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

[SammyUnited_83]

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.

I appreciate this is a Utd forum and we see things through our rose tinted glasses, but seriously, can't we get over the fact that this City team is (and it's hard to say) by far the best team in the league and are ripping teams to shreds left, right and centre.

You make it sound like Utd don't get any luck. Mane was injured when we played Pool, as was Kane was we played Spurs. Have we never scored an offside goal, or in late, late injury time, or dodgy pen?

Seriously sounding like Klopp here, sometimes, you just have to accept that our rivals are better - just be grateful it's not Liverpool.

 

[Stacks]

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.

city needed centre midfielders as Toure is ageing and thus he bought Gundogan. Due to lack of available options and Gundogans injury, Pep was able to convert an ageing Silva into a centre midfielder (made do with what he had). They also needed 2 FB's a CB (or 2 if you went by Otamendi's early form), a GK, and at least one wide player as Nasri was outed and Navas is crap. That's almost half a team. No core is enough to get top 3 in this league as there are 6 teams competing for 4 spots. City scraped 3rd with those players plus all the signings Pep made. they barely finished ahead of Pool and were well off the title spot.
I don't see that Pep has an unlimited budget as I am sure they would want Neymar or Mbappe if they were affordable

 

[robinamicrowave]

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.

Jesus Christ. You could go through each of United's games this season and come out with a similar list of lucky breaks because - and remember not to fall off your chair when reading this - teams get lucky breaks all the time. And I'm sorry, but of all the teams to complain about an excessive amount of added time contributing to big, season-changing goals, United are probably the last set of fans who get to piss and moan.

 

[Kapardin]

city needed centre midfielders as Toure is ageing and thus he bought Gundogan. Due to lack of available options and Gundogans injury, Pep was able to convert an ageing Silva into a centre midfielder (made do with what he had). They also needed 2 FB's a CB (or 2 if you went by Otamendi's early form), a GK, and at least one wide player as Nasri was outed and Navas is crap. That's almost half a team. No core is enough to get top 3 in this league as there are 6 teams competing for 4 spots. City scraped 3rd with those players plus all the signings Pep made. they barely finished ahead of Pool and were well off the title spot.
I don't see that Pep has an unlimited budget as I am sure they would want Neymar or Mbappe if they were affordable

Not denying they needed it. That was my point, they spent for what they needed. If Neymar was needed, they would likely go for him...or atleast get Pep a cheaper alternative.

My point is, we needed a clear-out and a buying spree like them or even a bit more, but we didn't do enough.

 

[Sunspear17]

There was a city fan on twitter yesterday who commented saying something along the lines of "watching the chelsea and utd game makes you realise how good we are, the quality of football we are producing is in a league of it's own" i can't remember word for word, but i thought you cocky fooker. I don't mind city fans being confident, but hold back a bit mate.

I dislike when any fans start the blowing their own trumpet prematurely, it sets up for when they fail to make it embarrassing. City are playing very well though, but yesterday Arsenal were passing short and giving them the ball away too much, it was falling into City's hands. Sanchez was dreadful and if I was a City fan, I would not want him near the club. When it's going well he is good, but when things aren't going his way he strops, blames teammates and looks disinterested. A poor attitude to have.

 

[jontheblue]

There was a city fan on twitter yesterday who commented saying something along the lines of "watching the chelsea and utd game makes you realise how good we are, the quality of football we are producing is in a league of it's own" i can't remember word for word, but i thought you cocky fooker. I don't mind city fans being confident, but hold back a bit mate.

I dislike when any fans start the blowing their own trumpet prematurely, it sets up for when they fail to make it embarrassing. City are playing very well though, but yesterday Arsenal were passing short and giving them the ball away too much, it was falling into City's hands. Sanchez was dreadful and if I was a City fan, I would not want him near the club. When it's going well he is good, but when things aren't going his way he strops, blames teammates and looks disinterested. A poor attitude to have.

Is it really cocky, or even confident, to say that we are playing the best football in the league right now ? Surely it's not premature to talk about football we are playing now, rather than what we might be playing in the future ? Meanwhile my brother is a lifelong United fan and after I got back from the Arsenal game, we watched what was left of the United game together - he was effing & jeffing at United throughout. I'm the first to downplay expectations for city, but by anyone's standards we have an unbelievable number of points, an incredible number of goals, a stunning goal difference, we are unbeaten in all competitions, we haven't lost for many weeks and the football is incredibly entertaining - you must have a different definition of 'cocky' to me, because if you can't say 'we are producing football in a league of it's own right now' on the back of that, when can you ?

 

[padr81]

There was a city fan on twitter yesterday who commented saying something along the lines of "watching the chelsea and utd game makes you realise how good we are, the quality of football we are producing is in a league of it's own" i can't remember word for word, but i thought you cocky fooker. I don't mind city fans being confident, but hold back a bit mate.

I dislike when any fans start the blowing their own trumpet prematurely, it sets up for when they fail to make it embarrassing. City are playing very well though, but yesterday Arsenal were passing short and giving them the ball away too much, it was falling into City's hands. Sanchez was dreadful and if I was a City fan, I would not want him near the club. When it's going well he is good, but when things aren't going his way he strops, blames teammates and looks disinterested. A poor attitude to have.

That fan needs a smack but in fairness I remember Chelsea fans (good guys) on this forum saying we should close the title race thread or implying Chelsea had no race last season once they went 8 points clear (they proved right). I thought it was funny and true. That City comment does seem more arrogant. I thought first half yesterday both team were very meh in fairness but Chelsea were much better 2nd period.

I said the very same thing about Sanchez earlier which is why I quoted you. I would hate to bench Sane, Aguero or Sterling for him if I'm honest. He looks totally like he's taking a year off. I for one don't want him as he seems to have downed tools.

 

[padr81]

Is it really cocky, or even confident, to say that we are playing the best football in the league right now ? Surely it's not premature to talk about football we are playing now, rather than what we might be playing in the future ? Meanwhile my brother is a lifelong United fan and after I got back from the Arsenal game, we watched what was left of the United game together - he was effing & jeffing at United throughout. I'm the first to downplay expectations for city, but we have an incredible number of points, an incredibly number of goals, a stunning goal difference, we are unbeaten in all competitions, we haven't lost for many weeks and the football is incredibly entertaining - you must have a different definition of 'cocky' to me, because if you can't say 'we are producing football in a league of it's own right now' on the back of that, when can you ?

Its not but I think its cocky to imply Chelsea/United play shite (a league behind us) which in Chelsea's case is not true and in United case is only rarely true (away at the top 6). I think that statement the way its worded is quite arrogant. In reality we play pretty football but we are only marginally better then the other top sides imho.

 

[Freak]

The way city attack is mesmerising. So much of pace, movement and support. At one point they had 6 players joining in on a counter attack after Arsenal failed with a corner kick - it was just crazy good.

 

[jontheblue]

Its not but I think its cocky to imply Chelsea/United play shite (a league behind us) which in Chelsea's case is not true and in United case is only rarely true (away at the top 6). I think that statement the way its worded is quite arrogant. In reality we play pretty football but we are only marginally better then the other top sides imho.

That's fair enough but I suppose it illustrates how we can each interpret the same point differently. My first thoughts on reading that comment were that it was more about how amazing our football is (right now). Remember as a city fan, we've been used to so much dross and so many false dawns, the football we are playing right now is even more remarkable for us long standing fans to take in. I didn't take the comment to mean others were playing rubbish, but that we are playing particularly well. If your reaction was that it's more about dismissing the opposition's standard, I can't argue with that - you see it as you see it. I guess it also depends on whether the guy was talking about it from a results point of view or an excitement point of view - I think we are right now, playing football that is much more attractive than United or Chelsea. However it still only gets 3 points and my fear is that our style of play is easier to crumble when the going gets tough than a less flamboyant system

 

[Ronetta]

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.

I wasn't talking about wages.

Last year, you had the most expensive squad ever assembled in terms of transfer fees. And since then you've spent more net than City have, so I am assuming you still have the most expensive squad ever assembled.

EDIT: I guess PSG may have overtaken you.

 

[Sunspear17]

Is it really cocky, or even confident, to say that we are playing the best football in the league right now ? Surely it's not premature to talk about football we are playing now, rather than what we might be playing in the future ? Meanwhile my brother is a lifelong United fan and after I got back from the Arsenal game, we watched what was left of the United game together - he was effing & jeffing at United throughout. I'm the first to downplay expectations for city, but by anyone's standards we have an unbelievable number of points, an incredible number of goals, a stunning goal difference, we are unbeaten in all competitions, we haven't lost for many weeks and the football is incredibly entertaining - you must have a different definition of 'cocky' to me, because if you can't say 'we are producing football in a league of it's own right now' on the back of that, when can you ?

In fairness to Pep, he's brought a style of football that has, i think, made a few managers question how their teams set up and play. There is a lot of admiration from rival fans (myself included, i actually wanted pep to be Chelsea coach before he went to City) and managers for Pep because of the style he has implemented at City. I just feel that city aren't in a league of their own playing style wise, but they are certainly bringing a better style of football to the league which is refreshing tbh. I would have the same opinions if Chelsea were playing the same way and having that success, because you never know when things will stop working or they'll go through a bad patch and lose/draw games.

 

[salford_]

Tbf mate reading your forum its yourselves who are saying we're streets ahead.

I have been on bluemoon loads, and its ridiculously arrogant over there, be honest. Some of them cannot be serious with the tripe they spout

 

[Peanut Butter]

I do love Utd fans. We always hold up our hands when rivals play beautiful football.

We don't get all bitter and silly about it like Liverpool and City fans.

We all deserve credit. Well, most of us.

 

[JASR]

I have been on bluemoon loads, and its ridiculously arrogant over there, be honest. Some of them cannot be serious with the tripe they spout

Calling @Dept3942 back to the thread as a multiple example of tripe on here.

 

[Zlatattack]

I appreciate this is a Utd forum and we see things through our rose tinted glasses, but seriously, can't we get over the fact that this City team is (and it's hard to say) by far the best team in the league and are ripping teams to shreds left, right and centre.

You make it sound like Utd don't get any luck. Mane was injured when we played Pool, as was Kane was we played Spurs. Have we never scored an offside goal, or in late, late injury time, or dodgy pen?

Seriously sounding like Klopp here, sometimes, you just have to accept that our rivals are better - just be grateful it's not Liverpool.

Agree. people need to give credit where it is deserved.

 

[M18CTID]

I do love Utd fans. We always hold up our hands when rivals play beautiful football.

We don't get all bitter and silly about it like Liverpool and City fans.

We all deserve credit. Well, most of us.

Well it seems some United fans on here aren't happy about the lavish amounts of praise being heaped on City at the moment - even I'm uncomfortable with it

 

[M18CTID]

I have been on bluemoon loads, and its ridiculously arrogant over there, be honest. Some of them cannot be serious with the tripe they spout

You should join up. We could do with some decent United input over there. While you're at it, get your mate namco/Dept3942 involved as well - you'll both go down a bomb.

 

[Blue doomer]

I have been on bluemoon loads, and its ridiculously arrogant over there, be honest. Some of them cannot be serious with the tripe they spout

Its a place i occupied for years but sadly left a while ago. That forum does not represent the majority of blues fellow, so whatever drivel they are churning out daily, just ignore. I don't think there's one Utd fan that consistently post on there. Attacked for any sort of opinion.

Anyway getting back to if we have the league wrapped up. Not a chance yet.

 

[BlueMoonOutcast]

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

Thank you.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Its a place i occupied for years but sadly left a while ago. That forum does not represent the majority of blues fellow, so whatever drivel they are churning out daily, just ignore. I don't think there's one Utd fan that consistently post on there. Attacked for any sort of opinion.

Anyway getting back to if we have the league wrapped up. Not a chance yet.

I think it is nice having people from different clubs writing here. Gives more opinions and different views.

The winter can often cause teams problems and I think it might cause some decline in form for you. Although you have not that many difficult fixtures during this period apart from us and Spurs. I think you will beat Tottenham at home though so it is really up to us to stop you. We must win that game I think if not I think you will be 10-12 points clear come new year and that will be very difficult to catch.

Looking at the games. Leicester, Huddersfield, West Ham, Southampton, Swansea I can't really see anyone of those giving you any problems. Maybe Leicester, but you should be very fresh for that game although still give them best chance to hurt you.
You got Liverpool away then as the only really difficult game before Februari so the winter looks really kind to you.

It can easily be 15 points up by Februari looking at the fixtures and with that well even when you get more difficult games I doubt you will bottle it.

 

[GhastlyHun]

I do love Utd fans. We always hold up our hands when rivals play beautiful football.

We don't get all bitter and silly about it like Liverpool and City fans.

We all deserve credit. Well, most of us.

You, sir, are a wonderful human being, as are most of you, and you all deserve credit!

(It's even only half tongue-in-cheek at max ^^ This is a good board for both football and other stuff.)

 

[Peanut Butter]

You, sir, are a wonderful human being, as are most of you, and you all deserve credit!

(It's even only half tongue-in-cheek at max ^^ This is a good board for both football and other stuff.)

 

[BobbyManc]

Burnley - Lost Chris Wood early when looking dangerous. You were struggling to break through until being awarded a dodgy penalty.
You can't argue with the facts.

You know you're having a lucky season when Chris Wood gets injured against you! Imagine what he would have done to City's defence. Maybe he would have added to one of his four Premier League goals

 

[FCBarca]

Rewatched the Arsenal match, entertaining stuff even on 2nd viewing.

Iwobi, Koscielny and Ramsey were very good in particular and Alexis continues to be a cut above

Thought it was smart from Wenger to drop into a back line of 5 and push forward with 3 - in the 2nd half with tired legs, City looked susceptible. Think most defenses will look to replicate that approach to frustrate City going forward but you have to have the right personnel to succeed at it. Arsenal look better than I’ve read

Sané negated any impact from Bellerin while Sterling was a constant threat- despite how often he squandered chances

Clear to me City can still get much better

 

[redahair]

There was a city fan on twitter yesterday who commented saying something along the lines of "watching the chelsea and utd game makes you realise how good we are, the quality of football we are producing is in a league of it's own" i can't remember word for word, but i thought you cocky fooker. I don't mind city fans being confident, but hold back a bit mate.

I dislike when any fans start the blowing their own trumpet prematurely, it sets up for when they fail to make it embarrassing. City are playing very well though, but yesterday Arsenal were passing short and giving them the ball away too much, it was falling into City's hands. Sanchez was dreadful and if I was a City fan, I would not want him near the club. When it's going well he is good, but when things aren't going his way he strops, blames teammates and looks disinterested. A poor attitude to have.

This post is all over the show you start on one thing and veer of like a car out of control.try and make one valid point not several different ones it doesnt make sense.

 

[RooneyLegend]

At this rate their only worry should be Pep running his midfield into the ground. Back in his Barca days it often felt like the team was taking a rest when they had the ball, but the City side produces some high octane football and their pressing vs Arsenal was all over the place in the second half.

 

[DanClancy]

Rewatched the Arsenal match, entertaining stuff even on 2nd viewing.

Iwobi, Koscielny and Ramsey were very good in particular and Alexis continues to be a cut above

Thought it was smart from Wenger to drop into a back line of 5 and push forward with 3 - in the 2nd half with tired legs, City looked susceptible. Think most defenses will look to replicate that approach to frustrate City going forward but you have to have the right personnel to succeed at it. Arsenal look better than I’ve read

Sané negated any impact from Bellerin while Sterling was a constant threat- despite how often he squandered chances

Clear to me City can still get much better

I thought Sanchez was poor in the first half especially his passing.

I was surprised at the reaction to Arsenal's performance, in the first half I was disappointed with them in possession and they lacked quality when in possession but in the 2nd half they played well and well in the game only for a poor decision.

 

[FCBarca]

You play 5-4-1, you isolate Alexis - he never had any real space to work in and even less help to really do some harm to City until Lacazette came on. Of course, by then Wenger had no choice but to change the formation

 

[bond19821982]

Read somewhere that city will struggle to move ball this fast during winter as the surface is going to be much more moisturized. First I ignored this as a rawkish level of delusion but they had the same problem last year and under pellegrini ( who also recycled the ball much quicker)

Any more thoughts on this ?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Read somewhere that city will struggle to move ball this fast during winter as the surface is going to be much more moisturized. First I ignored this as a rawkish level of delusion but they had the same problem last year and under pellegrini ( who also recycled the ball much quicker)

Any more thoughts on this ?

Yes I think moisture will win us the league. Signing of the season.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

At this rate their only worry should be Pep running his midfield into the ground. Back in his Barca days it often felt like the team was taking a rest when they had the ball, but the City side produces some high octane football and their pressing vs Arsenal was all over the place in the second half.

From our Pov it's their midifield and central defence that could be exposed. Apart from fernandinho they don't have any proper CMs (huge credit to pep for making it work). And in defence you never know when Otamendi and Stones drop off because they don't have much in that position other than them.

 

[Thunderhead]

Read somewhere that city will struggle to move ball this fast during winter as the surface is going to be much more moisturized. First I ignored this as a rawkish level of delusion but they had the same problem last year and under pellegrini ( who also recycled the ball much quicker)

Any more thoughts on this ?

load of bollocks, if anything you can move the ball quicker with moisture on the surface, it's not like the 1980's when playing in ploughed tettie fields

 

[amolbhatia50k]

There was a city fan on twitter yesterday who commented saying something along the lines of "watching the chelsea and utd game makes you realise how good we are, the quality of football we are producing is in a league of it's own" i can't remember word for word, but i thought you cocky fooker. I don't mind city fans being confident, but hold back a bit mate.

I dislike when any fans start the blowing their own trumpet prematurely, it sets up for when they fail to make it embarrassing. City are playing very well though, but yesterday Arsenal were passing short and giving them the ball away too much, it was falling into City's hands. Sanchez was dreadful and if I was a City fan, I would not want him near the club. When it's going well he is good, but when things aren't going his way he strops, blames teammates and looks disinterested. A poor attitude to have.

Rubbish. Sanchez has a terrific mentality. One of the very best players in the PL over the last 3-4 years.

 

[Varun]

Read somewhere that city will struggle to move ball this fast during winter as the surface is going to be much more moisturized. First I ignored this as a rawkish level of delusion but they had the same problem last year and under pellegrini ( who also recycled the ball much quicker)

Any more thoughts on this ?

Moisture makes the turf even better for quick slick passing. It's a dry surface that makes it tough to move the ball.

 

[DanClancy]

What are City's statistics like in terms of distance covered during the games, are they running further collectively then other teams?

 

[Manchester Dan]

What are City's statistics like in terms of distance covered during the games, are they running further collectively then other teams?

Sky put us midtable for that but top of the list for “most sprints” in the article they did last week.

 

[Treble]

What are City's statistics like in terms of distance covered during the games, are they running further collectively then other teams?

9th in distance covered but 1st in sprints.

In other words, they play with great intensity and arguably only rotation could make their style work over the course of the whole season.

 

[Manchester Dan]

Read somewhere that city will struggle to move ball this fast during winter as the surface is going to be much more moisturized. First I ignored this as a rawkish level of delusion but they had the same problem last year and under pellegrini ( who also recycled the ball much quicker)

Any more thoughts on this ?

A wet PL surface should just move slightly quicker because the water should drain away quickly but a poor pitch would become slower as it gets wet because the water would sit on the surface. In theory if the balls moving even quicker it’ll take better players to move it around at that speed, but equally the opposition would find it harder to retain the ball against a higher pressing side. The impact would be minimal at this level I’d imagine.

 

[Manchester Dan]

9th in distance covered but 1st in sprints.

In other words, they play with great intensity and arguably only rotation could make their style work over the course of the whole season.

How many of those sprints are us attacking and how many are of us pressing, would be interested to see. I’d imagine the majority of those come from our front 3 and they get rotated the most in the side.