Do City's attacking players tend to underperform for their respective nations compared with their contributions for their club, and if so, why?
Bernardo, Foden and Grealish are the only ones I'll watch regularly, and all three don't seem to have close to the same impacts for Portugal and England that they've had for City (Grealish's average season notwithstanding).
Looking at his figures (I can't speak to performances), De Bruyne doesn't seem to have pulled up any trees for Belgium since the 2019/20 Euro qualifiers, and Alvarez hasn't scored for Argentina in 12 games since the World Cup.
Barring a couple of very hot streaks, Aguero was rarely as prolific for Argentina as he was for City, and aside from his run during Euro 2020 qualifying, neither was Sterling.
One outlier might be Mahrez, who consistently delivered for Algeria throughout his spell at City. And then there's Haaland, of course.
Is this all coincidence/recency bias, a case of Pep's City being greater than the sum of its parts, Pep coaching the flair/individuality out of players, players being played out of position by international coaches, the number of club games City players tend to play before tournaments, or a bit of all of the above?
City players playing for their nations
posted on 20/6/24
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 1 hour, 21 minutes ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 2 hours, 14 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky’ Gibson (U5901)
posted 3 seconds ago
Foden will never flourish playing on the left wing which is why Pep gives him a roving position on the right.
City's defenders have played well so far, Akanji, Gvardiol and Dias have shone
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Yeah, the defenders don’t seem to have the same issues. The same could be said of the likes of Rodri and Gundogan.
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Gundogan’s always been rubbish for Germany. And Rodri isn’t anywhere near the same level for Spain as he is for City.
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I’ve always liked him for Germany.
Definitely hasn’t had the international career he should have had because he’s been just insanely unlucky with tournaments (is it two or three he’s missed with injury?), and is definitely not a traditional German midfielder; but for me he offers something they’ve often missed when he hasn’t been around in terms of keeping the ball, keeping it moving and progressing it.
There’s no doubt he’d have 100 caps for Germany if it weren’t for the injuries, during an era (eras now, I suppose) in which they’ve had ridiculous options in the middle.
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I doubt it. He’s never been fancied for Germany as that kind of option in central midfield because players like Kroos, Kimmich and Schweinsteiger were better.
His more recent form in and around the box has seen him offer more to Germany in the wake of Muller’s decline. But that didn’t even come at club level until recently, which shows for Germany where 11 of his 19 goals have come in the last three and a half years.
posted on 20/6/24
Bernardo’s hasn’t been that good all season tbf. He was incredible at times in the past but every time I’ve seen him the past season he’s really disappointed. Maybe he’s finally had enough of Manchester and wants the move away.
posted on 20/6/24
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
I thought KDB and Bernardo both played well in their games, Foden did too in the first half.
Ultimately they won’t be as good as they are at City as they don’t have the same time to work on the patterns. Foden in the first half was a good example of that, there were at least three occasions where he’d broken the lines and had he got the ball been in a great position but didn’t get the pass.
I don’t think it’s a Pep thing though. Spain won in 2010 when he was managing Barca, Germany won in 2014 when he was managing Bayern and we had our best chance of winning in a long time in 2018 when he was managing City.
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I thought Bernardo was poor, melts. Got on the ball plenty, but made a lot of really poor decisions and his final ball was terrible.
He hasn’t been up to it for the seleção for a good while in terms of both performances and output, which is a great shame, because for me he’s a magnificent player.
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I thought he did a few good things, I find Portugal an odd team in general though!
Bernardo hasn’t looked as good this year for us either, although that level is still ridiculously high. Think him and Rodri have both played way too much football.
posted on 20/6/24
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky’ Gibson (U5901)
posted 23 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 6 minutes ago
Pep didn’t hate flair nearly as much then as now.
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Maybe that's why he bought Jeremy Doku
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Just wait until Pepatine gets hold of him and turns him to the dark side.
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Pepatine
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I was so please with that one.
posted on 20/6/24
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 4 minutes ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by meltonblue (U10617)
posted 1 hour, 6 minutes ago
I thought KDB and Bernardo both played well in their games, Foden did too in the first half.
Ultimately they won’t be as good as they are at City as they don’t have the same time to work on the patterns. Foden in the first half was a good example of that, there were at least three occasions where he’d broken the lines and had he got the ball been in a great position but didn’t get the pass.
I don’t think it’s a Pep thing though. Spain won in 2010 when he was managing Barca, Germany won in 2014 when he was managing Bayern and we had our best chance of winning in a long time in 2018 when he was managing City.
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I thought Bernardo was poor, melts. Got on the ball plenty, but made a lot of really poor decisions and his final ball was terrible.
He hasn’t been up to it for the seleção for a good while in terms of both performances and output, which is a great shame, because for me he’s a magnificent player.
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I thought he did a few good things, I find Portugal an odd team in general though!
Bernardo hasn’t looked as good this year for us either, although that level is still ridiculously high. Think him and Rodri have both played way too much football.
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Yeah; I think that has probably hit quite a few City players. Foden too, and I imagine Walker (particularly given his age).
posted on 20/6/24
Are many players as good for their country as their club? It seems that international football will also favour defenders when it comes to transferring club form to international games, likely as it’s just easier and faster to get defensively organised than it is to get a team fluid and slick in attack (when training time as a group is limited).
posted on 21/6/24
comment by Alan Gilzean (U1734)
posted 1 day, 6 hours ago
I think you are forgetting that things like world cups are every 4 years and City are only around 12 years old. So realistically there have only been the 2014, 2018 and 2022 world cups to go on to judge City players. It's not enough data.
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I have had a look and there are no records of any City players ever playing for England. Hard likes on the likes of James, Lee, Bell etc who clearly missed out.
posted on 16/7/24
comment by Boris 'Inky’ Gibson (U5901)
posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago
Foden will never flourish playing on the left wing which is why Pep gives him a roving position on the right.
City's defenders have played well so far, Akanji, Gvardiol and Dias have shone
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Rodri clearly the player of the tournament. In 45 minutes made more of an impact on the game than Rice and Mainoo combined all game.
posted on 16/7/24
UEFA's Euro 2024 Team of the Tournament: Mike Maignan (France); Kyle Walker (England), Manuel Akanji (Switzerland), William Saliba (France), Marc Cucurella (Spain); Daniel Olmo (Spain), Rodri (Spain), Fabian Ruiz (Spain); Lamine Yamal (Spain), Jamal Musiala (Germany), Nico Williams (Spain)
That should disappoint the Anti Walker brigade
posted on 16/7/24
comment by bomdia (U13941)
posted 4 hours, 12 minutes ago
comment by Boris 'Inky’ Gibson (U5901)
posted 3 weeks, 5 days ago
Foden will never flourish playing on the left wing which is why Pep gives him a roving position on the right.
City's defenders have played well so far, Akanji, Gvardiol and Dias have shone
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Rodri clearly the player of the tournament. In 45 minutes made more of an impact on the game than Rice and Mainoo combined all game.
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Yet it was wen Rodry was reeplace that Spane deestroy England