Man City - the new bitters?

[Section_31]

I'm not arsed if they surpass our trophy haul because it's all meaningless anyway, they'll buy leagues and cups, we know it, they know it, Guardiola knows it, which is why he's turned into such a paranoid and generally odd, miserable bastard. 

 

Them winning trophies doesn't bother me, what bothers me is a league that's non competitive for potentially years if not decades to come, it's basically the end of the premier League as a competitive sport, with everyone else just competing for 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

 

That's not a sport I want to watch. The yanks are super capitalists but even they know that's a bad idea, which is why they structure NFL the way they do.

 

[3 Stacks]

Newcastle will make it competitive in a bit. So will Chelsea, and so would Man United if they figure it out. Those 3 have the finances to compete.

 

The hand wringing over the Super League looks stupider as time goes on, btw.

[Barrington Womble]

Their additional 3 point lead tonight though is fuck all to do with their money. We went into a game complacent and just expected to roll them over and we didn't. We have the capability right now to match them, but we're having too many days where we're just not sharp enough. And number of games and all that is no excuse. Our best players haven't played since spurs.

[Daisy]

You just know theyll turn a bit shit when Klopp goes and we're left with them FSG cunts and a 35 year old Mane

[Section_31]

20 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Their additional 3 point lead tonight though is fuck all to do with their money. We went into a game complacent and just expected to roll them over and we didn't. We have the capability right now to match them, but we're having too many days where we're just not sharp enough. And number of games and all that is no excuse. Our best players haven't played since spurs.

 

Us losing is nothing to do with their money, but the fact they'll undoubtedly capitalise on it definitely is 

[Barrington Womble]

Just now, Section_31 said:

 

Us losing is nothing to do with their money, but the fact they'll undoubtedly capitalise on it definitely is 

Well obviously they're Manchester city who wouldn't even be challenging for a place in Europe without money. But they didn't capitalise on boxing Day because they had money, they capitalised because they did their job and played ok  - they have better players and won. We on the other hand didn't do our job. City set us a challenge to match their Leicester result. We failed - and money didn't come into it. We had more than enough quality to win. Our quality just didn't produce. That Leicester team were a fucking shambles tonight. We can blame boogeymen from Abu Dhabi as much as we like. But our dropped points are on us as we didn't perform. 

 

 

[TheHowieLama]

Bit different in that their game was at home but whatevz

[Jimmy Hills Chin]

The sad thing about it all for me is that I don’t think that this Man City side is as good as that a few years ago but unfortunately nor are we and our drop off is arguably greater.

 

We have a few new players but have seen diminishing returns from the likes of Bobby, Sadio and Hendo (all massive figures in our recent trophy haul) whilst the likes of Trent, Robbo, Virg and Ali are not playing at the level they previously were, to me anyway.

 

This is a big gap to fill and whilst I take on board we can’t spend like the likes of city, I think that with a couple more top quality players we would causing the cheating shithouses a lot more problems.

 

You can argue the point about squad strength till you’re blue in the face but the fact is there were no players on the bench today who looked like a potential match winner given the chance. The type of player who can force a change when the eleven aren’t performing is a must for challenging sides and we are in short supply. Such a shame when it could make all the difference.

 

 

[coachpotato]

Their best eleven and our best eleven, currently, are very even.

They too are capable of having “off” days/nights as we did against Leicester last night.

They have an obvious financial advantage when it comes to buying and maintaining a large squad, which is one of the main reasons, over a season, where they should edge it over us, depending on how injuries and suspensions affect each squad.

We can’t afford to have too many of either, they can because they just bring in another similar player and carry on.

The only other difference that I perceive is they are more ruthless than we are, which could be construed as other teams rolling over more for them than us, but I don’t think it’s just that. There’s a coldness and aggressive streak to them such that they rarely take their foot off the gas at 3 or 4 goals up, they destroy teams, not just outplay them.

It could be a reflection on their coach and his outlook, whereas our coach doesn’t give the impression of being cold and ruthless.

All in all, it is a minor miracle that we have lived with them for several seasons now, where all the other teams in the PL haven’t.

We’re still more feared in Europe I suspect, by the big hitters, than they are, but that might change when they win their first CL, and they will at some point, because ultimately, that is why vast amounts of money still get thrown at them.

Hopefully they’ll have to wait a little while longer for it to happen.

I also agree that the ESL hasn’t gone away and is more likely to happen the longer City and their likes turn domestic and international competitions into Scottish football.

[Grinch]

It’s absolute nonsense to be suggesting our first XI is better then theirs.  Hasn’t been since before anyone heard of covid.

 

Mane’s form has been shite for that time.  City would have long gone from their side.  

The midfield is a complete mess.  We’ve two players who’ve ever shown consistent good form for the club and one of those is having a bad season.  Our supposedly best midfield rarely plays together and rarely will cause they’re all injury prone.

 

Virgil is coming back from a bad injury, Robertson form nosedived.  Nothing in it with Ali and Ederson any more either.

 

This isn’t 2019 anymore.

[Section_31]

I do think our first eleven is a match for theirs and better in every department except midfield. Midfield is the weakest part of our side but their strongest. I wouldn't take their goalie, attack or defence over ours.

 

The issue is the money. They've never had any belt tightening even during Covid, they never will, they can spend mind-blowing amounts on middling players like Graelish, wheras even now with a proven manager, we're always counting the pennies. We won't buy anyone in Jan and if we do, they're likely to be a squad player. 

 

To match them we have to stay fit and remain at our peak indefinitely because they can come at us with new players and teams year in and year out, if new players don't work out then rip it up and start again. FFP? No problem!

 

To paraphrase the IRA, they only have to be lucky once, we have to be lucky always.

[Pete]

Said it before & I'll say it again. The worst thing to happen to English football was them beating Gillingham in the play off final all those years ago.  They'd be lumbering around league one & the championship if not for that win.  

Let them win everything for the next few years and then see how supporters feel then. Take the piss out of the scottish league all you want , we're basically at that point now.  

[TheDrowningMan]

10 minutes ago, Pete said:

Said it before & I'll say it again. The worst thing to happen to English football was them beating Gillingham in the play off final all those years ago.  They'd be lumbering around league one & the championship if not for that win.  

Let them win everything for the next few years and then see how supporters feel then. Take the piss out of the scottish league all you want , we're basically at that point now.  

The thing is, sustained dominance hasn’t changed anything in Scotland or Germany or Italy. As long as the money rolls in, no one gives a fuck. City have been sold as good for the game, and the uncritical masses buy it wholesale.

 

If I had to choose, I’d honestly rather Man Utd won the league than them. Dominance is one thing - we’ve been there, Utd have been there - but sport without vulnerability is a fucking slog. At least the red Mancs earned their place at the top table.
 

Once City get a few points ahead, that’s it. Despite never winning the league when Utd were dominate while we had Evans, Houllier and Benitez, you wouldn’t have felt 6 points behind at Christmas almost insurmountable.

[Leyton388]

Said it in the match thread last night. Thats the way the league used to be in that title challengers would lose games and you could lose between 3 and 5 games in a season and still won the league, however with these finaically doped up cheating twats they can have players out and bring a £100m substitute off the bench. 

 

I mean just say that back to yourself £100m substitute. Its totally grotesque and in order to now have a chance to win the league other teams including us need to win 99.9 to 100% of their games. Even a draw these days,is not good enough. 

 

Us winning the league  a few seasons ago was a bloody miracle considering what we were up against and should be regarded as the greatest achievement in the clubs history. 

 

I mean we have currently lost 2 games this season. Back before these cancerous fucks got their money we would be sitting top of the league and looking pretty good going into thec2nd half of the season. As it stands we could be 9 points behind at the end of the day with the title pretty nuch gone. 

 

Again its just a corruption of our game by some human rights abusing twats with their blood money. I was absolutely taken back that they were invited into the super league.

 

Then on the other hand you have us and we were competing with city on a regular basis, then our owners decided to put the cheque book away, stand still and think the have work was done. I've said it from day one that they have no clue how football works and stand by that today. 

 

They can bring in all the sponsorships they like, build new stands ect have a great balance sheet vut of you allow your main asset at the club such as the playing squad to stand still, not invest and become stale you will fall back quick.

 

This is exactly what has happened. They've invested the bare minimum,  got lucky with Klopp but the chicken's came home to roost last year and they've still learnt fuck all. 

 

Havung that mentality at the club has massively hurt us and allowed city to get miles ahead which is a shame as they are wasting thr nest manager and squad we have had in 30 plus years. They just can't see the wood for the trees. 

 

As for city theyll continue to buy at grotesquely inflated prices and the rest of us feed off the scraps. 

 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Scumbag club owned by whore masters supported by inbred ingrates and pandered to by paid up journalists and pundits who would sell their mother for a tenner. Newcastle will be worse one day as they are the least classy fan base in a sea of spilt Newcastle Brown and fag ends. Wait till they come out of the woodwork their ‘ legends ‘ they can all fuck off and bum Arse and Dick in the castle by Towyn. 

[KevieG]

When Guardiola goes it will level things up to some extent. It's only when you couple their huge financial advantage over everyone with one of the two best managers in the world that you get this utter dominance that we have now in the league. 

 

Hopefully he does actually fuck off in 2023, and Klopp stays on. 

[Barrington Womble]

44 minutes ago, KevieG said:

When Guardiola goes it will level things up to some extent. It's only when you couple their huge financial advantage over everyone with one of the two best managers in the world that you get this utter dominance that we have now in the league. 

 

Hopefully he does actually fuck off in 2023, and Klopp stays on. 

It'll also be interesting to see who they replace him with. There's no doubt this squad has been built for his very specific way of playing. 

[Aventus]

1 hour ago, TheDrowningMan said:

The thing is, sustained dominance hasn’t changed anything in Scotland or Germany or Italy. As long as the money rolls in, no one gives a fuck. City have been sold as good for the game, and the uncritical masses buy it wholesale.

 

If I had to choose, I’d honestly rather Man Utd won the league than them. Dominance is one thing - we’ve been there, Utd have been there - but sport without vulnerability is a fucking slog. At least the red Mancs earned their place at the top table.
 

Once City get a few points ahead, that’s it. Despite never winning the league when Utd were dominate while we had Evans, Houllier and Benitez, you wouldn’t have felt 6 points behind at Christmas almost insurmountable.

Football was always cyclical, you'd have one team dominating for a while but they would always be a couple of bad decisions away from losing that, and another team was always a couple of good decisions away from taking their spot.

 

We had our turn in the 70s and 80s, we found something that worked and promoted our managers from in house to maintain the continuity, eventually it stopped working and we were shit for a long time, man United had their turn with Ferguson, once he left they went to shit again. 

 

The money in the game is obscene and will be forever that won't change, my issue is that in the past if a team spent big money on a player it was a massive gamble, if it doesn't pay off then you are fucked. 

Imagine if Van Dijk flopped, we wouldn't be where we are now because we wouldn't have had the money to try again with a different CB, it was a massive gamble that paid off. 

 

Man City can spend 50m on a player, and if it doesn't work, fuck it, spend another 60m on a different player, that doesn't work try again and again until they're successful. That's the problem, everyone else has to live with their bad choices but no other team can roll the dice so often til they get the result they want.

 

So when other teams dominance ended when a generational manager leaves, or they make bad financial decisions, or they're bought by some bad owners, when does man city's dominance end? When they run out of money? 

[TheHowieLama]

2 hours ago, Leyton388 said:

Said it in the match thread last night. Thats the way the league used to be in that title challengers would lose games and you could lose between 3 and 5 games in a season and still won the league

 

 

 

City will lose between 3 and 5 games this season.

What they won't do is put up 6 or 8 draws.

 

We will do both.

[m0e]

Anyone who thinks City can match these results without Guardiola has no clue what the fuck they're talking about.

[corro]

6 hours ago, m0e said:

Anyone who thinks City can match these results without Guardiola has no clue what the fuck they're talking about.

What results? Don’t be getting carried away with the genius of saint Pep. 

[Strontium]

6 hours ago, m0e said:

Anyone who thinks City can match these results without Guardiola has no clue what the fuck they're talking about.

 

Sam Allardyce could manage this squad to the title.

[Halcyon Days]

Booorinnnng

[3 Stacks]

Guardiola is the x factor that's made them one of the best teams in Premier League history, but they'd still win the title every few seasons with any decent manager.

[TheHowieLama]

10 minutes ago, corro said:

What results? Don’t be getting carried away with the genius of saint Pep. 

Yea, with you here. 

 

He was brought in to win the CL and hasn't delivered.

 

Mancini imo did a good job. Getting that first PL title opened the floodgates.

Pellegrini had them scoring over 100 golas years ago.

The only thing that has changed in that time is that the teams at the bottom have gotten worse.

The bottom three used to regularly get low 30's. My guess is none of the teams relegated this year will get that.