The Official Manchester City Thread

[RickG16]

1 minute ago, wilai said:

Pep Lijnders has urged caution over the progress of Billy Koumetio at Liverpool - reiterating that the Reds will take care with how they integrate the teenager into the first-team squad.

Jurgen Klopp's assistant, taking media duties ahead of the Carabao Cup clash against Arsenal on Thursday night, refused to reveal whether or not Koumetio would be featuring at Anfield after he was not present for the U21's defeat to Tranmere in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.

Lijnders explained: "Billy has a clear pathway in this club but it is still a start and someone we really take care of. He is still a very young kid - humble but with big potential.

"He has his own process and we are really happy with how things are going so far so there are still decisions to be made today. We will see [if he is picked against Arsenal]."

Look forward to seeing him snapped up by Grimsby on a free in a couple of years time. 

[Bredbury Blue]

13 minutes ago, singasong said:

are you saying that they paid 60 odd million for Dias and that he wasn't Peps choice ?

He was 4th choice if we believe the press - although City have been linked with him for some time.

 

He was the right profile, price, Benfica need money and we were able to offload Otamendi.

[Bredbury Blue]

10 hours ago, singasong said:

Spot on Bredbury, Citys D of F would oversee transfers after Pep has chosen his man.Why would Pep let a D of F choose players for him ?

Read posts #4427 and 4433 how it works when a club have a Director of football and a team who work on selection and player recruitment.

[singasong]

13 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

He was 4th choice if we believe the press - although City have been linked with him for some time.

 

He was the right profile, price, Benfica need money and we were able to offload Otamendi.

I didn't say he was Peps 1st choice, so are you saying that he was given to Pep by his Dof  who said " Pep this is your new CB'' and that Pep didn't get the final say ?

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by singasong

[Bredbury Blue]

2 minutes ago, singasong said:

I didn't say he was Peps 1st choice, so are you saying that he was goven to Pep by his Dof  who said " Pep this is your new CB'' and that Pep didn't get the final say ?

 

I didn't say that you said he was Pep's 1st choice did I.

 

I just stated what I'd heard and read that Dias was our 4th choice.

[3 minus 2]

13 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Why do clubs have a Director of football to oversee such things as transfers?

So I listed honestly the players and my opinion on them so let's have yours and we can discuss the ones we disagree on.

Your comment on Laporte shows how little you know about City and is embarrassing.

 

Maybe i'm not as well versed in man city affairs as some.. however what I do know is that laporte is a CB and you just spent circa 120 mil on 2 other CBS a left footer and a right footer  so unless your switchin to a bac 3  which may not be a bad option,   one of thems gonna be on the bench and if I were a betting man i'de say it would be ?... 

[wilai]

2 minutes ago, 3 minus 2 said:

Maybe i'm not as well versed in man city affairs as some.. however what I do know is that laporte is a CB and you just spent circa 120 mil on 2 other CBS a left footer and a right footer  so unless your switchin to a bac 3  which may not be a bad option,   one of thems gonna be on the bench and if I were a betting man i'de say it would be ?... 

Ake has played a lot at LB so he could be Citeh's answer to that problem if they can't find anyone to spend 50m on????

[mrbojangles]

4 hours ago, singasong said:

The above might apply to lower level players and youth players etc but certainly not first team players and i think your over complicating things to be honest if you think that there are thousands of players that need to be looked at for a club like CIty to improve a position in the team, Pep would know all the top players in Europe that fit what he is looking for and that certainly doesn't run in the thousands more like 6 at max, i doubt very much scouts had to sift through 1,000s of players to come up with Rodri, Mahrez, Dias, Cancelo, Laporte etc, are you saying that they paid 60 odd million for Dias and that he wasn't Peps choice ?

 

I think you are over simplifying a complex system where the stakes are high. We aren't talking about buying loaves of bread here,  this  process is  about huge investments splashing out 50 million+ quid nowadays on any decent player.  If you don't think there are thousands of players to be looked at, why did Liverpool hack our scouting system and get fined for it? There was a movie about baseball or american football on player stats, think Brad Pitt was in it. Well that is how it's done nowadays. Science and stats, stats and science. 

 

Of course Pep may have some recommendations of who he fancies looking at and ask to see that stats on the guy, he will also be part of the final say of a short list but there are so many complications in transfers nowadays, particularly with agents complicating contract demands, that a head coach doesn't insist on getting who he wants.  He will compromise

 

 

[3 minus 2]

4 hours ago, wilai said:

Ake has played a lot at LB so he could be Citeh's answer to that problem if they can't find anyone to spend 50m on????

Yeah but let's not forget he probably wasn't peps first choise... but it's not a wori cos pep will coach the best out in  him, that is  if he  has enuf time in his over whelmingly demanding schedule. Or

 

 

 

he can join the ever increasingly expensive and growing in popularity graveyard shift..????

 

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by 3 minus 2

[Jack Hna]

56 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

 

I think you are over simplifying a complex system where the stakes are high. We aren't talking about buying loaves of bread here,  this  process is  about huge investments splashing out 50 million+ quid nowadays on any decent player.  If you don't think there are thousands of players to be looked at, why did Liverpool hack our scouting system and get fined for it? There was a movie about baseball or american football on player stats, think Brad Pitt was in it. Well that is how it's done nowadays. Science and stats, stats and science. 

 

Of course Pep may have some recommendations of who he fancies putting forward and he will also be part of the final say of a short list but there are so many complications in transfers nowadays, particularly with agents complicating contract demands, that a head coach doesn't insist on getting who he wants.  He will have to compromise

 

 

Pep should buy you and blue balls you seem to always be defending his position so well.

 

It's a strange situation as if Pep Was in a top job you know one of the really big boys and delivered so little after spending huge amounts he would be out. 

 

The thing is with Pep is he is on a downward slope and has never emulated his previous success. He did well at bayern domestically and has done well at city but he has not been close to the holy grail for a long time and this defence debacle has been going on for ages now and it seems to be the new defence for everything. 

 

The truth is empty or jam packed, home or away. Liverpool are a much better team than man city and that is the way it should be and will be for many years to come. 

 

City should step back and realise no one but a few fans love their club there is no romance about them and the only players who you believed really loved the club have already left.  

 

It's the beginning of the end for city. They failed to do what abramovich did and they failed on a much grander scale. 

 

I'm not even the slightest bit disappointed, never regarded them as a real team with love and passion and the fans are the absolute worst fans I have ever seen. Putting there discontent over the team with that silly uefa spat. Difficult to respect man city and everything about what they do and how they do it. No loss to football, their demise is a win for football.

 

 

[Jack Hna]

6 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Read posts #4427 and 4433 how it works when a club have a Director of football and a team who work on selection and player recruitment.

I am sure it does and Joe Hart never got a sniff of a feeling that he was surplus to requirements. All went through the committee I'm sure...

[Bredbury Blue]

9 hours ago, 3 minus 2 said:

Maybe i'm not as well versed in man city affairs as some.. however what I do know is that laporte is a CB and you just spent circa 120 mil on 2 other CBS a left footer and a right footer  so unless your switchin to a bac 3  which may not be a bad option,   one of thems gonna be on the bench and if I were a betting man i'de say it would be ?... 

Yes I agree you are not well versed in City affairs but comment anyway.

 

The reason for buying two centre backs is:

- We had Laporte as our only LCB and Kompany, Stones, Otamendi and Garcia broke through at the end of the season as our RCB. 

 

- Kompany left so we were one down.

- Weve been trying to move on Otamendi for 2 seasons.

- Garcia the day before the Lyon game said he won't sign an extension beyond this season as he wants to go back to Barca.

- So we needed to buy atleast one RCB, we got Dias. 

 

Right side we now have Dias, Stones (and Garcia will be moved on).

 

We only have one LCB, so we bought a 2nd left footer in Ake who can also play LB or DFM.

Left side we now have Laporte and Ake.

 

Fernandinho can fill in as well.

 

We simply fixed a problem we've had and needed to fix for atleast 2 seasons.

 

Hope that gets you up to speed.

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Does anybody actually read Jack Hna's posts?

[singasong]

8 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

 

I think you are over simplifying a complex system where the stakes are high. We aren't talking about buying loaves of bread here,  this  process is  about huge investments splashing out 50 million+ quid nowadays on any decent player.  If you don't think there are thousands of players to be looked at, why did Liverpool hack our scouting system and get fined for it? There was a movie about baseball or american football on player stats, think Brad Pitt was in it. Well that is how it's done nowadays. Science and stats, stats and science. 

 

Of course Pep may have some recommendations of who he fancies looking at and ask to see that stats on the guy, he will also be part of the final say of a short list but there are so many complications in transfers nowadays, particularly with agents complicating contract demands, that a head coach doesn't insist on getting who he wants.  He will compromise

 

 

All i'm saying is that when it comes down to buying high profile players for the first team, it's Pep job to pick and choose who he wants and he makes the final decision, obviously there is due diligence from other areas at the club but ultimately he has the final say.

As for your comment "Pep doesn't have time to watch thousands of players play and critique" of course he doesn't but the scouts/ analysis teams that are doing that job are generally looking for hidden gems that haven't already been picked up by the big clubs, probably a system more suited to someone like Soton who are more likely to pick up that sort of player and play him in the first team, lets face it generally our first team signings over the last 10 seasons have been been established household names in the football world that hardly need to be scouted in fact i can't remember the last player who played in our team who was bought as a hidden gem !

[RickG16]

Your friends at UEFA have given you a decent draw. This might be the year.... to be honest, I think it is harder than ever to win both the league and CL in the same year....

 

... if I were you I would put everything into the CL and prioritise that. After all, that's the big hole in your trophy cabinet.

[mrbojangles]

56 minutes ago, singasong said:

lets face it generally our first team signings over the last 10 seasons have been been established household names in the football world that hardly need to be scouted in fact i can't remember the last player who played in our team who was bought as a hidden gem !

 

It looks like we'll have to agree to disagree on what we believe to be our recruitment procedure.

[Bredbury Blue]

4 hours ago, RickG16 said:

Your friends at UEFA

You're having a larf!

[3 minus 2]

8 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Does anybody actually read Jack Hna's posts?

Yeah.  He makes some reasonable points... Doesn't just defend his team/coach openendedly.

[Sheryl]

Reported off-topic political posts have been removed.Please stick to football.

[Bredbury Blue]

Extracts from The Athletic article on City's recruitment.

 

Looks pretty much to me that Txiki (Director of Football) is in charge of recruitment. He finds several options for a position and then Pep gets involved - as opposed to Pep says go get me player X.

 

"City realised a while back that they had to be smarter than their rivals. They already had an enormous network of scouts to identify the best young prospects in the world. Yet their recruitment processes changed when the club set up a new department a few years ago, going by the title of “emerging talent.”

 

many supporters might not be aware such a department exists or know a great deal about the former lower-league striker, Gary Worthington, who runs it. Yet it is a huge operation

 

Worthington was recruited from Chelsea in 2010, where he was in charge of academy recruitment 

 

Soriano and his colleagues set up the “emerging talent” department, taking advantage of the fact the City Football Group (CFG) has eight different clubs under its umbrella. Which means that City’s talent-spotters are not just scouting for Guardiola these days but also New York City, Melbourne City and all the rest. This, in turn, means they can develop players within their own network of clubs. It also means they can potentially save millions on players in the future.

 

The organisation believes it has the most sophisticated database of scouting reports in existence. Indeed, there are so many scouts working for CFG, the people at the top cannot even be sure of a precise number. It is a global operation these days.

 

Due diligence is key and City’s scouts are not just entrusted to find players but also to speak to the agents and whoever else may be relevant to learn more about their prospective signings. Begiristain, who is provided with 45-minute video analysis of potential targets, brings in Guardiola when the list is whittled down to four or five names. The director of football also insists on watching each player in a number of live matches because, as he tells colleagues, he wants “the smell”."

 

 

 

 

[RickG16]

2 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Reported off-topic political posts have been removed.Please stick to football.

Hi Sheryl, welcome to the football forum! 

 

Sheryl is the oracle of medical advice... could be helpful with Gareth Bale coming back to the PL.

[Kadilo]

17 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

Hi Sheryl, welcome to the football forum! 

 

Sheryl is the oracle of medical advice... could be helpful with Gareth Bale coming back to the PL.

.......and Harry Maguire's panic  attacks and hallucinating  

Edited October 2, 2020 by Kadilo

[Bredbury Blue]

Listening to a Benfica fan's review of Dias on Rabona tv, apparently Dias plays RCB and LCB for Portugal, is fairly twofooted, which should be useful to City. Looks a real leader (if youve seen the vid of his changing room speech) - We really need a leader or two (someone mouthy like Hart, Delph, Kompany).

[Bredbury Blue]

Was very impressed with Cole Palmer's debut the other night. Very good technical player. Hoping we get to see him again soon  - Arsenal Caraboa cup maybe.

 

 

[singasong]

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Extracts from The Athletic article on City's recruitment.

 

Looks pretty much to me that Txiki (Director of Football) is in charge of recruitment. He finds several options for a position and then Pep gets involved - as opposed to Pep says go get me player X.

 

"City realised a while back that they had to be smarter than their rivals. They already had an enormous network of scouts to identify the best young prospects in the world. Yet their recruitment processes changed when the club set up a new department a few years ago, going by the title of “emerging talent.”

 

many supporters might not be aware such a department exists or know a great deal about the former lower-league striker, Gary Worthington, who runs it. Yet it is a huge operation

 

Worthington was recruited from Chelsea in 2010, where he was in charge of academy recruitment 

 

Soriano and his colleagues set up the “emerging talent” department, taking advantage of the fact the City Football Group (CFG) has eight different clubs under its umbrella. Which means that City’s talent-spotters are not just scouting for Guardiola these days but also New York City, Melbourne City and all the rest. This, in turn, means they can develop players within their own network of clubs. It also means they can potentially save millions on players in the future.

 

The organisation believes it has the most sophisticated database of scouting reports in existence. Indeed, there are so many scouts working for CFG, the people at the top cannot even be sure of a precise number. It is a global operation these days.

 

Due diligence is key and City’s scouts are not just entrusted to find players but also to speak to the agents and whoever else may be relevant to learn more about their prospective signings. Begiristain, who is provided with 45-minute video analysis of potential targets, brings in Guardiola when the list is whittled down to four or five names. The director of football also insists on watching each player in a number of live matches because, as he tells colleagues, he wants “the smell”."

 

 

 

 

Is that the best you can do ? i thought you were going to actually have facts to prove you were right.

[Bredbury Blue]

1 hour ago, singasong said:

Is that the best you can do ? i thought you were going to actually have facts to prove you were right.

There you go again!

 

There has been a discussion on here between 3minus2 and me, which later you and MrBj joined in. I was merely SHARING information from The Athletic article I have access to. 

 

[Jack Hna]

17 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Does anybody actually read Jack Hna's posts?

It's an odd statement but maybe you are not fully aware of the site. Contributors are not the main driver of these forums. Readership I am advised is much higher than contributors. I think what you mean is do any other contributors read what I wrote. I do not write content for you or anyone but to make such a statement is very odd but I do u derstand your point and here is an example. I believe it is yourself.

 

You post links to data for other sites and images of data and seem to promote subscription sites to football. I glance at the content check who the contributor is and move on swiftly as it's really boring content nothing grabs me and you do not sell it well enough for me to take an interest.

 

Your team is not the only thing in your life with a lot of leaks it would appear.

 

I have been enjoying the football forum since June and I'm a keen reader and my memory works pretty well. The football forums regularly appear in the most popular now column on the homepage. Sometimes that's due to someone like you listing a load of lame content.

Othertimes, it's due to popularity amongst the small number of contributors, most of whom I've listed below with a bit of a summary on each character.

 

Wilai - knowledge of future reds

Bangrakbob funny images seems bored

RickG - reminisce and reminisce

3-2 - shocking grammar but a real fan

Keith Simmonds - trainee to Oldgit

Bluesofa - knows the games up for his club.

Bojangle - moderate

Carguy forgot his name - one line warrior

Bradley blue - tiring unimaginative denial

Jellyfish - brief

 

I believe that's the majority of contributors and what a splendid job you are all doing as you regularly make the most popular category and yet there are less than 12 contributors. When you consider this site to be the leading resource in Thailand for expat info for just 10 contributors to be getting these threads in the popular section, takes some doing but also reinforces that readership is perhaps much larger than contributor content. So it appears a bit silly to ask such a question, it's like you are not aware of any other readers or something. Very odd.

 

Grand job gents. Enjoying it for the most part, no offence Intended either just honest opinion always.

 

Have a lovely weekend.

 

 

 

 

[Jack Hna]

Here is Peps response to today's game. I am sure everyone agrees completely with these comments.

 

It’s not proper football because there are no spectators.

 

 

"It was an entertaining game for everyone. I’m incredibly proud of these players who enjoy football and come to this country and play many years at a high level. This is their first pre-season together, we couldn’t do it more because the opponent was so good like all Marcelo Bielsa sides.

"Of course we are far away from the top of the league, we need to start to win games. It’s a marathon, and with Champions League games, all the teams have this situation.

"It was emotional from the touchline the way we played. The last 10-15 minutes, I’m so delighted by the performance they had.

"Society gives credit for the winners. It's like perfume: when you win, you smell so good. When you don’t, you smell so bad.

[Bredbury Blue]

Not sure what to make of our performance. We were good, then we were bad, then... (repeat). Certainly don't look like a championship winning team. Dias had a good debut. Pep has to drop Mendy and play Ake, everything comes down our leftside.

 

Great first 20 mins then Leeds came in to it, then it was like two boxers standing toe-to-toe. Leeds are decent.

 

Cracking game in foul conditions.

[smokie36]

Brilliant game of football that was.

 

A fair result at the end too.