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Couldn't care less about Man u this year. Its probably best for us if they push for top 4 as its far better if they don't get Pochittino and that little fucker keeps the job. If they are playing better more chance they take points of Spurs and City too. 

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15 minutes ago, Lee909 said:

Couldn't care less about Man u this year. Its probably best for us if they push for top 4 as its far better if they don't get Pochittino and that little fucker keeps the job. If they are playing better more chance they take points of Spurs and City too. 

Plus we definitely want them to be in the Europa next season and not having a week to prepare for all their league games.

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37 minutes ago, Dr Nowt said:

Plus we definitely want them to be in the Europa next season and not having a week to prepare for all their league games.

Exactly 

Them going through in the Champions League was better too. No way they are good enough to win in and no back door to the Champions League via Europa either

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Football fans have the weirdest aptitude to apply mystical or "buckling under the pressure" type scenarios to simple failings of personnel. City played today without Fernandinho, without David Silva, without Aguero. Put De Bruyne and the other great players aside - those 3 are the core of the team. The midfield engine that stops opposition running at Stones & co.; the passing-metronome at the heartbeat of their 80% possession statistics; a top-10 historical league scorer and the only out-and-out centre forward at the club.

 

Ultimately if City continue to play many more games without those 3 they are going to drop points. Ultimately if we keep the 11 fit who played against Wolves (emphasis on Alison, Van Dijk, Mane, Salah), we won't. When the margins are as tight as they are between us both, it's going to come down to who can get their core out on the pitch the most through the rest of the season. On the plus side, we definitely have age on our side.

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2 hours ago, Alex_K said:

Football fans have the weirdest aptitude to apply mystical or "buckling under the pressure" type scenarios to simple failings of personnel. City played today without Fernandinho, without David Silva, without Aguero. Put De Bruyne and the other great players aside - those 3 are the core of the team. The midfield engine that stops opposition running at Stones & co.; the passing-metronome at the heartbeat of their 80% possession statistics; a top-10 historical league scorer and the only out-and-out centre forward at the club.

 

Ultimately if City continue to play many more games without those 3 they are going to drop points. Ultimately if we keep the 11 fit who played against Wolves (emphasis on Alison, Van Dijk, Mane, Salah), we won't. When the margins are as tight as they are between us both, it's going to come down to who can get their core out on the pitch the most through the rest of the season. On the plus side, we definitely have age on our side.

Fernandinho is their most important player. They have enough technical quality and firepower to at least replicate the threat Silva and Aguero pose. Not to the extent when those two are fit, but they'll still score a good amount without them and they still have the technical players to control matches. What they don't have is someone who can play holding midfield and stop counters when Fernandinho isn't there.

 

Stones and Gundogan aren't good options at that position and don't have the mobility or positional sense. Teams can really get at them when Fernandinho isn't there. Assume that's why Pep wanted Jorginho this summer and there were rumours of Fred too before that. Agree with most of what you said though. 

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8 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Fernandinho is their most important player. They have enough technical quality and firepower to at least replicate the threat Silva and Aguero pose. Not to the extent when those two are fit, but they'll still score a good amount without them and they still have the technical players to control matches. What they don't have is someone who can play holding midfield and stop counters when Fernandinho isn't there.

 

Stones and Gundogan aren't good options at that position and don't have the mobility or positional sense. Teams can really get at them when Fernandinho isn't there. Assume that's why Pep wanted Jorginho this summer and there were rumours of Fred too before that. Agree with most of what you said though. 

 

Spot on.

 

It's a real pity they'll spend another 50 squillion quid in January to replace/challenge him.

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1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

Fernandinho is their most important player. They have enough technical quality and firepower to at least replicate the threat Silva and Aguero pose. Not to the extent when those two are fit, but they'll still score a good amount without them and they still have the technical players to control matches. What they don't have is someone who can play holding midfield and stop counters when Fernandinho isn't there.

 

Stones and Gundogan aren't good options at that position and don't have the mobility or positional sense. Teams can really get at them when Fernandinho isn't there. Assume that's why Pep wanted Jorginho this summer and there were rumours of Fred too before that. Agree with most of what you said though. 

1

 

While they clearly wanted Jorginho, he strangely seems like a very different type of player to Fernandinho - of the group, he seems closer to the Silva type than Fernandinho. Quietly, it looks like Fabinho may become our type of player in that position, but with even more quality on the ball than Fernandinho ..

 

I do think those 3 are probably equally important in their own ways -- without Aguero City had a pretty scabby victory at Watford and are generally a lot weaker up top, and when Silva went off at Chelsea they completely faded out of the game. The Fernandinho-Silva pivot looks like the real glue there with De Bruyne the all-action icing on top .. some similarities with the Mascherano-Alonso pivot when Gerrard was more a luxury but not as key to us technically dominating games. It was remarked today how Sane & Sterling weren't getting the ball in key positions - that surely comes as consequence with the different midfield set up for them.

 

They have old players where it counts, City. If it was us, we'd probably be quite worried - especially if those niggling injuries continue. Southampton & Leicester are probably as nasty an away game to have at the moment as any side outside the top 6 - fancy both sides to really get at them physically.

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1 hour ago, niallers said:

It may have been said already, but the more I see Townsends volley, the more impressed with it I am. A side volley from a dropping ball and it was like a Exocet.

Has to be goal of the season

 

Yep. I imagine that is what Suarez's ridiculous effort off the post against Arsenal would've looked like, had it gone in. 

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