OneMoSalah

City lost every pre-season game. Wait and see now they’ll end up smoking us 5-0 or something 😂 This will be a true barometer of where we are at. And how we will look against top level PL opposition. The audacity Noni has to think he can just demand to take penalties is absurd, particularly after him and Jackons incident last season. Not sure if thats his ego or immaturity but whatever it is, has to stop. Harsh reality is he is an average player who needs to concentrate on kicking on as an all round footballer as opposed to demanding to be taking penalties. Given his decision making in the final third is very erratic, its not as if he has earned the right to be demanding anything. In fact none of the attackers have really bar Cole, who EM said is first choice when hes there and rightfully so.

Yes agree with the first bit but after Mason rejected that deal they offered him a daft 1 year deal in February very much along the same lines as the last offer to Connor so they could demand more money for him come the summer when we were going to sell 👍

Yes and I think any player aged 24 being offered a 2 years guaranteed with option for 1 more year is not going to accept it because the duration speaks for itself 😂 Either way the club will spin it in their favour but majority of us aren’t daft enough to see what they are doing with that offer. Was the same with the deal they offered Mason after he declined their original long term contract offer. Just trying to have more of a say in the price they can demand for the player. Whilst it may be seem as good business the whole saga with Connor has been a circus. A real lack of respect to someone who was one of the only ones last year who actually knuckled down and contributed a lot throughout the season despite the constant talk of the club willingly wanting to offload him at every opportunity.

Yes an undisclosed first contract offer in June weeks before we accepted a £50m bid for him from Villa (move which he rejected) and then a 2+1 year contract offer the second time round before we’ve accepted a £34m bid from Atletico without hesitation. I mean the guy is 24 not 31 fuck sake, a 2 year with option of another years deal? Really…? Do people really think the first contract offer was as serious length wise also if he’s rejected it? Same as the 2+1 year one? People are neglecting that it is the length of the contract that is 99.9% of the issue here. I mean the club have inadvertently made a point in letting it be known that they made a good financial offer to Connor in line with the top earning midfielders in the squad and that they are willing to do what they can to help facilitate any move but that is only to try and save face after actively looking to push him out the door for the best part of 12 months. If people cannot see that then they have fully bought in to the Clownlake circus and will never see them in a bad light. Same with Trevor. I mean for me guys that are the level of the likes of Tosin, Disasi and KDH should be squad players here and in reality there is barely a difference between them, Connor and Trev. So if they pan out as squad players for the fees 2 of them cost. Needless.

It isn’t really. The same was said last year with Lavia, Moises, Ugochuwku, Enzo and Andrey Santos (who was some sort of generational talent who ended up loaned) all being here yet he played more minutes than every one of them. And even when he returned from his loan at Palace, whilst he maybe wasn’t quite as refined a player as he is now he managed to get some playing time. Lavia is really the only one out of the 3 games so far that has played the most minutes in midfield. To go from saying the “managers told him he has no place” to basing it off of minutes in 3 pre season games is a pretty big reach, more so considering he was at the Euros too and probably not long just returned. For me, if he really didn’t have a place under the manager, he’d of left him out like he did with Trevor IMO which gives me the impression the manager wants a look at him up close to form his own opinion. I mean if he is going to go to Atletico, best of luck to him. It is better go somewhere where you are shown respect and valued. But another case of the club under this new ownership doing their utmost to push an academy player out to balance the books because of careless spending. I don’t expect it to stop either whilst we continue buying half of South America. And irrespective of if he stays or not, if you think Lavia, Moises, Enzo, KDH, Carney and Nkunku are all going to be rotated (not even considering Casadei, Santos, Ugochuwku) and play equal minutes in a team that plays a 3 man midfield primarily then I don’t know. Someone for sure is going to miss out on a lot of minutes.

Has the manager told him that though? Haven’t been any reports of it anywhere. It is club driven 100%. Look at the last 18 months, January 2023 we accepted a £45-50m bid from Everton. Last season all the talk of Spurs, particularly in January and no new contract extension. Now conveniently Atletico are in for him for £34m after he turned down a contract extension which hasn’t been disclosed, a £50m Villa move to last month and then more recently a daft 2+1 contract extension. I really doubt we offered him a 4 or 5 year deal before accepting that bid from Villa in June…. What are you on about? It is not very often you see anyone under the age of 25 signings a 2 year with option of another season deal. Because 1) clubs aren’t as ridiculous to make such offers to anyone below 30 they actually want and 2) players sign longer deals because they believe they are part of the short, medium and long term at football clubs. In fact when has anybody seen something like that barring Mbappe’s weird deal, who was clearly wanting the move to Madrid and PSG wouldn’t play ball? It is a daft offer - no player in the right mind is accepting that, particularly if they want to remain at the club in the long term. Forget Reece and Levi and their 6 and 7 year extensions, if the extension offer was say 4 years 100% he’d have signed it by now. It is a play by the club either to recoup a larger fee if he wont leave this summer or to try and force him out.

They apparently did the same to Mount after he rejected a longer term deal also so they could try generate a higher fee with a daft contract extension offer of like a 1 or 2 year deal. Connors scenario is different as it isn’t financially driven though. Can tell he has genuinely wanted to stay for longer than 12 months now based on all the talk and his actions last season. In a squad where most players between 18-24 are getting 5+ year deals minimum, a 2 year deal with option of another season probably indicates that the club will continue to try sell him. If he was part of long term plan why not offer him a longer deal? Irrespective of what people think of him and Chalobah too, seems the club are literally doing their utmost to push them out of the door purely for profit. Which other club would you see 2 academy graduates who could definitely have a part here in some capacity, even as squad players, being so actively pushed out the door? This mentality the new ownership group and sporting directors have shown with this is certainly questionable. Looks like there is no loyalty or respect to players who have come through the system. Which is going to filter down to other academy players - even with Omari leaving also. Woukd you accept a 2+1 year contract here? Particularly aged 24 when everyone else seems to be getting 5+ year deals as a minimum? After all the talk the club are actively looking to sell you for the past 12+ months? Lets not forget the club also tried to sell him to Everton last January. The 2+1 deal just gives the club a chance to ask for more £ to sell him, that is clearly the objective. But yes lets spin it and say the player is trying to fuck us over…

True but in a team that conceded the most chances/shots IIRC. If he is better than Sanchez & Petrovic its a start but just get the feeling he is going to be another guy we eventually upgrade on.

But Dias, Stones, Walker, Ake, Gvardiol are all aggressive and willing to go into physical duals and can deal with that also. Yes reading the game I get that is essential for these types of defenders but these guys also need to have that aggression and willingness to engage and compete with people physically.

Have seen various videos/clips from Villarreal games last season and don’t see anything there that makes me think he is going to be a huge upgrade on Sanchez or the long term number 1. He is maybe going to be our number 1 but I don’t get the feeling he’s solving the problem in the long term. Thats what scares me more. It seems to be chop and change as opposed to identifying the right GK from the get go. Theres no way Sanchez was that signing either last summer. Just panicking and buying players for the sake of it. Like KDH for me, another player who doesn’t necessarily upgrade on what we have but likely will fit the managers philosophy more - distribution wise mainly for Jorgensen and maybe KDH profile for us is different to what we have but again I am 100% not buying one season in the championship as some sort of barometer that he will be a success here after doing nothing of note in 2 PL seasons. He will be a squad player at best. Quality wise, if Jorgensen isn’t going to be an improvement ovet Sanchez in terms of shot stopping - particularly playing behind this defence based on what we’ve seen so far - then that is another issue in its own right (as it was with Sanchez & Petrovic last season). Like one of the big themes I noticed from a lot of the videos of Jorgensen is that he tends to push the ball out into dangerous areas when he makes saves at times. His distribution does look impressive which is mainly why he’s been brought in I feel. He is quick off his line also.

Because Sanchez, Petrovic, Jorgensen are beyond average and not elite level players. You need a top GK to be a top team. Don’t even know how good this Penders is or could he but add him next to Slonina in terms of young GK who may or may not be of use. But yes 5 GKs signed under this ownership and not one is number material at present.

We aren’t short on midfielders - exactly! You said it. So why have we signed a player who isn’t a real upgrade on anyone who played regularly in that position last year? For all the moaning about Gallagher, he’s already here and a better player… its not like we signed a top midfielder, its some guy from Leicester who looked very average playing in the PL under Brendan Rodgers. A huge % of people (and users here) were saying we should sell Cucurella and that he wasn’t good enough to play here. Now after winning the Euros he is good enough? Maybe not you in particular but there was a huge huge disdain that he was signed for that fee and that he wasn’t good enough. There is maybe a handful of quality players in this squad, who have shown it regularly/consistently. Palmer and James really are the only ones who have a realistic chance of playing at most of those teams. And Palmer couldn’t get in the City team…. which is why he left. Levi will be elite for sure one day too but not yet. Not having it that Enzo, Caicedo or Lavia in particular would play at those teams. Not on what they’ve done here. For the best part of £300m they have been so average/blown hot and cold (or in Lavia’s case injured) it’s unbelievable. I mean Palmer looked outstanding in one of the worst Chelsea sides of the past 10 years. Why hasn’t Enzo or Caicedo? For me its because they haven’t been anywhere near good enough. Not to say that they won’t come very good players who will be at this elite standard (although I doubt Lavia ever will as was always skeptical on hin) but to say that they’d be playing at the level of the likes of Rodri, Vitinha, Rice, Tchouameni, Camavinga, Modric etc to play at these clubs in the other post is for me, a bit laughable. I agree - GK, CB, CF is still huge issues and will continue to be based on our recent history with signings under Clownlake. Without shadow of a doubt. But 60-65% of our probable 25 squad aren’t gonna be up to the level to be playing at elite clubs in any capacity. And this is with the ownership/directors that believe a 6th place finish wasn’t good enough because “this is a CL level squad”…

True but Christensen also filled out a bit. Its not re the size for me, physically wanting to engage players is as much mental as it is physical. Get the concept, I am not saying he has to be absolutely stacked but if your a central defender and you struggle with physicality it is a big issue. Again as said above, its more the aspect of if he struggles physically that is a issue for me. Does he mean that he doesn’t like engaging players in duels etc? Doesn’t like contact with players?

Tosin to replace Thiago Silva and then offloading Chalobah (who again isn’t an inferior player to Tosin at all), Stewart & Winstanley masterclass. Then appointing someone with 1.5 years managerial experience based on a Championship promotion and time he spent working with Pep as a coach on a 5 year deal 😂 Been saying it for ages now - they are fucking clueless. Feel sorry for Maresca because he will be thrown to the wolves in the same way Potter and Poch were - albeit Potter was way out of his depth and a daft appointment from the get go.

Anything overseen by Stewart & Winstanley is certainly going to be a disaster. Hopefully they get removed from their positions if we have another mixed bag/poor season.

If he is really good on the ball but is going to really struggle physically, thats not a lot of use is it? People tend to overlook everything now for if someone is good on the ball. Two sides to football, with and without the ball. Hopefully being South American he has a bit of an aggressiveness about him similarly to Romero at Spurs and Martinez at United, just toned down a bit. Will help if he isn’t particularly physically well developed but he will need to improve on the physicality, there are not many good central defenders now without that side of the game.

Half our squad wouldn’t play for those teams never mind just Gallagher for fuck sakes 😂 If it hasn’t dawned on people now that we aren’t at that level then it never will. We haven’t been for a few years now. People tend to forget that. And the squad is never going to be good enough unless we flip this transfer approach on its head and recruit some real quality not just potential. As a squad player, Gallagher is a very good player to have. Given he was our standout midfielder last season too, £30m is ludicrous. Football is a squad game these days. He is a better footballer than KDH from the get go too. Nothing going to change my mind on that. Having 1 good season in the best team in the championship isn’t going to change that, particularly given how average he looked in various PL seasons for Leicester.

Still not convinced this will be last we hear of it and does anyone else think that this is a bit of a weak punishment? Would expect him to be put on some sort of anti racism awareness/education course (is that even the right word) plus fined heavy as well. But a donation is a donation and if this is it “settled” in the squad I suppose we will see. Racism tends to not be dealt with as easily. FIFA should throw the book at him and Argentina though so cannot be any moaning from our side if things end up much more severe.

Selling Gallagher is crazy. For £30m even crazier.

I am already struggling to see how he will survive past this season based on our defence alone in 180 minutes of pre season football. I am sorry but honestly if we defend like that against PL teams week in week out, we will be back to square 1 with another new manager and another new direction. The guys playing in the back 4 aren’t kids either, these are apparently players of a very good/reasonable pedigree in Reece, Levi, Fofana, Badiashile, Tosin….

Must be. Cue the uproar…. although he is just as average or worse than Sanchez and everyone before him. If this guy is just as average as well then its another poor keeper signing. Not entirely convinced, stats are poor and clips of him don’t fill me with confidence in the same way that keepers like Ederson, Alisson, Courtois, Oblak etc do although they were/are the very best of the best. But it has been a huge problem position since Tibo left. If this is a signing more driven by the co-sporting directors then not entirely sure.

His contract may of been worth £30m over 5 years but 50-55% of that would be tax and national insurance easily. Not to mention as well theres either a club or PFA private pension which would be a percentage also like any other pension. So £30m over 5 years after taxes etc is say around £2.75-3m a year. Thats a fucking lot of money for the majority of folk - I mean I’d give my left bollock for that - but there is a saying the more money you earn, the more money you spend. On average these footballers will have extravagant houses, housing staff, other properties for their parents/siblings etc, probably have multiple top range/super cars, wives, children, ex girlfriends, mistresses, personal chefs, private school tuitions for their children…. god knows what else but footballers going broke or having to work more normal jobs after football is not that uncommon. I think this is why you see so many doing so much sponsorship work also to give them a bit more security and boost their income also.

Ahead of our rivals? We were ahead of our rivals and comfortably the main team behind City & Liverpool (albeit more a cup team arguably). Where we are now? It’s not great, is it? 4 managers later still unsure what this squad or team is. A squad that cost over £1 bn. Saying that, we probably still have the same problem positions we had about 3 years ago too: GK, CB, CF. Clearlake and the two sporting director boys have lost the plot.

Everton want him? Apparently? No way they are signing him for much more than the fee we paid for him.

£25m fee for our best CB last season? Fuck me. And if hes up for sale does that means that either Maresca and/or the club think both Disasi and Tosin are better players? Double fuck me.