Kind of amazing to write something like that, utterly ridiculous. City have no threats? They’ve scored 77 goals in 31 games, almost 30 more than United, seven more than Liverpool.... they just came from a 5-0 demolition at Burnley. They’ve scored 20 goals more than Real Madrid and 10 more than Barcelona in as many games. And you fail to mention de Bruyne. I ask you, if City have no threats, where is your reference bar set?
Manchester City 19/20 season
- Thread starter Gentleman Jim
- Start date
City's problem is their defence is awful.
It's pretty scandalous for the money they've spent on it under Guardiola for it to be so poor.
It's pretty scandalous for the money they've spent on it under Guardiola for it to be so poor.
I was actually analyzing them against bigger teams this season. When I say they have no threats I meant in the attacking third. Its too easy to defend against them. Its wasnt the case when they had Sane, aguero and sterling all starting together. They just cant create chances against the better sides this year.
It's a fitting punishment that they will have to do the guard of honour for those red feckers at the Emptihad. 
They've had 3 months to accept that they've lost the title. I don't think they gave half a shit about the game today with the FA Cup game coming up.
Go clap those clowns. Couldn't even play for their pride
Now let's hope the UEFA ban is held up.
I'd fancy us to beat them again if we faced them in the FA Cup.
Especially with no augero, I think we have a stronger first 11.
Especially with no augero, I think we have a stronger first 11.
I hope Madrid absolutely batter them in the return leg and then they get banned for the full 2 years.
Didn't even have the pride to want to avoid giving the Scouse a guard of honour. Gutless. 2017-18 was a s-t season but at least we had enough about us to avoid humiliation at the Emptyhad. These clowns are now going to have to clap Liverpool onto the pitch. Nothing about them. Bluffers to a man.
KDB, Mendy, Fernandihno all trash. Pep needs to start over.
Despite of being poor defensively today, I thought missing Aguero was the difference today. Benardo Silva as a false 9 is just not a threat for Chelsea defense, City even had a chance to score first when their keeper made mistake and Silva was easily out-muscled and failed to score in that chance. Aguero wouldn't be out-muscled easily. However, the massive difference is obviously City doesn't seem to play for their pride today, even against us, you don't see any pride they put on in full 90 mins. Season is already over in December but the least thing they should do is play for their fans but they never do.
Cowards. It's okay playing the nice pretty stuff but the side is gutless without Kompany. No character.
I feel with City they aren't the shiny new project anymore that was once promised and it's going to really start affecting them, similar to PSG actually, there was a dream that was sold, we have all this money, we will have the best players in the world, the best manager and will win everything, and sure they have been successful in the last 8 years or so domestically winning a few titles, no one cant take that away from them, but no one really deep down cares about them, even when they win a title it barely makes the headlines, no one ever roots for the rich kids, rather the humble working class kid who has defied odds and made it to the top,
There stars of the last decade who were integral to there rise and success have either left or are about too or injured more than they are fit, Kompany leaving has left a massive hole in that defence and I can't see any leaders in that team, Silva looked the shadow of the player he ever was tonight and checked out, Aguero is as per on the treatment bench, these new "stars" just don't have the same grit that that original core had and i feel over the next year they are all going to start getting bored and there heads swayed,
Sane is already desperate to get out, Bernardo Silva has looked way off the pace this season, Jesus is not a striker that will carry you to a title and there main star De Bruyne will be out of there very soon, he's 28 and entering his peak and if City get banned from the UCL he will be desperate to get one last pop at winning the champs, who else is stand out in that squad ?
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying they will disappear to mid table, they've got far too much cash to let that happen, however, there shine and sparkle is dimming, their not as attractive to players as once were.
There stars of the last decade who were integral to there rise and success have either left or are about too or injured more than they are fit, Kompany leaving has left a massive hole in that defence and I can't see any leaders in that team, Silva looked the shadow of the player he ever was tonight and checked out, Aguero is as per on the treatment bench, these new "stars" just don't have the same grit that that original core had and i feel over the next year they are all going to start getting bored and there heads swayed,
Sane is already desperate to get out, Bernardo Silva has looked way off the pace this season, Jesus is not a striker that will carry you to a title and there main star De Bruyne will be out of there very soon, he's 28 and entering his peak and if City get banned from the UCL he will be desperate to get one last pop at winning the champs, who else is stand out in that squad ?
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying they will disappear to mid table, they've got far too much cash to let that happen, however, there shine and sparkle is dimming, their not as attractive to players as once were.
I said what i said!
Did you not see that 2nd goal? He loses the ball in his own half under no pressure then doesnt even hack down the player when the counter attack starts.
Best midfielder in the league. Not even close.I said what i said!
Did you not see that 2nd goal? He loses the ball in his own half under no pressure then doesnt even hack down the player when the counter attack starts.
Need a completely new defense.
Mendy has to be one of the worst transfers in recent history, barely fit and then when fit doesnt look like a premier league defender
Mendy has to be one of the worst transfers in recent history, barely fit and then when fit doesnt look like a premier league defender
All that oil money and they couldn't do the world a favour by stopping Liverpool. The slip and Palace saved them last time. Shame on them.
Really hope we get to thump these cnuts for the fourth time this season.
Smash em in the FA Cup final then twat that Scouse rabble in the Community Shield.
Even worse than Mangala (maybe not), how the guy has a world cup and 2 premier league titles on his cv is shocking.
True. But its always been pretty clear to me that City werent signing defenders to defend. They wanted players who could do something more on the ball, or help the attack.
Can we finally accept now that defending is an important part of a defender's job and shouldnt be sacrificed for what they might be able to do on the ball? What evidence is there that their defenders on the ball ability helped City that much this season and made up for being poor defensively?
Fernandinho averaged their most passes with 75 per game. Does this even matter if you arent creating something?
2 assists each from Mendy and Walker. You'd expect that from any fullback
Stones has completely fallen out of the pecking order
The only "defensive" position player to come out of this season with credit would be Rodri. Individually his stats paint him in a good light, but if your defense is struggling and you play in DM then you must still be a factor even if you came up with a couple of goals from deep and played some nice passes.
If City Fans are looking for anyone to blame for their failure to stop Liverpool winning the League, they should look no further then Agent Txiki Begiristain.
Why you may ask, well its because he knew perfectly well that Manchester City needed to strengthen big time back in 2018 to both stop the likes of Liverpool and to start winning CLs. Did he get the likes of Ter Stegen, Alaba, Koulibaly, Škriniar, De Ligt, Fabinio, Erriksen, Neymar, Mbappe & Kane to join City though? Nope he did not and now they are paying the price for that damming failure.
Regardless if the Sheiks really want to see their club start winning CL's on a regular basis & prevent Liverpool from dominating the League for the next few years, they need to start getting those sorts of players added to their existing roster, FFP & Covid be dammed.
Why you may ask, well its because he knew perfectly well that Manchester City needed to strengthen big time back in 2018 to both stop the likes of Liverpool and to start winning CLs. Did he get the likes of Ter Stegen, Alaba, Koulibaly, Škriniar, De Ligt, Fabinio, Erriksen, Neymar, Mbappe & Kane to join City though? Nope he did not and now they are paying the price for that damming failure.
Regardless if the Sheiks really want to see their club start winning CL's on a regular basis & prevent Liverpool from dominating the League for the next few years, they need to start getting those sorts of players added to their existing roster, FFP & Covid be dammed.
Hopefully Mane (They should learn from Bayern about the benefits of weakening their local rivals), especially when they need to increase competition for places on the Wing (would Sterling miss those chances if he knew is place was under threat?).
Which makes it particularly foolish of them to perform one of the biggest bottlejobs in footballing history.
I suggest Pep should start taking some advice from the likes of SAF & Keane on how to encourage your team to avoid bottling it.
If anything Pep hasn't spent enough on his Defence, otherwise he wouldn't have ended up having a Back 4 of Mendy, Fernandinho, Otamendi & Walker.
One hope Pep feels movtivated in trying to keep Sane at the Eithad (I would be if I was him). They really need to get Kane as well if the Glazers continue to pretend he doen't exsist.
Its a shame, he looked good at Monaco.
I was having a chat with my flatmate about Pep and he thinks Pep would have suceeded had we given him the reigns at United so I had to point to him the absurd amounts of money they have spent on their defensive unit, how many have flopped and how guys like Danilo can be bought one minute and then sold just like that and they get Cancelo in for 60 mill. The turnover of players is insane and their defence is unacceptable. Since Pep has been there this is their investment into their defensive Unit
Stones - 47,500,000
Bravo - 15,400,000
Ederson -35,000,000
Walker - 45,000,000
Danilo - 26,500,000
Mendy - 49,300,000
Laporte - 57,000,000
the bolded were all in one season
Cancelo - 60,000,000
so that's approx £335 million invested into their defensive unit making it the most expensive in football history. Do his Chief executive not ask him questions as to why their defence isn't the very best the world has ever seen?
Does Pep not have an eye for defences or know how to set them up?
And watch Liverpool dominate English Football? No Thanks...
Anyway all we have to do is win the Europa League, especially when the team is actually good enough to do that, provided OGS keeps Jones away the pitch that is.
They will have to well and truely break FFP once and for all to do the amount of spending required. Especially when Digne, Koulibaly, Škriniar, De Jong, Fabian, Sancho (if United fail to sign him) & Kane will all cost a fortune.
To be fair, they where facing Arsenal & Burnley beforehand...
When "Quality" Players cost well over £100 Million these days, suddenly spending £1billion on transfers doesn't look as impressive as it used to.
Hence why they lacked any real strength in depth in areas such as GK, LB, CB & ST. Not good when strength in depth plays a big part in winning CL's in these day & age...
I have noticed also that when City play other "Big" Teams, their finishing has been utterly shocking. Thats the real problem with their attack.
Hence why they need to keep Sane & sign Kane.
They had 2 years notice to upgrade their team to face the challenge that was Liverpool. They still managed to screw up.
Regardless even if the FA Cup game was coming up, City should have delayed Liverpools title win by beating both Chelsea & Liverpool, then at least they could show the world that they are the better team than Liverpool, even if they would still win the League regardless.
Suspected they would lose tonight and avoid having Liverpool win the league at Eastlands next week plus the bonus of giving Chelsea a leg up too, leaving us in a distant 5th. Mentioned it in the other thread before kick-off but it has vanished.
Should Maguire then be the best CB in the history of football considering the fee we paid for him? If we're going to use transfer fees like that...
Their defensive record during their 2 titles was pretty good.
United splashed out on Maguire and AWB because it was necessary and they were targets that we finally a good fit. Bailly was under the radar and Lindelof wasn't that expensive (or Bailly) when compared to Laporte, even if I think Laporte is a better player than LIndelof and Bailly.
United hadn't spent on a RB since Rafael. And for City, don't forget about Mangala whose transfer fee cost anywhere between 32 million pounds to 42 million pounds due to ownership fees/economic rights of the player. His original five year contract with City just ended last season and was allowed to leave on a free transfer. Maguire is easily better than Stones, yet Stones gets a free pass all the time regardless of his spotty selection record (i.e. injuries).
It doesn't get questioned because he doesn't call the shots on a lot of them, in the documentary, the Mendy signing is decided by the higher ups including the Chief Executive (if I recall correctly) and Peps not even in the room. I'm not saying he has no involvement but he also doesn't call all the shots. It was clear he wanted Dani Alves ahead of Walker for example too.
Someone somewhere is spunking money and needs to be taken to task about it. Mendy, Stones, Danilo and Cancelo is 200m spunked.
He's already said openly he doesn't train tackling etc.., I think the defensive work amounts of positioning and thats about it. He's got an obsession with the ball and never not having it. Its his biggest flaw. Many believe Mourinho had the philosophy if you don't have the ball you can't make a mistake. Pep seems to have the philosophy if you never lose the ball they can't score. Problem is this season, we've been giving the ball away and don't have Fernandinho to bring people down. He needs to adapt because another poor season and his reputation takes a big hit. He's a great manager but he's not perfect and leaving City with another trouncing by Liverpool next season would hit his rep hard. We already saw with Jose, it only takes a couple of bad seasons to send a person to Spurs.
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I'd have them favourites to win the Champions League.
Eh, not with Aguero out or Laporte (maybe) injured again.
As of now, Bayern would batter them imo.
He gets absolutely slated, constantly. Even league 1 strikers were making fun of him.
Of these transfers the Bravo one stands out for me, Pep is one hell of a manager but having waxed lyrical about getting Bravo, once he flopped he just went out & got Ederson - I remember being shocked how few people called him out for being a ‘chequebook manager’ at that point. Bravo was firmly in the Top 10 of worlds most expensive keepers when bought ffs.
Imagine benching Maguire & buying VvD for £140mil this summer.
Is that the one who called him out before the FA Cup match? Either way, City have made a lot of defensive purchases within the past 5 years, enough to fill two different starting XIs but haven't gotten the right players to work out for them.
Yes, people talk about their attacking depth, but they have some deep rooted issues that really exposed them this year. It's natural for teams for this to happen, but like any talented team, you'll have to refresh a little bit every year to maintain that competitive edge and hunger. Really interested to see who City anoints as their new center forward/striker after Aguero.
Bravo cost less than £16m. All things considered that was an easy risk to take. Even when we signed him £16m was nothing. Its like saying replacing Darmian with Wan Bissaka was bad business.
The biggest issue I have with the Modern Game is the lack of any real leaders within any squad. Hence why I have a soft spot for the likes of Keane, Adams and Robson, old school leaders of the right kind.
He was good for Monaco to be fair; but like (Brazilian) Ronaldo & Wilshire, the injuries have clearly taken their toll...
To be fair; they had Mignolet in Goal & a poor set of CBs at the time, sadly for us they have (mostly) learnt that lesson.
We would be better off focusing on getting the Glazers out.
There are Defenders out there that can actually both defend & do well with the Ball. The trouble for City is that Begiristain refused to invest in such defenders.
There is a good reason why CBs like Laporte are more expensive than players like Lindelof. Doesn't help that we live in an age lacking in CB's that can actually defend (in my eyes anyway). So I personally have no issues having United sign the likes of Maguire & AWB, because I would rather spent more on players that actually improve the squad rather than spending less on players that are just as bad if not worse.
I personally blame the likes of Txiki Begiristain for failing to build a squad that can challenge Liverpool & win CLs. Just like I blame the Glazers & Woodwood over OGS for the current state of Manchester United. Because after all, there is only so much one can do with a squad assembled by others.
To be fair Stones is a good CB that needs better competition than Otamendi to reach his potential, while Cancelo has only been at City for 1 season, so its unfair to judge him just yet.