Manchester City

[Bredbury Blue]

I was hoping to see him at Liverpool before he was signed by Swansea.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do with some real quality ball feeders, could be frightening

I hope you're correct sir. I've been of two minds about Bony arriving, but he doesn't look the fragile type which would be a big change.

He is super strong, and besides scoring goals, I think the likes of Nasri, Silva, Navas and Toure bombing past him are going to benefit from his ability to hold up and lay off

Could be a title winning purchase

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

[JacknDanny]

I was hoping to see him at Liverpool before he was signed by Swansea.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do with some real quality ball feeders, could be frightening

I hope you're correct sir. I've been of two minds about Bony arriving, but he doesn't look the fragile type which would be a big change.

He is super strong, and besides scoring goals, I think the likes of Nasri, Silva, Navas and Toure bombing past him are going to benefit from his ability to hold up and lay off

Could be a title winning purchase

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

[Bredbury Blue]

Loved Rodney. He was a talented entertainer in the era of teams having entertainers (Bowles...Worthington. ..) but yes he was a prima donna.

I also reckon Bony will be an upgrade on Dzeko who's form is too up and down.

[Bredbury Blue]

I was hoping to see him at Liverpool before he was signed by Swansea.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do with some real quality ball feeders, could be frightening

I hope you're correct sir. I've been of two minds about Bony arriving, but he doesn't look the fragile type which would be a big change.

He is super strong, and besides scoring goals, I think the likes of Nasri, Silva, Navas and Toure bombing past him are going to benefit from his ability to hold up and lay off

Could be a title winning purchase

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

...what were you doing in the Platt Lane stand (wooden benches still?) back then?

[SantiSuk]

Loved Rodney's story on TV yesterday about the Glazers. Apparently Rodney lives in Tampa now?

Anyway - he recalls getting on a plane and going to the cheap seats and being surprised to see the Glazers sitting pretty at the back in cattle-class. They just smiled when he suggested with all their money they might sit in comfy-class.

You've gotta love the eccentricity of the rich sometimes

[carmine]

I'd been wondering how long it is since we'd scored from a corner, when I came across this on MEN website: City have had 123 corners since they last scored from one. Too bloody long! About time we reintroduced the Mike Doyle near post flick for Dave Watson to finish off.

Corners are a vastly over rated threat. Teams score from an average of one in twenty i believe.

Now, on to your weekend game. How to beat Arsenal? Simple. Just try to contain Sanchez and if you do they have nothing left to offer. <deleted> Wenger's turned them into a one trick Alexis Sanchez pony!! I hope you give them a right royal drubbing.

Coulda shoulda woulda my arse Chicog!!

Edited January 15, 2015 by carmine

[PREM-R]

Manchester City's finances are facing renewed Uefa scrutiny after it emerged that the complex structure of its City Football Group parent company is being investigated. The Guardian and The Telegraph

Just so that there is no 'confusion'. as was the case with Frank Lampard, what has Wilfried Bony signed, a MOI, MOU, loan deal, short-term deal or long-term deal? Who has he signed with Manchester City FC or CFG?

[carmine]

Manchester City's finances are facing renewed Uefa scrutiny after it emerged that the complex structure of its City Football Group parent company is being investigated. The Guardian and The Telegraph

Just so that there is no 'confusion'. as was the case with Frank Lampard, what has Wilfried Bony signed, a MOI, MOU, loan deal, short-term deal or long-term deal? Who has he signed with Manchester City FC or CFG?

Did Bony even read his contract? Apparently Frank didn't. I think it was probably a case of, "hey, its Citeh so i'm going to get paid bundles whatever scenario so who cares"

[JacknDanny]

I was hoping to see him at Liverpool before he was signed by Swansea.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do with some real quality ball feeders, could be frightening

I hope you're correct sir. I've been of two minds about Bony arriving, but he doesn't look the fragile type which would be a big change.

He is super strong, and besides scoring goals, I think the likes of Nasri, Silva, Navas and Toure bombing past him are going to benefit from his ability to hold up and lay off

Could be a title winning purchase

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

...what were you doing in the Platt Lane stand (wooden benches still?) back then?

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

[BangrakBob]

I'd been wondering how long it is since we'd scored from a corner, when I came across this on MEN website: City have had 123 corners since they last scored from one. Too bloody long! About time we reintroduced the Mike Doyle near post flick for Dave Watson to finish off.

Corners are a vastly over rated threat. Teams score from an average of one in twenty i believe.

Now, on to your weekend game. How to beat Arsenal? Simple. Just try to contain Sanchez and if you do they have nothing left to offer. <deleted> Wenger's turned them into a one trick Alexis Sanchez pony!! I hope you give them a right royal drubbing.

Coulda shoulda woulda my arse Chicog!!

I actually came across the stat in a Paul Tomkins article yesterday;

"For example, fans almost always think their team is crap at taking corners; ask most fans and they’ll wonder why their team doesn’t score enough, yet the average is a goal just 3% of the time. So you may score from one in 33 corners"

[mrbojangles]

Just so that there is no 'confusion'. as was the case with Frank Lampard, what has Wilfried Bony signed, a MOI, MOU, loan deal, short-term deal or long-term deal? Who has he signed with Manchester City FC or CFG?

Manchester City complete deal to sign Wilfried Bony from Swansea

Manchester City have completed the signing of Swansea striker Wilfried Bony on a contract until the summer of 2019 for a fee of £25m that could rise to £28m.

Bony is away on international duty with Ivory Coast as they prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations and they looked to have broken the news of the transfer on Wednesday morning.

Both City and Swansea were keen to emphasise the final stages of the deal had to be finalised and all loose ends have now been tied up, with the 26-year-old due to make the move to the Etihad Stadium once he returns from Equatorial Guinea. Full story:- http://www1.skysports.com/transfer/news/12691/9644669/transfer-news-manchester-city-complete-deal-to-sign-wilfried-bony-from-swansea

[mrbojangles]

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

...what were you doing in the Platt Lane stand (wooden benches still?) back then?

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

I started off in Platt Lane with my dad and brother but at the front, until I was about 16. Aaaah memories. I'll never forget the final match at Maine Road. Very emotional that was.

[smokie36]

28mill for a second choice striker.

Sickening yes.....jealous much?

Hell yeah!

[mrbojangles]

28mill for a second choice striker.

Sickening yes.....jealous much?

Hell yeah!

Second best to Aguero yes but I would imagine that would be the case for any striker currently in the prem.

[Bredbury Blue]

I was hoping to see him at Liverpool before he was signed by Swansea.

Looking forward to seeing what he can do with some real quality ball feeders, could be frightening

I hope you're correct sir. I've been of two minds about Bony arriving, but he doesn't look the fragile type which would be a big change.

He is super strong, and besides scoring goals, I think the likes of Nasri, Silva, Navas and Toure bombing past him are going to benefit from his ability to hold up and lay off

Could be a title winning purchase

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

...what were you doing in the Platt Lane stand (wooden benches still?) back then?

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

I had one in the kippax in the 70s but sometimes had to go in platt lane for cup games. I vividly remember the cup game when colin bell was bearing down on the platt lane penalty box right in front of me and martin Buchan came across and scythed down king colin with a poor challenge that started the end for colin.

[Bredbury Blue]

Let's hope he doesn't have Rodney Marsh affect on this title-chasing team (though I loved Rod as a player for us)

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

...what were you doing in the Platt Lane stand (wooden benches still?) back then?

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

I started off in Platt Lane with my dad and brother but at the front, until I was about 16. Aaaah memories. I'll never forget the final match at Maine Road. Very emotional that was.

Trying to remember. Away fans used to be in the open corner of the kippax adjacent platt lane, but when we rebuilt the kippax (26000 standing required to be turned in to seated; what a waste that was as we moved after not many years) did we move away fans in to the corner of platt lane adjacent the kippax?

[Bredbury Blue]

http://mcivta.com/maine-road/comment-page-1/

Enjoyed reading this. My deceased granddad (my dad is 84) used to like telling me how he went to the 1923 Fa Cup 84000 record attendance game vs Stoke; he reckons he paid at the kippax turnstile, went through but could go no further such was the size of the crowd and didn't see the game...think it's a true story as he wasn't one to tell porkies.

[Bredbury Blue]

Man City 8 Coventry 2: FA Youth Cup

Manchester City's youngsters stormed into the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup with a stunning first half display.

[Bredbury Blue]

"The Special One has used just 20 players - the fewest in the league - and three of them have started every game: John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and Eden Hazard.Staggeringly, 209 of a possible 231 starting places on Mourinho's team-sheet have been occupied by his most used XI, equating to 90.5 per cent.To put in to context how often he relies on the same 11 men, the Premier League average is 76 per cent (176).Manuel Pellegrini has used only three more players but his most often used starting XI have occupied just 71 per cent (164) of possible starts.The squad rotation system is shown with the average number of changes made to the teamsheet from game to game 3.4, double Mourinho's 1.7."

If I was in charge, I'd be following Mourinhos 'keep picking your best players in the league' policy (ie. always Zaba and Clichy not Sagna and Kolorov). How about you?

[JacknDanny]

Really??

That surprises me. I used to watch, in frustration, from Platt Lane stand. He was a lazy primadonna in my opinion.

Would not have got near todays team.

Bony, I believe is an excellent buy. Only 26. An upgrade on Dzeko. Great move by us.

...what were you doing in the Platt Lane stand (wooden benches still?) back then?

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

I started off in Platt Lane with my dad and brother but at the front, until I was about 16. Aaaah memories. I'll never forget the final match at Maine Road. Very emotional that was.

Was that in the 50's, mate?

[Chicog]

28mill for a second choice striker.

Sickening yes.....jealous much?

Hell yeah!

"Man City have now spent an incredible £282.4m on strikers since 2009:

Robinho £32.5m

Jo £18m

Adebayor £25m

Tevez £25.5m

Santa Cruz £17.5m

Dzeko £27m

Balotelli £24.5m

Aguero £38m

Jovetic £25.8m

Negredo £20.6m

Bony £28m"

[mrbojangles]

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

I started off in Platt Lane with my dad and brother but at the front, until I was about 16. Aaaah memories. I'll never forget the final match at Maine Road. Very emotional that was.

Was that in the 50's, mate?

Oy, I'm younger than you..............aren't I

[jellydog]

28mill for a second choice striker.

Sickening yes.....jealous much?

Hell yeah!

"Man City have now spent an incredible £282.4m on strikers since 2009:

Robinho £32.5m

Jo £18m

Adebayor £25m

Tevez £25.5m

Santa Cruz £17.5m

Dzeko £27m

Balotelli £24.5m

Aguero £38m

Jovetic £25.8m

Negredo £20.6m

Bony £28m"

A handful, or one less, worth a damn. Jo might have been worth a bag of pistachios.

[JacknDanny]

They were wooden benches. But I wasnt in the maroon ones at the front. I was in M something, the green ones at the back, high up directly behind the goal. Great view!!! I had a season ticket for years through the 70s.

I started off in Platt Lane with my dad and brother but at the front, until I was about 16. Aaaah memories. I'll never forget the final match at Maine Road. Very emotional that was.

Was that in the 50's, mate?

Oy, I'm younger than you..............aren't I

[jellydog]

Looks like Vincent will be available Sunday and nice to have him back. Let's keep our fingers crossed that he and Aguero can stay fit and in form from here until the end of the season. That's probably alot to ask but what the hey.

[carmine]

City v Alexis Sanchez on sunday! Should be a cracker....

[Bredbury Blue]

City v Alexis Sanchez on sunday! Should be a cracker....

Actually the recent nonsense in the media (and on here I think) that City are a one-man team (until we proved we can cope quite well without him) would have you believe it's Aguero vs Arsenal this weekend.

[carmine]

City v Alexis Sanchez on sunday! Should be a cracker....

Actually the recent nonsense in the media (and on here I think) that City are a one-man team (until we proved we can cope quite well without him) would have you believe it's Aguero vs Arsenal this weekend.

Not quite the same. City have had Yaya and Silva pulling the strings don't forget. Arsenal on the other hand have looked very flawed but Sanchez's stats, in every facet of the game have been quite unbelievable. He's quite a talent. Goals , runs, tackles and interceptions, quite amazing what he puts in.

I would sense that little extra pressure for tonights game after that Chelsea result.

[Bredbury Blue]

City v Alexis Sanchez on sunday! Should be a cracker....

Actually the recent nonsense in the media (and on here I think) that City are a one-man team (until we proved we can cope quite well without him) would have you believe it's Aguero vs Arsenal this weekend.

Not quite the same. City have had Yaya and Silva pulling the strings don't forget. Arsenal on the other hand have looked very flawed but Sanchez's stats, in every facet of the game have been quite unbelievable. He's quite a talent. Goals , runs, tackles and interceptions, quite amazing what he puts in.

I would sense that little extra pressure for tonights game after that Chelsea result.

My point was City isn't a one-man team, and I would disagree that Arsenal are a oneman team. Don't agree Yaya has been pulling the strings this season, in fact until recently he's been poor, a bit of a passenger. There's only one player at City who pulls our syrings and that's Merlin; without him we're clueless (probably like Arsenal without Sanchez)..

I don't think Chelsea moving 5 points clear adds any more pressure than any other game this season; we've been playing catchup all season with the threat of dropping further behind in virtually every game.

[Bredbury Blue]

Earlier this season City fans on here stated, MrBJ having to do it more than once I can remember, that we'd rather win the Premier than Champions League. Seem from Pelle's comment that our management and fans concur:

I personally feel the Premier League is more important than the Champions League, and I think a lot of fans feel that way too, Pellegrini said. It is a more satisfying prize to win because you have to be good all year round.Luck plays more of a part in the Champions League, especially in the knockout stages. You can win it if you hit form at the right time, though of course you need to be a good team to get that far in the first place. But though I would never put the domestic league secondary to the Champions League it is clear this club must improve in Europe. It is what all the important teams must do every year, one step more that we must take, and I hope we can achieve success in the Champions League soon. I think we have a stronger squad this year than last. We can keep improving.