Manchester City

[alfieconn]

Just had Manuel on the phone from the changing room. He said he's been reading the nonsense on TV from Alfie recently that City have no Academy players, and that was behind his decision to play EIGHT of them today.

Where have i said that you have no academy players ?

[alfieconn]

Enjoyed that! Well done the babes (and 5 old pros). They did well...on the ball they look excellent. Keep your eye on manu garcia (in front of zaba)...tasty feet. Didn't hear Celinas name until 46th minute. The boy up front is bothering their back 2. Riding our luck..hard to see Chelsea not winning..but I'm impressed with our boys...like a premier vs championship fa cup game.

Think you need to calm down a bit over the youngsters BB, many players have made a few appearances for Premiership teams and are now playing further down the pyramid.

[Bredbury Blue]

^I was paraphrasing Manuel ( ;-) ), not sure which exact comment he was referring to if in fact any specific comment but more of your general mocking of City's Academy, maybe one of these comments related to our Academy:

"...Nacho hasn't come through the academy as you bought him when he was 18 Y/o but good try, of the rest of them, not one of them has made a start in the first team not even in the Easy cup, 2 havn't even come off the bench..."

"...younger players but strangely enough your club doesn't seem to rate any of them, which is a shock considering how great your academy is..."

"...To be fair, i'm a bit surprised that they are still paying big money for players as i thought the plan was that they were going to start bringing them into the first team from the academy..."

Sorry you didn't find my joke amusing ;-)

[Bredbury Blue]

Enjoyed that! Well done the babes (and 5 old pros). They did well...on the ball they look excellent. Keep your eye on manu garcia (in front of zaba)...tasty feet. Didn't hear Celinas name until 46th minute. The boy up front is bothering their back 2. Riding our luck..hard to see Chelsea not winning..but I'm impressed with our boys...like a premier vs championship fa cup game.

Think you need to calm down a bit over the youngsters BB, many players have made a few appearances for Premiership teams and are now playing further down the pyramid.

Calm down. I'm not exactly in a state of excitement as we lost, but our kids gave a good account of themselves is all I've been saying TO FELLOW CITY FANS ON HERE.

I've been following football long enough to know that most kids don't realise their potential and make it. Probably the higher the club in the echelons of football the harder it is to make it with that club or at that level. Occasionally youth teams will bring through a batch of players at one time, ManU in recent times being the most famous (City's youth cup winners of 86 - went to that, we beat ManU at Maine Road in the 2nd leg after a drwan first leg - brought through 6 kids who played regularly for our first team...Hinchcliffe, I. Brightwell, Redmond, White, Lake and Moulden), but I think over the years it's become harder to come through as a kid in England as gone are the days of competing only with your British peers, now youth football in the uk is global.

]

[petermik]

The FA spoiled what should have been the tie of the round,City,s kids did OK but your goalie looks a bit dodgy

[Bredbury Blue]

The FA spoiled what should have been the tie of the round,City,s kids did OK but your goalie looks a bit dodgy

He doesn't look dodgy, he is dodgy, and worryingly he'll no doubt play against the scousers next Sunday. He's a worry.

[Bredbury Blue]

I enjoyed the 1st half vs Chelsea but it was a very strange choice by Pellegrini (no doubt backed by our management/owners).

It’s hard to see us progressing too far in the Champions League, the League Cup Final should take preference of the 3 cup games during the week, and the Chelsea game was winnable. I would have thought therefore that we’d be best to have played a competitive team (mainly 1^st choicers but including 1 or 2 kids) against Chelsea (get past them there’s probably only Arsenal for us to worry about), take a risk of a slightly weakened side in Kiev with an eye to the Liverpool Final and hope that if it went wrong to put in right in the 2nd leg at home, and put out the best team we could muster vs Liverpool.

I think City fan Simon Hattenstone’s article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

[mrbojangles]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstone’s article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

[jellydog]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstone’s article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

Completely in accord with MrB on all counts.

Another thing is this rubbish about the young lads having their confidence harmed. Make no mistake that every one of them was ecstatic/elated that they were able to feature in the spotlight. They'll forget about the result but remember the gift of being able to play with the big boys.

[BangrakBob]

We all know Pellers put out a weakened side because he is shitting his keks about another pasting from the hand of Klopp this weekend.

Edited February 23, 2016 by BangrakBob

[mrbojangles]

We all know Pellers put out a weakened side because he is shitting his keks about another pasting from the hand of Klopp this weekend.

Yeah that as well

[mrbojangles]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstone’s article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

Completely in accord with MrB on all counts.

Another thing is this rubbish about the young lads having their confidence harmed. Make no mistake that every one of them was ecstatic/elated that they were able to feature in the spotlight. They'll forget about the result but remember the gift of being able to play with the big boys.

Agree jelly. Those young lads looked nowhere near devastated after the match. They were on the telly in front of millions of viewers, in the main they did themselves proud and gained enormous experience.

[jellydog]

We all know Pellers put out a weakened side because he is shitting his keks about another pasting from the hand of Klopp this weekend.

Yeah that as well

For a happy-go-lucky guy Klopp can get a bit....exercised can't he ? Jekyll and Hyde ! Great photo BTW.

[BangrakBob]

We all know Pellers put out a weakened side because he is shitting his keks about another pasting from the hand of Klopp this weekend.

Yeah that as well

For a happy-go-lucky guy Klopp can get a bit....exercised can't he ? Jekyll and Hyde ! Great photo BTW.

For some reason he reminds me of Colonel Klink. Whenever i see these types of shots of his contorted face I find myself imagining him saying;

"Hogaaaannn!!"

[alfieconn]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstone’s article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

Must be running out of excuses soon, first it was injuries, then it was bad refereeing, now it's the FA'S fault

[Bredbury Blue]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstones article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

Must be running out of excuses soon, first it was injuries, then it was bad refereeing, now it's the FA'S fault

Personally I think Pellegrini getting upset with the BBC/FA/local police making us play on a Sunday and not on a Saturday is a red-herring. I think he realised with only 13 over-21 year old pros available it's a tough ask to try to beat Chelsea, Kiev and Liverpool over a one week period so he's used the Sunday FA Cup gripe to his advantage.

[Bredbury Blue]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstones article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

1. While Pellegrini did announce he was going to play kids vs Chelsea, the point is why rollover in that game; see my point above about why not play a weakened team in the middle game of the three games, the only two-legged game, and the competition we have the least chance of winning.

2.

3. True; what ever Pellegrini does over the 3 games is a gamble. Sod's law now though is he protected the players Sunday for Wednesday and a bunch of them get injured in kiev.

4.

I also don't think it will do the kids any harm being on the end of a hammering from the current Premier League Champions.

Still think it unforgiveable though of Pellegrini (and our management and owners who would have sanctioned Pelles bellyup move) to play SUCH a weakened and inexperienced team and give chelsea such a huge advantage. Before the game on here we were guessing the starting 11 and any of those teams would have been stronger. Get past Chelsea and the FA Cup final was in our sights, can the same be said about Kiev and the CL Final...don't think so.

[mrbojangles]

Totally agree that Pelle should have given them debuts earlier in the season, this could be embarrassing for the young uns.

However, I do think the FA left Pelle with very little choice with the options he has available. CL in the week, League Cup final next week and then Liverpool in the League. This round of the FA Cup would be my lowest priority also if my hand was forced.

The funny thing is, the FA moved it for the TV and now all the TV viewers will see is our academy Vs Chelsea. I sort of like it really.

Re-posted for the benefit of a certain member who either doesn't read previous posts or has a selective short term memory loss.

[mrbojangles]

I think City fan Simon Hattenstones article says it all:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/22/manchester-city-fa-cup-team-selection-chelsea

I disagree with Simon

1) Unless he has been hiding under a rock for the last couple of weeks, we all knew that Pelle was putting out a young side and effectively putting the FA Cup at the bottom of his priorities.

2) Simon said City disrespected the FA Cup but didn't mention anything about the FA not supporting English clubs representing the Prem in the CL.

3) If Pelle had played a stronger squad and one or more key players got injured, he would have blamed Pelle for picking them ahead of an important week.

4) He hasn't taken into account the fact that the remaining FA Cup ties are played on a weekend, meaning rescheduling league fixtures and thus putting even more fixture congestion on the remaining Prem games.

Sorry Simon, some things have to give and I think the FA Cup was the right one to be sacrificed

1. While Pellegrini did announce he was going to play kids vs Chelsea, the point is why rollover in that game; see my point above about why not play a weakened team in the middle game of the three games, the only two-legged game, and the competition we have the least chance of winning.

2.

3. True; what ever Pellegrini does over the 3 games is a gamble. Sod's law now though is he protected the players Sunday for Wednesday and a bunch of them get injured in kiev.

4.

I also don't think it will do the kids any harm being on the end of a hammering from the current Premier League Champions.

Still think it unforgiveable though of Pellegrini (and our management and owners who would have sanctioned Pelles bellyup move) to play SUCH a weakened and inexperienced team and give chelsea such a huge advantage. Before the game on here we were guessing the starting 11 and any of those teams would have been stronger. Get past Chelsea and the FA Cup final was in our sights, can the same be said about Kiev and the CL Final...don't think so.

What senior players would you have risked the other night BB?

[Bredbury Blue]

^Pregame I posted "....Of the 11 only 9 or 10 players will start (Wright will be in his usual matchday position), so it looks like 2 kids to start, possibly 3 (I can see Clichy being benched as cover for Zaba and Kolorov midweek as Sagna has just started his recovery), so being bold I'll GUESS he doesn't start Clichy, he plays Angelino at LB with Kolorov in front, sure he'll play Celina, and one other, maybe debut for Barker as we'll need width (or one of the the Garcia's though I disagree with the mirror and i think Sterling might start and partner Nacho)". So my starting 11 was:

Caballero

Zaba, Otamendi, Demichellis, Angelino

Celina, Nando, Dinho, Kolorov

Nacho & Sterling.

Jack's pre-game starting 11 was even stronger:

Caballero,

Zabaleta, Demichelis, Otamendi, Clichy

Sterling, Fernandhino, Fernando, Celina.

Aguero, Nacho.

.

[mrbojangles]

Sorry BB, that line up (although a tad stronger) wouldn't have beaten that strong Chelsea side and neither would Jack's. If we wanted to win that game, then we should have played our best 11 of the players available and risked (hoped) nobody got injured. To go at it half hearted by playing some youngsters and the rest made up of first choice just puts both the FA Cup and CL games at risk.

Pelle placed his stake in the ground and showed us what he and the owners priorities are, we now better win tomorrow.

[Bredbury Blue]

City Slickers' is on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday February 28, after the Capital One Cup Final, and available On Demand now.

The story of the remarkable transformation of Manchester City since 2008 is told in a new Sky Sports Originals documentary by the three players who've been there since the beginning.Following the news that Pep Guardiola is set to start his new job at the Etihad Stadium on July 1, City Slickers takes a look at the remarkable journey the club has been on in the past eight years since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over.

[BangrakBob]

City Slickers' is on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday February 28, after the Capital One Cup Final, and available On Demand now.

The story of the remarkable transformation of Manchester City since 2008 is told in a new Sky Sports Originals documentary by the three players who've been there since the beginning.Following the news that Pep Guardiola is set to start his new job at the Etihad Stadium on July 1, City Slickers takes a look at the remarkable journey the club has been on in the past eight years since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over.

It's hardly remarkable though is it, remarkable would be doing it on a budget.

[Bredbury Blue]

City Slickers' is on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday February 28, after the Capital One Cup Final, and available On Demand now.

The story of the remarkable transformation of Manchester City since 2008 is told in a new Sky Sports Originals documentary by the three players who've been there since the beginning.Following the news that Pep Guardiola is set to start his new job at the Etihad Stadium on July 1, City Slickers takes a look at the remarkable journey the club has been on in the past eight years since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over.

It's hardly remarkable though is it, remarkable would be doing it on a budget.

Yawn...

[petermik]

Denis (the king) Laws birthday today 76 years young

[Bredbury Blue]

^One of the few players who played for City and United and is loved not loathed by both blue and reds. First time round for us my oldn man says he was brilliant. 2nd time round for us I saw him a lot as I was going home and away, and though I don't remember him being that great, we have that golden memory of THE GREATEST BACKHEEL IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL TM. It's often reported that THE GREATEST BACKHEEL IN THE HISTORY OF FOOTBALL TM was his last kick in football but in fact he played in the following preseason Texaco Cup games away at Blackpool, away at Sheffield United and home against Oldham (I went to all 3 games)

Happy Birthday Denis!.

[Bredbury Blue]

Interesting article (defending Pellegrini)

Manchester United and FA damaged the Cup more than Pellegrini ever did

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/24/manchester-united-fa-cup-pellegrini-manchester-city-chelsea-everton

[nev]

City Slickers' is on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday February 28, after the Capital One Cup Final, and available On Demand now.

The story of the remarkable transformation of Manchester City since 2008 is told in a new Sky Sports Originals documentary by the three players who've been there since the beginning.Following the news that Pep Guardiola is set to start his new job at the Etihad Stadium on July 1, City Slickers takes a look at the remarkable journey the club has been on in the past eight years since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over.

It's hardly remarkable though is it, remarkable would be doing it on a budget.

Agree Bob, I would say Leicester winning the league would be classed as remarkable, not a team bankrolled by Arab billionaire's.

[nev]

Interesting article (defending Pellegrini)

Manchester United and FA damaged the Cup more than Pellegrini ever did

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/feb/24/manchester-united-fa-cup-pellegrini-manchester-city-chelsea-everton

What utter rubbish, I got to rested Rooney, he was injured so only Carrick and Ronaldo rested, Ronaldo needed a rest at that stage, the writer gas never written anything possitve about united he hates us, if he had done some research he would have found out Rooney was injured, so how is resting 2 players disrespecting the Fa cup.

[Bredbury Blue]

City Slickers' is on Sky Sports 1 this Sunday February 28, after the Capital One Cup Final, and available On Demand now.

The story of the remarkable transformation of Manchester City since 2008 is told in a new Sky Sports Originals documentary by the three players who've been there since the beginning.Following the news that Pep Guardiola is set to start his new job at the Etihad Stadium on July 1, City Slickers takes a look at the remarkable journey the club has been on in the past eight years since the Abu Dhabi United Group took over.

It's hardly remarkable though is it, remarkable would be doing it on a budget.

Agree Bob, I would say Leicester winning the league would be classed as remarkable, not a team bankrolled by Arab billionaire's.

Apparently the programme is not about this season's Premier, but about City since 2008.