Man City - the new bitters?

[Numero Veinticinco]

5 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

I'd love them to sign Messi and us to sign Mbappe. 

Yeah, if they sign Messi then I shrug. If they sign Mbappe and/or Haaland... then I sigh and turn off the TV. 

[Aventus]

I think this is their worst start since before the Arabs blessed them with their blood money. 

 

And I don't see the point in pep signing a 2 year deal, and all this talk about him rebuilding the team, he's spent literally hundreds of millions and he's made them worse, how is this rebuild going to be different? And if he does do a decent job of rebuilding the team it'll take them a season to settle in anyway and then peps contract is up the season after. 

 

Seems very panicked and reactionary. 

[SlugTrail]

30 minutes ago, Aventus said:

I think this is their worst start since before the Arabs blessed them with their blood money. 

 

And I don't see the point in pep signing a 2 year deal, and all this talk about him rebuilding the team, he's spent literally hundreds of millions and he's made them worse, how is this rebuild going to be different? And if he does do a decent job of rebuilding the team it'll take them a season to settle in anyway and then peps contract is up the season after. 

 

Seems very panicked and reactionary. 

Maybe he has taken a leaf out of Jose's book. Sign a new contract then piss everyone off loose games and get the sack with a big payout. Then onto the next poor saps.

[aRdja]

14 hours ago, Bruce Spanner said:

I think it was Barney Roney who did a piece recently saying this type of player is really going to suffer with how football has recently evolved.

 

He compared him to Gini and said that by the time Mahrez had collected the ball, looked around and thought about his options Gini had blocked off three passing lanes, pressed, won the ball back, looked for a scoring opportunity and if none presents quickly pass it to a team mate he knew would be in space as they all understand the press and the angles in the space that’s left. 
 

You can’t have players who choose their own space as everything is so drilled and organised to work in tandem. It’s why Shaq finds it difficult here.

 

Thought it was quite interesting.

Yup. Him and Jonathan Liew are the two best football writes around IMO. 
 

”The problem Pogba faces, for example, is tactical. He has become outmoded as an elite midfielder, a poor fit for the current vogue for high-energy, hard-pressing football. Gini Wijnaldum, for example, has taken 15 steps, played a zippy give-and-go, and blocked three separate avenues of attack in the time it takes Pogba to measure one delightful lofted pass, or glide into an unexpected pocket of space. The same goes for Mahrez and Özil: high-grade footballers whose failings in certain forms of team-play are now deemed to outweigh their super-strengths in dribbling and passing.”

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/nov/14/joao-felixs-thrilling-emergence-halts-decline-of-footballs-superfluous-men?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[rb14]

16 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

Christ I forgot he existed. 

Good lord.

[Razoray]

20 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

Weird how Mahrez has fallen - though it is a testament to the job Ranieri did there.

Only Vardy has come out unscathed - Maguire found out as a donkey, Kante shuffled around the midfield, Drinkwater producing his own highlight reel, not sure Okazaki is still in the game.

 

I guess Chilwell has kicked on.

Didn't Maguire play with Hull the season Leicester won the league? Huth and Morgan were Ranieri's 2 CBs.

[TheHowieLama]

5 minutes ago, Razoray said:

Didn't Maguire play with Hull the season Leicester won the league? Huth and Morgan were Ranieri's 2 CBs.

You may be right pal - if anything it makes Ranieri look even better.

[LFC 6 Times]

They’re a million miles from the team they were. Losing Sane, Silva and Kompany. Aguero and Fernandinho’s presence fading, Bernardo Silva’s form falling off a cliff. They’re a quite ordinary now, their squad reminds me of Arsenal under Wenger now.

[Lario]

Comparing other midfielders to Gini is very unfair.

 

not only does he beast them on the pitch, that smile....*swoon*

[Stickman]

Even De Bruyne on Saturday looked a bit pissed off and was trying to do everything and far too much but I guess when you’re used to slapping teams 6, 7 and 8-0 then when it stops happening it can be a bit of a pisser .

Having said that I wouldn’t write them off just yet as there’s only 8 games gone and at the minute  they’re still our biggest challengers for the title 

[El Rojo]

3 hours ago, Razoray said:

Didn't Maguire play with Hull the season Leicester won the league? Huth and Morgan were Ranieri's 2 CBs.

Yeah, and they were a solid pair. It was a perfect storm of a season for them in a lot of ways with the 'bigger' clubs in various states of flux. Spurs completely bottled it, Leicester didn't. Still a great achievement though, particularly given that they came out of nowhere. Nobody flukes a league title. Kante and Vardy were phenomenal that year. 

[Trumo]

30 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Yeah, and they were a solid pair. It was a perfect storm of a season for them in a lot of ways with the 'bigger' clubs in various states of flux. Spurs completely bottled it, Leicester didn't. Still a great achievement though, particularly given that they came out of nowhere. Nobody flukes a league title. Kante and Vardy were phenomenal that year. 

 

Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Kante, Albrighton; Okazaki, Vardy

 

That was their regular starting XI, with a squad full of journeymen and a journeyman manager. It's still hard to believe they did what they did, even when you consider that all the usual contenders were in a state of flux and ridiculously inconsistent. They only lost to ourselves and Arsenal (the latter twice), and finished on 81 points, still 10 points clear of 2nd placed Arsenal. And all just a year after narrowly avoiding relegation!

[aws]

1 hour ago, Trumo said:

 

Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Kante, Albrighton; Okazaki, Vardy

 

That was their regular starting XI, with a squad full of journeymen and a journeyman manager. It's still hard to believe they did what they did, even when you consider that all the usual contenders were in a state of flux and ridiculously inconsistent. They only lost to ourselves and Arsenal (the latter twice), and finished on 81 points, still 10 points clear of 2nd placed Arsenal. And all just a year after narrowly avoiding relegation!

So you're saying Everton have got a chance? 

[Aventus]

2 hours ago, Trumo said:

 

Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, Kante, Albrighton; Okazaki, Vardy

 

That was their regular starting XI, with a squad full of journeymen and a journeyman manager. It's still hard to believe they did what they did, even when you consider that all the usual contenders were in a state of flux and ridiculously inconsistent. They only lost to ourselves and Arsenal (the latter twice), and finished on 81 points, still 10 points clear of 2nd placed Arsenal. And all just a year after narrowly avoiding relegation!

Tottenham finishing third in their two horse title race was a less talked about but still appreciated highlight for me. 

[Harry Squatter]

[deiseach]

13 minutes ago, Doctor Troy said:

[Stickman]

Always the victims 

[Heinze]

I thought Laporte was meant to be better than VVD?

[Harry Squatter]

Evertonian level of delusion.

[Halcyon Days]

Footy fans + internet = cunts.

Except us lot, the last vestige of balance and fair play.

[Vincent Vega]

37 minutes ago, Doctor Troy said:

There’s more.

 

[Leyton388]

Hahaha

 

The whoppers thought they would dominate the league and Europe for years to come and have it their own way while everybody bent over to them while also being in ore of them.

 

 

[Aventus]

I understand a bit of bias here and there, but most of that is just factually incorrect, especially the bollocks about being anti-football and kicking players off the park. 

 

 

[SlugTrail]

Were we any different during the utd period of dominance. I bet there were comments simular to that by many reds fans.

[Chocoholic]

The time to try keep the plates spinning, is when they're already spinning. Most of Pep's plates are hurtling fast towards the floor, some of them smashing into pieces. Having to replace 2-3 players is one thing, even with the money he's given, but having to replace 6-7, through a combination of ageing, susceptibility to injury, and simply not having replaced key players such as Kompany, has left him looking complacent, naive and vulnerable.

 

The contract extension is something of an act of bravado and defiance, and not wanting to be seen to be running away from the fire, which he's terrified of. he's probably wishing he'd gone when he had the chance, but he's stayed and doubled down on that decision, for better or worse.

 

He's never had to completely rebuild a team before, partly because he's always had top quality players at his disposal, and partly because he's never stuck around long enough to have to do it. Given his obsession with spending £50M+ on defenders and still not getting the defence sorted, the money they throw at Haaland, or whichever other attacking player they go after, will be pissed into the wind if they don't sort out the defence and defensive midfield which was once rock solid with Kompany and Fernandinho, albeit with the aid of endlessly unpunished shithousery.

 

He's in new territory, totally naked. Let's see if the supposed king can buy himself a wardrobe of new clothes.