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Foreverinbluedreams wrote:

Im_Spartacus wrote:

bobby brows wrote:I think its time for fundamental change...if Guardiola or Klopp are going to be our next manager they will want to operate the high pressing game. That's defending from the front with forwards closing down opposition defenders in possession and also lightning speed counter attacking football.

Of our current squad how many are capable of doing this? I honestly think we are going to need minimum 6 players in the transfer window just to bring 6 next summer for this to work when Pellers is replaced.

If that change happened and we did play the pressing game, number 1 on my dream shopping list this summer would be Tevez as a wide right forward. He'd still do that job for another 2/3 years, and we know he's a greedy twat so wont go back to Argentina before his economically useful life in Europe is finished.

Unfortunately, realism tells me that Juventus probably want to keep hold of a couple of players, or they will be relegation candidates next season in the transfer rumours are all true

Pipe dream Sparty.

Yep, I'm getting my realism and fantasy threads mixed up here

Realism would also tell us that Chelsea will need a new backup Keeper, a replacement for Drogba, they'll want a real quality striker to back up Costa and tthey need to replace Terry as well who, despite the good season he has had, is showing signs of his age, I would say.
Certainly their two CB's showed that they can't hack been ran straight at by younger exuberant players.
I would go a long with the stance of us only buying in about 4 A-List team improvers (Pogba, De Bruyne, Bale/Reus/Sterling etc. take your pick) and Put Denayer, Lopes, and Iheanacho straight into the squad and perhaps a few like Maffeo, Ambrose, Barker, Bryan getting game time over the season.
I think our starting eleven would have maybe only three-four changes in it but it would make such a difference to the dynamism of the centre of the park.
I don't think Arsenal will be any different than they were this year. They were typical yesterday, where they look like world beaters when they are up against nothing and they have no pressure on them. When it gets down to the business end of things they always cave in.
United will spend, we are told, but they certainly need to. I think they were way off the pace and can count themselves lucky to be 4th. I would like to see them spunk another 100 million on two players possibly and still not address their weakness in defence. De Gea going will cost them games as well.
Wishful thinking but it would not surprise me if LVG gets found out next season in much the same way Rodgers has been found out at Liverpool.
United will have to contend with European football next year if they qualify, which they didn't have this season. United will do nothing in europe and it will only act as a hindrance to any league campaign that they think they will mount.

So realism suggests to me that any of the others who think we can be written off are only fooling themselves and let them take comfort in their own delusions.
We are going nowhere. I for one expect it to come down to us and Chelsea again, with us having more scope for improvement than them.
Roll on the summer madness.

Mancini out!

As long as we buy a couple of players who are good enough to go straight into the first team, I'll be happy. I'd love one of those to be De Bruyne.

iwasthere2012 wrote:Realism would also tell us that Chelsea will need a new backup Keeper, a replacement for Drogba, they'll want a real quality striker to back up Costa and tthey need to replace Terry as well who, despite the good season he has had, is showing signs of his age, I would say.
Certainly their two CB's showed that they can't hack been ran straight at by younger exuberant players.
I would go a long with the stance of us only buying in about 4 A-List team improvers (Pogba, De Bruyne, Bale/Reus/Sterling etc. take your pick) and Put Denayer, Lopes, and Iheanacho straight into the squad and perhaps a few like Maffeo, Ambrose, Barker, Bryan getting game time over the season.
I think our starting eleven would have maybe only three-four changes in it but it would make such a difference to the dynamism of the centre of the park.
I don't think Arsenal will be any different than they were this year. They were typical yesterday, where they look like world beaters when they are up against nothing and they have no pressure on them. When it gets down to the business end of things they always cave in.
United will spend, we are told, but they certainly need to. I think they were way of the pace and can count themselves lucky to be 4th. I would like to see them spunk another 100 million on two players possibly and still not address their weakness in defence. De Gea going will cost them games as well.
Wishful thinking but it would not surprise me if LVG gets found out next season in much the same way Rodgers has been found out at Liverpool.
United will have to contend with European football next year if they qualify, which they didn't have this season. United will do nothing in europe and it will only act as a hindrance to any league campaign that they think they will mount.

So realism suggests to me that any of the others who think we can be written off are only fooling themselves and let them take comfort in their own delusions.
We are going nowhere. I for one expect it to come down to us and Chelsea again, with us having more scope for improvement than them.
Roll on the summer madness.

Very good post. All true re Chelsea et all. Given that we have argued all season long we are as good as Chelsea and we have had a shocking amount of refereeing decisions go against us, I also don't think major change is needed. Change is needed, without doubt, but not wholesale. Two or three world class players and I mean proper world class and we are set to go

nottsblue wrote:

iwasthere2012 wrote:Realism would also tell us that Chelsea will need a new backup Keeper, a replacement for Drogba, they'll want a real quality striker to back up Costa and tthey need to replace Terry as well who, despite the good season he has had, is showing signs of his age, I would say.
Certainly their two CB's showed that they can't hack been ran straight at by younger exuberant players.
I would go a long with the stance of us only buying in about 4 A-List team improvers (Pogba, De Bruyne, Bale/Reus/Sterling etc. take your pick) and Put Denayer, Lopes, and Iheanacho straight into the squad and perhaps a few like Maffeo, Ambrose, Barker, Bryan getting game time over the season.
I think our starting eleven would have maybe only three-four changes in it but it would make such a difference to the dynamism of the centre of the park.
I don't think Arsenal will be any different than they were this year. They were typical yesterday, where they look like world beaters when they are up against nothing and they have no pressure on them. When it gets down to the business end of things they always cave in.
United will spend, we are told, but they certainly need to. I think they were way of the pace and can count themselves lucky to be 4th. I would like to see them spunk another 100 million on two players possibly and still not address their weakness in defence. De Gea going will cost them games as well.
Wishful thinking but it would not surprise me if LVG gets found out next season in much the same way Rodgers has been found out at Liverpool.
United will have to contend with European football next year if they qualify, which they didn't have this season. United will do nothing in europe and it will only act as a hindrance to any league campaign that they think they will mount.

So realism suggests to me that any of the others who think we can be written off are only fooling themselves and let them take comfort in their own delusions.
We are going nowhere. I for one expect it to come down to us and Chelsea again, with us having more scope for improvement than them.
Roll on the summer madness.

Very good post. All true re Chelsea et all. Given that we have argued all season long we are as good as Chelsea and we have had a shocking amount of refereeing decisions go against us, I also don't think major change is needed. Change is needed, without doubt, but not wholesale. Two or three world class players and I mean proper world class and we are set to go

I think we've got to buy very carefully this summer, with regard to the ultimate formation and style that Pellegrini wants to play.

Although he has put out a team with only Aguero up front for the last few games, I still don't think he's a dedicated convert to having a five man midfield, irrespective of how fluid that would result in being.

I'm convinced that, next season, he'll revert to his preferred option of playing with two main strikers and his track record also seems to bear this out. Moreover, I don't feel he will be able to resist the temptation to pair Bony with Aguero, so that means the midfield area behind them will have the biggest requirement to change and be changed, if we wish to improve there and also to lessen the burden, a little, on our problematic defence.

I wouldn't be surprised if we actually bought in four new midfielders, in the summer, to provide the new energy and athletic drive needed for this function of the team and the pressing aspect that Pellegrini will require of them. Whether, or not, this would leave any funds available for another striker, or any replacement defenders, remains to be seen.

I just feel we're going to be very busy in all aspects of the transfer window, but carefully so, in order to make the money we will have go as far as possible.

We've done the practical stuff to some extent, in that we lost Mario, Lescott, Micah, Barry, Garca, AJ, Pants, & then Negredo etc etc. We have more or less replaced them all, arguable whether better or worse in each case, but now it's down to the serious business.

The signings we make now, at least some of them, have to be the people we rely on as alternatives to the mainstays of the team. If Yaya stays he can't be the team leader we have relied on in the past. We need others of the same level.

There are still suggestions that a few tactical switches could have made a huge difference. It's nonsense. We have played loads of games in Europe with 5 in midfield & failed, including when these blokes were younger & fitter.

It's not just a tweak in that respect, it's a rebuild. It might not need many players but it's no longer squad strengthening, it's the core of the team which needs strengthening & changing.

Barca play with 3 forwards. It's a load of bollocks to suggest just packing the midfield is the answer to everything. It's about balance. We don't have it & we never really have.

The next couple of seasons are similar in importance to Mancini's first two imo, if we want to compete that is.

i think we need two top top top signings -- Pogba and De Bruyne i hope -- and then some really signings that bolster midfield. Schneiderlin is one i'd love to have. A fullback or two for sure.

I agree on two fronts -- we need quality, world class no bullshit proven quality -- and some numbers, quantity....achieving both isn't easy. We need a summer like Mancini had with Yaya, Silva, and the like. We could get only 4 in again like that summer and make it work, but they'd have to be the right fuckers.

Hard part is that we're probably signing the filler players for 2 seasons max if we have any faith in our academy kids. Maybe we're relying or considering that too much in some ways, but the investments and the media headlines coming out of mcfc themselves fuel that desire and intent to promote the kids so we've got nothing else to do but go along for the ride. If we use "realism" as a guide tho, hardly any top top top clubs in England even bring through kids into the first team anymore, so it would seem unlikely more than 1 every 3 or 4 years might make it. It's more like a collection of kids to trade with other clubs whose established stars we covet since we fucked up and missed out on them in the first place.

cheers

I don't think that looking at previous years as regards young players coming through has any relevance to the future, because we didn't have any good enough & neither did most other clubs.

There have been one or two talented players as kids who imo should have made it & didn't, such as Vlad Weiss & Lee Croft, but best of the rest all ended up playing Premier League; Ireland, Sturridge, Micah, Ned, SWP, Johnson briefly. If they can make it, imo a hell of a lot of the ones we have now, who are mostly better footballers, & miles, miles, miles better coached, will play there also. Some will play for City. The academy now has no past system to compare to.

We shouldn't need many more signings like Sagna, Navas, Fernando, Clichy, Garcia, even Balotelli or Adam Johnson etc once these are old/experienced enough, so we can concentrate on signing mainly real first 11 players instead of squad players. I think we may have an occasional Aguero/Silva level kid in there too.

But seeing as Yaya looks like staying, I'm more concerned that we get a midfield with the kind of energy we need, in the short term. If both Yaya & Silva play in the same team regularly, plus Aguero, then we have 3 positions left to give us both new ideas & also energy & defensive stability. Two if Fernandinho is part of the plan. Otherwise we have the same problems.

Perhaps two superfit attacking fullbacks would add something. Will need a very special couple of players imo.