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Post by Topdawg Mon May 01, 2017 12:00 pm

It's not been a great season. It could have been with a little more luck and judgement, but we are where we are.

So let's look at some positives.

I don't believe even Pep would want to keep Bravo as our number 1 next season. I have hope that we'll buy in a top notch keeper who is top class at making saves and passing with his feet. As Martin Samuel said, make a £50M offer for Neuer and see what happens.

We'll definitely get rid of plenty of dead wood, especially around the defence. I can honestly see Clichy, Zabba, Sagna leaving. Kolarov will stay because he is a little more versatile and can be used as back up. Those full backs will, most probably, be replaced by bright young things with bundles of pace and the ability to get up and down very quickly.

Kompany is back, even if we always have that worry in the backs of our mind that it will be a temporary return. As long as he remains fit, our defence is improved. Stones has had a season under his belt and will continue to improve so long as Kompany stays fit. Otamendi has improved alongside Kompany, but he hasn't got the pace to keep up with speed merchants as has been exposed over the last few games.

There will be some incoming CB, maybe even two. Pep may decide on keeping what he has and adding one experienced body in case of injury to Kompany. But it has to be someone top class as Otamendi and Stones need their hands held during games.

We'll also get rid of some dead wood in the midfield, though I can see some not wanting to leave because of their big wage packets. We'll have Gundogan back and Silva will have all summer to rest his battered body. Sane and Sterling will have had finished above average seasons and we can all see that there is still plenty of room for improvement there. That's certainly something to look forward to next season.

We'll get another fast attacker, I'm sure of that. Even if Aguero doesn't leave, we'll get someone. Maybe at the expense of Itchy as I don't believe Pep rates him.

I hope that Pep doesn't make some of the same mistakes again. Surely he'll have learnt that every game is important and every team has the ability to hold us at home or away.

Our kids haven't been given that much of a look in but I believe 4-5 have the opportunity to be around the 1st team squad next season. That's a positive too.

All in all, we'll have a few younger, faster players next season who, hopefully, will better fit Pep's system. We won't win everything next season, I won't go that far, but we should win something and make a better fist of the CL and PL.
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Post by blueboy Mon May 01, 2017 1:29 pm

Have I converted you?? Lol!

Can't argue with anything you said there. Rumours that Pep will tempt Dortmund to part with PEA with Kelechi going the other way.

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Post by Topdawg Mon May 01, 2017 2:04 pm

I don't need converting mate, I've just been disappointed this season for much discussed reasons. I have hope that, because of Pep's stature and name, we'll be able to bring in top level young replacements that will take our club forwards again. These last three years just haven't been anywhere near good enough.
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Post by Paulpowersleftfoot Mon May 01, 2017 3:46 pm

Peps previous management has given him a pass for this first season in general by fans & media alike but there needs to be an awful lot of improvement in many areas next season.
We can debate until we are blue in the face about what's gone wrong but we all know deep down that inspite of numerous poor refereeing displays and bad luck/crap finishing in front of goal,the main problems have been appalling choice of goalkeeper,tactical naivety bordering on insanity and an inflexible stubbornness to the detriment of the team by Guardiola.
It's like being a bin dipper but next year really needs to be our year

If our manager had been an unknown quantity he would've been quite rightly slaughtered for this season,if it's been a learning curve for him the first half yesterday would suggest he's not learning very quickly but as I say he will get his pass for this season but this summers spending needs to be spot on
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Post by Strange Blue Tue May 02, 2017 12:17 pm

I think this was a bigger project than Pep expected. You can't replace a whole defence in one season. Reckon he wanted to give the old guard a chance before shipping them out. At minimum we need 2 young attacking full backs, 1 centre back who can also play in a wing back position.



Keep:  Kolarov (1 year contract extension) as Topdawg says versatility is the key here, but hopefully he will be used as the 2nd or 3rd choice. Navas to be used as a right back (1 year contract extension) I want to see him this role a bit longer before I'm fully convinced, but we will need to rotate the full back positions during the busy part of the season if we want compete in all completions.



Sell / let contract expire: Clichy, Zabba, Sagna. Special treatment to reward Zabba for his service to the club would be nice if could fill a back room / coaching role if that's the way he wants to go.



I'm undecided on Yaya I think he's played a useful role this season so maybe a 1 year contract extension with reduced salary & linked performance bonuses.


Personally I'm happy with the attack as it stands. I think with faster full backs the strikers will get more service.


I hope we don't become a club that rotates the manager every 2 seasons when we don't land instant success, it definitely hasn't worked for the rags.
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Post by Topdawg Tue May 02, 2017 12:27 pm

Kolarov has one year left and I expect him to see it out. Navas is out of contract and he will leave.
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Post by Strange Blue Tue May 02, 2017 12:58 pm

Well I won't be crying rivers when he's gone, but also wouldn't be surprised if he gets a contact extension
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Post by TMG Tue May 02, 2017 2:18 pm

I really hope both Navas and Kolarov go. Neither are good enough in any position.
Id like to see Neuer in goal but any PL or Championship goalie is better than what we currently have, Walker at RB and Jordi Alba at LB. We should have got Bonucci last year & he'd have made a big difference to our shitty season. He'd be still worth having next season even though age is not on his side. We also need a good defensive midfielder in the mould of Kante or Everton's Gueye
PEA up front would be excellent but if Sergio leaves we will need another top class striker as well
Hopefully Sergio stays. KdB, Sane, Sterling, Jesus, Gundogan, Stones, Silva and probably Fernandinho & Delph can all stay but the rest to be honest are too old, not good enough or both
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Post by blueboy Tue May 02, 2017 2:29 pm

Can't argue with that summation Tony.
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Post by Strange Blue Tue May 02, 2017 2:29 pm

The problem is we need 2 first choice full backs & 2 backups. How are we realistically going to land 4 players of the quality needed not to mention another centre back? We will struggle to find even 2 at the level we need. I would love it if we could land them, but we will need to retain a couple of players as a stopgap for at least another season. There is also the problem of integrating that many new players all in one go.
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Post by skyblueoz Tue May 02, 2017 3:23 pm

The way pep rotates players means 4 new full backs is not beyond the realms of probability. I do think with our ageing squad we need to drastically overhaul it. The only 3 I would possibly look to keep would be fernandinho, Kompany  & silva who fall into that 30 something category. If it is true that Alderwiereld is looking to leave spurs then I would look at him as he can play right back as well as centre back. I Would go for laporte as well for the same reason. Left Back for me should be alaba at Bayern & possibly Mendy as a lot is made of him at Monaco.  If we gat champs league etc we will have plenty of matches to play in a season & as we have seen injuries & suspensions also give a lot of players game time.
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Post by Topdawg Tue May 02, 2017 4:43 pm

If we've got £250M to spend as reported (and we could easily afford to spend double that if we wanted to), then we can only buy maybe 5-6 players at the level we may have to pay to get the quality we want.

Mbappe will cost £100M
PEA will cost £60M
Walker will cost £40M+
Bonucci will cost £50M
Laporte will cost £40M+
Alderweireld will cost £40M+
Mendy will cost £50M
Alaba will cost £40M+
Neuer will cost £50M

With those sorts of players, and those sorts of prices, we won;t be able to completely overhaul our squad without selling big.

Off the top of my head, we've got Mangala, Nasri, Hart, Bony,  Fernando and Nolito who have decent sell on values. We'd be hard pushed to get £70M from that lot even though they cost/are worth a whole lot more.

The best we can really hope for is a new CB and 2 FBs costing around £130M, another striker costing £60M and a DM costing £30M-£40M. Maybe with player sales we can buy another FB, but I reckon that's our lot.
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Post by blueboy Tue May 02, 2017 4:57 pm

No keeper?
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Post by Topdawg Tue May 02, 2017 5:24 pm

No keeper. You've convinced me that Bravo couldn't have saved any goals that went past him and his errors haven't contributed to dropped points.
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Post by blueboy Tue May 02, 2017 5:46 pm

You're welcome....  Razz Razz Razz
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Post by blueboy Tue May 02, 2017 5:46 pm

Oh....and Navas has been offered a one year extension. Wink
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Post by Topdawg Tue May 02, 2017 6:03 pm

Well, he's done far better than some others at RB this season. But, when you link it back to who we can actually buy with the money these days, we'll have to keep a few on that we shouldn't.
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Post by Paulpowersleftfoot Tue May 02, 2017 6:57 pm

Topdawg wrote:No keeper. You've convinced me that Bravo couldn't have saved any goals that went past him and his errors haven't contributed to dropped points.
Perhaps the Labour Party can get blueboy to do some work with Diane Abbott and convince the electorate that she's not really a fuckwit
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Post by blueboy Tue May 02, 2017 7:06 pm

You know my political stance Rich...wouldn't touch her with yours.  pale Horrible woman.
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Post by Topdawg Tue May 02, 2017 7:08 pm

You're more a Theresa May man aren't you now that Anne has retired...
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Post by Topdawg Tue May 02, 2017 7:19 pm

Keeping Navas makes sense that he's a cheap backup choice for RB. That means City only have to buy one expensive RB and pay Navas about £70k pw to stay an extra year. IT makes sense from that point of view but it aint right!
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Post by Strange Blue Tue May 02, 2017 9:32 pm

Topdawg wrote:Keeping Navas makes sense that he's a cheap backup choice for RB. That means City only have to buy one expensive RB and pay Navas about £70k pw to stay an extra year. IT makes sense from that point of view but it aint right!



I would prefer an upgrade on Navas too, but it's not just about the money it's also about being able integrate only so many new players in one season, that is unless you are prepared to give Pep an extended free pass for 2 more seasons.
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Post by Strange Blue Tue May 02, 2017 11:06 pm

Can only hope this is true:
According to sources close to the Manchester City, Pep Guardiola will try to sign as many as eight new players this summer. [Daily Mail]
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Post by Wensdi Wed May 03, 2017 2:16 am

Wouldn't even consider letting Silva go - not an option.  He's the creativity in the team.
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Post by Moonchester Wed May 03, 2017 7:03 am

we do need a backup for Silva though as the last couple of games have clearly shown..
Gudongan is sort of cover, but surely Isco is available and can do that role?
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Post by Topdawg Wed May 03, 2017 7:06 am

We need another Silva. That fella from Monaco. And he'll put the boot in too. And, apparently, he can score goals too.
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Post by blueboy Wed May 03, 2017 8:50 am

Topdawg wrote:You're more a Theresa May man aren't you now that Anne has retired...

Anne who??? Shocked
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Post by blueboy Wed May 03, 2017 8:52 am

Topdawg wrote:We need another Silva. That fella from Monaco. And he'll put the boot in too. And, apparently, he can score goals too.

To even think of letting Silva go, would be non-nonsensical. However, agree, we do need some cover as Phil Foden isn't ready yet... Laughing
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Post by Topdawg Wed May 03, 2017 11:08 am

Spanish Dave won't be going anywhere for a couple of years. First name on the team sheet when fit.
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