Champions League draw today.
Bloke running it explaining the new format, and highlighted that big clubs Bayern and Real had to play off to get there.
No mention of big club City getting knocked out
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Something for the statisticians that walk amongst usâŚ
Man City: Why Pep Guardiolaâs tactics stopped working amid rise of rapid football - BBC Sport
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I think a win here puts Arsenalâs challenge to bed. I cannot see them overcoming an 11 point deficit.
But it is still a really tough game, and I wouldnât be losing my shit over a point.
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I think they would fold if they concede first. Theyâve turned pretty gutless of late.
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Not expecting any punishment for them but hoping FFP wonât make the rebuilt too easy for checkbook manager Pep.
Pep had some world class players at City over the years. Difficult for me to see them being able to get close to that level again.
I have some hope that next season Haaland will be their âbest and most importantâ player. A bit like how Spurs used to be reliant on Harry Kane.
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Just watching his presserâŚ
I havenât heard proud or happy, but it was a really really really really good performance, apparently.
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Did you not see how many times they got the bye line? How can you not be proud of that?
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Did like how Endo was basically trying to get at him, he passed it the other guy, he got it and was about to control and Endo tackled him from nowhere.
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Yep KDB, Silva x 2, Mahrez, Aguero, Kompany, even Walker.
This current bunch donât have the quality or the match winners
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Their current wingers canât even lace the boots of prime Sterling and Leroy Sane.
GĂźndogan was great for them.
Do we know if Rodri can get back to his best?
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Theyâve got problems to fix in defense too.
Khusanov looks raw at this stage. Ake is only a backup at best. Stones is getting older. Dias seems to have lost a step. Gvardiol has been totally ruined by Pep.
Anyone else in defense ?
Theyâve got issues to fix everywhere to be honest.
Ederson is done and Ortega is pretty average. Walker definitely gone, wouldnât be surprised if Stones is for knackers yard.
KdB is on his way out as is Gundogan. Bernardo Silva has been trying to escape for years. Kovacic creaking already and Nunes not good enough. God knows whatâs happened to Grealish either.
Thereâs a huge rebuild to be done there and thereâs a real possibility they miss out on CL football. And I wouldnât be that surprised to see Pep walk away from being the one to do it. Looks completely forlorn at the minute.
Do like the look of that Marmoush though.
Nothingâs happened to him. Heâs always been shite.
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I had the first proper look at him yesterday - I think heâd be great in this Liverpool team. The kind of snappy forward whoâs an awesome finisher and is aware of his teammatesâ movement. I think they got a good one in him, unfortunately.
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Happily heâll probably not get to play as the CF, where he should be in a Guardiola team, very often as they crowbar in Haaland.
I know Haaland gets them goals but I do wonder if there is a way of quantifying how much he is costing them.
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It cost them Alvarez. Who was one of the keys to their title win last season alongside Rodri.
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The accepted story of our demise was that Kenny wasnât ruthless enough with our older players. I was really surprised how few people were raising that spectre against Pep last season.
Stones and to a lesser degree Walker had become increasingly unreliable in terms of fitness. De Bruyne had started to become marginalized by his own fitness issues. Both Silva and Ederson were the subject of want away claims that had been around for 2 maybe 3 years suggesting a sense of staleness. Kovacic had become an important player almost by accident despite him being 30 years old. Grealishâs best form of the 2022-23 Quad season had long since evaporated. Yet they did nothing in the market to address it other than bringing back a 34 year old.
Yes, I know they won the title last year, but so did we in 89-90. So did Utd in 2012-13. The signs were not just there but blinking red and Iâm surprised not just by how little City to respond to it (even if you accept the charges limited their ability to work in the market, they could have least not sold so many good young players), but that so few people were raising it as a concern.
He spoke in his post-match to say how he saw the future of City in that performance. Two of my City supporting friends called that out as him projecting his coming exit and trying to get the narrative started now that heâs left them in good hands.
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And wait for Guardiola to overcoach the heck out of Marmoush.
I hope Iâm not alone in thinking that Haaland hasnât progressed that much after joining city. Sure heâs got his attributes but in a lot of other cases, heâs become quite a bit more predictable
Under Kenny, I think that was partly an issue (such as with us bringing back Rush). I think there was also a big issue with just having less funds to spend, particularly with the loss of European football. (weâd gone from buying peak Barnes and Beardsley to buying ageing Speedie and rookie Carter)
Totally agree. Last summerâs spending (or rather lack of it) does look really odd, that it presumably was driven by concerns over FFP or something. Having to bring in Savinho I think it was by stiching up one of their own clubs And, several of us on here have been very critical of Pep for his lack of use of youngsters.
Even if they knew they would be changing manager shortly, their recruitment set up should be able to find players to fit the immediate and long term needs of the squad.