THE 93:20 MAILBOX - PRE- 2008 PLAYERS.

In the final mailbox of the week, the question was this:

Which pre-2008 Manchester City would you have in the current team?

 

Mark Meadowcroft

Self-indulgently, I am choosing three but they are all from very different eras, and all are predicated on the “what would Pep do with them” question.

Max Woosnam is such an extraordinary sportsman and such an obviously intelligent man that Guardiola would have seen it as a personal mission to find him a role. If not, Manel Estiarte can teach him to play Water Polo to Olympic standard.

Bert Trautmann was another man who fell into the category of “sickeningly good at PE”. Bert famously saw distributing the ball quickly and accurately and starting attacks from City’s own goalmouth as part of his game. He was little short of revolutionary in this respect. Could Guardiola, with Trautmann’s innate sporting ability, have taught him to be good with his feet? If so, what a goalkeeper.

Finally, Shaun Goater, apart from the fact that he would press all day,  is not a Pep player at all, but even before Guardiola drills him on making the right runs to meet his “arrivals” in the penalty box was an outstanding close range goal scorer. Get someone to sing Pep “Feed the Goat” and send them both off to the training pitch.

He wouldn’t offer much in the build-up but it’s interesting to speculate just how many  goals he would score in the current City team. A mixture of Goater’s innate goal scoring smarts, Guardiola’s expertise and maybe getting Bernabia in for a few sessions to tell De Bruyne exactly what the Goat prefers to dine on and let’s see what happens.

 

Curtis Simpson

I think it would be too easy for me to pick Kinky for the player that I wish Pep had. Instead, I wish he had Michael Johnson in his formative years. I don’t think he had the raw talent of the likes of Foden and Sancho, but he was still dynamite. He clearly needed a top level manager (not Sven) to coach him and more importantly mentor him into becoming an elite footballer.

 

Martin Creevy

Dave Watson, would be a perfect foil for Laporte.

 

David Doodson

I think a peak Ali Benarbia would be brilliant in this team. He had so much quality on the ball, both in terms of retaining possession and creating chances, I can’t imagine he’d fail.

 

Phil Harris

Great question.  My first real favourite player was Garry Flitcroft, the dynamic midfielder with dynamic hair!  Unfortunately, I can’t remember enough about him as a player due to the lack of TV available in those days, another option would be Paul Lake, I never really go to to see him play but my aforementioned Grandad would always rave about him and to this day is adamant he would have have been England captain if it wasn’t for injuries.

Unfortunately we never got to really see Michael Johnson, SWP is the obvious answer so I’m going to go with Stephen Ireland, the guy had so much natural talent it’s such a shame it just didn’t work out for him but he would be great as one of the two number 8s.

Mark Kennedy also came to mind as did Berkovic but yeah, I’d have love to have seen Stephen Ireland surrounded by good players with a manager who kept him on the straight and narrow.

 

John Arrowsmith

Colin Bell.

 

Graham Ward

Colin Bell, for very personal reasons. Best explained here, I think.
http://monumentcity2010.blogspot.com/2013/05/200-wordsworth-6-colin-bell.html

 

Tom Potts

My pre-2008 player would be Ali Bernabia.

He may have struggled with Pep’s work ethic, but what a player!

 

Carla Mayers

Ali Benarbia – love to see him at his peak in this team. That back heel…

We’re spoilt now with the amount of players who make you swoon with what they can do but he was definitely of the same ilk to me.

 

Aleksandar Savic

I have managed to watch some old clips and I’d pick SWP for today’s line-up, particularly because of his personality, and of course, his ability to score off our numerous crosses.

 

Karl Florczak

I’ll steer clear of the obvious choices like Colin Bell et al and go for Paul Lake; would have loved to see him in this side and watch him develop even further under Pep.

 

James

Michael Johnson.

 

Neil Topping

Colin Bell – close second Alan Oakes.

 

Kippaxcity73

Andy Hinchcliffe.

 

Bradley

Colin Hendry, that man was a colossus. Superb defender.

 

Patientman

Georgi Kinkladze. To see him in this current side, in terms of a creator… Wow…

 

Alan Harmer

Colin Bell… just genius.

 

Andy P

Shaun Wright-Phillips. Still one of my favourite players

 

Cheech Exotic

There’s only one really. Kinkladze (would love to see Ali B in his prime as well but his prime was ultimately pre- City).

 

Peter Thornton & John Broadhead

Paul Lake.

 

Ronan

Lakey as an inverted fullback.

 

Manc Lad

Colin Bell. Best all round player I’ve ever seen. Would get in any City team in any era.

 

Dan Metcalf

I’ll go for a non-obvious one. Niall Quinn. Our recent tactic of floating crosses to Aguero (5’2”) or Jesus (5’4”) infuriates. Quinn would score as many in this side as that young Erling Brut Halaand does for Dortmund.

 

Lee Glynn

Although it’s easy to go with someone like Kinkladze we probably have more than enough there currently. Probably a left-back, Donachie or Power. Power probably fits better into an attacking team? You could make a case for a prime Stuart Pearce – phenomenal goals record for a left-back at Forest. Not sure if he fits the criteria!

 

Bobby

Kinkladze. A fit Paul Lake would have been interesting. Probably my second choice if allowed.