They still need another goal scorer imo. They created 15 more clear cut chances than Chelski last season but their awful finishing let them down. If they don't get another goal scorer I wouldn't put them as outright favourites. If they manage to get Sanchez however...
Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Have you seen their new dressing room? 
Yeah, the renovations look very sharp although it's strange to see those old ceiling tiles in the shower though. The tunnel leading out onto the pitch reminds me of the one at Camp Nou
Yeah I'd agree. I always think back to the Chelsea game at the Etihad. (Aside from the shocking decision to not send Luiz off for barging Aguero off the ball), when we were 1-0 up, controlling the game and de Bruyne missed an open net. Had he scored, the season may have played out differently. Probably not, though. Aguero and Jesus will score goals but we need the likes of Sane, de Bruyne and Sterling to chip in with a few more. Sanchez would be ideal, as you say.
Definitely need a goalscorer although I remain unconvinced Alexis is the right solution for that
I don't buy it, Aguero and Jesus are two of the best finishers in the league and De Bruyne, Sane, Sterling, the two Silvas and Kompany from set pieces are all well capable of scoring plenty throughout the season. Sanchez is much more of a luxury on top than a necessity.
Aguero scored 33 goals last season, in 45 appearances. His demise as a top striker has been blown seriously out of proportion.
How come? He outscored de Bruyne, Sane, Sterling and Silva combined in the league last season. We have Aguero and Jesus as our natural goalscorers. Aside from players like that, Sanchez is as good as it gets. He's exactly what we need in attack, I reckon.
Really? Aguero-Jesus looks great on the paper.
...and don't overlook John Stones, prolific in pre-season!
I realize he's scored plenty for Arsenal, I would say this is more down to their style of play than his role as a goalscorer. At City, he'd be in a similar situation as he was at Barcelona, often key in the buildups but not always on the final pass to shoot on goal. In the end, City need to make sure they convert more than they need to create chances and that requires a goalscorer rather than a playmaker which, for me, Alexis is
Even Pep last season says he probably should've played Alexis more as a CF at Barcelona but will that really be the role he'd play at City? I am skeptical since Alexis isn't someone who can play with his back to goal like a traditional CF or even Kun. City would be high octane, no doubt but converting more? I am not convinced
Fair enough. I see what you're saying, however the reality remains Sanchez would almost certainly add 10+ goals to our side, and that's all we'd need from him. We don't need another player to convert chances in the ilk of Aguero and Jesus, we just need someone who is more experienced in front of goal and more clinical than the likes of Sterling, Sane and de Bruyne. Not to mention he'd create more from out wide, which is another problem we had. There were quite a few games last season, especially at home, where we controlled the game but created very few concrete chances to score.
Don't get me wrong, we could do with another forward now Nacho has gone plus maybe a centre-half to cover for Kompany's injury issues but realistically we were never going to complete the full overhaul in this summer window. It seems we're more interested in getting Sanchez than further bolstering the defence but you never know, there might be a surprise in the offing. Ideally, it would've been 4 incoming full-backs to replace the 4 outgoing ones but maybe Danilo's versatility means 3 is seen as enough.
Football isn't played on paper though. Aguero was wasteful last season and had his worse conversion rate since he joined City and he was one of the main problems in attack. Ideally Sanchez would play on the left. He is very flexible. City are great at getting the ball into great positions in the box but after that...
Yet he scored more goals in all competitions than ever before... albeit with his lowest shooting accuracy which was 2% below the season before. The majority of our conversion issues were KDB who hit the post 9 times (next most in the league was Pogba with 6), Silva and Sterling (the latter two, it seems to always be a problem).
Sergio missed 13 big chances last season but missed 16, 16, 11, 18, 17 in the preceeding seasons. His average is 15.6 missed big chances per season excluding last.
Given his shooting % on target hasn't changed drastically, he's missing less big chances and scored his most ever goals in a season, I find the wasteful hard to believe and something of a myth that has spread on here. It was Sergio's other issues that led to him being dropped and Pep complaining about the team being wasteful that saw it exaggerated hugely.
A clear cut chance missed by Aguero again.
GJ missed a clear header then the follow up hit the post so that's 3.
3rd CCC missed. Aguero with a one vs one and he took too long.
Finally scored on their 4th(5th overall) CCC.
2 half chances in the space of 1 minute. One led to an own goal
GJ missed a clear header then the follow up hit the post so that's 3.
3rd CCC missed. Aguero with a one vs one and he took too long.
Finally scored on their 4th(5th overall) CCC.
2 half chances in the space of 1 minute. One led to an own goal
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Okay yes, but, we won three points and kept a clean sheet.
Honestly speaking they look brilliant. You never know how they carry their form though, especially as other teams lower down find their rhythm and come with a game plan.
City looked good but Brighton were awful. Completely over awed by the occasion. We will see how good they are next week against Everton.
Harsh on Brighton. They did what they had to, defended well for the most part and restricted us to a few clear cut chances. Individual lapses of concentration cost them. Guardiola got the team wrong, against a team like that there is no need for three CBs to be on the pitch. Should have started one of Sane/Sterling to provide some pace getting in behind. It was too easy for Brighton to sit back. But yeah, Everton will actually intend to leave their own half at some point.
City looked good but Brighton are certs to go down, they just don't look like a PL team (not fast enough, strong enough, have enough quality)
City look good. Much as I hate what the club stands for, the football they play is lovely and wish United were aiming to play in a similar style.
Have to say the defence still looks ropy though. Everyone's going to go direct against them and test the keeper. If they can withstand that they'll win the league, but if not...
Have to say the defence still looks ropy though. Everyone's going to go direct against them and test the keeper. If they can withstand that they'll win the league, but if not...
Were they actually good today? I saw a lot of today's game and they just seemed to be a bit clueless as to what to do about Burnleys deep defensive block. A lot of pointless passing that went nowhere. It was just that one time that Burnley got caught too far up field that City broke in. Otherwise I was surprised by the complete lack of penetration and ideas. Second goal was an OG.
To me, the wingback formation just didn't look like it was functioning well. With De Bruyne and Silva as the main attackers they lacked the pentratIon a good quick wide player gives. The ball kept going to Walker amd Danilo who weren't doing much in attack. Danilo was completely pointless.
To me, the wingback formation just didn't look like it was functioning well. With De Bruyne and Silva as the main attackers they lacked the pentratIon a good quick wide player gives. The ball kept going to Walker amd Danilo who weren't doing much in attack. Danilo was completely pointless.
I think they'll pick up enough points at home to stand a chance of staying up. They won't play City every week and lots of teams will struggle to break them down, I can see them getting a fair few scrappy 1-0 wins.
Yea, and this what happened last season. Against better teams you didn't take any of those chances and then you had to start playing catch up or when they scored the momentum of the game changed. You guys need to be far more clinical. Walker looked great and Danilo slowed down the play on the left too often. I would have put him as the DM and taken off Dinho and then put Sane on the left. Dinho loses the ball and makes terrible passing decisions.
Mendy will make your team monstrous.
I think Burnley would have been delighted with the outcome of today's game..
No, I'd agree. I was pretty frustrated by the game. The line-up looked good in pre-season and I suspect it will prove very useful in some games this season, but Brighton away was never going to be one of them.
Yeah they defended quite resolutely but jesus should have broken the deadlock pretty early. I think the 3 at the back was just a precaution but you never had to get out of first gear, I thought they were very poor and mainly concentrated on trying not to lose, no counter attacking threat at all.
It's their title to lose. Let us see if they can win the whole thing.
I thought they were nailed on to win this season, but I'm not that sure now... I know it's early, but get the feeling we're in for an unpredictable season.
The amount of attacking talent they have though is something else.
The amount of attacking talent they have though is something else.
It is indeed, they subbed on B.Silva and Sane in the second half, both would most likely start for us.
If baldie doesn't win the league with that squad he might as well stop managing. If Fergie had that squad there would be no point in playing out the matches and we could go straight to handing out the trophy, the end result would be given.
If SAF had our team he would win, much less City's! No current manager comes close...
In any case, yes I agree that with the players they have, they really should win. If they don't win, I reckon 'baldie'
would leave..Surprised it took them so long to score, Brighton were overawed. I was expecting 4, 5-0.
I see David Silva has finally decided to accept reality as well. For a second I was thinking Zabaleta was still turning out in midfield for them
I see David Silva has finally decided to accept reality as well. For a second I was thinking Zabaleta was still turning out in midfield for them
Quality seems so high they just can't fail this year but Pep is a narcissist and will find a way to make his ship sink again for sake of tinkering.
The bench today was the biggest factor for me. Sane, Sterling, Yaya, Bernardo Silva all featuring on the bench, and that's with injuries to Gundogan and Mendy at the moment. Compare that to even Chelsea who had 7 unknowns in the squad with 4 injuries and I think we have to be taken seriously this season. Pep has to win it if squads stay as-is.
If he doesn't win it's a huge failure imo. Best squad and best depth in the league imo.
They have some tough early fixtures with so many new signings will be stern test for them. If they don't get good results then Pep will be under huge pressure.
Walker's pace will go a long way in making sure they don't get rinsed on the counter but he's an incredibly limited footballer. He's useless if he doesn't have space to run into. I wouldn't surprised if he falls out of favor with the manager down the line.
Thankfully, Silva looked like age has finally caught up with him hence they struggled to create any decent chance through the middle untill the first goal. I hope B. Silva flops massively, I'd be disappointed if they didn't struggle to replace Silva.
He has carried them for years.
Unfortunately, their squad is incredibly deep and they have game changers on their bench. Injuries will be the least of their problems. Whether or not Guardiola can keep all of them happy remains to be seen though.
Thankfully, Silva looked like age has finally caught up with him hence they struggled to create any decent chance through the middle untill the first goal. I hope B. Silva flops massively, I'd be disappointed if they didn't struggle to replace Silva.
He has carried them for years.
Unfortunately, their squad is incredibly deep and they have game changers on their bench. Injuries will be the least of their problems. Whether or not Guardiola can keep all of them happy remains to be seen though.