Noisy Neighbours - the Man City thread

[TightEnd]

Man City's owners are considering legal action after being accused of "financial doping". http://bbc.in/2gMLii3 

[Archer]

Man City's owners are considering legal action after being accused of "financial doping". http://bbc.in/2gMLii3  

I'm tired of the "financial doping" aspersions. At least a small but growing body in the media is putting forward the other side. IIRC it was actually Arsene who coined the expression "financial doping"  a few years ago:)

FFP is dead and buried as far as City are concerned despite the big activity in the transfer market.  I've just listened to a podcast featuring the most well known writer on City finances amongst City fans. He is calculating we have dropped £72mil off the P&L in amortisation and wages whilst adding back about £68mil in amortisation and wages for the purchases. So actually a small profit. Sanchez would have made a difference to that but plenty of headroom.

Not about FFP but a detailed article about the City group as a whole here:
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/inside-city-football-group-manchester-citys-network-of-clubs-new-york-melbourne-girona-a7934436.html?amp

[Karabiner]

I should have guessed that AW was going to be the villain of the piece.

[Archer]

Now starting to look forward the Liverpool game Saturday lunchtime. A shame in some respects that it has come directly after an international break which somewhat screws up the pre-match prep for both sides.

Liverpool have been our bogey team in recent times..only beaten them twice in the league in the last 10 attempts and the last win was 3 years ago. The 1-1 draw at the Etihad last season was simply mad and  brilliant ..a total commitment to attacking by both sides and reflected by the xG -  City 2.76 and Liverpool 2.06. Hopefully more of the same this time but with a win..

City are on a good run in the league at the moment. In the last  20 league games since a 4-0 defeat to Everton back in January we've only lost 1 game. The problem tho has been too many draws and an inability to beat Big 6 teams and not 1 win against a Big 6 team in 2017. All very Arsenal actually... Time for that to change. Mr Klopp will think otherwise...

[Archer]

I should have guessed that AW was going to be the villain of the piece.

 

[77dave]

Klopp has the best record of any manager against  Pep

[tikay]

Predictions for how the match will go on Saturday?

Man City are around 5/6, 'Pool 3/1, & the Draw 3/1.



https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-liverpool/winner

[Archer]

Predictions for how the match will go on Saturday?

Man City are around 5/6, 'Pool 3/1, & the Draw 3/1.



https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-liverpool/winner

City are a tad too short there IMO. Lay City.

[hhyftrftdr]

Predictions for how the match will go on Saturday?

Man City are around 5/6, 'Pool 3/1, & the Draw 3/1.



https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-liverpool/winner

This is the fixture (home or away) that I hate/dread the most. We've struggled so many times in recent seasons against Liverpool. They play in a similar way to ourselves so the games are always interesting and entertaining but more often than not ends in defeat for us. I also dislike playing Spurs for similar reasons. Not bothered about games against Chelsea/Arsenal/united etc

I can never bet against City but Liverpool at 3/1 doesn't look a bad bet at all. I just hope we now have the fullbacks capable of quashing the threat that Salah, Mane etc bring with their pace and skill.

It won't be 0-0

[Archer]

Predictions for how the match will go on Saturday?

Man City are around 5/6, 'Pool 3/1, & the Draw 3/1.



https://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-liverpool/winner

This is the fixture (home or away) that I hate/dread the most. We've struggled so many times in recent seasons against Liverpool. They play in a similar way to ourselves so the games are always interesting and entertaining but more often than not ends in defeat for us. I also dislike playing Spurs for similar reasons. Not bothered about games against Chelsea/Arsenal/united etc

I can never bet against City but Liverpool at 3/1 doesn't look a bad bet at all. I just hope we now have the fullbacks capable of quashing the threat that Salah, Mane etc bring with their pace and skill.

It won't be 0-0

I'll only bet against them if the price is right but at least it is some compensation if pissed off  with the result.  The best bet I've lost on City was the Aguero moment in 2012. If he hadn't scored it would have been by far and away my biggest  winning bet. Needless to say I couldn't care less

[flushthemout]

Thinking I hate The Bin Dippers more than Manure so would love to win this one. Lots of tickets on city forums for Feynord. Going to West Brom on the 20th Sept, one premiership ground that I have not visited seeing I live about 30 miles away. Few more missing, West Ham, Swansea, Burnley and Newcastle then complete.

[hhyftrftdr]

Thinking I hate The Bin Dippers more than Manure so would love to win this one. Lots of tickets on city forums for Feynord. Going to West Brom on the 20th Sept, one premiership ground that I have not visited seeing I live about 30 miles away. Few more missing, West Ham, Swansea, Burnley and Newcastle then complete.

Take oxygen.

[hhyftrftdr]

Just watched back highlights from yesterday, very pleasant viewing.

Obv the game was skewed by the red card (and it was a red, it was about as dangerous as it gets, albeit unintentional), but as Pep pointed out; we played a similar situation vs Everton where we were a goal and man down and still managed to get a draw.

Ederson looks a fine keeper and has incred distribution, a missile kick. Big presence in goal too, called into action a couple of times before the injury and his positioning and shot stopping looks first rate. Hopefully he's back in action for us soon, though Bravo is a more than adequate back up for the time being.

Mendy is an absolute beast of a player and gives us a real genuine threat down the left, something that Clichy and to a lesser degree Kolarov could never do. He has pace, power, a good cross, great engine. Will be the best left back in the world before long. According to Sky sports he only had a 6/10 game lol what do these idiots watch?

I really like the flexibility of Danilo. Started the game on the right of a back 3 in a 3-5-2, ended the game in centre mid in a 4-5-1/4-3-3. Such versatility is an asset and it's easy to see why Pep made a personal plea to the board to sign him when Alves chose PSG (annoying at the time but maybe a blessing in disguise?) He's not an eye catching player but he'll be an important part of the squad this season and beyond.

I still have no idea how we snagged Jesus for under £30m?! It was also amusing watching Henderson trying to get within 5 yards of Silva and KDB Safe to assume that England will be on an early plane home from Russia next summer.

As for Liverpool, it was an interesting match up until the red, fairly even stuff. Easy to see where their threat comes from, Salah and Mane just give you so many quick options to go either way on the break. I think they need each other though as Salah 'disappeared' after Mane was dismissed. Otamendi was run ragged in the first 20 mins by Salah, he looks a great purchase.

My tenner on 100+ goals for City looks in much better shape now

[hhyftrftdr]

A well written piece on the weekends game....

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/sep/10/manchester-city-liverpool-pep-guardiola-jurgen-klopp-ederson

Seen a lot of silly articles about the game and the red card, saying the ref ruined the encounter etc Sky even ran a poll asking if Mane should have gone or not. I don't recall there being a poll for the cards for Walker and Sterling? And there was no-one claiming the game had been ruined when Walker was sent off in ridiculous circumstances against Everton. Moss got it right, Mane had to go. Accidental or not, if you kick the keeper in the head like that then you're off, and credit to Moss for making the correct call in live play cos I couldn't tell from my seat just how bad it was. It's a great smokescreen for Liverpool who can deflect from how inept they were with 10 men.

No surprise people like Shearer were chirping that he has to go for the ball, he was seemingly quite fond of kicking people in the face during his playing career.

[Archer]

Just watched back highlights from yesterday, very pleasant viewing.

Obv the game was skewed by the red card (and it was a red, it was about as dangerous as it gets, albeit unintentional), but as Pep pointed out; we played a similar situation vs Everton where we were a goal and man down and still managed to get a draw.

Ederson looks a fine keeper and has incred distribution, a missile kick. Big presence in goal too, called into action a couple of times before the injury and his positioning and shot stopping looks first rate. Hopefully he's back in action for us soon, though Bravo is a more than adequate back up for the time being.

Mendy is an absolute beast of a player and gives us a real genuine threat down the left, something that Clichy and to a lesser degree Kolarov could never do. He has pace, power, a good cross, great engine. Will be the best left back in the world before long. According to Sky sports he only had a 6/10 game lol what do these idiots watch?

I really like the flexibility of Danilo. Started the game on the right of a back 3 in a 3-5-2, ended the game in centre mid in a 4-5-1/4-3-3. Such versatility is an asset and it's easy to see why Pep made a personal plea to the board to sign him when Alves chose PSG (annoying at the time but maybe a blessing in disguise?) He's not an eye catching player but he'll be an important part of the squad this season and beyond.

I still have no idea how we snagged Jesus for under £30m?! It was also amusing watching Henderson trying to get within 5 yards of Silva and KDB Safe to assume that England will be on an early plane home from Russia next summer.

As for Liverpool, it was an interesting match up until the red, fairly even stuff. Easy to see where their threat comes from, Salah and Mane just give you so many quick options to go either way on the break. I think they need each other though as Salah 'disappeared' after Mane was dismissed. Otamendi was run ragged in the first 20 mins by Salah, he looks a great purchase.

My tenner on 100+ goals for City looks in much better shape now

Nice summary.

I’ve only just had the chance to watch the full thing back. Jeez Neville and Tyler.

On Mendy I agree he was excellent in the 2nd half. I’m not so sure about the 1st half where he seemed to be all over the place with positioning.

Likewise it felt 50/50 in the 1st half. xG tells a different story: