list. If done over the last 2 seasons then Foden and Haaland both make my list but over a 5 year period it is:
1. Rodri
2. KDB
3. Bernardo
4. Ederson
5. Dias
Hon mention: Stones but he just can’t play enough
I suspect Ederson is the most controversial here but there just aren’t a lot of keepers who can play the way he does and we always get vulnerable to high press when he’s out. We finally found Ortega who has been like 70% as good with his feet but over the full time period he’s been really critical to how we play.
For me if you take the CL treble winners and this years team you add Foden and Haaland and drop Bernardo and Dias. I don’t think fans are giving enough credit to the season Foden just had. Other players are but it’s actually kind of remarkable that a quite young English player won player of the season and It hasn’t turned into some idiotic “is he better than Messi” English press driven garbage
I thought Rodri was a bomb his first season (19-20). He looked so slow and out of sorts. It took a season, but he bedded in to become the best on the world in that role. Incredible stuff.
Almost lost Jack Watch: Jack Grealish almost falls off Manchester City's open-top bus parade twice (telegraph.co.uk)
Sounds like the only trophy that mattered this season was getting four in a row
If City win this will have very uncertain consequences because I don't think the rest of the league, which is majority American owned at this point, won't just accept it.
The anchoring proposal to limit clubs to spending 4.5 times the domestic broadcast revenue of the lowest earning team in the PL may also be a preemptive step. If City win this case, my guess is that anchoring sails through when the PL votes on it this summer.
https://x.com/TimesSport/status/1797999246081200238
The anchoring proposal to limit clubs to spending 4.5 times the domestic broadcast revenue of the lowest earning team in the PL may also be a preemptive step. If City win this case, my guess is that anchoring sails through when the PL votes on it this summer.
https://x.com/TimesSport/status/1797999246081200238