Fernandinho

[Hazy2]

34 mill is crazy money for a player 50% of fans have never heard of, on top of which we sold De Jong for 2.5 mill have now spent 50 mill on two MF when we have the best Mf all be it a lack of width. No Cavani are WE ANY stronger.

[twosips]

Fernandinho is better than De Jong.

[Mase]

Fernandinho is better than De Jong.

People actually still think de Jong was the best defensive midfielder in the world. Hilarious!!

[phips]

oh hey look, a bball reference.

sorry Original Douche, he beat you to it.

p.s. Youre completely off with the Heat and Bird references. They're the equivalent of Soriano and Txiki. If you were looking for a manager equivalent you shouldve stuck with Popovich.

Look,
I haven't spent a life smelling glue in Florida as another member of this board, so that I won't pretend to be a bball expert in front of a genuine one. Nor I'll try to convince the whole forum of what benefit would come from applying the shotgun formation to basketball, as others have tried to suggest for football (ditto the original, played with feet) in recent seasons.

Although, far from being an expert, I think that we can label Larry Bird as we please, previously head coach, than President of Basketball Operations, but he still remains a basketballer, not a beans counter.
I.e. to say that should City run by a footballer, whatever label You want to put on him, I'll be great. Instead we formerly had a bag carrier specialized in selling shoes, and now we have Pixie and Dixie. certainly a massive improvement from leatherface on the footballing experience of Txiki, but still someone who went straight from pitch to desk and so far has just dealt with something already built for success.

As for the Heats, Micky's money or not, as far as I know they are the Riley's creature, it's Riley who had been as great as to mould a bunch of soloists into a teamworking machine, the one who convinced LeBron to play in whatever position/role might eventually gets suitable to play, and the Heats are still lead by Spoelstra, strictly applying the creed of his menthor.

But as I said, in all honesty, I am just a distant follower of the NBA, so that I may certainly have missed something.
But I think the point I want to make still stands, in spite of possible NBA related errors.

good points. i wasnt trying to criticize btw, just offer up some clarification.

[MilnersJaw]

Fernandinho is better than De Jong.

People actually still think de Jong was the best defensive midfielder in the world. Hilarious!!

he hardly contributed anything to us winning the title apart from that flukey goal he slipped doing and yet people kept saying we were missing him this season lol.

[Nige]

<null>

Twice as good as Garcia or Barry in that role. So unless we magically go back in time and sign Makele he was right up there with the worlds best holding midfielders.

[Mase]

Twice as good as Garcia or Barry in that role. So unless we magically go back in time and sign Makele he was right up there with the worlds best holding midfielders.

I don't like Barry at all. But de Jong wasn't on the same level as Barry. He lost his man more often then not (Napoli, Rags), passed either sideways of backwards, and because he occasionally made a sliding tackle that injured an opposition player he was classed as "one of the best in the world".

He was hardly used during our title winning season.

[Ted Hughes]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

[twosips]

So much this ^

He's dynamic as fuck. The complete midfielder. He's so much more than any midfielder we've got at the moment. He's got Milner's endeavour, Barry's defensive nous and Yaya's passing and forward drive. He'll be excellent.

[Cocacolajojo1]

Fernandinho is better than De Jong.

People actually still think de Jong was the best defensive midfielder in the world. Hilarious!!

Perhaps not the best in the world but he was definitely one of the best in the world though? If we're only looking at his defensive abilities. After the tackle on Ben Arfa he also sharpened his game and tried to read it better in order not to have to tackle that much. His distribution was also greatly improved over the time he spent here (in the beginning he'd just shoot the ball at a teammate's feet) and although he wasn't part of our title winning side during the autumn, he definitely became a crucial part of our side during the spring and in the last games, he anchored the midfield quite nicely in order to push up Yaya.

Not the best in the world no but probably one of the better defensive midfielders out there until last season when he went to Milan. Top 15 at least? Top 10 even perhaps?

[MilnersJaw]

Milner would have been better off in the middle. Opening room for the signing of a decent winger like Isco. Jimmy could do the same job as a young 'Villa' Barry once did but get you 10-15 goals a season, if he played in the centre of midfield consistently. Like Steven Ireland, Milner, is not a natural winger and has been playing out of position. We also have Jack Rodwell who looked the dogs in centre midfield near the end of the season. Keeping Barry as a squad player it's not like we're short of bodies.

Regarding the sideward passes and slow ball movement a bigger culpret is one Samir Nasri. Everytime he receives it he puts his foot on the ball killing all momentum. Allowing the defender that second or two to regain their position and annoying his team mates who are trying to create openings with speed and movement!

Barry is bad for it but you are right nasri was shit and needed to go. It seems nasri though has up his game towards the end of the season.

[Hazy2]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

We need a number 9 and a winger thats it plus back up for centre half. I am 100% he is gonna be a great signing, however we have as with Mancini a lob sided look to the squad until we get a sUperstar C/F and some natural width, 34 mill when I am sure The special 1 would have said yes to Luiz at 30 mill, 8yrs in the Ukraine, who does that and rips it up, even if he did its 2/3yrs and he is where Barry is now for 34 mill, sorry Ted to much dough. Cavani or similar season for me.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

We need a number 9 and a winger thats it plus back up for centre half. I am 100% he is gonna be a great signing, however we have as with Mancini a lob sided look to the squad until we get a sUperstar C/F and some natural width, 34 mill when I am sure The special 1 would have said yes to Luiz at 30 mill, 8yrs in the Ukraine, who does that and rips it up, even if he did its 2/3yrs and he is where Barry is now for 34 mill, sorry Ted to much dough. Cavani or similar season for me.

Where Barry is now? What are you basing that on mate? From what I can see they're two very different players.

[Ted Hughes]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

We need a number 9 and a winger thats it plus back up for centre half. I am 100% he is gonna be a great signing, however we have as with Mancini a lob sided look to the squad until we get a sUperstar C/F and some natural width, 34 mill when I am sure The special 1 would have said yes to Luiz at 30 mill, 8yrs in the Ukraine, who does that and rips it up, even if he did its 2/3yrs and he is where Barry is now for 34 mill, sorry Ted to much dough. Cavani or similar season for me.

We have just signed Spain's winger.

NOBODY is worth the money. NOBODY.

53 million quid for Cavani ? My arse. It's ridiculous, but that's what it will cost if we get him.

IF we paid 34 mil for this bloke, yes it's too much, just as Yaya's wages are too much & £5 is too much for Kolarov.

I never even contemplated the idea we would be in for Fernandinho because it would be above 20 mil for a 26 year old Brazillian who plays in Ukraine & he seemed very much a nailed on rag signing, as they have no midfield. But we got him now & he's perfect for us.

The idea we don't need him; I disagree very very strongly & have been asking for a player like this since before the Sheikh even arrived. The nearest we had was one season of Ireland as Superman, when he used to close people down at the back, then sprint forward & create stuff. I said the next season that Ireland should become that player full time, dominate in front of our defence & break forward, not try to become a flicky farty Elano MKII. Ireland chose the latter.

When we signed Yaya I expected he would be a lot more active when we lost the ball, but he won't put the hard yards in to get back when needed or fill holes. Last season, Bob tried to get Gareth Barry doing this job, but he clearly doesn't have the pace to get back or forward quick enough, he is much better sitting & cleaning up. Likewise Rodwell doesn't have the knowhow or passing range yet & Milner is more about forward running than deep passing, Garcia is struggling with the pace full stop. Mancini has tried allsorts & not solved this problem; ending up with Barry & Yaya playing all the time, even when carrying injuries or out of form, because he can't trust anyone else in the centre.

We had three 20/30 goal per season strikers but no genuine centre mid.

If we add Cavani for too much money then fine but I will be shocked if our front 3 don't score at least 50% more goals next season even without him, & the midfield will be more productive too imo.

[Hazy2]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

We need a number 9 and a winger thats it plus back up for centre half. I am 100% he is gonna be a great signing, however we have as with Mancini a lob sided look to the squad until we get a sUperstar C/F and some natural width, 34 mill when I am sure The special 1 would have said yes to Luiz at 30 mill, 8yrs in the Ukraine, who does that and rips it up, even if he did its 2/3yrs and he is where Barry is now for 34 mill, sorry Ted to much dough. Cavani or similar season for me.

Where Barry is now? What are you basing that on mate? From what I can see they're two very different players.

Just 30+ best days behind him. 34 mill is so over the top it makes Cavani look cheap.

[Rag_hater]

A Brazillian whose name ends in dinho says enough for me.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

We need a number 9 and a winger thats it plus back up for centre half. I am 100% he is gonna be a great signing, however we have as with Mancini a lob sided look to the squad until we get a sUperstar C/F and some natural width, 34 mill when I am sure The special 1 would have said yes to Luiz at 30 mill, 8yrs in the Ukraine, who does that and rips it up, even if he did its 2/3yrs and he is where Barry is now for 34 mill, sorry Ted to much dough. Cavani or similar season for me.

Where Barry is now? What are you basing that on mate? From what I can see they're two very different players.

Just 30+ best days behind him. 34 mill is so over the top it makes Cavani look cheap.

Sorry I misread what you were saying. I thought you were talking in terms of quality when you referred to Barry but can now see you were referring to age, d'oh!

I guess we'll have to wait and see regarding whether he provides value for money but I think we're paying a premium to get deals done quick so we don't repeat the mistakes of last summer.

Tbf Shaktar declared his release clause was £42million, the deal cost City £30million according to reports so we did well on the face of it imo.

[Ted Hughes]

We had all this bollocks when we signed Yaya; this 'why do we need another defensive midfielder?' crap. I was arguing the point then, that Yaya was something different, not another Nige or GB. Well this bloke is different as well.

He is EXACTLY what we need.

We need a number 9 and a winger thats it plus back up for centre half. I am 100% he is gonna be a great signing, however we have as with Mancini a lob sided look to the squad until we get a sUperstar C/F and some natural width, 34 mill when I am sure The special 1 would have said yes to Luiz at 30 mill, 8yrs in the Ukraine, who does that and rips it up, even if he did its 2/3yrs and he is where Barry is now for 34 mill, sorry Ted to much dough. Cavani or similar season for me.

Where Barry is now? What are you basing that on mate? From what I can see they're two very different players.

Just 30+ best days behind him. 34 mill is so over the top it makes Cavani look cheap.

Sorry I misread what you were saying. I thought you were talking in terms of quality when you referred to Barry but can now see you were referring to age, d'oh!

I guess we'll have to wait and see regarding whether he provides value for money but I think we're paying a premium to get deals done quick so we don't repeat the mistakes of last summer.

Tbf Shaktar declared his release clause was £42million, the deal cost City £30million according to reports so we did well on the face of it imo.

Barring injury, we will get at least 5 years out of this bloke, maybe more. He will still be quicker than Xavis/Javis Alonso, Garcia & Martinez when he is 50.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

He certainly seems more naturally athletic than those you have listed Ted. Bold statement all the same.

[Ted Hughes]

He certainly seems more naturally athletic than those you have listed Ted. Bold statement all the same.

Ok, 45 then.