I thought Watford might get something today but I can only imagine Gomes and the Watford defence performed like they did against Liverpool in gameweek 1
Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)
- Thread starter simonhch
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
I'm not so sure they'll walk the league. They do have better players now but I can't see their defensive problems just disappearing because of the fullbacks. Their playing style will still leave them vulnerable at the back. It's a long season and they have yet to show the consistency that it takes to win the league.
If you just look at their squad, they comfortably have the best one in the league, but still nowhere near as good as that Barca team Pep had. I'm just not convinced Pep has what it takes to take this City team to the kind of dominance he had with Barca.
If you just look at their squad, they comfortably have the best one in the league, but still nowhere near as good as that Barca team Pep had. I'm just not convinced Pep has what it takes to take this City team to the kind of dominance he had with Barca.
Taking transfermarkt.co.uk into account. City's squad cost 699.5m, United cost 658.75m.
Excluding Mbappe, they are the two most expensive squads in the world. Adding in Mbappe, its PSG -- City -- United..
That said I'm not sure how accurate that site is. Has KDB at 66m when he cost 55.
I see the throw in the towel brigade is here again , just as they have been for 5 seasons now. City are a good team no doubt and may well win the league but Utd have an equally exciting team that shouldn't be far away.
Is this 15-0 in 3 games? Pretty impressive. I mean Liverpool and also Feyenoord are not the worst teams in the world.
Liverpool aren't but Feyenoord were atrocious, worse than Watford. City went easier 2nd half v Feyenoord. If they kept up the high tempo like today it would have been scary numbers.
Tbf I don't think we're anywhere near as exciting or in the same quality bracket as City. The only saving grace is that their players seem to lack a bit of fight when the going gets tough sometimes. They've barely even got Bernardo Silva going yet and i reckon he'll become one of the best players in the league!
They have defensive problems but not as big as it is often assumed. For instance, they have conceded just 2 league goals more than Spurs in 2017 - 20 vs 18. Chelsea who are often taken as relatively good in defence have concded more league goals than City in 2017 - 25.
Pretty soon we will have City-PSG CL finals, there is no way around it.
Not gonna happen. Clubs like Real, Barca, Juve and United will always be able to compete. PSG already pushed FFP to its very limit. They won't be able to do that so often. Pep has said City had the leeway for one more signing this season (Sanchez) and the bank was at its end. I'd expect the spending to drop drastically for 3 or 4 seasons now as the squad is practically in place, maybe a CB for Kompany and CM to replace Yaya.
The money is not infinite.
They are absolutely fantastic in attack. Much more because of the individual quality than because of Pep, but fair game to him for sticking to his ideals.
Don't think they're going to cruise their way to winning the league at all though. Our squad is only marginally behind their squad in terms of overall quality, and since Mourinho took over our defensive organisation has been sublime and we've hardly ever lost games. We've also got some excellent physical players with a great winning mentality. Those are great weapons during the course of a season, winter has yet to come, so many games will come.
Chelsea's squad are solid as feck too, Spurs are an outsider for a top 2 finish if they keep everyone fit I think.Going to be a brilliantly exciting season.
Don't think they're going to cruise their way to winning the league at all though. Our squad is only marginally behind their squad in terms of overall quality, and since Mourinho took over our defensive organisation has been sublime and we've hardly ever lost games. We've also got some excellent physical players with a great winning mentality. Those are great weapons during the course of a season, winter has yet to come, so many games will come.
Chelsea's squad are solid as feck too, Spurs are an outsider for a top 2 finish if they keep everyone fit I think.Going to be a brilliantly exciting season.
Yes, but they have conceded more than Chelsea and Tottenham for the season and less than Liverpool and Arsenal, so that reflects their league position. They might have been better so far in 2017 but we have yet to see if they can be consistent enough through the whole season.
In footballing terms it is infinite, another sponsorship is all what is needed and you can buy 5 new players
That still doesn't mean you're not gonna have to make more changes. That depends very much on how successful you'll be, and you can't take for granted that everyone is going to perform or stay fit either. I suspect that if you don't do great this season, there will still be funds available to make more big money signings.
If they don't win the league with the squad they have then Pep needs the sack, like us with Jose last season was a transition, both teams have improved via transfers and City for me are clear favorites for the league. I still think we will finish 4th which is an improvement on 6th and I'm not changing my mind on that prediction despite our decent start.
Doing week in week out in PL is tough. Not every team will be like watford to roll over. It's funny you say that because I read it somewhere after real madrid drew levante (I think) , that smaller teams in la liga are taking note from.premier league sides on how to frustrate and play big boys. Even today getafe showed more resilience than they would normally do. Even jose said the same, how PL clubs have become defensive minded . I can't see barca or madrid thrashing clubs week in week out here .
City made a start like this last season, everyone had them nailed on for the title as well. Soon fell apart, I think people are getting carried away yet again believing they're anything exceptional.
Few games ago they were relying on a last minute Sterling goal against minnows, now you'd think they're 1970 Brazil. Short memories some folk.
Few games ago they were relying on a last minute Sterling goal against minnows, now you'd think they're 1970 Brazil. Short memories some folk.
Was gonna say the same thing. It wasn't that long ago that the Bluemooners were turning on Aguero and had him down as finished. They'll start strong as always but tail off as usual. I'm more worried about Chelski to be honest. Credit to them at the moment though. They are playing some good stuff. As we said with our own fixtures, you can only beat what's in front of you and City are doing that at the moment with a bit to spare.
Look at the difference some proper fullbacks made to this side. Yet we're still dicking around with those positions. We desperately needed a LB and maybe even a RB to push Valencia and eventually take over the mantle from him.
They have the best squad in the league and it'd be almost a disaster if they didn't win it.
They have the best squad in the league and it'd be almost a disaster if they didn't win it.
I have spent a year complaining about our full back positions so forgive me for being a little bit bitter.
I can't see a team with that much firepower from all areas not winning the league.
From my point of view, we simply didn't do enough in the transfer market to compete with them.
Our full back situation was not any better in the summer imo.
Yet they have gone and spent £150m on theirs. It's not as if they're really weak in other areas.
Granted we don't have that kind of money but if you told me at the start of the summer not even on FB would arrive, I'd have been gobsmacked.
Like it or not, Mendy and Walker have already elevated an attack that was better than ours to another level.
Been painful watching them in the last three games. People in this forum underestimate what two good atta king fullback would do for us.
If they don't win the league, Pep should quit.
I can't see a team with that much firepower from all areas not winning the league.
From my point of view, we simply didn't do enough in the transfer market to compete with them.
Our full back situation was not any better in the summer imo.
Yet they have gone and spent £150m on theirs. It's not as if they're really weak in other areas.
Granted we don't have that kind of money but if you told me at the start of the summer not even on FB would arrive, I'd have been gobsmacked.
Like it or not, Mendy and Walker have already elevated an attack that was better than ours to another level.
Been painful watching them in the last three games. People in this forum underestimate what two good atta king fullback would do for us.
If they don't win the league, Pep should quit.
I have to agree, it's obvious faith was placed in Shaw. Now that he's back we'll see in good time if it was the right decision. Even if it doesn't pay off, I don't expect City to blow us out of the water when it comes to competing. I still think we have the better manager and one who is more capable of adapting if things go south, which it inevitably will for both clubs.
I also think Mourinho is the better manager at handling situations but I can't shake the feeling he's in a battle with Pep, with an arm tied behind his back.
Defensively these 3 were definitely the worst fit against City offensive play, hand down. All left criminally plenty of (pocket of) space for City to exploit.
Only with L'pool' there was hope for them to balance it out with their attack vs City defense, but it's mission impossible by that the time Mane sent off.
Last edited:
Great side when playing with 4 at the back. So much more balanced. Playing with a front 5 and trying to dominate a match isn't the smartest thing around. Also their defenders don't seem to be taking as many liberties as they were before.
Speaketh the namesake... sold... the only transfer income for united this year ... but according to other posters, united have the ability to sell well...
Hold the same view. Our fullback status is dire compared to the other top clubs. They simply don't contribute anywhere near adequately on the offence.
I hope teams don't start paying too much respect to City's attacking riches. Teams that are overawed make for weak opposition.
You either have to go toe-to-toe with City or failing that, you kick them off the park. You don't win anything for being nice.
You either have to go toe-to-toe with City or failing that, you kick them off the park. You don't win anything for being nice.
The deficiencies in his squad haven't been filled to the extent that Pep's squad has.
If lacazettes goal was offside how wasnt citys 1st and 3rd? Plus no penalty on Chalobah, I believe that would have changed the game.
City were indeed lucky to get the rub of the green in those incidents but they won with plenty in hand and it is a stretch to imagine any other outcome than that which occurred.
Agree. The way Marco Silva tried to take City on in possession based football, there would be only outcome eventually regardless of the controversial goals. Watford lack the quality to pull this style off from much more superior team in City.
After their decent start to the season I think Silva saw the City game as something of a "free hit" .
If they had been struggling I'm sure that a more pragmatic game plan would have been used and City will soon see plenty of teams throwing 10 behind the ball, team fouling and time wasting. Quite a few did last season and some managed to nick points as a result.
The difference this season is that City have more players who can open up packed defences with speed and incisive passing.
I agree with the squad deficiencies, but surely thats a decision jose made?
The phrase you are using indicates that he is being held back by something beyond his control, which this clearly isnt
The thing that is holding Jose back is money. If Jose had an unlimited budget like Pep I am sure he would have fixed the deficiencies in the squad. Mourinho isn't an idiot he realises we need more firepower on the flanks but the budget simply didn't allow us to upgrade the wide positions. Pep can spend an unlimited amount on any position and if it doesn't work he can just ship them out and get another player in. It is only a matter of time before PSG and City are contesting CL semis and finals. If Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal are going to compete in the long run with the new money clubs we need to lobby for a salary cap. The head of PSG was asked about the 200m for Neymar and he said 200m was not a big deal, so that is what we are up against.
hold on, didn't both teams spend the same sort of money in the summer, City got rid of a load of deadwood and numerous millions of the payroll, they couldn't even afford Johnny Evans at the end, if money was no object they'd just have dropped another 10m on both Sanchez and Evans.
I am pretty sure City spent more than United. I think United spent just under 150m and City just north of 200m but the figure ignores the vast sums spent by City over the last decade. City didn't spend extra on Evans not because they couldn't afford it but simply because the player wasn't worth the 35m that the seller was asking. When City was a nothing club I warned people that with the unlimited checkbook that they would one day dominate the EPL and maybe CL, people kept saying that wasn't possible because they had no history but people forget that an unlimited budget always leads to success. The success of City and PSG is built on unlimited money and could have just as easily happened to Stoke or Reading or any other underperforming club. I am not knocking Man City or PSG but they are in a fortunate position to be able to buy success.
City net spend (for what it's worth) was less than United.
City bought more players in than than United.
City shifted many high wage earners out/released, United sold... Januzaj
But yeah, City are the only club ruining football, with their 'unlimited' funds...
Ta for being reasonable and rational, unlike the next post ... 'history'!!
Where does City's money come from?