Strike

Right call to get in a new GK. How are these two keepers with their ball-playing?

Yep - you're right. The patterns are up to the phase before the final part of the attack. But they are intensive and drilled into players till they are muscle memory almost. Few Guardiola players (Bernardo Silva among them) have talked about the repetitive drills. This is also why City keep scoring similar kind of goals - cutbacks from the byline to an attacker.

Tuchel did not prioritise drilling attacking patterns into the team. He always focused on a robust defensive setup. If Maresca can focus on the attack, he has creative players like Cole and Nkunku who are better than anyone in the group Tuchel had.

I think finding a coach to play repetitive attacking patterns football is a good idea. As boring as it may be, mirroring Arteta and Pep is the most pragmatic way to go about building a winning team. In a league where most teams will be playing a low block against us, its going to be important in most game weeks to have a team that controls the ball well and is able to build effective attacks.

His salary is less than half of Poch's salary. 4.2 million a year. Still don't get the eagerness to sign a 5+1 year deal though. 3+1 would be plenty of confidence shown in him I thought.

Not a very reliable source but first links for Diogo Costa

Looks like Dortmund are approaching Chelsea to negotiate without triggering the release fee. Maybe they can't afford it and need to make the payment in a different structure. Source : Fabrizio

I see the links for Osimhen have been cooling down for weeks. And I see Fabrizio and others saying keep an eye on Benjamin Sesko and Chelsea.

I like everything I'm reading too but his experience is only one season and that's not even in the top league.

I agree. The one CB in his prime who is 25+ and a leader is not Tosin from Fulham. Another signing will be needed. It's crazy - the kind of turnover we have seen at CB - a part of the pitch that ideally needs to be the most stable

Newcastle have also offered him a contract. Between us and them now. I was thinking one CB would be enough to replace Thiago and Chalobah. There is Fofana, Disasi, Colwill, Badiashile, Gilchrist and we have Reece and Cucu able to play in central defense roles

Granted we can't get a top manager - Alonso, Pep, Klopp - or anyone in the next tier - Emery, Enrique, Nagelsmann, Inzaghi - but there were plenty to go for - De Zerbi, Amorim, Flick. Can't believe the shortlist they've drawn up.

Definitely. Winning the Championship with Leicester - That is like Rodgers winning the Scottish League. He was massively helped by the fact that he had players too good for the league - Vardy, Ndidi, Dewsbury-Hall. Even with those players, Leicester almost bottled their huge lead. I don't think we can draw conclusions about his tactical preparation based on this season and the owners (once again) are falling for the next shiny item in the market. I really hope Enzo turns out to be a decent coach but it will be more down to luck than judgment if that's the case. This is a crazy crazy gamble if true.

I don't think so when they've literally let a manager go telling him Shields, Winstanely etc are leading the transfers.

I mean Poch left less than a week ago and we aren't even in June yet. They took several weeks to hire Poch so this one might take till the end of this week at least.

I hope De Zerbi is still in the process. Plenty of experience - Shakhtar, Brighton. Known for obsessive team set-up, coaching patterns of plays. If anything, it has to be between Maresca and him.

Makes zero sense that Thomas Frank, who has only played counter-attacking football at Brentford, is being considered alongside a possession-hungry, Pep student like Maresca. We have to suspend any kind of logic and accept the owners' process? Circus is the word to describe this.

Please no Tuchel

I would love Eze here for the midfield. I fear Pep and City will be in for Eze after Paqueta's spot-fixing charges.