Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)

[padr81]

Another lucky City win, right? 10th of the season in the league.

Thank God for luck because our team are useless. Interestingly enough I thought we were kind of tired and a little off today. Still should have had 6, well 5 because the 3rd was well offside. Sterling had one of those games where he mishit everything.

That said Kolasnic pushed him down in the box early in the first half so we should have had 2 penalties. Lucky and played poorly, should have only put 6 past Arsenal.

 

[redahair]

Of course the usual bandwagoners come out.

Scored in extra time they didn't deserve to rescue a draw. Were lucky that Chelsea had Morata injured in that game. Were lucky that Mane was sent off when against Liverpool. Are lucky to have been awarded a soft penalty and an offside goal against Arsenal.

City are no doubt very good, and are favorites for the title, but they are by no means the unbeatable team people are making them out to be. Dodgy defense and GK there for the taking. I

Yeh there just lucky everyonelse are so poor average team gonna walk the league .if we sign sone creativity we may keep the poibts down to maybe 10

 

[El cangrejo]

We are crap, but these arabs have robbed us today. Can't wait until they go bankrupt. Useless club.

Using Arab as an insult. Classy.

 

[Ban]

Another lucky City win, right? 10th of the season in the league.

Well. Penalty was indeed soft and 3rd goal was offside. So you were lucky with those decisions I reckon.

 

[Ban]

Ok so three teams, forgot Liverpool. If they can navigate these three games without a loss, they will be Invincibles.

Invincibles with a capital 'I'!! Strange posts coming from an United fan.

 

[Manchester Dan]

Well. Penalty was indeed soft and 3rd goal was offside. So you were lucky with those decisions I reckon.

Penalty was a penalty but the offside was off for sure. Even looked off in real time. Had Arsenal had the penalty nobody would be saying a word against it here. That said the result easily reflected the game. City had plenty of opportunities to extend the lead and Arsenal created very little. The game overall wasn’t even close.

 

[Karel Podolsky]

Despite the goals and assists, I still think Sterling is an average player. Son Heung-min is much better than him.

 

[Baby Groot]

If only he was, we'd have one more league title, with them having one less.

Please don't remind me.

Then again City revolves around doing one over United these days.

 

[Mark Wuhlberg]

What other board/chairman gives you an unlimited budget and free reign to make up for your poor buys (Bravo, Nolito) by just buying more to replace them ASAP?

Manchester United.

Our netspend was £120m whereas yours was £137m.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/alletransfers/verein/281

 

[Theafonis]

Despite the goals and assists, I still think Sterling is an average player. Son Heung-min is much better than him.

Son is a better finisher but Sterling is great to watch when he’s on form

 

[Kapardin]

Manchester United.

Our netspend was £120m whereas yours was £137m.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-united/alletransfers/verein/985

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/manchester-city/alletransfers/verein/281

Forget about spend and net spend. The issue is, we had bigger problems than your squad to fix:

- City needed 2 fullbacks and a GK, maybe an attacker max to compete. Your core of Aguero/Jesus, Silva/KDB is sufficient enough for top 3 in the league. The other signings have made you elite. B Silva was just the icing on the cake.

- United had bigger needs. We needed a striker, a RW, a #10, 2 fullbacks, a DM and an attacking midfielder. I know many do not agree that we need so much - but the fact is, our attack has been malfunctioning for 3 years and we have done squat about it. Strikers cost a lot, and so Lukaku took up the bulk of the spend. We signed a DM, but apart from that, nothing to write home about.

It seems as though the board was not willing to let the spending go beyond 150 mil, and Jose made a mistake buying Lindelof. If City needed as much as we did, they wouldn't baulk at going above 300 mil.

Point is, Pep has a near unlimited budget and he spent to get what he needed. Our budget appears to be 150 mil max, and with half of that spent on a striker, 75 mil is nowhere enough.

Ed wouldn't pay 2 mil extra for Perisic, sums up the thinking of our board. They think our squad is good enough to compete. Defensively yes, but our attack is midtable level.

 

[Manchester Dan]

Forget about spend and net spend. The issue is, we had bigger problems than your squad to fix:

- City needed 2 fullbacks and a GK, maybe an attacker max to compete. Your core of Aguero/Jesus, Silva/KDB is sufficient enough for top 3 in the league. The other signings have made you elite. B Silva was just the icing on the cake.

- United had bigger needs. We needed a striker, a RW, a #10, 2 fullbacks, a DM and an attacking midfielder. I know many do not agree that we need so much - but the fact is, our attack has been malfunctioning for 3 years and we have done squat about it. Strikers cost a lot, and so Lukaku took up the bulk of the spend. We signed a DM, but apart from that, nothing to write home about.

It seems as though the board was not willing to let the spending go beyond 150 mil, and Jose made a mistake buying Lindelof. If City needed as much as we did, they wouldn't baulk at going above 300 mil.

Point is, Pep has a near unlimited budget and he spent to get what he needed. Our budget appears to be 150 mil max, and with half of that spent on a striker, 75 mil is nowhere enough.

Ed wouldn't pay 2 mil extra for Perisic, sums up the thinking of our board. They think our squad is good enough to compete. Defensively yes, but our attack is midtable level.

Well, nobody said forget about spend or net spend when we had bigger problems in the squad to fix when it was 2008 and we had just been taken over and we had 15 places to catch up.

 

[M18CTID]

Using Arab as an insult. Classy.

Someone should remind him which part of the world Arsenal's main sponsor is from. I was going to do it myself but just realised he's been banned

 

[Manchester Dan]

Someone should remind him which part of the world Arsenal's main sponsor is from. I was going to do it myself but just realised he's been banned

He was harmless to be fair, think he just got carried away. Hope that’s just a temporary ban.

 

[M18CTID]

He was harmless to be fair, think he just got carried away. Hope that’s just a temporary ban.

I never really had an issue with him until the past week or so when he went into proper bitter meltdown mode about City. The break might do him good. A bit odd for an opposition fan to have the best part of 30,000 posts on a rivals forum in just over 2 years though!

 

[BlueSingh]

All these results have been amazing and well deserved so far but the inner pessimist in me is still worried, I genuinely think we are a gk / Delph / Dinho injury away to playing dysfunctional football as we don't have appropriate cover.

 

[jungledrums]

He was harmless to be fair, think he just got carried away. Hope that’s just a temporary ban.

Poor lad is probably having Caf withdrawals. Doubt he's gone this long without posting since he registered.

 

[Gandalf Greyhame]

All these results have been amazing and well deserved so far but the inner pessimist in me is still worried, I genuinely think we are a gk / Delph / Dinho injury away to playing dysfunctional football as we don't have appropriate cover.

Nah, you're past the big games for half the season now, and look good value for your lead. The squad depth is incredible. Forget KDB, United could have done much better with Gundogan or Silva in midfield yesterday.

 

[Ronetta]

Someone should remind him which part of the world Arsenal's main sponsor is from. I was going to do it myself but just realised he's been banned

An Arsenal fan describing City as a "useless club", is quite amusing, I must admit.

 

[FCBarca]

Apart from the risk of injuries and potentially derailing good form, might do City well to have this 2 week break before finishing off the first half of the season. They started to show signs of fatigue in last week or so. The big question of course, will they reinforce in winter and will possibly mean Alexis?

 

[Blue doomer]

Apart from the risk of injuries and potentially derailing good form, might do City well to have this 2 week break before finishing off the first half of the season. They started to show signs of fatigue in last week or so. The big question of course, will they reinforce in winter and will possibly mean Alexis?

Pep is going to go again in January, he's already put that on the record. Left back is pretty paramount now with Mendy done until April. Bertrand is the one i reckon he could go for. As for Sanchez i think it will get done, £20-£25 million i would say.

 

[padr81]

Apart from the risk of injuries and potentially derailing good form, might do City well to have this 2 week break before finishing off the first half of the season. They started to show signs of fatigue in last week or so. The big question of course, will they reinforce in winter and will possibly mean Alexis?

Agreed, The level of the games I think is what caught up to us. Napoli followed by Arsenal was always going to leave us tired as Napoli are intense and against Arsenal we were going to have to press more than vs most teams as they do play nice with the ball on the floor. The break has certainly come at a good time as Leicester would be tough on legs following those two.

 

[Dept3942]

Another lucky City win, right? 10th of the season in the league.

You've had breaks in 6 of your games this season. These were not of your making but incidents that went against your opposition (mistakes, injuries, officiating) Have obviously not been through the records but it would be hard to find a team having a luckier start to a season. You had 3 breaks in 1 game yesterday. If this continues you will have had more breaks than Jimmy White.

 

[padr81]

Pep is going to go again in January, he's already put that on the record. Left back is pretty paramount now with Mendy done until April. Bertrand is the one i reckon he could go for. As for Sanchez i think it will get done, £20-£25 million i would say.

This might sound weird but watching the Sanchez or this season is kind of off putting for me, plus he's 29 or whatever and would probably be benching Raheem or Sane, knocking B Silva down the pecking order. Also his whinging crying attitude and lack of effort because he's unhappy is criminal. Never thought I'd say this but I'm hoping we say no thanks to Sanchez. I'd rather we chase some cover for Fernandinho, Weigl or someone would be fine as he is going to have to tire at some stage and Yaya is clearly not up to the DM role.

I also think Delph has earned the leftback spot till Mendy returns.

 

[FCBarca]

This might sound weird but watching the Sanchez or this season is kind of off putting for me, plus he's 29 or whatever and would probably be benching Raheem or Sane, knocking B Silva down the pecking order. Also his whinging crying attitude and lack of effort because he's unhappy is criminal. Never thought I'd say this but I'm hoping we say no thanks to Sanchez. I'd rather we chase some cover for Fernandinho, Weigl or someone would be fine as he is going to have to tire at some stage and Yaya is clearly not up to the DM role.

I also think Delph has earned the leftback spot till Mendy returns.

Even Pep said it in the post match, Alexis caused City a lot of problems and I thought he played very well. They cannot go the rest of the season with just Delph/Danilo, even a temporary solution would make sense

 

[padr81]

You've had breaks in 6 of your games this season. These were not of your making but incidents that went against your opposition (mistakes, injuries, officiating) Have obviously not been through the records but it would be hard to find a team having a luckier start to a season. You had 3 breaks in 1 game yesterday. If this continues you will have had more breaks than Jimmy White.

3? At most there is two and its clear the penalty was a penalty so 1 then with Silva's offside goal. Arsenal also had a lucky break when Kolasnic pushed over Sterling in the box. Have we had a few decisions go our way, of course we have but we also had Kyle Walker sent off for absolutely nothing, Sterling banned for the fans rushing on the pitch (nothing to do with him, though the club should have received a warning) our best and only LB getting injured for the season.

Our so called lucky breaks vs unlucky breaks.
v Liverpool - Mane is rightly redcarded, v Everton - Walker is sent off for nothing.
v Chelsea - Their best striker went off injured, v 90% of the league - our only Left Back and best LB in the league is injured
v Arsenal - Offside decision goes our way, v Arsenal - Stonewall penalty on Sterling not given.

We do get a few offside decisions going our way, reason being if linesmen mess up 1 in every 20, tight attacking, that's 1-2 a game we'll get as opposed to 1 a season for more conservative teams who park the bus vs the top 6.

 

[padr81]

Even Pep said it in the post match, Alexis caused City a lot of problems and I thought he played very well. They cannot go the rest of the season with just Delph/Danilo, even a temporary solution would make sense

He was poor on the ball yesterday but tried hard but you can't paper over the cracks and the fact the guy has let Arsenal down since the season started. Honestly the game vs Everton aside he's been way below what one would expect this season and offered feck all in any of their games vs the better teams. V City, Liverpool and Chelsea he's played 240 minutes without an assist or goal. He has 1 goal this season and 2 assists (the goal and 1 assist coming v Everton). Other than that he's been anonymous and it's clear he's not exactly trying.

 

[Manchester Dan]

I really don’t want Sanchez in January now. I just don’t think we’ll have a problem scoring goals. I’d be looking to get a LB and if available, a DM and CB. Kompany is toast. Although likely the level we’d be after would be available in summer only.

Unless he’s going for like £15m.

 

[M18CTID]

You've had breaks in 6 of your games this season. These were not of your making but incidents that went against your opposition (mistakes, injuries, officiating) Have obviously not been through the records but it would be hard to find a team having a luckier start to a season. You had 3 breaks in 1 game yesterday. If this continues you will have had more breaks than Jimmy White.

And as per usual, your posts contain more spin than Shane Warne.

I thought there would be a marked improvement in the quality of your posts since you sneaked back on under another username following your ban but you're still churning out the same guff

 

[Dept3942]

3? At most there is two and its clear the penalty was a penalty so 1 then with Silva's offside goal. Arsenal also had a lucky break when Kolasnic pushed over Sterling in the box. Have we had a few decisions go our way, of course we have but we also had Kyle Walker sent off for absolutely nothing, Sterling banned for the fans rushing on the pitch (nothing to do with him, though the club should have received a warning) our best and only LB getting injured for the season.

Our so called lucky breaks vs unlucky breaks.
v Liverpool - Mane is rightly redcarded, v Everton - Walker is sent off for nothing.
v Chelsea - Their best striker went off injured, v 90% of the league - our only Left Back and best LB in the league is injured
v Arsenal - Offside decision goes our way, v Arsenal - Stonewall penalty on Sterling not given.

We do get a few offside decisions going our way, reason being if linesmen mess up 1 in every 20, tight attacking, that's 1-2 a game we'll get as opposed to 1 a season for more conservative teams who park the bus vs the top 6.

Brighton - Holding their own until a defensive blunder gifts you a goal.
Bournemouth - Poor officiating as game was played over time.
Liverpool - Mane sending off.
Chelsea - Hazard playing when not match fit, Morata goes off early.
Burnley - Lost Chris Wood early when looking dangerous. You were struggling to break through until being awarded a dodgy penalty.
Arsenal - Wenger leaves Lacazette on the bench. Dodgy penalty & offside goal.

You can't argue with the facts.

 

[FCBarca]

You've had breaks in 6 of your games this season. These were not of your making but incidents that went against your opposition (mistakes, injuries, officiating) Have obviously not been through the records but it would be hard to find a team having a luckier start to a season. You had 3 breaks in 1 game yesterday. If this continues you will have had more breaks than Jimmy White.

City were also screwed by refs in the only match they dropped points vs Everton and then when Sterling was sent off for celebrating against Bournesmouth

 

[M18CTID]

Brighton - Holding their own until a defensive blunder gifts you a goal.
Bournemouth - Poor officiating as game was played over time.
Liverpool - Mane sending off.
Chelsea - Hazard playing when not match fit, Morata goes off early.
Burnley - Lost Chris Wood early when looking dangerous. You were struggling to break through until being awarded a dodgy penalty.
Arsenal - Wenger leaves Lacazette on the bench. Dodgy penalty & offside goal.

You can't argue with the facts.

Keep sucking on them lemons namco

 

[Manchester Dan]

Brighton - Holding their own until a defensive blunder gifts you a goal.
Bournemouth - Poor officiating as game was played over time.
Liverpool - Mane sending off.
Chelsea - Hazard playing when not match fit, Morata goes off early.
Burnley - Lost Chris Wood early when looking dangerous. You were struggling to break through until being awarded a dodgy penalty.
Arsenal - Wenger leaves Lacazette on the bench. Dodgy penalty & offside goal.

You can't argue with the facts.

Can you also tell us the outcome of each of those, had all those things not happened? Just interested in the fantasy.

E.g. Morata stays on, scores twice and Chelsea win 2-1. Along those lines however you see it playing out.

 

[Needham]

Unfortunately they are awesome. It might get to the dire stage that the enlightened rational part of me just wants them to wrap up the title and get it all over with because their football is that good and they've deserved it all season.

 

[prtk0811]

Won their matches and taken a good lead.

United will have to directly take points off city now which has become crucial.

 

[padr81]

Brighton - Holding their own until a defensive blunder gifts you a goal.
Bournemouth - Poor officiating as game was played over time.
Liverpool - Mane sending off.
Chelsea - Hazard playing when not match fit, Morata goes off early.
Burnley - Lost Chris Wood early when looking dangerous. You were struggling to break through until being awarded a dodgy penalty.
Arsenal - Wenger leaves Lacazette on the bench. Dodgy penalty & offside goal.

You can't argue with the facts.

Facts?
Brighton hung on and eventually conceded because they were under pressure. You wouldn't know about that because you don't get to watch attacking football
Mane was sent off rightly, You are ridiculous and clutching at straws. We were also 1-0 up (scoring v Liverpool is what beats them, again you wouldn't know about that.)
Burnley weren't looking dangerous in any shape or form (they huffed and puffed created nothing but the result was inevitable).
Wenger had a fully fit squad, the penalty was a clear penalty and your constant crying makes the offside goal all the sweeter. Not to mention the penalty we were denied you keep avoiding.
B'Mouth brought that on themselves time wasting throughout the over time. The ref rightly added time and B'Mouth got what they deserved. They deserved to lose and lost.

You should thank the stars we had a man sent off for no reason v Everton or you'd be 10 points behind right now.

Lets talk about your win over Spurs, no Harry Kane so you were lucky right, massive lucky slice going your way?
Or the two Benfica games where the keeper handed you two goals?
How about the defender slipping for Lukaku's header v Southampton which was headed straight at the keeper and resulted in a free tap in because the CB hadn't got back up.
Pogba heading the ball against his own shoulder v Stoke? All luck too?
Not to mention playing vs a half fit Kante yesterday thats lucky too right...

Nope it wasn't luck like City, you beat what was in front of you and deserved everything you have so far.

The only fact here is you are Namco and clearly still know zero about football.

 

[Ronetta]

Forget about spend and net spend. The issue is, we had bigger problems than your squad to fix:

- City needed 2 fullbacks and a GK, maybe an attacker max to compete. Your core of Aguero/Jesus, Silva/KDB is sufficient enough for top 3 in the league. The other signings have made you elite. B Silva was just the icing on the cake.

- United had bigger needs. We needed a striker, a RW, a #10, 2 fullbacks, a DM and an attacking midfielder. I know many do not agree that we need so much - but the fact is, our attack has been malfunctioning for 3 years and we have done squat about it. Strikers cost a lot, and so Lukaku took up the bulk of the spend. We signed a DM, but apart from that, nothing to write home about.

It seems as though the board was not willing to let the spending go beyond 150 mil, and Jose made a mistake buying Lindelof. If City needed as much as we did, they wouldn't baulk at going above 300 mil.

Point is, Pep has a near unlimited budget and he spent to get what he needed. Our budget appears to be 150 mil max, and with half of that spent on a striker, 75 mil is nowhere enough.

Ed wouldn't pay 2 mil extra for Perisic, sums up the thinking of our board. They think our squad is good enough to compete. Defensively yes, but our attack is midtable level.

Somewhat glosses over - no, completely ignores - the fact that last season you had assembled the most expensive squad in the history of football.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/03/manchester-united-squad-most-expensive-history

 

[Ronetta]

Pep is going to go again in January, he's already put that on the record. Left back is pretty paramount now with Mendy done until April. Bertrand is the one i reckon he could go for. As for Sanchez i think it will get done, £20-£25 million i would say.

If we give Arsene Wenger more than 50p, I will be fecking fuming. I wouldn't give him a spare sheet of bog paper.

 

[jontheblue]

Is it City fans or is it rivals that are bigging them up. I don't see it as often from them, but hear it more from rival fans, other players and managers

As a City ST holder for the last 30 years, Roy Keane's comments the other week about City having a propensity to mess things up brought a wry smile to my face - I couldn't disagree with him. I don't think many long standing blues would argue that we never seem to do things the easy way. Times are changing, but certainly from the blues I speak to, our fans are far from getting carried away

That doesn't mean we aren't excited - my jaw has been on the floor with some of the football we have played this season. If a fan isn't excited with the number of goals/points we have accumulated, together with the style of play, there's something wrong. But there's a huge difference between being excited and assuming winning the league, let alone the Champions League, is a foregone conclusion

The media response to results this season has been more pantomime than ever. Just a few weeks ago, according to the press, United were going to win the league, Lukaku was going to be a golden boot winning £75M bargain, City had defensive frailties, etc. Now, Lukaku is a flop, Jose can't take the pressure and everyone is just fighting for second place behind a city team they may as well give the trophy to now. It's all patently nonsense

We do look like we have more grit and substance compared to last season and we have coped surprisingly well with the injury to Mendy considering the lack of specialist back up and the importance the system places on FBs. I actually think it's the team spirit that has been one of the most impressive things about us this season. But an inury / suspension problem with Fernandinho, especially given his age, is certainly a worry as is the general lack of depth defensively - Ottomendi is suspended after the yellow card against Arsenal and the back up assuming Kompany isn't back is either Mangala (great attitude but nowhere near good enough) or playing a FB. Bravo put in a great performance in the cup the other night but I wouldn't fancy a run of games in the league with him in goal if Ederson picks up an injury. The longer the season goes on, the more people can study ways of beating us. Point being, we are unquestionably playing some of the best football in Europe right now but you still only get 3 points for a win, lots can change and surely in modern times, given their experience, nobody appreciates it's a marathon not a sprint more than United fans ?

 

[Kapardin]

Somewhat glosses over - no, completely ignores - the fact that last season you had assembled the most expensive squad in the history of football.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/03/manchester-united-squad-most-expensive-history

Yep, that we overpay average players is common knowledge. 100K for Lingard, ffs. Maybe it is because of that that we have a cap on spending despite needing more players.