Well no, City did not go out and sign the best for the highest prices.
Mina can pass out. He's a defender, not a midfielder sure but we need a defender not a midfielder. We already have CBs whos defending isnt particularly their strength.
From previous reports on Mina, he does pass well. On whoscored, passing is one of his strengths. I am sure that was one of his strengths that caused Barca to buy him in the first place.
And yet almost the only consistent fixture of that defence over those four years has been De Gea and Smalling. Hell, one of those seasons we had a back four of De Gea, Smalling, Blind and a rotating door of youth options in the full back positions.
That games a ridiculously poor example to make your point with. You might want to try and find a video of De Gea's saves from that game, I can promise you his Premier League record equalling tally was not achieved by 'saving pot shots'. In fact, it's probably the best example there is of our defence being overly reliant on De Gea's magnificence.
No, I'm making it sound like he has a disproportionate amount of work to do for a keeper who supposedly has a good defence in front of him. Which should be obvious.
Which again, by your logic - so does Oblak & Ter Stegen. They have even better defenders ahead of them, and still have a disproportionate amount of work to do, surely?
I did, hence why I told you to do so, you've forgotten several excellent saves.
I reckon Mourinho could be looking to play a 3-5-2 formation next season with a new ball playing CB coming in, wing backs as we don't really have solid full backs, 3 in midfield to accommodate Pogba and perhaps Sanchez up front alongside Lukaku, where he's been impressing all pre-season.
I've seen very little of Mina tbf. But, from what I have seen, Mina looks to keep things simple on the ball. He's not the type to make too many expansive passes. Then again, he may have done that for Barca as there were several other technically better players to pass to to take on the play making responsibility.
Except passing stats for a defender can be deceptive. They make hundreds of 5-20 yard passes to the midfield. For example, Chris Smalling has about the same pass completion rate (87% compared to Mina's 90%) over a longer period of games. And nobody in their right mind would suggest Smalling is a world class passer of the ball. https://www.whoscored.com/Players/71345/Show/Chris-Smalling
He is nothing like Lindelof in any way! He is like a mix of Bailly and Smalling from what I saw of him at the World cup. Tall, physical, great header of the ball in both boxes and rash and clumsy at times.
I think him and VNL would make a good partnership tbh.
Whoscored can't be trusted especially the strengths and weaknesses column. I have seen so many obvious things that they have got wrong.
City did sign the best available RB and LBs available last summer. And both helped City absolutely storm the title. Even though Mendy was injured, I dont think anyone is doubting his class. He still had a big impact on City's play when he was available.
It's been rotated across Jones Rojo (last year) and Bailey under Jose. And so what? They've all performed admiralty at the back. Our only obvious negative worse than any other side is playing out from the back.
What examples then?
Why would we play with 3 CBs when we struggle scoring goals and breaking down teams? Honest question.
Most high profile available players sure, but they didnt try to buy from their rivals and other top clubs.
You mean in pre season in particular?
That wasn't your point, your point was that our defence has been good for four years, as if the same players had made up the back four across those years when they demonstrably haven't.
My point is that the defence has been very good in the last 4 years. I never suggested its been the same players. That's you trying to make your argument fit (which it doesn't).
Literally bought Walker from a premier league rival and paid a premium to get him. Most expensive fullback in the world until they signed Mendy.
I think this is what JM wanted to move to this last season when he tried to sign Persic. He wants to control the game and keep a compact team defensively, then counter with speed.
It’s bizarre. Founded on absolutely nothing as well.
3 at the back system relies on really good fullbacks. Valencia and Young would be a car-crash. Well, Young did a good job for England at the World Cup but we don’t have a player like Tripper on the other flank. Valencia can’t cross and can’t get up and down like he used to.
I'd rather see Tuanzebe go on loan and make his bones elsewhere. That will increase his chances of him becoming more than a squad player. Bailly can become a Johnsen like CB if he can remain fit. Its too early to judge Lindelof while the rest are either squad players (Smalling) or not good enough (Jones and Rojo). Thus is of course not good enough which is why Mou wants a top CB. However I doubt we'll achieve that by getting him his 3rd and 4th choice.
A whole post full of ifs, buts & hypotheticals that have yet to materialise. I don't like to try and make sense out of made up scenarios.
As any employee in the world we tend to cover up our superiors mistakes as much as possible. Which might explain why SAF used to constantly changed his tune from 'I want 4 players' to 'I am happy with my squad'. Thus some employees tend to have less tolerance to BS then others and we've seen SAF's successors complaining about our inability to bring in the players they want and being forced to either make due with what they have or bring in their plan C. Moyes for example wanted Fabregas but has to make due with Fellaini. Mou has said this year that he gave a list of 5 players. However he'll be very lucky if he ends up with 1 of them.
Agreed. Young is fine there. I'd like to see Dalot make a name for himself on the right. Whether it's a back four or five . Most of us agree we're unsatisfied with Valencia there from an attacking sense. So that's a low bar for him to hurdle
Really impressed with him at the WC, obviously haven't seen much of him at Barca but he looks to have the tools to become a top player and is a massive threat from corners. If Liverpool were signing him it'd be labelled the bargain of the window.
Spurs arent their rival
Agreed. Some people are jumping to conclusions too quickly. I am not saying that he will be a sure success if he joins, but those who already label him a failure are surely jumping the gun. Most of us have only seen him during the WC. I am sure our scouts and Jose have seen him many, many more times.
Not really. Its a snapshot of what's happening today. We added Fred (1 upgrade). Shitty who ended up with a looping 19 points ahead of us had also added 1 upgrade (Mahrez) which suggest that they kept the distance from us. Liverpool on the other hand had added 4 top players which will further boost their rather young side. So its not silly to think that they end up bridging that wafer thin 6 points gap between us.
