Pep and City's dominance only good for the league | Theafonis discovers he's a City fan

It's easy to argue against pundits; they're morons.
 
It's easy to argue against pundits; they're morons.
Highly paid morons then...but, you're right. Some of them talk sh*t.

I like Alan Shearer though. He seems fair. So does Danny Murphy. I like Carragher too. And except when he's talking about United, G Nev seems good too. About United he's always too reserved in praise and always to critical at times.
 
All spending aside, I have a serious question. Is this City team, the best ever to grace the Premier League?

Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Gary Linekar and several other pundits seem to think so.

I have only been following the premier league since 1994 and only got completely into it (as in following other teams closely as well) since 2008.

For all of you nice people on this Redcafe, is thus true?

If not, which team do you think was better?

It seems hard to argue against the pundits now, especially that City have won 15 in a row!!!

You know pundits are paid to build a narrative? Every season teams are hyped up in the PL to way over what they are.

If City go undefeated, with a records points total, win the treble, and then win the league again next year. Then they'll be the best team ever. That is the standard set by the best teams ever in the PL.
 
All spending aside, I have a serious question. Is this City team, the best ever to grace the Premier League?

Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Gary Linekar and several other pundits seem to think so.

I have only been following the premier league since 1994 and only got completely into it (as in following other teams closely as well) since 2008.

For all of you nice people on this Redcafe, is thus true?

If not, which team do you think was better?

It seems hard to argue against the pundits now, especially that City have won 15 in a row!!!
Individually no, as a team, too early to say
 
All spending aside, I have a serious question. Is this City team, the best ever to grace the Premier League?

Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Gary Linekar and several other pundits seem to think so.

I have only been following the premier league since 1994 and only got completely into it (as in following other teams closely as well) since 2008.

For all of you nice people on this Redcafe, is thus true?

If not, which team do you think was better?

It seems hard to argue against the pundits now, especially that City have won 15 in a row!!!

United's '99 treble winning team were a far superior outfit. The fact that they actually achieved something in their time together adds a significant amount of weight to this viewpoint.

It comes as no surprise to hear that the 3 stooges above prefer the City team.
 
All spending aside, I have a serious question. Is this City team, the best ever to grace the Premier League?

Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Gary Linekar and several other pundits seem to think so.

I have only been following the premier league since 1994 and only got completely into it (as in following other teams closely as well) since 2008.

For all of you nice people on this Redcafe, is thus true?

If not, which team do you think was better?

It seems hard to argue against the pundits now, especially that City have won 15 in a row!!!
Right now it's not true.
So it's not so hard to argue against those excellent pundits who never ever speak bollocks.
 
You know pundits are paid to build a narrative? Every season teams are hyped up in the PL to way over what they are.

If City go undefeated, with a records points total, win the treble, and then win the league again next year. Then they'll be the best team ever. That is the standard set by the best teams ever in the PL.

You do not have to win a treble to be the best team ever. League and CL would suffice to be mentioned in the conversation.

Anyway, obviously too early to say if this current side is the best the PL has seen. On paper it definitely isn't, but maybe come the end of next season if we can keep this up then we've got to be up there, especially once the likes of Sane, Sterling and Jesus have had another year to develop.
 
You do not have to win a treble to be the best team ever. League and CL would suffice to be mentioned in the conversation.

Anyway, obviously too early to say if this current side is the best the PL has seen. On paper it definitely isn't, but maybe come the end of next season if we can keep this up then we've got to be up there, especially once the likes of Sane, Sterling and Jesus have had another year to develop.

Well actually you do, football is a competitive game and the quality of the team is based on the trophies they win. Managers and players view the game through trophies and see them as major milestones in their career.

If City do a double, then they will have to win further major honours to be in the conversation.

The only way you can be considered to be one of the best teams ever after one season is to win the Treble.
 
Well actually you do, football is a competitive game and the quality of the team is based on the trophies they win. Managers and players view the game through trophies and see them as major milestones in their career.

If City do a double, then they will have to win further major honours to be in the conversation.

The only way you can be considered to be one of the best teams ever after one season is to win the Treble.

Fair enough if you think that, seems a little weird to me that you have to win a cup competition that some teams might not even treat seriously until the later stages to be considered one of the best. Surely as long as you win the league and the CL that's all that matters.
 
Please quote me one post where a City fan with more than 20 posts on here has said that we will stay unbeaten/win CL this season. If you can I'll self-ban until the New Year.
What I meant to say was that if you achieve an unbeaten run and/or CL on top of that, the smugness of City fans on here would be unbearable. Right now having won nothing yet; the smugness has reached George Clooney in South Park level.
 
I don't view guardiola as revolutionizing anything, at all. This isn't his first season in the PL, lest we forget.

I view this city side though as being a collection of superior players amassed over 3 managers, while Utd bought very, very badly.

Players like Aguero, Silva, de Bruyne, Sterling, Fernandinho are all players that guardiola inherited, and that in many cases throughout the city side, have already won, and dominated the PL.

If anything, I think that their current form and inevitable PL title this season should see Utd realize that they need to get serious - as city did when they began the guardiola project 5 years ago.

We shouldn't be ashamed of spending money because we, unlike city or Chelsea, generate our own - it's Man Utd's money, not the money of some corrupt, archaic oil tyrant. And so we mustn't be duped by the Utd hating media into thinking that our spending is the same as these other clubs, because it isn't.

We deserve to spend, because our money is built from our successes. And spend we must.

If the people in charge of the club want to rival city's 5 years guardiola oil spree, they need to be looking at putting in huge amounts, and buying at least 3 or 4 genuinely World Class players throughout Jan and the Summer.

I trust Mourinho's spending, I like how shrewd he is, and I trust his desperation to put the sheik's club back into their place. It'll be down to the money men to either be happy with Top 4, CL footy, or to show that they really, truly mean business.

Money is money, so United is spending the same currency as all the other rich clubs so you feeling better about the club increasing spending really counts for naught. Do you think perennial midtable teams that can't break into the top 6 because they don't have the same financial power and capacity would hypothetically feel better about teams like United potentially taking their best player just because the club "earned it"? United is a huge club and they should spend accordingly. However, whether sugar daddy club or traditional powerhouse, the big clubs all represent the same elitist group (if we are talking strictly financial terms) and the effect they have on other teams within the league is the same whichever way you spin it.
 
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You know pundits are paid to build a narrative? Every season teams are hyped up in the PL to way over what they are.

If City go undefeated, with a records points total, win the treble, and then win the league again next year. Then they'll be the best team ever. That is the standard set by the best teams ever in the PL.
Yea, I hope they don't!!!
 
It will cause us to improve, that much is natural. We have a bar to meet. This will also happen with other top teams, so yes - I agree that we should see ‘better’ Prem teams in coming years.

In reality, the PL has had a poor standard of football for years. That has been masked by ‘excitement’ and ‘competitiveness’. Yes, it’s been competitive, but all with a very low ceiling. It’s been competitive because you could throw a blanket over all of the clubs in terms of quality - with the very best teams still being given a going over by their European counterparts. City may we’ll be the first PL team in years to meet the standard set by the likes of Real and Barca, and because they are currently the only ones, it has translated into domestic dominance. This further highlights that the league itself wasn’t good enough.

It’s unfortunate for us that Pep has come along at the wrong time for us. We had seemingly gotten our shit together, and made one of our best PL starts, only for City to blow it out of the water. What that shows is that, if not for them, we would be top, and on the way to our first PL title since Fergie, and seemingly ‘back’. This would have been self-deceit in reality, and it in the absence of City, it wouldn’t have been immediately apparent that we’re simply not that good.

I know many have mentioned the money they have spent, but we’ve spent a fair few bob too. Credit is due to the construction of a team at City, the bravery to insist on playing football on he ground, despite not achieving last season, and PL history not supporting a theory that such a style will be a success.

I’m not even convinced they have better players than us tbh, and if so, not massively. If Jose had their squad, I don’t doubt that he could win the league, but I’m certain the team wouldn’t play as well. The likes of Sane and Sterling are not the best forwards in the world by a long stretch. People have cited Money, but Pep has bought hardly any world class players in my opinion.

We will fight back, because our stature and history demands it. Whether that will mean adapting our style to be a more footballing side, or we perfect the Jose model of establishing a team that will just beat everyone else up - it will be interesting to watch.
Nice post.
 
Money is money, so United is spending the same currency as all the other rich clubs so you feeling better about the club increasing spending really counts for naught. Do you think perennial midtable teams that can't break into the top 6 because they don't have the same financial power and capacity would hypothetically feel better about teams like United potentially taking their best player just because the club "earned it"? United is a huge club and they should spend accordingly. However, whether sugar daddy club or traditional powerhouse, the big clubs all represent the same elitist group (if we are talking strictly financial terms) and the effect they have on other teams within the league is the same whichever way you spin it.

amen
 
Yeah, you know what? Liverpool winning the Champions League this year would be another great blessing for us.

I would be violently sick for about a fecking month. Please no. Just no! I'd rather City win the league and the CL than those cnuts picking up another Champions League.
 
What I meant to say was that if you achieve an unbeaten run and/or CL on top of that, the smugness of City fans on here would be unbearable. Right now having won nothing yet; the smugness has reached George Clooney in South Park level.
I think that the regular City posters on here such as myself, @BobbyManc @M18CTID @padr81 and others try to be balanced as possible. We are guests on a United Forum and wumming or smugness can quickly see us being hit with the ban hammer.
What is hard to take is when we are told that City Fans are saying that we're gonna win the Quadruple, going unbeaten, Pep is the Messiah etc. because I've never once heard a Blue say that. We've come too far to believe that we're going to lord it over all of football for years to come.
Having said that, when Pep does leave (probably about 3 years from now) he will have worked with the club to put a plan in place to continue the good work. That is already something that all concerned will work towards.
 
I think that the regular City posters on here such as myself, @BobbyManc @M18CTID @padr81 and others try to be balanced as possible. We are guests on a United Forum and wumming or smugness can quickly see us being hit with the ban hammer.
What is hard to take is when we are told that City Fans are saying that we're gonna win the Quadruple, going unbeaten, Pep is the Messiah etc. because I've never once heard a Blue say that. We've come too far to believe that we're going to lord it over all of football for years to come.
Having said that, when Pep does leave (probably about 3 years from now) he will have worked with the club to put a plan in place to continue the good work. That is already something that all concerned will work towards.
You and the fans you mention are all good posters.
The club with the most money will dominate in the end. You guys have the most money so if you choose your next manager wisely, domination should follow.
I know none of you would like to admit it openly. But this is one of the best years to win the quadruple. You have already won the league. The cups should be yours as you have no domestic equal. In Europe there is no Barcelona 2009-2011 waiting for you. I think the only team capable of beating you is Barcelona, Bayern, Real and PSG. One of them will be knocked out in the next round. So only three teams would remain, all which you will be favourites against anyway. You are going to buy atleast 2-3 players in January to bolster your already miles ahead squad.
 
You and the fans you mention are all good posters.
The club with the most money will dominate in the end. You guys have the most money so if you choose your next manager wisely, domination should follow.
Just a small disagreement with this. It's too simplistic too say that. It's no good having the most money if you're not allowed to spend it. City and PSG have already fallen foul of the regs and had action taken accordingly so we do have a finite amount available just like you do but for different reasons. I think that there are 5 teams in England (City, United and the 3 big London teams) who can conceivably be top dogs over a period of time. The difference is that Arsenal and Tottenham seem determined to operate within a strict "low risk, high reward" philosophy but that will only take you so far unless we get another Leicester-type season or they get lucky in a Cup competition.
Chelsea, City and United are all more ambitious and all have their advantages over rivals but for different reasons but the bottom line is that who comes out ahead is the club who is bold and makes fewer mistakes than their immediate rivals.
City are currently that club but it would not take much to change that order.

I know none of you would like to admit it openly. But this is one of the best years to win the quadruple. You have already won the league. The cups should be yours as you have no domestic equal. In Europe there is no Barcelona 2009-2011 waiting for you. I think the only team capable of beating you is Barcelona, Bayern, Real and PSG. One of them will be knocked out in the next round. So only three teams would remain, all which you will be favourites against anyway. You are going to buy atleast 2-3 players in January to bolster your already miles ahead squad.
 
I just feel that all the praise for City on this forum comes from pure envy.

I don't understand why it's even a discussion. They followed all the right steps: pumped money, bought some young guns and some good players, hired a very good director of football and, probably, the best coach in history bar Ferguson(and will overtake Fergie by a country mile if he continues coaching until he's 60).

They hired the guy to play attractive fooball, to have people fill up the stadium and build a baseline for the future. So, big well done to them(envy) and close this feking thread.
 
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Just a small disagreement with this. It's too simplistic too say that. It's no good having the most money if you're not allowed to spend it. City and PSG have already fallen foul of the regs and had action taken accordingly so we do have a finite amount available just like you do but for different reasons. I think that there are 5 teams in England (City, United and the 3 big London teams) who can conceivably be top dogs over a period of time. The difference is that Arsenal and Tottenham seem determined to operate within a strict "low risk, high reward" philosophy but that will only take you so far unless we get another Leicester-type season or they get lucky in a Cup competition.
Chelsea, City and United are all more ambitious and all have their advantages over rivals but for different reasons but the bottom line is that who comes out ahead is the club who is bold and makes fewer mistakes than their immediate rivals.
City are currently that club but it would not take much to change that order.

City and PSG are currently the most inform teams in the world. Chelsea have been the most successful team in the premier league in the past decade. Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga and Bayern in Germany. The common thing is having the most money.
If you have the most money you keep spending until something sticks. You can afford to make the most mistakes (Mangala, Bravo, etc.) and take the most risks. The Glazers will reign in United at one point just like Roman did with Chelsea. Mansour won't be reigned in though. He will keep spending as this his state's PR. The only difference that can come is unearthing someone like Messi. But even in that regard Mansour has spent the most to develop a complex and facilities (which is not covered by FFP) and buy all the best youngsters.
Money is the most important reason for any clubs success and European football should get used to regular Abu Dhabi vs Qatar finals.
 
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What have they dominated, exactly? The hyperbole over City at the minute is driving me insane. They have achieved nothing under Pep as of yet. Even if they go on to win the league this season, they still cannot be ranked as one of the best teams ever as everyone seems to be saying at the minute. It seems Pep and City think they have achieved everything they have to achieve, without actually having won anything. The celebrations after their victory at OT were embarrassing. You think Fergie would have let his team celebrate like that in December, as if they'd won the league?

If and when he leads them to 2/3 titles in a row and cements that with a CL win, then we can talk about domination. Until then, anything said about domination is premature. Fergie led two separate United teams to 3 successive titles. Winning 5 titles in 7 seasons, losing one title on GD and the other title by a point. That is consistency over 200+ games in the league. City have been consistent for less than a tenth of that.

Feck off.
 
bit early isn't it? what if they win feck all this season? what if they get into a little slump? it's december how can anyone say they are one of the best te ams ever?

maybe at the end of the season when they are still unbeaten and won the treble its time for that but not now. laughable really
 
You and the fans you mention are all good posters.
The club with the most money will dominate in the end. You guys have the most money so if you choose your next manager wisely, domination should follow.
I know none of you would like to admit it openly. But this is one of the best years to win the quadruple. You have already won the league. The cups should be yours as you have no domestic equal. In Europe there is no Barcelona 2009-2011 waiting for you. I think the only team capable of beating you is Barcelona, Bayern, Real and PSG. One of them will be knocked out in the next round. So only three teams would remain, all which you will be favourites against anyway. You are going to buy atleast 2-3 players in January to bolster your already miles ahead squad.

Of course as a city fan, it seems half the time, we are told that it's the money - we have the most money, it's unfair how we have that money and because of the money, we will win. But the other half of the time, we are told that the united squad overall is at least our equal, particularly man for man and of course, in a combined 11, it's at least half the team which consists of United players. It surely can't be both ?

You're absolutely right of course with pretty much everything you say, providing we remember there are no guarantees. City fans know that better than anyone, given our history. So whilst I can't speak for any other fan, I don't think it's just about being respectful on a United forum. I genuinely don't speak to any other blues who think it's all over or are overly confident. We are loving it and of course, so we should. We are in a great position. But nobody is counting any chickens.

As for talk about being one of the best ever PL sides - f****g ridiculous. Nobody will look back in 5 years time let alone 10 and say 'do you remember that city side under Pep who played amazing football and won 15 on the trot' if we don't win trophies. Other than possibly, to say 'do you remember when city f*****d it up when they were 11 points clear playing amazing football'. IF, and it's a most enormous IF, we go on to win consecutive PL titles and a CL title, or a treble, etc then of course it might be appropriate to start talking that way, but we aren't even halfway through the season, we haven't played a knockout game in the CL....it's simply too early to talk about anything other than the potential to be a great
 
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The article Infra-red posted above makes it clear that the City Group are quite willing to break rules when it suits them.
 
Trying to make it a case of "City expending too much money" is disingenuous.
Some of their players were there before Pep and they are better now.
Sterling was moked here all the time..
Sane, Jesus were only youngsters with potential.
Otamendi looks twice the player now.

Thing is, can you win as Leicester or Atletico Madrid? Yes, you can.
But its not the tendency.
Heavy possession/attacking football, high pressure, this is how the biggest clubs are playing.
With skilfull midfielders that can pass lines without lose the ball.
This is the dominant style and we should play this way too.
If we will not play like Barca, Bayern, Madrid, PSG, City, who is our model?
 
Was Rod Laver the best tennis player ever? Or did he simply excel in an era when the competition were not very good?

He was a fine tennis player for sure, but wouldn't get a set I think off Federer, Nadal, or (in his prime) Jokovic.

So when trying to decide who's the best ever, who they were up against at the time is an important factor. I am not suggesting there were no good opponents back then. However, from about 1992 onwards, when the first ball was kicked in August, you could be pretty sure it would be United lifting the trophy in May. From 1992 to 2003, United won it 8 out of the 11 times. Was that down to the fantastic teams United had back then? Sure it was, but it was helped greatly by the fact that other clubs were all over the place.
 
Anyone who plans global domination in anything is evil, ergo Manchester City under this ownership -despite de Bruyne and Silva's pretty passes- are bad for football. Christ, there's only enough topsoil for 60 more global harvests, why don't they spend on solving that.

Evil? God help Apple and Microsoft if you own an iphone and a pc then. And I do hope you’re not going to Subway for your lunch - the evil bastards:lol:
 
Evil? God help Apple and Microsoft if you own an iphone and a pc then. And I do hope you’re not going to Subway for your lunch - the evil bastards:lol:
Apple, Microsoft and Subway are all on record wishing their competitors good luck so leave them alone whereas Utd have never had so much as a Facebook like from your owners let alone an interest free loan so don't lecture on evil when your profile says you're from Gorton.
 
City and PSG are currently the most inform teams in the world. Chelsea have been the most successful team in the premier league in the past decade. Real Madrid and Barcelona in La Liga and Bayern in Germany. The common thing is having the most money.
If you have the most money you keep spending until something sticks. You can afford to make the most mistakes (Mangala, Bravo, etc.) and take the most risks. The Glazers will reign in United at one point just like Roman did with Chelsea. Mansour won't be reigned in though. He will keep spending as this his state's PR. The only difference that can come is unearthing someone like Messi. But even in that regard Mansour has spent the most to develop a complex and facilities (which is not covered by FFP) and buy all the best youngsters.
Money is the most important reason for any clubs success and European football should get used to regular Abu Dhabi vs Qatar finals.
I repeat.
City and PSG have the wealthiest owners but cannot spend much of it.
PSG had to get Mbappe on loan to spread the transfer cost and City had to abandon the pursuit of Johnny Evans (ffs) because they couldn't shift Mangala thus freeing up the funds to do the deal.
Technically United are currently richer because they have more available funds than City because their revenues are higher. They have spent heavily for the last 3 years and may well step that up next season. Like us last season the FB's are ageing and/or substandard plus there will be other positions that need to be upgraded. Youth products may help reduce the spend but if instant results are required then substantial investment will be needed in the right players.
 
I seriously doubt we will win the PL with Pep around. We are the team he loves to face the most. He's had our number for many many years. He beat us in 2 CL finals with Barcelona, knocked us out in 2014 with Bayern and now he's beaten us in back to back games at OT. We were unbeaten in 40 games at home between the 2 games. Add to that his superior personal record with Mourinho and it's easy to see why we are pessimistic about the future.
 
I seriously doubt we will win the PL with Pep around. We are the team he loves to face the most. He's had our number for many many years. He beat us in 2 CL finals with Barcelona, knocked us out in 2014 with Bayern and now he's beaten us in back to back games at OT. We were unbeaten in 40 games at home between the 2 games. Add to that his superior personal record with Mourinho and it's easy to see why we are pessimistic about the future.

Are there any clubs/managers he doesn't have that sort of record against though? Only taking into considerations clubs/managers he's played against over the years, I'm sure there aren't many who can claim to have his number. It's annoying how he's fallen on his feet in terms of managing at the top from the start of his career, but no one can argue that he doesn't deserve to be there. When his teams are ticking, he's the best manager around.
 
Were rival fans right all these past decades when they tried to use our wealth to discredit our trophies? Let's wait to revisit this topic once we finally start spending our money wisely. City won't be where they are if they routinely spent 75mil on technically lacking attackers.
 
Apple, Microsoft and Subway are all on record wishing their competitors good luck so leave them alone whereas Utd have never had so much as a Facebook like from your owners let alone an interest free loan so don't lecture on evil when your profile says you're from Gorton.

Good points. A bit harsh about the Facebook thing though, considering City’s official Twitter page congratulated United on winning the league in 2013. I’ll get onto the club about it and see if I can get that FB like sorted for you.
 
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Our rivals had to put up with us dominating the league for years. We're just going to have to put up with it being City's turn until we can knock them off their perch. God I wish Ferguson was 10 years younger and still manager.