blonde poker forum

Morning.

Surprisingly, there was not a Man City thread, & we appear to have a few of their supporters on board, including hhyftrftdyr & Archer. It's up to those guys to seed & sweat the thread, with chit chat as to what is happening, it will be what you make it.

We can change the thread title if you prefer something else.

Good luck.

Note that several people find the nick "citeh" objectionable. I fancy they may have to get used to it.    

A 2-1 defeat at home last night in the champions League. They have never won their opening CL fixture.

Bit early to judge, but they rarely seem to excel in Europe. Why?

BBC Sport were critical of Sterling.....

Sterling has made a big early impact following his £49m move to Manchester City from Liverpool - but one area of his game still needs some serious work.

The 20-year-old needs to improve his conversion rate when presented with chances and, before his substitution 20 minutes from time, he demonstrated once again that he must be more ruthless when applying that final flourish.

He wasted a perfect early chance when he shot straight at Juve keeper Gigi Buffon, then did the same again later after he was set up by David Silva with City leading 1-0. Yes, they were two pieces of fine goalkeeping but Sterling should have made at least one of those opportunities count

Next match - Saturday, 5.30pm, home to West Ham, who have been quite impressive so far under a Manager who looks like he won't stand any messing. 

Care to forecast the score?

Man City are generally 1/4, West Ham 12/1, which seems a ridiculous pair of prices to me.


http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-west-ham/winner

Let's hope this thread has more support than the eithad!

(http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b633/callumm18/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-06/BEA0846D-BEE8-4703-9D74-58DD7D3B5CDD_zpsgufkqhxv.jpg) (http://s1295.photobucket.com/user/callumm18/media/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-06/BEA0846D-BEE8-4703-9D74-58DD7D3B5CDD_zpsgufkqhxv.jpg.html)

Go on then, I'll bite already.

The empty block is the away allocation, of which Juventus didn't come close to filling. Unfortunately Juve (or any away team in the CL) have to get a minimum of 5% despite not needing that amount, hence the empty block. In the league, clubs can return tickets they don't need (I think WHU are sending back the top tier for Saturdays game, these can then be sold to the home fans), but the rules are different in Europe.

As for the scattered empty seats, well its half time. People often go for a drink and a pie, or go to the concourse for a natter with friends. You can see it's halftime cos the groundsmen are on the pitch.

You probably knew all this ^ already but are just after a reaction ;)

Apologies, I thought they were your defence.

For those unfamiliar with Manchester City, here's a brief history.

Formed in 2008.

Sadly this is pretty accurate. We were comfortable at 1-0 but its such a dangerous score line. Not getting the 2nd has cost us. and Sterling was the biggest culprit.

I didn't think too much of Juventus, but they are a class above any other team who will come to Eastlands this season. Very organised, very experienced, and they have players who are capable of pulling a rabbit out the hat. Interesting to watch Pogba in the flesh. At times he looked distinctly average, then he'd do something that gives you a glimpse of why he is so highly coveted. Will he be wearing blue in the future?

Was probably exactly the type of game Juve needed; struggling in the league where they start every game as clear favourites, so coming to Manchester as the 'underdogs' (at least in the bookies eyes) was I imagine a nice change for them. Could play with a bit more freedom and a little less pressure. With Seville winning 3-0, it puts us on the back foot already, but we never do things the easy way in Europe.

That's essentially it. As good as they are it's hard to really be bothered by them.

Now City have conceded a goal, will they replace Mangala with Otamendi?

"Noisy" Neighbours isn't really correct anymore. Very similar to Arsenal these days with a lot of the Prawn Sandwich fans arriving the past few years.

I lol'd

It is funny to see the change around here up't north threre are a lot more city fans out and about as much as we joke about them having no fans.

Kids like the teams that are winning which is fair enough.

In my school we probably had a split of around 60% United fans 20% Liverpool and 20% other - City, Everton, Wigan, Bolton, Blackburn etc. Now I would say it would be something like 45/20/20/15 with United/City/Liverpool/Other at a guess.

Should be able to fill the ground at these prices though

Its going to take years of being at the top to build up a fan base though, BUT the money City are now pumping into grassroots and the areas around eastlands is really impressive and should leave them in a great position going forward.

They have a bottomless well of money but yet they are still sorting things for the future.

I do wonder what the die hards on the terraces think of all the new fans though. United got a lot of stick over the prawn sandwhich brigade but we need it, we need people through the doors paying corporate prices to keep the club going.

Ciry I think should get out there giving tickets to kids and selling super cheap to people to get a new following of die hard fans. The people that pay £5 a pop can end up being your season ticket holders. United's £200 a pop crew wont ever been seen in Sam Platt's before a game, unless its me :)

I like City more than any of the current Champions League clubs for two reasons:

1. They aren't United, Chelsea or Arsenal.

2. David Silva plays for them.

The £5 tickets were for U16's only, adult tickets started at £30 depending on where in the ground you were seated. Can't argue with prices like that, and the stadium was close to full last night. Atmosphere was a bit flat though, and scatterings of Juve fans in various home sections didn't help. One behind me 'outed' himself after 10 mins with the offside goal; leapt to his feet, arms outstretched letting out a huge roar. Suffice to say he wasn't popular, and the stewards turfed him out.

I was in the Stoke end for the cup final 2011. Most surreal 90 mins of my life. Upon leaving Wembley and meeting back up with my Dad and some of his mates, I couldn't express my joy as I'd surpressed my emotions for the last 2 hours. I was over the moon and beaming inside but to anyone looking my way I probably looked miserable. My concerns that I'd be recognised as not a Stoke fan due to having 4 fingers and a thumb on each hand proved unfounded ;)

Ive sat in the wrong end quite a bit never had much of an issue with it, being from a rugby background though I hate the fact football will never have unsegregated seating because the fans are such nobs.

How did you behave whilst in the wrong end? Did you celebrate any goals? Do anything that might have given you away? I've sat in the 'wrong' end a couple of times, don't like doing it but needs must. I just sit on my hands and try to enjoy the game as much as possible. Problems arise when fans celebrate as if they are surrounded by their own, it doesn't tend to go down well with the locals. Think if you go in the home end as an away fan, you have to respect the fact you shouldn't really be there and act accordingly.

There are way too many rivalries in football for there to ever be unsegregated seating. Wouldn't like to see it in the modern game either, its already diluted enough and this would make it worse.

I approve of this post :)

I'm a veteran City supporter of approaching 1000 live games and he is the best I've seen and my all-time favourite player. He was seriously off his game last night tho.

I am a fan of old man city, as a football watcher

does your 1000 games stretch back as far as bell, summerbee and franny lee?

i remember maine road fondly...a very wet wednesday we won 1-0 there with huge puddles on the pitch, mark robins with the winner....93/94 it might have been. we went down anyway!

saw us get done 5-1 and 6-1 there too mind...

Of course I wouldn't celebrate, but by the end of the game most of the people around me would know I was supporting united, normally through chatting rather than rubbing it in there faces.

If the guy next to me had his club's crest tattooed to his face I probably wouldn't bring it up.



I dont buy the rivalries argument, the Scottish hate the English yet with very minimal trouble manage to have unsegregated seating at rugby games, I would say that hatred runs a lot deeper than City/United hatred but there is also respect and decency mixed in, which football fans dont seem to have.


On Saturday morning I saw two lads walking down the street in my village, football in hand probably around 9/10 years old, one with a Liverpool shirt on one with a United shirt on. For me that is what football is about, when I said this in the pub before the game 9/10 of the group agreed but one older fella was massively against it, and then it got me thinking, is it the vocal minority ruining it for the silent majority. Probably, was my answer to that, there is atmosphere at rugby matches and there is more prawn sandwiches than in Old Trafford there!

I am not saying we need to unsegregated premiership football stadiums but the attitudes football fans have is horrendous and it has got to the point that kids have segregation on the sidelines which is crazy.

I have always wondered where you would place Manchester City historically in terms of club size? 10 years ago they was a nothing club and now they are a something club. Has the ground made a huge impact also?

Are Man City bigger club historically then Everton? WHU? Newcastle? Spurs? I am curious to see what people think when you think about Man City's recent success

I think if you say "historically" then possibly lower than all three teams mentioned and the likes of Villa etc.

Mainly because there success is in the present and here and now. In 20 years time I have a sad feeling they will be part of the furniture at the top table of European football. City are doing a lot of work to build a brand now and not just a great team on the pitch like they have done over the past 5 years.

When I was a kid in the 80s I always felt City were a big club.  Wednesday as well for that matter.

Ooh, now we are talking. I was a bit of a fan earlier than that I think -  Corrigan, Tueart (sp?), Mick Channon, Willie Donachie, Asa Hartford, Niall Quinn, Colin Hendry.

Loved Bell & Summerbee, & I met Franny Lee a few times though John Kirkland. Franny was not one to back off easily, was he?

This was probably in his Derby days. Don't see much of this these days.......


(https://33.media.tumblr.com/86834ff6122e1b29f92e1cb565dd9380/tumblr_mzspn6D0XW1tqb90so1_500.gif)


Nice hair, killer shirt & crucial jacket though.


(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/03/03/1A6A7F65000005DC-2978133-Mackay_took_Francis_Lee_to_the_Baseball_Ground_in_1974_and_his_3-a-9_1425422429954.jpg)

My point about rivalries was that it extends much further than just your local teams these days. We have history with clubs as far away as Spurs and Middlesbrough, so whilst one week we might be playing Sunderland and there is no beef there, the following weeks we could be playing Stoke, Boro, Chelsea and Liverpool, all games that just could never have fans mixed in together. Rugby fans do seem to be much more civilised and less tribal.....but its just not football :)

I would say so, yes - their Honours Board is pretty decent.


http://www.11v11.com/teams/manchester-city/tab/honours

Can Everton, Spurs, Newcastle & WHU beat that?

definitely a big club. diffuclt to compare to everton, newcastle etc but that sort of size

fa cup winners in the 60s

top 2 in the league in the 70s

fa cup finals in the 80s

only went downhill late 80s-90s etc and stayed there until the money came in

Bit of a grey area and really depends on how you measure these things. Pre takeover, we'd won the league twice, FA cup 4 times, League cup twice, a European trophy, so we had some scattered success (70s being the key era) but also plenty of barren spells. We still hold the record for home attendance (over 80k at Maine Road vs Stoke way back when). I'd certainly say pre 2008 we are on a relative par with clubs like Villa, Everton, Newcastle etc. Obviously since the investment we've managed to pull away from that group in terms of revenue and whatnot, plus added a few more trophies to the cabinet.

Interesting you should mention Everton and Newcastle, as if you believe what you read, Sheik Mansour was looking at those 2 (plus Arsenal) before he purchased City. Arsenal were limited in that they were already well established, and I believe both Everton and Newcastle were snubbed due to matters away from football. The thing that worked in City's favour was there was a real sense of being a 'sleeping giant', but also that whole area of east Manchester was available and could be used for something (couldn't do that at Newcastle as their ground is in the city centre). It's taken a lot of time and money, but the wasteland that surrounded the Etihad is now of course our CFA amongst other things.

Had we still been at Maine Road, there isn't a chance in hell he'd have taken a look at us!

City have a proper history, one that pre-dates the current regime, one that stands comparison with Spura and Everton, and surpasses Newcastle and WHU.
Bell, Summerbee, Lee were greats of their time.
Mind you, they used to buy our discarded strikers back then too
http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-42-36073673.jpg?size=67&uid=f90cb3c1-1ec7-4fb0-9667-9ee64c4da74e

In a sense city were a bigger club back 15 years ago when they were in the lower divisions. Similar to Chelsea it feels like there's something fake about them when their success is built on money magicked from thin air.

That could be said of many teams. Leeds, back in the day, for example.

One of my early recollections was the 1969 Cup Final v Leicester.  I was only a young lad then and watched that on TV but did go to Wembley for the first time in 1970 for the League Cup Final. I became a fully fledged Maine Rd regular from 1974. So, yes does stretch back as far as Bell, Summerbee and Lee.

I've looked up the Leicester game you mentioned and it was 1994/1995. We followed you down a couple of years later.  I can't  remember the game at all but another Summerbee was playing then - his son Nick.

I was at Old Trafford in 74 when Denis Law famously scored against United and they were subsequently relegated. A horrible day for football violence that one.

City were even big when they went down.  I am sure Maine Road was more or less full in the 3rd division.  Back then Manchester was split about 50/50 reds and blues.  You found a higher proportion of United fans as you headed out of Manchester into Cheshire and down into Surrey.

I can't remember many big clubs holding on to most of their crowd like that.  Leeds didn't and not sure Newcastle did, albeit they may have had a bigger average attendence.  

Yep, we had 32k at Maine Road for the opening day game vs Blackpool, we won 3-0 if memory serves me correct. Our average across the season was something like 28/29k in what was a 33k or so capacity, the support really was amazing to say we were watching shite (the opposition and us!). If the away end was full every week we might have nudged 30k average for the season.

In a weird way, a vintage season, topped off by Dickov on his knees at Wembley vs Gillingham. Pulis is still bitter about that game to this day ;)

Which is more significant in city history

Beating gillingham in that playoff final or

Manchester winning the bid for the Commonwealth Games.

Didn't city have a 100k gate back in the day?

Good question! I think Gillingham trumps any event in our recent history (yes, even QPR). If we hadn't got out of Division 2 at the first attempt then we were doomed. And we made a real mess of it but eventually stumbled over the line.

Winning the CG was certainly a happy accident as I know the club were on the lookout for a new stadium (anyone who went to Maine Road in our final few seasons there will understand why, what with the open stands in the corners!), and there is a trail of increased fortune since moving in at Eastlands, but I'm not sure that trail would have started had we been stuck in Div 2 heading into the new millennium.

Yeah I mentioned it above, we still hold the record home attendance, though it was more like 86k than 100k, vs Stoke in a cup game many years ago. Wonder how long that record will last?

My post count has rocketed today, blame Tikay :)

I'm sure Charlton had a 100k gate

First big football match I ever went to the '99 final, 10 years old. Broke my heart. Didn't the ref turn up in the paper partying with Man City fans after or something like that?

Just looked on Wiki and it was 84,569 v Stoke in 6th round of cup in 1934.

The 2nd highest attendance was also at Maine Rd involving the raggish lot from Old Trafford after OT had been bombed in the war - 83,260 in 1948 v Arsenal in the league.

Charlton's official highest attendance at the Valley was 75031 in 1938. I'm not so sure "official" attendances were very reliable in those days! The photos suggested there were more than 75000 there - I think Tighty has posted pics of this in the past.

Mark Halsey - he certainly had a drink with City fans staying in the same hotel!

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Football%3A+Gills+call+for+replay+after+ref's+City+party.-a060452551

Well at least it's keeping you out of trouble next door, right?

Am pleased with how Day One of this thread has gone, very pleased. The real test comes after the gloss wears off.

Am still a little surprised at the prices for Man C v West Ham this weekend. I'm not sure about "value", but there's not much meat on the bone with Man C @ 1/4 or thereabouts, whereas West Ham @ up to 14/1 must be close to value. West Ham have looked really lively this year - I fancy their new Manager is a bit handy. Be even handier if we could understand what he was saying.     

Talking of Managers, the Media told us that Pelligrini was on his way out of the door at the end of last season, & it would not have been a surprise.

Next I heard, he had been offered, & signed, a new Contract.

How that work?

Seems to happen to that old duffer on Skuy regularly.

It's an open secret that City want Pep Guardiola. Soriano (City CEO) and Begiristain (City DoF)  at City are close to him having worked with him at Barcelona. Maybe it is a done deal already for next summer.

City's strong finish to last season no doubt helped Pellegrini's cause and helped him avoid the sack as the media were suggesting (also many City fans were hoping he was given the push as well for his supposed tactical ineptitude and his persistence of playing 4 2 2 in big games). I have no doubts Pellegrini is fully aware of the situation with Guadiola, he gets on well with his bosses in contrast to the abrasive Mancini, and the new deal was a suitable reward. Also, it stops the media witch hunt at every press conference asking about his future. Also, supposedly, players don't perform for a manager when they know he won't be there much longer. The new contract puts that to bed as well.

 

Agreed about the WHU price being pretty attractive. I would never bet against City of course, but if I wasn't 'emotionally involved' then I could see myself having a couple of quid on the Hammers. I also thought Juventus were generous odds on Tuesday; think they were generally 9/2 with us 4/5.

Can you imagine 10 years ago, when we had the expertise of Mills and Thatcher as our full backs, that fast forward a decade and we'd be odds on favourites vs the Italian champions and CL runners up....

Never boring being a City fan these days.

Dithered over starting a similar thread for weeks. Thanks Tikay for starting it. I will try and contribute a few musings over time. Good to see a few Blues on here. I also think 'flushthemout' is a city fan too.

Looking forward to seeing more Emptyhad pics and ECL posts from the haters too 😃

Recently bought one of the value gold season tickets. £299. Even taking into consideration that the first 2 home games have passed, it still works out at just £17 a game.

Been allocated a seat right by the halfway line as well.

Ruining football since 2008.

Made me smile this and I'm in the same camp - all criticism of City welcome in here IMO.  I'm sure hhyftrftdr feels the same way with his "ruining football since 2008" stance. 

Incredible value and I see they've reached the limit now.   Must be around 43,000 season ticket holders now including the Premium seats.

Amazing we never had the thread, but we seem to be finding a few fans, so all good. Up to you guys to keep the thread buzzing.

I am enjoying the way you guys don't mind poking fun at yourselves. Some fans get a bit precious about their clubs, & their s-o-h goes out of the window.

Man City and to a lesser extent Arsenal are the only "big 5" clubs I don't find grating when they are successful.  Not sure why this is.  Think it's the fans.

Man Utd's success was miserable and Liverpool were unbearable in the late 80s/early 90s.   
 

Yes I remember the headline in the Daily Mash a few years back when Liverpool should have won the title.

"Liverpool, 3 games from being unbearable again"

Most City fans have a pretty decent perspective and don't forget where they were

Most games you can hear us sing 'we were here when we were shit'

If the sheiks ever pull out, we'll go back to being a lower mid table club, but the fans will still turn out

Do you think you would fill your newly expanded stadium week in week out if you go back to being a lower mid table club, i dont think so.

The die hards would stay but there are not enough die hards to fill it week in week out. (at proper prices)

Oh we love to take the piss out of ourselves.

But remember Tikay, since getting rich 7 years ago, Man City are the sole reason why England have been shite for the last 50 years. Don't forget this.

We still have to consistently fill the expanded new stadium as a top of the table club yet :) You have to remember that City inflate the attendances for FFP purposes. Well, in the eyes of Liverpool fans on RAWK anyway.....

10 years ago the average attendance at the new stadium was c45,000. The low point since was under Pierce in 2006/2007 when it dipped to c40,000. Now that was really shit - scored 10 goals at home ALL season.

Anyway, I don't think we have to worry about the owners leaving just yet as they increasingly get into bed with the council. Here  is an extract from something I saw just yesterday:

According to JLL, plans are in the pipeline for 12 towers containing 4,450 homes in a city which is due to grow by 20% over the next 20 years. At the moment over 2,300 residential units are under construction in Manchester. It has become a profitable business with prices rising to a top of £425 a sq.ft.

The commercial market underpins this optimism with strong take up and new development, one of which is a plan for a 92,900 sq.metres (1 million sq.ft.) office campus in a redevelopment area around Manchester City Football Club’s Etihad stadium.

The scheme is being worked on by the city council and football club owners, Abu Dhabi United Group.

As part of the scheme a large amount of ageing industrial stock will be refurbished. As elsewhere in Manchester the arrival of a new Metrolink station will help the scheme. There are now seven Metrolink lines with 92 stations and more to come.

an all time City XI that you have seen

NOT including players currently at the club


thank you

In the depths of my memory I have a vague recollection of Dennis Law playing for citeh(sorry met couldn't resist).

The reason I remember this is because playing in an FA cup tie he had scored all six goals when the match was abandoned - because of fog I think - with the score 6-2.

When the match was replayed the following week city lost 3-1.

*Just had to ninja edit the scores after googling.

** It was in 1961 by way of an excuse.

Kinkladze!

4-3-3 (even though they were 4-4-2 for the most part)
1. Coton
2. Brightwell
3. Tiatto
4. Distin
5. Morrison
6. Benarbia
7. Kinkladze
8. Flitcroft
9. Walsh
10. Anelka
11. Rosler

I'm a United fan, but I'll have a crack at this

Schmeichel

Richards     Dunne     Distin       Pearce

                           Vieira
   
   
                   Hargreaves       Kinkladze

                           Robinho

                 Balotelli         Tevez

Not sure this is really what you were looking for ;)

Doesn't really work as a formation but more  a list of favourite players covering different eras:

Corrigan

Paul Lake
Mike Doyle
Paul Power

David White
Ali Bernarbia
Gareth Barry
Geo Kinkladze
Peter Barnes

Neil Young
Carlos Tevez

Subs:
Bell
Lee
Summerbee
SWP
Dunne

I guess Bell, Lee and Summerbee are subs because they are all getting on a bit now?

Ah - Paul Lake - what a nice player he was.  Career cut short through injury if I remember from my childhood.

feeeeeeed the goat and he will scoreeee

                         Given

Richards    Dunne     Van Buyten   Tarnat

Swp    Kinkladze   Horlock    Beasley?

            Goater     Anelka

I have 'Feed The Goat' tattooed on my arm. Love the guy, love him to bits. One of my bucket list things is to be in Bermuda on Shaun Goater day, pretty feasible but not had the chance to do it yet. One day....

Dennis Law.

You paid a British record £55K transfer fee for him from Huddersfield in 1960.

He went to Italy a year later for £110K.

Who could blame them for taking the money?

One year later he returned to manure for £115K and the rest is history.

Joe Royle to manage the side?

Assisted by Keegan.

Shit, can't believe I forgot Ali B in my team above. In for Horlock. Berkovic and Bernarbia, them were the days.

no love for paul power?

What about Steve Daley?

Malcolm Alison paid a British record £1.5M for him in 1979, which some people considered to be a little too much.

Less than two years later he went to Seattle Sounders for £300K which some people also thought was a little too much.

Nobody rates Willie Donachie,Dave Watson and Rodney Marsh ?

I started watching City in 1990 so missed out on Power, Donachie, Watson and Marsh.

Bit gutted I put Anelka in my team ahead of the "Goat"

Should have had Micah in ahead of Brightwell too

Is this where we close the thread?

Best thread start ever, the league needed that tbh don't want you boys running away with it!

No no no, this is when we all get stuck in.

keeps us well in touch

#lastunbeatenteamintheleague

What do City fans make of Navas?
Gary Linekers opinion;
https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/645298123842170880
The 1st reply to Lineker is pretty good!

I have to say, I've never been impressed with Navas. His battle with home sickness is well documented and I thought it was an error when they bought him.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22764986
He is said to have overcome it but he's never been the player for City that he was at Sevilla, so I'm not so sure.
I guess in any case, he'll now be a bench player if Sterling, Silva and De Bruyne are all fit.
I reckon this will be his last season at the club and he won't go down as a success. Or is he popular among fans?

Decent thread so far.

Have sent a link to ex blonde poster Asa McGrath. He's a Man C fan, was even named after one of their players.

Can't remember which one though.

And Dennis Bergkamp was named after Denis Law.
True story.

Asa Hartford, who's transfer to ManC almost broke down because he had a "hole in the heart" condition.

Can be an infuriating player. His best asset is his speed, yet he seems reluctant to take a full back on. His crossing can be abysmal, and his finishing is poor. Yet I think I'm right in saying he created the most chances in the league last season, and also think I'm right in saying he made the most league appearances at the club last year. So he has been doing some stuff right.

This could well be his last season, we could flog him in the summer and recoup most of what we paid. I wouldn't say he's been a failure but equally he hasn't been a roaring success.

Navas always puts a shift in and he is respected by the fans. But it is hard not to groan when he continually gets in a crossing position and either takes the wrong option or executes the correct option so poorly.

In the second half against WHU, I lost count of the number of times he was put clear only for me to end up shouting "why was I not given Navas' pace"

On a brighter note, price tag debate ignored, KDB looks a top drawer player.

Fantasy footie question.

Yaya, silva, sterling or DB?

Think KdB then Silva and then the rest but they aren't close tbh.

All 4, just scrimp on your defence ;)

I have all of them except Silva. Think KDB will outscore the rest though.

Wilfried Pony?

I thought he'd be amazing at City. Some of his instinctive finishing at Swansea was amazing.

Thought he was a great signing at the time but a bit of a disappointment for me. He hasn't got many minutes under his belt yet. So, the jury is still out...

He has only started 4 times in the league - twice this season and twice last season and in total he has managed just 488 minutes in the league including his substitute appearances. He has had a couple of injuries tho. He has scored a couple of times so his strike rate is 1 every 244 minutes compared to 1 every 150 minutes or so at Swansea. So if he scores twice in his next 112 minutes he is more or or less on par with his Swansea stats!

What do you think of Johnson (kids jokes aside) and Rodwell?

Words cannot describe how inneffective Jack Rodwell is. Just has zero impact on games. Positive or negative. I honestly think you could put him into league two and he'd go completely unnoticed. Can't think of one strength to his game. Wouldn't mind seeing him trialed at centre half for us. Think he used to play there in his youth, and he can't be any worse than the shite weve got there at the moment.

Adam Nonceson has just never put a string of performances together. Think he's just become too predictable that he only has one foot, which is pretty easy to defend against. Would like to see him play a lot more central so defenders can't use a touchline to their advantage. One thing i will say about AJ though, is if he does turn up in a game, we generally win it, or at least get something from it. He's also scored in a couple of Derby's which basically gives him the freedom of Sunderland. (Just a shame for him that doesn't include Durham as well)

Well you didn't hold back there particularly about Rodwell :)  He was supposed to be the next big thing as well as far as England were concerned

Great night for George Evans yesterday. Some achievement to represent City at every age level from 8 upwards. And still just 20. Looks like a bit of a unit, look forward to seeing more of him. 

KDB really is different gravy.

My left bollock could score past our defense.

Not just from last night, though his finish was top draw. Looked excellent vs WHU and when he came on at Palace. Should be a real asset for us, great footballing brain and passes and moves so quickly.

Obv when we flog him to Porto in 3 yeas time for 10 mil my opinion might have changed ;)

Haha nah KDB is class. Can see David Silva licking his lips at somebody who has pace and movement like him.

i know hart and kompany were misses today, big misses, but If City don't beat Monchengladbach on Wednesday could Pellegrini's head could be on the chopping block? The shadow of Klopp looms

I think you can add the genius that is David Silva to that list as well….

Certainly pressure is building on Pellegrini and the remainder of the Champions League qualification will be fun but Klopp to City? No. I think they are all-in on Guardiola at the end of the season.

Before yesterday, the last loss for City in the league away from home was the 4-2 against United last season. In both the games against United and Spurs, City start well, look very comfortable and are very good value for the 1-0 leads and had good chances to be even further ahead. In both games they go on to fall behind 1-3 and in both games 2 of the 3 goals conceded were very clear cut offsides. Effectively then game over at 3-1 with 25/30 minutes to go against good sides. City then look spineless and their opponents look world beaters and the bad refereeing decisions have had a major impact on the game. Interestingly the referee and linesmen combination was the same for both the games against United and Spurs!

Normally I’m very philosophical about City defeats but I just feel very angry when the result has been so heavily influenced by shit decisions and then compounded by City’s predisposition to capitulate when the momentum turns. I’m aware that KDB got lucky with his offside goal but that was so marginal it was the type of decision, for or against, that I don’t consider to be bad.

Sour grapes? Not really. Awful decisions just tilt the life out of me and I’m just very much in the “make more use of technology camp” like every other major sport.

I've decided football is stupid.

2 weeks ago Man City were champions elect. Now Pelligrini's neck is on the block.

2 weeks ago United were at crisis point after losing to Swansea. Now they're champions elect.

I look forward to the pendulum swinging back in another few weeks

I'm rather happy with where the pendulum is at the moment...

Yeah this, such a fickle game.

Hoping this is City getting our rough patch out the way early doors. The derby at the end of next month suddenly looks tastier than usual!

TV GOLD

Malcom Allison stirring

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrLOJtD6Zd4

Watched on a stream yesterday

Freak result imo for all.spurs played well

Theoretically this should give me hope as a Sunderland fan.

Not directly City related but does matter to the clubs dining at the top table; thoughts on England potentially being overtaken by Italy for the Champions League spots, thus meaning just the top 3 qualify from the PL?

Maybe I'm alone, but I think it could be quite amusing seeing the scramble for the top 3 spots, and guaranteeing at least one of City/Chelsea/United/Arsenal on Channel 5 on Thursday nights.

A repeat performance of our clubs in Europe last season vs those competing in Europe from Italy would mean we have 3 CL spots from 2016/17....

Ha you're only saying that because you're pretty much guaranteed top 3. Wouldn't be so much fun if you weren't

BT Sport announces Borussia Mönchengladbach v MCFC will be free of charge on its freeview channel on Wednesday night.

Guilty.....probably.

The CL is huge for the club, but I know many fans haven't taken to it 100%, myself included. Nothing to do with us being crap in Europe or anything like that, and its hard to pinpoint why I feel this way, but I certainly don't get that excited about the games. After years of being nowhere near CL qualification, getting there felt kinda meh. Any other blues on here feel that way? Or fans of other clubs? It's supposed to be the holy grail of football, but I'd take winning the league over the CL all day every day.

On a very selfish level, I like to see City in Europe at least once a season where possible (going to Seville in November). It's basically the same teams every season so it limits new away day opportunities. Europa League however.....spoilt for choice when we were in that! :)

BT sport has the europa league now channel 5 doesnt have it anymore

Really? Didn't realise BT had hoovered up all the European football. Please tell me they've sacked Michael Owen as a co-commentator....

At least it's not Andy Townsend

I'm with you in part on this and winning the league is the priority. I think the majority of City fans would say the same thing as well. Using the 2 recent home games against Juventus and  West Ham as an example, the West Ham game was far more important to me than the Juventus game and my reaction to the losses is proportionate as well.

I'd still like to do well in the Champions League tho :) 

George, I've noticed you have used the term "citeh" on the prediction thread. Obviously, it is as a skit on the Manc accent and is now widely used. I was interested in the origins and apparently the  term 'Citeh' was first coined by the Football365 website about 15 years ago. The site was originally set up by a group of London-based football fans including the broadcaster and Spurs fan Danny Kelly.

As you support a Manchester team ( well, just outside Manchester...) I was wondering why you use such a derogatory term? :)

If this offends you imagine how Manchester United fans feel when referred to as m***re, or simply as s**m.

Up till fairly recently I had used this too, but hadn't seen it as being particularly offensive.
I use it in conversations with my card carrying City fan mate and he finds on issue with it, uses it himself in a jokey way when talking to me.

Doesn't it also distinguish it from other teams called City?

If you want people taking the mickey out of accents, have you seen Peaky Blinders?!

Its also a lot less offensive then names like Munich.

I dont think names like manure etc are offensive, they dont really both me one bit, Munich does but then again I dont even think Arrboy would sink that low if we blew him a 1.01 shot and hed been on the beers all day!

All tongue in cheek. Not offended by the term in the slightest and I use it myself in a self-deprecating way because I'm probably up there with Cambridge Alex in the posh stakes. Or maybe not..

It does amuse me tho when United supporters use the term to mimic the accent of people from the same city of the club they support.

In my circles the most common term for United fans is "rags". I think they used to call it themselves many years ago and it has stuck.  Munichs is obviously  awful but I think on the wane now.

Never heard of Peaky Blinders. I'll make a note to take a look.

It's probably the first time on TV to any success that the brummie accent has been used without it being in a mocking or stupid way. Even then, there's a fair bit of overegging.

All-roit skeep!

I look forward to watching it with a nice Kipper Tie.

Yowayayyer?

(The irony of this being on a football thread and me supporting a London club isn't lost on me, don't worry)

Wasn't anything intentional.

Well done to City last night.

The Manchester two showing them soft southerners how it's done.

Wish we'd bought de Bruyne...

de Bruyne looks one of those rare beasts - a real game-changer, the sort of individual that makes a real difference to a team. When he is on the ball, there's always the thought that he may do something special.

I lost a bit of interest in following the two Manchester Clubs last season, but Martial & de Bruyne have changed all that. 

A City v United Champions League Final? That would be fun :) Not likely, I know.....

I've not seen any of the United highlights from last night yet. City were so open for the first hour of their game it was terrible. Yet, they still created some brilliant chances and Aguero (who is misfiring badly at the moment)  could easily have had a hat-trick in the 1st half alone in response to their clear cut chances as well. Last 30 minutes City were in total control.

Not too shabby. Could've been a different story though.

Looking forward to seeing how lethal Aguero is when he's finally fully fit and injury free ;)

Shame we have to suffer another international break now..........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Was a stunning performance from Kun, but difficult to gauge if we are back on track as a team given how awful The Geordies were.

Sterling seems a bit lost atm. First touch is generally backwards and taking the safe option with passes. Took me 10 mins into second half to notice he'd been subbed at HT.

Was having this debate with a couple of mates over lunch yesterday; how would the Arsenal 'Invincibles' fare in the PL in this day and age?

It's impossible for me to not be biased so would certainly appreciate some more objective views from fans of other clubs....

My opinion was that the game has advanced so much in the last 10/15 years. I'm really not sure that Arsenal team of '04 would win the title. They might come close, but I think the calibre of player plying their trade in the top flight has advanced a huge amount since then. Would you have a 2004 Pires or a 2015 Silva? A 2004 Campbell or a 2015 Kompany? Henry or Aguero? Vieria or Toure? Gilberto Silva or Fernandinho? Bergkamp or KDB? Lehmann or Hart?


I guess a combined XI would look something like this...

                 Hart

Zabaleta   Kompany Campbell Cole

        Vieria  Toure

Silva     Bergkamp   KDB

            Aguero

I'll probably get crucified for leaving out Henry but I can't see where he'd fit in!

We also discussed how the United treble winning squad of '99 would fare in 2015, I think they'd do even worse than the Arsenal 04 team. Again, a combined XI....

        Schmeichel

Zabaleta Kompany Stam Kolarov


Beckham  Toure Scholes  Giggs

             Silva

            Aguero

Adams and Henry have to play. Irwin and Keane in the other team. All a bit one eyed with recency bias on your behalf I am afraid

                (Hart)Lehmann

Zabaleta   KompanyAdams Campbell Cole

        Vieria  (Toure)Gilberto

Silva     Bergkamp   (KDB)Henry

            Aguero

Hart is not a particularly good keeper. Lehmann by default.
Adams over Kompany.
Toure 2015 isn't good enough. Still great going forward but his engine isn't there anymore. Gilberto.
You're over rating KDB. Great potential but a long way to go to beat Henry who fits snugly on the left.


        Schmeichel

ZabaletaNeville Kompany Stam KolarovIrwin


Beckham  ToureKeane Scholes  Giggs

             Silva

            Aguero

You're ripped apart here.
Neville + Irwin far better defenders.
And no Keane??? You're having a laugh!

Having KDB in the combined team already seems presumptio

And clear bias which obviously happens but personally I wouldn't have Toure in either team. Lazy and a luxury player altho admittedly one who can change games

The other problem with the comparison is that teams tended to play 4-4-2 not the 4-5-1 we tend to see these days

The Toure of 2015 is not great. Maybe a couple of years ago but he is so lazy now it's unbelievable.

Hard to leave Kompany out though.

In both examples though city are a worst team now though.

City at the moment are Aguero and Kompany an injury to either player and arsenal win the league this year imo

Not hard to fit Henry in.

Literally pick any of the players you've picked and replace with Henry.

First name on team sheet. By miles.

In fact I'm not sure that a 2015 Henry doesn't get into team somehow!

Absolute comedy some think yaya should not be in

Tikay will be pleased with the post count rising ;)

I can begrudgingly see that Henry deserved a place and he shouldn't overlooked. Gary Neville has said on a couple of occasions that he wished he'd had been as good as Zabaleta. You drop a '99 Neville and Irwin in the league today, how would they fare? They were both pretty solid if unspectacular, but offered little going forward, and the pace of todays game would cause them problems IMO.

Adams wasn't a part of the 04 team, it was Campbell and K Toure at the heart of the defence. Hence Vinny K has to be in there. Amazed anyone would have Lehmann over Hart.

Why? He's got some competition with Viera, Keane and Scholes plus others

I would take the Arsenal player in every single instance here, and I'm not even an Arsenal fan. One of the greatest teams in PL history compared to what is a debatable best team in a very average premier league year. Silva might get in above Lindberg but he'd be the only one.

Who takes the pens?

Guess that's a minus for Irwin being included with all these geniuses ahead of him 😂

Defo Lehmann > Hart btw, Hart nothing more than quite an average keeper compared on world stage.

Lehmann almost, but not quite as good as Schmeichel imo. And if he's a clear choice so is Lehmann.

What makes me sad is that not a single Newcaslte player, of any of those eras or any other, would get into either team.

Shay Given might make the bench, as might Shearer. Sigh.

Shearer's biggest mistake was not going to United. Kinda glad he didn't cos he's a cock

Shearer had his chance...

Why?

He valued playing for his hometown club, the shirt he'd dreamed of pulling on since being a boy.

He also knew he'd be the best player at Newcastle ever. He knew he'd break records and the fans would adore him.

Sometimes it's ok to be a big fish in a decently sized pond ;)

Anyway, back to Man City - who is managing these merged teams and if the answers aren't SAF and Arsene I'll explode. :D

Because he would have some silverware to go with his talent. Probably a LOT of silverware. Could've played for his hometown club when he was shit like most do

People forgetting how dodgy Lehmann could be? He'd pull off a world class save, then spill the resulting corner in his own net. I think Hart has come on loads in the last couple of years (since Pellers dropped his arse), and he often produces for us in the biggest games in both domestic and Champions League games. Just stop flipping punching the ball, Joe!

Also, on reflection, Shearer starts up top in both teams. Most Prem goals ever.


I guarantee you he gives up 20 trophies at MUFC for one at NUFC. came close a couple of times but wasn't to be.

I don't think you'll understand my saying that without you being from north east, but it's true.

Stuart Pearce.

Not sure if:

A) he's taking the pens
B) a Newcastle player who makes the team, or
C) managing the teams!

Really? It wasn't the money then?

Anyways, Aguero, is he really any good? Is Pellegrini just keeping the seat warm? When's Yaya's birthday?

Shearer can't start up top in these teams regardless of how many goals he scored in his pursuit of that one Winners Medal.

You think Shearer earned more at Newcaslte than he would have at Man Utd?

I find that very hard to believe.

---

Post Pellegrini it has to be Ancelotti, doesn't it? Or will they give Viera a crack? Led to believe he's well thought of with the u21s?

Combo of all 3?

Little anecdote about Pearce. He finished his career at City, playing under King Kev in those swashbuckling years of the early 2000s. Last game of the season at home to Portsmouth at Maine Road, which is also SP's last ever game. We are something like 3 or 4-1 up, and win a penalty in the last minute. Now, we only need one more goal to beat the division record, and Pearce only needs one more goal for 100 career goals. So he steps up to take this penalty. Dave Beasant comes out of his goal, and whispers in his ear that he isn't going to move. Just stroke it in the corner Pearce, no? You know he ain't diving.....he puts his left foot through it and skies the fucker, no record broken for goals scored in division 1 and forever stuck on 99 career goals, wp gg Stuart Pearce.

The less said about his turgid reign in charge of City the better. 10 goals at home all season, and none from new years day onwards if memory serves me correctly, which is ironic as its a memory I've been trying to banish for years.

Paddy V is nailed on to manage us at some point in the future. Its just a question of when, though I think a lot of stuff hinges on whether Pellers is still there for next season. PV's rep is soaring at the club and he can do no wrong at the moment, but it would be a big step up if it happened within 2 years. Having him work under Guardiola for a few seasons would set him up nicely....

I guess only he can answer that question. Maybe you could've asked him that after getting smashed in two FA cup finals

How did you guys leave Pires out of any combined team?

Comparisons with 1999 and 2004 then? It is always very difficult comparing players from different eras but I agree with hyy in one thing in that the game has totally evolved since then. I’ll go off at tangent here and look back to 1999.

On the face of it the late stages of the 1999 season threw up some incredibly exciting moments  – a very tight PL race between Arsenal and United, the Giggs last minute goal in the cup semi-final, United winning the Champions League with the 2 last minutes goals and, best of all from my perspective , City’s miraculous comeback in the old Division 3  play-off final against Gillingham which is in my all-time top 5 sporting moments.

How good was the football in the 1999 Premier League race? Looking at Arsenal first, they finished 1 point behind United and were extremely close to winning it. They lost their penultimate game away at Leeds and had they won that the ending could have been so different. But their football at times was dull. Very dull. They won 9 games 1-0 and drew 7 games 0-0.  They only let in 17 goals all season. Maybe Wenger was Mourhino’s  greatest influence? 

Of course 1999 was United’s best ever season in terms of pots won and that is only the thing that really matters BUT whilst they were entertaining they weren’t particularly dominant that year. The league was won with the 2nd lowest points tally of all Ferguson’s 13 Premier League titles and it follows that their win rate was very low as they clocked up their highest number of draws (13)  in the Premier League era.

I can’t help but think that all 4 of YaYa, Silva, Kompany and Aguero would walk into the 1999 United or Arsenal teams and also the Arsenal invincibles.

 Aguero ruined my life, but I can't help but admire him, and the rest of that City team that broke United hearts on that Sunday in May 2012.
Would he have made the '99 United team? Probably, although who would he have replaced from the quartet of Sheringham, Cole, Yorke and Solskjaer? The partnerships and understanding formed between those four were something special, but Yorke is probably the most vulnerable.
Yaya? Awesome player, on his day, but as a replacement for Keane or Scholes? Nah.
Kompany? I guess he would have denied David May his medal haul.
Silva? See above re Yaya.

I'd take three of the four tomorrow if offered them.

Yaya has 50 goals in 170 games for city

Considering he has played a fair amount of these games as a holding midfielder this is not the record of somebody lazy or inconsistent as is often bandied about.

The most underated player of the modern era can and often has done everything you want from a midfielder.

With time people forget that Scholes sometimes had quiet spells as did Keane.

Lehmanm over hart? About equal for me but Jens made plenty of clangers as most keepers do

You've just reminded me of my favourite David May photo from the 1999 CL final:

                      (http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/04/21/article-2609306-001B312C00000258-838_634x482.jpg)

Thing is, he didn't play in the final and that was his John Terry moment. Brilliant :)

In fact May hardly played at all in 1999. Apart from Stam, the load  was spread between Johnsen, Berg, Brown and May.

Can't disagree with any of that.

I started watching this youtube recently. He seems pretty good to me for a lazy git...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vgTUQnklm4

Yaya really impressed me when he filled in at centre half in the Champions League final vs United. He had their entire attacking talent in his back pocket for 90 mins.

I can understand why people think he's lazy (I might even be guilty of calling him a lazy twat the odd time ;) ) but in reality he isn't. I think age is starting to catch up with him now, it can't be easy lugging that monster frame around the pitch all game, chasing players 10 years younger than him.

We've been very lucky to have him for the last 5 years, his contribution has been immense, despite the odd birthday cake shaped wobble. I remember when we signed him, there were some ridiculous comments from the ''experts''. The tool who has/had a column in The Mirror basically said football was dead because we spent £24m on him, and that muppet Phil Thompson said on Soccer Saturday that he ''guaranteed'' that Liverpool signing Poulson (who?) that summer was a better transfer than us snapping up Toure.

First Aguero and then Silva injured on international duty. 

Looks like at least a month out for Aguero. Not sure about Silva yet but not good.

The only thing worse than an international break, is an international break where your best players get injured! Just waiting on Vinny to get cropped now to complete the hat trick.

Being optimistic, at least Bony gets a run of games. I think this is what he needs to get some confidence.

Can't believe how poor we run on International duty

We can add Kolarov to the list; limped off last night for Serbia. Was also sent off from the bench, not like Aleks to be feisty ;)

Praying Vinny comes through unscathed.

One of the disadvantage of having south American international's

The toughest qualifying campaigns by a street

Yeah that's a good point, harder games and much further to travel isn't a great combo.

Got a decision to be made with my FF team....go like for like and put in Bony for Aguero, as he's now certain to get a run of games in the team and hopefully notch a few goals, or plump for someone like Lukaku or Sturridge?

Sergio Agüero hints he will miss next 7 MCFC matches, according to reports

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRR6dIIXAAAxOzU.jpg)

who knew indeed?

from today's accounts!

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRSrVUCWgAAWywB.jpg)

Manchester City Fc; ruining coconut water since 2008.

It's only taken 7 years, but we've finally made a profit! Almost £11m, so about what KDB's left arm is worth, or what Sheik Mansour earns on a Sunday morning lie in.

Just read the Accounts Document and some fascinating snippets of info other than the financial figures. Also liked this picture of "Emptihad" showing the new South Stand extension.


(http://annualreport.mcfc.co.uk/assets/img/header-images/MCFC_Annual_Report_Homepage_Header.jpg)

Looks rammed... ;)

Went there Saturday for the rugby, it was impressive.

Loads of room to expand also. Im guessing there are further plans to.

:)

Yep, the other end is next. No official date yet but heard strong rumour today that it will be ready for start of 2017/2018 season. Capacity then up to 61K.

It will look the business when its 3 tiers all the way round, already looks class as it is.

Sacked off the idea of Bony for the FF team, also got rid of Hazard to go from 3-5-2 to 3-4-3 and put in Sanchez and Lukaku.....so that's Hazard netting a hat trick this weekend with Sanchez breaking his leg and Lukaku tearing his hamstring. Marv.

 A nice graphic on the headline financial figures for the Big 4.

(http://twitter.com/PA_dugout/status/654336285788778497/photo/1)

EDIT...oops, that didn't work for some reason.

Good game yesterday.

Fair play Bournemouth, they came to play football and looked decent in a couple of little spells, but I think this played totally into our hands and the set up and tactics from Howe were perhaps a little naïve.

I hope Sterling never scores a hat trick again, to save us all from the post match interview.

Agree with that - thought Bournemouth were a breath of fresh air in the 1st half and looked really dangerous at times. Far better to watch than the park the bus merchants albeit you suspect it will be a receipe for relegation. I hope not tho.

I'm sure it is indeed better to watch for the home fans!  Meanwhile most teams will just try and sneak a point given the chasm in resources.

Thoughts on the Bayern Munich protest tonight?

I know we tried something similar a couple years ago when Arsenal were charging us £66, a lot of talk on Bluemoon forum of trying to boycott the match, but these things are so difficult to get done in numbers. Just seen a pic of the Bayern end and they had a lot more success than us at getting their message across!

I went to Munich for the 3-2 the year before last, and they only charged us 35e, so can see why they are up in arms at getting stung for 80e in London. Is it something (ticket prices) we just accept as part of the modern day game, or should we, as football fans, be more vocal about the situation? City can be as bad as anyone, charging the middling PL teams up to £50, so certainly not taking any high ground or anything. The FSF certainly think prices are way out of control.

Big game tomorrow....

I went to Munich last year for the 1-0 loss in the group game and paid £32.00 which reasonable enough. By comparison i think Barcelona was something like 90e. Arsenal definitely taking the mike but supply and demand and they get away with it.

I sort of accept prices are very much part of the modern day game. Premier League games are pretty much at all time high attendance and occupancy so the punter is happy to pay and the clubs in the main don't care irrespective of new TV deals etc. Obviously and unfortunately it means many with low incomes etc are priced out.

 With City I think the problem is with matchday prices rather than season ticket prices. Think you said you've got a £299 seasoncard  which lets face it is brilliant. I found it interesting that every City seasoncard holder had the chance to relocate this summer yet there will still loads of £299 tickets available when the window shut before the waiting list was opened. Basically the majority of supporters were happy to pay extra to sit in a preferred and higher price location in the ground.

Looking forward to tonight, I always do for CL games and wouldn't miss one for the world, but given the choice of a win tonight or United at the weekend I'd go for the win against United all day long. Just not the same emotional attachment to CL games.

After our record Etihad crowd against Bournemouth (54,500+ FFS) I think we'll see the return of the Emptihad tonight even though City have priced fairly in the £25-£35 range. Loads of tickets still available which is a reflection of the general apathy with many City fans about the CL.

"Protest" by paying the price. WP

Samuel reporting  City to be charged by UEFA because fans boo Champions League anthem:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3284349/Manchester-City-charged-fans-booing-Champions-League-anthem-victory-Sevilla.html

Hilarious

there is a specific sub-section for this in the UEFA rules. never knew that

'Disruption of competition anthem Art. 16 (2) (g) DR'.

UEFA can get in the sea to be frank. Ludicrous

That is crazy. And to be fair, if one thing about the CL rankles, it's that bloody pretentious music. Anthem? It's music, not a bloody anthem & pish music at that.

Of course, now, ALL the fans at every game will boo it, obv.

Excellent.

EUFA disrespect their anthem every game by allowing it to be linked to the sponsor on TV coverage.

Hope to hear it booed at Old Trafford for future CL games.




PS I rarely look at other clubs signings with envy, but KdB has me wishing.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf9LUNB-JsM

I'm sorry but if this doesn't make the hairs on your arms stand up...

This charge is hilarious/ridiculous.

Why now? We've been booing it for a while.

This is the same UEFA that fined City something like 40k for being a minute late out for a 2nd half, but only fined Sporting Lisbon half that for racially abusing some of our players. Priorities.

Unsurprisingly a strong reaction today on Bluemoon in the thread there dealing with this.  Over 600 posts and 50,000 views :)

Just flicking through it now! Bit of light reading before bedtime :)

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CR_-Tt2XIAAaPv-.png)

Hahaha that's quality.

I love Aguero, get the impression he's such a down to earth humble person. Came from nothing and hasn't changed.

One of my fav footballers that have played in England.

two good captions for that pic

"Hangover 4 looks rubbish"

and

"two blues and a red"

Hard to disagree with that. :) 

Obviously loved to bits here. Model professional, never a hint of trouble with him (unlike say Tevez),  incredible footballer and personally responsible for making more grown men cry in a single moment than I've ever seen..... 

Watching City in Division Two and the promo game v Gillingham were great memories for me, I still watch city but only away games as I feel there is better atmosphere travelling with the blues, The Gills game I will never forget, I had gone on Holiday to San Fransisco and I met two city fans in the street and arranged to meet them the next day with the blessing of my wife.... 29 hours after the final whistle I had to beg her to let me in the hotel. Paul Dickov I love you. Went Palace away this Season and took my 12yr old lad as he wanted to see if the palace fans were as good live as they look on more, we met up with a few of my city mates ( I used to be in the young Governors in the Eighths and was and still friends with Donald Francis and Eddy Brimson) We walked into a pub in South Norwood, approached the bar and a Polish lets say ``Doorman, walked up to my Son and removed his City flag from his pocket, obv we were removed fairly quickly when the debate got a bit heated, Them damm Pickpockets in London.

Do we soon see Yaya starting games like today from the bench? We looked pretty solid all game with Fernandinho and Fernando shielding the back 4, essentially taking the defensive responsibility off Toure's shoulders, yet he still just plodded around for the most part, offering very little.

An inconceivable notion a couple years ago, but I think time is catching up with him. We can get away with playing Yaya and Fernandinho at home against the likes of Newcastle and Bournemouth, but in the trickier home ties, tough away games and Champions League games I think we'll be much more balanced with the 2 Fern's at the base of midfield, with KDB/Silva/Sterling ahead of them and Aguero leading the line. Would also mean we have a great option on the bench to throw on if we need to score a goal, a genuine game changer to bring on.

Impressed with Otamendi today, seems to have slotted into English football very nicely. Kompany/Mangala would appear to be the optimal pairing when coming up against big lumps up front (Costa, Lukaku), whereas Kompany/Otamendi are better equipped to face off vs the trickier, pacey forwards.

Doubt we'll see a worse game all season than today. Both sides lacked a cutting edge despite all the talent scattered around the pitch. Can't imagine the DVD will be getting rushed out for Xmas ;)

Otamendi was great today. Gutted we missed out on him but Smalling seems to have become every bit the player we wished he would which softens the blow a bit.

Enjoyed the solidity of our defensive display which bodes well when Silva/Kun come back giving us even more attacking options without worrying too much about getting caught short at the back.

Both managers clearly adopted a "defensive first" policy, which while seeming to be a first for Pello was probably the best move given how we got shredded at OT last season.

We still looked capable going forward with KDB and Bony having good industry but Utd defense was well drilled yesterday. Sterling looked a worry and agree that Yaya is beginning to decline a bit.

While Fernando had a decent game, I would prefer a fit Delph in that slot.

Otamendi had a superb match and Pello has a headache now as Mangala has hardly put a foot wrong this season. Not a fan of rotating the defense so I would prefer a decision to be made on the best back 4 and stick with it. Keep rotation for Injuries and suspensions

My preferred back 4 at the moment is

Sagna (sorry Zab), Kompany, Mangala and Kolarov

I like to give stick about your home support to wind you boys up BUT

Your away support was dire yesterday, really really awful. Only woke up with 15 minutes to go when it looked like 0-0 was a big possibility. Do you not find it a bit embarrassing?

I am proud when United fans sing all game away from home (Home admittedly its hard to get going) but it must really help the players and give them that boost that the fans are there to give.

The city fans were so bad that when they really pumped out a song, about 3/4 times during the game they got ironic cheers from the united fans. Really poor.

Your defence was solid yesterday though. Yaya seemed to put a shift in but was ineffective.

Sterling was poor against Valencia which i was surprised about, although Valencia got away with some tackles which were certainly on the edge. De Bruyne was quiet which I was very happy about.

Think you would have done us with Silva and Augero though. Seemed to lack the cutting edge on the counter attack which is an area you have been so strong in this season.

Thoughts?

0-0 was a big possibility after the first 42 seconds!

Everything about the game was flat, and that probably filtered through to the stands. Not sure why we'd be embarrassed about a quiet away end? The atmosphere on the whole seemed drab from where I was sat (sofa!), and the lack of action and incident on the pitch didn't help matters.

If that was Yaya putting in a shift then I'd hate to see him on one of his 'lazy' days ;) He was a passenger yesterday, when we were set up to give him a platform to work his magic. Didn't get a big performance from any of our game changers yesterday, but was pleasing to see that we can keep the back door shut when needs must.

What has happened to Rooney? The guy just has no influence on games these days (from what I see anyway). I used to dread coming up against him 3/4 years ago as he was always up for it, would look a goal threat and just be a general thorn in the side, but these days the only thing he troubles is the refs ears. Compare his performance to Martial, who I thought showed some nice touches and looked dangerous in spells, and I'm surprised Rooney even gets in the team at the moment.

All Rooney was doing was challenging in the air, even then most of the time he was just fouling whoever he was up against.

Then when he won the ball his touch was dire, cannot really put my finger on what's up with him. He's a mess should have come of when basti came off. Shove martial up front and gambled.

didn't go to the game so can't really comment on crowd noise and passion from the fans. I know friends who have been in the past and tell tales of non stop singing for 90 minutes only for sky's coverage to edit out the crowd during certain songs. Happy to accept that the crowd were not much cop if you were sat next to them and couldn't hear anything.

Now that the Munich chants are dying out (thankfully) derby day chants seem to be aimed at Giggs, Neville (G) and Charlton which have probably been edited out due to their less than savoury nature.

As for home support, I sit stand with the 1894 group in the south stand and the fans have been singing from first whistle to last. Can't really tell if this transfers itself around the ground due to the noise in our end.

I do hate the whole "our fans are better than yours" debate. At the end of the day, the product normally dictates the fans enthusiasm. A poor game will have a poor atmosphere and a great game will have a good one. I can't think of too many sets of home fans that buck that trend.

leicester and Palace. the two best home atmospheres going, irrespective of gameflow, weather etc etc

 Good post sir and I'm totally with you on the "our fans are better than yours debate".  As for being embarassed about a quiet away end - LOLOL.

Talking to a mate of mine earlier who was there and he said it was the quietest OT Derby he has known -  red and blue. Similar comments over on Bluemoon as well.

I'm in the Colin Bell stand  towards the south stand. I  think what the 1894 group has done is brilliant and I'm aware of the constant singing where you are, can see it as well but it doesn't carry well. However, when the new L3 South Stand get going the accoustics up there are brilliant and it certainly transfers then.

I'll take your word for Leicester but I have been to palace/city a few times and the home support didn't really stand out. It has been a few years though.

Other Prem teams fans that were very good at home were Portsmouth and Derby. Yep, it's been a while since i regularly went away with City.

Don't want to get into terrible home fans too much but each time I've been to WHL, the home support was terrible. For balance, they are particularly good away.

The atmosphere at the Etihad has generally been poor compared to Maine Road but it is improving. With success on the pitch, there is probably a bit of a prawn sandwich brigade amongst the support now. Good to see that the south stand are helping to improve things

So much prefer away games, Palace was prob the best away journey i have had for a long time, Although Walkers Stadium is 3 miles from me i do enjoy that away fixture obv for Bragging rights, Used to love Maine Rd and the local pub The Parkside, "Penny for the kids" was the cry from the man on the door when you entered with his bucket by his side.

I discount home support as a lot of the comments here say its hard to over come the prawn sand which brigade. For god sakes united have a corparte section right in the middle of the stretford end which killed that off.

I sit in the singing section at OT we stand all game and sing for on average 80% of every game. It was loud ish early on but very nervy/quiet towards the end of the game.

I only commented because you dont often get ironic cheers in a big game like that because the away fans tend to sing none stop. The best fans to OT this year have been Ipswich.

A game that really stands out for atmosphere at Eastlands was vs Hamburg in the UEFA Cup a few years back when Hughes was in charge. IIRC, we'd been beaten 3-1 in Hamburg, despite Superman giving us an early lead. We then went a goal down in about 5 minutes, meaning we had to score at least 3 goals (and not concede again) just to take it to extra time.

We absolutely fucking battered Hamburg for the remaining 80 minutes, but just couldn't score that all important 3rd goal. Elano had the game of his life, Caicedo should have had 7 hat tricks, think we hit the woodwork 4 times.

City had dropped prices to a fiver to ensure a full house, and the stadium was rocking for 90 minutes despite the early setback. Hamburg went on to be eliminated by their big rivals Werder Bremen in the semis, and WB lost to Shaktar (?) in the final in Istanbul.

Myself and my dad were in Istanbul for the final (we'd purchased very cheap return flights (£65) in the hope City might make it), and the Bremen fans were great. They really wanted us to beat Hamburg, didn't realise the hatred between them ran so deep. We got there on the Tuesday lunchtime, think the final was the Wednesday night, and in the first 24 hours of being there we saw more City fans kicking about than WB/SD fans, obv a load of us had the same idea :)

Well Devante Cole doesn't come across as a bitter, entitled idiot. You'd think he was playing for Bayern Munich, not Bradford.

Ugly win today, but possibly the first one of the season at home.

Good to see Kelechi get a start but he struggled to make an impact so no real surprise to see him subbed early in the second half.

Bony had a shocker in front of goal, so no team selection headaches once Aguero is fit.

We were discussing Bony and a few of us thought we should bin him and play a false no. 9. It worked really well last season when Pello had his hand forced and went with Milner in that role. Think Sterling could be the one to try it this time.

He did miss a few today. And for £28m(?) he's not quite good enough for the money he cost. But he's a pretty decent 2nd option. If he gets a run of games, you'll see the best of him. There is no way Sterling is a better centre forward as him.
Look at Chelseas 2nd choice options. Falcao or Remy? No thanks.
United have a diamond in Martial but won't play him up front. So they have Rooney. Ummmm, yeah. Or Wilson? Nope.
Arsenal have Giroud + Walcott. Or Wellbeck. Question marks over all of them and I'd argue none of them are much better than Bony, if at all.

Home from Seville just now. Great city, great game, great win. Not so great that I have a 10 hour shift tomorrow!

Let's get this group topped and show Europe that we're not totally shit in the CL :)

Nice one, Watched City all my life but my dream is to watch them in Europe, Followed England a lot but to difficult now, Had some great times and will defo take my boy abroad to watch our Argentianian Blues!!!

Nice one - don't think you could have picked a better euro away. Brilliant performance - best so far in Champions League.

Make that dream a reality if possible! They are just the best trips away and really leave a lasting impression and memories. Seville was particularly good; 23 degrees during the day, loads of bars and cafes with cheap food and drink, thousands of Blues in good spirits despite what happened on Monday night, and obviously a cracking performance and win from the boys to round things off. It was difficult to keep track of how much beer was consumed as they were being served in either 1/2 or 2/3 glasses....my sore head on Wednesday morning suggested it was quite a few :)

My Dad is on the verge of retirement, really looking forward to be able to whisk him abroad on one of these away days when he hangs up his suit. A small token of my appreciation for everything he's done for me over the years.

Staggering selections from Pello tonight.

Demichelis for Otamendi and Fernandinho on the bench too certainly had us weaker than I was hoping for.

Feel really sorry for Mangala too. Dropped after doing nothing wrong then recalled against a team that are always going to press and give him no time to settle.

In fact, the team did not seem that prepared for the game. It feels like Pello thought it was against a mid table team so we could afford to rest a few and just play to plan A.

Fair play to Liverpool. Think they had that performance coming. Will be interesting to see how they kick on.

Liverpool are a mid table team.  He prepared correctly. ;D

Yeah staggering selection from MP. Could half understand it if we were needing to win in Italy this week, but that's not the case. Very disappointed today. Liverpool were good but we made them look like world beaters. Just not at the races today. Really hope this result/performance doesn't come back to bite us on the arse in a few months....

Think the only positive to take from yesterday, if we overlook return of Aguero, is Delph. Thought he looked good when he came on, great energy and intelligent on the ball. Would like to see him get more game time now that, hopefully, his injury problems are behind him.

Not ideal circumstances to be substituted into, having been battered in the first half, so it might be clutching at straws but he impressed me. The rest were shite.

Desperately missing Kompany, Otemendi was sadly rested. Obv Pello thinking of the Juve game but with the Premiership looking tight at the top I wonder if he is torn between Premiership and Champions league.

I can't say I understood Pelegrini's set-up for this game. The natives have certainly turned over on Bluemoon and he has been absolutely hammered for it.

Well played Liverpool anyway.

Pep Guardiola wants to manage Manchester United ahead of rivals City http://dailym.ai/1IhFzb1 

''Sources'' and ''The Daily Mail''.......great combo ;)

He's not our manager and we have no divine right to get him in the future. Would I like to see him at City further down the line? Yes. Would I be fussed if he went to Salford instead? Nope.

Chinese investors buy 13% of Manchester City at a $3bn valuation.

Couldn't they have bought 10% to make figures easier to work out?

We have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies these days. Breaking into the Chinese market could be worth a hell of a lot to the club/s. No doubt City will be heading there next summer!

Great article by Conn in the Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/dec/01/manchester-city-owners-china-venture-power

Not bad for a rich man's plaything..

If there was ever  a deal to show the intent that City will eventually become bigger than Real, Barcelona and Bayern well this is it. Scary.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVJ2QmKWUAAxPPr.jpg)

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2015/08/21/from-man-utd-at-1-8bn-to-cherries-at-104m-whats-your-club-worth-210803/

So difficult to get tickets for away days with City, Non available for Stoke and struggling for Leicester away too, Was not a problem last season.

I'd suggest going in the home end at Stoke, but you'll be outed immediately for having the correct amount of fingers.

Alternatively for the wealtheist European sides and, as regards City, for CFG as a whole.

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12/02/11/2EFC5C2D00000578-3341805-image-a-4_1449054743761.jpg)

I think one of the problems is that there are a higher number being released to "corporates". The new Premium STs this year, whilst not strictly corporate, have access to away tickets irrespective of the number of loyality points previously accumulated.  This was definitely the case for United away where the threshold to get a ticket based on loyalty points rose loads from last year.

Yeah, I think Arsenal away is stupidly high points wise as well. And I'm sure the corporates snaffled some of the already paltry allocation we had for Sevilla.

Big weekend for us, early KO so a great chance to set a marker for our rivals and put the pressure on. Hopefully replicate last years pounding we gave them at the Britannia.

Arsenal away has sold out now. Normally I'd be surprised at that with it being Monday night just before Xmas and with the Arsenal ticket prices. I think with the club using the 1/2 price ticket subsidy for this game has made the difference.

Sevilla was the big ticket for Euro aways this year. How did you get your ticket? A case of who you Know?

Complete fluke! One of my dads mates has the most points (of the people we know) but he was nowhere near the threshold. Myself and my mate had already booked travel/hotel etc as you have to do before the prices shoot up, and we were just gonna try and source a ticket out there. We were content to travel ticketless (did it for Barca the other year), but the weekend before the game he put a message out on some FB buying/selling page requesting 2 tickets and fortunately someone had 2 spares he was happy to sell due to 2 people pulling out from their trip. Just got very lucky basically!

Last minute.com got two tickets for today, won't be taking my inflatable, I think it all started V Stoke.

Hope you enjoyed the game!  :D

Lucky it wasn't more than 2 today!

Disappointed in Stoke's players throwing themselves to the ground though, not what you expect from them.

Standard when you play rugby to hit the deck a lot.  Swing low....................

Shocking performance Mark, Bony is shocking, Demichelas to slow, Pello no idea in defensive organisation. Need Kompany and Zabba back asap.

Kompany is arguably our most influential player, and the stats don't lie. We miss Silva, Aguero, and to a lesser degree Toure when they don't play, but Vinny is the one who seems to hold the team together; Otamendi and Mangala look like world beaters when partnered with him, but like lost children when partnered together or with MDM.

I thought we signed Delph for games like today, very surprised he didn't start. As above, we were lucky it was just 2.

Whoever fucks up the least will win this league.

That was as bad as it's been in recent years. Spineless and clueless.  WP Stoke tho.

MDM has completely lost it now.  Quite happy if I never saw him in a City shirt again. The Kompany of early season is clearly a huge miss but I'm not so sure the inclusion of any of the other "superstars" would have made any difference yesterday. As for Zab, he wasn't brilliant last year and probably past his  use by date.

Pelle getting hammered on the City forums. Most wanting him out now and angry that they will have to wait until the end of the season before seeing the back of him.  A strange world when many of the supporters of 3 of the current top 4 are not happy with their managers.

Lots of stories in the press today that United are sticking with LVG and that they are not interested in going after Pep Guardiola if he leaves Bayern. Just watched Sunday Supplement and one of the journalists confirmed they they were briefed this by the United PR machine and also they were of the opinion Pep was leaving Bayern.

Why would United turn down the chance of getting Pep if there was a chance he would come to them? Presumably because they know it is a lost cause getting him.

There have been strong rumours for ages but increasingly looking like Pep to City is a done deal - too many lines are alligning. I hope it happens but naturally cautious about these things until it is 100%.

Had a family day on Saturday so missed the Britannia horror show. Listened to the first 15 mins. Was literally trying to abandon my car at chill factore so I didn't have to listen to any more. Nothing to add to what has been posted.

One horror story concerning the Southampton game.

My mate sits in the family stand with his 11yo daughter. She spotted Kompany and Hart sat in the executive bit in the same stand, so went up to ask them for an autograph. She is a lovely polite kid and she had a pen and book ready. Joe Hart just stared ahead blanking her, Kompany shook his head, so they both definitely heard her. My mate said she wasn't crying when she got back to her seat, she just had a humiliated crushed look on her face which just broke his heart.

Now I know it can be a pain in the arse (well actually I don't) constantly signing autographs and if they sign one then the whole stand would have been up there, but the least they could have said was "sorry, we aren't allowed". Furthermore, why the fuck are players not involved in the squad sat in the family stand if that is how they are going to treat fans.

My mate, who can be far less polite than his daughter, exercised a bit of caution and has written to the club to complain. A few fans sat near the 2 players certainly had a go though.

Obviously, I didn't witness it and there are 2 sides to a story but the half I heard made me pretty upset, especially when they play that "together" montage/bullshit just before kick off.

I know clubs generally treat the fans like shit, but I thought city had turned that corner. Will be interested to see if the club reply.

That's more like it

If Carlsberg did sets of results....

Amazing how 4 games just slotted into place perfectly in the space of 10 minutes.

Will just be so standard if we get PSG in the next round

I'm sure the balls are being gently warmed as we speak.

It is not a horror show when u are not far off a flip to win a game pre game away from home to lose it 2-0.  You should have lost 3-0 or more imo.  I think you run ahead of the game to lose it 2-0.

Nah, you'll get PSV and we'll have to watch as you show us how it should be done

Perfectly put :)

City's  performance at Stoke was still a "horror show"  whether it finished 1-0 or 4-0.

Yes. For the record, city can play well and still lose. There is every chance we could have played well and still lost to stoke, given how well they played.

But forgetting the score line, the first 15 mins was very uncomfortable listening.

who do you want? who do you want to avoid?

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CV0VoqaXAAAsxM8.jpg)

An away tie during Feb half term in Lisbon, Rome, Belguim or Holland so I can take the family for a long break

Would like to avoid the rest. Wouldn't be happy taking the family to Paris(bit too soon) or Kiev (too far)

For purely selfish reasons, I've never been on the Eurostar so PSG appeals (and I think/hope stuff in Paris might have calmed down by Feb).

Gent and PSV would be good trips, with the option of flying, train or ferry, or a combo of 2 or all 3.

I've been to Rome (albeit not for football), and early indications from a bit of digging suggests it will be an expensive trip due to the flight prices. Saw City in Lisbon a few years back so pretty happy to swerve Benfica. If you're looking to combine a holiday with the football then Benfica is the best bet, with the Algarve just 3 hours away by train. It won't be scorchio in Feb but a damn sight warmer than the UK. Sadly I'm out of holiday time at work so it will just be an in and out job for me, but I did the holiday/football combo for Sporting Lisbon away and it worked a treat.

Kiev is a weird one. 3 and a half hour flight from London, so not as far away as I imagined. Depending on flight times, it might be a goer. Undoubtedly the most tricky tie travel wise, but fortune favours the brave....

Promised my 13yr old an away foreign trip, Kiev or PSV for me. Keep in touch regarding tickets we could arrange a meet up.

Yep, gonna have my phone and debit card on me at work on Monday, try and blag the cheapest travel option when its all confirmed. Fingers crossed the draw is kind to us in that respect! Will post my travel plans on here as and when I know :)

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/manchester-city-stars-twitter-trolls-10575212

Getting your ticket for this one will be fun. The loyalty points needed will be off the scale.  Facebook might be your friend again :)

Amen to that! The game gets in the way of the trip anyway so its all gravy either way :)

Poor yesterday, but dare I say titles are won and lost on games like that? United had a habit of playing badly and winning (now they just play badly and lose) when they used to win leagues, so although it was a drab 90 minutes in awful conditions, it could be a key victory come May.

I sit near the dugouts, and something that caught my eye was the complete lack of Swansea presence on the touchline in the first 30 minutes or so. Don't recall seeing a single member of their backroom team on the sidelines in that time. Not sure who was in charge of them yesterday? If they play like that for the rest of the season though, there is no threat of relegation, a decent footballing side who are more than a level above the likes of Villa, Sunderland, Norwich, Chelsea etc.

A favour from the midlands today would be nice, to set us up for a heavyweight clash next Monday at Arsenal. Looks like Sanchez and Aguero will both be back, for added spice.

I have a two spares for the Leicester game if anyone interested will sell at face value

Not sure if you have a profile on Blue Moon forum, but if so there are people after a couple of tickets for this game on there. Might be able to shift them over there.

Yeah just thought I would offer them out on Blonde, I bought Two and can get two more.

Dynamo Kiev drawn

Unlucky sir. See Dynamo Kiev are under a 3 match stadium ban and no away fans allowed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/dynamo-kiev-given-three-match-stadium-ban-after-fans-charged-over-racist-attacks-during-chelsea-a6748286.html

2nd time in 2 seasons that City are also being punished for the behaviour of some disgusting racists. Is it any wonder we boo the anthem?

The footage is ridiculous; its 2015 for fucks sake, how backward of a country do you need to be to target and attack 4 black men also watching the football? Absurd.

I look forward to seeing just how many home fans make it inside the stadium.

Fuck off UEFA.

Excuse my language :)

Good draw but pretty sour about no blues allowed, I know a couple of blues who will be flying over.

Raheem Sterling makes it into the UEFA Team of the CL Group Stage.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2317348.html

Tons of twitter hype from very reputable guys that Ancelotti is on his way to Bayern at the end of the season. Guardiola announcing his departure next week. Surely nailed on for the City job?

It does look the likely destination. The only 'problem' I can foresee, is that if MP and City have a storming 2016, maybe winning the league, possible cup and having a decent stab at the Champions League (or, heaven forbid, win the fucker!) , you're then sacking a manager on the back of that (hypothetical) success. But the chance to land Guardiola doesn't drop at your doorstep every season.

It was out of leftfield when MP signed that one year extension this summer. Can't help but wonder that there is more to that contract than meets the eye. I like MP and he was exactly the character we needed after the Mancini era. But MP was never gonna be in it for the long haul, his age alone tells you that, and I think the days of managers doing a Fergie or Wenger and staying on for 15+ years is long gone. A 3/4 year cycle seems to be the norm amongst the top clubs these days, so even if we do nab Pep in the summer, I expect him to be replaced by 2020..... Vieira?

All the noise on City forums suggests Pep is a done deal. I'm talking here about the reliable ITKs who have conections and ears in the right places for the stuff that filters down. Generally they are a step ahead and more knowledgeable and reliable than anything you might read in the media but I'll only  believe it  if and when it is official.  The situation is no different to when Pep joined Bayern because that was set up quite a while before it was made official.

MP will already be aware of the position and no doubt his plans for next year are shaping up - retirement, Chile job or some other role in the CFG group maybe. It would be perfect if his final year was like Heynckes at Bayern and he signs off with some trophies. Beating Bayern in the CL final would be fantasy stuff :)

 Even if Pep proves to be a no go and MP does have a winning year, MP would be on his way very soon anyway. Soriano is on record that the managers cycle should be a maximum of 3 or 4 years. 

London School of Marketing (yes, them) think these are Europe's most valuable clubs....

1. Real Madrid - £2.07bn
2. Manchester United - £2.05bn
3. Barcelona - £2.007bn
4. Manchester City - £2bn
5. Bayern Munich - £1.492m
6. Chelsea - £870m
7. Arsenal - £832m
8. Liverpool - £624m
9. Juventus - £531m
10. AC Milan - £492m
11. Borussia Dortmund - £445m
12. Paris St Germain - £403m
13. Tottenham - £381m
14. FC Schalke - £363m
15. Inter Milan - £279m
16. Atletico Madrid - £277m
17. Napoli - £224m
18. Newcastle United - £222m
19. West Ham United - £196m
20. Galatasaray - £187m

A few quid behind Barcelona :) who'd have imagined that when we were shovelling shit in division 2 at the end of the last century.

Seems to be happening. MP normally straight bats everything but then chooses now to come out with this. Clearly MP is totally in the loop and again shows his class compared to certain football managers. Effectively he is endorsing the next manager which is unique.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/19/manchester-city-manuel-pellegrini-pep-guardiola-arsenal-visit?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

“I am sure Pep Guardiola will work here some day. I even hope he will have the opportunity to work at Manchester City too, because I love this club and I care about its future, and I am sure he would do a good job. When is the future, I don’t know, but if the future turns out to be next year the most important thing for me to do is try to win the title again this season.
 

Why did YaYa wait 70 minutes and 2-0 down before he went into beast mode?

Why did KDB not move for 90 minutes when he never stopped for the 1st 2 months of his city career?

Never seen David Silva quite so sloppy.

Joe Hart looks a bit shaky stevens when crosses are coming in.

Has the imminanant departure of MP taken energy/life out of himself/the squad?

"We did better than Arsenal. We didn't deserve to lose," says Manuel Pellegrini

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CW1Da9AXIAATTEY.jpg)

but for an hour city didn't do much. isnt Pellegrini being a bit one eyed here?

Possibly he is Tighty, but I don't think over the 90 minutes Arsenal were much better than us, conversely, I don't think we were much better than them either. Both teams had good spells, sadly we left our best spell in the game too late.

You cannot go to Arsenal and give away 2 goals like we did. Huge difference between going in at half time 1 down and 2 down. Too many of our 'stars' didn't turn up for the bulk of the game last night. Can be infuriating to watch as we all know what Toure, KDB, Aguero etc are capable of doing, but we just don't see it in some games when we really need to see it.

Didn't realise just how big a tart Giroud is btw.

Man City have the quality but there doesn't seem to be much desire or grit without Kompany.

Lack of leaders in the absence of your captain?

Crucial games coming up Sunderland who are battling to escape the bottom 3. Leicester who seem unbeatable, Watford away who would be hot topic if not for Leicester, then Palace at home. Going Leicester and Watford games will be happy with 4 points from them two games. New Year will hopefully bring another Striker for Sergio, and a Fit Kompany please Santa.

Sums it up nicely.

I think all managers are a little one-eyed but in terms of a performance over 90 minutes there wasn't a lot in it and very easily it could have been a different story. City were comfortably the better team in the first 30 minutes and if it was a boxing match they were clearly ahead on points until Arsenal scored with their first attempt and a great goal in the bargain. Fair play. From a City perspective the 2nd goal was obviously a horror show and effectively game over as Arsenal scored from only their 2nd attempt in the half. Easy then for Arsenal to just sit back ( they do this really well now and credit to them for that because it will make the difference) and obviously had the opportunities to score on the counter as City were inevitably open. Last 20 minutes was a different story and late goals for City have been the norm this season as generally the opposition run out of steam.

I've read in lots of places that City were terrible. I didn't see it like that but clearly they are not firing on all cylinders and some individual players are not doing it or error prone. Despite this the underlying stats for that game are incredible:
 - Arsenal had their  lowest amount of possession in a home league game since stats were publicly available over 10 years ago
-  Arsenal had their  2nd lowest number of attempts in any home league over  the last 7 years
-  Arsenal conceded their higest number of attempts in any  home league over  the last 7 years.

If i put my blue tinted glasses on there was one thing that really annoyed me. City were only awarded 5 fouls all evening. I've watched the game back and seriously that is a joke even allowing for Marriner wanting to keep the game flowing. 






 

I think it is a little one eyed - 2 years ago, Arsenal were never at the races against teams like City. City are going backwards and I'd find that quite alarming given the zillions spent.

City 'dominated' the game with possession in the way Man U have dominated games. This is kinda good but neither team can springboard from this like Bayern, Barca et al.

De Bruyne, pretty significantly over-rated but may come good in time. Looked much more threatening when Navas (obviously never gonna score) came on and Toure broke sweat as they had the right kind of pace and runs being made

Toure(especially) and Sterling need to hone their diving skillz too.

Where am I being one-eyed?

Point taken about possession. The possession stat was obviously distorted because Arsenal were always going to sit back in the 2nd half to protect the lead and look for the counter. Less of the comparison with United please because there is no comparison  
 
However, the other 2 stats alone would suggest that City weren’t terrible and go a long way to supporting Pellegrini’s viewpoint. If the 2 performances and the result was reversed I don’t doubt Wenger would be saying the same thing.
Looking at it from an Arsenal perspective it was a brilliant result and performance. I totally get that.

City going backwards? Clearly results suggest that. The inept performances against Liverpool, Stoke and Swansea highlight the problem and it has to be a worry. However, looking at the big picture of a full season I am still optimistic and I take a lot of faith from the underlying stats. Simply, we continue to create more chances and restrict opponents to fewer attempts than any other team in the league. Of course, in view of the zillions, this should be the case…

You are not wrong about Navas. So often maligned (obviously correctly for his finishing ability) but he has been brilliant at times this season, we are more balanced and often  more threatening when he is in the team and his work rate (tracking back etc) is excellent.

Yep, they could  do with lessons. Perhaps they should have a word with Monreal.

One journalsit was moved to write this when you got the penalty at the Eitihad last time we played you:

"Arsenal’s left back looked like a sky diver, using the friction of Kompany’s body to launch himself into the night air and executing a safe landing with some cushioned rolls. It was tempting to applaud the audaciity" Even Wenger said he had been told it didn't look like a penalty.

Bild reports £18m a year for Guardiola from City at the end of the season

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CW8MM-hWsAIHOiW.jpg)

 KDB and Silva both brilliant yesterday but it has to be said against a weak Sunderland team.

Just seen this stat on a City forum:

KDB - including his City and Belgium appearances since September  has played a total of 2198 minutes and in total 14 goals and 13 assists.

Ozil - including  his Arsenal and Germany appearances  has played a total of 2359 minutes for 4 goals and 16 assists.

Yep, Sunderland very poor team. How the fuck Cattermole is still plying his trade (kicking the crap out of people) in the Premier League is beyond me.

Frustrating situation with Kompany; fear for his long term future if he can't shift these frequent injuries. He's naturally athletic enough to play on well into his 30's, providing his joints and muscles hold up. Get him wrapped in cotton wool!

More of the same from KDB please, guy is worth the ticket price alone.

What was the spat with Aguero when he came off? Just annoyed at being subbed or something else?

My local is flooded so had to watch it elsewhere last night, and unfortunately it meant that Leeds vs Derby got commentary priority.

he thought he should have had a penalty (Inler challenge) and had a go at the fourth official, Mike Jones

it was a penalty (the assistant gave a corner, which it wasn't), but Aguero gave it such the Greg Louganis that he did himself no favours

Sterling in the first half aside, i thought the City front four were very disappointing. Yaya was playing very deep too (protecting the back four against the pace on the counter?) so couldn't influence the game

As for Otamendi simulating at the end. get up man, you looked pathetic

Thought the city back 4 played well all in all

Was a stone wall penalty no surprise he was aggrieved

So disappointed with players after final whistle, 6 city players go straight down the tunnel, not even the decency for the 4000 blues who travelled for a night game, City fans were not happy.

Which 6 disappeared? Could probably guess....

Doesn't tend to happen when Kompany plays, he tries to ensure that all the players at least acknowledge the away following. They have no obligation to do it of course, but its a nice gesture and always good to see them do that, especially at this time of the year when money is tight and games come thick and fast.

In Poznan, after a shit performance from the team and a 3-1 defeat (IIRC), Adam Johnson moved quicker than he'd moved all night to head down the tunnel bang on the final whistle. Kidd stopped him on the touchline and pointed up to us in the away end. We got 2 on the spot claps from Johnson and off he went. Enjoy the Championship.....or prison.

Sterling, Otto, Sagna, and surprisingly KDB,Joe was chest beating in front off us all

Here is the league table after 19 games in 2013/2014. Hopefully the outcome is the same:)

(http://i65.tinypic.com/mah1dt.jpg)

+33 GD is insane!

Closest this year is Spurs at +18

We were smashing anyone and everyone who rocked up at Eastlands that year :)

If memory serves me right, Sunderland we're the only team to take anything away from Manchester that season, and they were on for a 3-1 win until 2 late City goals snatched a point.

Thoughts on Aguero being linked with a multi multi million pound move away?

Cashing in on him would have been an inconceivable notion a year or 2 ago....

Finished the season at +65.  The 2nd highest in PL history. Chelsea were up at +71 in 2010.

Nearly right :)

We were winning 1-0 and then Sunderland scored twice late on and Nasri equalised very late. He also had a chance for the winner shortly after as well and at the time I thought it was game over for the league that year because it was the game directly after the defeat at Anfield.

Can't see any links for that. Can't see it happening. Hope not anyway.

Ah yeah, was behind the goal for the Nasri goal and then subsequent miss. Wasn't it a howler from the Sunderland keeper? His miss was dreadful, and yeah I was positive that miss had cost us any chance of winning the league. Thankfully, I was proved very wrong :)

It was during the Agueroooooooo!!! season that we drew 3-3 with Sunderland with a couple of late goals to save our skin. Proved to be crucial in the end 😃😃

The equaliser was a howler yes :)

We've had some canny games over recent years!!

You are right and I was thinking of the more recent one. Sunderland were the nemesis in both 2011/2012 and 2013/2014. We only dropped home home points in a total of 3 games in those 2 seasons combined and 2 of those games were against Sunderland and also lost the aways 1-0.  

you are't wrong :)    Was it a sequence of 1-0 to sunderland 4 times on the bounce at your place until Aguero went mad last time?

Aye you kept us in the league for 4 years.

The 3-3 in 2012 when we were 3-1 up.

The Desmond 2-2 in 2014 when you were 1-0 up and we went to 2-1 but you should've won.

Think it was NYD last year when you were 2-0, we got it back to Desmond but Fat Frank made it 3-2.

League cup final in 2014. When we were 1-0 up but Yaya decided to unleash his right peg and end our dreams.

When you list them like that it makes you realise there have been loads. Even in the Aguero 4-1 last year Sunderland took the lead as well.

The LC final was a good one. Sunderland were so good in that game before, as you say, YaYa did a YaYa. Nasri's goal was brilliant as well

I'm rooting for Big Sam now anyway :)

Yeah I've always preferred Sunderland to Newcastle. Think the fans are much more down to earth (from the ones I've encountered anyway), and you guys were gracious in defeat after the League Cup final (I live in York so had to share a train home with loads of your lot!). Only been to SOL once, and surprise surprise it was for a 1-0 defeat a few years ago. Think it was during Mancini's final season? Had a few beers in Sunderland afterwards before getting a train, again some good chat with the locals. Beer was bloody cheap as well! ;)

Hope you stay up as there isn't enough northern away games for my liking :)

Im actually from Newcastle and have lived here for all of my 25 years. And the Newcastle fans are portrayed terribly in the media. We both just want 100% effort and players that are approachable and not prima donnas off the pitch.

Unfortunately I can't see us staying up this year. But I've said that for 4 years now so who knows.

Can't fault effort this year at all. Even under Advocat the players were still I giving 100%, just no quality. The cheap beer isn't quite enough to attract the top players.  Saves Adam Johnson a fair few sheets on a Friday night though.

Oh yeah, I don't think every Newcastle fan is a police horse punching lunatic.

Maybe just 37% ;)

I was staggered there was no stream for the game yesterday and swithching between the radio commentary on Radio Norfolk and Radio Manchester was a throwback to the old days. Felt strange not been able to watch the game.

Seems it was pretty straightforward and good that Aguero is getting back to his best.

Yeah, we settled for Soccer Saturday down the local. A City friend of ours owns a pub and he can sometimes get these foreign broadcasts (we saw City away at Palace in September and that was a 3pm), but yesterday the only stream of it was from Albanian television and he couldn't source it.

Big few weeks coming up; important league games including Everton, Leicester and the spuds at home, 2nd leg against Everton and the tie with Kiev all on the horizon. Games like those could shape our season....put some wins together and we're looking at a serious title tilt, the league cup final and the quarters of the CL. Consistency is gonna be crucial from here on in.

A nice away day in the FA Cup please. Sheffield Wednesday, Hull, Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds would all be agreeable.

Agueroooo is running at the 1.10 at Southwell today. Would be rude not to!

Can horses pull up with hamstring injuries?

Horse had 3 legs.

Just what our injured captain needed....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-35276635

Frustrating last night. Everton were tough to break down, and when we did Howard was in fine form. Big blunder by the ref in injury time to not award a spot kick. However, in real time I thought it looked close, it was only seeing a replay on the train home that it became obvious it was a clear penalty. Maybe Sterlings rep is working against him? Was a bonus to discover that Arsenal had conceded a last minute equaliser whilst waiting on the platform :)

Stones was an interesting one last night. At times he looked very much a multi million pound defender (albeit playing OOP at right back), very comfortable on the ball, other times he looked a bit too comfortable on the ball and was caught out a few times. I think we missed a trick not targeting him more over the 90 minutes, didn't get Sterling in enough 1 on 1 spots vs him.

Impressed with Everton. Very solid team. The trio of B's (Barkley, Besic and Barry) give them a nice balance in midfield. Lukaku was well marshalled but is always a threat even when he doesn't do much. Gonna be another tight game against them in 2 weeks time, with a place at Wembley at stake. I'm pretty sure the London police force would prefer us to go through in order to avoid an all Scouse duel in the capital!

Frustrating indeed. Thought we played well 2nd half, so dominant, and only seemed a matter of time before the goal came. The "penalty" seemed pretty blatant from where I was and that's 4 in the last few games where clearly on replay they should have been given. Fine margins and all that.

Sterling continually scared the life out of Stones which was good to see. MOTM for me. Interesting on the playback on Sky the commentators said they couldn't understand why Sterling didn't appeal for the pen. Well the last time he appealed he was booked for diving when in fact it was a penalty :)

Never seen the ground so empty at kick off. When we got it we thought we'd got the  time wrong. Manchester totally gridlocked again and it's a big problem for these night games. 1 guy I know said it took him 2 1/4 hours to get there from Sale. Aamzing.



Win tomorrow and we go

 The first 5 games of the season and then we played West Ham. And lost.....:

(http://i64.tinypic.com/14d0guv.jpg)


The last 5 games and then we play West Ham:

(http://i65.tinypic.com/2rfvuxf.jpg)

What was with all the inflatable bananas in the crowd?

Hope De Bruyne injury not serious , guy is different class.

De Bruyne will be out for 6 weeks: damaged ligament and damaged ankle.

A shame. back for the run in....

Welcome to Manchester, Pep.

Very proud of the club today. In what is a delicate situation, I think they've handled it in a fantastic manner. In announcing it now, they've avoided potential internal conflict with staff/players, the media now can't throw wild speculation about like confetti, MP knows/knew the score and has the chance to leave the club in the summer with another trophy/ies in the bag.

We've had a lot of cloak and dagger shit in the past (Mancini in the stands for Hughes' last game), we had to put up with Cooks foot in mouth gaffs (Milan ''bottling'' the Kaka transfer etc), but we are run in a quietly efficient manner these days. From top to bottom, its a sleek business model. Rarely are we on the back pages for the wrong reasons. And MP gets the respect he deserves, and has the chance to leave the club as a big winner if it all falls into place between now and May.

Still waiting for the day our owners get bored of their new play thing......

Huge coup but unsure about the timing. Might scupper your chances this year

Gonna have to elaborate on that for me please :)

Well we all know what happened when Fergie called time on his career before he changed his mind. When things aren't going wel will the players dig in got Pelle or think "fuck him he's off"

I also question this "proud of the club" for announcing things. More likely everyone knew and their hand was forced

I think the only reasons City don't get a hard time like Chelsea do for basically buying success and not sticking with their managers is:

1) their history of being shit
2) Manchester United

U can probably switch that order actually

I'll outline why I think the timing is optimal.

We have some huge games on the horizon. A cup final, CL, big league games as we chase Leicester. Why let the media run riot with rumour and conjecture? They could have printed what they wanted, when they wanted. Whilst stuff happening off-field shouldn't disrupt the actual football, it inevitably does.

By making this announcement today, it nips everything in the bud. There is no grey area, no confusion. Everyone knows MP is in charge until June, and then Pep takes over. The players know MP is in charge until June, and then Pep is coming in. If you're a player, fully aware that the best coach in world football will be in charge in a matter of months, you really think they are gonna give half arsed performances? Time will tell of course, but this could be a massive kick up the arse for any player thinking of slacking off cos they were unsure if MP would be here next season or not. I'm sure Pep will be viewing every game like a hawk from here on in.

I also liked how MP was allowed to reveal that its actually him leaving the role. The contract extension he signed had a clause in for both parties, and Manuel is exercising it from his side. Of course, he might have been somewhat pushed into that decision behind closed doors, but its still a nice gesture from the club for MP to leave on his terms, and hopefully with a sack full of trophies at the end of the year. It's nice to see City acting in such a professional way, after the aforementioned cloak and dagger stuff with Hughes and, to a lesser extent, Mancini.

3 managers in 8 seasons is hardly drastic these days (and Hughes wasn't their choice and ultimately doomed). Feel free to uphold the mantra of not sacking managers if it means keeping dinosaurs like LVG in charge. The modern game has changed, some clubs adapt and prosper, some don't and fall away....

Having Pep is obviously an opportunity you cannot pass up. I'm not criticising the club for that. Just questioning your "proud" statement. You have no idea why this announcement today. It might be that it was going to be revealed anyway.

And as you said only time will tell on whether this announcement makes or breaks the club. Whatever happens this year you've got the best manager of a generation coming in for 3 years. I hope he falls flat on his face but I doubt that will happen

Why wouldn't I be proud of the way my club handles itself these days? Why wouldn't I be proud of the world class facilities we have in Manchester? Of the links, both football and business, we have around the world? Of the (mostly) fantastic football offered up on a weekly basis?

I'm proud of the club because this is a situation they could have royally fucked up, and in the past probably would have fucked up, but I think they've got it absolutely spot on this time around. All involved appear to have been treated with respect and dignity upon reaching the desired outcome, and this wasn't always the case. I was pissed off at the Hughes situation, dismayed at the Mancini situation, but now proud of the Pellegrini situation, and I make no apologies for that.

I'm not saying you shouldn't. I'm saying I disagree with the statement. You have no idea why the club have chosen to handle things this way. It might be because the papers were going to print anyway.

Well I'm proud that we beat the media to the first punch then ;) Only a select few will know the reasons for it all coming out today. I'm just glad it puts an end to any/all the speculation, and hopefully we'll see the benefits of this on the pitch. This is why I think the timing is solid.

Interesting snippet from the statement regarding ''curtailing talks in 2012'', basically confirming what a lot of City fans suspected was the case; that Aguero goal vs QPR kept Mancini in a job. Mancini is then removed by the end of the following season, but by then Pep has a deal with Munich, so City turn to MP to steady the post Mancini ship until Guardiola becomes available again.....

....and here we are 4 years later :)

word is Pellegrini wanted it public (having been made aware a month ago) so other clubs were aware he is available in the summer

Yeah that makes sense.
I had heard (in this thread maybe?) that although it was a done deal, that neither City or Pep wanted it to come out whilst there was a possibility City and Bayern could play each other in the Champs League. It'll be slightly awkward now if that does happen.

I find it all quite weird really. He's been at Barca and Bayern, I still could never see him at Man City because in my eyes Man City are still a nothing club, compared to the real giants of Europe. The Bayern's, Barca's, Madrid's, Arsenal & co. It's obviously just a money thing, which I never thought he was.

Disappointing on MP though. He looks to me a really good fit for United, but obviously that would never happen with his links to the blue half of the City.

Welcome to 2016, where Manchester City have assembled one of the best squads in Europe, compete for the title every season and have huge financial involvement worldwide.

And come July, the best manager in world football at the helm.

Is he the best manager in the world? He has managed Bayern and Barcelona. I would say any good/top football manager could win plenty with either club. I suspect going to City we will finally find out if Pep really is the real deal, seen as City are a distance from winning the CL.

He will attract more of the top top players.

City already have a couple of the few in the Premier League

Cty will never be "old money" in terms of being a big club, but for as long as their owners carry on like this they are the Eglish club to keep pace with for the rest.

What a real gentleman Pelle is

A credit to himself his country and the game

This.

People who still consider City to be a ''nothing club'' probably still consider AC Milan to be a European force.

Landscape of football has changed dramatically in the last decade or so. Whilst our ''history'' might not be as illustrious as the likes of united and Liverpool, we still have a great back story smattered with success here and there. Very few clubs would pull in an average attendance of nigh on 30k in the old division 2, playing the likes of Wrexham, Wycombe and Northampton on a weekly basis.

And we have a fantastic opportunity to create more 'history' (for want of a better term as I hate it!) under Guardiola....the future is exciting indeed, and its a great time to be a Blue :)

Oh, and Redcafe is hilarious at the moment ;)

Multiple sources broke the news on Twitter in mid July, no way they only told Pellegrini last month.

And Twitter is never wrong or full of shit.

Had them for a while now. They are resurrecting a craze from the late 80's when loads of clubs had inflatables.

To the untrained eye they could be seen as racist, but we don't throw them at black players or make monkey chants.

Apparently, and someone could back this up, they started at city when we signed Imre Varadi which sounded a bit like Imre "Banana"

You are a Wednesday fan, right? Your "nothing club" comment surprises me because you sound like many posters on Liverpool or United forums. And Arsenal a European giant without ever winning the CL?

Bayern offered Pep similar money to City to extend his contract. So to say it's just  a money thing is nonsense.

Think they came the season before Varadi but the link with Imre Banana is spot on.

Could have earned more in China or the the Emirates so no its not money doubt pep is skint  tbh

He believes in a 3 year system, saying he regretted his fourth year at Barca. That's why he's only signed for 3 years at Man City. He won't stay after that. He'll then have managed in Spain, Germany and England.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CaJinyzWEAAl8B7.jpg)

Funny, but to?

Don't remember Imre Banana, but it was definitely Man City had all the bananas in the late 80s.  I remember it well as that was the time I moved to Manchester. I can't remember many other teams having many.  Reference is here http://mcivta.com/bananas/ (http://mcivta.com/bananas/).  Fwiw earlier in the season I saw some Grimsby Town fans with an impressive range of inflatable fish.  Don't know what happened first, the fish or banana revival.

Think Brighton/Torquay had inflatable seagulls. Can't believe it would only be a handful of clubs.

I wouldn't call Man City a "nothing club" in general terms. But when you consider them to the teams in Europe right now, then they really are. Going from Barca a club with so much success, Bayern the same, then to Man City. Man City really have achieved nothing, they don't even have any sort of history in England.

I wonder what position Wednesday would have to reach in the Championship for those grapes to get a little less sour... ;)

I think other clubs had them, but reasonably sure that Man City had the most. 

I found the story behind all the Grimsby Town inflatable fish this season

http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/HELP-BRING-HARRY/story-26652083-detail/story.html (http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/HELP-BRING-HARRY/story-26652083-detail/story.html)

Closet united fan by any chance?

Some bizarre comments, the type of stuff we expect from Salford, not from Sheffield. This ''nothing club'' is the only one in England still in all 4 competitions. This ''nothing club'' was the first team in Europe qualified this season despite losing the first game.

Pep could have chosen whatever team he wanted, literally any club in the world would have him as their manager. He's plumped for little old City. How the times have changed, and some don't seem to like it.

I love it when people pull out the ''history'' card, makes them look so stupid and ignorant. Some clubs rely on history, whilst others are busy making it.

And this is when we welcome back big Paddy V.

You've whooshed me there. 

I just don't get it. I also don't get why he is the best manager in the world, he has managed 2 fantastic teams and one of them would win the league every year, the other would never be out of the top two.

Also, it makes me a closet United fan, because I said this? You are in 4 cups, so are Liverpool. You say you are making history, what history is that? I talk about history, because the reality is that you don't have rich history of a "top" club. It will take you decades to be honest. A top club would fill their stadium, the reality is that you have very cheap tickets considering you are title contenders, you can't fill the stadium.

i can't agree with you Aaron

Man C don't have a storied history of trophies, and of course are bankrolled by hugely wealthy middle eastern interests

no different (substitute shady russian oil in ) a decade ago for chelsea, or Thais at Leicester or new money at Sheffield Wednesday etc etc

they have a history though

In my lifetime Neil Young won the FA Cup for them, Bell, Summerbee, Tueart, Joe Corrigan, the 82 cup final, 5-1 against united, down two divisions, epic play off win, kinkladze, goater etc etc and then the money

no club, especially with the influx of overseas money these days, can or should expect the status quo to last for long

what constitutes a big club changes from decade to decade. if  blonde were around in 1957 we'd have been having the debate about bolton and blackpool being new money and preston and blackburn the old giants...

Ah yes, cos Liverpool are in with a shout of the title?

Some more naïve comments about Guardiola. I think it's safe to say he was the most coveted manager in the world after 6 trophy laden years in Spain and Germany. If he isn't currently the best manager in world football, I'd be delighted to hear who you think is. Mourinho? Wenger? Pardew? Guardiola might have been in charge of 2 clubs that are nearly always there or thereabouts, but you still have to do the business. And he does it in style. LVG is in charge of a club who are usually there or thereabouts, and he's doing a fine (crap) job. Time will tell if Pep can transfer his skills to the English game, but I'm excited to find out and quietly confident he'll be absolutely fine.

Almost got a line up on City bingo; history and empty stadium, well played. Just need to mention oil money and wages and you're there.

Put down The Sun and start to form your own opinions.

UEFA once again showering themselves in glory. Cheers for letting the racists off, and giving us City fans 3 weeks notice to arrange travel. Morons.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/manchester-city-kiev-blues-fans-10827301

Pretty sure it's the best money available in something approaching a serious football league that he hasn't managed in - both in terms of salary and propensity of the club to spend big.

City offer a better balance of personal financial reward and potential glory in terms of winning in Europe than just about any other club (not already doing it on a European stage).

The glory is attainable due to the money so, it is literally, for sure, all about the money

Hope we can go back about 4 years please!

I'm very tired of our historic 1-0 losses at the SOL :)

I just want you to keep up with reality, that's all.

You said Man City are in 4 cups, I said so are Liverpool.

I've also never said he is or isn't the best manager in the world. I did actually say he managed Barca and Bayern.

You said who is the best manager in the world? I really don't know & care.

I find it weird, that's all. I also find it weird that when talking about him personally, that he seems a nice guy, but would be happy to announce this new job when there is someone currently already there. I wonder how much this will affect the season?

Twitter is jam packed full of shit but several journalists (respectedish) breaking a story at the same time and the story becoming a reality is a pretty big coincidence, especially as it was before he even announced he was leaving Bayern. It's not like Gaitin to United every summer either, this is a pretty specific situation to break a story on.

He didn't announce anything. MP announced he was leaving on the original date this summer and not taking up the option of the further year. The club then confirmed that Pep would be taking over from him. Pretty straightforward stuff to follow.

We'll see in May what this has done, if anything, to our season. I have zero concerns apart from the usual 1-0 defeat at Sunderland tonight.

Stumbled over the line tonight, but 3 points is all that really matters at this stage. Was a bit squeaky bum for the last 15 minutes. Bonus to see Arsenal drop points at home, but Spurs are coming up on the sly and could mount a genuine title tilt this season.

Just a small game vs Leicester on Saturday lunchtime, followed by the spuds next Sunday.

Oh, and the players certainly didn't slack off knowing MP is leaving, I'm sure that will pain the media and any closet rags lurking.

City have been pretty pants away from home- any reason why? Are they not set up to play away from home?

Surely a bit of midfield overhaul in the summer maybe Delph, yaya and Fernandinho moving on?

I wish I could pinpoint why we've been so hit and miss away from home, but I couldn't tell you why. A better team tonight would have punished us. We're fortunate enough that we've had most of the tricky away games already, though we'll have to step it up a gear against better opposition (Nothing against Sunderland, they were spirited but lacked quality in the final 3rd).

I'd be amazed if we sold either of Delph or Fernandinho, but Yaya's days look even more numbered after yesterdays managerial confirmation. Pep was happy to sell him in his prime 5 years ago, I suspect he'll be moved on again this summer. It does seem the right time for him to look for one last club; he's cemented his legacy here with countless crucial goals, but he is running out of steam and his influence on games is waning. He can still turn it on when he wants to, which can be infuriating to watch him labour about for 70 minutes before springing to life (Arsenal away being a prime example), but I don't think Guardiola will accept passengers when he takes over.

I think, without wanting to get ahead of ourselves, that Pogba will be hunted to the max this summer...

Was a bit worrying that we couldn't get out of our half for huge periods of the second half

Was a clean sheet, though MD and NO still look shaky at the back. Great to see them giving everything and putting it on the line. Sometimes you need a 'dirty' clean sheet to build confidence.

Not having comments that our 60m defenders are crap. Sure they are playing crap, but they can improve.

Midfield struggled again too, but the effort was there to see. City just look like a poorly coached side, relying on flair players to do the business with no real plan B when they get shut out.

Really looking forward to Saturday. Should be a great test for both sides. Really enjoyed the game at their place. It was 0-0 but it had a real 'top of the table' feel to it.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CaXhMUWWEAI5CUz.png)

Coleman?!?!

The 6 signings there will cost the lot as well if they are gettable

Too good Mr Plumpy, too good.

You debate well.

My years of ''debating'' next door have helped ;)

I have a feeling we're gonna see many of these XI's over the coming months. Surprised Howey didn't slot himself in alongside Vinny.

Of course, anyone with half a brain knows that although there will be a couple of additions, this isn't Football Manager.

Pogba is the one please Pep.....

It's an unusual role reversal, usually folks from Next Door are, you know, compliant there, & a bit more lairy here, as we can be a bit more liberal here, whereas you are the other way round.

I was chatting privately to the F1 Man, Peter27 yesterday, I daresay he'll show up on Fred sometime soon, in time for the new season. He's still very bearish on McLaren, thinks they'll finish plum last in the Constructors, whereas I fancy they'll do better this year.

All that aside, what a wonderful thing this is, getting Pep, good for Man C, & very good for the EPL generally, too.

You'll get a lot of sniping from Team Jealous, of course, but I'm pretty sure you'll cope.

It's a game-changer, in so many ways.

Klopp has not pulled up any trees (yet), although, to be fair, he has poor material to work with. Even so, I love these new personalities in our domestic game. Can't say LvG exctly gets my pulses racing, but I don't have any issue with him.

Add in the amazing Leicester City saga, the performance of teams such as Watford, Palace, Spurs, Bournemouth all doing well, the woeful performances by both North East Clubs, & Villa stumbling from crisis to crisis, & now, on top of all this, Hello Pep, this is the most fascinating EPL season ever. IMO, of course.

Summer transfer window is going to be insane, esp with all the TV money coming through. The Chinese seem to be going a bit mental atm as well. Be interesting to see if City stick or twist on their defence and who replaces Yaya.

We can swear here though, I don't have to be clever to beat the filters ;)

Agreed about it being the best league in years. Just such a unique situation to have a team who survived by the skin of their teeth the previous season to be romping towards the title. We really have to throw a spanner in the works on Saturday lunchtime, and then follow that up with a win against Spurs Sunday week; 6 points from those and that should put us in the driving seat, albeit with all still to play for.

The good thing about it being confirmed that Pep is coming in, is that the preparation for next season, behind the scenes, starts now. The guys have to do the business on the pitch and focus entirely on that, but the powers that be can just look ahead to the summer. I'm sure Guardiola has identified some players he'd like, and these players plus any other potential targets are all aware that Guardiola will be managing us for 2016/17 onwards.

Having said all that, I don't anticipate wholesale changes. A marquee signing or 2, but nothing like what Steve Howey thinks :)

it was asked on the lcfc thread (where i am looking forward to vardy against de mich and otamendi tomorrow)

"Kompany aside how do man city have such a poor central defence despite spending fortunes? "

and then saw this from caley....

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CadLM9DWwAE_7jH.png)

over to you...

I'm an idiot, wish me luck.


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conned into making a v big bet on city tomorrow. going to need somebody to reassure me they will win so that i can sleep! who's up?

They'll win.

Get your nut down, Pads ;D

Well, at least we kept Vardy quiet.

he had six genuine goal-scoring chances including two one on ones?

Kompany needs to be back asap imo. otamendi and de michelis all over the shop, and the full backs weren't much better. kolarov had a stinker

what was wrong with yaya? injured?

It was firmly tongue in cheek :)

Wouldn't even know where to start after that performance in what was such a crucial game.

Clinging onto the hope that we've recovered from worse positions with less games, but that's about it. Failure to beat a single top 8 side this season is more than a concern.

Enjoy the title and Champions League football, you can look forward to glamorous away days like Dynamo Kiev ;)

Not sure if its in jest or not, but people on Blue Moon suggesting Schmeichel was purposely booting it out of play high up the pitch cos it was so easy to get the ball back from us after a throw in.

He has a monster kick on him, got it to close to the edge of our area every time. Double footed I think as well.

Manchester City have made contact with Sergio Busquets http://dailym.ai/1Q9fQis 

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ca73Ag6XEAANgY0.jpg)

Pep knows who makes the game tick

Lets see who Busquets values more.....his wife or Pep?

Kompany back :)
Delph out for 7 weeks :(

I've never known anything like it for injuries. Just listed in another thread all of our injuries this season, enough to make a strong XI with a couple of subs. Wouldn't be too bad if it was just the odd week here and there, but more often than not its for significant lengths of time.

I know we'll get no sympathy from other fans :) but it must be so frustrating for Pellers being unable to call on an even close to fully fit squad every week.

Feb 1st- the day that determined city end the season with nothing?

unlucky on the penalty decision

Spurs the better team though, good both ends of the pitch

Que?

without looking, i'm guessing the day guardiola was announced?

I've not seen any highlights apart from that farce of a decision so I'll have to take your word for it. From my perspective, neither team looked brilliant and neither looked like title contenders.

In such a tight game, when the first goal will be crucial and there is so much riding on it, you need the referees to be at least competent. Clattenburg should be in league 2 next week, but that wouldn't be fair on those teams. I've never seen a penalty given when not a single player nor fan appeals for it, and it happened at the Spurs end in front of their following.

Good job I don't believe in conspiracy theories, as Clattenburg was in charge at WHL earlier this season when him and his assistants missed a Spurs attacker being 29 yards offside for their equaliser ;)

3 horse race now, but still think city may have a part to play, Spurs played well today, obv a bad decision by MC but always difficult in heat of battle. Needed to get 3 points today. Nice to be involved in Cup final, and Champions League. Shame the cockney reds are miles away!!!

Just watched the highlights. Poor finishing on our part for a number of chances. Hart had very little to do, although Lloris was rarely troubled as well. Silly 2nd goal, such a stupid area of the pitch to give away a cheap ball.

And a shocking decision from Clattenburg, absolutely woeful. He can't even see it.

You've written city off already? Fair enough i guess.

Spurs unrecognisable from any Spurs team I've seen in the flesh in recent years. Playing like that they are/will be very diffuclt to beat. So credit to them and their manager.

I thought Spurs were  better 1st half without really creating much. I thought City competed brilliantly 2nd half (not always apparent this season) and were clearly the better team without hitting any fluency.

Spurs better both ends of the pitch? Offensively they didn't really do much.  Playing high, lots of players pushed forward but only 6 attempts all game. City had 19 attempts by the way.

Conspiracy theories involving Clattenburg are very welcome IMO. His history is very interesting albeit I’m not sure this is the right place to speculate about it.

 What did he see for that penalty? I just don’t get it. I was furious in real time which was compounded when I received the text 2 mins later from someone watching on TV  confirming it was a joke of decision. Marginal decisions for or against don’t cause me a problem. Then there is rubbish like that which has so much of an influence on the outcome.

The Aguero off-sides when we were in the ascendancy before they scored the 2nd  were unfortunate as well.  After seeing the still-frames 2 were clearly not off-side and the first of which would have culminated in Aguero running at the keeper for a one on one. Definitely on the wrong-side of the poor decision variance at the moment.

I remember the days when we used to struggle against Midtjylland, if memory serves me right they took us to penalties in a UEFA Cup qualifier back in the day. Of all people, I think it was Ched Evans who scored the winning spot kick.

The difference was, we were garbage back then, didn't have a pot to piss in.

And to think the united fans who travelled to Denmark were charged £72 for the privilege of watching that tripe :)

Edit.....Evans scored to take it to ET/Pens, it was Charlie Corluka who netted the penalty winner. 8 years ago, how times have changed ;)

Midgetlland were only formed in 1999, making them the youngest club in the europa league

meanwhile in the UCL, chelsea formed in 2003 and city formed in 2008 are still in it too :-)

Tighty, cast yourself back to page 1 of this thread, you'll see I beat you to that joke ages ago ;)

Self deprecating humour ftw.

Well it's taken almost 3000 pages, but the Pogba thread on BM is going into overdrive this evening. A guy who is generally regarded as ''ITK'' claims the wheels are in motion for a summer transfer.

Welcome to Manchester, PP?

Danny Mills says Man City players distracted by Pep Guardiola announcement and have taken their eye off prize

 http://dailym.ai/1TuGMjo

You can take anything Danny Mills says about City with a bag of salt. He hates us, which is surprising bearing in mind he was gifted a 5 year, £30k a week contract despite being shite.

i've got the bag of salt and i still think he has a point. bit naive to deny it really. eyes off the ball, potentially mailing in the rest of the season til Pep gets there. not very professional really

What are you basing that on though?

We've played 2 league games, both at home and lost them both. One against your boys, top of the league and best away record and we were mullered, another against Spurs, also top 4 and we were edged out in a close game, certainly not helped by that clown Clattenburg. It's not like Villa and Sunderland came to Eastlands and turned us over.

These are 2 games we could've lost regardless of the Pep situation. The next half dozen games or so will give a much clearer indication if Mills (and others) is on to something or not. We could either be out of every competition, or be League Cup winners, through to the QF of the Champions League, and possibly still in the hunt in the PL (I don't hold out much hope vs Chelsea tomorrow in the FA Cup).

I think it's just far too simple to say 'you've lost 2/2 since announcing Pep, the players don't care, already on the beach' etc. It really isn't as straightforward as that, football rarely is.

I thought we put a real shift in against a very good Spurs team and we looked to have a defensive plan that was working well until that ridiculous decision.

If anything the players were trying too hard to prove that they weren't just waiting for Pep.

I can understand the comment after the leicester game, where we were outfought, outhought, outplayed etc.. but any focus on us in that game takes away from a brilliant foxes performance.

The big test will be the CL and B2B Liverpool games.

I have already written off the chelsea game given the team we will be putting out. I will be watching with interest though because the youngsters playing all look to have decent futures. Just think Chelsea will really be up for this, are playing more like a top 4 team and need the europa qualification

Not naive really - certainly as far as the City fan base is concerned (as reflected on City forums) the Pep factor doesn't even feature as a reason for our woes. There are plenty of other view points put forward for that.

Agree with Swinebag and having watched the Spurs game again there was no lack of commitment, desire etc in that game.

Manchester City’s tight fit forces Pellegrini to cut his cloth  http://gu.com/p/4gqze/stw

Mills must be in the top 5 worst pundits going and there is some strong competition.

Man City covered more ground against Spurs than any other game this season hardly an indication the players have jacked it in

Agree with Pellegrini on this. Shame his hand is forced but Kiev and the 2 games that follow against Liverpool are more important.

I'd not seen that running stat for City against Spurs. I like it.  Only saw the stat that Spurs ran a million miles more than City.

On Mills, he really is bad and just about the most anti-City pundit out there.

Spurs are trained twice a day to run a lot and press a lot if you dont at least try and match it you really are in trouble

Agreed. I would be very surprised if most teams didn't run a lot by their standards when they play against spurs.

No no you're wrong, City fans are just a little bit naïve ;)

To be expected today, literally men against boys. But I think the kids can hold their heads high, if anything it was the more senior players who were at fault for the various goals. Can't blame Pellers at all for fielding that XI, his hands were tied due to injuries and upcoming games that are more important.

I think most City fans had written off the FA Cup, our season really starts from here on it. A good result in Kiev followed by a cup final win would be very nice indeed....

come on now

barcelona play yesterday, arsenal on tuesday. first choice team yesterday

man c play today, kiev wed, sitting on your bench are hart, clichy, fernandinho, sterling and kompany

even allowing for the injuries thats an affront to the competition and if i were a travelling fan there today i'd have been really pissed off


chelsea had newcastle saturday, paris tuesday, city sunday and put a full team out all three times. it can be done

Do Barcelona play a cup final next Sunday?

no, but to "throw" an fa cup last sixteen via team selection (and yes the youngesters performed better than the senior pros. kolarov and de michelis in particular mailed in in, again) is extremely disrespectful from a very arrogant club

It didn't take too much to extract your disdain for City!

I'll put this to you. We play Chelsea in the FA Cup, Kiev away in the CL, Liverpool in a cup final and then Liverpool again in the league, all in the space of 11 days. We have numerous players out injured plus a few who have just returned from injury. Which game do you rest a few players for?

To suggest we ''threw'' the FA Cup tie is ridiculous.

it was tantamount to it, in my opinion

If we'd (somehow) not collapsed in the 2nd half and snook a replay or, heaven forbid, won it, would you still think we ''threw'' an FA Cup game? Results orientated thinking by the sounds of it.

I put the question to you that you don't seem eager to answer. Which game of the 4 do you take the opportunity to rest some players?

well i would think the capital one cup final, the least prestigious of the four competitions you are competing in.

its not an issue solely directed at man c of course many sides are showing disdain for the competition

i understand the congestion, the injuries and the priorities but today went too far, imo

The FA moved the game from a Saturday to a Sunday to accommodate TV. That's the first problem. If they had allowed to be played on Saturday, maybe City would have fielded a full side.
Secondly City have to play a Cup final next weekend. That means they aren't playing a league game next weekend. That means they have to fit in another league game somewhere in an already congested fixture list.
Let's say City get the Champions League Final. That's 7 more games. Let's say they had drawn today with a full strength side and won the replay and went to the FA Cup final after beating Everton after another replay. That's another 5 games.
Add the League Cup final, the remaining 12 league games and they'd have 25 games remaining this season. In what, 12 weeks?
I'm sure City would love to do the quadruple but it's just not possible. You have to prioritise and the League + Champions League and even the League Cup final, come way ahead of the FA Cup.
Didn't Leicester put out reserve sides against Spurs?
Didn't Bournemouth put out a weakened side against Everton?
Yes and both sides were right to do so. The league (winning for Leicester and surviving for Bournemouth) is a far, far bigger deal than a potential FA Cup run.
For these pundits to sit there and pontificate about how it's a disgrace the lineups teams are putting out is a joke.

The League Cup is the least prestigious but the games were played early season. They are now in the final. A final is much more important than a potential quarter final spot in the FA Cup.

No words.

Off out, enjoy your evening all :)

Do you really think FA Cup Quarter final >>> Capital One Cup Final?

I think the press would explode if he rested players in the final and rightly so by the way. Its a shame the FA Cup has been devalued but I think we just have to accept it. Did teams play as many games a season in the olden days?

players would regularly play three games a week all season, at all levels

unheard of these days. recovery times. and for the major clubs a real surfeit of muscle injuries even though squad rotation is much more prevalent

cant do anything about a cruciate or a broken leg but utd have 10 out, city 6, arsenal injury prone, liverpool had 8 out only a fortnight ago

i repeat, city had hart, clichy, kompany, fernandinho and sterling on the bench today.

play three of them for an hour.....who knows, might have nicked something

Hart has been on the bench for every cup game this season, Kompany has just returned from a very lengthy lay off, Fernandinho has probably played more minutes than any other City player so far this season and absolutely deserves a rest, Sterling maybe could've played but didn't.

Incred that a football fan would value a 5th round FA cup tie over a league cup final.

Deffo going out now, will pick up replies in the early hours :)

TheDazzler nails it.

As regards the TV scheduling, City asked for assistance because of the CL game in Kiev and wanted the game played on Saturday. This couldn't be accomodated because Fulham were playing at home and the police supposedly refused permission. They never play Chelsea and Fulham games on the same day apparently. So City pointed out that United played a replay at Chelsea in 2013 and Fulham had a home game against QPR the same day. The police still refused.

Comparisons with Chelsea going to Paris are not fair IMO. There is somewhat of a difference between a 2 hour return trip to Paris and a 10-12 hour return trip.

Pellegrini's and the clubs record of playing strong teams in domestic cup competitions has been excellent this season and last. I suspect they have been the most respectful of the clubs involved in Europe and subsequently Tighty's comment that they are arrogant is very disappointing.

The further problem with fixture congestion for teams involved in the FA Cup. aside from replays,  is that during the later stages PL games need to be rearranged from the weekend and there is a limited number of slots this can happen because games can't be played on the same night a CL or EL games is being played anywhere else in Europe.

  

lol.

i am sure mine is a minority view but capital one cup, meh. f a cup =major comp

seems mines is a very outdated view of the fac though, to look at the strategies of a lot of big clubs.

even good old cesc fabregas said he was surprised at teh city team selection in the post match. no axes to grind, of course. (cough)

Shearer was big on the pontification but made me smile in the post-match summary. After slagging off City with the "3 days is plenty of time to recover" narrative and  smiling smugly he then went straight into "Palace must have fancied their chances  against Spurs today" because Spurs had played in the EL on Thursday and the inference they will be tired and not had chance to recover. LOL. Yep, that's 3 days earlier Alan and you recognise it isn't enough time to recover then...

The problem isn't that the cream of the academy were chucked in.  It's that they have hardly had any exposure before.  This isn't aimed at City but I don't understand why all clubs don't have a couple of youngsters on the bench every league match. How many times this year has a club been absolutely cruising and not had the opportunity of giving a youngster 20 minutes from the bench?  Watford don't do it either despite having some decent forward prospects Deeney and Ighalo are run into the ground even when we are 2 goals up.

The hypocrisy of the BBC team does not surprise

Agree with this and a big source of frustration. On one hand I can understand a manager wanting to give his senior players minutes off the bench if they've not featured much but as far as City are concerned they've had plenty of opportunities to chuck in youngsters more than they have.

Slight exagg of olden times - 2 games yah plus clubs could organise most of their midweek home games to suit their preferred way of doing things

That isn'[t the point.  Many would agree with that, but most of them would also agree that final capital one cup >> last 16 fa cup.