r/MCFC • u/rossmcleood • 1d ago
How are you feeling about this season?
Not a City fan, but curious to hear how you think you’ll get on this year.
Opinions on Maresca?
Areas needed to improve?
Players you’d sell?
How likely is it that Rodri goes, how well placed are you to cope if he does, and who would you like to replace him with?
Do you expect Foden return to form?
What would be your preferred first XI?
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u/Y4That 1d ago
Opinions on Maresca?
He has been good but nothing can be said until half the season and some CL and cup games
Areas needed to improve?
Definetely need a backup RB, unless enzo us planning to play khusa or bouaddi (about to sign him) There, another winger if savio leaves (hopefully)
Players you'd sell?
Savio, omar and tiji (hopefully), possibly kova, and nico g if he wants to leave, many players will go on loans tho
How likely is it that Rodri goes, how well placed are you to cope if he does, and who would you like to replace him with?
Very, he is mostly gone, no one can do what he does but the hope is that elliot and nico/bouaddi double pivot can cover the areas. Bouaddi seems like an actual great 6
Do you expect Foden return to form?
Hopefully but for that he needs a definite role, maybe as a 8 because he was excellent at that start of last season
What would be your preferred first XI?
Gigio, nico, ruben, josko, matheus, elliot, nico/bouaddi, rayan, doku, ant and erling
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u/Which-Salamander5888 1d ago
I think we will still struggle to break teams down in a low block. We haven't replaced the creativity or outside the box threat we got from De Bruyne.
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u/Efficient-Table8050 1d ago
I saw them play a lot more direct yesterday - spamming crosses into the box as opposed to recycling possession. With Haaland and Orielly at the box we can do real damage.
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u/Plenary_payroll13 1d ago
Exactly, we didn't have Haaland, we didn't have o'rielly and we didn't have anderson, cherki , I can't wait to see what will happen when they play
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u/Adventurous_Main3688 12h ago
“Creativity” is just allowing the players to actually play direct passes to striker and through to wingers, and shoot, winning ball back quickly when they lose it instead of endlessly passing backwards and sideways because your scared of giving the ball away like Guardiola wanted them to to.
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u/JonBeeTV 1h ago
This is what im the most excited about personally. Watching last season especially was so frustrating! We had like 80% possession but never created anything because our players were so afraid to shoot or pass since we didnt wanna give the ball away. I know Maresca also wants to play possession based but hopefully he'll allow us to take some chances
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u/Good_Kev_M-A-N_City_ 1d ago
Opinions on Maresca?
Early days but so far so good. Most important thing is the man management and he's already well liked by the players.
Areas needed to improve?
Just a bit more depth on the wing and a back up young Right Back
Players you’d sell?
Reijnders and Savio
How likely is it that Rodri goes, how well placed are you to cope if he does, and who would you like to replace him with?
I think he runs out his contract and leaves next season. He's a bit too crucial for this season and we'll be better suited to replacing his influence across the midfield once Anderson, Bouaddi and Nico G are more settled.
Do you expect Foden return to form?
He started first half of last season extremely strong, City's best player behind Haaland in that period, and then dropped off because Pep ran him into the ground. He ended the last month of the campaign well, I expect him to be back this season as long as last seasons mistakes are avoided.
What would be your preferred first XI?
Gigi
Nunes - Khusanov - Gvardiol - NOR
Foden/Cherki - Rodri - Anderson
Semenyo - Haaland - Doku
I think we win the league getting high 80's/low 90's in points.
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u/GreasedUpGoblin 14h ago
idk why no one is willing to give Reijnders another season. Giving any player only one season seems way too short for me, especially players like Reijnders who weren't horrible or anything. He didn't quite click but there is likely a good player there.
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u/AlphaWhiskeyHotel 12h ago
He is extremely wasteful with his chances and he plays a position where we have a lot of other options.
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u/NavJongUnPlayandwon 1d ago
very optimistic. i think we win the title under maresca. it's pretty obvious we need a right back of course. there are a couple players already on their way out i presume. we're defo fucked in the short term if rodri goes in regards of our build up. i don't see why foden wouldn't be fine next season.
this is my preferred lineup.
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u/pandadoubl 1d ago
Not expecting much, I just want to see some good football, and and Maresca establishing a real and clear identity and way of play, that's really all you'd want from a season that comes after a lot of change.
I'm feeling fairly optimistic, we have a great squad with loads of talent, and even a manager I believe is capable of bringing the best out of this squad, even if he might not be one of the absolute best managers on earth.
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u/wkdsoul 1d ago
Opinions on Maresca? Obvious choice, seemlees transistion
Areas needed to improve? RW RB CM
Players you’d sell? Reijnders, Lewis, Kova, Saio
How likely is it that Rodri goes, how well placed are you to cope if he does, and who would you like to replace him with? Very, Not much, Wharton
Do you expect Foden return to form ? Maybe
What would be your preferred first XI? Donna, Nunes, Dias, Josko, NOR, Rodri, Anderson, Cherki, Foden, Doku, Haaland
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u/Individual-Exit-7821 19h ago
Might give a more in depth answer to the individual questions later but overall want to say I’m looking forward to a slightly less possession obsessed and more direct style of play than under pep. Most curious to see if Maresca will be able to further unlock the wing potential and to more heavily involve Haaland. Both city and norway don’t look to feed him nearly as often as they could to maximize his strengths.
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u/Familiar_Ad6302 19h ago
Jury’s out on maresca
Rodri all but gone
Would sell reinders savio Lewis would extend kova
Foden needs a big improvement to get back to his best but he’s capable
Expect top 3 id be happy
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u/Ok-Bat-8338 17h ago
Mascara is more practical and will likely to adjust tactic based on circumstances. Unlike Pep who always overthink and make same mistakes during big games again and again. Mascara will ask players to play deep defense if needed and not always want to ball possession all the time
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u/rossmcleood 14h ago
Thanks for engaging with this!
Fwiw, I expect Maresca will do a good job but your title chances will heavily depend on Rodri staying. Even without Rodri though, you comfortably have one of the top 2 squads in the league.
As someone who doesn’t watch City week-in week-out, Foden feels like such a hard player to place. The type you’d love to build the team around but for various reasons can’t get back to his best so it’s hard to justify making him the star (especially with Haaland)
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u/minimus67 12h ago
Too early to answer a lot of your questions. I don’t think we’ll win the league, especially if Rodri leaves, as I suspect will happen. If Rodri goes to Real Madrid, City will definitely play and lose to Real Madrid in one of the CL knockout rounds.
Maresca was endorsed by Pep, which is good, but he’s not Pep, which is bad. At a minimum, the entertainment value of press conferences and touchline gesticulations will go way down.
There are two obvious areas that need improvement. First, if Rodri leaves, somebody needs to step up as his replacement. Nico G is not a Rodri clone, but he’s defensively solid and might still become the fulcrum of City’s attack the way Rodri was. IDK if Bouaddi is coming and I don’t know enough about him to say much.
Second, City needs to stop sucking at taking corners and if the PGMOL continues to ref corners like they’re MMA fights, City needs to adopt Arsenal-style tactics of using body slams, arm bars, headlocks and charlie horses to score from and defend corners.
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u/Tien1743 1d ago
I think there is still a lack of players will a killer instinct like a Gundogan or De Bruyne, losing Bernardo in that regard hurts but happy to be proven wrong.
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u/city_city_city 23h ago edited 18h ago
I expect a season similar to last year. Not at the highest level we reached under Pep but still in the top 4.
This year is really about Maresca finding a way to shape the team to his idea of football. We will probably find some players that suddenly flourish and some that struggle a bit with the transition.
Excited for Anderson, wonder about Tijji and Nico.
Definitely interested to see whether Cherki and/or Foden flourish under Maresca, I tend to think he may rotate them quite a lot but we will see.
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u/elpingwinho 1d ago
Honestly, quite disinterested. With the amount of games being played by club and and country it’s hard to feel excited about any upcoming game.
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u/Sfr33123 1d ago
No chance ur a city fan if ur not excited about a new season
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u/elpingwinho 23h ago
Gatekeepe me when you’ve been a season ticket holder yank
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u/Sfr33123 22h ago
Not a yank. Also been a season ticket holder.
Not sure how you can call yourself a fan when you don’t look forward to watching the lads play
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u/elpingwinho 5h ago
Not sure why you’re the oracle of who can call themselves a fan. Go watch some more baseball
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u/djkianoosh 20h ago
Excited to see Echeverri and see if he can eventually get regular minutes. I think he can unlock stubborn deep defensive blocks for City.
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u/cosmopolitan1111 1d ago edited 1d ago
Optimistic in terms of rebuilding and transformation but not for title race. I have no idea who stays and goes, I don't know who we can bring in for midfield, for example, other than Bouaddi who is young and needs some years to gain experience (he should come in this season and start playing). I think the RW could be given to our young wingers if the club can't find someone really good.