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Is this image supposed to point out how much their team has changed?
I just want to point out that 3 of those changes - Kompany, Fernandino, Silva - have come about because they have retired. Or at least were well into the twilight of their careers. They werenât changes simply to refresh the squad. Whether this was City or Arsenal, they are 3 changes the club would be forced to make whether they had a blank cheque like City do or not.
Why is Ake in there in place of Laporte? Laporte played 3 times the number of minutes as Ake in 21/22 and he is absolutely first choice over Ake, and he would be playing if he didnât have a knee injury.If
If anything, it demonstrates to me that its not through having 11 world class starting players, but through having a rotation group of players. Foden has averaged 67 mins per game this season, Mahrez 37 mins/ game, Alvarez 29 mins, Grealish 66 mins. All similar abilities.
We have been hit by injuries. We havenât been able to rotate much at all up forward due to Jotaâs absence. In the middle we have a wonderful cluster of injury prone players. Ibou has been a big loss and Matip has been absent for a long time.
Is this all unlucky for us and lucky for City that they have 1 injury? During the summer window I showed how the difference between average playing time for our players vs Cityâs in 21/22 was enormous. I think this plays a huge part in recovery and preparation for the next season, particularly one coming right on the heels of the last due to the Qarrupt WC. Yes, I think its more to do with being worn down from 21/22 that we have been hit by injuries. Ontop of still having players on the books that can do a hamstring watching TV like Keita and Ox.
TL;DR Their depth and how Pep has rotated players in-season due to this depth has been a real difference.
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Not to mention the injury hangovers from 2020-21.
Not to mention that the list doesnât include Konate and Nunez.
Those are both difficult ones. Konate is without question our future at CB, but Matip played almost twice the game time as Ibou in 21/22 so I would still consider Matip as the key CB partner to VVD at this stage.
Nunez is yet to be the key CF and weâve seen that with his limited game time. But like Ibou youâd expect him to be playing far more regularly from next season.
If the graphic was looking at a squad based comparison then they may have a point but not looking at 11 players.
Whether you want to look at it from a squad based POV or a first XI, it doesnât really matter either way we havenât done near enough to warrant competing at the top & itâs shown this season.
This start may have come as a surprise to many, not me. Iâve seen this coming for years with our constant lack of activity every window.
Very concerning times ahead, especially now that we have no resale value on any of our players to reinvest into the squad.
You had me really confused for a long time. Think the contraction of his name is âIbouâ.
Haha Jesus. Thanks. Edited.
Excellent post, sir. 
One addendum: City are able to rotate because their players donât get injured as often as ours. This is due to referees allowing our opponents to assault our players with impunity, whereas City are awarded a free kick if an opponent so much as glances in their direction.
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For what itâs worth, the one more commonly known as Ibra played 1167 minutes in total last season, while Matip played nearly 3 times more at 3708 minutes (at least, according to Transfermarkt).
Oh isnât it great,
When youâre owned by a state?
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Well thatâs 1 thing, showing ambition is another.
After yesterdayâs result Iâve seen quite few people finally start to realise that anyone but Liverpool actually just means Man City. If it werenât for Liverpool they would have now won 5 out the last 5 Prem titles. Thick cunts.
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It isnât though.
âShowing ambitionâ to compete with City on their terms would mean bankrupting the club. Itâs a totally unsustainable strategy.
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Best league in the world an all that.
Despite 90% comprising of talents from overseas, best league in the world.
Itâs a procession marked by petty tribalism and City have benefitted from that by being absent of all of that prior to 2008. Nobody gave a shit about them to even bother whether they won or lost, even United fans, so when they did go on the up alot of people, including us it must be said, were quite happy to see them topple United that season. The wheels turned and itâs been us far more than United or anyone else thatâs been shafted and because of the tribalism in English football, itâs been celebrated rather than the realization that the league has all but been bought off.
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I expected Foden to be good but this is a ridiculous level of good⌠To borrow a quote from The Simpsonâs, âeverythingâs coming up Guardiolaâ.
You are right.
The graphic is a hilarious pick and choose to fit a narrative.
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Exceptional player but will never be regarded as one of the best until he does something in Europe or with England.
Coutinho D.Silva Hazard Mata etc, he will never accomplish the things they have Imo.