^Grandparents are Basque which is good enough for Bilbao.

Rumours rife today that a deal has been agreed matching his £57m release clause (new club record) and he is having a medical at City around Tuesday. I know nothing about how good he is but I'm quite excited about this. No surprise that he is a CB who plays out from the back.

 

Nice little article (3  years ago) on his view as a central defender in a passing system. Can see why Pep wanted him last year:-

 

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/performance/training/aymeric-laporte-art-being-modern-defender

 

30 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

Rumours rife today that a deal has been agreed matching his £57m release clause (new club record) and he is having a medical at City around Tuesday. I know nothing about how good he is but I'm quite excited about this. No surprise that he is a CB who plays out from the back.

 

Nice little article (3  years ago) on his view as a central defender in a passing system. Can see why Pep wanted him last year:-

 

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/performance/training/aymeric-laporte-art-being-modern-defender

 

Smart words from a 20 year old.

32 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

Rumours rife today that a deal has been agreed matching his £57m release clause (new club record) and he is having a medical at City around Tuesday. I know nothing about how good he is but I'm quite excited about this. No surprise that he is a CB who plays out from the back.

 

Nice little article (3  years ago) on his view as a central defender in a passing system. Can see why Pep wanted him last year:-

 

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/performance/training/aymeric-laporte-art-being-modern-defender

 

Wow, this would mean that City have spent more on their defense than most African nations spend on their entire annual defense budget!!  In fairness if a quadruple can be achieved then its this quality of back up that will be needed because i can't see a normal squad managing to cope.

25 minutes ago, carmine said:

Wow, this would mean that City have spent more on their defense than most African nations spend on their entire annual defense budget!!  In fairness if a quadruple can be achieved then its this quality of back up that will be needed because i can't see a normal squad managing to cope.

It's where we needed someone more than anywhere else. I doubt very much he will come just to use as a back up. This will be to replace Vinny.

2 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

It's where we needed someone more than anywhere else. I doubt very much he will come just to use as a back up. This will be to replace Vinny.

i agree.  My point is that this is the type of quality throughout a squad that i think is needed to achieve a potential quadruple,  and whilst they won't like to hear it, football has moved on from the days of United's treble.

^"City have spent more on their defense than most African nations spend on their entire annual defense budget!!"

Wow shocker..Spurs fan going on about money again. It's always Spurs fans isn't it..and always on here..NEVER on the ManU or Chelsea or Liverpool or Arsenal pages..and this from a club with the 11th highest revenue IN THE WORLD

2016-17 revenue in £m
1) Manchester United 581.2
2) Real Madrid 579.7
3) Barcelona 557.1
4) Bayern Munich 505.1
5) Manchester City 453.5
6) Arsenal 419
7) PSG 417.8
8) Chelsea 367.8
9) Liverpool 364.5
10) Juventus 348.6
11) Tottenham 305.6

*Spurs revenue not much less than chelsea and Liverpool.


*Not a huge gap between Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs.

Spurs biggest problem, I assume, currently, is financing the stadium build which means the decent revenue earned can't be spent on the team.

4 hours ago, carmine said:

i agree.  My point is that this is the type of quality throughout a squad that i think is needed to achieve a potential quadruple,  and whilst they won't like to hear it, football has moved on from the days of United's treble.

Moving on will be the key word for many thfc players and also coaching staff next season and I don't see many just moving to a new stadium.

2 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

^"City have spent more on their defense than most African nations spend on their entire annual defense budget!!"

Wow shocker..Spurs fan going on about money again. It's always Spurs fans isn't it..and always on here..NEVER on the ManU or Chelsea or Liverpool or Arsenal pages..and this from a club with the 11th highest revenue IN THE WORLD

2016-17 revenue in £m
1) Manchester United 581.2
2) Real Madrid 579.7
3) Barcelona 557.1
4) Bayern Munich 505.1
5) Manchester City 453.5
6) Arsenal 419
7) PSG 417.8
8) Chelsea 367.8
9) Liverpool 364.5
10) Juventus 348.6
11) Tottenham 305.6

*Spurs revenue not much less than chelsea and Liverpool.


*Not a huge gap between Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs.

Spurs biggest problem, I assume, currently, is financing the stadium build which means the decent revenue earned can't be spent on the team.
 

 

you sound really silly with this stuff man. just stop. 

Your comment means nothing. Maybe you'd like to explain.

My comment meant it's irritating reading Spurs moans about money (actually it's always about City and money, never another club).

Cardiff vs City live on thai ch 7 at 10.45pm (I think the chelsea game is being shown at 1am).

Pep Guardiola wants FA Cup replays scrapped, arguing they add too many extra games to an already-congested schedule...The Football Association scrapped replays for the final in 1998, for the semi-finals in 1999, and for the quarter-finals at the start of last season...“I would like the Carabao Cup (English League Cup) semi-final to be one game (rather than over two legs), and I would like the FA Cup ties to be one game and no replays, like I think all the managers do. But that is not going to happen. That is not going to change."

I'm a little bit on the fence here. I can fully understand the top clubs don't want the possibility of additional games, but come on, Newport and others deserve a replay, another chance of a scalp and another cashday. Overall I'd leave it as it is now.

Edited January 28, 20188 yr by Bredbury Blue

1 hour ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Cardiff vs City live on thai ch 7 at 10.45pm (I think the chelsea game is being shown at 1am).

Chelsea is 8.30 kick-off; the starter before the main course. Will the great tactical mastermind prevail, or will Citeh win?

Confirmation of the games being shown on thai ch7 tonight. ..

 

 

City XI | Bravo, Walker, Danilo, Kompany (C), Otamendi, Fernandinho, Bernardo, Gündogan, De Bruyne, Sané, Sterling
Subs | Ederson, Stones, Agüero, Mangala, Adarabioyo, Zinchenko, Diaz

Stones deservedly rested (dropped). Curious selection though by Pep with 2 CBs playing and THREE CBs on the bench, and no Yaya (pensioned off). Attacking subs in Kun and youngsters Zinchenko and Diaz (hoping he gets on).

For your consideration.

 

 

8 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Confirmation of the games being shown on thai ch7 tonight. ..

 

 

Must be a rerun, BB. I watched the match on Skynet. Chelsea never got out of 2nd gear. Newcastle, Shelvey apart, couldn't be bothered. 3-0.

8 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

Confirmation of the games being shown on thai ch7 tonight. ..

 

 

Did you watch the Liverpool match at twenty past six?

1 hour ago, jellydog said:

For your consideration.

 

 

Bladdy horrible that was. He also took Diaz out later on. There is no room in football for that hooligan

5 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Bladdy horrible that was. He also took Diaz out later on. There is no room in football for that hooligan

 

Hope he meets De Bruyne soon!

Being reported Sane could be out for a month with a twisted ankle but he's lucky it wasn't a legbreak. Bennett got a yellow but should have seen red for that just before halftime. He got a 2nd yellow late on for scything Diaz down.

We've witnessed some wicked 'tackles' on City players this season with, off top of my head, Deli Alli on KdB, Newcastle llayer (?) away on Gundogan and now Bennett on Sane being a fraction away from a legbreak!

One of the worst "tackles" you'll ever see, a proper leg breaker and well done to Pep Guardiola for not just bringing the matter to the fore but in the manner he did it.  As in, not whining a la Arsene Whinger about how hard done by his team is but straight to the point about officials protecting "all" players from that type of challenge.  Which btw deserved a straight red.

We were decent 1st half but did just enough 2nd half.

KdB fooled everybody in the wall including Otamendi and Fernandinho by passing the freekick under the wall (remind me who was the other team he also scored that way?).

Excellent 2nd goal: brilliant cross from Banana and stooping header by Sterling.

Very harsh Banana having his goal disallowed for Sane being offside (interference with goalies view). Marginal and harsh if sane was offside at all, view from behind showed goalie had no trouble seeing the ball all the way, but the big question is how could the linesman/ref come to that decision (linesman might see sane offside but can't see interference from the touchline / ref can't see sane offside and debatable if he could see interference).

 

Edited January 29, 20188 yr by Bredbury Blue

^"(remind me who was the other team he also scored that way?)."

Bournemouth last season.

Very pleased to see Banana Silva's excellent recent displays (see he's played in more games than anybody). Of our summer signings he was the one I was most looking forward to but he was poor in most games, forever slowing down attacks. Of late he's finally come good and looks a player again and an equal of the others.

Also good to see Gundogan doing really well. Can't be easy being such a good player but always 2nd choice to merlin and kdb.

Bravo on the other hand remains a worry. Last night he nearly fumbled a simple shot in to his chest over the line.

Pep and the management have bought well these past 2 seasons but Bravo is a miss and I'm still 50/50 on Danilo.

Good to see Pep has now included our youth players in Tosin Adarabioyo, Zinchenko, Foden (injured) and Díaz as regular squad/team players and has given minutes to Tom Dele-Bashiru and Lukas Nmecha. I fully expect Díaz, Foden and Zinchenko to make it at City or be sold on at a nice profit. Foden gets the most press but Díaz is the one I think could go all the way.

8 hours ago, Bredbury Blue said:

^"(remind me who was the other team he also scored that way?)."

Bournemouth last season.

Ronaldo did it a couple of times for Man. Utd.

Following the baloney that has been said about our "bottomless money pit" and the refusal to listen what we have been saying for ages. Today there is an interesting article from skysports:-

 

Pep Guardiola says he has been restrained by Manchester City's budget

 

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City are not always able to pay high transfer fees and meet player's wage demands as the club is operating within a defined budget.

 

Alexis Sanchez, who made his Manchester United debut on Friday, looked likely to join City before they pulled out due to the cost of the deal, leaving United to swoop in under their rivals' noses.

 

Sky Sports News understands Sanchez is earning more than £350,000 per week at Old Trafford, and City were unwilling to agree to demands that would have made him the highest paid player in their squad.

 

Guardiola claims City cannot afford 22 'top' players as the Premier League leaders continue to fight on four fronts.

 

He said: "When you want to handle four competitions sometimes you have to be lucky with injuries. Otherwise you need 22 top players for every position. People don't believe this, but today 22 top players is too expensive to buy, even [for] City.

 

"Their salaries we cannot pay. There are budgets for the transfers and we cannot pay. In the future, it may change but we haven't paid more than £80m-£100m for one player. We cannot pay that right now, it is the truth.

 

"That's why we need the academy to fight. Of course, we spend a lot money but it is the same money as a lot of other teams. I can assure you we are not the only team in the world that spend money."

8 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Following the baloney that has been said about our "bottomless money pit" and the refusal to listen what we have been saying for ages. Today there is an interesting article from skysports:-

 

Pep Guardiola says he has been restrained by Manchester City's budget

 

Pep Guardiola says Manchester City are not always able to pay high transfer fees and meet player's wage demands as the club is operating within a defined budget.

 

Alexis Sanchez, who made his Manchester United debut on Friday, looked likely to join City before they pulled out due to the cost of the deal, leaving United to swoop in under their rivals' noses.

 

Sky Sports News understands Sanchez is earning more than £350,000 per week at Old Trafford, and City were unwilling to agree to demands that would have made him the highest paid player in their squad.

 

Guardiola claims City cannot afford 22 'top' players as the Premier League leaders continue to fight on four fronts.

 

He said: "When you want to handle four competitions sometimes you have to be lucky with injuries. Otherwise you need 22 top players for every position. People don't believe this, but today 22 top players is too expensive to buy, even [for] City.

 

"Their salaries we cannot pay. There are budgets for the transfers and we cannot pay. In the future, it may change but we haven't paid more than £80m-£100m for one player. We cannot pay that right now, it is the truth.

 

"That's why we need the academy to fight. Of course, we spend a lot money but it is the same money as a lot of other teams. I can assure you we are not the only team in the world that spend money."

Yet theres no signs at all of restraint as rumors swirl of another 57m splashed out on a defender.

 

What planet are you guys living on?

Edited January 30, 20188 yr by carmine

"But we didn't bring in Sanchez WHO WE DIDN'T NEED."

 

Therefore its all true.

 

I'm off to watch the Teletubbies.

1 hour ago, RonniePickering22 said:

"But we didn't bring in Sanchez WHO WE DIDN'T NEED."

 

Therefore its all true.

 

I'm off to watch the Teletubbies.

Oh yes and btw, for your perusal.......Pep's Man City transfers now exceed 450m, yep thats right you heard it 450m!!!!!!!!!!..........ah yes,  the clouded bias!!!!!!!

 

enjoy the Teletubbies mate.