Transfer rumours

[stupot]

He considered him 2nd best to Haaland because he was 2nd best to Haaland. His last season he scored 11 in 36 games. Haaland got 27 in 31.
He played 2 months up top by himself when Haaland was injured and scored 1. He played more minutes than anyone.
He wanted to go, he went. Certainly wasn't through not being played

[carl_feedthegoat]

He considered him 2nd best to Haaland because he was 2nd best to Haaland. His last season he scored 11 in 36 games. Haaland got 27 in 31.
He played 2 months up top by himself when Haaland was injured and scored 1. He played more minutes than anyone.
He wanted to go, he went. Certainly wasn't through not being played

Let’s stick to facts. Alvarez scored 17 goals and provided 9 assists in his first full season — despite being rotated constantly, often played out of position, and never given a consistent run alongside Haaland. He also scored important goals against Chelsea, Fulham, Sevilla, and in the Champions League group stage.
During Haaland’s injury, he started every game and was asked to fill a more creative role, which clearly didn’t suit his strengths and in any case , just about everyone played shit for a couple of months so to say he wasn’t good enough because he only scored once in that period is missing the full picture.
He also didn’t piss off to Atletico because he wasn’t played enough.” He went because he wasn’t trusted as a key figure , especially in important games, despite proving himself at every level — including the World Cup, where he scored 4 goals and was crucial to Argentina’s title.

PeP could have kept him and used him better than what he did - but he didn't and he openly swayed towards admitting it was a mistake to let him go.

[Scatman]

He considered him 2nd best to Haaland because he was 2nd best to Haaland. His last season he scored 11 in 36 games. Haaland got 27 in 31.
He played 2 months up top by himself when Haaland was injured and scored 1. He played more minutes than anyone.
He wanted to go, he went. Certainly wasn't through not being played

Let’s stick to facts. Alvarez scored 17 goals and provided 9 assists in his first full season — despite being rotated constantly, often played out of position, and never given a consistent run alongside Haaland. He also scored important goals against Chelsea, Fulham, Sevilla, and in the Champions League group stage.
During Haaland’s injury, he started every game and was asked to fill a more creative role, which clearly didn’t suit his strengths and in any case , just about everyone played shit for a couple of months so to say he wasn’t good enough because he only scored once in that period is missing the full picture.
He also didn’t piss off to Atletico because he wasn’t played enough.” He went because he wasn’t trusted as a key figure , especially in important games, despite proving himself at every level — including the World Cup, where he scored 4 goals and was crucial to Argentina’s title.

PeP could have kept him and used him better than what he did - but he didn't and he openly swayed towards admitting it was a mistake to let him go.

I'm sure you used him as an example of someone who was part of the repeated pattern or being bought, barely being played, and then sold.

[carl_feedthegoat]

He considered him 2nd best to Haaland because he was 2nd best to Haaland. His last season he scored 11 in 36 games. Haaland got 27 in 31.
He played 2 months up top by himself when Haaland was injured and scored 1. He played more minutes than anyone.
He wanted to go, he went. Certainly wasn't through not being played

Let’s stick to facts. Alvarez scored 17 goals and provided 9 assists in his first full season — despite being rotated constantly, often played out of position, and never given a consistent run alongside Haaland. He also scored important goals against Chelsea, Fulham, Sevilla, and in the Champions League group stage.
During Haaland’s injury, he started every game and was asked to fill a more creative role, which clearly didn’t suit his strengths and in any case , just about everyone played shit for a couple of months so to say he wasn’t good enough because he only scored once in that period is missing the full picture.
He also didn’t piss off to Atletico because he wasn’t played enough.” He went because he wasn’t trusted as a key figure , especially in important games, despite proving himself at every level — including the World Cup, where he scored 4 goals and was crucial to Argentina’s title.

PeP could have kept him and used him better than what he did - but he didn't and he openly swayed towards admitting it was a mistake to let him go.

I'm sure you used him as an example of someone who was part of the repeated pattern or being bought, barely being played, and then sold.

Taken out of context - he was used , badly , he certainly didn't play enough in the most important games and was second fiddle to Haaland.

[stupot]

He considered him 2nd best to Haaland because he was 2nd best to Haaland. His last season he scored 11 in 36 games. Haaland got 27 in 31.
He played 2 months up top by himself when Haaland was injured and scored 1. He played more minutes than anyone.
He wanted to go, he went. Certainly wasn't through not being played

Let’s stick to facts. Alvarez scored 17 goals and provided 9 assists in his first full season — despite being rotated constantly, often played out of position, and never given a consistent run alongside Haaland. He also scored important goals against Chelsea, Fulham, Sevilla, and in the Champions League group stage.
During Haaland’s injury, he started every game and was asked to fill a more creative role, which clearly didn’t suit his strengths and in any case , just about everyone played shit for a couple of months so to say he wasn’t good enough because he only scored once in that period is missing the full picture.
He also didn’t piss off to Atletico because he wasn’t played enough.” He went because he wasn’t trusted as a key figure , especially in important games, despite proving himself at every level — including the World Cup, where he scored 4 goals and was crucial to Argentina’s title.

PeP could have kept him and used him better than what he did - but he didn't and he openly swayed towards admitting it was a mistake to let him go.

If you're sticking to facts he scored 9 goals with no assists in the Premier League in his first full season. In 31 games. He did a good job for us but clearly not in Haalands league. Compare his international goals to Haalands if you want, I wonder how many he'd have had for Norway

[Nick]

He barely played up front let's not include his midfield and wing appearances to pad out him not scoring enough

How many has he scored in a defensive atletico team? Seem to remember some decisive match winners.

[stupot]

He barely played up front let's not include his midfield and wing appearances to pad out him not scoring enough

How many has he scored in a defensive atletico team? Seem to remember some decisive match winners.

He played up front plenty.
17 in 36 games is your answer compared to Haaland's 22 in 31 in a season he's been slaughtered for.

[stupot]

He barely played up front let's not include his midfield and wing appearances to pad out him not scoring enough

How many has he scored in a defensive atletico team? Seem to remember some decisive match winners.

He played up front plenty.
17 in 36 games is your answer compared to Haaland's 22 in 31 in a season he's been slaughtered for.

Should have read 17 in 37.

[nottsblue]

He barely played up front let's not include his midfield and wing appearances to pad out him not scoring enough

How many has he scored in a defensive atletico team? Seem to remember some decisive match winners.

He played up front plenty.
17 in 36 games is your answer compared to Haaland's 22 in 31 in a season he's been slaughtered for.

Should have read 17 in 37.

Just as an aside

How many goals did the team score in these comparisons and how many games did we win?

Goals are one measure of how a forward is performing. But there are others. Football is obviously a team game and though one player CAN make a difference with goals, or indeed saves at the other end of the spectrum, it's by no means the ONLY one.

Personally, though Haaland scores plenty of goals, I preferred watching us play without him. He was far more one dimensional than Alvarez, or indeed Kun before him. Even the couple of seasons with the false 9 system we played great stuff and still scored plenty

But Haaland is now our forward for the foreseeable future and we need to work out how to get the best of out him as a lot of the opposition have worked out how to diminish his threat, as though he is still scoring plenty, his numbers have fell year on year. This is on Pep and his new coaching set up

[Scatman]

He barely played up front let's not include his midfield and wing appearances to pad out him not scoring enough

How many has he scored in a defensive atletico team? Seem to remember some decisive match winners.

He played up front plenty.
17 in 36 games is your answer compared to Haaland's 22 in 31 in a season he's been slaughtered for.

Should have read 17 in 37.

Just as an aside

How many goals did the team score in these comparisons and how many games did we win?

Goals are one measure of how a forward is performing. But there are others. Football is obviously a team game and though one player CAN make a difference with goals, or indeed saves at the other end of the spectrum, it's by no means the ONLY one.

Personally, though Haaland scores plenty of goals, I preferred watching us play without him. He was far more one dimensional than Alvarez, or indeed Kun before him. Even the couple of seasons with the false 9 system we played great stuff and still scored plenty

But Haaland is now our forward for the foreseeable future and we need to work out how to get the best of out him as a lot of the opposition have worked out how to diminish his threat, as though he is still scoring plenty, his numbers have fell year on year. This is on Pep and his new coaching set up

This is what gets me, the "how to get the best out of him". We haven't been getting the best out of him for over one full season and yet I can't even see any evidence that anybody has tried to get the best out of him. When he first arrived he hit the ground running and scored thousands of goals. He still scores but compared to what we know he can do he isn't scoring enough. And yet, what have we done to try and resolve that? Any other team in the world with Haaland up front would be setting themselves up so that he can score loads of goals. We haven't done that. I hope the players we have bought have been brought in to solve it.

[stupot]

His debut against West Ham KDB assisted with one of his killer balls and the 2 of them linked superbly.
Foden in his Player of the Year season also did.
Last season unfortunately we had wingers that didn't find him. Looking at the new signings made I'd imagine he's going to be assisted a lot more and hopefully Foden will build on the CWC form.

[Mase]

Early candidate for the most boring thread ever on here

[PeterParker]

Have to agree with Stu on Alvarez.
He was a decent player, but we are making him better than he was. He can fuck off, he will never get better than he is now. He will still win things, but he will never be as good as Sergio or Tevez.

[sheblue]

Rumours about Rodrygo circulating again. I would take him and loan out savio.

[CTID Hants]

Rumours about Rodrygo circulating again. I would take him and loan out savio.

Not seen us linked to him, only Arsenal murderers

[PeterParker]

Rumours about Rodrygo circulating again. I would take him and loan out savio.

Not seen us linked to him, only Arsenal murderers

We need him badly, if we are letting arse get him, him and Gyokeres will be a huge danger.
At that price, he is a bargain.

[Hazy2]

We need more and a plan B. Haaland Alvarez was a potentially great combination. I would not be arsed if we sold Doku and Savinio. Neither can lace Mahrez boots. Rodrygo yes he’s at an elite club. Talented. Without more killers I don’t see us getting to the level we have seen. PSG trump all of us. I’d break the bank for Vitiniho. A fit Foden and Rodri are huge. Our squad is massively overloaded with one paced MF players. We need a level of leadership and improvement that I’m not sure we can achieve. The wingers are here to get service to a goal machine, step over after step over and checking back will get short shrift from loads next season. We need to take a look at PSG. They want to batter you.

[Indianablue]

I agree, PSG are a well balanced team playing at a pace. City aren't well balanced, we dont really attack at pace and our attack is one dimensional. Our wide players need to inject pace and beat players on the outside as well as inside but mostly they need to not slow the attack down. Too many check backs allow defenders to organise. We were much better to watch several years ago. Today we are leaden footed. The youngsters we have bought need to be played properly before we indoctrinate them into Pep's possession play. Every player needs to be drilled more in shooting, from any distance , any angle, because we are relatively poor at this as well. . Finally, Alvarez is a great player, playing international football for a great footballung nation and a winner. Tbe posters who thought he was shit for us ( i don't) should think about why. Haaland has gone backwards for us since he hit the 50 goal record. Why? Because we dont play him to his strengths . Next season will be Pep's last.Apart from a proper RB he has the players but can he adapt his style?

[carl_feedthegoat]

I agree, PSG are a well balanced team playing at a pace. City aren't well balanced, we dont really attack at pace and our attack is one dimensional. Our wide players need to inject pace and beat players on the outside as well as inside but mostly they need to not slow the attack down. Too many check backs allow defenders to organise. We were much better to watch several years ago. Today we are leaden footed. The youngsters we have bought need to be played properly before we indoctrinate them into Pep's possession play. Every player needs to be drilled more in shooting, from any distance , any angle, because we are relatively poor at this as well. . Finally, Alvarez is a great player, playing international football for a great footballung nation and a winner. Tbe posters who thought he was shit for us ( i don't) should think about why. Haaland has gone backwards for us since he hit the 50 goal record. Why? Because we dont play him to his strengths . Next season will be Pep's last.Apart from a proper RB he has the players but can he adapt his style?

Spot on IB !. City are way too slow and predictable these days and have been for longer than I care to remember — and here are some lovely stats to back it up:
We average 5.1 passes per move and progress the ball at 1.4m/s — slowest team in the league. PSG move quicker AND still control games. It’s not just “Pep style” — it’s a choice to crawl forward.
We’ve had 650+ ten-pass sequences this season... but what do we do with them? Most of the time, fuckall and bore the fans in the process.
High press? We lead the Premier league in high turnovers (300+)... but only turn 13% of them into shots !!. Compare that to Bournemouth who do better with half the talent.
Long shots? We’ve scored just 8 goals from outside the box across all competitions.The dippers have 33 !!. Is it any wonder why most teams camp in the box when we attack ?? — we’re just not a threat from range....fact.

As IB stated above , Haaland’s goals have dropped every year:

22/23: 50 goals
23/24: 42 goals
24/25: 34 goals
Thats not because hes suddenly going downhill— we’ve just stopped playing to his strengths and its somthing the manager has not or cannot rectify.

As for Alvarez, at Atleticio he is smashing it — 9 goals, 9 assists in 28 games. Turns out he wasn’t “shit” after all … he was just misused.
We’re 14th for crosses into the box, 17th for progressive carries down the right hand side. That’s on PePs system, not the players.

At the end of the day we have the tools, but Pep’s current setup ( not so current actually , more the norm ) is draining any urgency out of the team. If next season’s his last, he has to adapt — or this stale,boring, sideways shit will be what defines his final year.

[Scatman]

+1