That front 5 ahead of Citys defence and Fernandinho is excellent. I don't think it's as good, but I'd like to see us have a front five of Pogba, Mata/Mkhi, Rashford, Martial and Lukaku ahead of Matic at some point. We'd still have Fellaini, Mata/Mkhi, Lingard and Zlatan on the bench as attacking options.
Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)
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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.
would be interesting to know how we would set up under guardiola, probably something like this
Lukaku
Martial Pogba Mata Mkhitaryan
Matic
Young Jones Bailly Valencia
De Gea
Lukaku
Martial Pogba Mata Mkhitaryan
Matic
Young Jones Bailly Valencia
De Gea
Awkward
He was 4th behind Rashford. City spreading fake news. SAD!
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/23/golden-boy-2017-kylian-mbappe-wins-award
He was 4th behind Rashford. City spreading fake news. SAD!
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/oct/23/golden-boy-2017-kylian-mbappe-wins-award
To be fair, last week it was said he made it to the final 3 and some reports yesterday still had him 3rd
So what's Jesus actual role at City? I've only watched them once this season and they played a 3-5-2. Is he a CF or a RW/LW?
Yes.
Just trying to clarify it as I read a city fan on my FB compare Jesus to Rashford (going by goals scored and apps) as if they play the same role
I think he has played both wings and CF, but we better wait for one of the Citizens around here.
Mostly as a no.9. Couple of times had a few minutes on the wing. Pep moves our players around a fair bit. Most games when sterling and sane start he's constantly up top. Moves about when he plays with kun.
At the moment it seems they can do no wrong. Alan Shearer jizzing over Pep and his boys was cringeworthy, and I know many posters and pundits alike have handed then the title already. They've been very impressive but I don't think they've faced much adversity so far. I look forward to their inevitable blip at some stage.
It is quite annoying when they're like this
It is quite annoying when they're like this
They've had it easy with injuries so far whilst we are still missing lots of key players. Let them get all the attention now, we just need to keep going about our business quietly. Titles are not won in October. They always struggle in the festive period and I'm sure we will take over the lead once that happens.At the moment it seems they can do no wrong. Alan Shearer jizzing over Pep and his boys was cringeworthy, and I know many posters and pundits alike have handed then the title already. They've been very impressive but I don't think they've faced much adversity so far. I look forward to their inevitable blip at some stage.
It is quite annoying when they're like this
The injury thing that keeps coming out is bizarre. I don’t think we’ve had it easy with injuries at all, I just think we’ve had enough depth in the squad to cope with them better than other sides.
- Mendy is out for the season, our only genuine recognised left-back (Fabien Delph is playing left-back for us! Would you have picked him there to be your first choice LB?)
- Kompany has been our for months already, a player who many said would be integral to our challenge. Stones and Otamendi had tons of stick on here last season and over summer. So losing Kompany AND your only left-back.
- Gundogan has already faced plenty of time out again. We’ve come to expect that now but it doesn’t make it any less damaging to the squad. Who knows what he could add to our midfield, maybe we’ll never find out.
- Aguero broke his ribs. OK he ended up only missing a handful of games, but one of those was Chelsea away. Supposedly one of our title challengers and toughest game so far.
I don't think it's all down to luck that we've had fewer injuries.
Looking at the make up of our squad compared to United's we tend to go for smaller, slimmer types on the whole whereas United have several physical specimens whose joints and muscles will have a greater strain on them.
There's also the game management side where some rotation and getting key players off the pitch with the game won, as City have been able to do in some games, can pay dividends.
The fact that United rarely put teams away early makes it necessary to keep the key players on until near the end.
I really struggle to understand your blurt about City always struggling around the festive period. What relevance do historic matches played by players who may not be at the club now and managed by guys who have left have?
Last season is the only one that gives any valid clues at all and Pep will look to improve on flaws as all top Managers analyse and work on weaknesses of past performance.
By the way, City lost to Liverpool on 31 Dec 16 but won all their other games from mid Dec to mid Jan when they lost to Everton.
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No one recognise Kompany as a full time player anymore, if he plays it's more of a bonus. Plenty of money was spent on CB for you to have backups.
Aguero missed 2 games, not a handful. 1 being a premier league game. He was out for 3 weeks and 2 weeks was during the international break. Also he was left on the bench this week for example, which shows he isn't as vital for you as years gone by. Players like Pogba and Bailly would be starting every single game for United they are that important.
He’s allowed to be on the bench because other players have stepped up. Aguero is a big miss for anyone, just because Sane Jesus and Sterling have been an excellent front 3 doesn’t suddenly mean the Aguero injury doesn’t matter. It just means we’ve got a better squad.
Same goes for Stones, Otamendi and Delph - if not of them stepped up and performed everyone would be pointing to Mendy and Kompany. You’re just dismissing it because it hasn’t effected our results.
Don't think they'll struggle much more than anyone else over Xmas. We do need them to go deep in every competition though. Think the wheels will start to come off around March if Pep try's to keep the same intensity throughout the season. I don't see Pep trying a more conservative approach. More teams will figure out a game plan to play them. When they're stopped from scoring early they will be using alot more energy to try & get the lead. Tired players leads to injured players.
Annoying how Kompany injuries are still used as an excuse for City's defensive frailties. Kompany is finished, over, left the building.
Aguero did miss the Chelsea game. This was more than made up for by Chelsea having a half fit Hazard on the pitch & they also lost Morata early on.
In 30 league games we've lost 2 games in the league this calendar year, conceding 29 and scoring 77 playing a possession based passing game so in 10 months and with a better team I'm not sure we're going to have this huge blip that United fans are hoping for, we may well do but it's not as guaranteed as many on here are hoping for. Teams have had plenty of time to work is out now but luckily so far no one has quite worked out how to stop the front 5 from scoring goals and even more so no one has worked out how they can create chances but stop us from creating them, we'll always give teams a chance or two but will create far more. Burnley and West Brom have shown we can create chances this season against teams that will sit deep
Yeah but Utd have lost 3 games in 13 (?) months in the league. That stat doesn't really say much.
City did finish 3rd last year and within a Liverpool result of 4th.
Lets not pretend City have been this monster longer than they have been.
City did finish 3rd last year and within a Liverpool result of 4th.
Lets not pretend City have been this monster longer than they have been.
You may experience fatigue later in the season though. You've barely rotated your CBs and your CMs except in the league cup. Every PL and CL game you play the same players exept for the front 3 where you are rotating 5 players. Now everything looks good but you will need the fringe players (Toure, Gundogan, Mangala, ec.) to step up at some point. And it is not clear whether they will be able to do it.
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Not entirely true. Just that they have serious depth.
Am I the only one not impressed with City so far? I mean going forward they are good bit their keeper and defence is shakey. I don't fear them at all and once Pogba is back I can see us closing that 5 point lead very quickly
are you treble_winning mk2?
Ederson has been excellent, and so have the defence. Where are you getting that view from in particular? More so on Ederson, some people will never accept Stones could be half decent.
So a guy isn't impressed with City and gets banned. Go figure.
Everybody should be impressed with them.
Everybody should be impressed with them.
Other than Mendy which key player is injured?
Am not worried about City one iota, defence wins you titles, come the new year I confidently predict they will be 2nd or 3rd,pep on the way to his customary meltdown and the natives getting restless,we have been here before!!
Historically Goal Difference > Goals Scored > Goals conceded as far as importance in winning a title.
United have had the best defensive record in just 2 out of the last 5 PL winning seasons:
12/13 - 4th best
10/11 - 3rd best
08/09 - 1st
07/08 - 1st
06/07 - 2nd best
The football has been good but they've yet to play anyone. Impossible to take anything from the Liverpool & Chelsea fixtures due to the freak incidents which changed the games.
West Brom showed at the weekend that they are still highly vulnerable to the high ball over the top as it completely negates there press. They don't really have any physical presence in the side to handle this. If we go into the Derby no more than 6 pts behind & have Pogba, Fellaini, & Ibra back we should win comfortably. If we can keep injuries to a minimum & get our fair share of lady luck the leagues ours to lose.
Come on now, do you honestly think we'll have a comfortable game against them? If we win, it'll be tough fought and a difficult game.
West Brom actually passed from the back out of City's press creating mismatches, one of which led to their early goal. More teams should look to actually work the ball up the field instead of clearing it out.
I will say City have yet to face a team that is uber-clinical on the counter. Watching Leicester's first goal this weekend, I wonder how a matchup between City and Leicester would go, even with Leicester's recent woes. As it happens, City are really good on the break themselves, so teams are petrified of giving them any space to run into.
What was the freak incident in Chelsea away? Morata going off? That doesn’t make dominating Chelsea there is an easy thing to do at all. Daft. I find it bizarre we can be 10 games in to a season and be yet to face a test.
People saying that City are “yet to face a test” are probably the same people who reckon Bayern and Barça’s titles are worth less because “they don’t play in a tough league like the PL where every game is difficult.”
City were comfortable as vs West Brom; the scoreline is deceptive.
They were. The second goal was a brain freeze from Otamendi. In previous seasons West Brom would have equalized after that.
I'm not someone who's head is in the sand when it comes to City however you have to admit in your two big games thus far circumstances have helped you out considerably
Mane's sending off v Liverpool
Morata's injury (and Conte's subsequent tactics) v Chelsea
I also look at your remaining tough fixtures this year and bar the derby they're all at home (Arsenal and Spurs) and that's where my fear about City really comes from, you could conceivably go into the next year still unbeaten and with a big enough lead that there's very little preasure on you from one week to the next in the second half of the season (essentially how the last 3 titles have been won)
That happened in the 92nd min? Not much time to equalise really.
Could have sworn West Brom had a few more minutes on the clock.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41703865
90+2 and match report says they never had enough time to get another.
So a guy isn't impressed with City and gets banned. Go figure.
Everybody should be impressed with them.
Presumably he went along the namco route of not having a clue, facts or reasoning.
Dept is doing a good job of continuing it.
'City not played anyone of note' - ok, not looking as one sided as 2 weeks ago, but: played 4 of top 10. Won 4, goals for 15, goals against 0.
Cf United: played 3 of top 10. Won 2, drew 1. Goals for 2, goals against 0.
'Freak results': 10-man City not beating Everton. Bournemouth scoring a goal of the season. Liverpool not beating a bus, and mane not being able to catch it. Southampton not getting at least a draw against a bus. Kane copying Mane and missing the bus. Stoke not quite winning.
'Only United have major injuries':
Poor Kane, Mane, Mendy, Aguero, Kompany - clearly not major losses...
Wolves in the cup was probably the closest to a loss, with Bravo coming to the rescue and doing a Willy.
Napoli away this week should be another test.
Impressed is a tough ask for a die-hard to say, but resorting to blinkered inaccurate views seems an easy goto for some.