All shaping up to win it against United. 
Manchester City 17/18 discussion | "If you're here for the Champions clap your hands" (#6505)
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Which 5 are better? I often find that things get better with age where football memory is concerned. In 10 years time if this season leaves City with the highest goals scored, and highest points ever in PL history, they’ll be cited as one of the best sides ever in PL history (certainly top 5). Yet nothing will have changed other than the passing of time.
If winning it against us and your players rubbing it in our players' faces is what it takes for them to go out and have the motivation to win it next season, then so be it. Personally, I've long since ceded the title and the extra motivation could do us some good, not too dissimilar to the Aguero moment in Fergie's penultimate season.All shaping up to win it against United.
Jesus fecking ChristAll shaping up to win it against United.
Fergie would absolutely have riled the players up if City would win it against us, I wonder if Mourinho is capable of the same? I know he probably has chats with Fergie every now and again so I hope Fergie can convey this to him.
Yeah, it's difficult to see anyone else winning the league and CL for next 10 years except them tbf. They will probably win the next World Cup too.
Looks that way. You might even fill the ground for that oneAll shaping up to win it against United.
Yeah massive feck up wasn't it. Says it all about the board's commercially obsessed complacency around the time Fergie left.
We need to make sure we find a manager as good as him long-term.
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I am so upset.
Legacy will always be tainted by the way this City team has been assembled. Just my opinion before you spit your dummy out like usual.
Aye, I'm fairly sure when we played Mourinho's Chelsea in 04-05 just after they'd won the title Fergie wanted us to have a guard of honour not just out of respect but more to anger the players and create a fire wherein they'd be so pissed off at having to give one that they'd want to go out and win it that little bit more. Need a similar reaction now.
Absolutely. Well said. The City and PSG middle east oil projects may well hoover up the worlds best talent over next 5 years or more, alk thanks to the squillions of oil money spunked by Qatar and the UAE but they will never be respected like true independent football clubs such as Barcelona, Bayern, United, Milan or even (loathe though I am to say it) Liverpool fc.
Nothing against the PSG or City supporters but it's a real shame that we've allowed the human rights abusers taint our game by buying our clubs to launder their image. The F.A. and UEFA could have easily applied the unfit ownership rules but opted instead for the petro dollars. Both clubs are forever stained and will never escape their ties with the horrific abuses.
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If God actually exist he will match this lot against us in the quarters, can't wait to kick this 'beautiful' team out of europe, even with the most notorious bus to ever brace this land, couldn't care less how it's done.
First thing first, the guys with low football technique would have been sold. If Pep didn't like Hart simply because he cant pass, do you think he would stick with the likes of Smalling/Fellaini and Lukaku?
Would have probably not bothered with buying Lukaku, played Martial up front and signed Sanchez/Mahrez to play either side of him. Pogba would have a lot more of the ball due to possession football and he would have crazy stats.
Will probably never happen but I really hope Pep gets to coach a United team one day in my lifetime.
The result would most likely be the opposite.
Top 5 is plausible... but you can surely see why United fans would be miffed (even a tad annoyed) by any talk of GOATness at this point? Considering we’ve won three back to back titles, twice, since the turn of the century. Both whilst also winning the Champions League. Not to mention the two back to back titles and two doubles we won in the decade before.
So if football does indeed get better with age, and remember the good as great, and the great as imperious...Then how are those achievements even debatably comparable with this 2/3rds of a City season? That won’t be invincible, can’t be a Treble, and hasn’t even matched our largest leadership gap yet? *
You can see why that opinion would seem super weird & short sighted to any Utd fan over about 12, yeah? Especially to those of us who remember Mourinho’s Chelsea side breaking the points record being seen as irrefutable evidence that the very idea of competition in football was over for at least the next twenty years. And how that went.
Of the 2 and a bit decades United have dominated this League, which titles do you remember most? Is it the ones where we ran away with the title and regularly thrashed our rivals? Like 2001, when we beat our closest competitors 6-1 and won it by 16 points? Remember that? Or maybe it was 2000? Where we won by a still held record of 18 points*? Presumably by defulat the PL’s greatest ever team by your metric, no?
Or is what you actually remember, the Treble winners? (Whose title went right down to the last day.) Or the 2008 “Roo & Ron” Double winners? (Who also went to the last day) or perhaps the 1996 “don’t win anything with kids!” Double winners? (Last day again. And after an epic, unlikely, 12 point overhaul.) Or maybe even the Cantona inspired ‘94 double winners? (An utterly dominant season of era defining sexy football, still won with only two games to spare)...
Point being, sure, City are a great side atm, no question. But football posterity remembers drama, romance and narrative more than dominance and statistics. So even if you win by 30 points in the end, it’ll still be less of a deal to most than the “Aguerooooooo!” season (especially if it’s just the one)...because that’s what really gets better with age. And a side with no competition, little youth or English connection, and no wider historical or redemptive narrative to speak of (and a manger who’ll always be more associated with his homegrown success at Barca) is not a side that I’d bet heavily on making a truly massive dent in the public consciousness, beyond a grudging concession that “yeah, that team we’re alright that year”...
And we should know, because we’ve had several dominant sides before. Sides that have won the League by even more points than you’re on course to. And the fact no one seems to remember it, speaks to just how unspectacularly history remembers those kind of seasons. Even when you’re Manchester United.
Of course, if you win the CL in a blaze of glory, that’ll start to build a legend. But anything less will leave a debatable legacy IMO. Because (and I hope this doesn’t come across as bias or bitter, because I genuinely don’t think it is) aside from KBD, and being undoubtedly very good, I can’t think of anything that’s actually very interesting about this side. Narrative wise, I mean. There’s no story there. It’s just a really good, well assembled side. Perhaps Sterling on a mild redemptive arc?
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Excellent post @Mockney
I think Pogba is the kinda player who would irritate Guardiola easily with him thinking he is a superstar or something and Guardiola requiring the same mindset from everyone.
I don't think Pogba's head is too big for his own good. He's very coachable, listens a lot, and trains hard in every practice. I think any coach worth his salt will have no real issues with Pogba outside of the usual stuff all players go through during the highs and lows of a season.
I feel his fashion sense and different hair styles make him seem like he's this party kid who thinks he's the biggest star on the planet. I know that's not where you're coming from kouroux, but I mean the general public. He's a humble kid, and works hard.
Zzzzz.... City fans getting more cock sure in every thread. Do you not have yellow ribbons to tie up and hand out?
The transparent smugness of fans of the team who's finally managed to buy another title. Nice to see them being spread out among the likes of Leicester and city now and then, rubbish when the big dogs always win.
It's one of those seasons for city where everything clicks and comes together perfectly. We have seen a few of them for ourselves. Draws turn into last minute wins, some key decisions among the way, the team plays prefect football.
There is no reason to believe that it will continue into the distant future, not with the league as competitive as it is
There is no reason to believe that it will continue into the distant future, not with the league as competitive as it is
Dude, they are not Leicester - and certainly no Liverpool where Salah is scoring every single game to win games. City are a machine compared to them and I see no reason why it won't continue in the same way, or even better, as long as they keep Pep and his style.
What happens after this season though? Pep has never stayed at a club beyond 3 season as he claims the players start to lose interest in the system and he becomes burned out.
I am more impressed by their energy levels so deep into the season. It is like the players hardly tire. Even when we won the league last season we tapered off in the second half of the season and that was without the added fixtures.
True, honestly I never care much for things outside the field. Pep want players who will give everything to him and his commands which is fine and how Pogba doesn't give Mourinho full satisfaction, I just wonder how it would work under Pep who demands even more from his players.
Was thinking the same.
Following Pep's teams, there's no reason to believe there'll be a significant drop off either.
We have to accept that this is the new bar and the level we have to reach to win this league.
Pretty sure Mourinho isn't under any illusions either.
On the verge of signing a new deal.
Narrative wise, probably not, but the football itself certainly feels as though something new in the PL. Now I know this is not exactly an opinion that a United forum would share, or even think about, and it's quite understandable.
Watching City at times just now is like watching some of the best teams SAF produced during his time and that worries me, being perfectly honest.
They have still to achieve the feats that those United teams did, obviously, but if they continue in their current vein, they will take a bit of stopping, domestically at least.
They have still to achieve the feats that those United teams did, obviously, but if they continue in their current vein, they will take a bit of stopping, domestically at least.
Superb post
You have a point but City have to build up their bag of trophies to be considered a great side. They need to pick up a CL and, in domestic terms, have to defend the title. Arsenal's invincible season was a great achievement but they failed to defend their title. That is why I have them below United 99 & 08 vintage and below Mourinho's first Chelsea side.
We also fall into Sky's trap of somehow believing football was invented by them in 1992. Showing respect to the true history of English football and Liverpool's 70s & 80s side will take some beating. From 75 - 85, they won 8 league titles, 4 European Cups and 1 UEFA Cup.
Its very very hard to maintain this sort of level over multiple seasons. They're having a freak season which will normalise. See Jose's Chelsea and how they did. In any case, I dont see Pep lasting more than 3 odd years.
Liverpool were the only ones that really pushed them hard at the back and the result was obvious , you just need to be in perfect physical form and don't stop bothering them at the back , so they fell pressure all the time and not be comfortable at passing from defenders to mids
Hopefully Mourinho and the squad will use City's season as motivation for next season.
I hope you are right. There is obviously "second season syndrome" when a player or team has had a great season - assuming City don't spectacularly collapse between now and the end of the season - and the pressure is on to repeat it in the following season. Doing it consistently over a period of time is the mark of a really great team though, as you say. I do think they have a realistic chance of winning the CL this season, to be honest.
Yeah, they do. Clearly amongst the best sides in Europe atm. Think Real are the best equipped to counter them but even Barca and Bayern will be tough as feck. Even us but that's an unpopular opinion here. To a lesser extent mind.
Yes and no, and as always it's a matter of perspective. I loved some of the City teams of the past but if I am honest, they would get hammered by WBA if they were around today. This City side would blow away any team I have ever seen in English football. However that is partially a function of the ever improving game.
What I think maybe the legacy is the way in which they play. I think, and hope, it's a work in progress. I do think though that they maybe be instituting a fundamental shift in English football, away from the traditional English model. Will it spread, it remains to be seen, but I think teams will struggle to match them playing a traditional English style. Liverpool have appeared to go down a similar route and appear to be gaining ground.
City are unlikely to make a "massive dent in public consciousness" anytime soon as they simply do not have the global fanbase and do not receive the coverage other teams do. Had United or Liverpool had an Aguero moment I am sure it would be on a continuous loop on Sky, no bitterness just awareness that they need to pander to their clientele. It's going to take 10 at this level, which is highly unlikely, before they eclipse those teams in the "public conscious"
As a life long City fan though, do I care, not really, I watch them and cheer them on through thick and thin. I call my United supporting mates when we win and wind them up, I hide from them when we lose. I laugh when they sign players for lots of money who are clearly crap and after 5 pints I genuinely try and justify Mangala. I don't think the "legacy" ever enters my head.
Your point re Sterling is interesting, why does everyone hate him so much, he seems a reasonably well adjusted young man all things considered. There really seems to be a which hunt going on there.