Vincent Kompany: Man City quadruple a matter of time | Next year?

GifLord

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Van Dijk has been elevated to absurd levels of praise because the level of defending other than him is generally quite poor right now. He's obviously a very good player but he doesn't need to do as much to stand out as people like Rio/Terry/Vidic did, not only in the PL but on a global level.

In the peak of Vidic/Rio/Terry etc, pretty much every club in the top sides had a very good defender. Liverpool had people like Carragher/Hypia, Chelsea with Terry/Carvalho, Arsenal with Toure/Gallas, Tottenham had people like King/Dawson etc. Now I'm not saying that the level of that selection is World Class but it's a much better spread than we see now.
:p was pretty average
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Why Van Dijk is mentioned on this thread? He’s on the list no doubt but definitely still below Campbell, Vidic, Rio & Terry. What Van Dijk showed this season and last season is something that the others already showed since 25 or 26. He needed 2 or 3 years later to finally start catching the greatest.
 

MadDogg

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Pallister 1995
Stam 1999
Rio 2008
Vidic 2009

That's just our own players and not counting the likes of Adams in 1998, Campbell in 2003, Terry and Carvalho around 2005, and Kompany himself around 2012.
Vidic was absolutely brilliant for the first half of 08/09, the best half a season out of any of them, but he fell away quite a bit in the second half of the season (by the standards we're talking about here).

I'll be honest I was fairly young for Pallister so don''t remember him much. I would say he was during a period when the English game was significantly below the other top leagues though (both in general and his position specifically), whereas the others all came when we were competing with the best in europe.

Personally I rate VVD last season as better than any of the others you mentioned (other than Rio 07/08). As much as I hate to say it.
 

Rooney in Paris

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People talk about longevity being important in assessing these things - it's true, and in fact VVD was already not as good this season as last. Clearly on the decline.
 

RobinLFC

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People talk about longevity being important in assessing these things - it's true, and in fact VVD was already not as good this season as last. Clearly on the decline.
You can basically have two separate discussions about it. Is his level the last two years amongst the level of the greatest defenders ever in the PL? Most definitely. Is he in the conversation for "greatest PL defender ever"? Not yet, you don't deserve that after just a few years imo, but it's also useless to talk about it right now when he still has years left at the highest level. Would make much more sense to have this discussion if he goes back to the Netherlands at 34 for example.

Same goes for Ronaldo. He is the greatest player to ever play in the PL, but he's not the "greatest PL player ever" because he didn't stay long enough for me.
 

romufc

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People talk about longevity being important in assessing these things - it's true, and in fact VVD was already not as good this season as last. Clearly on the decline.
It is easy to call players best ever when they are playing for a team which is on a high like Liverpool are.

When calling players as best ever, you surely have to judge how they react when the chips are down?

E.g. When United / Chelsea during games where we weren't 20 points clear and leading games 1-0 against teams and the CB are marshalling, clearing and body on the line.

Lastly, the number of important goals from set pieces as well.
 

Stacks

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Rio has more sense than Kompany. He said he thinks VVD is quality but he would like to see how he would of coped playing against 2 strikers every week like he did in his day. Now its one which is easier to handle.
 

RoyH1

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KwAdRuPaL oNlY a MaTtEr Of TiMe.

Quadruple of Carling Cups, maybe.
:lol:
Love it. They will never win this. Plastic club that won the oil money lottery. How much bigger is their budget than Lyon's?

Congrats to Olympique Lyon. Proper club that one.
 

Raw

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Can't believe the furthest they've ever got was a semi, and that was just one time. For a team so dominant in the league, that is fecking piss poor.

Only a matter of time though.
 

Nero

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Shout out to those here who insist every season that this is City's year. Favourites. No one can stop them etc.
 

Shane88

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How fearful are people of this happening now?

League is wrapped up and as a consequence they're able to rest players for the cups.

Everton away in the FA Cup with Chelsea and Leicester or United being the strongest teams afterwards.

League Cup seems straightforward vs Spurs.

PSG and Bayern the big hurdles in the CL, I think City are better than both but anything can happen.

I'll admit, I may fecking vomit if they do it.
 

Dirty Schwein

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How fearful are people of this happening now?

League is wrapped up and as a consequence they're able to rest players for the cups.

Everton away in the FA Cup with Chelsea and Leicester or United being the strongest teams afterwards.

League Cup seems straightforward vs Spurs.

PSG and Bayern the big hurdles in the CL, I think City are better than both but anything can happen.

I'll admit, I may fecking vomit if they do it.
Won't happen. They'll feck up in UCL and FA Cup.
 

Dolf

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How fearful are people of this happening now?

League is wrapped up and as a consequence they're able to rest players for the cups.

Everton away in the FA Cup with Chelsea and Leicester or United being the strongest teams afterwards.

League Cup seems straightforward vs Spurs.

PSG and Bayern the big hurdles in the CL, I think City are better than both but anything can happen.

I'll admit, I may fecking vomit if they do it.
Real also still in it. I'm hoping Bayern will win it because if either PSG or City win it I might throw up...
 

SER19

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Another nice stroll in the park, another 300m+ bench rested. 5 or 6 in and out every game without a drop. Lack of fatigue is making it very very easy this year. I'd expect all 4 trophies
 

Hoof the ball

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Another nice stroll in the park, another 300m+ bench rested. 5 or 6 in and out every game without a drop. Lack of fatigue is making it very very easy this year. I'd expect all 4 trophies
Nah. It's never been done before, right? I'd never expect anything that hasn't been accomplished before, even with a fully rested team. The nature of cup competitions is that anything can (and does) happen on any given day. You can carry mesmerisingly good form, and then have one bad away leg in the CL and it's all over.
 

SER19

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Nah. It's never been done before, right? I'd never expect anything that hasn't been accomplished before, even with a fully rested team. The nature of cup competitions is that anything can (and does) happen on any given day. You can carry mesmerisingly good form, and then have one bad away leg in the CL and it's all over.
I'd expect it at this point to be honest. Every team is running on fumes now it's really clear. Even teams like psg, Juve and bayern not dominating leagues as its so tough this year. United for example have a decent sized squad and are also shattered. City have been resting their team since xmas. 2 comps are done. 3 fa cup ties and the CL against a field way down on recent years. I'd fully expect it
 

Devil81

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They've got a complete shadow eleven as good as the starting eleven.

In fact you couldn't name their strongest starting line up it changes that often.

Crazy thing was I was convinced they were on the decline earlier in the season but a couple of additions at the back and they are flying.

Scary shit is they are doing it without a top class striker involved. Aguero barely plays and Jesus is shit.

Hope it doesn't happen but they could clean up this season and then world football will be rocked, because this won't stop at one year, they've got the finances to make this a regular thing.

FFP pathetic.
 

Paul_Scholes18

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Don't think we'll beat them in a game that truly matters.
Yeah we are sadly bottlers. Best when it doesn't matter mostly.

Just hope we can break the poor trend in big games vs City and perform like in the league.
 

Port Vale Devil

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Champions League Final

Liverpool v Man City with it being for the quadruple.

Who are we rooting for?
 

Spark

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Two things here:

1. Gladbach are absolutely shite (worse than Liverpool!), it's a surprise City only won 2-0. 10th in Bundesliga, haven't won in the league since Jan, albeit 4-2 vs Dortmund.
2. I'm going to have to bet all of my money on City winning the quadruple now for fecks sake.
 

Borys

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They are yet to be challenged by a proper team. I am very interested to see them against Bayern. They should beat Real easily, but PSG would test their defense.