Manchester City 2021/2022 - the Harry Kane Team?

teddykgb

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Pre Season kicked off today with a 2-0 win over Preston. Much like last season, most of the first team squad is scattered around the world and barely likely to join up before the first week of the season. City will again start with essentially no pre season to speak of and face a fairly tough opening slate so may again need to chase down an early leader.

All of the summer speculation has been unusually focused on big name players. Typically City let United chase impossible costly transfers and instead bring in depth but a desire to replace Aguero has left City seemingly focused on Kane and possibly Grealish. Links to Haaland (disappointingly) died down quickly and there really don’t seem to be any other targets. Lots of rumors of outgoings particularly focused on Jesus and Bernardo. Certain media folks are again trying to bring back old FFP accusations and wanting the PL to take action on supposed breaches before PL FFP even existed.

Mostly it seems like City is daring the field to catch up. I have my doubts about Kane’s fit and whether Levy will actually sell him. Grealish I assume is gettable at a high enough fee and I think he’s an excellent player but I was very high on Mahrez when he joined and it took him two years to find a way to marry his trickery with Peps system. There are a number of youth knocking in the door but that is always true at any club and it is doubtful any will get a serious run when City are likely to fall behind early and need to play a bunch of players into fitness.
 

Mighty Joe Young

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Question … how much better would Grealish actually make City? Would he start over Foden or Mahrez?

As you mentioned it took awhile for Mahrez to be completely bedded. As for Kane, if they were going to spend a fortune wouldn’t someone like Chiesa make more sense?

From a Liverpool perspective I haven’t been really frightened of City since Sane left. Grealish is many things but the second coming of Sane he isn’t.
 

teddykgb

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Question … how much better would Grealish actually make City? Would he start over Foden or Mahrez?

As you mentioned it took awhile for Mahrez to be completely bedded. As for Kane, if they were going to spend a fortune wouldn’t someone like Chiesa make more sense?

From a Liverpool perspective I haven’t been really frightened of City since Sane left. Grealish is many things but the second coming of Sane he isn’t.
If you’re into the stats then there are ways to slice the data that have Grealish as a tremendous chance creator in the top tier of the league. Pep could try to play Grealish in CM as he did Silva and leave Foden on the wing or do the inverse. Sterling is far worse on the left than the right and I’d love for he and Mahrez to rotate more at RW while a Grealish/Foden/Sterling trio played matchups on the left. It’s all pretty speculative though. I think in the top end of possible outcomes you add another creative player who can dribble in the mix and City are better at attacking low blocks like Chelsea’s.

I personally miss Sane quite a bit but he was always only a major threat against teams like Liverpool who would try to play. Especially with Liverpool advancing their fullbacks his speed was such a danger but not a tool City could leverage often given how many teams approach a match against City. I think most of the tension of Peps tinkering the last year or two has been trying to find a line between defensive stability and being able to attack in numbers. Citys run last season coincided with Gundogan going on a scoring run a striker would beproud if so maybe the internal takeaway is to get more attacking even if everyone praised Citys newfound defensive solidity last season.

I am excited to see them looking at bigger striker targets. One of the upsides of a Kane ir Haaland would be to have someone to try to get on the end of crosses and high balls in the box. One of the reasons I’m down on the Kane transfer as an idea is that Citys system (and all of the Spain driven total football stuff) has tended to sacrifice the striker role as more of a workhorse and connective tissue type of player than a goal scorer. Strikers in Citys system are often isolated against 2 or commonly 3 CBS as teams adopt more and more wingback approaches to counter Citys onslaught. City typically try to play in the wide spaces with the appropriate Cm drifting wide to play triangles with the winger and fullback on that side and the CDM maintaining a deeper position to switch play and the opposing winger holding wide to try to stretch. All of that tends to work but it leaves the center of the pitch practically vacant so the striker has few players to work with or off of in creating space. An ideal striker for City has an instinct to get on the end of and finish the myriad cut backs City generates and can occupy CBS enough to leave space for the CMs who are the stars of the system. Where City have struggled the past few years, it often has been a back 5 system where teams realize City don’t actually attack centrally all that much and devote more resources to prevent City from generating 2 v 1s wide and essentially shit down the attack at the supply line. Again, this may be where you start to want more Grealish or Foden playing inside to have a player who can dribble defenders centrally and unsettle these packed banks of defenders
 

Tuff Ghost

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Regarding Grealish, I read some speculation that Pep's plan would be to start him as a No 8, in a more Gundogan like role:
Sources close to Guardiola say that Grealish will be deployed regularly as a No 8, rotating with Ilkay Gundogan. This will please Grealish, who prefers playing centrally to out on the left.
- The Athletic

Grealish's touch map as a No 8 and Gundogan's are similar, but Grealish still advanced past the 18-yard box more frequently than Gundogan, so that may be an area of adjustment.
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Grealish is a progress passing, progressive carrying monster who can get the ball into the 18-yard box as well as anyone else, so he'd fit in just fine at City, but some possible adjustment points would be:
  • The fouls: He gets fouled so frequently, which is something that Villa are happy to have happen, but City is much less reliant on set pieces and probably would prefer not to have frequent stops in play. Pep will probably want him to move the ball on quicker rather than take the same volume of fouls.
  • Defending: He has work to do in being part of a coordinated press, but that responsibility may actually be a little less if playing as a No 8 rather than as a winger at City.
  • Techniques/small details: Pep will certainly have lots of little things he'll want to change with Grealish. Examples mentioned in The Athletic article include his propensity to controlling the ball with the outside of his right foot while on the left (Pep coached this out of Sterling, preferring the control to be done with the instep) and the frequency with which he chips/flicks passes over defenders, which slows the ball down. Pep would prefer the ball to get to the receiving player quicker.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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My big question is whether they go for another striker if they can't get Kane. Ings wouldn't be the worst idea to be honest. He is a good technical footballer, knows how to find space in the box, will work his ass off out of possession, won't complain about being a squad player, and isn't going to preclude the team from going for Kane or Haaland next summer.

I'm not here to relitigate the merits but I think there is a non-negligible chance City gets hit with a transfer ban eventually arising from the PL investigation. They seem to have exhausted basically every legal recourse at this point so some kind of conclusion to the saga seems likely this year. This may be playing into their determination to go big this summer in the market.
 

teddykgb

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Grealish deal got done. He debuted in a shoddy Community Shield as a Lw but it was nearly a youth team and he replaced a youngster who was hurt so it’ll be interesting to see where he is deployed as the team comes back.

First few match weeks look very difficult for City. I expect way too many dropped points early. KDB played for Belgium with ankle ligament damage and seems like he won’t be ready and he’s one tackle away from surgery so that’s nice. Foden has some mysterious foot injury he picked up in England training and is already ruled out for the first month. Bernardo, Laporte, and Jesus all apprantly want to leave but have no credible suitors. Much if the 1st team is only returning to training this week and of course the Kane saga looks set to last until the very end of window. I’ll be extremely confident in the league if City can handlethe first month of fixtures but it’ll probably be a mid table opening again with hopes of making up ground in the fall and winter
 

Dummy Hoy

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Grealish deal got done. He debuted in a shoddy Community Shield as a Lw but it was nearly a youth team and he replaced a youngster who was hurt so it’ll be interesting to see where he is deployed as the team comes back.

First few match weeks look very difficult for City. I expect way too many dropped points early. KDB played for Belgium with ankle ligament damage and seems like he won’t be ready and he’s one tackle away from surgery so that’s nice. Foden has some mysterious foot injury he picked up in England training and is already ruled out for the first month. Bernardo, Laporte, and Jesus all apprantly want to leave but have no credible suitors. Much if the 1st team is only returning to training this week and of course the Kane saga looks set to last until the very end of window. I’ll be extremely confident in the league if City can handlethe first month of fixtures but it’ll probably be a mid table opening again with hopes of making up ground in the fall and winter
Where was City last October or so?

you’ll be fine
 

teddykgb

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I don’t know if last October is relevant. City went on a ridiculous run of form over the Xmas period and basically sealed the league but that may be tough to replicate ever again and it’s hard to know how much of it was Citys depth allowing them to outlast everyone else in that grueling and awful schedule. As I said last season, if the standard to win the league is 95+ points then every dropped point matters even early ones. If the older 85-90 points standard is the norm then I would agree that a few early points dropped will be survivable.

Of course City are an incredible squad and should be challenging for the league no matter what, there are no excuses there. But if you wanted to draw up a blueprint of how to set yourself up for difficulty, this is pretty much exactly how you’d do it. City will not be able to survive nearly any injuries in the midfield or forward areas early especially if Bernardo does find a way to leave
 

67YAZ

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Pep says he’ll step away from City when his contract runs out in 2023. He says he’d like to manage national teams in South America & Europe.

obviously, he can adjust his approach…but imagining a national team trying to learn his tactics while he tinkers with formations and lineups incessantly? Oh man.
 

teddykgb

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He may be one of Citys worst ever signings.

That he is also apparently a bad human makes the entire situation so much worse. Assuming the allegations are true one can only hope they have the evidence they need
 

Dummy Hoy

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Can we just blame this on NY instead of the entire USA? Please? My mind hurts just thinking about some idiot American parents telling Pep how to do anything related to the sport SMGDH.
I don't know...we've seen Pep's attention to detail and intensity. If my kid is playing 5-a-side indoor footy and some random ref starts stopping the game to coach, I'm wondering wtf is going on.

The damning thing is that they didn't recognize him circa 2013...
 

Jimy Hendrix

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I don't know...we've seen Pep's attention to detail and intensity. If my kid is playing 5-a-side indoor footy and some random ref starts stopping the game to coach, I'm wondering wtf is going on.

The damning thing is that they didn't recognize him circa 2013...
The context I don’t see there is whether this is more “youth soccer industrial complex” kids soccer or “give them loose rules for running around a bit every weekend” kids soccer.

It’s both more logical for him to not be recognized and funnier generally if it’s the latter, but I could definitely see it happening at either.
 

Zososoxfan

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I don't know...we've seen Pep's attention to detail and intensity. If my kid is playing 5-a-side indoor footy and some random ref starts stopping the game to coach, I'm wondering wtf is going on.

The damning thing is that they didn't recognize him circa 2013...
That's what I was lamenting. If this happens in Mexico or Argentina, it's a lineup of everyone waiting to get a photo/autograph and hanging on his every word.
 

67YAZ

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Honestly, if Pep walked past me on the street with hat pulled down low, the first thing I would think is “damn, that’s an expensive looking T-shirt.” Then I’d notice the stubble beard, the puppy dog eyes, the unearned sense of entitlement and finally realize who it is 10 seconds after he passed me by.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Honestly, if Pep walked past me on the street with hat pulled down low, the first thing I would think is “damn, that’s an expensive looking T-shirt.” Then I’d notice the stubble beard, the puppy dog eyes, the unearned sense of entitlement and finally realize who it is 10 seconds after he passed me by.
Expensive t-shirt, stubble beard, unearned sense of entitlement. New York was really the perfect place to blend in.
 

pedro1918

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Honestly, if Pep walked past me on the street with hat pulled down low, the first thing I would think is “damn, that’s an expensive looking T-shirt.” Then I’d notice the stubble beard, the puppy dog eyes, the unearned sense of entitlement and finally realize who it is 10 seconds after he passed me by.
Seriously, If my favorite club's coach walk by me I wouldn't recognize him now that he doesn't wear glasses!
 

JayMags71

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Honestly, if Pep walked past me on the street with hat pulled down low, the first thing I would think is “damn, that’s an expensive looking T-shirt.”
Expensive t-shirt, stubble beard, unearned sense of entitlement. New York was really the perfect place to blend in.
You guys are each one-up on me. I have no idea what an “expensive” t-shirt looks like.
 

67YAZ

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Seriously, If my favorite club's coach walk by me I wouldn't recognize him now that he doesn't wear glasses!
I assume Klopp would be running down the street hugging people and urging on restaurant patrons to get loud.
 

Kliq

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No where in that section does it say that nobody recognized that it was Pep.
 

67YAZ

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You guys are each one-up on me. I have no idea what an “expensive” t-shirt looks like.
Years back i was at O’Hare at 5am for some god forsaken flight, and I saw this scuzzy looking bum with a big backpack walking towards me down the near empty terminal. I was thinking, “how’d this guy sneak in here?” Then I got closer and realized it was Bono and those tattered, frayed clothes were extremely expensive looking up close.
 

Dummy Hoy

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Yeah, that was my takeaway...Pep basically saying "if Ole doesn't know what he's doing we can't plan for that"

Not that coaching HS hockey is remotely comparable to the upper echilons of professional football, but I used to do a lot of scouting of opponents to try to game plan and sometimes you'd be halfway through a game and just realize their coach just didn't have a system for that phase of the game. I always found that kind of embarrasing for that coach/team...to see that at Man U is, well, something. Woof
 

tmracht

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Yeah, that was my takeaway...Pep basically saying "if Ole doesn't know what he's doing we can't plan for that"

Not that coaching HS hockey is remotely comparable to the upper echilons of professional football, but I used to do a lot of scouting of opponents to try to game plan and sometimes you'd be halfway through a game and just realize their coach just didn't have a system for that phase of the game. I always found that kind of embarrasing for that coach/team...to see that at Man U is, well, something. Woof
Yeah I once had a good local club soccer academy team parent ask me to teach tactics to his son and friends since their coach had no clue. And this was a prominent club team. It's pretty shocking when you realize the opposing coach or your coach has no plan.
 
Is this the correct thread in which to talk about the latest revelations in Der Spiegel ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/61017887

An investigation into potential rule breaking at Manchester City is focused on illegal payments for underage players, inflated sponsorship deals and hidden salary payments made to a former manager, German newspaper Der Spiegel claims.
 

teddykgb

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Probably the best place.

City must have an important match coming up or something as this seems like a rehash again of old allegations. We are mostly again talking about really early takeover stuff that is about a decade old and pre FFP sensationalized in 2022 because reasons I guess. They already brought all this stuff up and for some reason continue to persist with it.

It should be noted that Der Spiegel were extremely dishonest the first time they tried to use these emails by omitting parts of emails to make them look worse.

In any case I think we know Chelsea were nabbed for paying youth it wouldn’t shock me if there’s some truth to portions of this. I doubt Chelsea just had that idea completely out of the blue so if anything were to stick I would imagine it would be something like that.

I’ve already typed too many words on this site on the farce that was FFP implementation in those years with UEFA changing the rules in the middle of the process. I think the obvious truth of that situation is that UEFA screwed City at the last minute in FFP and City scurried to cover relatively small margins that would have put them out of compliance. Of course you’d look to UAE companies in that instance and then you get into related party discussions but that has all been litigated several times over.
 

67YAZ

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It’s very hard to get worked up about City’s FFP issues given everyting that is PSG.
 

bosox4283

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I cannot believe how bad that statue is, and I know bad statues -- I've been to Jamestown, NY, to see the Scary Lucy statue.
 

coremiller

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I would have thought that the Ronaldo statue sculptor wouldn't get any further commissions, but hey, live and learn.
 

teddykgb

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It’s the same style as the Kompany and Silva statues. They look really good lit up and really strange otherwise. I don’t think the sculptor did a great job on David Silva either in terms of likeness but he’s apparently quite famous