BlueLyon

Pedro, Willian, Hazard again. Great. Thank god Sarri is going with new approach, Im surprised he didnt do it earlier.

We couldnt even replace Costa who was lesser player than Hazard and only turned up for half a season. Sure there are players in other teams and we could improve the team even if Hazard leaves. Similar to what Liverpool did after Suarez left. Now they might not have a player as good as him, but much better team and manager. Unfortunately our board is wack and if we lose Hazard it will took 5 years before we turn it around.

Alassane Plea is also doing great in germany. Lw atm, but should be even better as striker.

Speaking of CBs, what about Eder Militao?

Mildly dissapointed with Rlc, Barkley, Christensen performance. Dont realy care for regular starters like Willian in such game because they are already established. But for up and coming players, even and especialy games like these are where you prove yourself and show growth to manager. Always 110% even in a shit game like tonight. But RLC, Barkley, Christensen didnt try hard enough. How are you supposed to get in first 11 then? How can you even claim for more play time if in the given playtime, you dont put 110% effort?

I feel our players hang on the ball too long. Try to dribble and stop the play instead of passing fluidly. Not sure how Barella fits this but Aouar is definately the better pick in keeping possesion under pressure and quick pass'n'move. Barella despite his size is very agressive and hard player which I like. Whoever Sarri thinks will suit us more. Considering we will sell Fabregas, Bakayoko, Drinkwater and maybe not buy Kovacic, either two of Aouar, Ndombele or Barella would be great. Kante, Jorgi, RLC, Barkley and two more would make our midfield seriously competitive.

We need a clinical striker that will take out teams like Wolverhampton, Everton,... Cavani is on the old side, but I would have no complaints with this transfer. Any good striker is better than our current lot and ending 4th or 5th will depend on quality of our striker.

As far as I know, in spain, you can either pursue justice on court or in more "family" matter. At least for first offence in specific situations. In this case Alonso and victim family cooperated and there was no need for criminal pursue. I believe if the family of victim wouldnt cooperate, Alonso would face more severe punishment.

Yes its possible indeed. But its also possible he still goes to Liverpool or some team and improves them greatly.

We dont need true winger aka someone who can cross or drift in middle. We need someone who is good on the ball in tight spaces, can pass and score. At least not in Sarri system and if we tried false 9, as I suggested. Our play will become more and more dominant under Sarri, as opposed to counter attacking football and therefore superfast direct wingers arent as important as techicaly superior all round ones like Fekir, Hazard, Insigne,...

IMO we should go for Fekir who is left footed, has physicality to play in PL, can score goals, has prime years ahead, but isnt completely green like Pulisic. Also most importantly, he can keep possesion and play in tight space which is perfect for Sarri football. Unless there is some real injury concern in the background, I dunno why arent we going after him (lyon president said we were in talks but we stopped pursuit). We might aswell take risk with false 9 because there isnt single quality striker available (Icardi too expensive, Suarez and Lewa wont move,...). Depay, Richarlison,...maybe it could work under Sarri. And the best bit is versatility since Fekir and even Hazard can play uptop or either flank, so there would be alot of movement and fluidity.

Lewandowski in early years was donkey on the ball too, but he improved massively. He is no Ronaldo, but he is more than good on the ball.

CHO CHO CHO

As long we have one top fullback going forward, we can have the other one more defensive minded. Right now, Alonso and Azpi just arent a threat going forward and they arent very fast either. Imagine lets say Marcelo on left, its completely cool to have Azpi on right though. That said, our RW has to improve, because right flank just isnt cutting it at the moment.

For me, Azpi was PL best 1v1 defender for a couple seasons now. Be it on flanks or in 3 CB system. This year, he just wasnt that great in defending. Got exploited more times than usual. His offensive, I dont even care much at all, he was never excellent there, and I knew he would have some difficulites under Sarri. But his defensive level also dropped compared to previous seasons. He wasnt shit at all though. Its just that his level is so high, that when he plays okayish, thats not good enough because he can be much better. Same with Hazard. He doesnt play bad at all, but for his standards he is underperforming. Thats why both Eden and Azpi deserved some criticism lately. City game, he was just crazy good and that was level he was showing in number of games previous seasons, I was always impressed. Yesterday he shown that top quality again for the first time so far in current season IMO. He is world class defender after all. Thats what I meant by being back to his old reliable self. Same can be said about Kante, he was shaky in first half, but absolute boss in second half. Normaly, both will have to adjust to new Sarri system, but if they play like they did yesterday, we absolutely dont need any upgrade on them anytime soon. On side note, Kante (while I believe he will show his worth under Sarri) is quite wasted in his new role, but if he plays like yesterday, he is pure class. Even if we forget his goal, he was great in breaking their play and set up some dangerous attacks himself.

People are right to criticise Azpi, he wasnt 100% this season. If he now picks from the city game, he will be back to his good old reliable self. But fans who called for his replacement after 4 months under completely different manager are disgrace. Have some faith man.

When we are motivated, we can actualy play realy well. Only player that I would still replace is Alonso. Hazard, Willian and Pedro were much better than Morata or Giroud. Also Kante and Azpi were great.

Yes. Finaly Pedro, Willian and Hazard, something I suggested a while ago. It just cant be worse than Morata or Giroud. On the other side, sad that Alonso is starting but that was expected.

That was a sarcastic response to Sarri preffering to play Alonso to defend setpieces.

Just goes to show we desperately desperately need a striker.

I like Sarri and his football style/philosophy, but if he insists on playing Alonso because of his height at setpieces, he can feck off. What year are we living? I mean, I understood Conte or Mou need super solid defence, because 70% of the time, we defended. So their excuses with Iva or anyone else actualy made some sense, albeit outdated. But Sarri is exact opposite, attacking minded manager and he must understand fullbacks quality going forward is more important than being tall to defend setpieces. Take example having lets say Grimaldo who is almost #10 in LB spot would greatly benefit our creativity, ball circulation, width etc. Why dont we play 3 defensive mids in middle then? They would surely help defending setpieces and counters better than Jorginho. Shit man, sometimes I seriously dont get some managers. They just dig their own grave.

On our side, why the hell are we so inconsistent? We had great start with Conte, then dropped. We had great start of 2014/15 with Mou, then dropped. We also had very good start with Sarri, but now we play much worse. Obviously Sarriball will take two seasons to truly work, but its bad that we played better two months ago than we play now, when it should be the other way around. Players cant be tired already, so what is it? Just a shit attitude or?

IMO Chelsea 2004-09, United 1999 and 2008, Arsenal Invincibles would wipe the floor with this city lot. Probably Liverpool at their peak too. What people dont see is how shit City is in europe. They might do well in england, because their depth due to crazy money is insane. Only one that cant be replaced are Ederson and Fernandinho. They have like two strong 11s. Just crazy depth quality. Its not that hard then to win vs burnleys with ease. Secondly, top teams in pl are far from great. Liverpool is only one that is in some decent shape and they have given city a spanking before. In CL though, city is nothing special. When we had strong squad (or United), semifinals were constantly there. City struggles because in europe, teams are actualy strong and tacticaly apt, Guardiola doesnt have plan b and he will get smacked in knockout stages again. The PL is far from great. Its true however that City is probably most consistent team in PL history. But put them in 2005, they might win all games against smaller sides (something we or united got burned sometimes) but they would also lose to all england top 4 teams in 2005.

Maybe unpopular opinion but still; Im big fan of Kovacic and wanted him when he was still in inter. But I dont think we should pay 60m for him. Maybe he didnt adjust here yet, but he has rather poor phyisical shape, doesnt show enough grit in games and has zero end product. Has great ball control and passing, but doesnt do much with it. Sort of reminds me why he didnt break in RM team, much like Isco, they offer alot of flair, but dissapear when you count on them. That said, RLC is walking good path and we should try making him starter if he continues to impress. Has good technique, decent passing that will improve, much better finish than Kovacic and maybe him being chelsea youth will also make him more passionate for the club which lacks some identity since Terry departure. I wont be dissapointed either way if Kovacic stays or goes, because he is good player, but maybe right now we need to spend 60m elsewhere? Also Mount will be here in season or two. Signing Kovacic will be big fuck off sign.

Hysaj is just slightly better passer, thats it. He is solid defensively, but doesnt go forward much. His crosses are also average. When Ghoulam was fit and in form, literaly everything went through his flank. Even Malcuit is better in attack than Hysaj.