robsblubot

are you fucking kidding me? really? I will be eternally grateful to Mount and Kai for winning the most important silverware there is! I'm a fan and as such I immensely respect winners, which Kai and Mount are (fact not opinion). Now if we go into opinion, IMO you are projecting. You are projecting club and team situations onto players. The influence isn't that significant, IMO. ex. merely exchanging players won't solve the problems the team has. The same players will do way better elsewhere. I will stick to my opinion that pitting Gallagher with Mount and Kai is disingenuous to say the least. The valuation of the players corroborate that as well.

That's nitpicking. Players go from good to great within a season, or even within the same game. Suppose the valuation these players have may be baffling if you think they belong in Aston Villa. 🤷‍♂️

There are opinions and facts. Achievements are facts: Gallagher has none. Speaking of facts, your premise is incorrect: nothing is "all of the sudden" because people who rated Mount and Kai have always done do. Now an opinion: Mount is a good player, Kai is a good player, and Gallagher isn't a good player. Pitting these players together trying to force a silly opinion to others. They are not equal... never been.

What a silly tweet. 🙄 One of these players did not play a key role in a CL win; in fact that same player did not even participated in that same win. Who that might be? 🤔

Certainly. I still like Azpi as a roster filler just because he can cover in a 3 cb situ. Naturally he'd be less useful if we go back to a back 4.

Well, KK was just a bad signing. We should've done better. I do not think Thiago Silva is the same player he once was. He's been relying on his great reading more than usual, but is already playing a more limited CB role than before. Badiashile looks good, but it's always a big question-mark as how these players respond in an away game at Madrid. We know how the now much-maligned Azpi does, because he's faced that challenge countless times before, but it's always a big test for the young. Another example is Kova: we knew how he did in big games, because our scouts saw that. We don't know how players who come from say Brighton will do in the same situation because they never faced that challenge before. I'm not saying we should not bet on promising young talents, but doing only that won't quite work either.

Not more, better. Thiago Silva isn't getting any younger and his ability to drive the team forward is limited to say the least. The others, like you said, are mere prospects who can improve, but at their own pace. The question remains: is this a good enough status quo for a top club? Perhaps it is due to the transition period (in leadership too), but I can't imagine disputing with the top clubs like this. I think Rudiger also has that rare Pace for a CB; he is doing well at RM too. Was never a big fan of KK and was shocked by his form when he joined. Looks too heavy and old to be playing at this level. Maybe in a low block situ, but few teams play like that these days. yeah I suspect it's just another thing the owner is completely clueless about in football (his soccer) and at this level. These players will never develop unless they can already deliver at a certain level on the get go. Some say Mudryk has been unlucky that he joined us at this time, but that's relative. He perhaps got more minutes because of the situation. I agree that the right answer is always a mix between experienced and young, and all playing at a certain level. This is something folks here miss a lot: experience matters esp in big games. Players who have already experienced those situation, and succeeded, are more likely to succeed again. It's not easy to be under pressure and people react differently to that.

lol Begs to question what kind of medical he had.

heh, I just don't see mistakes, or the lack thereof, being that important for CBs in today's game. While I agree that CBs should not be error-prone, CB mistakes are always relative to the level of protection, style of play, overall team play, and opposition level. None of our CBs have the ability to join the midfield and push the team forward like Rudiger did. If you watch City play, their CBs are often exchanging passes just outside the opposition box out wide. A pedestrian CB at this level, esp nowadays, can be just as bad as an error-prone CB. Yes, he may look better individually (no mistakes), but the team does not work all the same. "great prospect defenders" I think @OneMoSalah wrote a few pages back, but what's this fascination with prospects? We are a top club and as such, we need to be signing players who have already delivered something against strong opposition. Yes, some of them look the part, but I'd say the majority of our signings have been more on the gambling side of things. Players who are not already playing at a certain level will never develop in a club like Chelsea. They won't get the minutes for that. For me Rudiger remains a top CB and would walk in pretty much any starting XI. Andreas, would be an addition to any roster anywhere.

Depends on what the goal is. Is it to just improve from last season and become a bit more competitive again, maybe CL qual? then perhaps. Almost all areas need strengthening if the aim is to go after City. Personally I don't think much of our CBs compared to what we had not long ago: Rudiger and even Andreas are much better than what we've got.

So much for "fresh legs"... 37yo Dzeko was running more and holding to the football a lot better.

Can we talk about the literal elephant in the room? he looks fat again... as in way too heavy and slow for this level. And it's not the first time it happened is it? That was pretty much his form at United. That should tell everything scouts and clubs should know about him as a top player, and yet we signed him all the same. Boggles the mind.

Rodrygo is a good player, but I'm not yet sure what his ceiling is. He does not look anywhere near Vini's quality to me atm.

It does look like despite not being that old KDB's legs are not cooperating anymore. He's the one player they will have a very hard time replacing.

One day I will see Lautaro Martinez play well. City had plenty of chances too: Haaland, Bernardo and Fodden later on to kill off of the match, which would've made anything inter did after that pretty moot.

now we know why 37yo Dzeko plays ahead of Lukaku. 😉

Pretty even game. A nice strike won the match. Thought inter players were pretty wasteful near the opposition box most of the time: bad shots, decisions, etc. Their midfield was strong tho, and made it hard for City. It's harder to play nice football when you have players in your face and running as much. City is the better side, but you can beat them in a single game like this. Now, this is the best City team ever for sure. It's the winning system with better players. Consider that they won the PL before with Fernandinho in the midfield. Now they have Rodri...

Lukaku is back to his united form, and body shape. He's not employable as is.

2 years ago == "some time ago" 🤷‍♂️ but I was mostly referring to last season. I very much like d the way we played under tuchel, but not everyone here did. Yeah I disagree about the players quality: it's mostly structure, training methods, and tactics around a very collective form of playing football. Most players are interchangeable, and some are pretty mediocre in my book (can think of plenty of other player who could similar of better jobs). I can totally see folks here become really impresse by Kova in that system... like I said, I think he will fit like a glove. I think you are mentioning this season, when Haaland is indeed a big advantage, but they won the league without him plenty--with Jesus and Sterling up front, for ex. They will need Haaland to win the CL tho, because it is different in single elim games. IMO, their only really special player has only been KDB until Haaland arrived.

😅 Yeah you are right, pedestrian is the right word... as unimaginative, slow, ponderous. Pedantic would be being corrected for no good reason, but this one was legit. (Portuguese is my first language, so this does happen from time to time)

City won the league countless times without even employing a dedicated #9. They defend with freaking Ake and Stones! A team scores and a team defends. We can't score because we simply aren't very good and have not been very good for some time. Even smaller teams manage to outplay us because we are slow and pedantic pedestrian on the ball. We play like shit... we have players who look completely clueless on the ball, like Mudryk. Players who are constantly injured. New signings who are clearly raw and their decisions showcase that. What would a striker possibly do in those conditions? win a point here and here? that's not what we need. Defenders defend and attackers attack sounds so passe. I'm supposed to be the old one here. 😅

I think it's more than that: it's characteristics. IMO Kova fits City's system like a glove. There is also the mental aspect, which we (esp fans) have scant information about most of the time. It's difficult to assess winning mentality when we sign players from smaller teams, for example, because they dimply never really were in a position to dispute much. When you go for big names, then you have a better idea of how they react in big matches.

eh not my job nor a thing I like to do. There way too many variables to consider and I don't have the information, nor the knowledge, to assess that. It also depends on what the manager wants to do, and what characteristics he needs. It's silly to sign someone who does not work with what the manager wants. Does he want to keep possession, or quick transitions? high or low block? 3 at the back? Is Caicedo's energy necessary or the manager prefers a player who can control the ball better? 🤷‍♂️ Funny that City wants Kova and not Caicedos...

Not particularly keen on using "better" to compare players with completely different characteristics, positions, and role. Does Sterling heads the ball, and has more physical presence in the box as Kai does? It's all relative. Even Mount and Sterling are so different that it's hard to compare the 2: e.g. you lose specific things when you swap them. pretty much disagree with the rest, and think the last bit is speculation/wishful thinking. Cucurella also made a lot of sense...

Couldn't agree more, and another worrying sign is that these players suddenly want out, some desperately so. Yes, I understand that a lot of money is made on transfers, but happy players tend to stick around. 😟