Manchester City

[Bredbury Blue]

Seems the kids got their maroon away shirts for Christmas earlier in the month (what was the wife thinking of giving them early), so we ended up looking for 2 home shirts. Oldest got one but Supersports didn't have the youngest's size, so he's got a Barca shirt as a fellow Messi admirer.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

[mrbojangles]

Same to you all. Hope you all have a great xmas and all the best for the New Year

[mrbojangles]

5 hours ago, jellydog said:

Crikey MrB ! I bet y'all get some looks tooling about on those ! Quite the hacienda as well !

They love em jelly. Over the years I have converted the full village into City fans. Cost me beer and whiskey mind  

[mrbojangles]

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Seems the kids got their maroon away shirts for Christmas earlier in the month (what was the wife thinking of giving them early)

Put it down to "lost in translation" bud. That's how I de-stress myself when my mrs does stuff unexplainable.

 

Current example. We ordered her bike whilst in Saudi and I had to send him the design with full colour code, stripes etc. My best paintshop artistry was at work. When he sent the picture of the bike finished I asked to her to ask him if he could reupholster the seat from beige to white and a blue pin stripe. Explained all to the wife and sent him picture of my seat. "No can do" was the answer. When he delivered her bike this morning I shown him my seat and he said " oh, I not understand what your wife wanted, I could have done that" And she wonders why I wanted to be here for every phase of our house build !!

[smokie36]

Well there we have it....even Mourinho agrees £300m isn't enough to buy the Premiership title. 

[Bredbury Blue]

Depends who you buy and who you have already and how they perform.

[jellydog]

1 hour ago, RonniePickering22 said:

Well there we have it....even Mourinho agrees £300m isn't enough to buy the Premiership title. 

I must say this Mourinho meltdown is most entertaining. He's crazy as a shithouse rat.

[carmine]

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Depends who you buy and who you have already and how they perform.

who you buy.........world class players

 

who you have already.......world class players

 

how they perform........hmmmm let me have a guess.....like world class players that they are,   by any chance?

 

ROCKET SCIENCE.  ALL IT ACTUALLY MEANS IS PEP HAS DONE A GREAT JOB WITH HIS STARS AND JOSE HAS NOT.  

[mrbojangles]

13 minutes ago, carmine said:

who you buy.........world class players

 

who you have already.......world class players

 

how they perform........hmmmm let me have a guess.....like world class players that they are,   by any chance?

 

ROCKET SCIENCE.  ALL IT ACTUALLY MEANS IS PEP HAS DONE A GREAT JOB WITH HIS STARS AND JOSE HAS NOT.  

Apart from maybe Ben Mendy, who would you say that Pep has bought who you would have classed as world class players before he bought them?

 

Ederson? Nobody had heard of him

Stones? Everybody was calling him before we bought him

Walker? We know the answer to that

Leroy Sane? He was (is) a young pup, again nobody had heard of him. Certainly wouldn't have labelled him World CLass

Gabriel Jesus? Ditto above

Danillo? Not world class and still isn't.

Bernado Silva? Only 23. Played for Portugal about 20 times but label him as World Class? Dunno if I would.

 

Yes, they have cost a fortune but clubs bump up the price for City, United, Chelsea, Barca, RM etc. The rest Pep has inherited and made them better than they were.

 

 

[Bredbury Blue]

We never really got to see Mendy defend. We know he can attack. I'd be interested to know if any of the coaching staff were already aware Delph was capable of doing a decent job there before Mendy got injured. I would honestly have let Delph leave in the summer as I couldn't see him getting a midfield position; currently (with Ederson) he's probably the most important player in the team, as if he gets injured we have to trust in Danilo and Zinchenko which worries me.

[mrbojangles]

27 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

We never really got to see Mendy defend. We know he can attack. I'd be interested to know if any of the coaching staff were already aware Delph was capable of doing a decent job there before Mendy got injured. I would honestly have let Delph leave in the summer as I couldn't see him getting a midfield position; currently (with Ederson) he's probably the most important player in the team, as if he gets injured we have to trust in Danilo and Zinchenko which worries me.

Good point about Mendy. Don't think we'll really find out this season.

 

I concur about Delph. I really thought he was on his way out. Necessity gave him a chance and he has well and truly taken it. Good on the lad and has shown true grit and fight. Total professional.

 

As for most important players. I couldn't name just one or two as they have all played their part. The good thing about this squad is that they are playing for each other.

[Bredbury Blue]

^Have you resolved how you'll watch the game tonight?

We're off to a hotel for a few days and just hope there's decent wifi in the room so the wife and i can watch on computer/ilikehd.

[mrbojangles]

I watched a couple of games yesterday over the internet, so hoping it will be fine tonight (morning)

[mrbojangles]

Not our best display but I'll happily take the 3 points

[Bredbury Blue]

Always thought Jamie Carragher was a great bloke.

Jose Mourinho sounds like a broken record - if Pep Guardiola was Man Utd manager they would win the title
JAMIE CARRAGHER

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/29/jose-mourinho-sounds-like-broken-record-pep-guardiola-man/

[mrbojangles]

10 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Jose Mourinho sounds like a broken record - if Pep Guardiola was Man Utd manager they would win the title
JAMIE CARRAGHER

He talks a lot of sense in that article.

 

A couple of snippets from the article totally backs up what we were saying the other day about us not buying "stars" and Pep improving players who were already there.

 

Quote

City's transfer policy does involve lavish spending, but some fees have often been more eye-catching than the names. Of Guardiola’s signings only Ilkay Gundogan and Benjamin Mendy – players absent with injury for much of their time in Manchester – arrived as fully-established 'stars' elsewhere.

 

City are ahead this season because Guardiola has developed players rather than expected ready-made talent to instantly deliver.

 

The financial power at City enabled Guardiola to create a team in the image of his great Barcelona side, but many of those he has improved were at the club.

 

[mrbojangles]

Looks like the young boys are looking good coming through the Academy.

 

Manchester City Under-12s win inaugural Prospects Cup in Florida

 

Manchester City might be destroying every team in their sights in the Premier League and Europe... but their Under-12s side are officially the best in the world.

City's Under-12s won the inaugural Prospects Cup in Florida - featuring 16 of the world's best sides at that age - by beating a host of other international clubs on the way to a 3-0 victory against US side Weston Soccer Club in Friday's final.

 

Lakyle Samuel - son of former Aston Villa defender Jlloyd Samuel - captains the side, which also includes Stoke City midfielder Darren Fletcher's twin sons Jack and Tyler.

 

They began the tournament with a 2-1 win over Real Madrid, before snatching a 3-3 draw with Roma and then thrashing Borussia Dortmund 4-0.

 

They even won a penalty shoot-out - in the semi-final they held their nerve to beat Brazilian side Fluminese 8-7 to reach Friday's championship game.

 

Eight American teams and eight international sides took part in the tournament - the only one of its kind for that age group - which is aiming to be the "Little League World Series" of football.

 

Boca Juniors and Chivas were among the other international teams to participate, while LA Galaxy and Orlando were among the MLS team taking part.

 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/42462240

[Bredbury Blue]

Think when we played Palace at home back in September that Woy was new (could be wrong). It was a real game of 2 halves. 1st half they were decent on the break - very quick counter attacks - and should have gone in 2 ahead at halftime but due to their poor finishing and Sane's ball juggling skills we were 1v0 up; very fortunate. Second half we whooped them..5v0. Woy has got them sorted out now so I'm expecting a real tough game (unlike vs Newcastle who surrendered until the last 10 minutes and then got amazing reports, unwarranted in my opinion. I was very disappointed in Newcastle (i have a lot of time for geordies and the north-east)).

[mrbojangles]

7 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Woy has got them sorted out now so I'm expecting a real tough game

Yeah I think it will be a tricky one also. Think they've only lost 1 in the last 6 games or so.

[jellydog]

I wonder what the latest is on Spanish Dave ? Available tonight or no ? City has done a good job of keeping what must be a family issue out of the press.

[mrbojangles]

24 minutes ago, jellydog said:

I wonder what the latest is on Spanish Dave ? Available tonight or no ? City has done a good job of keeping what must be a family issue out of the press.

Yeah they have, I think it's something to do with cancer (might be wrong but I heard his wife) and that is the reason behind his shaven head this year. Wish him and his family all the best

[jellydog]

22 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

Yeah they have, I think it's something to do with cancer (might be wrong but I heard his wife) and that is the reason behind his shaven head this year. Wish him and his family all the best

Terrible news that, and that would explain the mysterious shaved head to be sure. Also explains KDB's gesture of "21" a few weeks back.

[Bredbury Blue]

Try googling Silva to find out anything about his private life and there's virtually nothing out there on him. Has a girlfriend? Married? Has Kid(s)? I've tried and it's a blank.

[wilai]

2 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Yeah they have, I think it's something to do with cancer (might be wrong but I heard his wife) and that is the reason behind his shaven head this year. Wish him and his family all the best

Probably not available for tonight's game according to FPL 'injury' threads.... Was back in Spain a couple of days ago.There were big rumours of baby/birth issues.

[mrbojangles]

8 minutes ago, wilai said:

Not available for tonight's game according to FPL 'injury' threads....There were big rumours of baby/birth issues.

Could well be bud. All speculation at the moment. I heard he is back in Spain. Good that the press are keeping a lid on a very private matter

[Bredbury Blue]

A real struggle in the first half. Palace matching us. We look tired, lethargic and I've never seen so many misunderstandings as today. This can go either way. [Jesus looks like he's another who's buggered his knee]

[jellydog]

Worst half from City I've seen this season. Would like to see Sterling on if no improvement to add some direct play on the right.

 

Missing Spanish Dave !

[evenstevens]

10 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

 [Jesus looks like he's another who's buggered his knee]

p#ss poor work by trainers and Pepe,s decision to leave him on for approx 10 mins after initial injury to his knee area astounded me, for a world class manager,  still city 2.0 win

[Bredbury Blue]

^A player knows if he can continue on or not. Looked like Jesus opened up his injury when he had that shot.

[jellydog]

Fingers crossed KDB doesn't have a broken leg. Not good when they immobilize it.

 

A lot to be said about that game but not in the mood at present. I will say that Walker was immense on Zaha. Imagine what Zaha would have done to last year's fullbacks.

 

*Just saw that KDB was walking with trainers. Hopefully a nasty bruise ?