OneMoSalah

Perhaps. Also Bayern had that well renowned medical team and the Dr/chief medical officer who was pretty much seen as a revolutionary in terms of sports medicine and science. I think he has found some interesting cures for other elite sportsmen and footballers to get over injuries. And again I do agree, he needs to be playing regularly. Or find a way to cut down the inevitable run of games he seems to need to get up to speed but I suppose that is also matched up to his injuries at times and getting match fitness. I just think hes able to give us something different, like Hudson-Odoi also, in terms of being able to take the ball and beat players to create spaces. And theres been plenty of games where this sort of thing is exactly what we need, particularly against low blocks, someone to isolate a player and get past them. The playing through these is also critical but I think, these guys, who are able to size someone up in a 1 v 1 are still as valuable as these players who pick the ball up and play between the lines or the passes in behind a team. Theres just been games where these passes dont happen or theres no space and you want someone who can come on beat a man or two and make something out of nothing in and around the box, Pulisic has that skillset and it could be a huge asset. While the majority of those 8 assists Timo has, have came after November (6 I think?), only 3 have been under TT and he’s played virtually 90% of the games. I must admit, obviously I am disappointed Ziyech, Pulisic, Havertz dont have much this season as well as Werner. Ziyech particularly I felt would of added something different and actually complimented playing with a Pulisic for instance. A more direct winger who excels in 1 v 1s then someone who maybe could be seen more as a wide 10 than an actual winger. There are signs hes warming up though slightly.

I know but for me, he doesn’t look like someone who is ever going to be capable of doing anything more than just being this player who is doing the little he is doing at this rate. Game by game, its just accumulating for me, the more games I watch of us with him playing I struggle to see why he is in the team because he virtually does nothing that affects the game for us most of the time. Ok he has pace and thats good for our attacking transition but what else does he bring to the team? Maybe he gets in behind teams defensive lines at times (lets be honest any striker/attacker playing in the PL should be capable of this) but its not as if he even makes lots and lots of these runs a game or that he makes chances for others from open play very often when he drifts out wider or does anything else that makes you think you know what I hope he’s playing today because he can add something to the team. I mean he set Mount up with a 4 or 5 yard pass v WBA but I mean he could of easily scored that himself. The feint to put the defender down was impressive to be honest but why has he not just let it come across his body or used his instep to guide it in to the right hand side of the goal? Giroud or Abraham would of shot and scored that from Alonso’s ball I think. I mean the defenders there but the GK had left him basically the whole right side of the goal. Fuck half the team would of probably got it in. Says a lot about how confident he is and whilst there is trying to play someone through a slump to try end a goal drought, we are talking 1 PL goal in 20 games slump, 14 games, few performances where you think this guy can do something, scores once, then back to being well pretty much you wouldnt miss him if he wasnt in the team and you dont really notice him when he is. And unfortunately hes not the first striker we have had this happen to either. I mean I dont want to compare him to Torres because thats unfair and not completely accurate but I still dont get why he didn’t shoot from that Alonso ball, look at where the GK was and the amount of space to the keepers left. Its basically 2/3s of the net. All he had to do was get it to the corner. That was Torres-esque. Scared to shoot because hes scared to miss. Strikers having a quiet game or a few a season is understandable or even going through a wee bad spell but strikers having quiet games where you forget their even playing or poor games consistently is not good. Or not scoring in the league in 14 games. Then scoring once and not scoring for another 6 games currently. If thats not worrying or if you can’t see why people are maybe digging him out then I dont know. Its not just yesterdays game. Everyone was poor we all know that. Nobody is going to deny he wasn’t the worst player on the pitch but majority of the other games with Tuchel , which he has started, theres no doubts about it as to why people are questioning his inclusion every week. I know Tuchel can say he just needs to be patient, he knows how to score, the whole sometimes you give a women space/back off and she will call you thing etc bla bla bla but Giroud and Abraham may as well be playing with the u18s if they seriously cannot convince Tuchel to play them either in tandem or instead of him, it would be near impossible for any of them to come in and do considerably worse than what we have generally gotten from Werner since the end of November bar the odd hopeful moment or two every now and then.

Look at what happened with Robben though. Was dogged with stupid injuries here as well as at Madrid, got over his injuries, got really fit at Bayern (ok still had a few issues towards the end of his career and maybe missed some games in a season but still) and became a proper world class player. Theres no doubting the talent for sure, we’ve seen it, plus I always think about what happened with Arjen, I think hes worth the risk. If the other attackers weren’t doing so poorly nobody would be considering his place in the clubs long term plans I think. But because we were so reliant on him last season and probably would of been this season if he was fit, it makes the situation a bit more difficult. If Werner and Ziyech - would of put CHO in here but I think hes stepped up with Tuchel in patches and his lack of consistency is more to do with his overall development and Havertz also but hes still a kid although again you’d want more from him for the proce tag- had taken the load a bit and had produced much more, and we didnt look so void of ideas without him, I don’t think we would be as worried about him. There is/has been rumours that the club have been trying to figure out why he has suffered so many of these injuries since arriving and obviously knew his history before, so fingers crossed they can come up with something. Whether or not its hearsay or just generic BS who knows but I would think the club would be aware that there is maybe something deeper routed.

I am beginning to wonder though with Tuchel, Pedro seems like the sort of system player he would of liked. Although could never rely on the guy really bar that title winning season with Conte which was a shame.

Silva already had his big move to Milan that didn’t work out when he was a teenager though as it came too soon. I think its safe to say he’s rebuilt his career significantly over the last 3 seasons and proven himself as a pretty decent player and reasonably regular goalscorer at decent levels in Spain and Germany. He always had talent it was clear at Porto and he was well thought of at Milan despite it not working out there but probably was a poor move to make after one season as Porto’s first choice CF. For Sevilla in 2018/19, he got 11 goals in 40 games in all comps and for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019/20, he got 16 goals in 37 games in all comps and so far this season he has 23 goals in 27 games in all comps. Given hes 25 now, has scored 50 goals in the last 3 seasons basically, whilst also besting his tallies from the previous seasons each time, I think he’s ready to make the next step. He also has made a decent contribution to the Portuguese NT scoring 16 goals in 38 games and will undoubtedly start coming into his best years as a footballer in the next year or two, so the potential is there and it is exciting, as was the initial judgement of many when he broke into Porto’s first team at 19/20. Barca, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal and Man United are meant to be considering moves for him and I think he has the potential to be a very smart buy for someone this summer, in a market where CFs will be tough to find at a good price. He isnt Haaland maybe but he’s outscoring him in a lesser team so to speak (although they are flying at the moment) and looks like he will be close to/at/over 30 goals by the end of the season. I wouldn’t be surprised if City didn’t look at him when Aguero goes because he is on the up and definitely a player who can still improve a lot whilst being at a pretty decent level just now, as well as a few other clubs needing a striker (us included). He actually reminds me of Morata a bit with how he plays (when he was good here at the beginning), hes strong in the air, capable of finishing well with both feet, mobile, technically proficient and he’s not exactly a push over either. Maybe he isnt a top tier player who will be one of the very best like Haaland but hes a very decent alternative and I think someone will get him in the summe. Apparently he said something about he thinks he's worth about 30million and Frankfurt paid €9 million for him, though thats taken from an article which I have no idea how reliable it is. Obviously Frankfurt might value him higher than 30m. For me, he is nothing like Jovic because he’s already been there as a younger player, done the big move, seen it fail and has now revitalised his career at a reasonably competitive level. Jovic’s issue was he made too large a jump initially after 12 months of playing virtually every week at a reasonably decent level. If he didnt go to Madrid and went to a Dortmund or a Sevilla or us or a Arsenal or someone of that ilk who would of played him or built around him allowing him to continue to progress, it would of been better for his career and his progression. I think going to Madrid as a 20/21/ year old, to compete with someone who has been Madrid’s best player since Ronaldo left (scoring 25 goals plus in both the 18-19 and 19-20 seasons and showing no clear signs of slowing down) was a ridiculously stupid move on his account. Plus Benzema is also one of Zizou’s most trusted players and Madrid’s vice captain. There were even rumours Zidane didnt think Jovic was ready to play for Madrid based off what he seen in pre season and wanted to loan him out after 6 or 8 weeks of being at the club.

I dont know. I mean, theres got to be a way to get this guy fully fit. Surely. Now so more than ever we need someone with his characteristics as we don’t have anyone who can take opposition player’s out of the game in 1 v 1s bar him and Callum. I know people wanted to compare him to Eden when he signed and whilst its unfair, his playing style looks similar and potentially his role here could be similar. He gets at folk, doesn’t seem afraid to take them on and I think this team needs someone who’s a bit more direct. He has the potential to be our big player in the same way Eden was. He already showed after project re-start last season he was our best player in terms of talent and also making others around him look better, and whilst it hasnt happened for him this season I still have faith if hes fully fit, he is a huge part of this team. We wouldn’t of made top 4 without him last season for me personally.

Can we get Pedro back? 😂 He was unpredictable but in a good way. Werner is just unpredictable but not in a good way.

Toothless in attack again. Really getting annoyed with Werner and Ziyech. Werner may not of been the worst player on the park but he offers nothing at the moment really. A CF is needed this summer ASAP, if the plan is to rely on Werner and Havertz as a false 9 we are fucked.

Where do you get this notion? Not just Ibra’s time at Barca but the CF thing? Anyway, signing Ibra was hardly a disaster, in terms of what he did on the pitch anyway - he certainly played a big part. He scored 21 goals in 41 games that season. His issue was Messi wanted to move centrally (which lets be honest if anyone knew how amazing he could play role they wouldn’t have signed a CF in the first place) and Pep fell out with Ibra (which if it were any other player who wasn’t as confident in himself like Ibra is, it would in all likelihood probably never have happened). And secondly, Pep’s always played with strikers. This season is really the only time his team has prominently not featured a striker of some sort. At Barcelona Henry and Eto’o season 1, Ibra season 2, David Villa season 3, maybe 4th season not as often as Villa missed a lot of games and they had Cesc and Messi in the team. Maybe not as out and out strikers but your not telling me that because Henry or David Villa were playing as wide forwards or basically as split strikers due to other player’s in the team ie. Eto’o and then Messi, they dont count as strikers? They basically played as strikers in the final third? Coming very narrow, being in the box. At Bayern, he had Mandzukic first season and he was top scorer. Then Lewandowski. City, Aguero and Jesus. They will probably try sign a CF for sure. His teams have 90% of the time played with a CF of sorts in their lineup be it wide forwards or an actual out and out CF. Plus you dont let Aguero go and not replace him at all.

True there was no FFP, fair, but its not as if UEFA have punished anyone to the point where we should be shitting ourselves about it. Or any other club should be. You could argue FFP was put in motion because of the likes of us, Madrid and various others spending more money than we were earning because of rich owners so why people are so upset about what team A, B or C are doing, I don’t understand. I know they say its to protect clubs from overspending and going into a position where it will jeopardise their existence bla bla bla but in reality, it is to stop clubs that weren't as well backed getting huge influx of cash injected into them from wealthy new owners and to stop a select few who had wealthy owners from continuing to spend above their means to the point where they might break into the status quo of the “original superclubs/elite clubs/insert whatever you want to call them here”, the AC Milans, Real Madrids, Bayern Munichs, Man Uniteds, Juventus’, Liverpool’s etc. The transfer windows one of these things where its dog eat dog unfortunately, particularly for top players. Its not unfair that City or PSG have got a Royal family backing them. Its not more unfair than someone signing a player by offering to double the wages they were offered by another club or whatever. Why we or anybody to be honest has stopped or severely backed off to comply with FFP to the degree we and certain other clubs have done is beyond me, in all honesty. Obviously you don’t have to spend huge sums every season and am not saying we should do that but there’s definitely been times where I have thought why could we not have maybe spent a bit more on top of what we paid for player X to get player Y, who goes to a City or a United for instance. Then it turns out player Y was deemed “too expensive” and instead we signed player X, who is nowhere near the right standard and a year or two later, we end up signing another player to replace them which eventually ends up exceeding what player Y would of probably cost originally. If UEFA were slapping out bans for people spending 50-100m more than they make or whatever the fees was then aye its fair I can see why, but its just been an absolute pointless exercise because others have found ways around it and they’ve investigated these and turns out they aren’t exactly violating the rules. Its not as if FFP has made the market more consistent either or that prices have come down. So it really has been quite a success...

I think like all media reports the financial situation is being severely over exaggerated. Its almost as if Inter will never manage to get an influx of cash or new owners. Without COVID and when they get fans back in (I think at somepoint next season most teams in most leagues will have them back in), it wont be a huge issue. I understand theres things to do with Lukaku and Hakimi transfer fees and obviously Suning on their business side as a whole having huge losses, closing their Chinese team etc but Inter Milan is a massive institution and historical club, there will be someone who invests in them one way or another. I wouldn’t expect multiple sales or even a change of manager etc if they get new owners and are slightly restricted in the market, I dont think Conte is stupid enough to jack it because of due to the club being in debt they need to reign in their budget, in fact I dont think any managers stupid enough. Cant even bring the comparison in from his time at Juve because 1) wasnt a pandemic and 2) they weren’t in debt. Obviously any new owners will have to clear the debt somehow so thats going to be interesting. Maybe one sale might contribute to the bulk of it (Martinez €100m+ release clause IIRC or okay maybe Lukaku but again I think Lukaku is the least likely player they’d move - although their heavily linked to Sergio Aguero on a free). Its the same with Barcelona, they are in a similar position but again, wouldn’t expect them to go mad selling everyone who is likely to get them money/lower financial running costs, particularly if they will struggle to invest. Just look how badly they regret moving Suarez and Rakitic.

Why would Conte leave? Because they might change owners? I’ll believe it when it happens, people said he would leave last season and didnt. What manager would be stupid enough to leave after winning a league title? Or what new owners would be stupid enough to change managers after winning a league title?

And if we cant get rid of Kepa? 2 GKs on huge salaries plus Mendy.... its not going to be easy to move Kepa

Torres-esque there Easier to score than miss but he somehow misses.

No way we will get Lukaku. Why leave Inter where your number 1 and playing under a manager who tried to sign you before and them again pushed to sign you? Not a chance. Also for me, the summer window will make or break Tuchel here. If we dont go for players he wants then he will undoubtedly call people out on it and we will have a bad season like we did with Conte. The club has to commit to him or at least some signings he wants to compromise or it will be another messy season.

If Dortmund will take him in any deal for Haaland, just do it. Beyond caring now he seems to miss more often than do anything good for club or country. Really hope Tuchel doesn’t rely on him next season and gets another striker in at least if he keeps going this way and we don’t, he will cost us big time. And cost the manager. Not quite Torres though so always a plus but not looking exactly promising that Werner will be a huge hit here.

So whats your opinion on us in 2003-2007 then? We spent almost £400 million in that period alone, in a time where British teams and the majority of big European ones didnt spent huge money. City are just doing what we did and taking into account market inflation, obviously they’ve spent more but I find it odd when people slag them off for not following FFP or whatever. People tend to forget when people complained about us spending by the bucketload. You dont win any points for being respected by teams your competing against in the transfer market. Hence why all the good teams are ruthless in recruiting. Community Shield maybe glorified friendlies but its the same as the Italian Supercoppa or DFL Supercup or whatever. Same with UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup, maybe glorified exhibition games but people still count them. Winning cups on penalties is still winning them? Lets not pretend as if it matters how you win a trophy.... if we had won the one on pens under Sarri it wouldn’t be an issue. And getting an easy draw is part and parcel of cup competitions, particularly FA Cup because theirs always big teams put out by a smaller ones, which is what makes the FA cup exciting. When they get the 3rd, that will be 3 PLs in 5 seasons. Best rate out of current managers in the PL. In which people say is the most competitive league in the world because of the money other teams have to spend, its difficult to retain a title now. Who was last team to retain a PL title? I have a feeling it was a Fergue team back before 2010. Again with FFP, 2003-07 what do you think of us spending large sums then. Clubs calling us big spenders and people wanting wage caps etc because we were blowing them out the water. Taking into account market inflation since then, its not as if we are innocent in this regard and should complain, it would be like Real Madrid fans complaining. Also rumours we will try take advantage of the loosening of FFP this summer so be interesting to see peoples stance if we do. Yes those 2 individual titles hold more merit but overall if City win everything it will go down as the best season for a club in modern day PL history since United won the treble I would think because no one will do it again. In fact I doubt City might even do it but if they do, nobody is topping that or doing it again. Its basically impossible but we are 2 months from the season finishing and they are in good shape for it. Even a treble of league and either 2 domestic cups/1 and a CL and that is better than most teams will ever achieve in one PL season. Bayern only didnt win the DFK Pokal your talking about because a very talented manager and Borussia Dortmund squad knocked them out on their way to winning it... Winning the CL is the most difficult trophy to win obviously but I do find it odd he never had more success particularly with Bayern and City in that regard. Dont get me wrong, it doesn’t take away from what hes achieved since coming onto the scene and yes there was that horrendous refereeing performance by he who wont be named against us but its almost as if your forgetting everything else Guardiola achieved in the CL with those Barca teams. And the manner they won those games. Its very strange for a manager to win 1 CL within their careers in modern day football, yet alone 2. Ancelotti, Jose, Fergie, Zidane, Heynckes also multiple CL winners. Not exactly a huge list is it? Palace is a bad example. Remember they went and appointed Frank de Boer to try play a more possession based style? They desperately needed to invest in players to suit it. The point isn’t exactly invalid but top managers tend to buy top players to suit their football and push them on to win trophies. We’ve seen it here and at various other clubs. Not just Pep. Klopp needed van Dijk and Alisson before winning anything at Liverpool. We needed Costa, Fabregas and Courtois back under Jose to win the league. United needed van Persie under Fergie to take the title back off City before he retired. Basically the better players you have now a days the more likely you are to win, whether or not it makes you an amazing coach or not, it’s debatable but 75% of top managers now are closer to chequebook manages than anything else. How many actually coach players and take them on to a higher level to win titles? Pochettino is a good example of this, amazing coach, great progress with certain players at Spurs but more importantly what managers are remembered for, 0 trophies. Nagglesmann also. Even Tuchel didnt win a huge deal before spending money at PSG.

And they’ve won 8 trophies in the most demanding league in the world. Whilst potentially being one of the top 3 teams in the continent for prolonged periods. As well as having the chance to win a quadruple this year, which if done, will probably be the greatest achievement in the modern day history of English football. Can say its going amok or whatever, but its quite simply being ruthless and thats why City probably have the strongest squad in Europe without a shadow of a doubt. Pep couldn’t get success with the fullbacks they had so changed them. Couldn’t find success with Claudio Bravo, so changed him. Has signed the likes of Laporte, Stones, Dias, Ake to completely overhaul his defence. Id like to see what your opinion would be if we had done this. Plus if you aren’t proactive or aren’t signing the top level players as we have seen with Jose and Conte, you very easily fall behind the next season because everyone else is buying. The PL as a whole has developed the culture and the economics where teams can afford to spend so much money and still be stable and in modern day football it is much easier to buy a top player than develop one through the academies.

I think those comments were very much tongue in cheek though because lets be honest what manager hasn’t been successful without spending large sums of money? Sir Alex Ferguson did it depsite claims United would never spend what we did or what City did. Mourinho did it here first time around then again at Real Madrid and at United. Mancini did it at City. Pellegrini done it at City. Pep has done it at City. Klopp has done it at Liverpool. Conte did it here also. Not many managers now are successful without spending any money.

I think he wanted him. Although he was declining, Ancelotti talked about us needing a freshness to try revive our title defence which is why I think he pushed for him and David Luiz because they were younger and different to what we had. Plus you look at the squad then, it was needing more players with different attributes to offer and younger more importantly. We had also made bids for them both in the summer that were rejected also. Which Ancelotti also thinks didnt help Torres.

I agree with the point to a degree, he was a good player here but lets be honest he was so irrelevant in that second PL title win with Conte, as soon as we swapped to a back 3 he was out in the cold and played 4 times since September before he left, after originally playing the first 5 games with Conte in a 433. And when Conte challenged him to stay and fight for his place instead of going to China, he left. The deal was excellent for the club and player yes but we got the much better end of it. Undoubtedly. Getting rid of a player who looked like he may have truely struggled to fulfil his potential, who didnt play in the starting 11 every week, for 60m... only one winner there.

Having a reasonably good season for Juventus despite their struggles under Pirlo. Scored 7 goals and has 8 assists in 17 starts and 5 sub appearances in the league. Plus has scored another 9 goals and 1 assist across 12 appearances in the CL and other 2 domestic cups. Wasnt great v Georgia though by all accounts for Spain.

Gareth Southgate hit the nail on the head. “I was saying in the autumn that he is a very good player. I suppose now Thomas Tuchel picks him, everybody will agree,’ Southgate told a press conference. ‘When it was Frank Lampard, it didn’t count for some reason. ‘He’s an exceptional player. He finds space intelligently, he manipulates the ball very well, creates chances, scores goals. ‘I thought his performance was excellent tonight.’

Most fouls yes he got that quite a lot. But doesnt mean every foul was a horrendous tackle. Or explain the muscle injuries. For me its an excuse to cover the fact hes always been a poor trainer (look who has all said it about him, Mourinho, Mikel, JT) and what has happened to him at Real would of happened here so in hindsight getting rid of him was the right move. Plus he lacks the mentality to play for a Real or a Barcelona, have always felt that, just isnt ruthless enough. They want to be the very best (maybe just now isnt best time to make this comparison but still) which is why guys like Ronaldo, Messi, Bale, Suarez, Neymar have all been hugely successful there. Because mentally they wanted to be the best players in the world or better than player X, Y or Z. I think it would of happened here in all honesty. So that deal we sold him for looks better and better every time I see hes out injured or that Zidane can’t explain what is wrong with him. The thing is, average players or not, he played his best football of his career here and when he retires he will probably acknowledge that himself. Everyone always said he needed better players etc but his performances for Belgium (look at their squad) also havent trumped some of the performances he put in here with less talented players. But nobody mentions that either. Realistically hes 30, he probably has 3 or 4 more years in him at a higher level before he will fade off but even then I think hes pretty much done in terms of the level of player he was here. He will never be mentioned as a top 10 player in the world unless he does something huge.

I agree to a degree, if he can keep us playing well and rotating every now and then whilst he does so then it adds some unpredictability to the team from an opposition point of view ie: who will play/shape etc. but again, I dont think hes hugely rotated the 11 that badly since coming in but its better to have a settled 11. I would say having a system and structure in place where you can change 3 or 4 players most weeks and still deliver good performances and results is also impressive and not to be seen as a bad thing. I think he will make some moves in the summer though and put his own stamp on the squad. I would think he will want a CF, CB and maybe look for another midfielder? But again Kovacic-Jorginho have been picked pretty consistently. So have Azpi and Rudiger. Then Werner and Mount too. Plus throw in the GK and Alonso. He has only really changed the RWB between James and CHO and then who else makes up the front three.