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I know he’s covered right back this season but I’ve always seen him as a right winger. I’d have him here in a heartbeat - we need a completely new right side regardless.

Brighton and Leeds have squads full of players that fit the manager’s system/philosophy. Everton and Arsenal have had to do a lot of clearing of expensive deadwood which has hindered recruitment up to now. I’d say Brighton and Leeds have far more settled squads than us or Arsenal - would most of our players or Arsenal’s players get into a Leeds or Brighton 1st team? Probably... but it’s so much more than just having ‘better’ players - balance/options/fit for purpose back-up - hopefully recruitment will be as good as it was last summer and we keep on improving. @Bailey what are your expections? As it seems you either have a very high opinion of some of our players that have been so poor for the past however many seasons or you have a very low opinion of Ancelotti, someone who most accept isn’t necessarily getting us playing beautiful football but is helping us to compete at the right end of the league - most would have been feeling optimistic sitting 5 points off 4th with a game in hand with 10 games left to play at the start of the season.

I think Besic turned down permanent moves to Middlesbrough and Sheff Utd.

Regardless of any ‘impeding’, having just watched it back, the ref had the whistle to his lips for a foul by Godfrey and plays the advantage. Watch it back - it’s clear. The ref probably should have stopped play for a head injury to the Man City player (Cancelo I think) - maybe that’s what the players were complaining about.

I don’t think he’s poor at all but I think his decision making/link-up (unless in the 6 yard box) needs a lot of work. His hold-up is excellent but he often makes poor decisions when he’s got hold of it. Aerially, he’s excellent too. I do think he will improve in other areas of his game - the improvement in the past 12months has been incredible really. I do think he needs more competition for his spot but the thought of having him in a fully fit and strengthened squad next season excites me.

Had his foot been unnaturally high, then you’d be spot on but it wasn’t a high foot so the fact that Mina flinches is completely irrelevant.

Play to the whistle - it wasn’t a high foot.

It wasn’t a high foot though - he got the decision correct.

I don’t know a lot about this lad but he must have been doing something right to meret such a big price tag at such a young age when Ancelotti signed him for Napoli.

I think we’ll need to look abroad if we’re going to replace Pickford - Ramsdale is a big no from me. Martinez was an obvious one that stood out last summer domestically but I don’t see many realistic options that would be an upgrade. I like the look of Meisler at Leeds but he’s very young and ‘unproven’ and Areola has looked excellent at times at Fulham (owned by PSG) - I like how commanding he is. I do wonder if we’ll stick with Pickford and maybe pick Romero up on a free (maybe 2 yr option) as better competition than Olssen. I’m not a Pickford fan but must say I’ve been reassured lately - hopefully it’s been in his head and the support put in place is beginning to pay off.

Well Bolasie and Walcott are out of contract so doubt they’ll be getting extensions. Tosun is back at Besiktas - a club where he is adored - a permanent deal will be done unless he gets injured again. Delph? I’m sure we’ll try to offload him.

Exactly. This is the summer to strengthen - even more so than last summer. Our wage bill will be slashed significantly- Walcott, Bolasie, Besic is probably £200k a week then deals for Tosun, Kean (although I’d be happy for him to stay and play) and Kenny are likely with them doing well where they are currently - add to that Bernard who I’d imagine is going and maybe a couple others (Delph at the top of most lists)... 2 or 3 signings has been mentioned but I think that is 2 or 3 ‘big’ signings - I actually think there’ll be another few squad players too now we’ve cleared out some more of the deadwood. I just hope we can secure European football to justify the larger squad and attract even more beyond the obvious lure of playing under Ancelotti.

Steffen Ake Laporte Garcia Mendy Zinchenko Fernandinho Torres Sterling Aguero Jesus There’s a starting XI from City’s bench tonight... I think they can afford to rotate a little with quality like that!

Man City next Saturday in the cup will probably kill off any hope we had of Europe but it’s so frustrating losing at home to many of the teams we have recently as even winning half of them would have put us in such a strong position.

I don’t want to give him a long contract - 2years is longer than 1year - it’ll still be a relatively short deal. Ideally, we get a young player as his replacement - maybe even develop from within but we don’t need to get rid to do that. As I said, he’s done well under Ancelotti, if a big offer came in - take it - if not, actively replacing him in the next window should not be a priority.

I’d love Lookman as an option now. He’s looked great at Fulham - I do wonder if we installed a buy-back or even a sell-on in the Leipzig deal as he’s beginning to find a bit of consistency and probably more importantly- confidence. I’d happily have him back here but if not hope we have a sell-on as think he’ll go for a decent fee in the summer.

He’s a decent squad player - unless someone is going to come along and offer us £20m (which they won’t), I think it’s a good move to keep him - hopefully on a lower wage spread over a longer contract - and spend the money elsewhere. The squad is wafer thin as it is and Gylfi has proved to be a decent back-up option under Ancelotti.

It may not be a dig at Ancelotti, it may simply be him defending/excusing his poor performances of late by saying ‘I’d play better in whatever position’. It’s not a very clever thing to do regardless. Look at Godfrey and Holgate - similar aged lads who have also been generally used ‘out of position’ - yes, it may be easier for them in a generally defensively solid team but they’ve just knuckled down and got on with it and have done well in most games.

What’s playing well? Brighton are lovely on the eye but are in a relegation battle. We probably played our most effective football with 4 centre backs as a back 4 during December, where we picked up some key points but it wasn’t always pretty. Ancelotti knows how to win games - end of! When we had our ‘strongest’ eleven at the beginning of the season, we played differently; we looked exciting and scored for fun but, obviously, injuries take their toll and we don’t have the squad (Ancelotti’s not had enough time to right the wrongs of previous misspending). An obvious example of how exposed/light our squad is, is that Coleman needs the midfield cover of Doucoure and Allan to look effective as a right back in this team. Sign a natural right back who can defend and provide and we’re a better team instantly. Sign a more suited cm than Gomes and Sigurdsson (I actually think Davies has been a revelation) and the loss of Doucoure or Allan isn’t such a disaster. I actually think most are showing a very good understanding of our current situation - this is by no means Ancelotti’s squad but he isn’t half making the best out of a mismatched bunch of square pegs for round holes. It’s not always pretty but it’s generally effective.

Natural full-backs playing with natural wide men is a massive help.

In my opinion - without Doucoure alongside Allan, we’ll struggle to dominate most midfield battles let alone one of the strongest midfields in the league (probably Europe too). Without James we haven’t got much match-winning creativity. They’re the 2 obvious ones but I think Holgate being right back is a big negative attacking wise but I think Coleman can only play there with the protection of Doucoure and Allan controlling the midfield so partly Coleman’s absence - then I’d rather have Godfrey in ahead of Holgate at rb but obviously Mina’s out. Don’t get me wrong, Holgate has done well but right back is 100% the most important position to sort out this summer - we’ve not had that balance for most of the season and credit to Ancelotti for covering it tactically but I see it as a huge weakness and part of the reason why we struggle to dominate games. Out of interest, how many minutes have Doucoure, Allan and James all played together? And Digne? Richarlison and Dom (and Gylfi to be fair) may get the goals but these 3/4 are the ones who help us dominate possession and create opportunities.

I agree but we’ve won some big games in that time. The next 3 league games are very winnable on paper - we’ll be right in the mix for the top 4 if we can win them.

Exactly how I feel - I’m just glad it was 2 and didn’t get to 4+ which it easily could have.

We couldn’t with what we have/had available.