John Stones to City

Originally Posted by Jethro

He could be great but still big question marks about him

50 million would be ridiculous given the awful season he just had

Big gamble

Can't say City's summer business worries me at all
Gundogan is quality but he's crocked for the first month or two of the season and he's a bit of a crock full stop
Sane is a big talent but still inconsistent and not a certainty to be first choice next season
Gabriel Jesus is a another big talent but won't arrive until January and signing a teenager straight from Brazil is always a big gamble
Then you have Stones who is nowhere near the finished article and is coming off the back of a really poor season
As for Nolito and the other small signings.....meh

Improved their squad but how much have they improved their first 11
In contrast if we sign Pogba we have improved our first 11 hugely with our 4 signings while spending more or less the same amount as city

I'm not sure the price even matters enough these days to represent a gamble. They dropped, what, £40m on Mangala a couple of years ago. Clearly not good enough and they won't get half that back, but has it affected their budget that much?

They're spending even more on a defender this year. It's about getting the right man; not sure value and financial risk comes into it that much these days. They're looking to spend the best part of £50-60m on teenagers who won't even join up until next year.

50m.

The world's gone utterly mad.

Can't get in the England team ahead of Gary Cahill ffs

Originally Posted by Clarkie

Can't get in the England team ahead of Gary Cahill ffs

Nor should he tbh. He's done £#%&! all, and has looked shaky as £#%&! in a lot of the full games I've watched him in.

Originally Posted by Clarkie

Can't get in the England team ahead of Gary Cahill ffs

To be fair though, that was under Roy "safe pair of hands" Hodgson.

Cahill is exactly the sort of grey dullard the likes of Hodgson love. A young centre half playing the ball out from the back is pretty much anathema to these people

Originally Posted by utd99

Nor should he tbh. He's done £#%&! all, and has looked shaky as £#%&! in a lot of the full games I've watched him in.

They're both shite

Originally Posted by Clarkie

They're both shite

These next two years of his development are going to be huge for him. If he gets to play with Kompany he could work out ok, but if he has to partner either Ottamendi or Mangala he could get swallowed whole. The latter is looking most likely.

Originally Posted by utd99

Nor should he tbh. He's done £#%&! all, and has looked shaky as £#%&! in a lot of the full games I've watched him in.

Id agree, he looked like he was believing his own hype and over playing, making a few mistakes and then got a little confused / unnerved about his game. Hope he crashes and burns obviously

Originally Posted by utd99

These next two years of his development are going to be huge for him. If he gets to play with Kompany he could work out ok, but if he has to partner either Ottamendi or Mangala he could get swallowed whole. The latter is looking most likely.

is Kompany even that special?

Originally Posted by andyroo

is Kompany even that special?

He definitely looks special, the feckin head on him.

Originally Posted by andyroo

is Kompany even that special?

Until recently yeah, he was a great player. Always had an occasional wtf moment in him, but then again so did Vidic. Last couple of seasons with injuries and problems at the club he's been a bit iffy I suppose, but he's still better than the shit they are spending 40/50m on.

Originally Posted by utd99

These next two years of his development are going to be huge for him. If he gets to play with Kompany he could work out ok, but if he has to partner either Ottamendi or Mangala he could get swallowed whole. The latter is looking most likely.

It's more likely he will play alongside Fernandinho or Fernando at the back, according to Guardiola.

Could be interesting.

It's telling that, even now, City are still so dependant upon that spine they bought right at the very beginning of the insanity. Kompany, Toure, Silva and Aguero. That spine is on the verge of crumbling, and they have not found a solution yet.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

It's more likely he will play alongside Fernandinho or Fernando at the back, according to Guardiola.

Could be interesting.

Eek. Good luck with that. Especially if Joe Hart is still in goal.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

It's more likely he will play alongside Fernandinho or Fernando at the back, according to Guardiola.

Could be interesting.

expect city will adjust positionally pretty quickly to guardiola, but problem will be that the best players won't be able to keep up the intensity, while those that can maybe aren't good enough.

having footballers at the back will be vital for them but only if they can read the game quickly and deal with it, cus i think they'll get exposed often in the PL.

btw last season ottamendi looked better positionally than kompany to me, but is more error prone.

Originally Posted by Tumescent Throb

expect city will adjust positionally pretty quickly to guardiola, but problem will be that the best players won't be able to keep up the intensity, while those that can maybe aren't good enough.

having footballers at the back will be vital for them but only if they can read the game quickly and deal with it, cus i think they'll get exposed often in the PL.

btw last season ottamendi looked better positionally than kompany to me, but is more error prone.

It's very hard to say how it will go. Guardiola, like Van Gaal, will do things his way. Apparently today against Dortmund they played 3-6-1. It's going to be like little ever seen in the Premier League. He looks to be stockpiling the abundance of quick creative wide players LvG always lamented not having, but perhaps the most important thing will be how well they can eliminate the opposition counter attack.

Could go either way. But you'd expect at least some teething problems. Which is why us getting off to a good start and an early lead feels important. I'm expecting Mourinho try and get a settled side early and little rotation in the first few weeks.

He can't defend, is too #@&%!y and has an air of the clutz about him. Fernando will be converted into a CB yhihf.

Originally Posted by Buck

He can't defend, is too #@&%!y and has an air of the clutz about him. Fernando will be converted into a CB yhihf.

Or in my posts further up

If Guardiola can coach the shape and positional play as well as LvG did, they'll have more quality than we did in attack last year. If that happens they'll get plenty of points. Our know how of the league under a manager who has won it three times is edge.

Originally Posted by S/Side.Red

Or in my posts further up

If Guardiola can coach the shape and positional play as well as LvG did, they'll have more quality than we did in attack last year. If that happens they'll get plenty of points. Our know how of the league under a manager who has won it three times is edge.

I'm curious to see how he uses Aguero in his system. The best player in the team and the best striker in the league shouldn't really be messed around with but then has he ever had a forward like him who works exclusively on the shoulder? Etoo and Villa drifted to the wings, Lewandowski and Ibrahimovic are more target men.

May not be much of an issue if Aguero keeps on missing chunks of the season I guess.