Manchester City

[Bredbury Blue]

The bench (Kompany Danilo Otamendi Delph and kids Foden and Diaz) was looking a bit thin in midfield / forward positions the other night, mind you KdB Bernardo Gundogan Jesus (and Mendy) were out. Can see us buying Lyons big midfielder in the summer...reminded me of a young Yaya.

[jellydog]

Aguero out tonight with a knock.

[mrbojangles]

Can understand rotation with the amount of games about to come but just a tad too much tweaking IMO. Lost a lot of fluidity but happy with the 3 points 

[Bredbury Blue]

Weren't that good today. Bournemouth played us well. Looked like being a bad day until Sterling decided to make things happen. We looked more ccomfortable and balanced when Merlin came on. Laporte continues to impress. Otamendi gave me no confidence. Think I'd like to see Zinchenko given a game in midfield (he's very comfortable on the ball) ahead of Gundogan who blows hot and cold. Jesus needs a confidence boost - we were better when he went off and we had no central forward. I was very worried for a 15 minute period but we pulled it around again.

[jellydog]

10 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

Can understand rotation with the amount of games about to come but just a tad too much tweaking IMO. Lost a lot of fluidity but happy with the 3 points 

Certainly the weakest eleven fielded by Pep in the EPL this season. All's well that ends well, but a bit nervy at times. Wonderful Sterling and Sane.

[mrbojangles]

7 minutes ago, jellydog said:

Certainly the weakest eleven fielded by Pep in the EPL this season. All's well that ends well, but a bit nervy at times. Wonderful Sterling and Sane.

Adds a bit of spice cos according to everyone on here we must be bored watching 4 and 5 nils ????

[Bredbury Blue]

We showed again when we play without Merlin we're nowhere near as good a team. He's 33 in January. Fernandinho will be 34 in May. That's a worry.

[smokie36]

I had 4-1 you b@*****s.

[jellydog]

Scrambling bookies feverishly recalculating the odds of Mourinho getting sacked sooner than later.

 

Oops...Lukaku.

 

Oops...looks like I cursed it.

[carmine]

8 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Adds a bit of spice cos according to everyone on here we must be bored watching 4 and 5 nils ????

Gosh, when i saw the two team line ups i knew it would be a close one!!!!????

 

Well funnily enough i did have a chuckle when the mighty Bournmouth scored because it meant i could try and enjoy a pleasant fantasy that it was actually a competitive match i was watching.  Alas, it wasn't long before reality bit and the knowledge it was always a foregone conclusion came back and bit me on the ar*e.

[alfieconn]

9 hours ago, jellydog said:

Certainly the weakest eleven fielded by Pep in the EPL this season. All's well that ends well, but a bit nervy at times. Wonderful Sterling and Sane.

I take it a few academy players must have played then ?

[mrbojangles]

50 minutes ago, carmine said:

Alas, it wasn't long before reality bit and the knowledge it was always a foregone conclusion came back and bit me on the ar*e.

Hope you had a tetanus 

[carmine]

Well it looks like were going to get some sort of closure to the financial doping allegations.  Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA president say they have a "concrete case" against City.  City, on the other hand claim its clearly an attempt to damage the clubs reputation.  Some kind of an announcement expected soon.

[mrbojangles]

 

Well it looks like were going to get some sort of closure to the financial doping allegations. 

Never mind looking for a closure. How's about looking for an opening of your stadium

[carmine]

 

Never mind looking for a closure. How's about looking for an opening of your stadium

Don't know about that.  Last i heard we were knocking the sparks who were supposed to be on 365 quid a day.  Looks like we'll continue to have to play all our fixtures away from home.  But do we complain? Nah, we just get on with it.

 

I'm also well aware you won't be accepting the verdict at all if it goes against City with the ultimate denial coming in the form of "we don't care"  True?

 

[mrbojangles]

4 minutes ago, carmine said:

Looks like we'll continue to have to play all our fixtures away from home.  But do we complain? Nah, we just get on with it.

What do you have to complain about?

[mrbojangles]

12 minutes ago, carmine said:

I'm also well aware you won't be accepting the verdict at all if it goes against City with the ultimate denial coming in the form of "we don't care"  True?

I'll accept whatever verdict comes out. Will you? And if we are guilty and get a ban, so be it. Although I admit I won't lose any sleep over it.

[carmine]

9 minutes ago, mrbojangles said:

What do you have to complain about?

38 away games instead of 19.  Puts us at a slight disadvantage you know.....rather like cheating puts others at a much greater advantage.  Difference is, in football cheating clubs prosper and get handed lightweight bans they can live with whilst being able to retain their silverware that was won wrongfully.  Get my drift.  But anyway, back to the far more important subject of our stadium opening date

 

So anyway, back to the far more important issue, potential UEFA sanctions for cheating......will you accept them if found guilty or are you all going to continue on in this denial vacuum?

[champers]

3 hours ago, carmine said:

Well it looks like were going to get some sort of closure to the financial doping allegations.  Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA president say they have a "concrete case" against City.  City, on the other hand claim its clearly an attempt to damage the clubs reputation.  Some kind of an announcement expected soon.

Nearly every back page in the UK this morning has the story that City will be expelled from Champs League. 

How long should any ban last? Will Pep decide to call it a day? Will a player exodus begin? Will the owners sell up?

Troubling times seem to be on their way.

[carmine]

6 minutes ago, champers said:

Nearly every back page in the UK this morning has the story that City will be expelled from Champs League. 

How long should any ban last? Will Pep decide to call it a day? Will a player exodus begin? Will the owners sell up?

Troubling times seem to be on their way.

Well seriously now, you tell me, if the case is concrete as they are saying it is why should City (and PSG) be allowed to keep their silverware and their titles?  If guilty they have won off the back of cheating the system to gain an unfair advantage over everyone else.  In other sports it all had to be handed back, titles awarded to those that finished runner up....so why is football different?  All they are doing is handing down too weaker sanction and proving that cheats do prosper.  Or have i missed something?  Or has the rest of sport missed something?

 

I can't believe such a "minor situation" as this has taken precedent over Tottenham's stadium opening date!!

[jellydog]

Isn't there a special thread for all this tedious FFP and stadium horseshit ?

[carmine]

8 minutes ago, jellydog said:

Isn't there a special thread for all this tedious FFP and stadium horseshit ?

I did look for it but couldn't find it.  If its there it needs a bump.

[Bredbury Blue]

1 hour ago, carmine said:

38 away games instead of 19.  Puts us at a slight disadvantage you know....

I repeat, What do you have to complain about? Spurs and Spurs alone made you play away from White Hart Lane, IT WAS YOUR CHOICE!

 

No doubt when WHL ever opens you'll  be whinging it's a disadvantage having to play a new stadium, on new grass, etc.

[Bredbury Blue]

58 minutes ago, carmine said:

Well seriously now, you tell me, if the case is concrete as they are saying it is why should City (and PSG) be allowed to keep their silverware and their titles? 

Because:

1. You don't seem to be aware that the accussations leveled at City are in the European Champions League, and not the Domestic competitions. Doh!

2. City haven't been found guilty of the alleged Spiegel charges. 

[Bredbury Blue]

1 hour ago, champers said:

Nearly every back page in the UK this morning has the story that City will be expelled from Champs League. 

How long should any ban last? Will Pep decide to call it a day? Will a player exodus begin? Will the owners sell up?

Troubling times seem to be on their way.

I doubt all of that. When other top 6 teams didn't qualify for the CL for a season did the wheels fall off. Answer, nah!

[alfieconn]

40 minutes ago, jellydog said:

Isn't there a special thread for all this tedious FFP and stadium horseshit ?

There is another thread but that is for anything that is non football related where as this subject is obviously related to football !

[RickG16]

It doesn't take a German newspaper investigation to know this has been going on.

 

Etihad, the Sheikh, same same.... they are all basically family / friends. So it's not too hard to offer a sponsorship deal which is way over the market rate, and the even things up somewhere along the line, probably through a business deal in the UAE which we have no way of knowing about. 

 

TBH though, 68M doesn't seem that much for a sponsorship deal. 

[Bredbury Blue]

1 hour ago, mrbojangles said:

I'll accept whatever verdict comes out. Will you? And if we are guilty and get a ban, so be it. Although I admit I won't lose any sleep over it.

I'll also accept whatever verdict comes out IF the club accepts it (with the initial sanctions in May 2014 the club didnot accept them, were contemplating making a legal challenge but in the end struck a deal). Will you(Carmine / 3minus2 / Ronnie and you others who have hung us before we have been tried)? And if we are guilty and get a ban, so be it. Although I admit I won't lose any sleep over it.

[carmine]

Still talking to yourself mate?

[mrbojangles]

1 hour ago, carmine said:

38 away games instead of 19.  Puts us at a slight disadvantage you know.....

Playing at home is where your home fans are. Should you ever get to a final you have an advantage over every other team of knowing the Wembley turf better than anyone else but do you hear us complain about that?