Enfield Exile wrote:Fella, I wouldn’t say that Barry is similar to Kompany or De Jong. Kompany is not a midfielder. He can produce some very good performances (about 1 in 3 or 4) but his positioning isn’t great and he doesn’t have the technical ability. He should be playing centre-half. De Jong is a good player. He covers the ground well, he’s aggressive and he is tough. He’s not a footballer but he does a job.
IMO we will play with a 3-tier midfield. De Jong will sit on top of the back 4, Barry will play in-front of him and Ireland will support the striker. Barry will be the one who links the play between De Jong and the more advanced players.
Kompany gets in De Jong’s way. The Dutchman looks twice the player when the Belgian isn’t in midfield.
Barry addresses a number of our weaknesses, in particular he gives us greater flexibility. Having Barry will allow us to change tactics and our approach mid-game. We didn’t have the players who could do that last season. His signing could also address our inability to take effective set-pieces. Dunne, Onouha Richards, Kompany and De Jong should be scoring more goals. I would guess that they only got three between them all season (not including Duinne’s OG tally).
I personally don’t think we are in desperate need for one of those type of players. We have Ireland, Robinho, SWP and Elano who can all play that role. Having a small, skillful, tricky-type of player is not something that should be a priority. We also have Weiss and Bellamy who are skillful and tricky. It could be argued that we have more of these types of player than any other club.
What we deseperately need is a striker. Preferebly not Tevez. We need someone who is a presence upfront
I’m sure he does. Hughes is a sharp cookie IMO. Despite what a number of City fans think, I like him. He’s not the best in terms of tactics but to be fair, he inherited an unabalanced squad, he had little to play with last season because of injury, and he did inherit a squad that was probably the worst team in the Prem from March to May 2008. We were on the slide, big time.
Good signing, gives us balance and allows Kompany to drop back to CB. I expect De Jong to stand out much more this season when fully fit and accustomed to the pace of the Premiership. I'd still like us to sign Tevez, but in home matches playing right side of a target man, with Robinho to the left. Probably need a more defensive line up away from home.
Joined: Mar 07 2007 Posts: 7121 Location: Warrington
mutt1 wrote:I was told a few months ago that Alonso would definatly be leaving the club in the summer apparently him and Gerarred had a bust up and havn't spoken since which also put a strain on his relationship with Beneath-us. Was also told at the time that there would be exits in the backroom staff in the close season.
Well the backroom staff thing was a no-brainer. Rafa has just gained control of the academy so many would be ousted, and many of the first team coaches are out of contract, so don't be surprised to see Rafa bringing in a few new faces to the backroom staff, as well as many looking for a fresh challenge.
As for Alonso, never heard that off anybody and you do get some stupendous rumours about. Alonso has always stated he's happy at Liverpool and loves the City, however, a move to Real could be likely if he decides to ask for a move away, after last summer, and Xabi having 5 years at Liverpool, he may want a fresh challenge.
That's one of his possible replacements ruled out, though. Not sure who we could get to replace Alonso, there aren't many better available
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