Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)

JASR said:
Ah, depay and Morgan... (and bastian)...the season before. Oh...ok...
...But yes... that season you did sell more by about a 'Januzaj'.

I still can't quite believe you'd think 'I'm on 300k a week for 3 more years' Rooney has gone from United as 'free'.

So, even if Rooney has moved clubs, along with its implied massive contract missing out pay cut (!), that's... err Rooney... oh and not forgetting Januzaj, being removed from the payroll this season.

Compared to longterm/experienced (therefore large pay) city players moved off the payroll: bony, kolarov, nasri, clichy, zaba, navas. Plus the lesser Januzaj equivalents of iheanacho, unal (has a buyback - good stuff as he's nominated for golden boy), mooy, nolito, fernando, ntcham and caballero.

And your argument for 'play that game' for this season, is... Rooney & Januzaj? Oops.
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Bastian also went in January but yes...erm ok (posting like you btw) why not factor in those sales (which brought in around 40-50M) and have our netspend at 90-100M? Oh yes, because it wouldn't suit what you're trying to push.

On the topic of Rooney, unless you can prove he didn't leave on a 'free', your point is moot. And he had 2 years left on his contract. Oops?
 
M18CTID said:
I agree. It's difficult for us City fans to not get giddy after the week we've just had - winning 5-0, 4-0, and 6-0 - but the previous 2 seasons when we actually had better starts in terms of points picked up in the first 5/6 games serve as a warning that things can go pear-shaped quickly. I do feel that we're playing even better than the start of last season (but so are United so it's a moot point I guess) and the full backs/keeper have given us more solidity at the back while offering us more options going forward, but at the same time we can still be "got at" in defence.
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Let's be honest, which fan base wouldn't be giddy at 15-0 in the space of 7 days? Completely normal.
 
VanGaalEra said:
On the topic of Rooney, unless you can prove he didn't leave on a 'free', your point is moot. And he had 2 years left on his contract. Oops?
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I previously posted in this thread '3 years (?)' , I wasn't corrected, so presumed it was correct as 3 and i re-used. I've now been corrected. Ta.

Re 'Moot': that's a bit rich (pun alert) coming from a 'billions and billions' quoter.

Regarding spending: Most fact based websites deal in seasons, not years.
See https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985
And
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/alletransfers/verein/281

Or
http://www.transferleague.co.uk/manchester-united/english-football-teams/manchester-united-transfers
Though that one seems to miss out many.

So, taking just transfermarkt,

United 17/18 season:
spend: £147.96m for 3 players
Average: £49m ish
income: £7.65m for 1 player (Januzaj)
Net: £140m ish
Free's: 1 player (rooney)

City 17/18 season:
Spend: £219.87m for 7 players
Average: £33m ish
Income: £86.72m for 12 players (incl 2 loans)
Net: £133m ish
Free's: 5 players (all major)

So, City net spent less, got more players in, shifted more out permanently, shifted more out on loan, reduced squad average age considerably and reduced the payroll considerably more... than United... this season. Agreed?
 
JASR said:
City net spent less, got more players in, shifted more out permanently, shifted more out on loan, reduced squad average age considerably and reduced the payroll considerably more... than United... this season. Agreed?
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Why do you keep trying to peddle a lie. You are constantly being merked yet you keep coming back for more.

Your whole net spend argument falls down spectacularly. Are you trying to have us believe that alot of the players who have left have done so with absolutely no renumeration. You will have had to pay these players to leave or subsidise their wages.
 
namco said:
Why do you keep trying to peddle a lie. You are constantly being merked yet you keep coming back for more.

Your whole net spend argument falls down spectacularly. Are you trying to have us believe that alot of the players who have left have done so with absolutely no renumeration. You will have had to pay these players to leave or subsidise their wages.
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Actually, the correct term is remuneration and not renumeration but seeing as though far more intelligent people than you make the same mistake I'll let you off on this occasion.

Anyway, good to see you back posting on the City thread - it's been too long since your last appearance and your invaluable input has been sorely missed.
 
M18CTID said:
Actually, the correct term is remuneration and not renumeration but seeing as though far more intelligent people than you make the same mistake I'll let you off on this occasion.

Anyway, good to see you back posting on the City thread - it's been too long since your last appearance and your invaluable input has been sorely missed.
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<green laughing smiley>

Vg.

Edit: thank deity/nondeity of your choice that namco is limited to 10 posts a day. I can only hope their 9 likes has been locked in.
 
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@JASR
Net spend arguments are rubbish buddy. Oh we sold our previous flops at a loss, aren't we financially responsible...
 
cyberman said:
@JASR
Net spend arguments are rubbish buddy. Oh we sold our previous flops at a loss, aren't we financially responsible...
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Yep - net spend is rubbish. And again... as per previous on this thread, I've already mentioned net spend is a crap way of discussing stuff but talking about player amortisation etc would seem to be going into the realms of unheard of understanding by some.

So yes, can we drop net spend, drop gross spend and deal with the real year on year/season financials?

Regarding 'flops':
Bony - yes.
Fernando and Nolito - probably.
Kolarov, ntcham , nasri, inheanacho, mooy and unal - nope.
Nor was zaba, clichy, Sagna, navas and caballero of the frees.

Sometimes bloody annoying, sometimes fat, sometimes silly haircuts, sometimes didn't ever play for City, yes - but not flops in financial and/or usefulness.

I only originally included the list of sold on and released experienced players, as a counter for the 'financial bottomless pit' dross.
 
Who cares how much City spend. he needed Fbs because Sagna and Kolarov were subpar. Both him and Mou are under pressure. People call them the favs because a lot of people in this country want Pep to fail. It's a very weird obsession people have with him.
 
Womp said:
Look at the difference some proper fullbacks made to this side. Yet we're still dicking around with those positions. We desperately needed a LB and maybe even a RB to push Valencia and eventually take over the mantle from him.

They have the best squad in the league and it'd be almost a disaster if they didn't win it.
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Proper full-backs need to be able to defend, Walker's positional sense ,is suspect overall at present Valencia is superior and the lad Mendy looks a liability defensively. Against good all round teams weak defensive full backs will be exposed, add to that they lack pace at centre=back, they won't win the Champions League with the current defensive options. As for the Premier League it is a long winter in England, lots of games a big slog. Guardiola has yet to prove he can deal with that, in fact he gave the vibe he didn't enjoy the English winter at all last year, fixture list is worse this year.
 
JASR said:
Huh?

Now? The same as United: commercial, TV, sponsorship, merchandise and match day.

At takeover: large investment in a complete financial basket case.

Between those points in time, a gradual move to profitability (last 2 years), requiring no more investment.

It's in the accounts, if you'd care to actually deal in facts: 500m investment. Ie money put in by ADUG. Everything else is the same as United... except City have gained a training complex and other infrastructure investments.
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That is not true, a big proportion of city's published trading income comes from Abu Dhabi, it isn't trading income in the general recognised sense. No way would there be an audit trail over there to see where the money came from that ends up at city. That is how they get around FFP and declare profit, without Abu Dhabi funds though there would be he huge trading losses for certain. I will predict with confidence city will never be financially self sufficient under the present regime and never pay a penny in company tax.
 
Ian Wright said:
That is not true, a big proportion of city's published trading income comes from Abu Dhabi, it isn't trading income in the general recognised sense. No way would there be an audit trail over there to see where the money came from that ends up at city. That is how they get around FFP and declare profit, without Abu Dhabi funds though there would be he huge trading losses for certain. I will predict with confidence city will never be financially self sufficient under the present regime and never pay a penny in company tax.
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The first part of the bolded bit is your opinion and you're entitled to it (I'd respectfully disagree because IMO we are already self sufficient and will continue to grow as a club) but that second bit is rather weird coming from a United fan. Well I assume you're a United fan because of your location and despite your username. If you are, then it's weird to say that when you consider that United are registered in the Cayman Islands - a tax haven - and have been accused of paying a low level of corporation tax (I'm not suggesting they're doing anything illegal by the way if indeed they are using tax avoidance schemes). As far as I know, City don't do tax avoidance and I've never once seen accusations of that nature levelled at the club.
 
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M18CTID said:
The first part of the bolded bit is your opinion and you're entitled to it (I'd respectfully disagree because IMO we are already self sufficient and will continue to grow as a club) but that second bit is rather weird coming from a United fan. Well I assume you're a United fan because of your location and despite your username. If you are, then it's weird to say that when you consider that United are registered in the Cayman Islands - a tax haven - and have been accused of paying a low level of corporation tax (I'm not suggesting they're doing anything illegal by the way if indeed they are using tax avoidance schemes). As far as I know, City don't do tax avoidance and I've never once seen accusations of that nature levelled at the club.
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No it isn't opinion it is true and it isn't that difficult to find that out, you are not self-sufficient at all, losses are funded from Abu Dhabi , no you don't do Tax Avoidance because in real terms you make losses, so all will be needed is to choke down the Adu Dhabi funding as required.

As for the location most Mancunians are reds, overwhelmingly so in lads in their 20's and 30's. Has much changed since the Abu Dhabi money came in probably more kids now support city than before but possibly only taking it back to my age bracket 60/40 red.
 
Ian Wright said:
No it isn't opinion it is true and it isn't that difficult to find that out, you are not self-sufficient at all, losses are funded from Abu Dhabi , no you don't do Tax Avoidance because in real terms you make losses, so all will be needed is to choke down the Adu Dhabi funding as required.

As for the location most Mancunians are reds, overwhelmingly so in lads in their 20's and 30's. Has much changed since the Abu Dhabi money came in probably more kids now support city than before but possibly only taking it back to my age bracket 60/40 red.
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City have posted an operating profit in the last 2 sets of published accounts so we will be paying corporation tax, end of. As for your first bit, it's been done to death mate in the past couple of weeks - appreciate that as you only joined yesterday then you might have missed that discussion but I posted on the previous page yesterday a list of over 20 sponsors that City have signed up since the start of last season and few, if any, are located in Abu Dhabi/UAE unless you think Heineken, for example, is Abu Dhabi owned ;)

I wasn't debating how many reds or blues there are in Manchester - I was simply unsure of who you support. Your location suggests United but your username suggests Arsenal.
 
Ian Wright said:
That is not true, a big proportion of city's published trading income comes from Abu Dhabi, it isn't trading income in the general recognised sense. No way would there be an audit trail over there to see where the money came from that ends up at city. That is how they get around FFP and declare profit, without Abu Dhabi funds though there would be he huge trading losses for certain. I will predict with confidence city will never be financially self sufficient under the present regime and never pay a penny in company tax.
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Completely agree most of the money City and PSG get is from dodgy related parties. Businesses with vague connections to the owners enter business relationships with the club and its players at inflated prices far in excess of market value as a way to circumvent FFP rules. 10 years ago City and PSG were nothing clubs and suddenly we have middle eastern companies wanting to pay huge amounts of money to advertise and sponsor the clubs, it just doesn't make commercial sense. Just look at Neymar he signs with PSG and suddenly he gets a huge dodgy sponsorship deal, coincidence?. The head of the Spanish Football Association has asked for PSG and Man City to be investigated for financial doping and it's about time. What is happening at Man City and PSG could have just as easily happened at any other second-rate club like Leeds, MK Dons, Crystal Palace etc all it needs is a Billionaire or government to pump billions into the club and low and behold we could have Crystal Palace challenging for the EPL or CL and we would suddenly have thousands of people proclaiming that they have been lifelong Palace fans! People say you can't buy success I would say they are wrong it's about 1.5 Billion.
 
poacher said:
Completely agree most of the money City and PSG get is from dodgy related parties. Businesses with vague connections to the owners enter business relationships with the club and its players at inflated prices far in excess of market value as a way to circumvent FFP rules. 10 years ago City and PSG were nothing clubs and suddenly we have middle eastern companies wanting to pay huge amounts of money to advertise and sponsor the clubs, it just doesn't make commercial sense. Just look at Neymar he signs with PSG and suddenly he gets a huge dodgy sponsorship deal, coincidence?. The head of the Spanish Football Association has asked for PSG and Man City to be investigated for financial doping and it's about time. What is happening at Man City and PSG could have just as easily happened at any other second-rate club like Leeds, MK Dons, Crystal Palace etc all it needs is a Billionaire or government to pump billions into the club and low and behold we could have Crystal Palace challenging for the EPL or CL and we would suddenly have thousands of people proclaiming that they have been lifelong Palace fans! People say you can't buy success I would say they are wrong it's about 1.5 Billion.
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Conjecture and rubbish. Please let me know the dodgy parties and exactly how these businessmen are bending the rules.
City have gotten more money and more time on tv in Europe than any other english club in the last couple of seasons.

The head of La Liga... what would he know about City's accounts? Pretty sure Uefa said City are FFP compliant and they are allowed go through the books. But we should take the word of 1 man who knows nothing about either club who is throwing his toys out of the pram because PSG took Neymar out of his league?

City have been consistently televised in the 2 biggest competitions in European Football the last few years. Probably more than any team in England with League and CL combined.
Wouldn't that make them one of the most marketable to anyone who wanted to partner with them?

Your last comment reeks of the jealousy you hid in the rest of the post. If Crystal Palace did get an investor, then like Chelsea and City fair play to them. There is no divine right for Manchester United/Barcelona to be top dogs I'm afraid.
 
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poacher said:
Completely agree most of the money City and PSG get is from dodgy related parties. Businesses with vague connections to the owners enter business relationships with the club and its players at inflated prices far in excess of market value as a way to circumvent FFP rules. 10 years ago City and PSG were nothing clubs and suddenly we have middle eastern companies wanting to pay huge amounts of money to advertise and sponsor the clubs, it just doesn't make commercial sense. Just look at Neymar he signs with PSG and suddenly he gets a huge dodgy sponsorship deal, coincidence?. The head of the Spanish Football Association has asked for PSG and Man City to be investigated for financial doping and it's about time. What is happening at Man City and PSG could have just as easily happened at any other second-rate club like Leeds, MK Dons, Crystal Palace etc all it needs is a Billionaire or government to pump billions into the club and low and behold we could have Crystal Palace challenging for the EPL or CL and we would suddenly have thousands of people proclaiming that they have been lifelong Palace fans! People say you can't buy success I would say they are wrong it's about 1.5 Billion.
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It's funny how these City fans complain that United seem to spend so much money. We are spending money that we have earned by winning things. PSG and City have come to this point thanks to their sugar daddies and by exploiting every loophole in the FFP. Despite whatever they win, they'll always be plastic clubs to me.

On topic, it looks to be between the Manchester clubs this season. Pep vs Jose. Bring it on :devil:
 
LoneStar said:
It's funny how these City fans complain that United seem to spend so much money. We are spending money that we have earned by winning things. PSG and City have come to this point thanks to their sugar daddies and by exploiting every loophole in the FFP. Despite whatever they win, they'll always be plastic clubs to me.

On topic, it looks to be between the Manchester clubs this season. Pep vs Jose. Bring it on :devil:
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It's an interesting point about "plastic clubs". When all is said and done, and despite all my comments on here, I don't really give a shit about jibes like that. I get much more enjoyment from being a real fan of a so-called plastic club as opposed to a plastic fan of a so-called real club and whatever the perception of City is amongst other fans it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things because I know I've put in the hard yards following them through both the good and bad times. This time 20 years ago I was in the process of attending every home and away league game during the worst season in our history. This time 10 days ago I was enjoying a few pre-match pints ahead of us thrashing Liverpool 5-0, not to mention a few post-match pints too. This time last week I was in the middle of a 3-day bender in Rotterdam ahead of our game against Feyenoord and was also invited into their supporters club offices where we were given the warmest of welcomes by fans who aren't generally known for being welcoming and plied with free alcohol. This time 4 days ago I was on the piss in Watford. Win, lose, or draw, I've hundreds of memories that will last a lifetime. Simply pulling on a football shirt, going down the pub to watch a game, and then basking in the reflected glory of any successes doesn't even come close to comparing as any true fan of any club will testify (note that this doesn't apply to any fans who used to previously attend matches but now can't for whatever reason before anyone spits their dummy out). And yes, no doubt City's recently elevated profile will attract more and more of those plastic fans too. In fact, it's already started.

Back on topic, it's very early days yet but it could turn out to be a hell of a battle between the 2 clubs for the title. Bring it on indeed.
 
Yeah, always want it to be City first and United second personally. That run we both had between 2011 and 2014 where we were both winning everything in sight and handing the league title to one another was fantastic. Then Pellegrini and Van Gaal started to have their effects.
 
The similarities with the first months of last season are uncanny:

1. City were flying and were expected to win the title.
2. Aguero was scoring for fun.
3. KDB was regarded as the best player in the league.
4. City won their first CL game 4:0....

Will City start crumbling again come the end of September? This time the squad is better. But they'll problably slow down at some point again.
 
Treble said:
The similarities with the first months of last season are uncanny:

1. City were flying and were expected to win the title.
2. Aguero was scoring for fun.
3. KDB was regarded as the best player in the league.
4. City won their first CL game 4:0....

Will City start crumbling again come the end of September? This time the squad is better. But they'll problably slow down at some point again.
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wrt point 1, even Guardiola was saying we couldn't win the league if we were playing like we were at this stage last season, he wasn't happy it was the media who were going all out.

We're playing far better this season even if the results so far haven't been as good, we look to have more balance and the players look far more comfortable in what they're doing. The full backs have made a massive difference and although we'll lose stupid games I don't think we'll lose as many as we did last season.
 
Treble said:
The similarities with the first months of last season are uncanny:

1. City were flying and were expected to win the title.
2. Aguero was scoring for fun.
3. KDB was regarded as the best player in the league.
4. City won their first CL game 4:0....

Will City start crumbling again come the end of September? This time the squad is better. But they'll problably slow down at some point again.
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Well we can't win games by 5 and 6 goal margins every week - no team can - so there will surely be some troughs to go with the recent peaks. I'm not getting carried away because as you say we started off last season on fire (as well as the season before when we won the first 5 league games without conceding a goal). The squad though, as you say, is better but so is United's and both managers have been there and done it all before. I wouldn't write Chelsea off either despite the rumours of unrest between Conte and Abramovich. As for Liverpool and Klopp, well most of us were writing Conte and Chelsea off after 6 games last season so I'm not going to go all in and do the same to Liverpool just yet. Spurs will probably fall short due to Wembley issues and I don't think Arsenal have enough to seriously challenge for the league.
 
Thunderhead said:
wrt point 1, even Guardiola was saying we couldn't win the league if we were playing like we were at this stage last season, he wasn't happy it was the media who were going all out.

We're playing far better this season even if the results so far haven't been as good, we look to have more balance and the players look far more comfortable in what they're doing. The full backs have made a massive difference and although we'll lose stupid games I don't think we'll lose as many as we did last season.
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Are you really playing far better though?
Granted I've not watched the Feyenoord and Watford games in full but I saw every other game. Thought Bournemouth and Liverpool had you on the ropes first half and your back three struggled massively against Liverpool. Brighton game you were meh. What I will say about you lot this season is you look like youre very effective being direct. Lots of crosses from the full backs, goals coming from those crosses and lots of goals from set pieces. The theme will always be under a Guardiola team to automatically say it's a team playing great passing football regardless of what is actually happening. From what I've seen city have been very effective with quick counters, set pieces and crosses which actually has me more worried. The slow ponderous passing game of last year with no switch up made you predictable. This year you look like you have other options and methods to get goals.
Id be amazed if you didn't end the season as Champions.
 
Leroy The Red said:
Are you really playing far better though?
Granted I've not watched the Feyenoord and Watford games in full but I saw every other game. Thought Bournemouth and Liverpool had you on the ropes first half and your back three struggled massively against Liverpool. Brighton game you were meh. What I will say about you lot this season is you look like youre very effective being direct. Lots of crosses from the full backs, goals coming from those crosses and lots of goals from set pieces. The theme will always be under a Guardiola team to automatically say it's a team playing great passing football regardless of what is actually happening. From what I've seen city have been very effective with quick counters, set pieces and crosses which actually has me more worried. The slow ponderous passing game of last year with no switch up made you predictable. This year you look like you have other options and methods to get goals.
Id be amazed if you didn't end the season as Champions.
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I think we are yeah, we pass it far more crisply and with KDB sitting that little bit deeper we're not constantly playing tippy tappy going nowhere controlling football we're playing fast balls forward with a purpose which we didn't do enough of last season. I didn't see the full Bournemouth game but their goals was a once a season worldy and we still created enough from the highlights I saw, against Liverpool I thought we were pretty equal until we scored and then Jesus should have scored again and we were just getting into our stride when Mane was sent off, we've also had to bed in a new defence but just look far more organised, even against Brighton which we controlled we missed a 2 golden opportunities in the first half and I was never concerned in that game. Even with 10 men against Everton I think it's a game we still should have won, I think we've improved game on game and there is still IMO a fair bit of improvement to come.
 
M18CTID said:
It's an interesting point about "plastic clubs". When all is said and done, and despite all my comments on here, I don't really give a shit about jibes like that. I get much more enjoyment from being a real fan of a so-called plastic club as opposed to a plastic fan of a so-called real club and whatever the perception of City is amongst other fans it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things because I know I've put in the hard yards following them through both the good and bad times. This time 20 years ago I was in the process of attending every home and away league game during the worst season in our history. This time 10 days ago I was enjoying a few pre-match pints ahead of us thrashing Liverpool 5-0, not to mention a few post-match pints too. This time last week I was in the middle of a 3-day bender in Rotterdam ahead of our game against Feyenoord and was also invited into their supporters club offices where we were given the warmest of welcomes by fans who aren't generally known for being welcoming and plied with free alcohol. This time 4 days ago I was on the piss in Watford. Win, lose, or draw, I've hundreds of memories that will last a lifetime. Simply pulling on a football shirt, going down the pub to watch a game, and then basking in the reflected glory of any successes doesn't even come close to comparing as any true fan of any club will testify (note that this doesn't apply to any fans who used to previously attend matches but now can't for whatever reason before anyone spits their dummy out). And yes, no doubt City's recently elevated profile will attract more and more of those plastic fans too. In fact, it's already started.

Back on topic, it's very early days yet but it could turn out to be a hell of a battle between the 2 clubs for the title. Bring it on indeed.
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I said it's a plastic club for me. It's a personal opinion. Not dissing either club here. If I was a City fan(God forbid), I wouldn't care about what rival fans think of my club. If you have supported the club through thick and thin, fair enough.
 
LoneStar said:
I said it's a plastic club for me. It's a personal opinion. Not dissing either club here. If I was a City fan(God forbid), I wouldn't care about what rival fans think of my club. If you have supported the club through thick and thin, fair enough.
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Yeah, fair enough - just me and my ranting on a slow day at work. When it comes down to it, it's irrelevant what any of us say about each other's clubs as it doesn't impact on our support for our respective clubs in any way.
 
Hope we see a really changed line up tonight...

I'd love to see a team something like..

--------------Muric---------------
Stones--Mangala-Adarabioyo-Danilo
-----------Gundogen-------------
--------Diaz-------Foden--------
Zinchenko-------------------Sane
------------Sterling---------------

Something like that would be nice but probably never happen.
 
Mendy and Aguero are not out and I can imagine Pep being furious, it seemed his team started to click with Jesus-Kun up front, now he has to change the plans. What kind of line up can we expect against Chelsea?
 
Red Star One said:
Mendy and Aguero are not out and I can imagine Pep being furious, it seemed his team started to click with Jesus-Kun up front, now he has to change the plans. What kind of line up can we expect against Chelsea?
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They lack of squad depth. And my guess is that in order to anticipate these they will have to change their formation if some of them got injured. Missing one of Kun or Jesus due to injuries probably something Pep has predicted and they have adapted with one striker formation 343 or 4141 which are the formations that Pep used last season.
 
Only LB out for the season and now Aguero has a car accident after the form he’s been in. Horrible luck this past week.
 
Very big test for City now with the unfortunate injuries, and a huge chance for Chelsea. They have to be favourites in this game now with Hazard coming back to fitness and City missing their best players in three positions. This might be the first time we see Pep go a little more defensive, but it's still hard to imagine. The sensible thing is probably to play Fernandinho and Gundogan as a midfield pairing and ask De Bruyne to play slightly more wide in a 4231 formation (Silva behind Jesus, likely Sterling on the other side). Another option would be to match Chelsea's three at the back.

People rave about City having the best squad, but when it comes to numbers in terms of an out-and-out striker and full backs (and defensive options in general), I think they are light. Kompany was always going to get injured and I don't think Stones, Otamendi, and Mangala are the CB's to win you trophies yet. Not having four full backs is a bit of a risk in the modern game, Delph's transformation to one has to work for them now (if he is over injury problems as well).

Lastly, I don't think only having two strikers is the biggest issue exactly, as it'd be hard to get them all in a match day squad when you have so many wide forwards / no.10's. So I can sympathize with that a bit. Can't agree with getting rid of four full backs and Navas in basically one window though, one of those guys should have stayed as a squad player.
 
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The main worry for City now is if Jesus picks up an injury or a ban.

That leaves them without a LB or a CF.
 
Havak said:
Very big test for City now with the unfortunate injuries, and a huge chance for Chelsea. They have to be favourites in this game now with Hazard coming back to fitness and City missing their best players in three positions. This might be the first time we see Pep go a little more defensive, but it's still hard to imagine.
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Never happen
 
FCBarca said:
Never happen
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What do you think he'd do?

Stick with Delph at Left Back, Fernandinho as the only central midfielder and just play Sane & Sterling either side of Jesus? Obviously Silva and De Bruyne behind Jesus in that scenario. It's what I'd expect too, but if Chelsea are up for it I could see them popping a few goals past City as well if they get off to a strong start.
 
I don't think it changes things that much with Sane playing on the left and Jesus moving into the centre, maybe he'll play three at the back against Chelsea but that just plays into Chelsea's hands with Hazard and Morata.
 
I think he has options as mentioned before with Delph, Danilo and even Zinchenko

Fernandinho is not ideal in central midfield but Gundogan is getting minutes now, Yaya and even Danilo. Pep is creative in this regard as he has freely moved players around in situations like this but one certainty is that he will never play more defensive
 
ball retention for pep is even more important now, I think he'll bring gundo or Silva in and just go 1 up top
 
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