I’d be surprised to see him take a national team job, that would represent a major shift. What wears on his players is his obsessive tendencies, from changing diet, patterns of play, technique, etc. etc. By definition a national team manager really cannot do that. They have a limited time with their team to get them playing the desired tactics, and really cannot do anything else. It would be a very, very interesting move, to be sure, because it would be playing to his relative weakness and represent a significant mental shift on his part.
Might wear less on them though 
A defender who cannot defend, seemingly being focused on because he can fill in (poorly) at FB.
Perfect.
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They’ve got major issues with fitness of their CBs, a bit like we have with out midfielders.
Ake back soon from injury, but has had a fair few of late. Laporte is out till at least October. Not surprising if they take a gamble on a CB, especially when it’s for a cheap fee (for City).
Not watched much of Akanji, but when I have, he’s not all that. Seems to have a few injury issues also.
Akanji is an improvement over Ake.
Isn’t Akanji absolutely shite?
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If only City had a very accomplished academy they could dip into at times like this.
Oh yeah, they do.
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He isn’t, he’s garbage.
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If only they had excellent CB prospects like Luke Mbete, Taylor Harwood-Bellis or Finley Burns.
Just once it would be nice if they could develop some talent in the full back areas like Josh Wilson-Esbrand or Rico Lewis.
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Him and Axel-Zagadou had big reputations before joining Dortmund. Anytime I’ve watched Dortmund play their defending resembled Bournemouth’s.
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Sounds about right with what I’ve observed (from a distance, I definitely don’t watch Dortmund play a lot). I was under the impression that Dortmund are a super talented team that are repeatedly let down by an inability to defend - and Manuel Akanji has been one of the main reasons they can’t do it.
I’m sure he’ll be fine as a 5th choice CB/3rd right back but as we both alluded to, why Guardiola always feels like he needs to spend 20m on his backups while having the best and most expensive youth sides ever assembled is pretty baffling.
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It wouldn’t be a summer if Pep wasn’t bringing in a FB.
Even one that’s being converted.
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Must be fucking grim being a city youth player. No matter how bad an injury situation is, the club would always rather go and spend £20m on a mediocre player than give you a chance.
City must be run by some of the TAN posters
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They’re signing Barkley to cover for Silva’s exit.
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It totally does my freaking head in the way those cheating c*nts get away with their cheating financial shenanigans. What really pisses me off is the way that all the other Premiership clubs and the media just seem to shrug their collective shoulders and accept it as a fact of life. Sickening. Karma is vastly overrated in my experience.
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Haaland doesn’t look like an injury-prone striker who disrupts the tactical aspect of the whole side and can only score in Germany and Austria, does he…
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The scoring, no. The injury proneness, let’s see. He had a wretched fitness record in Germany.
Maybe he just needed one of Pep’s horse placenta cocktails.
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Conceding 5 against Palace and Newcastle might suggest they’re not quite at their best tactically. Of course they’re going to batter Bournemouth and Forest at home.
Haaland will score loads of goals if he can stay fit but I still wouldn’t be at all surprised if their points tally lowered from last season.
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