Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)

el3mel

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Arsenal drew about 12 games in the league that season, Chelsea in their highest points season drew only about 5 and lost 1.

That Chelsea team and season was better imo. Finishing on a higher points tally and drawing significantly less is way better than not losing a game and drawing a lot, even though Chelsea only lost 1.
Arsenal were basically sacrificing everything to keep that record going. They were looking more to "not lose" rather than winning in the league and sacrificed all other competitions to get this achievement. Think that's one of the reasons why they were drawing a lot this season. It's still a big achievement though.
 

el3mel

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Suarez form has been extremely erratic over the last months, pretty sure there are alot of Barca fans that'd trade him for another proven striker like Agüero who probably still has one or two years more left at top level. Sané could also very well start ahead of Dembélé with the latter not exactly having set the world alight even when he was fit and was playing, even though that wasn't too many games.

That being said I'd still rate Barca/Real way ahead of City, even Bayern too.
Suarez was poor early during the season but lately he's back to his best. Dembele is more suited to Barca style than Sane imo.

Only De Bruyne will get into the current Barca team.
 

RedRom

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Suarez was poor early during the season but lately he's back to his best. Dembele is more suited to Barca style than Sane imo.

Only De Bruyne will get into the current Barca team.
Instead of who?
 

red_de_pologne

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I would not say that they have been great at all this season, great is such a high bar to be at, they have merely been good.
Being undefeated in the Champions League, now that is a great achievement, something that City have not been able to ever say that they have done so, whilst we can say that.
this is ridiculous, they've blown the rest of the league away halfway through the season
 

charlenefan

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Iniesta is getting old and doesn't have much time left in his career. They bought Coutinho to save him for important matches in CL later this season.

Busquets, Coutinho and KDB.
Is what I'm thinking

---------------Busquets---------------
-----De Bruyne---------Coutinho-----
Messi-----------Aguero----------Sane

You can probably flip a coin when it comes to Suarez v Aguero and Dembele v Sane
 

el3mel

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Is what I'm thinking

---------------Busquets---------------
-----De Bruyne---------Coutinho-----
Messi-----------Aguero----------Sane

You can probably flip a coin when it comes to Suarez v Aguero and Dembele v Sane
Aguero and Suarez on bar. Suarez started the season poorly but doing great at the moment. I don't think they'll replace him after all.

Sane is better suited for premier league than La liga imo so I don't think he'll replace Dembele in that Barca side. Individually wise we may discuss, but for the team and league, Dembele will suit Barca style better.
 

RedRom

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this is ridiculous, they've blown the rest of the league away halfway through the season
Lets see if they can beat our record from first to second place in 2001, that is our record, and so we still have at least two sides better than this current one.
 

RobinLFC

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Aguero is not better than Suarez ffs. Barca's attack and defense is better than City's. The overrating of this City side is getting ridiculous at this point.
 

AshRK

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They have to be one of the favorites for it.
They may have been having a great season so far but I just can't them winning the CL. The only way they win it is if they get the luck of draw in their favour, like facing one of roma/shaktar in last 8 and hope barca /bayern or winners of real/psg cancel our in last 8. Even then can't see them getting past the semis.

They have been getting the margin of luck in their favour. Also, it's shame teams, even big teams like us, didn't go toe to toe with them but played with inferior style giving them advantage. Only team to play toe to toe with them got 3 points against aka Liverpool. So imagine what a barca or real or even a bayern would do to them. Also,other English teams bar chelsea won't be easy to knock out. If Jose and our players get it right , trust me pep will be having a long 180 mins .And beating spurs or Liverpool won't be easy.

Point is like any other team city would need massive luck of draw and some big decisions going in their favour to win it. A red card to the opponents or some injury would be what pep and city needs. But if things go wrong like yesterday then they would be knocked out.
 

JoaquinJoaquin

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Just looking at the upcoming fixtures, City have Arsenal and Chelsea in their next 2 league games. Could be interesting if they slip up in those.
 

AltiUn

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Is what I'm thinking

---------------Busquets---------------
-----De Bruyne---------Coutinho-----
Messi-----------Aguero----------Sane

You can probably flip a coin when it comes to Suarez v Aguero and Dembele v Sane
Suarez is on fire at the moment; he's back to his best just had a shaky start to the season, on current form Suarez would be ahead of Aguero. Sane would get in ahead of Dembele at the moment.
 

AltiUn

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Aguero is not better than Suarez ffs. Barca's attack and defense is better than City's. The overrating of this City side is getting ridiculous at this point.
Agreed. I think there's a lot of underrating of other top CL teams too; Bayern look an absolute juggernaut under Heynckes, a completely different team than under Ancelotti and anyone discounting Madrid based on earlier form may be in for a shock.
 

RedRom

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They may have been having a great season so far but I just can't them winning the CL. The only way they win it is if they get the luck of draw in their favour, like facing one of roma/shaktar in last 8 and hope barca /bayern or winners of real/psg cancel our in last 8. Even then can't see them getting past the semis.

They have been getting the margin of luck in their favour. Also, it's shame teams, even big teams like us, didn't go toe to toe with them but played with inferior style giving them advantage. Only team to play toe to toe with them got 3 points against aka Liverpool. So imagine what a barca or real or even a bayern would do to them. Also,other English teams bar chelsea won't be easy to knock out. If Jose and our players get it right , trust me pep will be having a long 180 mins .And beating spurs or Liverpool won't be easy.

Point is like any other team city would need massive luck of draw and some big decisions going in their favour to win it. A red card to the opponents or some injury would be what pep and city needs. But if things go wrong like yesterday then they would be knocked out.
Shakthar beat them once, so why couldn't they do so again??
 

JoaquinJoaquin

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Interesting how?

Dont do it to yourself ;)
Ha I'm under no illusions that they won't not win the title. Just we have seen last night how Pep reacts when they lose, and he should be touchline banned (although the FA won't have the bottle to do that). Could cause a ripple effect of some sort.
 

AltiUn

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Ha I'm under no illusions that they won't not win the title. Just we have seen last night how Pep reacts when they lose, and he should be touchline banned (although the FA won't have the bottle to do that). Could cause a ripple effect of some sort.
Would be nice to see their CL campaign get derailed in the next round.
 

AltiUn

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It is still a win for them, so I don't see why they couldn't do so again.
Because City won't rest their best team for an important CL match, like they did in a meaningless group stage match in which they'd already progressed.
 

Adisa

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I don't know why people are saying City can't win it. I don't think the difference between them and the best teams is that much that it's beyond the realms of possibility.
 

RobinLFC

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I don't know why people are saying City can't win it. I don't think the difference between them and the best teams is that much that it's beyond the realms of possibility.
I could argue Liverpool and United can also win it if that's the requirement. Obviously they can win it but it's a step too far for me to say they're favourites alongside Barcelona. They've done nothing to suggest they'd beat Real over two legs imo.
 

Stacks

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I could argue Liverpool and United can also win it if that's the requirement. Obviously they can win it but it's a step too far for me to say they're favourites alongside Barcelona. They've done nothing to suggest they'd beat Real over two legs imo.
Well they have run away with their domestic league averaging 3 goals per game. They have also thrashed the team who finished 2nd behind us (away from home). The difference between us, Liverpool to the top teams is evident in how many points we drop and games we don't win.
 

noodlehair

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Threatening legal action against a team because they beat you in the cup definitely isn't a really petty and small time thing to do.
 

Cal?

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Well they have run away with their domestic league averaging 3 goals per game. They have also thrashed the team who finished 2nd behind us (away from home). The difference between us, Liverpool to the top teams is evident in how many points we drop and games we don't win.
As Barca v Real has shown in recent seasons, consistency against lesser sides does NOT translate to winning CL ties against top teams.

Pep’s style seems to work very well in league yet not particularly successfully in the CL.
 

Gentleman Jim

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I would not say that they have been great at all this season, great is such a high bar to be at, they have merely been good.
Being undefeated in the Champions League, now that is a great achievement, something that City have not been able to ever say that they have done so, whilst we can say that.
Reaching or what?
Many CL winning teams will have dropped the odd game on the road to glory for a variety of reasons. City's defeat this season was in a dead rubber with the group won in the first 5 games.
I looked at the CL in 2008/9 when Pep's Barca destroyed Ferguson's peak United side in the Rome final but that team also lost to Shaktar on the way.
Doesn't alter the fact that they were better than pretty much any other CL winning team before or since.
City may well not win the CL this season but if they do it will not be tainted by not being unbeaten throughout the competition.
 

RedRom

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Reaching or what?
Many CL winning teams will have dropped the odd game on the road to glory for a variety of reasons. City's defeat this season was in a dead rubber with the group won in the first 5 games.
I looked at the CL in 2008/9 when Pep's Barca destroyed Ferguson's peak United side in the Rome final but that team also lost to Shaktar on the way.
Doesn't alter the fact that they were better than pretty much any other CL winning team before or since.
City may well not win the CL this season but if they do it will not be tainted by not being unbeaten throughout the competition.
If they win the tournament, then it will not be as good as winning it unbeaten, especially when you consider or put into perspective the calibre of teams and players that we did it against in 99.
Getting beat no matter if it is dead rubber match or not, still means that you have an inferior record to one that did not get beat, it really isn't that hard a concept to understand I would have thought.
 

RedRom

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I've done it to myself too many times this season and learnt my lesson. Only season-ending injuries to KDB, Silva, Aguero, Ederson and Fernandinho could see them lose the title..
Nah just having Bravo in the team will be good enough really, as evidenced by last night, he concedes neigh on every time he faces a shot!
 

Classical Mechanic

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Reaching or what?
Many CL winning teams will have dropped the odd game on the road to glory for a variety of reasons. City's defeat this season was in a dead rubber with the group won in the first 5 games.
I looked at the CL in 2008/9 when Pep's Barca destroyed Ferguson's peak United side in the Rome final but that team also lost to Shaktar on the way.
Doesn't alter the fact that they were better than pretty much any other CL winning team before or since.
City may well not win the CL this season but if they do it will not be tainted by not being unbeaten throughout the competition.
What does taint that Barca triumph was one of the most scandalous refereeing performances when Barca beat Chelsea in the semi-final. There was an interesting interview posted with the ref in another thread recently, interesting reading.
 

Gentleman Jim

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What does taint that Barca triumph was one of the most scandalous refereeing performances when Barca beat Chelsea in the semi-final. There was an interesting interview posted with the ref in another thread recently, interesting reading.
I chose that final to prove that you do not need to be unbeaten to be a fantastic team. Barca were clearly the best team in Europe that season even though United were drilled by Ferguson to be at top of their game.
Being unbeaten throughout the competition proves very little in legendary terms.
 

Wedge

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It's the media portraying them as the best Prem side to date. They have not won a single thing under dopeiola yet. It's funny because they very rarely refer to city it'd more pep FC.
 

Gentleman Jim

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If they win the tournament, then it will not be as good as winning it unbeaten, especially when you consider or put into perspective the calibre of teams and players that we did it against in 99.
Getting beat no matter if it is dead rubber match or not, still means that you have an inferior record to one that did not get beat, it really isn't that hard a concept to understand I would have thought.
Classic goalpost moving to denigrate the possibility of us winning the thing. If we had have won all games so far I'm sure you'd have pointed to dope,oil money, not winning League previous year, only on goal difference, Stevie G slipping on hids ass or some other excuse.
Face it. We're not a team that you will ever give any credit to no matter what so this ah butism is just futile.
 

Stacks

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As Barca v Real has shown in recent seasons, consistency against lesser sides does NOT translate to winning CL ties against top teams.

Pep’s style seems to work very well in league yet not particularly successfully in the CL.
you certainly have a greater chance though. 5/7 champions league titles have been won by those 2 sides and they usually there abouts most seasons