“All or Nothing” Man City Documentary Series on Amazon Prime

jem

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I think some people take it all a bit too seriously - it's a diverting enough watch (and I imagine Woodward is jealous as hell.) That being said, it's basically a glorified PR piece. There is zero cutting edge, and Ben Kingsley is underwhelming (I hated Sexy Beast, so take that for what it's worth.) Overall impressions:

Aguero, De Bruyne, Sterling, David Silva, Delph, Kompany and, somewhat surprisingly, Stones come across as pretty cool and likeable guys. I actually found Aguero's segment about living alone and spending time with his son, quite moving. As well, how great would it be to have a clinical striker like Kun? I like Lukaku, but he's nowhere near as good. And De Bruyne? Rewatching some of those early season highlights, you're reminded just how good he was last season. For me, he was the best player last season.

Pep is an incredibly annoying character. Yes, he's obviously a special coaching talent, but my god he must grate after a while. What's more, he seems very aware of the cameras being on him, turning his team talks into his own version of a TED Talk (how long before we see him doing one? Unless he already has...) It's not hard to see why he has moved on after relatively short periods of time at his previous gigs.

Mendy is annoying. I'm jealous as hell that they have a player of his talents, but his whole class clown schtick is way too forced. Nowhere near Evra level of cool.

Some of the backroom staff (the bald dude with the ginger beard comes to mind,) are clearly relishing this time in the spotlight. Fair play, I guess, but annoying nonetheless.

PR Gloss notwithstanding, the team of Bigiristain, Soriano and the rest looks to be a well-oiled, cohesive machine. I shudder to think of the United equivalent.
 

SteveJ

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the team of Bigiristain, Soriano and the rest looks to be a well-oiled, cohesive machine. I shudder to think of the United equivalent.
 

breakout67

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Looks like half this thread is people convincing themselves how 'open minded' they are for watching propaganda.

My Dad who's a city supporter was watching this and he was even laughing at how ridiculous some of the stuff was. I watched one episode with him where Guardiola came off as an utter twat.
 

jem

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Looks like half this thread is people convincing themselves how 'open minded' they are for watching propaganda.

My Dad who's a city supporter was watching this and he was even laughing at how ridiculous some of the stuff was. I watched one episode with him where Guardiola came off as an utter twat.
I'm not sure which half of that I fall on - I just found mildly diverting (I'm only 4 episodes in, mind.) Guardiola does indeed come off as insufferable. He has well and truly bought into his own mythology.
 

Carolina Red

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Looks like half this thread is people convincing themselves how 'open minded' they are for watching propaganda.

My Dad who's a city supporter was watching this and he was even laughing at how ridiculous some of the stuff was. I watched one episode with him where Guardiola came off as an utter twat.
Interesting propaganda tactic.
 

Harry190

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His speech about the players being the artisans of their own success and destroying the league was pretty good. Gotta admit that.

"they're gonna talk about pep football, but it's bullshit, it was you, it was all you''
 

West London White

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I’m enjoying it so far, but slow in parts but it’s an interesting insight into what goes on behind the scenes.
Only started watching it yesterday and watched the first two episodes. It’s an interesting watch but enough to pass the time.
 

TMDaines

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breakout67

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Interesting propaganda tactic.
Maybe you are not aware how propaganda works. It's supposed to entrench people into an ideology not try to convince people that want to know more.

Guardiola comes of as a twat because it's a blatant act for the camera (according to a few former players he likes to do that, put on an act for the camera). Anyone that wanted to learn what Man City is about would gain very little from what I've watched of him, it's like one of those religious preachers that comes of as crazy to non believers.

I was actually quite interested in learning about the lives of the footballers; but it kept on veering off onto fan service and footballing rhetoric (they even put how United park the bus under Mourinho, which is rather irrelevant for a documentary series).
 

Carolina Red

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Maybe you are not aware how propaganda works. It's supposed to entrench people into an ideology not try to convince people that want to know more.
I’m a history teacher with a degree in history and political science, bud. I think I’ve got the whole propaganda thing down.

Thanks, though.

I’ve finished the series at this point and enjoyed it for what it was. A sports documentary. Even learned some cool things... like that Aguero is best friends with De Gea and that Kompany’s father-in-law is a United fan.
 

jem

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Maybe you are not aware how propaganda works. It's supposed to entrench people into an ideology not try to convince people that want to know more.

Guardiola comes of as a twat because it's a blatant act for the camera (according to a few former players he likes to do that, put on an act for the camera). Anyone that wanted to learn what Man City is about would gain very little from what I've watched of him, it's like one of those religious preachers that comes of as crazy to non believers.

I was actually quite interested in learning about the lives of the footballers; but it kept on veering off onto fan service and footballing rhetoric (they even put how United park the bus under Mourinho, which is rather irrelevant for a documentary series).
Pep is incredibly annoying- the way he dances around when he speaks; really putting it on for the camera. I also hate Ben Kingsley.
 

Josep Dowling

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I wasn’t going to watch but decided to give it ago after a few friends recommended watching it.

Immediately put off in the first episode. Talking about the hard tackling Premier League like teams were bashing them off the pitch each week, it just isn’t true.

In the end I just skipped to episode 7. Opens up with Liverpool beating them 3-0, then derby day. The whole episode is just built up about winning the title on derby day and they buggered it up.
 

Matst1

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Its funny reading these comments from the people who say they enjoyed it are from America. They are a bit detached from the whole rivalry thing, i feel.
 

lsd

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Are people now re watching this ? The love some united fans have on here for Pep and City is very weird to me .
 

Thunderhead

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Are people now re watching this ? The love some united fans have on here for Pep and City is very weird to me .
The city love is wierd yeah but not the pep love, I'm a city fan but also a big fan of Mourinho even though I think he's lost a bit of his mojo
 

predator

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Are people now re watching this ? The love some united fans have on here for Pep and City is very weird to me .
I'm one of them. Ive supported United all the 24 years I've been on this planet due to being indoctrinated by my family. I live about 15 mins walk from OT but tbh I prefer watching us on tv nowadays than watch us at at OT.

I love playing football and watching it, probably more than being a top red, which I am more than certainly. However as a top red I watched all or nothing and I loved it. It gives a good insight on how a team trains and basically works day in day out. I was jealous watching it but I found it interesting.
 

montpelier

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I like some elements of it & I dislike other parts of it. I like Mendy, I think he's very genuine actually & didn't seem remotely fazed by the career threatening injury, he just carried on the same, which I liked. Baldy kitman I absolutely loathe & he would travel in the boot if I was in charge.

I wouldn't trust the bunch of sharks running the gaff as far as I could throw them but they know what they are doing now I feel (unfortunately). I was a bit surprised at Pep's management actually - very intense but also very kind of corporate somehow - I mean we didn't see a lot of any actual training did we? Maybe it's that. They're always having meetings.

And then on matchdays, he moves his discs about on that whiteboard, which must travel everywhere with them, :lol:.
 

PixieScott

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While I wouldn't label this a "must-watch" documentary, there were indeed some interesting tidbits,

  • Delph and Walker are big/loudest characters in the dressing room
  • Toure and Pep's relationship appeared cordial
  • Pep's speeches & coaching. At times his over dramatization seems unreal, but I guess it works. It is kinda surprising the amount of motivation and cajoling the players need to play and perform match to match. Even as a neutral, it is interesting to see a much acclaimed manager at work.
  • The amount of time players seemed to spend with the kit man. Found it interesting as to how everyone's boots are cleaned prior to a game, or how the kit man sets the music in the dressing room to get players pumped up
  • Aguero spends most of his time with DeGea. He actually comes across as pretty lonely.
However, if you were to skip this, you wouldn't be missing much. It is slow for the most parts, and does get repetitive after a while.
 

BULB

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I found the first three episodes quite boring and stopped watching a while ago, does it get better?
I really doubt they had access all areas from what I've seen so far.