The Official Manchester City Thread

[Bredbury Blue]

Merry Christmas to all you fellow miserable barstards

xxx

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Don't know  if anyone else  has  signed up to The Athletic. Had some great reads these past 6 weeks but none better than today's Daniel Taylor interview. Didn't want it to end, so much stuff in it i didn't know. I'm hoping Cooke does a book. 

 

"Exclusive: Garry Cook’s extraordinary Man City stories – bidding for Messi, borrowing money for wages and hosting Mancini in spare room (while Hughes was manager)"

[Bredbury Blue]

City <deleted> off with having such a short period between kickoffs. 

 

City fans VERY <deleted> off with NO Boxing day fixture, and having a 7.45pm away kickoff tomorrow. 

 

Think all Uk fans who can't make this round of games are <deleted> off with the games being on Amazon and the viewing complication that will cause.

 

I'm <deleted> off as the hotel I'm in has rat<deleted> wifi in my room and i reckon it's going to be more difficult than usual to find a free live stream - may have to resort to watching a rerun ????

 

Bah humbug!

[Bredbury Blue]

Milner selected his XI from players he's  played  alongside. No Kompany, No Yaya, No Salah, No Mane

 

James Milner career best XI:

Alisson;

Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Woodgate, Cole; 

Silva,Lampard, Gerrard; 

Aguero; Shearer; Firmino.

 

[mrbojangles]

This is pure bladdy torture. Decided to stay up and punch through instead of having a few hours kip and getting up for the match. That has obviously meant overdoing the Leo and still not knowing if I can get a stream. The things we do for this sports

[jellydog]

41 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

This is pure bladdy torture. Decided to stay up and punch through instead of having a few hours kip and getting up for the match. That has obviously meant overdoing the Leo and still not knowing if I can get a stream. The things we do for this sports

Following on my phone through The Guardian while at the Miami airport.

[BangrakBob]

1 hour ago, jellydog said:

Following on my phone through The Guardian while at the Miami airport.

hope you are enjoying the match lads????

[Bredbury Blue]

<deleted> Mendy! Useless Bravo!

[singasong]

How is Otamendi still getting a game ? Big mistake by pep in not replacing Vincent, to think we could have got alderweireld for 25m.

[Bredbury Blue]

7 minutes ago, singasong said:

How is Otamendi still getting a game ? Big mistake by pep in not replacing Vincent, to think we could have got alderweireld for 25m.

You could say that about Bravo. Never quite gets to the shot does he. Now we know how liverpool must have felt like playing with a handicap of a comical goalie for all those years.

[Bredbury Blue]

Thats a hard defeat to take.

 

Not convinced with the sending off, have to watch it again, but it's easy for the attacker to ensure there's contact and a sending off.

 

Thought it was a penalty, soft, and we were extremely lucky with the retaken penalty - no confidence in Sterling, Aguero or Jesus with pens.

 

Putting on a 3rd centreback for Mahrez seemed a good idea but wasn't. Resulted in us lacking an outlet and it invited them on to us more.

 

Can anybody explain what Mendy was thinking/doing? The ball is going out for their corner and he's trying to shield the ball off - blast up the pitch dick head  ...IDIOT COST US DEARLY!

 

Once they got the equaliser, with us tiring with a man less, you knew they were going to score.

 

An unnecessary defeat which could have been managed by Pep and the players to a win.

 

They're going to be knackered for the Sheffield game.

[smokie36]

Total bottle job that lads! 

[mrbojangles]

1 hour ago, RonniePickering22 said:

Total bottle job that lads! 

Don't remember much about it TBH. Was a bit pished by kick off. Next time I'll go to bed and wake up rather than staying up for it

[wilai]

43 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

Don't remember much about it TBH. Was a bit pished by kick off. Next time I'll go to bed and wake up rather than staying up for it

That's what I do mrbj....especially when it's the only game on. Bed by 8pm then wake up 15 mins before K/O. I don't need to search for streams though so maybe more difficult for you.

[jellydog]

Nice confidence boost there. Good work from KDB, Mahrez and KUN.

[mrbojangles]

8 hours ago, jellydog said:

Nice confidence boost there. Good work from KDB, Mahrez and KUN.

That was a very tight game. Can see why up until last night Sheff haven't lost away this season. Very happy to get the 3 points and boy are we missing Ederson's distribution

[Bredbury Blue]

Wasn't great again. No real standouts. Got over the line though from two nice finishes. 

 

Can see why Sheffield are doing so well. To be honest they were a bit unfortunate. Caused us plenty of problems.

 

Didn't get their complaint for Aguero's goal; trying to rewrite the laws of the game there.

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

Bravo!

 

Can't say i knew much about him before he joined us except he was highly rated. But for us, his greatest saves highlight cd would probably last only a minute or two. He just never seems to get near the ball on its way in for a goal. Can't believe we got rid of Hart for Bravo. No confidence in him! Get rid in the summer.

[Bredbury Blue]

What's with all these late kickoffs for City. Feel like i haven't watched a game starting before midnight for weeks. Sure we've had more late kickoffs than any other team - the bags under by eyes attest to that.

[Bredbury Blue]

10 hours ago, jellydog said:

Nice confidence boost there. Good work from KDB, Mahrez and KUN.

And Rodri.

 

Unusual back 3 in the 2nd half of Fernandinho and Garcia flanking Rodri (2 x defensive midfielders and an 18 year old PL debutant).

[mrbojangles]

This just can't come quick enough for me

 

Pep Guardiola says Aymeric Laporte is a week to 10 days away from returning to first-team training at Manchester City.

 

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11679/11898695/pep-guardiola-says-aymeric-laporte-is-nearing-manchester-city-comeback

 

[mrbojangles]

Didn't realise that the win against the Blades was Pep's 100th win at City and he did it in record time. It took him 134 games whereas the previous holder (Jose M) took 142 games

 

Not bad for an average manager

[Bredbury Blue]

2 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Didn't realise that the win against the Blades was Pep's 100th win at City and he did it in record time. It took him 134 games whereas the previous holder (Jose M) took 142 games

 

Not bad for an average manager

Yep, not bad for an average manager.

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

<deleted>! Bravo starting. Now fearing the worst.

[champers]

What's happened to John Stones? You've got 3 at the back, 2 defensive midfielders and a spotty yoof.

[jellydog]

1 hour ago, champers said:

What's happened to John Stones? You've got 3 at the back, 2 defensive midfielders and a spotty yoof.

Hammy I think. 

 

Dominant most of the match today but a ridiculous stretch of sloppy play in the 2nd half almost <deleted> it. So annoying. Smart of Pep to bring on Spanish Dave to steady the ship.

 

Jesus looking sharp.

[BangrakBob]

21 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Didn't realise that the win against the Blades was Pep's 100th win at City and he did it in record time. It took him 134 games whereas the previous holder (Jose M) took 142 games

 

Not bad for an average manager

Each manager enters the EPL under completely varying circumstances. Mourinho a sack full of cash at Chelsea and the foundations of a title winning team inherited from Ranieri. Pep sacks full of cash and a top 4 side that previously won the EPL 2 seasons before. Highly likely contributing to their genius 

 

[mrbojangles]

1 hour ago, BangrakBob said:

Each manager enters the EPL under completely varying circumstances. Mourinho a sack full of cash at Chelsea and the foundations of a title winning team inherited from Ranieri. Pep sacks full of cash and a top 4 side that previously won the EPL 2 seasons before. Highly likely contributing to their genius 

 

Of course having a large purse contributes but it's a great achievement nonetheless 

 

I wonder if when you beat Spurs in the CL final, the first thing going through your mind was how much more Klopp had spent compared to Poch !!

[Bredbury Blue]

1 hour ago, BangrakBob said:

Each manager enters the EPL under completely varying circumstances. Mourinho a sack full of cash at Chelsea and the foundations of a title winning team inherited from Ranieri. Pep sacks full of cash and a top 4 side that previously won the EPL 2 seasons before. Highly likely contributing to their genius 

 

 

...and not forgetting that Klopp inherited a liverpool from Brendan Rodgers that a little over a year earlier had been PL runners up.

[Bredbury Blue]

11 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

<deleted>! Bravo starting. Now fearing the worst.

Bravo did his worst.

 

Tough game as expected. Couple of quality finishes to get the points. 

 

Thought Garcia was excellent (Stones was just back in training for a few days following weeks out with a hamstring).

 

Pep playing again his unusual 3 at the back (Rodri and Garcia this time flanking Fernandinho) with Gundog and KdB in front.

 

Rodri, Jesus, kdb & Foden very decent. I really like Mahrez when he drops in to the no.10 position. Mendy had a smart game; some of his distribution/crossing was excellent.