Other football

[kalasoma]

Think Swansea will be hard pressed to keep some of their better players. But then again, they seem to manage to sell players for profit and find better players at bargain prices.

[jsims]

fuck right off!

 

You should layed that bet off at betfair for a guaranteed £120-£150 profit when it got to 4-0

 

(if you want me to show you how its done drop me a msg)

 

You were unlucky though

[FanchesterCity]

He's been their best defender all season.

 

Not 100% sure about that, but he's been the best buy of the summer... actually the ONLY buy that was any good.

 

I'd make a case for Zab being the best defender this season myself.

[Guest San Don]

Didnt think the ref needed to send the keeper off there.

 

Fair play to swansea. They did what they had to.

 

Hard lines bradford but they created a first by getting to a showpiece wembly final.

[Code]

Not 100% sure about that, but he's been the best buy of the summer... actually the ONLY buy that was any good.

 

I'd make a case for Zab being the best defender this season myself.

 

I dont really think Zabaleta is all that, but you are in a position to judge this better than me.

 

I doubt you have many complaints about Nastasic though.

[FanchesterCity]

Take your point on today Jair ( although a missed pen helps, ask WBA ), but they have looked a much lesser team this season & have allowed Utd to get miles ahead of them. They will go further backwards if those 4 start too often. Not as if they have loads of injuries either.

 

Nastisic has been a good buy. So far so good.

Rodwell is a bit of a speculative gamble.

Toure (Kolo) is leaving in the summer. He's past it, but he did actually have a cracking game today, against all the odds.

Garcia pretty disappointing and I don't think he's good enough.

 

As disappointed as I am that United are way ahead of us, they are way ahead of everybody. 19 points ahead of Chelsea, 21 points ahead of Arsenal.

It's scary stuff. City haven't progressed at all this season, and you could argue they've deteriorated. But it's very clear that United have progressed.

Sadly, they're the best team in the league again. We've tried beating them with money, and can't... and Arsenal have tried beating them with football, and can't.

Truth is, Ferguson's better than any other manager/ :-(

[Byrnie]

Not 100% sure about that, but he's been the best buy of the summer... actually the ONLY buy that was any good.

 

I'd make a case for Zab being the best defender this season myself.

 

I've seen a lot of you lot this season and I would imagine that Zabaleta will comfortably be your player of the season. The summer transfer window was horrendous and I can't imagine that the buys and sales were down to the manager.

[FanchesterCity]

I dont really think Zabaleta is all that, but you are in a position to judge this better than me.

 

I doubt you have many complaints about Nastasic though.

 

Agreed on both counts. He's not all that, but he's consistent and puts in a shift. I think fans value that more than a superstar type who only puts in a shift 1/3 of the time.

 

Nastisic gets bad press because he was bought along with the very poor buys - Garcia and Sinclair, and the 'punt' (Rodwell). I have zero complaints with him so far.

[FanchesterCity]

Player of the season so far will be either Zab or Milner. As much for work ethic as anything else.

When your team is under performing (like City have been), I think fans look at who is grafting and who isn't... and they appreciate those putting in a real shift.

 

Too little too late though for us. Just playing for some sort of pride in trying to narrow the gap to something a bit more respectable than 12 points, but I suspect United will finish even further ahead. Deeply saddening and worrying.

[King Gheedorah]

From tonight's Fenerbache game

 

[xerxes]

Giving Rafa a swerve looks to have been a smart move by FSG, Chelsea seems to have exposed him, and the madrid job must be ebbing away now. I thought they were poor against City.

[Code]

City's biggest mistake for me this season has been not to give Balotelli consistent game time and then sell him in January.

 

Look at him now, he offers the pace and unpredictability Dzeko does not, massive mistake for me that.

[FanchesterCity]

Giving Rafa a swerve looks to have been a smart move by FSG, Chelsea seems to have exposed him, and the madrid job must be ebbing away now. I thought they were poor against City.

 

City dominated them, but they were always in with a chance of snatching a win, or at least a draw.

The Chelsea fans were not pleased to see Lampard and Hazard taken off, esp as they had been potential threats (best of a bad bunch though).

 

Rafa's stock is diminishing game by game, and think he's made a terrible mistake in choosing Chelsea to be his shop window. There's just too much complication with Chelsea to know how much is Rafa's doing, and how much is behind the scenes turmoil. But the net result remains - public perception of him has deteriorated (imo).

 

There was a sharp intake of breath with a fair few City fans hearing Mancini's team today, and that should have been exploited by Chelsea, but they had about 2 or 3 shots all game. Chelsea have far more pace than City, but they failed to use it.

 

I believe Chelsea are a better team than Liverpool, so had expected a real test today. But in reality, Liverpool played far better against us.

 

Too negative from Rafa. Far too negative.

[Bjornebye]

torres looks like a dirty toiletbrush

[Jairzinho]

Take your point on today Jair ( although a missed pen helps, ask WBA ), but they have looked a much lesser team this season & have allowed Utd to get miles ahead of them. They will go further backwards if those 4 start too often. Not as if they have loads of injuries either.

 

Agreed, mate. I don't think they've really improved. I think Mancini will go in the summer.

[FanchesterCity]

City's biggest mistake for me this season has been not to give Balotelli consistent game time and then sell him in January.

 

Look at him now, he offers the pace and unpredictability Dzeko does not, massive mistake for me that.

 

20% of his was delightfully unpredictable, but 80% was lacking in effort and highly predictable. I don't think we could afford the luxury of a total wildcard like him. I'd rather have a 7/10 Dzeko week in week out than a 9/10 Balo once in every 10 games.

 

We've simply had too many slackers, and not improved the squad.

MOTD can make Yaya Toure look incredible, but it often chooses to ignore the shots of him walking back into position, moaning all the time, instead of running and getting on with the game.

 

We need a better version of Dzeko... and for me, that's Cavani... he's got pace and muscle and put it about it a bit in the box. We're becoming like Arsenal of late and trying to pass the ball into the net sometimes, or playing high balls into Tevez or Aguero which astounds me.

 

But for all our troubles, it's really been the bread and butter games that have cost us. Too many draws, where United pressed for the win and go it.

 

When I watch United break, they break in numbers, and there always seems to be two players in the box should anybody manage to get a cross in.

At City, we don't break quite as effectively, and it's common that nobody's in the box once a winger's ran 70 yards on the break.

 

A simplistic view, I admit, but I loathe and admire the way United work as a unit, and everybody knows there job. I don't see that in any other team in England.

[kalasoma]

Chelsea might not be the best shop window for Rafa to advertise himself. But all he has to do is keep Chelsea in a top four spot. Everyone knows that beyond that, whether he did well or not, he was always a temporary solution until Mourinho comes back. Plus he was a hostile replacement for a fan favourite. A top club looking for a champions league manager might take all of those things into consideration.

[xerxes]

I believe Chelsea are a better team than Liverpool, so had expected a real test today. But in reality, Liverpool played far better against us.

 

Too negative from Rafa. Far too negative.

 

I think that Rafa is a good manager, but not a great one, who needs specific circumstances to proceed.

 

Now it is just about his coaching,and that is not up to scratch at Chelsea.

[J-V]

Think Swansea will be hard pressed to keep some of their better players. But then again, they seem to manage to sell players for profit and find better players at bargain prices.

 

They do that with managers as well :whistle:

[FanchesterCity]

Agreed, mate. I don't think they've really improved. I think Mancini will go in the summer.

 

Definitely haven't improved, and to my mind, we spent a fortune on makeshift players in the summer, when we could have saved up and got REAL targets, or spent far less on blatantly obvious squad fillers.

 

Not sure about Mancini's future. 50/50 I think. If he wins a trophy and narrows the gap to something more respectable it might just save him.

I think the fans are 70/30 against Mourinho though, so that would mean bringing in someone else, and there's not that many options and even fewer that offer obviously improved odds of improvement.

 

I honestly think you have to have the mindset of a typical City fan.... we've won zilch for 40 years, and changed managers left right and center to try and get back to former glory, and made a complete hash of things. It's currently as good as it's ever been in my lifetime, it's very hard to contemplate ditching Mancini with ease...

It's made worse when our mutual greatest rivals have stability at the helm - that just adds fuel to the fire when it comes to sticking with a manager.

 

At United, every player KNOWS who's the boss, and there is only ever one winner if the manager is challenged.

At Chelsea, they can see off the manager if they don't like the hair gel he's using.

City need stability, even if it's at the potential expense of not having the very best manager, but a decent one. Mancini's got plenty of faults, but I think we can live with them for a while longer.

[kalasoma]

Watching the PSG/OM and the Inter/AC derbies. The French derby the better of the two and doesn't actually need Beckham - but the comms are going all gaga over him lacing up his boots that he's bound to come on now.

[Jairzinho]

I don't think the owners will share the fan's view on Mancini, but if I supported City there is no way I'd want him gone.

 

Can see you being similar to Chelsea and changing managers every year. Every manager, whether they're a Mourinho or a Grant, won't have enough control ultimately. Certainly not to plan for the mid/long term.

 

I'd probably bin Maicon, Nasri, and Dzeko. Presumably Santa Cruz and Bridge won't come back either.

 

What do you make of Sinclair's lack of involvement?

[Jairzinho]

Watching the PSG/OM and the Inter/AC derbies. The French derby the better of the two and doesn't actually need Beckham - but the comms are going all gaga over him lacing up his boots that he's bound to come on now.

 

I prefer the Ligue 1 game because I can actually see the players.

[FanchesterCity]

Chelsea might not be the best shop window for Rafa to advertise himself. But all he has to do is keep Chelsea in a top four spot. Everyone knows that beyond that, whether he did well or not, he was always a temporary solution until Mourinho comes back. Plus he was a hostile replacement for a fan favourite. A top club looking for a champions league manager might take all of those things into consideration.

 

I'm not so sure.

I think if Rafa had done exceptionally well at Chelsea, the fans would soon change their tune. But he knew they'd just won CL (against the odds in fairness), that he wouldn't be well received by the fans (so would have to work even harder to win them over) and that the spectre of Mourinho would be looming.

 

To my mind, and of course, it's just my opinion, it looked like a manager struggling to find work (at a level he believes appropriate), and who took a punt on Chelsea in an effort to show he can still work wonders....

That's not happened, and therefore the perception is that he's not so amazing at all, but he is still struggling to be attractive to the very top teams.

 

I don't think Rafa's in the pool of top managers that the top clubs are fishing in. He once was, but is no more. I think he hoped the Chelsea job might get him back in that pool, or even secure a permanent position there, but it's not worked out.

 

Conversely, AVB whose stock went down after the Chelsea job has managed to restore his image at Spurs (even after an initial wave of skepticism).

 

It's just a case of the old adage... 'only as good as your last job'. Fans are fickle, and club owners aren't much better. What he did at Liverpool and Valencia will be dismissed as 'years ago, and no longer relevant' (not what I think, just what many will say)

[kalasoma]

All even in the Milan derby. Shaping up to be a hectic but good 20 mins now.