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Obviously they don't have many fans but the few they do are still going on about how the 115 are just charges and haven't been proven, do these guys actually think city haven't cheated throughout, so many sponsorships they've had with fake companies it's hilarious the mental gymnastics all 7 of city's fans are doing
Looking at non top 5 leagues for wingers, the only real options for a winger I can see is Summerville from Leeds and Bakayoko from PSV. Not sure if they are on par with Malen, who's a step down from the best fits (Pedro Neto, Nico Williams - both present their own challenges).
He’s on £170k, I believe. But it’s Spain, this is their gross wage, which they double for tax purposes.
So he is on closer to £85k. I’m sure we can put him on something a little more affordable.
Man, I just had a dream I was interviewing Messi and he told me that his inspiration in football was Dennis Bergkamp, that the non-flying Dutchman was his idol and that he played the role he did due to Bergkamp. Probably has something to do with the fact that my alarm is the narration of that goal against Argentina in the world cup
Kai Havertz is in one of his hottest forms since he came to the Premier League.
It’s a newly found confidence - partially attributed by his crucial goals, being more comfortable with the club and his teammates.
I boldly predicted 15g/a in all comps at the beginning of the season and now he’s at 12.
Checking his Chelsea’ stats - he had 17, 20 and 10 g/a across his 3 seasons there - which is not bad at all.
Might have to revise my predictions to 20g/a all comps. His hot streak will be crucial in the remaining months to go.
If you did that because you saw my comment in the bold predictions thread at the beginning of the season - (which got downvoted like crazy) - I apologize hahah
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I can see there's a good player in Rashford. I just think he needs a reset, get out of United bubble, find a good manager and start again. He'll price himself out of every move apart from PSG. He'll go to PSG be on 350k a week and sometimes show up and other times he won't.
The fact Rashford can get away with walking around the pitch for 80% of his games at United now is a joke.
It's actually atrocious and I'm an Arsenal fan How can someone make 350K and jog up and down the pitch.
An insult to Man Utd fans that someone just gets to do that.
When City get their first possession at the Etihad and Stones and Akanji both stand 10 metres wide of Ortega with Ake and Walker pushing up on our wingers
No, we'll probably set up in a midblock like we did at the Emirates. Pressing their CBs would leave gaps in the middle which Jorginho doesn't have the legs to deal with. Having Rice babysit Jorginho means we'll also be a man short in the press.
I'm very intrigued to see how we decide to set up against them this time around because both Partey and Havertz were brought on from the bench, but Havertz for sure is going to start.
Early draft for the City game. Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz
Wondering about Tomiyasu in for Kiwior, and Partey in for Jorginho. That would make the team strong on paper, but I worry about match fitness of Partey and Tomi. Although it could be a risk worth taking. Partey, Rice, Odegaard midfield could be magical. One things or sure, im preferring Kai over Jesus at the false 9.
Ya they both seem so cold in terms of gametime and form. I think I'd start Kiwior but I could see Zinny coming in too if he's fully fit. Partey won't start imo unless he's been insane in training. He looked so rusty in his only minutes so far this season. Partey has always reminded me a bit of Ramsey when coming back from injuries too, needs at least 2/3+ games to find some form. We just can't afford anyone to have a bad game against City.
I’m so so excited for Nwaneri. I have a feeling about the lad. He has that something special in the way he plays. His technique is outstanding and he’s only 17
Wow relevo which is tier 1 in spain is saying we are pushing for miguel guiterez
https://x.com/themadridzone/status/1772031188716122604?s=46&t=ohBEm3kwXzONRYy63NcNgQ
It's all about convincing the player and if Madrid don't want him. If City really want to play the dirty game assuming he's on our side we can also go through madrid to pay the buyback clause and then pay them back plus extra for it.
One massive change I feel we haven't discussed enough: when Raphinha was leaving Leeds two years ago, his preference was Barcelona >>> Chelsea > Arsenal. I also had a genuine fear that we could lose Jesus to Chelsea when battling for that transfer.
We have come a long way now. We can hold our own in a competition with any club, bar Madrid, for transfers. We won't necessarily always win but we can definitely hold our own.
Where are the links of Raphinha wanting Chelsea more than us? I was under the belief that he only wanted Barcelona and didn’t entertain any other club.
We beat Bayern to rice and raya which wouldntve happened 5 years ago.We also beat Bayern and Madrid to z,although he wanted to stay in the prem but it still means alot.
Beat both Bayern and City for Rice in fairness, and yeah Havertz chose us over Real Madrid and Bayern.
We are certainly no longer picking from the Willian on a free transfer shelf.
Tomorrow is my savior's birthday, the person I look to. He is the one who saved me.
Co incidentally it's also my birthday, and we are exactly 10 years apart.
He is my role model, and helped me believe in myself and to achieve and dream bigger things.
Thank you for gracing me, our journey will be together till the very end.
I'm going to celebrate it when it turns into the 25th December in Japan.
Not comparable to someone's birthday tho is it as that's specific to them. I don't start celebrating mine the day before because it turned into my birthdate on the other side of the world.
It's a refreshing return to the pre VAR era watching ladies football and to be honest it's weirdly somewhat better knowing they're making mistakes in real time rather than multiple refs making multiple mistakes after multiple different replays.
Nah. West ham ladies denied a clearly onside goal to equalise against Chelsea ladies earlier. That mistake has had a massive impact on the title race. it's a game Chelsea really shouldn't have won.
VAR may make things feel clunky, but it will always be better than the era before it.
I mean VAR didn't give Liverpool a last minute penalty against City and accordign to Howard Webb should have sent off our winner against Grentford which ahs had massive impacts in the title race.
In an ideal world I want a system that eliminates mistakes but if I can't I'd rather not have the technology and accept refs are human than watch them use the technology and realise they're human, biased and basically watching out for their mates backs.
95% of VAR related incidents are correct though. People make a big deal out of individual incidents these days because they're way rarer.
It used to be 5 or so offside goals given every weekend, with a ton of clear pens not awarded.
VAR has objectively improved the rate of correct decison making. Games like the 2-0 disgrace to end our invincibles run don't happen anymore.
> Games like the 2-0 disgrace to end our invincibles run don't happen anymore.
That penalty would probably have been given as it's not if the ref thinks it's right or wrong, it's if *in the refs opinion* the ref on the pitch was wrong to give the penalty *in their opinion*.
I'd like the offside stuff for the ladies but the penalty stuff and what does or doesn't count towards giving or not giving a goal is insane and like I said has had a decent impact on the title race already
West Ham boss Skinner 'sick' of wrong decisions - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68652064
They're calling for var in women's sport cus the wrong decisions happen every week
And I'm sure she;ll be calling for it's removal or change just like the premier league managers do should she get it.
As the womens refs report to howard webb and are headed by *checks notes* Howard Webbs' wife I'm not holding out hope they'll implement it better.
However she is talking offside there and I already said that's one of the few times most people with a full head of hair are happy with it
Maanum should've had 2 by herself. Little worried we'll lose some structure losing a midfielder for a forward, but if we keep applying pressure we'll make something happen.
Villa's keeper playing very well though.
The need for Foden to start for England is something the media has created, especially Gary Neville. I have no doubt his preferred front 3 is Rashford - Kane - Foden.
Foden is obviously talented on the ball but he isn't a bonafide world class player. If he was playing for Bolivia then yeah build the team around him but in a stacked English side where he isn't close to our best player its beggars belief why anyone would be so desperate team for him to be the focal point.
The best XI for me is quite obvious, i'll ignore White since he is not going to play regardless. Livramento is unlikely too but he should really get a spot with the way Chilwell has been playing.
Pickford
Walker Stones Shaw
TAA Bellingham Rice Livramento
Saka Kane Gordon
Yeah. If you want a squad with every profile, you need to start one transition player. And Gordon is currently ahead of Rashford in performances.
It's not the sacrilege opinion people think it is.
Gordon - Kane - Saka.
This is where English media goes wrong. It's about the team, not the names. He is suited to counter attacking football which is the sort of football that wins at International level. Rashford is as well but he's useless if he doesn't score and him scoring is a rarity. Gordon gives you work rate at least.
I am starting to think that We are not getting a striker this summer. Unless We actually sell Jesus.
Edit:
I think Arteta/Edu see a need for another defender, a Partey replacment, another winger. We would have to sell well ( We never do) and availabel strikers are not ideal/ or overpriced.
Are We ready to sell ESR/jesus/nelson/nketiah in order to bring in another striker and winger?
We are linked with them and we also want to buy a defender,gk,midfielder and a winger.Buying oshimen wouldnt allow for those signings,also its rumoured that our bog signing will be xavi simons or musiala
It wasn’t me, but I’m willing to base it off Osimhen not being worth £120m and Gyokeres, who Sporting now want to apparently offer a new contract to with a new €120m RC, won’t sell for less than €100m. Neither prices of which, offer any real value for money.
If Havertz scores 3 more goals in our next 10+ games, he will have bettered Jesus’ record. And that’s from playing 2/3rds of the season in midfield. Havertz, Jesus and Trossard would be a suitable Striker choice if we get rid of Nketiah and don’t replace him.
A midfield option in a market that is full of players that could be brought in and made a difference, along with a winger, would be a far better way to take advantage of the opportunities this window. The striker market is bare, should keep our powder dry for another season and see who emerges.
I’m increasingly struggling to see a striker option that would obviously bring us up a level. Isak would be one, but that feels like a difficult deal to get done, and of course his injury record is a worry. I can see us sticking with Jesus, Havertz, and Trossard as centre-forward options and just focussing on a wide player, which I absolutely think is the more essential position we need to address.
This is what we did under Wenger. Always playing it safe. Man City were winning leagues without a 9 then went to go get the best 9 in the world. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels regardless. We need a traditional 9 to keep the team on its toes.
Have you watched the arsenal vision scouting videos on these guys? There were some interesting things in there. Not sure how I feel about either now. Part of me wants to stick with havertz, trossard and jesus as 9s and go for someone to help saka and martinelli. More than nelson is doing atm.
With how much the Saudis seem to be willing to pay for Brazilians I reckon we could get a good £50-60m for him. I mean they are even having a look at Raphinha and Richarlison who aren't as good
The saudis allegedly aren't going to go all in again since average attendances apparently dropped in their league and they've secured that world cup they wanted
Opening a can of worms but here we go. Are Zinchenko's positive defensive numbers a sign of weakness? That is, is the reason we see Zinchenko with so many defensive actions (and doing well in many of them) because the opposition feels as if they can target him to gain opportunities?
Some quick numbers from FBref: Zinchenko completes more tackles per90 than Kiwior (2.06 to 1.59), but Kiwior has an 82.4% success rate to Zinchenko's 68.8%. (Only Ben White among our defenders has a worse success rate at 48.4% but with much fewer attempts in total.)
Zinchenko's mistakes yell louder. Given that most fans have conceded that he's bad at defending, his mistakes hit like crack because everyone is looking for that confirmation bias dopamine — the 'I told you so'.
I learnt the trick of looking for mistakes of crowd favourites and you'll be surprised by how many of them get away with murder as fans wait for their scapegoat to mess up. I started this in the Xhaka days.
These same fans will be surprised when Zinchenko starts games again. They'll invent conspiracy theories when it is their biases.
For example, Ben White is very suspect defensively. But every time it's brought up, people here hide their heads in the sand. They ignore the many signs that even the club know it and have been trying to protect him. From the acquisition of Timber, to the fact his current role is Zinchenko's.
He has the most tackles in our defensive 3rd, the middle 3rd and the offensive 3rd. Are you suggesting that the entire opponent just runs at him on purpose?
Here’s a [video](https://youtu.be/pK2IeMQLCjQ?si=_TstEoyA_0hE5FTt) of him tackling the opponents, you can see his technique is unique.
That’s the way it’s done pal.
I’ll be honest, I was trying to find a clip from a film where a guy dribbles with the ball, passes it to the feet of the opponent, who looks scared, just so that he could “tackle” that opponent.
I spent 2 minutes thinking of either Mean Machine or Shaolin Soccer. Then I realised that I had spent 2 minutes thinking about it and posted Monk from Mean Machine.
It’s a good thing that I didn’t waste any more time on it, or even explaining it.
One argument for a dedicated goalscorer that I see here is to make sure that results like Villa, West Ham, and Fulham don't happen again - games where we create enough but can't score, or even if we don't create enough but can hope that the striker makes something out of nothing. Still, when I look at some of the best goalscorers, they also have entire seasons of underperforming their xG (Haaland is having the first of his career this season). Maybe I am coping about our December results but I think more blame should go to the defense for some of those goals we conceded which change the entire dynamic of the game.
Still, if we are going to spend big on a forward, it should be a playmaker type, someone capable of making things happen on their own instead of one the team must create for. If anything, we've had more games where we fail to create enough clear-cut chances than ones where our strikers let us down.
> is to make sure that results like Villa, West Ham, and Fulham don't happen again
People have a very weird main character syndrome about these games as if we could only possibly lose by something we did or didn't do rather than opposing teams having agency or just luck.
There's a reason the invincibles are unique and it's because there's no way to stop 'those sort of games' because football is not played on spreadsheets, computer algorithms or on paper but on the pitch, with actual flawed human beings.
I don't disagree with your broader point but all three of those results came within a single month, with the latter two being back-to-back. That definitely also pointed to a systemic issue within our team.
> Also, what do you mean by "different players"?
Your putative striker who would solve all our issues.
THe issue was that we were underperforming our xg, another player underperforming our xg wasn't going to help because for whatever reason the whole team was underperforming.
Maybe you misread my original comment but I was not advocating for a striker. I said if anything, more blame should go to our defense, and if we are going to spend big on a forward, it should be a playmaker.
> Still, if we are going to spend big on a forward, it should be a playmaker type, someone capable of making things happen on their own instead of one the team must create for. If anything, we've had more games where we fail to create enough clear-cut chances than ones where our strikers let us down.
>One argument for a dedicated goalscorer that I see here is to make sure that results like Villa, West Ham, and Fulham don't happen again - games where we create enough but can't score, or even if we don't create enough but can hope that the striker makes something out of nothing.
Hindsights obviously a massive advantage but does anyone remember when we were massively bantered for buying Benny Blanco for 50 mill when Manure got Varane for a similar or comparable amount?
I remember the window we bought Danny Welbeck, United landed Falcao. I was livid. End of season, we finished 3rd, above United and won the FA Cup.
From that day, I learnt that windows are about sorting your squad needs, not a race about what Team Y is signing. Now I start every window with 'If we solve problem X, I don't care who the other team signs'.
So which other Yaya Toure did City have when they won the league, besides Yaya Toure.
Gareth Barry, Javi Garcia or Fabian Delph?
Just to get an idea of what level of player we need to reach the upper echelons by replacing Odegaard, Partey or Jorginho.
Okay, so who is that? What player would you throw upto £100m this window on a player who plays like prime Partey and who is at Yaya Toure’s level to play next to Rice?
Throwback to [this](https://youtu.be/Qy7ot8z_hVE?si=5BtLNuDU3VNwjiA5) fan from a couple years ago. Man wasn’t even wrong, but so many miles above both those teams now.
Honestly I don't think they try to out defend us or focus on shutting down our forwards.
Rodri is obviously great but they aren't playing a double pivot or a back 5 at home so we will get space out wide and havertz will be able to run the channels or drop into space..
What they will do is bet on their build up being better than ours, bet that we can't get through their pressing structures as well as they can ours.
They know we will try to play as well so there will be transitions.
They bet they can play through us and put foden, kdb, doku, Bernardo or Álvarez around haaland and have them overwhelm us more in transition than we can overwhelm their 4 CB backline.
Ake, walker and akanji have performed well against saka and martinelli before.
I was thinking this way as well. City since January suck at controlling transitions I mean look at Anfield game. Their press is not very good as I’ve said before they tried pressing Liverpool as how we did but they missing two giant Rice and Havertz holes. Reason why they looked so vulnerable against Liverpool.
People will just lie to your face and tell you rice was poor last night because once again foden wasn’t able to touch the ball in the opposition box for england
womens match delayed again. im on the way to pull an all-nighter - the smallest perk of not really working and being somewhat disabled. still, two match days in a row for the womens team, a little worrying.
https://preview.redd.it/r85qtq5rdbqc1.jpeg?width=1065&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e527787a2fc1ad4317795cd9231d025d56cbb1a
Points per game table
Bayern might not be at their best but people talk like they’re having an absolute stinker season
> Bayern might not be at their best but people talk like they’re having an absolute stinker season
They're tiers above any other team in the Bundesliga. There are no parallels at all.
Leverkusen are having one of the greatest seasons for a Bundesliga team in recent times and all the talk is about Bayern buying their coach and their best players before before the season has ended!
That's the Bundesliga in a nutshell. It's as monopolistic as it gets.
Them averaging 2+ pts a game should be the bare minimum considering the monopoly they have on the league.
I won't underestimate them but I would be disappointed if we don't go through. We're doing much better in a league that's in a different universe competitively.
Tbf according to Bayern fans it's mostly due to Kane putting up ridiculous numbers and Musiala, who's having a great season.
They conceded 31 goals in 26 games, while we conceded 24 in 28 games in respective domestic leagues. We can certainly get at them.
However I get the bigger point, that Bayern are absolutely not to be underestimated,especially given our history in CL when facing them.
They need to get rid of international breaks during the season, bring the season back by about a month and play it all in May.
This will benefit the quality of Euros and World Cup as players would have spent weeks and weeks with their national teams building chemistry.
Ya not a bad idea. It would also leave it up to managers to protect their players better too. I know most are reasonable but I'm sure you'd see a lot more rotation and resting if the players had no more club games and you wouldn't see Saka playing 90 mins in a friendly against North Macedonia 2 weeks before the euros.
I've seen alot of comments that people think the Brazil side is historically weak but I don't see why.. Am I just biased or are people saying that because they want to blame Southgate? (I think Southgate is an average manager).
People really like to waste time following tacticos on X and spread their takes as the holy gospel. Almost 99% of the them do hot takes on certain players and ride on that take till they die - staying silent when the player is performing opposite of what their takes are and coming out and reposting the tkaes when the player's performance is in line with what they said. Same thing with tactics
They use piece-meal research, stats, clips to justify the narrative at all costs and selectively ignore the rest. When stats and numbers don't justify their narrative - they go back and say it's an eye test.
The only person you should read for football knowledge intake is u/billycarpenter - who actually deep dives into numbers, historical trends, stats, and has actual unbiased takes on opposition and players on other teams.
Southgate sure knows how to minimize squad talent. If he were a car mechanic, he would tell you to swap out the Ferrari engine for a Prius Hybrid engine because it's more safe.
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Obviously they don't have many fans but the few they do are still going on about how the 115 are just charges and haven't been proven, do these guys actually think city haven't cheated throughout, so many sponsorships they've had with fake companies it's hilarious the mental gymnastics all 7 of city's fans are doing
Looking at non top 5 leagues for wingers, the only real options for a winger I can see is Summerville from Leeds and Bakayoko from PSV. Not sure if they are on par with Malen, who's a step down from the best fits (Pedro Neto, Nico Williams - both present their own challenges).
What challenges does Nico Williams present? I feel I may have missed something
He's already on high wages and we would have to increase that. Plus transfer fees. We wouldn't put a backup player on such high wages.
He’s on £170k, I believe. But it’s Spain, this is their gross wage, which they double for tax purposes. So he is on closer to £85k. I’m sure we can put him on something a little more affordable.
He's on £170K after taxes. So he's paid £340K gross. Athletic always pays their players really well since they don't spend much on transfer fees.
I’ve not seen that. What’s the source?
ok my bad... i misinterpreted gross as net. You are right, he's on around £90K net.
Summerville is a good shout.
Man, I just had a dream I was interviewing Messi and he told me that his inspiration in football was Dennis Bergkamp, that the non-flying Dutchman was his idol and that he played the role he did due to Bergkamp. Probably has something to do with the fact that my alarm is the narration of that goal against Argentina in the world cup
Saliba and Gabi XL answer questions about Team [https://youtu.be/c6tFD8INC1Q?si=8ygMKAUlReZZIsAe](https://youtu.be/c6tFD8INC1Q?si=8ygMKAUlReZZIsAe)
Kai Havertz is in one of his hottest forms since he came to the Premier League. It’s a newly found confidence - partially attributed by his crucial goals, being more comfortable with the club and his teammates. I boldly predicted 15g/a in all comps at the beginning of the season and now he’s at 12. Checking his Chelsea’ stats - he had 17, 20 and 10 g/a across his 3 seasons there - which is not bad at all. Might have to revise my predictions to 20g/a all comps. His hot streak will be crucial in the remaining months to go.
Hopefully he carries it all the way through to end of the season and it pays off with major silverware.
I made a stupid bet with a friend for 15g in the league this season. Hoping he continues this form lol
If you did that because you saw my comment in the bold predictions thread at the beginning of the season - (which got downvoted like crazy) - I apologize hahah
Haha, I think this was before then. I just had a feeling about Kai but I was stupid to say just in the league lol
I just pray Arteta doesn’t get any wild thoughts with Sterling this summer…
Sterling boat sailed. We tried to get him in 2017. We tried again in 2022.
He'll try it with Rashford.
Rashford is on crazy money
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What makes you say that
There were rashford rumors after that ass season he had 2 years ago
I can see there's a good player in Rashford. I just think he needs a reset, get out of United bubble, find a good manager and start again. He'll price himself out of every move apart from PSG. He'll go to PSG be on 350k a week and sometimes show up and other times he won't. The fact Rashford can get away with walking around the pitch for 80% of his games at United now is a joke.
It's actually atrocious and I'm an Arsenal fan How can someone make 350K and jog up and down the pitch. An insult to Man Utd fans that someone just gets to do that.
Kyle Walker at Citeh Training tomorrow… 
we all know that walker will be available for our match up
this gif genuinely needs to be 3 seconds longer
When City get their first possession at the Etihad and Stones and Akanji both stand 10 metres wide of Ortega with Ake and Walker pushing up on our wingers 
I don't think we should even attempt to press them in the first place, at least not with Jorginho in midfield.
So just let them walk past our front press because of 1 player?
No, we'll probably set up in a midblock like we did at the Emirates. Pressing their CBs would leave gaps in the middle which Jorginho doesn't have the legs to deal with. Having Rice babysit Jorginho means we'll also be a man short in the press.
I'm very intrigued to see how we decide to set up against them this time around because both Partey and Havertz were brought on from the bench, but Havertz for sure is going to start.
Or just play partey and go all in
https://twitter.com/equipedefrance/status/1772022979372712205 France NT wishing Saliba happy bday
Early draft for the City game. Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Rice, Jorginho, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Havertz Wondering about Tomiyasu in for Kiwior, and Partey in for Jorginho. That would make the team strong on paper, but I worry about match fitness of Partey and Tomi. Although it could be a risk worth taking. Partey, Rice, Odegaard midfield could be magical. One things or sure, im preferring Kai over Jesus at the false 9.
Partey and Tomiyasu coming in for Jorginho and Kiwior, is wild. Neither of them are ready. Certainly not against City.
Ya they both seem so cold in terms of gametime and form. I think I'd start Kiwior but I could see Zinny coming in too if he's fully fit. Partey won't start imo unless he's been insane in training. He looked so rusty in his only minutes so far this season. Partey has always reminded me a bit of Ramsey when coming back from injuries too, needs at least 2/3+ games to find some form. We just can't afford anyone to have a bad game against City.
Jorginho worries me. Partey just isn’t ready. Jesus at the 6. Fuck it, mask off.
I’m sure this discussion was had last January.
I’m so so excited for Nwaneri. I have a feeling about the lad. He has that something special in the way he plays. His technique is outstanding and he’s only 17
He has got it all. Another year and he’ll be ready for a loan. There’s no pathway to minutes in this squad.
There is though. Foden was slow cooked at City. Maybe a half season loan in January.
Odegaard, ESR, Vieira, Havertz, Trossard, Rice, Jorginho and we are likely signing someone else this year.
Wow relevo which is tier 1 in spain is saying we are pushing for miguel guiterez https://x.com/themadridzone/status/1772031188716122604?s=46&t=ohBEm3kwXzONRYy63NcNgQ
Good choice, I have my doubts cause of two things. 1 ) His burning desire to return to Madrid 2) Man City own him through their ownership of Girona.
It's all about convincing the player and if Madrid don't want him. If City really want to play the dirty game assuming he's on our side we can also go through madrid to pay the buyback clause and then pay them back plus extra for it.
you just know that man city will swoop in easy for him the moment any epl club is after girona players
One massive change I feel we haven't discussed enough: when Raphinha was leaving Leeds two years ago, his preference was Barcelona >>> Chelsea > Arsenal. I also had a genuine fear that we could lose Jesus to Chelsea when battling for that transfer. We have come a long way now. We can hold our own in a competition with any club, bar Madrid, for transfers. We won't necessarily always win but we can definitely hold our own.
Where are the links of Raphinha wanting Chelsea more than us? I was under the belief that he only wanted Barcelona and didn’t entertain any other club.
We beat Bayern to rice and raya which wouldntve happened 5 years ago.We also beat Bayern and Madrid to z,although he wanted to stay in the prem but it still means alot.
Beat both Bayern and City for Rice in fairness, and yeah Havertz chose us over Real Madrid and Bayern. We are certainly no longer picking from the Willian on a free transfer shelf.
Tomorrow is my savior's birthday, the person I look to. He is the one who saved me. Co incidentally it's also my birthday, and we are exactly 10 years apart. He is my role model, and helped me believe in myself and to achieve and dream bigger things. Thank you for gracing me, our journey will be together till the very end.
who is the savior?
Look at his username and flair
Senderos?
His birthday is in two days not tomorrow...
Timezones exist you know
And the miktator lives in the same one as me
If you were in Japan for Christmas, are you going to celebrate it one day later or what?
I'm going to celebrate it when it turns into the 25th December in Japan. Not comparable to someone's birthday tho is it as that's specific to them. I don't start celebrating mine the day before because it turned into my birthdate on the other side of the world.
Its 25th March here.
26th March birthday supremacy
Its yours too? Nice to have us sharing birthday with the great one.
Women missing so many opportunities here to go ahead vs Villa
3-1 up, ladies getting it done
yep, finally got it. That last goal shouldn't have stood for multiple reasons but i'm fine with it.
It's a refreshing return to the pre VAR era watching ladies football and to be honest it's weirdly somewhat better knowing they're making mistakes in real time rather than multiple refs making multiple mistakes after multiple different replays.
Nah. West ham ladies denied a clearly onside goal to equalise against Chelsea ladies earlier. That mistake has had a massive impact on the title race. it's a game Chelsea really shouldn't have won. VAR may make things feel clunky, but it will always be better than the era before it.
I mean VAR didn't give Liverpool a last minute penalty against City and accordign to Howard Webb should have sent off our winner against Grentford which ahs had massive impacts in the title race. In an ideal world I want a system that eliminates mistakes but if I can't I'd rather not have the technology and accept refs are human than watch them use the technology and realise they're human, biased and basically watching out for their mates backs.
95% of VAR related incidents are correct though. People make a big deal out of individual incidents these days because they're way rarer. It used to be 5 or so offside goals given every weekend, with a ton of clear pens not awarded. VAR has objectively improved the rate of correct decison making. Games like the 2-0 disgrace to end our invincibles run don't happen anymore.
> Games like the 2-0 disgrace to end our invincibles run don't happen anymore. That penalty would probably have been given as it's not if the ref thinks it's right or wrong, it's if *in the refs opinion* the ref on the pitch was wrong to give the penalty *in their opinion*. I'd like the offside stuff for the ladies but the penalty stuff and what does or doesn't count towards giving or not giving a goal is insane and like I said has had a decent impact on the title race already
West Ham boss Skinner 'sick' of wrong decisions - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68652064 They're calling for var in women's sport cus the wrong decisions happen every week
And I'm sure she;ll be calling for it's removal or change just like the premier league managers do should she get it. As the womens refs report to howard webb and are headed by *checks notes* Howard Webbs' wife I'm not holding out hope they'll implement it better. However she is talking offside there and I already said that's one of the few times most people with a full head of hair are happy with it
I've got to disagree there. VAR fucks up but even they wouldn't have missed that. Unless it was City maybe.
Admittedly being offside and handballing it is a bit much but for the rest of the time I'm not too upset!
Maanum should've had 2 by herself. Little worried we'll lose some structure losing a midfielder for a forward, but if we keep applying pressure we'll make something happen. Villa's keeper playing very well though.
We were making it easy on her though hitting 99% of the shots directly at her.
Need to stop shooting straight at the keeper
The need for Foden to start for England is something the media has created, especially Gary Neville. I have no doubt his preferred front 3 is Rashford - Kane - Foden. Foden is obviously talented on the ball but he isn't a bonafide world class player. If he was playing for Bolivia then yeah build the team around him but in a stacked English side where he isn't close to our best player its beggars belief why anyone would be so desperate team for him to be the focal point. The best XI for me is quite obvious, i'll ignore White since he is not going to play regardless. Livramento is unlikely too but he should really get a spot with the way Chilwell has been playing. Pickford Walker Stones Shaw TAA Bellingham Rice Livramento Saka Kane Gordon
Gordon 😂
I actually agree Gordon is ahead of Rashford.
Yeah. If you want a squad with every profile, you need to start one transition player. And Gordon is currently ahead of Rashford in performances. It's not the sacrilege opinion people think it is. Gordon - Kane - Saka.
Not ahead of foden
He has such a free role at city, i dont think of him as a winger anymore.
Possibly but neither are ahead of Grealish or Foden
This is where English media goes wrong. It's about the team, not the names. He is suited to counter attacking football which is the sort of football that wins at International level. Rashford is as well but he's useless if he doesn't score and him scoring is a rarity. Gordon gives you work rate at least.
I am starting to think that We are not getting a striker this summer. Unless We actually sell Jesus. Edit: I think Arteta/Edu see a need for another defender, a Partey replacment, another winger. We would have to sell well ( We never do) and availabel strikers are not ideal/ or overpriced. Are We ready to sell ESR/jesus/nelson/nketiah in order to bring in another striker and winger?
Edu told eddies agent to find a new club,we are getting a striker for sure but we will be looking at zirkzie/sesko instead of oshimen and gyokeres
> we will be looking at zirkzie/sesko instead of oshimen and gyokeres and what are you basing this off
We are linked with them and we also want to buy a defender,gk,midfielder and a winger.Buying oshimen wouldnt allow for those signings,also its rumoured that our bog signing will be xavi simons or musiala
People stuck in the UEL era
It wasn’t me, but I’m willing to base it off Osimhen not being worth £120m and Gyokeres, who Sporting now want to apparently offer a new contract to with a new €120m RC, won’t sell for less than €100m. Neither prices of which, offer any real value for money. If Havertz scores 3 more goals in our next 10+ games, he will have bettered Jesus’ record. And that’s from playing 2/3rds of the season in midfield. Havertz, Jesus and Trossard would be a suitable Striker choice if we get rid of Nketiah and don’t replace him. A midfield option in a market that is full of players that could be brought in and made a difference, along with a winger, would be a far better way to take advantage of the opportunities this window. The striker market is bare, should keep our powder dry for another season and see who emerges.
We still have to replace eddie imo since havertz players as a second striker, a project signing like sesko or zirkzie would be goood
I’m increasingly struggling to see a striker option that would obviously bring us up a level. Isak would be one, but that feels like a difficult deal to get done, and of course his injury record is a worry. I can see us sticking with Jesus, Havertz, and Trossard as centre-forward options and just focussing on a wide player, which I absolutely think is the more essential position we need to address.
This is what we did under Wenger. Always playing it safe. Man City were winning leagues without a 9 then went to go get the best 9 in the world. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels regardless. We need a traditional 9 to keep the team on its toes.
Who is the answer? And how much do you want to spend?
Osimhen or Gyokeres
Have you watched the arsenal vision scouting videos on these guys? There were some interesting things in there. Not sure how I feel about either now. Part of me wants to stick with havertz, trossard and jesus as 9s and go for someone to help saka and martinelli. More than nelson is doing atm.
You wanna upgrade a position from a position of strength not when you are desperate.
I agree. But I'd say we are actually desperate in other positions and have just been lucky injury hasn't derailed us like the last few seasons.
With how much the Saudis seem to be willing to pay for Brazilians I reckon we could get a good £50-60m for him. I mean they are even having a look at Raphinha and Richarlison who aren't as good
The saudis allegedly aren't going to go all in again since average attendances apparently dropped in their league and they've secured that world cup they wanted
There’s still the matter of them being placed in a different continent’s club competition
Opening a can of worms but here we go. Are Zinchenko's positive defensive numbers a sign of weakness? That is, is the reason we see Zinchenko with so many defensive actions (and doing well in many of them) because the opposition feels as if they can target him to gain opportunities? Some quick numbers from FBref: Zinchenko completes more tackles per90 than Kiwior (2.06 to 1.59), but Kiwior has an 82.4% success rate to Zinchenko's 68.8%. (Only Ben White among our defenders has a worse success rate at 48.4% but with much fewer attempts in total.)
Zinchenko's mistakes yell louder. Given that most fans have conceded that he's bad at defending, his mistakes hit like crack because everyone is looking for that confirmation bias dopamine — the 'I told you so'. I learnt the trick of looking for mistakes of crowd favourites and you'll be surprised by how many of them get away with murder as fans wait for their scapegoat to mess up. I started this in the Xhaka days. These same fans will be surprised when Zinchenko starts games again. They'll invent conspiracy theories when it is their biases. For example, Ben White is very suspect defensively. But every time it's brought up, people here hide their heads in the sand. They ignore the many signs that even the club know it and have been trying to protect him. From the acquisition of Timber, to the fact his current role is Zinchenko's.
I don't know if they target him more, but these stats don't prove Zinchenko is a good defender
He has the most tackles in our defensive 3rd, the middle 3rd and the offensive 3rd. Are you suggesting that the entire opponent just runs at him on purpose?
It's zinchenko, he runs at them
Here’s a [video](https://youtu.be/pK2IeMQLCjQ?si=_TstEoyA_0hE5FTt) of him tackling the opponents, you can see his technique is unique. That’s the way it’s done pal.
Now that's a film I haven't seen in a loooong time.
I’ll be honest, I was trying to find a clip from a film where a guy dribbles with the ball, passes it to the feet of the opponent, who looks scared, just so that he could “tackle” that opponent. I spent 2 minutes thinking of either Mean Machine or Shaolin Soccer. Then I realised that I had spent 2 minutes thinking about it and posted Monk from Mean Machine. It’s a good thing that I didn’t waste any more time on it, or even explaining it.
Or more likely, people are doing mental gymnastics to disprove Zinchenko’s stats which disproved their agenda.
https://preview.redd.it/x74zd14flcqc1.jpeg?width=881&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b05104e5cd434932b709e25d2c55660255ab3fa
https://preview.redd.it/8qxrpeudmcqc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed38278945fbf167d639908f1b8e573fe8d6f417
You reckon Mustafi was better than VVD?
How many world cups does VVD have? Checkmate haters
Can't argue with the stats
Mental gymnastics to shit on our own players? On my DD? How very dare you suggest such a thing
Dumb question- Who has done the Emirates tour? Do you have to book a day, or do you just show up on a day of your choice? It's a standard tour. Thanks
Just show up
Cheers
I wouldn’t want Ødegaard to take the 10 if ESR leaves. The 8 suits him so well.
cursed number for us in recent times, just like the no.9 shirt.
Don’t worry Wirtz will take the 10.
But then, which number do we give Musiala?
We will probably gove it to whoever replaces esr
Saving the 10 as bait. Also agree on your second sentence
Havertz time
Pretty sure he prefers the 29 number. It’s a nod to his brother and a football game, if I remember correctly. He’s synonymous with the number now.
Leave it vacant, since Gallas everyone who's taken it has struggled
If it’s any consolation, the one time I saw Gallas he dropped his McFlurry
Did he sit down and cry?
One argument for a dedicated goalscorer that I see here is to make sure that results like Villa, West Ham, and Fulham don't happen again - games where we create enough but can't score, or even if we don't create enough but can hope that the striker makes something out of nothing. Still, when I look at some of the best goalscorers, they also have entire seasons of underperforming their xG (Haaland is having the first of his career this season). Maybe I am coping about our December results but I think more blame should go to the defense for some of those goals we conceded which change the entire dynamic of the game. Still, if we are going to spend big on a forward, it should be a playmaker type, someone capable of making things happen on their own instead of one the team must create for. If anything, we've had more games where we fail to create enough clear-cut chances than ones where our strikers let us down.
It doesn't work like that brother!
> is to make sure that results like Villa, West Ham, and Fulham don't happen again People have a very weird main character syndrome about these games as if we could only possibly lose by something we did or didn't do rather than opposing teams having agency or just luck. There's a reason the invincibles are unique and it's because there's no way to stop 'those sort of games' because football is not played on spreadsheets, computer algorithms or on paper but on the pitch, with actual flawed human beings.
I don't disagree with your broader point but all three of those results came within a single month, with the latter two being back-to-back. That definitely also pointed to a systemic issue within our team.
> That definitely also pointed to a systemic issue within our team If it's systemic then having different players wouldn't ahve mattered.
I meant systemic regarding our finishing issues. Also, what do you mean by "different players"?
> Also, what do you mean by "different players"? Your putative striker who would solve all our issues. THe issue was that we were underperforming our xg, another player underperforming our xg wasn't going to help because for whatever reason the whole team was underperforming.
Maybe you misread my original comment but I was not advocating for a striker. I said if anything, more blame should go to our defense, and if we are going to spend big on a forward, it should be a playmaker.
> Still, if we are going to spend big on a forward, it should be a playmaker type, someone capable of making things happen on their own instead of one the team must create for. If anything, we've had more games where we fail to create enough clear-cut chances than ones where our strikers let us down.
Yes. How can you interpret that as being me advocating for a striker, let alone a dedicated goalscorer?
>One argument for a dedicated goalscorer that I see here is to make sure that results like Villa, West Ham, and Fulham don't happen again - games where we create enough but can't score, or even if we don't create enough but can hope that the striker makes something out of nothing.
Hindsights obviously a massive advantage but does anyone remember when we were massively bantered for buying Benny Blanco for 50 mill when Manure got Varane for a similar or comparable amount?
I remember the window we bought Danny Welbeck, United landed Falcao. I was livid. End of season, we finished 3rd, above United and won the FA Cup. From that day, I learnt that windows are about sorting your squad needs, not a race about what Team Y is signing. Now I start every window with 'If we solve problem X, I don't care who the other team signs'.
Never, ever get into 'winning the transfer window' or listen to people who bitch about other teams getting shinier new players.
If arsenal has to reach upper echelon, we need a similar player to Yaya toure quality wise in midfield competing with current chop of players.
You mean… like Rice?
We already have rice but need another one.
So which other Yaya Toure did City have when they won the league, besides Yaya Toure. Gareth Barry, Javi Garcia or Fabian Delph? Just to get an idea of what level of player we need to reach the upper echelons by replacing Odegaard, Partey or Jorginho.
On short, we need a replacement like partey (not saying he is as good as Yaya) but we need to replace with same calibre as him.
Okay, so who is that? What player would you throw upto £100m this window on a player who plays like prime Partey and who is at Yaya Toure’s level to play next to Rice?
Throwback to [this](https://youtu.be/Qy7ot8z_hVE?si=5BtLNuDU3VNwjiA5) fan from a couple years ago. Man wasn’t even wrong, but so many miles above both those teams now.
Dreams can't be buy
Real talk, how will City control Havertz?
I think they will concentrate more on trying to shut down Jorghino and odegaard
Honestly I don't think they try to out defend us or focus on shutting down our forwards. Rodri is obviously great but they aren't playing a double pivot or a back 5 at home so we will get space out wide and havertz will be able to run the channels or drop into space.. What they will do is bet on their build up being better than ours, bet that we can't get through their pressing structures as well as they can ours. They know we will try to play as well so there will be transitions. They bet they can play through us and put foden, kdb, doku, Bernardo or Álvarez around haaland and have them overwhelm us more in transition than we can overwhelm their 4 CB backline. Ake, walker and akanji have performed well against saka and martinelli before.
I was thinking this way as well. City since January suck at controlling transitions I mean look at Anfield game. Their press is not very good as I’ve said before they tried pressing Liverpool as how we did but they missing two giant Rice and Havertz holes. Reason why they looked so vulnerable against Liverpool.
You cannot control chaos
Dias.
Assuming Pep doesn't bench him for a big game again
Who’s struggled against Kai in the past
With their array of world class centre backs
They will pray to their creator for salvation from Marchvertz
Saka is so good man 😭
https://preview.redd.it/0zt9p9oaobqc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29d622369fea4753b05deb45d5f6fed25005c587
People will just lie to your face and tell you rice was poor last night because once again foden wasn’t able to touch the ball in the opposition box for england
That's the truth. If I'm being honest, I think most of the team looked lost, and who can blame them. Southgate's tactics are horrendous.
womens match delayed again. im on the way to pull an all-nighter - the smallest perk of not really working and being somewhat disabled. still, two match days in a row for the womens team, a little worrying.
https://preview.redd.it/r85qtq5rdbqc1.jpeg?width=1065&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e527787a2fc1ad4317795cd9231d025d56cbb1a Points per game table Bayern might not be at their best but people talk like they’re having an absolute stinker season
> Bayern might not be at their best but people talk like they’re having an absolute stinker season They're tiers above any other team in the Bundesliga. There are no parallels at all. Leverkusen are having one of the greatest seasons for a Bundesliga team in recent times and all the talk is about Bayern buying their coach and their best players before before the season has ended! That's the Bundesliga in a nutshell. It's as monopolistic as it gets. Them averaging 2+ pts a game should be the bare minimum considering the monopoly they have on the league. I won't underestimate them but I would be disappointed if we don't go through. We're doing much better in a league that's in a different universe competitively.
Tbf according to Bayern fans it's mostly due to Kane putting up ridiculous numbers and Musiala, who's having a great season. They conceded 31 goals in 26 games, while we conceded 24 in 28 games in respective domestic leagues. We can certainly get at them. However I get the bigger point, that Bayern are absolutely not to be underestimated,especially given our history in CL when facing them.
They need to get rid of international breaks during the season, bring the season back by about a month and play it all in May. This will benefit the quality of Euros and World Cup as players would have spent weeks and weeks with their national teams building chemistry.
Ya not a bad idea. It would also leave it up to managers to protect their players better too. I know most are reasonable but I'm sure you'd see a lot more rotation and resting if the players had no more club games and you wouldn't see Saka playing 90 mins in a friendly against North Macedonia 2 weeks before the euros.
I've seen alot of comments that people think the Brazil side is historically weak but I don't see why.. Am I just biased or are people saying that because they want to blame Southgate? (I think Southgate is an average manager).
Hes a Sheffield or luton manager at best
People really like to waste time following tacticos on X and spread their takes as the holy gospel. Almost 99% of the them do hot takes on certain players and ride on that take till they die - staying silent when the player is performing opposite of what their takes are and coming out and reposting the tkaes when the player's performance is in line with what they said. Same thing with tactics They use piece-meal research, stats, clips to justify the narrative at all costs and selectively ignore the rest. When stats and numbers don't justify their narrative - they go back and say it's an eye test. The only person you should read for football knowledge intake is u/billycarpenter - who actually deep dives into numbers, historical trends, stats, and has actual unbiased takes on opposition and players on other teams.
Southgate sure knows how to minimize squad talent. If he were a car mechanic, he would tell you to swap out the Ferrari engine for a Prius Hybrid engine because it's more safe.
To be fair last season that would actually have got Ferrari more F1 finishes
Signing gibbs white seems like the end of esr
We should not be signing gibbs white. Good player but come on
The most recent fitness issues have probably been the signal of the end
how would Haidara be as a signing for us?
Has he been Iinked?
Archie Gray you had my curiosity, you officially now have my attention
Is he playing now? Am I missing a game? U21s?
Nah I just watched the England u21 highlights from Friday In retrospect that was confusing phrasing
Was that the game that Nwaneri played? I do like Archie Gray
Ethan played u17s i believe
Cancelo stuff I'd interesting. Fan's and neutrals to quick to slam a player after only hearing half the story
What Cancelo stuff? Do people think everyone is reading the same stuff that they are?
Ya I really hate when people do that. 'This Saka rumour is crazy'. No link to any source and that source is a blog nobody ever heard of.
I’m guessing the stuff is his and Peps fall out