Manager Watch: Ange Postecoglou

mil1lion · Feb 3, 2024

mill said:
Yeah I think ideally we still need two top class attackers and him or Solomon as backup lw

We don't need 2. We have far too many attacking players as it is. Richarlison and Son are quality established players. We just need 1 more unless Werner comes good enough. Then the rest would be young players developing. We need to show some patience rather than keep signing more players. Kulusevski, Gil and Johnson are all young while Soloman sort of fits between the experienced and young players.

For me I would sign 1 established attacker with end product to start with Son and Richarlison unless Werner shows he can. Then you have young developing players like Kulusevski (who can also cover Maddison), Johnson, Veliz and one of Soloman or Gil competing while growing.

mattstev2000 · Feb 3, 2024

I think the squad at the moment is pretty solid, I think the performances over the past couple of weeks have been a bit naive from a management pov.

mattstev2000 · Feb 3, 2024

I think if we end up top 5/6 then that coupled with going out of the cups really early will be a bit of an under performance with the squad we have. Hopefully we pick things up a bit in the league.

wspur · Feb 3, 2024

Knives out and getting sharpened I see - at the first opportunity

Misfit · Feb 3, 2024

wspur said:
Knives out and getting sharpened I see - at the first opportunity

Was half tempted to go into this thread and Vic's and simply post "Fraud" to see how many would nibble.

It was a real shame to lose points at the end there but I'll never sniff at a point at Goodison.

chas vs dave · Feb 3, 2024

0-Tibsy-0 said:
The amount of chances we concede is a really big concern.

Did we concede a lot of chances from open play today? It was all from set pieces.

Archibald&Crooks · Feb 3, 2024

wspur said:
Knives out and getting sharpened I see - at the first opportunity

You aren't going to get objectivity and balance straight after games. And from some people never at all

mil1lion · Feb 3, 2024

mattstev2000 said:
I think if we end up top 5/6 then that coupled with going out of the cups really early will be a bit of an under performance with the squad we have. Hopefully we pick things up a bit in the league.

If we get into Champions League or even Europa then we'll have had a great first season under Ange. Losing our best player and then the unprecedented number of injuries while changing the football philosophy. That's an incredible achievement in all honesty. How did City do first season under Pep or Liverpool under Klopp? Perspective is needed.

dagraham · Feb 3, 2024

Ghost Hardware said:
I think we should only make an assessment at the end of the season. My only issue is that he’s similar to Johnson and I’m not sure if we need two players with such a similar skill set. That being said he is still adapting to the system and I still think he’s being under utilised. We won’t know until the end of the season if he is with taking imo.

Indeed, and the fact he would only cost £15m is irrelevant as far as I’m concerned.

fishhhandaricecake · Feb 3, 2024

dagraham said:
Jury is still out for me whether we should sign Werner on a permanent.

True but for that price as a squad option I think it’s a no brainer personally

dagraham · Feb 3, 2024

fishhhandaricecake said:
True but for that price as a squad option I think it’s a no brainer personally

Very much depends on whether we intend to let other attacking options leave and/or we are going to still go out spend big on a quality forward?

If Werner doesn’t show that he can regain his form from a few years ago and he’s our only attacking signing then even for £15m I wouldn’t want him.

We have a lot of attacking players on our books, but at the moment it feels a bit quantity over quality for me.

rossdapep · Feb 3, 2024

fishhhandaricecake said:
Wonder at what point he will realise this.

He’s giving Dragusin minutes in return for his loyalty for choosing us over Bayern and on paper the move makes sense but it’s not worked either time and as a few others have said better to not bring him on and then start him in some of the up coming matches for a full 90 mins in place of Romero etc.

You have to remember that without Son and Maddison( not being 100% yet) taking Romero off would leave you with no captains on the field.

Its sod's law that Dragusin was needed earlier and as soon as sign him Romero returns but Son is off away.

I think had we had Son, Maddison and others available, he would have been fine to give Dragusin a start.

mattstev2000 · Feb 3, 2024

mil1lion said:
If we get into Champions League or even Europa then we'll have had a great first season under Ange. Losing our best player and then the unprecedented number of injuries while changing the football philosophy. That's an incredible achievement in all honesty. How did City do first season under Pep or Liverpool under Klopp? Perspective is needed.

As I say, I think 5/6th will be a disappointment considering the cup performances. Kane may have left but we have a better all round squad than we've had in a long time. The investment and recruitment has been very good over the past couple of years.

TOLBINY · Feb 3, 2024

wspur said:
Knives out and getting sharpened I see - at the first opportunity

I can only speak for myself I am fully behind Ange - but what I am not behind ATM is the narrative that we are a great team - because I don't believe were are yet. You will see some great passing out to beat the press, you will see some great box to box moves that lead to chances / goals, but I have not really seen us dominate many teams for extended periods, or where we have like West Ham and Villa at home - it has only been for one half and we have not made the most of that dominance.

Today we owned the first 4 minutes and it looked a bit like having scored the early goal the players thought they could pick Everton off anytime they wanted - then Everton fans got riled up for a foul that wasn't given and their fervour energised their team and we looked all at sea for much of the first half -despite going in 2-1 ahead.

The system leaves us vulnerable at the back, and if in addition we cannot defend set pieces then our goal will be regularly under threat and the more under threat it is the more likely we are to concede. 35 goals against in 23 games is the same as last season when we had Loris, Emerson, Doherty, Sanchez, Tanganga, Dier, Lenglet, Davies and Sessegnon to go with Romero. We won't be winning titles conceding an average of 1.5 goals per game. We have to find a way to improve defensively - and that is not just on the actual defenders, it is as a team.

ajspurs · Feb 3, 2024

I guess all in all when you look at the forwards/midfield we finished with, it was:

Sarr Skipp

Kulusevsku Richarlison Gil

It does look quite weak when you actually see it on paper, and it highlights the need for players to return/be added. On another day when everyone is fit, at that stage of the match, assuming the 'starters' have mostly been subbed, it could look more like:

Bentancur Hojbjerg
Lo Celso

Johnson Richarlison Werner

Not that all those changes would or should be made, but it does show the importance of getting players back, keeping them fit and being able to finish games with a strong side too.

dagraham said:
We have a lot of attacking players on our books, but at the moment it feels a bit quantity over quality for me.

Definitely agree with this. That was my only reservation over signing someone like Nusa, as I think we need a higher level of quality than we already have currently in the wide areas and to be ready to display that from the get go. Similar to why I had reservations over someone like Jota too. These signings would be ideal if we didn't already have Solomon, Johnson, Kulusevski and Gil, who all have problems for different reasons in staking a claim for a spot in the starting 11.

I always want to use Liverpool (I know I know) as a good example for the quality you should strive for in the front 3 positions. All their forward men are fully capable of scoring and are hungry for goals. I would never feel greatly comfortable betting on Kulusevski, Johnson, Werner, Solomon or Gil to bag a goal for us. Only Son and Richarlison. I know our setups are a bit different, but I still think that upper level of quality in the wider areas and someone who has an eye for goal with the quality to match will make a massive difference to us.

rossdapep · Feb 3, 2024

ginola99 said:
Still work in progress.

The problem some fans have is they act like everything is has been turned around, it hasn't been. Still conceding late like we did at Wolves and today. Killing off teams isn't there yet, should have been miles away from Brentford by min 70 yet we let them back in the game and have a nervy end. Also, we still evidently lack strength in depth to cover for the AFCON/Asia Cup absentees.

The talk of the title was, with all due respect, very silly. We finished 8th last season, our worst for 14 years and need to take one step at time. We get CL football, great but if we don't, we still need to stick to the project and challenge better for trophies next season.

We need to stay in the present always. At the moment that is focusing on the little wins, for example, we're playing the way we want to.

You have summed it up.

Those first 10 games fooled people. Not in the sense we got more than we deserved, but more in the sense that we hadnt really come up against problems.

We were relying on the same 11 and not needed rotation so much.

This is where we have been tripped up. Not having depth.

Also, teams have started to roughhouse us, knowing we react or struggle to deal with some situations.

When Klopp went in at Liverpool, people were saying he would challenge for the title.

Yet even in his second season they were getting suckerpunched and showing brittle signs.

Anyone who thought we were going to challenge this season and is now complaining because we are coming up short, well I am sorry but you can't blame unrealistic expectations on Ange and the team

Japhet · Feb 3, 2024

I know it's not how Ange wants to play, but I wish we'd have put someone right on Pickford and just shoved him into the net when we got a corner. It would have put Oliver on the spot.

Stamford · Feb 3, 2024

We just dont manage games well enough. Even the other night against Brentford you've got Kulusevski trying to go on a mazy run when he could take the ball into the corner. We do it to ourselves. Thrown away 5/6 points this year with this.

mil1lion · Feb 3, 2024

mattstev2000 said:
As I say, I think 5/6th will be a disappointment considering the cup performances. Kane may have left but we have a better all round squad than we've had in a long time. The investment and recruitment has been very good over the past couple of years.

We went out to City in the FA Cup. The Carabao was poor for sure but it doesn't make or break our season. We haven't won a title in 15 years. We're no more ready to win a domestic trophy in his first season than we are to challenge for the title. I don't see how a cup exit has any bearing on our league position and progress. The squad is strong but we're still in transition.

I think we need to lower expectations here honestly. I know we're impatient due to the last 5 years lately wasted but we're early stages in this new era. It's a process that will take time. I don't see how anyone could be disappointed as long as we finish higher than last season. The quality of football is night and day from the last few years and the squad is so young still.

Misfit · Feb 3, 2024

mattstev2000 said:
As I say, I think 5/6th will be a disappointment considering the cup performances. Kane may have left but we have a better all round squad than we've had in a long time. The investment and recruitment has been very good over the past couple of years.

I said top 6 should be the goal before the season started. An optimistic view at the time on here. I still think that would be a very good first season, especially if you told me we'd play nearly a third of the season with a bare bones squad and several games without a CB of any sort but yeah, it would feel like a disappointment at this stage.

We've given ourselves a real chance at more than that. Just hope we can achieve it.

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