gerd
Retired Footballer
Both Suarez and Falcao will go to Bayern Benni...
Manchester City Thread
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
Damjan
World Cup Winner
- 16 July 2011
- Arsenal|Juventus|ASSE
If Falcao does go to Real, he'll be Hugo Sanchez 2.0
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
I hope so. what a team they'll have!!
PIPA23
retired :)
- 21 June 2007
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
QPR oh dear.
Godotelli
Stroking Silva's Hair
Hardly a surprising result. I mentioned last week that this will be a tougher game than the upcoming games against Liverpool and Chelsea.
Have to admit, City have a lot of average players.
God knows what Mancini sees in Barry, Milner, Clichy, Nastasic (sp?), Kolarov. And for me Tevez, decent before, absolute squib of a player now, him and Torres combined couldn't make a decent player.
FD
God knows what Mancini sees in Barry, Milner, Clichy, Nastasic (sp?), Kolarov. And for me Tevez, decent before, absolute squib of a player now, him and Torres combined couldn't make a decent player.
FD
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
Agree with all of them apart from Nastasic, fd.
He will be a good defender in time.
He will be a good defender in time.
shoemaker
Banned
- 3 October 2010
I disagree about Tevez, Still think he is class and can still produce a moment of magic.
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
Tevez with his bulldog like approach,
gerd
Retired Footballer
Ah the perennial discussion about the Zidanes and the Pavons.
If a team like Man City can't win against QPR, why blame the Pavons ?
The Zidanes are supposed to find openings in the catennaccio, not the Pavons.
Players like Milner and Barry are essential for star struck teams like City.
Michael Jordan was even more brilliant when Dennis Rodman played in the same team...
Barry and Milner were stars with Aston Villa. They are essential for City and they are fantastic players.
If a team like Man City can't win against QPR, why blame the Pavons ?
The Zidanes are supposed to find openings in the catennaccio, not the Pavons.
Players like Milner and Barry are essential for star struck teams like City.
Michael Jordan was even more brilliant when Dennis Rodman played in the same team...
Barry and Milner were stars with Aston Villa. They are essential for City and they are fantastic players.
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
True Gerd
It as Aguero's and Silva's job to unlock the door last night
They were quite unlucky as QPR keeper was in fine form
But Man City problem is lack of width in the games where opposition packs their box and central areas.
If that was Man Utd last night they would have got the ball out wide and hit in cross aftr cross which causes panic in a defence like QPRs
Aguero needs to start scoring too
Why didnt Dzeko start? Perfect for that type of match.
It as Aguero's and Silva's job to unlock the door last night
They were quite unlucky as QPR keeper was in fine form
But Man City problem is lack of width in the games where opposition packs their box and central areas.
If that was Man Utd last night they would have got the ball out wide and hit in cross aftr cross which causes panic in a defence like QPRs
Aguero needs to start scoring too
Why didnt Dzeko start? Perfect for that type of match.
Tbh I never saw the big thing with these 2 players, I remember Barry was linked with Liverpool for £20m and thought what the heck is wrong with football.
Sorry but for me they are very average players, have never rated any of the 2 of them, jeez the only thing that I remember about Milner is that he seemed to play for England's U-21 till like 2 months ago
, never quite understood that.FD
I kind of agree on Barry - he is a water carry and they're needed but I don't think that he's particularly world class at it. I think he does a role for City a bit like Nicky Butt used to do for United. Useful, but Roy Keane would be in there any day.
Milner could have been so much more imo. He was really starting to flourish as a central, game-controlling midfielder at Villa in his last season there, but was then bought and marginalised - usually out wide when he does play.
Milner could have been so much more imo. He was really starting to flourish as a central, game-controlling midfielder at Villa in his last season there, but was then bought and marginalised - usually out wide when he does play.
Godotelli
Stroking Silva's Hair
Kolarov and Milner are quite average but there aren't many better LBs around than Clichy, Nastasic is a real talent (but the papers haven't gone on about him yet so a lot of neutrals won't know) and Barry, well, all I'll say is that successive top class managers see what I see and what those who slag him off obviously miss. He's one of those players who people don't tend to appreciate until he plays for your club and you get to see him play every game. With that said, I hope that we'll improve our CM (Fellaini and Modric alongside Yaya pl0x) and have Barry on the bench next season. I wouldn't like to see him sold anyway.
Tevez does seem to have lost his mojo. Whether it's confidence/form or in fact he has lost some acceleration, I'm not sure, but he has definitely reverted to his pre-City performances for much of this season. Will almost certainly be sold in the summer for peanuts. Got a feeling that we'll see quite abit of an overhaul in the summer. After the year Kun has had off the field I wouldn't be surprised to see him go back to Spain either tbh
Tevez does seem to have lost his mojo. Whether it's confidence/form or in fact he has lost some acceleration, I'm not sure, but he has definitely reverted to his pre-City performances for much of this season. Will almost certainly be sold in the summer for peanuts. Got a feeling that we'll see quite abit of an overhaul in the summer. After the year Kun has had off the field I wouldn't be surprised to see him go back to Spain either tbh
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Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
What's happened to Aguero off the field mate?
Godotelli
Stroking Silva's Hair
SERGIO AGUERO has revealed his heartache over his marriage split from Diego Maradona’s daughter.
The Manchester City title hero is alone in England as estranged wife Giannina is back in Argentina with their son Benjamin.
Aguero, who misses today’s FA Cup clash with a hamstring injury, said: “I’m trying to adapt myself to my new situation after my break-up.
“It’s not easy because we lived many intense and strong experiences with Gianni.
“We grew up together as people and we loved each other a lot and we also have our son Ben.
“That’s hard for me because Ben is in Argentina and I’m here.
“I think that it is not affecting my performances but it’s hard to be far away from your son. It’s impossible for me not to miss him.”
The Manchester City title hero is alone in England as estranged wife Giannina is back in Argentina with their son Benjamin.
Aguero, who misses today’s FA Cup clash with a hamstring injury, said: “I’m trying to adapt myself to my new situation after my break-up.
“It’s not easy because we lived many intense and strong experiences with Gianni.
“We grew up together as people and we loved each other a lot and we also have our son Ben.
“That’s hard for me because Ben is in Argentina and I’m here.
“I think that it is not affecting my performances but it’s hard to be far away from your son. It’s impossible for me not to miss him.”
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
thanks.
Thats really sad for him
Thats really sad for him
Godotelli
Stroking Silva's Hair
Farewell Mario: The Firework In Blue
Posted on January 31, 2013 by Stephen Tudor
The analogy may be to a sixth-form standard but it’s hard not to compare Mario Balotelli’s all-too-brief stopover to our shores as a firework; a fizzing, eruptive, exuberant Roman candle not flared through a bathroom window but ignited across our dull English skies.
To a fusty old nation that supposedly celebrates eccentricity he was a figure utterly beyond our comprehension; a beautiful black teen who would have dripped with the arrogance of a deity if he could be so bothered as to actually break sweat.
Instead he brooded, sauntered and swaggered on our pitches, boned a succession of blondes, and idled his latest supercar through Moss Side with a walletful of cash, his stone-cold belief that he was blessed with a supernatural talent entombed in a mind that perplexed the mainstream and greatly amused the rest.
To challenge conformity and stretch the starchy fabric of Blighty it is usually necessary to take to the streets with sticks and rocks. Balotelli merely lifted up his shirt, stood still, glared, and asked a simple question, and as he did so a frenzied mania grew around him. Myths akin to folklore spread from hamlet to hamlet whilst the tabloids appeased our conservative, sex-with-our-socks-on ways by turning football’s most compelling figure for a generation – our only punk in a league of boyband pap – into a cartoon. But as with all rare creatures our fascination with the mercurial soon enough became smothering – like Lenny from Of Mice And Men stroking a young girl’s hair – and Mario Balotelli became an alien alienated.
As with Cantona and Gazza before him first we are enamoured to the point of obsession. Then we demonise.
But it was not always us. Its one thing to become an enemy of the state – the legions of Sandra and Clives who scoff over their cornflakes at the latest, media-exaggerated ‘madcap antic’ – but it’s quite another to piss off the meat and potato supporter. Their tolerance to the pampered, multi-millionaire superstars of today is commendable in the extreme considering how sharply the modern game conflicts with their traditional idylls. But at the very least a compromise must be reached with application put in to even slightly justify the exorbitant wages. Such basic application was beneath Balo: he knew the gifts he possessed and only deigned to hint at them when in a generous mood. Whereas Cantona and Gazza produced in spades Balotelli sulked, stropped and indulged in lazy backheels into an opponent’s legs. How apt that one of his most iconic moments – the cool-as-f*** close-ranger against Norwich – was a shrug of his shoulder.
With the general public believing any far-fetched nonsense as fact and his own kind – football folk – now exasperated too far at his insouciance there left only his loco parentis Mancini fighting his corner. Until even the fiery City boss fought his prodigy in a training ground bust-up that brought yet more unwanted headlines and the game was royally up.
But that still left me, and despite reading nothing but vitriol in the past 24 hours from the haters who will miss the madness infinitely more than they realise, I’m convinced I’m not alone.
Mario Balotelli evokes the kind of hero-worship in me that I haven’t experienced since I was a teen poring through the NME and devouring every laconic word whispered by Ian Brown. The Italian is a powder keg of brilliance and lunacy, genius and child, a fascinating discordance of extremes that transcends football and takes us into the realms of rock and roll, comedy, soap opera and a psychiatrist’s chair. He is the epitome of the contradictory, multifaceted nature of man that Walt Whitman once celebrated with the following words – “I am large. I contain multitudes.”
In a sport awash with the bland and one-dimensional he was excitement and attitude writ large. And I f***ing loved him for that.
To those who are glad to see the back of him not for football reasons but because the accompanying circus routinely prompted a scowl – you are a 21st century string-vest, watching Ziggy Stardust explode the minds of a generation on a black and white telly and grumpily enquiring “Is he some kind of puff or what?” You are only able to find exhilaration in the familiar and it so rarely dwells there.
To the others who view the past two and a half years as a waste of talent and promise your reasoning undeniably has substance but though the magic was sporadic what magic it was.
A man of the match performance in Manchester City’s first cup final in living memory, a goal celebration that will be forever cherished, and setting up a goal back in May that reduced me and my kin to blub out a lifetime of hurt.
As unsavoury a thought as this is, such moments outweigh a whole career of graft and grit from any player who bleeds the hue of his shirt.
Yet, in keeping with the contradictions that surround the man and myth, as much as I love Mario I’m not sorry to see him leave. In recent months the enigma had become a Where’s Wally with even the devilment absent from his few cameo appearances.
Maybe it’s not that though. Maybe it’s because you should always walk away from a lit firework. Watch it fizz and crackle across the sky and head back to normality, smiling as you go.
----------------------------------------------------
Sums it up for me.
Posted on January 31, 2013 by Stephen Tudor
The analogy may be to a sixth-form standard but it’s hard not to compare Mario Balotelli’s all-too-brief stopover to our shores as a firework; a fizzing, eruptive, exuberant Roman candle not flared through a bathroom window but ignited across our dull English skies.
To a fusty old nation that supposedly celebrates eccentricity he was a figure utterly beyond our comprehension; a beautiful black teen who would have dripped with the arrogance of a deity if he could be so bothered as to actually break sweat.
Instead he brooded, sauntered and swaggered on our pitches, boned a succession of blondes, and idled his latest supercar through Moss Side with a walletful of cash, his stone-cold belief that he was blessed with a supernatural talent entombed in a mind that perplexed the mainstream and greatly amused the rest.
To challenge conformity and stretch the starchy fabric of Blighty it is usually necessary to take to the streets with sticks and rocks. Balotelli merely lifted up his shirt, stood still, glared, and asked a simple question, and as he did so a frenzied mania grew around him. Myths akin to folklore spread from hamlet to hamlet whilst the tabloids appeased our conservative, sex-with-our-socks-on ways by turning football’s most compelling figure for a generation – our only punk in a league of boyband pap – into a cartoon. But as with all rare creatures our fascination with the mercurial soon enough became smothering – like Lenny from Of Mice And Men stroking a young girl’s hair – and Mario Balotelli became an alien alienated.
As with Cantona and Gazza before him first we are enamoured to the point of obsession. Then we demonise.
But it was not always us. Its one thing to become an enemy of the state – the legions of Sandra and Clives who scoff over their cornflakes at the latest, media-exaggerated ‘madcap antic’ – but it’s quite another to piss off the meat and potato supporter. Their tolerance to the pampered, multi-millionaire superstars of today is commendable in the extreme considering how sharply the modern game conflicts with their traditional idylls. But at the very least a compromise must be reached with application put in to even slightly justify the exorbitant wages. Such basic application was beneath Balo: he knew the gifts he possessed and only deigned to hint at them when in a generous mood. Whereas Cantona and Gazza produced in spades Balotelli sulked, stropped and indulged in lazy backheels into an opponent’s legs. How apt that one of his most iconic moments – the cool-as-f*** close-ranger against Norwich – was a shrug of his shoulder.
With the general public believing any far-fetched nonsense as fact and his own kind – football folk – now exasperated too far at his insouciance there left only his loco parentis Mancini fighting his corner. Until even the fiery City boss fought his prodigy in a training ground bust-up that brought yet more unwanted headlines and the game was royally up.
But that still left me, and despite reading nothing but vitriol in the past 24 hours from the haters who will miss the madness infinitely more than they realise, I’m convinced I’m not alone.
Mario Balotelli evokes the kind of hero-worship in me that I haven’t experienced since I was a teen poring through the NME and devouring every laconic word whispered by Ian Brown. The Italian is a powder keg of brilliance and lunacy, genius and child, a fascinating discordance of extremes that transcends football and takes us into the realms of rock and roll, comedy, soap opera and a psychiatrist’s chair. He is the epitome of the contradictory, multifaceted nature of man that Walt Whitman once celebrated with the following words – “I am large. I contain multitudes.”
In a sport awash with the bland and one-dimensional he was excitement and attitude writ large. And I f***ing loved him for that.
To those who are glad to see the back of him not for football reasons but because the accompanying circus routinely prompted a scowl – you are a 21st century string-vest, watching Ziggy Stardust explode the minds of a generation on a black and white telly and grumpily enquiring “Is he some kind of puff or what?” You are only able to find exhilaration in the familiar and it so rarely dwells there.
To the others who view the past two and a half years as a waste of talent and promise your reasoning undeniably has substance but though the magic was sporadic what magic it was.
A man of the match performance in Manchester City’s first cup final in living memory, a goal celebration that will be forever cherished, and setting up a goal back in May that reduced me and my kin to blub out a lifetime of hurt.
As unsavoury a thought as this is, such moments outweigh a whole career of graft and grit from any player who bleeds the hue of his shirt.
Yet, in keeping with the contradictions that surround the man and myth, as much as I love Mario I’m not sorry to see him leave. In recent months the enigma had become a Where’s Wally with even the devilment absent from his few cameo appearances.
Maybe it’s not that though. Maybe it’s because you should always walk away from a lit firework. Watch it fizz and crackle across the sky and head back to normality, smiling as you go.
----------------------------------------------------
Sums it up for me.
dplane
Big Kahuna Burger
Wow. Sounds like something a crazy pseudo poet LFC fans would write. Fun read however, and I agree the EPL will be a bit more dull without his antics. Something tells me it won't be long til another one fills that void though.
The thing about Mario is that you really do only have a couple isolated moments of brilliance on the pitch. He scored one goal this season.
United fans had Berbatov at a similar price, and most never took to him - despite almost a 1 in 2 goal rate, hat trick against LFC and so forth.
It's odd how personality can determine fans' appreciation, not necessarily performance. If you look a bit lazy out there, you're not worthwhile, but if you blow up some fireworks in your bathroom, then your'e pretty awesome.
United fans had Berbatov at a similar price, and most never took to him - despite almost a 1 in 2 goal rate, hat trick against LFC and so forth.
It's odd how personality can determine fans' appreciation, not necessarily performance. If you look a bit lazy out there, you're not worthwhile, but if you blow up some fireworks in your bathroom, then your'e pretty awesome.
gerd
Retired Footballer
Spurs would give tons of money for Berbatov now...still one of the most attractive players in the EPL.
dplane
Big Kahuna Burger
Yes and no. His first touch is definitely one the best out there. Take RVP's equalizing goal @ West Ham in the FA Cup this year, where he received the long ball from Giggs. I think out of current and recent Utd forwards only Berba could've picked up that ball at such a pace like RvP did.
But, as has been said before, the biggest beef folks seemed to have with him was that he is much more of a poacher than RvP, and is lazy. (When do you see Berba running from one side of the field to the other to help defend, only to run back forward for quick counters?) While the Utd-Fullham FA game wasn't the best measure for him due to the mere domination Utd had over Fullham, you could tell how much he simply removes himself from the game. Waiting for that odd break to come, rather than really participating. That is not the type of attitude that is looked kindly upon at Old Trafford, where wins are often the result of whole team determination in grinding out the games. For poaching we have Chicarito, who is far more clinical and is having an amazing season.
Benni
Banned
- 7 May 2012
City were woeful today!! Why didnt Tevez feature??
Godotelli
Stroking Silva's Hair
The ref/s was a disgrace and Liverpool classless for not kicking the ball out.
No excuse for the lineup Mancini chose tho. You simply don't start a slow 2-man midfield of Garcia and Barry against a 3-man midfield from mid table upwards. I'd love to know who scouted Garcia because the lad isn't a footballer, whoever scouted him needs sacking.
And it took Mancini too long to change shape but then he goes and takes off Silva. I don't care if he's not having one of his best games, you don't take off David Silva off when you're trying to score. And you don't bring on Nasri, the invisible man, instead of Tevez. We were crying out for Tevez today. So irritated by pretty much everything I saw today. Should be beating Liverpool at home.
One plus point today iis that Ivory Coast got knocked out so the Toure's will be back now. Pity that it's too late tho!
Pissed off.
No excuse for the lineup Mancini chose tho. You simply don't start a slow 2-man midfield of Garcia and Barry against a 3-man midfield from mid table upwards. I'd love to know who scouted Garcia because the lad isn't a footballer, whoever scouted him needs sacking.
And it took Mancini too long to change shape but then he goes and takes off Silva. I don't care if he's not having one of his best games, you don't take off David Silva off when you're trying to score. And you don't bring on Nasri, the invisible man, instead of Tevez. We were crying out for Tevez today. So irritated by pretty much everything I saw today. Should be beating Liverpool at home.
One plus point today iis that Ivory Coast got knocked out so the Toure's will be back now. Pity that it's too late tho!
Pissed off.
Yes, LFC should definitely have played the ball out because Dzeko clearly needed treatment.
Oh, what's that? He was perfectly able to sprint over and protest to the linesman after the goal, and went on to play the rest of the match?
Wait, does that mean he was trying to gain advantage by feigning injury, and the ref did well not to let him?
(it was a foul, waaaaaa, but I HATE the way players feign injury when they're not).
gerd
Retired Footballer
Man Utd just won the EPL today, football is a sports played with two teams of 11 players and a match lasts 90 minutes. In the end Man Utd always win with a litle help from referees, the FA and god knows whop else. Once again the most boring team will be champions...nevertheless congratulations on a well deserved title...after 38 matches the best team always wins.
PS: there was a foul on Dzeko, so Sturridge wonderfull goal should never have happened.
PPS: fantastic Agüero goal and a good assist from "crappy" Milner for the Dzeko goal.
PS: there was a foul on Dzeko, so Sturridge wonderfull goal should never have happened.
PPS: fantastic Agüero goal and a good assist from "crappy" Milner for the Dzeko goal.
Come on, that is seriously lazy.
What help have United gotten from the refs this season? In just the last 10 matches we've had no less than 3 goals incorrectly ruled out for offside, 2 clear as day penalties not given and numerous other mistakes that are ignored because it's United.
I can't think of a single point we've picked up this season due to refereeing mistakes, and quite easily point to several we've dropped because of them.
United have scored more goals than virtually any other team in the history of English football at this stage of the season, have conceded more than any other team in the top 10 and yet they're boring? FFS. What do you want? Every match is a multi-goal thriller consisting of lead changes and high shot counts. Even the Fulham match yesterday had no less than 5 shots hit the bars from both teams.
Why don't you just finish the lazy-ass narrative and say De Gea is weak on crosses, Rooney is fat and Carrick doesn't deserve a place in a top 4 team.
Jebus, I thought you were better than that.
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