Mancheater City: 115

[redanddread]

De Bruyne & Kompany too. We should not underestimate them, certainly not squad-wise

They don' have the heart imo. Some great individuals & on paper a very strong squad but something's missing over there.

They should have won much more with the squad they had over these last few years imo - they won one title on goal difference after almost blowing it at home against relegation fodder 10 man QPR and then got handed the title by Liverpool's slip-up & Chelsea's loss to Sunderland at home (Mourinho's 1st loss at Stamford Bridge in the League). With the money spent on that team and the talent they've had they should have romped the league. They do have 2 titles and you can't take that away from them but they should have won much more given their "superior" squad depth.

Pelligrino's a dead man walking and I reckon a few up there are happy to take the $$$ and run. Mercenaries the lot of them...

 

[Thomas94]

They don' have the heart imo. Some great individuals & on paper a very strong squad but something's missing over there.

De Bruyne came to Chelsea as a big talent, but never got his chance. He found another club and fought to prove what he was worth. His performance against Bayern alone was a display of true character.

Kompany is something special, half god half human here in Belgium. Didn't have the easiest circumstances when growing up, but he never had the kind of mental problems these other guys seemed to have (See Vandenborre).

Probably biased being Belgian, but these guys have the heart to win the PL. For the rest of the team, bar Aguero, I'd agree with you.

 

[redanddread]

De Bruyne came to Chelsea as a big talent, but never got his chance. He found another club and fought to prove what he was worth. His performance against Bayern alone was a display of true character.

Kompany is something special, half god half human here in Belgium. Didn't have the easiest circumstances when growing up, but he never had the kind of mental problems these other guys seemed to have (See Vandenborre).

Probably biased being Belgian, but these guys have the heart to win the PL. For the rest of the team, bar Aguero, I'd agree with you.

Kompany & Aguero are too injury prone & therein lies the big problem also. City aren't the same team without those two - both are aging & injury prone and they've spent a LOT of do$h but haven't managed to find adequate back-ups for those two key players.

 

[ArsenesNO1Fan]

I haven't watched enough full matches of City but I get the feeling that they don't defend as a team well enough @TheKippaxYears could probably tell us more about that

The old saying 'great teams are built from the back' couldn't hold more true. You can't outscore the opposition every week but you can usually stop them scoring ensuring you at least get a point and if you get a goal killing their hope to an extent. If teams know you're easy to score against they always have hope.

 

[Nyctophobia]

I haven't watched enough full matches of City but I get the feeling that they don't defend as a team well enough @TheKippaxYears could probably tell us more about that

The old saying 'great teams are built from the back' couldn't hold more true. You can't outscore the opposition every week but you can usually stop them scoring ensuring you at least get a point and if you get a goal killing their hope to an extent. If teams know you're easy to score against they always have hope.

Otamendi is lightweight and Mangala is clueless.

 

[TheKippaxYears]

Come on, lads, you've got to admit it, it's a bit of a laff, this season, isn't it? Nobody wants to win this ****ing league! Ah, sod it, let's just give it to Accrington Stanley…

 

[Trilly]

Sterling is doing, alright this season. England's best young player for me.

 

[Jury]

They'll stroll it. Only side in the league, apart from... Sp**s (FFS) that look like stringing 8 or 9 games together without losing. They're one short blitz away from winning this league, and I reckon it's about to happen, starting today.

 

[Trilly]

De Bruyne's racked up 10 goals 10 assists already. Good attacking players really flourish in their system.

Thing that separates us from City is that they have the ability to put 5 past a bad Sunderland side, we would still beat the bad sunderland side but we would have a comfortable 2/3-0 victory.

They're just as inconsistent as we are but their firepower allows them to always be there or thereabouts regardless of which one of their CB's is having a stinker.

Long story short: They can be 'worse' than us and still get away with it because of how good they are at scoring goals.

 

[Rocky]

Sterling is doing, alright this season. England's best young player for me.

I'd take Kane over Raheem all day long. All-round striker, has an end product, loads of self-belief, power, can head the ball, technically excellent for a decent sized lone striker. He's not lighting quick but he's certainly not a slouch.

 

[TheKippaxYears]

Kane? So would I, as it happens. We didn't pay all that money for what Sterling can do right now - he's obviously overpriced if you look at it in those, strictly limited, terms, but what we expect him to be doing for us over the next five, six, why not seven, seasons. That's the whole point.
We have fire power up front. There was never any serious doubt about that. But I was at the Etihad yesterday — Kompany came on and was welcomed like the returning messiah. The whole ground stood to applaud him. He played for a grand total of nine minutes, before being subbed off with a recurring injury. I mean, WTF! What the actual…
Nobody knows what's wrong with with him, least of all the man himself.
If Kompany is going to be out all season, I have serious doubts as to whether we can win this league. At the back, we're flakey. Obviously. Mangala is a disaster waiting to happen, and my heart is in my mouth every time he has the ball and has an opposition player bearing down on him. He always seems to think he has more time than he actually has. Otamendi's a different case. You don't get chosen as La Liga's defender of the season, as he was last year, for nothing. But I'm coming to the conclusion that he actually gets nervous, and stops playing his natural, front foot, game, when he's got Mangala next to him. Certainly, he doesn't "manage" Mangala, if that's the word, anything like as well as Kompany does.
The idea that the team that scores a cartload of goals is going to win it doesn't wash. Liverpool operated on that basis two seasons back, and the wheels came off that particular car, famously, at Palace.
So, the elephant in the room, and everyone can see it, is our back line. But it's a funny old season, isn't it? I never thought yours would find it easy at Saint Mary's, but I wasn't quite expecting that! Who was?
Nah, it's a long season, and I don't care to call it. It's open in a way I don't remember seeing before. Could Sp**s actually win it?!! Horrors for you lot. They're playing seriously good football, though. For the time being…

 

[Gentleman's Vegetables]

Still not at all convinced by city, although we on paper are clearly no title winning team, I still think we could well still win the league.
Looking back to 2012/13 and 2014/15, city only finished with 78/79 points. Looking at these squads the spine of the team is unchanged; Hart, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Kompany, Toure, Silva, Aguero everpresents, as well as tevez in 2012/13. Clearly they have added quality in De Bruyne, Sterling, Fernandinho, but I still feel that the overall level of this current squad is similar/ marginally improved compared to these squads. This is proven by the dreadful inconsistency they have shown this season. Added to that; injury woes to Aguero and Kompany and an inability to defend without kompany and I think we have a very good chance despite our shortcomings. Furthermore, I think history shows, even in citeh's title winning seasons that they are still suspect to giving rivals a very good chance of winning the league (having only marginally clinched titles vs average United/Pool sides). I think people are wrong to automatically assume that city will start performing and blow everyone away at some point, there is enough recent historical and current evidence to suggest this is unlikely.

 

[Trilly]

I'd take Kane over Raheem all day long. All-round striker, has an end product, loads of self-belief, power, can head the ball, technically excellent for a decent sized lone striker. He's not lighting quick but he's certainly not a slouch.

Didn't even realise Kane was that young! I thought he was in Wilshere's age group. Wow.

 

[redanddread]

Still not at all convinced by city, although we on paper are clearly no title winning team, I still think we could well still win the league.
Looking back to 2012/13 and 2014/15, city only finished with 78/79 points. Looking at these squads the spine of the team is unchanged; Hart, Zabaleta, Kolarov, Kompany, Toure, Silva, Aguero everpresents, as well as tevez in 2012/13. Clearly they have added quality in De Bruyne, Sterling, Fernandinho, but I still feel that the overall level of this current squad is similar/ marginally improved compared to these squads. This is proven by the dreadful inconsistency they have shown this season. Added to that; injury woes to Aguero and Kompany and an inability to defend without kompany and I think we have a very good chance despite our shortcomings. Furthermore, I think history shows, even in citeh's title winning seasons that they are still suspect to giving rivals a very good chance of winning the league (having only marginally clinched titles vs average United/Pool sides). I think people are wrong to automatically assume that city will start performing and blow everyone away at some point, there is enough recent historical and current evidence to suggest this is unlikely.

:confused:

 

[Bould14]

City have the quality up front. Home form looks impressive. Away form needs to improve. Aguero keeps getting injured and Sterling is inconsistent. They also have to compensate for Yaya which may cost them points down the road still.

 

[amirkat]

And still, I wouldn't put money on us to win the title.

If they can somehow get the spine of Hart-Kompany-Silva-Aguero playing for a run of 8 games, they'll probably breeze the league.

 

[redanddread]

They'll stroll it. Only side in the league, apart from... Sp**s (FFS) that look like stringing 8 or 9 games together without losing. They're one short blitz away from winning this league, and I reckon it's about to happen, starting today.

Have you seen there schedule for January - if they do string together an 8 game unbeaten streak they'll be top of the table by Jan 31st but I just don;t see it happening.

(a) Leicester
(a) Watford
(a) Everton L.Cup
(a) Norwich FA Cup
(h) Everton
(h) Palace
(a) West Ham
(h) Everton L. Cup

& they haven't won an away league game since September.

 

[redanddread]

@TheKippaxYears
"Obviously. Mangala is a disaster waiting to happen, and my heart is in my mouth every time he has the ball and has an opposition player bearing down on him. He always seems to think he has more time than he actually has. Otamendi's a different case. You don't get chosen as La Liga's defender of the season, as he was last year, for nothing. But I'm coming to the conclusion that he actually gets nervous, and stops playing his natural, front foot, game, when he's got Mangala next to him. Certainly, he doesn't "manage" Mangala, if that's the word, anything like as well as Kompany does."

Have no fear mate!

Bacary Sagna sends message to Manchester City fans on France defender Eliaquim Mangala

BACARY SAGNA has urged Manchester City fans to be patient with his fellow French international Eliaquim Mangala, insisting he can still be a "great" given time.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...-Manchester-City-fans-France-Eliaquim-Mangala

 

[Penn_]

'If they can get x fit they'll breeze the league'

Well they won't, could easily be said for us.

 

[GOONER1991]

What on earth ever happened to Nasri?

Honestly, I completely agree with the thread title. Those who sold their souls. For some reason, I don't think they're anywhere as near as dislikeable as Chelsea.