Manchester City Thread

On second thoughts, you might be right about the first off-side...
One certainly can't blame the linesman.

I would know what to do about the second to be honest...

Anyway, City deserved to win. Arsene shouldn't have moaned, i guess he'sintelligent enough to see that is team was very bad in the second half.
 
Watching it live, I had the impression both were offside when they happened. Then watching the replays I saw my instinct was right. That said, the first one is very hard to be sure of, so the ref and linesman were right: if you have doubts, let play go on.

Anyway, Manchester City was much much better than Arsenal. Except for the Walcott goal, which showed terrible use of space by the defenders, Arsenal did nothing to deserve a single point. Manchester City should have won easily. Here lies the importance of having killers in your team. City creates a lot of chances but needs to improve its conversion rate, because mistakes kill you when you play against the top teams. It's the team I like watching the most in the Premiere, but that's because it has that Pep touch and care for the ball. If City is able to gain a bit more security behind and a bit more effectiveness upfront, I think they will win some silverware at the end of the season.

Against Chelsea, I thought Man City was by far the best team, but that's football. At least, even in defeat, this team has a plan, and is building some personality. A pitty that the team seems to be in shambles behind.
 
Well if linesmen are having trouble with such goals, then it's about time video assistance is introduced. They used it in the recent club world cup.
 
I fear that would be unfair. Think about all the times a linesman calls for offside wrongly. Many times your team is denied a clear goal chance because of that. Somehow, having some dodgy-offside goals being conceded is some sort of balance to this. If goals could be disallowed by watching a TV replay, but wrongly called offsides continue to happen, then in the overall we are denying more than conceding, thus being unfair at long term.

If we want to take out human error from the equation, we should do it fairly, which right now is not possible technologically. The day all players carry a microchip and offsides can be perfectly called by a computer, then it would be fair, but it's not possible to implement for a lot of reasons right now, and also it would kill a bit the feeling of the sport.
 
He's a good player but again not a signing that worries me, you have an abundance of attacking talent and creating chances wasn't really an issue anyway.

your defence is the mess which needs sorting which im sure it will be.
 
Ederson Moraes signing from Benfica on Monday (after their cup final), apparently. Could be world record for a GK. They don't own him outright.

Mendy, Fabinho and Walker likely to be the other defensive recruits, pretty soon too.
 
Ederson could be announced today
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40080163

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Really nice to see "one of our own" stepping up. Turned 17 a few weeks ago, from Stockport, been at City since 7, a City fan and played for Reddich Vulcans, a team I used to play against back in the day :))
A very un-english midfielder
 
Godotelli said:
Really nice to see "one of our own" stepping up. Turned 17 a few weeks ago, from Stockport, been at City since 7, a City fan and played for Reddich Vulcans, a team I used to play against back in the day :))
A very un-english midfielder
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So impressed with the little things he's doing (in albeit one match): Like when he pressures Pogba without diving in in order to wait for the second defender to come in and help win the ball back. Those are the sorts of decisions that will make Pep wonder if he has a role to play for City this season.
 
I read on the site of The Guardian that the biggest talent of your (very expensive) youth set-up wants to play for either Arsenal or Spurs. Assuming that this is true, then i can understand him. Clubs like City, Chelsea, PSG (perhaps a litle less) will Always favour stars above youth players (future stars?).

As a Spurs fan i really hope that Pocchetino's way of working can pay off and that good young players will come th Spurs. Also hope Pocchetino can stay for a long term with the club...one can always hope.
 
Sancho is excellent but apparently he's homesick (he's a southern lad).

If it's not that then he's an idiot for passing up the opportunity to work with Guardiola, esp. in his formative years. Players far senior to him dream of such an opportunity.

As for being the biggest talent, he's the flashiest talent. Foden is better. Brahim too, imo, tho it's close.
Him, Foden and Brahim were the outfield players of his age group earmarked for the 1st team. Shame for us and him if he leaves.
 
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Steve-O21 said:
So impressed with the little things he's doing (in albeit one match): Like when he pressures Pogba without diving in in order to wait for the second defender to come in and help win the ball back. Those are the sorts of decisions that will make Pep wonder if he has a role to play for City this season.
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With plenty of players leaving, our CM ("false 8") options next season look like being
Silva
De Bruyne
Bernardo (who will also play RW)
Gundogan (who may get injured again, will at least need to be managed)
... and then you get to Fernandinho who isn't really suited to that role and has other positions to cover.
so, with 4 competitions to play in, I'm hopeful we'll see him make a handful of apps this year, which would be great for a lad who was 16 less than 2 months ago.

May depend on how well he does in the remainder of pre-season. He wouldn't be the first kid to play well on his debut but then show that he's not ready in the following games. He is very slight ... but it is his intelligence, as you point out, and balance which counters that so who knows?. Pep is clearly very, very impressed with him.

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It will be an excellent thing for him if he leaves for Spurs.
Of course this sounds biased, but look what Pocchetino did with young players at Saints and Spurs. It would be interesting to know how many England players made their debut when Poch was their manager.

What he did since coming to Spurs is impressive, i'm afraid one can't say the same of Pep. You Always say Pep makes players better, well i know KDB fairly well and that is an example of a player who became worse since Pep is his manager...his stats are still pretty good in the EPL, but for Belgium he has been extremely poor. He used to be our most important player, last season he was average... Pep played him all over the pitch: AMF, CF, CM, DMF, winger...

At City Pep has become a big spender with no results...he also underachieved at Bayern...would like to see him at a club with modest financial means...
 
It'd be better for him to go to Spurs than Arsenal, where no english player has improved in 20 years, and Poch is a v.good coach but what's the point of working under the pretender when you are already with the master? Also, how long will Poch even be there if Spurs continue to do alright? He's not the loyal type. Sancho is 2 years younger than Marcus Edwards, who hasn't broken through yet.

KDB has become a better allround player under Pep. He was poor in tight spaces before. He has improved in that regard.
Not arsed about Belgium form, Martinez is a crap manager

It's not me who always goes on about Pep making players better, it's the players who do that! lol
 
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Not saying Pep isn't a good manager but at the moment all he's won is Shopper of the Year. Although I hope he's kept the receipt for Kyle Walker. Definitely improved under Pochetino but his pace disguises a lot of his shortcomings I think. Decent player, but 50m is crazy.
 
Who is the best FB in the world and how much would he cost in this market?

Walker is currently the best RB in the PL and one of the best in Europe. Familiarity breeds contempt.

I don't get the "pace disguises shortcomings" argument. Pace is part of the sport.

Before the transfer I thought £35m+5m addons would be a fair price but I'm not that concerned with the price considering we've weakened Spurs in the process. Plus piss-poor planning in terms of losing all our FBs at the same time left us kinda vulnerable
 
Kyle Walker was very good last season. But the seasons before that he was both injury prone and error prone.
At the end of the season Pocch barely let him play and with Trippier in the team, Spurs were as good if not better than with Walker. Trippier is a much better crosser than Walker, but i have a feeling that Walker was better defensively and that is alarming because Walker used to very weak defensive (but not last season).

Together with Dier he was the player that could go for me. I wouldn't mind Dier going to United (would be for a shitload of money). Dier was weak last season imo.

I do agree with you that at the moment City is a safer bet because all the money. But in the long term Spurs are perhaps a safer bet (that is if the rumours aren't true that the American owner will sell Spurs when they are in the new stadium). If Pocch goes, then i'm afraid Spurs will implode, this will not immediately happen with City.

Martinez may be a crap manager, but he is much better than what we had before him (Wilmots). The Belgian FA doesn't have the money to pay a manager worth of the players we currently have, that is why this team will Always underachieve...

About Spurs: they should buy some players because their bench is weak. Problem is that the first team is almost perfect and that new players that Spurs can afford are almost certain to be fringe players...
 
By the pace argument I mean he is often caught out of possession or hits a stray pass but his lightning pace gets him out of trouble quickly. Yes it is a positive I agree, I just mean that for me it covers some of his errors by being able to often quickly recover from them.

Would you say he is better than Zabaleta was in his prime at City?

I agree the price is almost irrelevant these days as it has just become ridiculous.


Interesting you should say that about Dier, Gerd. I was thinking last season that he is very over rated. I agree that Spurs first team is extremely good but options off the bench are limited. This is where City will have a distinct advantage. They could do with a centre back or two though.

Should be an interesting battle though.
 
Dier had the bad luck that Wanyama and Dembele are so good. The season before, he was great in that Wanyama role. Last season he was in and out of the team, which harmed him.

Still, he was quite effective as third CB in a 3-5-2. But he isn't as good as both Vertonghen and Alderweireld.
 
vs prime Zabaleta? No, not from what I've seen of him so far anyway, Zaba was very complete. I think Zaba and G.Neville have arguably been the best RBs in the PL era. Dixon was good too but my memory is hazy
However Walker might be slightly better equipped to play in a Pep team with his pace helping put a stop to counter attacks. We played possession based football in the years before Pep but not the incredibly high line.

You can see here how he dealt with Rashford's pace. Last season Rashford would have had free reign vs our FBs
Albeit a friendly , he shut down Rashford, Lingard and Martial, who had more games under their belt. Rashford scored after being moved to the RW

Back on Sancho, it appears he's going to Arsenal rather than Spurs. A great shame. Seems he's going there to be with friends rather than the improved football development reasons of Cit/Spurs.
Honestly, I'm disappointed in his mentality. Foden looks at the squad and thinks "cant wait to play with them". Sancho apparently looks at the squad and thinks "I need to leave"

On Dier, I'd be hoping Utd go for him rather than Matic. I don't rate him. Decent squad player but not a starter imo. He did make Pogba look very good the last time they were on a pitch together so that might be Mourinho's thinking ;)
 
Yeah I'd agree with those two probably being the best FB's of the Premier era. Gary Neville was one of those players that really impresses when you see them live.

I'd agree Walker fits more into the modern day full back mode where they are almost more about attacking than defending, that plays to his strengths.

Must admit I don't know anything about Sancho. I'm guessing he'll be the 43rd attacking midfielder in Arsenal's squad :D
 
He's a brilliant prospect. Amazing dribbler, plenty of tricks, powerful, quick, goalscorer. Neymar type. Won GoldenBoy (or whatever it's called) at the Euros
 
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