Transfer speculation

[billyiddo]

Just thinking, if we have Chelsea's luck with injuries last season, and get hardly any, then our team/bench looks something like:

--------------lloris
--------dier----toby----vert
trippier---wanyama---dembele---rose
----------eriksen-----dele
---------------kane

subs: vorm, wimmer, davies, winks, lamela, son, jannsen.

with ccv, kwp, onomah, n'koudou, edwards to pad things out.

That really is pretty good imo.

If we remain injury free we have a very good chance of continuing our recent form in the league - Wembley permitting.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I think it's a fairly well spoken of amongst the media (Sky pundits especially) and other fans that our first eleven is one of, if not the strongest in the league. It certainly was last season before the others strengthened ££££.

However it's our bench that let's us down in comparison to our rivals. We just don't have the players there who are consistent and good enough to do a regular job without us looking considerably weaker. Janssen still needs to learn and grow, Winks is v.promising but his inexperience could well show, Wimmer is inconsistent and seemingly wants out, Davies is decent enough but is no Rose. Lamela frustrates more than he provides. Arguably Son is the only one there who doesn't weaken us. If we had to bring two or three of those players for any considerable time I think we'd see a drop off in performance and points, especially at Wembley!

And in there lies the problem. We're not going to splash out the big money of this Summer for players (and their wages) who are just going to sit on the bench. So therefore the names we're linked with are of much less ilk than our rivals.

City's bench is going to be outstanding this season, as I just can't see how they'll fit all of Sane, De Bruyne, Aguero, Sterling, Jesus, Bernado, D.Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Luiz, Walker, Danilo, Mendy and Gundogan into first team spots!! I guess...

Walker -- Stones -- Kompany -- Mendy
---------- Toure ------- D.Silva ----------
---- Bernado -- De Bruyne -- Sane ----
------------------ Jesus ------------------

Which leaves the likes of Aguero, Otamendi, Sterling, Danilo, Gundogan and Fernandinho on the bench!!? That gives them some serious options throughout the season without really weakening the team.

But it gives them no strength defensively IMO and that was a big issue last season too

 

[Kandi1977]

But it gives them no strength defensively IMO and that was a big issue last season too

Walker and Mendy are MASSIVE upgrades on what they had, both defensively and offensively.

 

[braineclipse]

= a young player, but still experienced, with close to world class potential, costing pennies both in transfer and wages.
Should be easy to find....

Just trying to be funny? Or you trying to make some point?

Well yeah I generally agree with all that - and once again I'm not quite sure why you've decided to quote my post and disagree with what I'm saying because nothing there is an argument against the idea that there are players out there who fit our criteria, are affordable, would be willing to come and can fill areas in our squad which need strengthening.

You said that there are plenty of players who could be backups and be willing to come here. That is true, but those are just two of the characteristics we should be after in a player. When GB added another characteristic you dismissed it as a redundant argument. So I voiced my agreement with GB that there are more characteristics we're after and pointed towards why there might be only a small number of players that meet all of our demands/wishes.

If you generally agree with me I see little point in pointing out that there are plenty of players willing to come here and play for us that we should have no interest in signing.

 

[camspur]

I think it's a fairly well spoken of amongst the media (Sky pundits especially) and other fans that our first eleven is one of, if not the strongest in the league. It certainly was last season before the others strengthened ££££.

However it's our bench that let's us down in comparison to our rivals. We just don't have the players there who are consistent and good enough to do a regular job without us looking considerably weaker. Janssen still needs to learn and grow, Winks is v.promising but his inexperience could well show, Wimmer is inconsistent and seemingly wants out, Davies is decent enough but is no Rose. Lamela frustrates more than he provides. Arguably Son is the only one there who doesn't weaken us. If we had to bring two or three of those players for any considerable time I think we'd see a drop off in performance and points, especially at Wembley!

And in there lies the problem. We're not going to splash out the big money of this Summer for players (and their wages) who are just going to sit on the bench. So therefore the names we're linked with are of much less ilk than our rivals.

City's bench is going to be outstanding this season, as I just can't see how they'll fit all of Sane, De Bruyne, Aguero, Sterling, Jesus, Bernado, D.Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Luiz, Walker, Danilo, Mendy and Gundogan into first team spots!! I guess...

Walker -- Stones -- Kompany -- Mendy
---------- Toure ------- D.Silva ----------
---- Bernado -- De Bruyne -- Sane ----
------------------ Jesus ------------------

Which leaves the likes of Aguero, Otamendi, Sterling, Danilo, Gundogan and Fernandinho on the bench!!? That gives them some serious options throughout the season without really weakening the team.

It alos giv es them headaches when the likes of Sterling and Aguero start disrupting the team spirit because they aren't the #1 go to guy

 

[billyiddo]

Just trying to be funny? Or you trying to make some point?



You said that there are plenty of players who could be backups and be willing to come here. That is true, but those are just two of the characteristics we should be after in a player. When GB added another characteristic you dismissed it as a redundant argument. So I voiced my agreement with GB that there are more characteristics we're after and pointed towards why there might be only a small number of players that meet all of our demands/wishes.

If you generally agree with me I see little point in pointing out that there are plenty of players willing to come here and play for us that we should have no interest in signing.

I said we can attract players to our squad regardless of the strength of our first team by virtue of us paying higher wages than what they are earning elsewhere - the pool of players which earn more than what we can afford to pay our back up players is actually quite small in the grand scheme of things - it'll only be the elite level clubs and maybe 3rd/4th strongest sides in Italy/Spain/Germany that will pay their first team players more - so in real terms it doesn't actually effect the type of players we can attract (as we wont be targetting players at those clubs anyway) so as per my initial post it is a redundant argument as the type of players we will be targeting will already be earning less and will see signing for us, even with a strong first team in place, as a good chance of career progression.

 

[the dza]

You missed someone beginning with S and ending with o

It took me a minute to think of who you meant haha.

I forgot about Sissoko -- I am assuming he won't be here, but yeah, maybe he will stay and that's another body for the squad/bench.

 

[Pirate55]

I said we can attract players to our squad regardless of the strength of our first team by virtue of us paying higher wages than what they are earning elsewhere - the pool of players which earn more than what we can afford to pay our back up players is actually quite small in the grand scheme of things - it'll only be the elite level clubs and maybe 3rd/4th strongest sides in Italy/Spain/Germany that will pay their first team players more - so in real terms it doesn't actually effect the type of players we can attract (as we wont be targetting players at those clubs anyway) so as per my initial post it is a redundant argument as the type of players we will be targeting will already be earning less and will see signing for us, even with a strong first team in place, as a good chance of career progression.

I agree. I also think it is important to make a couple of signings to freshen things up. We don't want things getting stale due to lack of genuine first team alternatives. By all accounts, our performance against City was pretty dire. Notwithstanding it being a friendly, we really must hit the ground this season fully up and running. Our sluggish starts over the last two seasons have really hurt us.

One of our biggest current advantages is a pretty settled first team. We simply must capitalise on that this season. A couple of top quality squad players to re-inforce that and keep our first team on their toes is essential imo.

 

[the dza]

I think it's a fairly well spoken of amongst the media (Sky pundits especially) and other fans that our first eleven is one of, if not the strongest in the league. It certainly was last season before the others strengthened ££££.

However it's our bench that let's us down in comparison to our rivals. We just don't have the players there who are consistent and good enough to do a regular job without us looking considerably weaker. Janssen still needs to learn and grow, Winks is v.promising but his inexperience could well show, Wimmer is inconsistent and seemingly wants out, Davies is decent enough but is no Rose. Lamela frustrates more than he provides. Arguably Son is the only one there who doesn't weaken us. If we had to bring two or three of those players for any considerable time I think we'd see a drop off in performance and points, especially at Wembley!

And in there lies the problem. We're not going to splash out the big money of this Summer for players (and their wages) who are just going to sit on the bench. So therefore the names we're linked with are of much less ilk than our rivals.

City's bench is going to be outstanding this season, as I just can't see how they'll fit all of Sane, De Bruyne, Aguero, Sterling, Jesus, Bernado, D.Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Luiz, Walker, Danilo, Mendy and Gundogan into first team spots!! I guess...

Walker -- Stones -- Kompany -- Mendy
---------- Toure ------- D.Silva ----------
---- Bernado -- De Bruyne -- Sane ----
------------------ Jesus ------------------

Which leaves the likes of Aguero, Otamendi, Sterling, Danilo, Gundogan and Fernandinho on the bench!!? That gives them some serious options throughout the season without really weakening the team.

That's true, but we can't hope to have players on 100k, or 150k, or 200k on our bench, not sure we even have much of that in our first team. Having the likes of Lamela and Son to come from the bench/rotate in and out of the team is still strong imo. The position we are in as a club, we need to be willing to gamble on the likes of Jannsen and Winks coming good. If we can add one or two signings to make us even stronger, then all the better.

And don't forget, we got 86 points last season. We are brilliant at killing teams who aren't as good as us and as things stand, that is still most teams in the league. We are hard to beat and we have the most lethal striker in the division -- this is a good combination for success imo.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Walker and Mendy are MASSIVE upgrades on what they had, both defensively and offensively.

Yeah for the first 11

But sqwud wise they have huge holes defensively

They also have no proper defensive midfielder

 

[Legohamster]

Yeah for the first 11

But sqwud wise they have huge holes defensively

They also have no proper defensive midfielder

Gundogan can do a pretty decent job as a DM

 

[Kandi1977]

Gundogan can do a pretty decent job as a DM

Fernandinho is not bad either. The other Brazilian, Fernando, is crap though.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Fernandinho is not bad either. The other Brazilian, Fernando, is crap though.

Their both decent and Fernandinho is the better DM but neither stops them getting over run on their own

Plus of course Gungodan has to get and stay fit

Really liked him at Dortmund

 

[billyiddo]

I agree. I also think it is important to make a couple of signings to freshen things up. We don't want things getting stale due to lack of genuine first team alternatives. By all accounts, our performance against City was pretty dire. Notwithstanding it being a friendly, we really must hit the ground this season fully up and running. Our sluggish starts over the last two seasons have really hurt us.

One of our biggest current advantages is a pretty settled first team. We simply must capitalise on that this season. A couple of top quality squad players to re-inforce that and keep our first team on their toes is essential imo.

I'm not sure I agree with signings to 'freshen things up' that to me sounds like making signings for the sake of it - what I think we should be doing (and I am sure that behind the scenes we are doing) is looking to strengthen the positions in our squad where we are lacking suitable cover.

And whilst I agree with the idea that it will be too costly to sign players which will be on a level of our first XI (in all but a couple of positions) I think there are plenty of players available to us that will be a marked improvement on our squad options in several positions.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

I'm not sure I agree with signings to 'freshen things up' that to me sounds like making signings for the sake of it - what I think we should be doing (and I am sure that behind the scenes we are doing) is looking to strengthen the positions in our squad where we are lacking suitable cover.

And whilst I agree with the idea that it will be too costly to sign players which will be on a level of our first XI (in all but a couple of positions) I think there are plenty of players available to us that will be a marked improvement on our squad options in several positions.

The other factor is that you could make a Dier/Alli type signing that is one for the future that makes an immediate impact. There is value out there and I am sure that we have a number of targets in mind.

I completely agree with you that whoever we buy needs to be the right fit for this club and not a buy for the sake of it. Sissoko didn't freshen up the squad last year, so it is vitally important that if we are going to spend money that we spend it on the right player. Someone that will make an impact.

 

[billyiddo]

The other factor is that you could make a Dier/Alli type signing that is one for the future that makes an immediate impact. There is value out there and I am sure that we have a number of targets in mind.

I completely agree with you that whoever we buy needs to be the right fit for this club and not a buy for the sake of it. Sissoko didn't freshen up the squad last year, so it is vitally important that if we are going to spend money that we spend it on the right player. Someone that will make an impact.

Sissoko is a hard one to summarise really - I wonder whether having missed out on Mane and Wijnaldum Levy thought he better come up with something to avoid tinkling off Poch - it's the only straw I can clutch at on that one really or maybe he was indeed a 3rd choice target... fact is though he was trusted/used a lot by Pochettino over the season and were he not in the squad we'd have had to have used a player in his place that presumably wasn't as highly rated by the manager.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I think it's a fairly well spoken of amongst the media (Sky pundits especially) and other fans that our first eleven is one of, if not the strongest in the league. It certainly was last season before the others strengthened ££££.

However it's our bench that let's us down in comparison to our rivals. We just don't have the players there who are consistent and good enough to do a regular job without us looking considerably weaker. Janssen still needs to learn and grow, Winks is v.promising but his inexperience could well show, Wimmer is inconsistent and seemingly wants out, Davies is decent enough but is no Rose. Lamela frustrates more than he provides. Arguably Son is the only one there who doesn't weaken us. If we had to bring two or three of those players for any considerable time I think we'd see a drop off in performance and points, especially at Wembley!

And in there lies the problem. We're not going to splash out the big money of this Summer for players (and their wages) who are just going to sit on the bench. So therefore the names we're linked with are of much less ilk than our rivals.

City's bench is going to be outstanding this season, as I just can't see how they'll fit all of Sane, De Bruyne, Aguero, Sterling, Jesus, Bernado, D.Silva, Toure, Fernandinho, Luiz, Walker, Danilo, Mendy and Gundogan into first team spots!! I guess...

Walker -- Stones -- Kompany -- Mendy
---------- Toure ------- D.Silva ----------
---- Bernado -- De Bruyne -- Sane ----
------------------ Jesus ------------------

Which leaves the likes of Aguero, Otamendi, Sterling, Danilo, Gundogan and Fernandinho on the bench!!? That gives them some serious options throughout the season without really weakening the team.

Look. Stop using City as an example.....how do you propose we get to their squad position...you're just ignoring so much.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

It is, however most teams always have say 3 injuries at a time and if you move 3 of those outside your match day 18 on to the bench then suddenly the bench looks pretty ordinary

We had exactly the same options last season, bar Walker. And finished second.

Just saying.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

And whilst I agree with the idea that it will be too costly to sign players which will be on a level of our first XI (in all but a couple of positions) I think there are plenty of players available to us that will be a marked improvement on our squad options in several positions.

Who, out of who we have been linked with, do you like and is there anyone else you think would be good/suitable additions?

 

[GGyid]

Demarai Gray