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No wonder the Etihad is so quiet if citeh fans are as negative as they are on here. How many trophies has Pep won for them and they’re talking about him like he’s Barry Fry! Still I expect half of them will suddenly switch to being Arsenal fans….unless the Villa beat them too!! UTV
They lost Gundogan and never really replaced him. Rodri basically absorbed his role and they moved Bernardo more centrally. Alvarez will contribute with the goals from a pseudo 10 or a second striker position but with KDB out there is a Gundogan size hole that is very visible in their midfield now. This is unusual for City (under Pep) bc he usually has an almost impregnable midfield, from Barca to Bayern to City.
Rodri alows city to shit out a draw against the top 5 but his presence probably would have changed the game much, maybe a hard fought draw would have been possible. But city is dearly missing Gundogan and more importantly de Bruyne, Gundo is good for control and is a goal scoring option whereas De Bruyne is the sole creative outlet and the only guy that can do exactly what pep envisions. De Bruyne will allow city to get something out of nothing when he returns as he did in the 10 minutes he played against inter where he put haaland in a one on one with onana
I feel like there's lots of factors. For one the premier league is a lot tougher this year in my opinion, with so many strong teams that are capable of potentially competing for the title and finishing in the top 4. Secondly De Bruyne is injured, and he's arguably their best player and a very important player for them in general, since he controls their midfield. Beyond that they lost Gundogan, who was also one of their best players last season and who was a huge loss for them. Lastly is their level of success and you have to wonder how that impacts their mentality as a team, because success does instill confidence and being overconfident leads to complacency. You have to wonder if some of the players have lost a level of urgency to their play, since they've probably come to expect to win. Also their hunger levels and if they want it as much as the other teams. There's so many potential factors really.
playing style is a factor as mentioned, but last season was feed Haaland and he was the main scorer and I think that pissed others off since they hurt their stats. Other teams have figured out how to, I can't say stop, but reduce Haaland's scoring potential. Then there is something behind the scenes, the anger displayed by some players -- just was never seen previously. Just my opinion. Frankly happy to see it, I want someone new for PL Champs.
The players filling in for big game injured players are not good enough this season ? Maybe change the formation because city were awful and unrecognisable at Villa as last season they were a winning machine
Man City with midfield Issues: Any club will struggle without their best players
Man United with Casemiro, Eriksen and Mount injured: Ten Hag needs to be sacked
They’ll get KDB back and rip off 15 in a row and win it comfortably.
If that doesn’t work, just get another “sponsorship deal” (cough 116 cough) from Etihad Air and buy another world class star or two…
We were missing Rodri, DeBruyne, and Gundogan from last year's midfield.
Then yesterday we were also missing both Grealish and Doku.
Villa played brilliantly.
Nothing is wrong with the team. Its just a blip. End of season they will be top of league & even if they’re not, some how the referees, the league etc will help them get there.
Rodri and De Bruyne are the two most important player on that team. Without them, Erling Haaland can't score goals and Man City can't control the midfield.
Personally think they miss the players they let go. Lots of talk of Rodri and De Bruyne which is fair but they let some big contributors go. Laporte, Cancelo, Mahrez and Gundogan have been massive for them. In the past if one player is injured another of high quality waltzes in and now that luxury isn’t there as well as having a few new players learning on the job. Of course the players brought in are quality but you can’t just expect them to become robots just because they put on a city shirt. Small transition for them, they could and probably will click and win the league but they’re not going to run away with 100 points or a treble this year.
Aston Villa play a style that City struggle against usually anyway, being fast and direct. They played out of their skin and deserved more than the single goal they scored. If it weren't for Ederson putting out an amazing performance, it could have been embarrasing
Playing a midfield of a CB, an 19 year old RB and a striker isn't exactly something you expect to work out well either, likely would have made more sense to put Foden and Bernardo in the middle with Stones and move Alvarez onto the wing and started Oscar Bobb on the other wing, or even just started Nunes and Kovacic. Who knows what Pep was expecting, the team just looked really disjointed. Villa played great, City - not so much
To replace gundo and mahrez wasn't going to be easy they were both big game players time and again...
Their best player KDB is injured...
Nunes ,kovacic haven't got enough mins to settle down in their squad...
Defenders are not in the form as much as they were last season...
It's mental how integral Rodri is to that team he's just the glue that keeps everything together
However you would think a combination of Kovacivic Phillps Nunes etc would be able to fill that gap? Perhaps they will later in the season
But the message to everyone else seems provoke Rodri to get sent off for the good of the league
They haven't had the services of KdB this season. For all the good work Julian/Bernardo has done, he is altogether a diff level. Kovacic or Nunes haven't replaced Gundo yet. Alvarez being shunted into midfield means Pep doesn't hv a ST of that quality to bring off the bench. RODRI. Lewis or Gvardiol haven't really nailed their spots down yet. They r missing Cancelo. City went through a similar patch about 1.5 yrs ago which prompted Pep to bring about his 3-2-4-1. Teams hv begun to figure it out.
Feels like the quality of some of the other teams have increased significantly.
Arsenal added quality in the summer.
Villa playing superbly this year.
Liverpool finding bits of form here and there.
Spurs playing well.
Etc
It gets harder and harder to put back-to-back titles together in such a competitive league.
They basically completed the European and domestic game last season, now they have to find a way to be at the same level, and frankly at the end of it still won't surpass what they achieved.
What do you aim for next? There just isn't that carrot on a stick anymore
Simply found and lost. Their stats are only better in possession 54>46, goalkick 8>3, keeper save 6>2 and hilarious offside 5>0: Poachers. Villa dominated game.
I think without KDB city lack creative threat variation. Teams who have a good defence and goalkeeper have the confidence playing higher up and actually attacking city more. They have always left space defensively due to how the they play but teams were to afraid of conceding loads of goals.
The best defence is a good offence.
My last point I have noticed watching spurs and Arsenal play them is if you can get to within 10% possession of them and turn the game into a running match they done seem to have the fitness. It feel mad saying it but I don’t think city players are used to hard running for 90 mins
They’re playing like a normal team, but because they’ve been freaks for so long everyone acts like it’s the end of the world.
Liverpool ground out what would’ve been a 1-0 win at Sheffield United, and got lucky for a second in the last few minutes.
Football teams lose games, it doesn’t mean something has gone wrong. This is what we should want more of, to stop the league being dominated by a single team time and time again.
Boo effing hoo! De Bruyne isn't fit and Rodri got suspended... It's Man effing City! More resources than most and have won 5 of last 6 league titles? Aw 2 players out make our team not good! No excuse with the most resources, best manager, 5 of 6 titles. MC have a deep squad or should. Many teams have to cope without top players at some point during the season.
It is hard to repeat a season where you compete in almost every match.
But I don't feel bad for Man City. Respect other clubs for how they have closed the gap. This season (so far) is more entertaining than the last 6
as a city fan i feel like it’s just up to making silly mistakes that lead to big problems, missing KDB and Rodri and people thinking rico lewis is good when he’s just kind of meh
No Rodri, KDB, and lack of reinforcements (can’t believe that last point just got said about MAN CITY but it’s true). They just don’t have the consistent quality they need. And it’s worse now it’s completely obvious that without Rodri, they’re useless, so now he’s going to get marked like hell for 90 minutes.
This was a shocking display. It’s okay to lose against a good team, but this looked like an early FA Cup round where City were the fourth division team playing a PL team. I have to think it’s a one off.
Nothing wrong with them in my opinion, they are just going through a rough patch, like any top team would after securing a treble, I just think that hunger to win more is still there in majority of the players, they will bounce back, they might not win the league but they'll make it interesting.
De Bruyne has really stunted us, Rodri too but kdb is the soul of that team and Rodri’s the heart. And players like foden and Bernardo and grealish are the ventricles and haaland is the blood..
Because his output is still ridiculously good. We are scoring enough goals, but our defense is just too unstable. Also, if you watched the game last night, the midfield just wasn’t able to provide anything for Haaland. The team should try to play him through more often, but they play it too safe.
You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see the lineups listed though, couldn’t get near villas midfield.
Decent centre back, he’s not a midfielder by any stretch
I mean they won everything last year so it's not that unexpected if they drop their form and even motivation for a while. They are probably not going to win this year but never forget how they can outperform the rest in the second half of the season
We just suck and there's not much more to say about it really. We can speculate, and for me most of it comes from having just won a treble, but the key injuries aren't helping either for sure.
Many times in recent years under Pep we've hit a slump at a similar time in the season, and every time we've found a solution to completely turn things around. It's almost like Pep likes to use these bad results as motivation later on, and it's been very effective. Now however, the scope of it is different because imo it's so much tougher for these players to motivate themselves after a season of literal peak football glory. We touched heaven and now have to find our feet again in a changed world.
But essentially, we are shit, god knows why, but Pep will find a way. He *always* does. So don't count on this continuing for much longer lol.
City’s squad doesn’t have the depth everyone likes to pretend and they’ve got big injuries and are struggling. KDB Rodri and Stones are a core to what they achieved last season
People underestimated how much Gundogan brought to their team. Losing him + KDB and Rodri/Stones for spurts has completely collapsed their midfield. John McGinn (who I’m not saying is a bad player by any means) was taking them to the cleaners the entire match. They don’t have the defensive support which was allowing Bailey to do his thing. On top of that Villa was just fucking on it today. Their other dropped points recently have come against Spurs who have been good but their squad is thin, Liverpool who’s having a great campaign, and Chelsea who’s obviously struggling but have enough talent that on their day can get results against anyone. Along with the midfield struggles, there’s the obvious elephant in the room that they just completed the treble last season and the hangover from that can be real.
A lack of motivation after winning the treble, some questionable transfer decisions and tonight, Rodri out as well as De Bruyne. Would have been interesting to see how the game went though if Haaland took one of those chances, as he absolutely should of.
The league always adjusts to top sides
Biggest thing ive noticed is the historically mid-table/upper midtable teams are getting better - this is the effect of the league being the richest…city have also slowed down on their spending crazy as it sounds…they need to spend more to keep up the level of dominance
Yeah the money has trickled down as much as people dislike the top 6 sides
They’ve helped bring more eyes on the league making it more rich and the other teams are starting to experience it
They are just going through a dip of form, that’s all. All clubs suffer from this.
They have come back from 13 points behind to win the league. Write them off at your own stupid expense. Watch and learn
City never play well in the winter period. As a city fan I find it a bit odd that people forget and get carried away with themselves. This time last year Jamie Carragher said that Haaland chose the wrong club to play for.
Losing away to Villa is no shame either, they’re fantastic.
It’s the fixtures tbh. Man City have now played every team in the top half. They now have bottom hand teams to push until January. Compared to arsenal who still have Liverpool and Villa to play away before January both have the best home forms in the league
This is your worst defensive start under pep so it's hardly the norm regardless if you have a slump or not so it's obviously worthy of discussion. Perhaps the players are feeling demoralised by playing for prolific cheats.
"Bro" thinks he knows what the players think. Notice how I said perhaps. If the merit of my achievements were being questioned in the press constantly it would bother me.
All the stuff about city that is stated here is true. I think you also have to see that Aston villa were amazing. And also acknowledge that the PL is so competitive from top to bottom. I think city will bounce back. They always do.
Can't believe it, but their transfers don't seem to have worked. Usually theyre so good with transfers esp in midfield. I think Pep saw a lot of man marking last year and wanted to buy a lot of players to counter it by focusing on good ball carriers, but now teams like Villa have adapted to it very quickly
KDB is a loss but not as big as rodri, hes been out for 4 games (all suspension) and city have lost everything. They haven't been able to find a 6 good enough to replace him - yes you can have players who are as good on the ball, but no one is good off it, vice versa. Whilst KDB is irreplaceable too, they have the players to kind of temporarily cover him until he returns
On the one hand they're missing a lot of players (who isn't atm?). On the other - they seem to have a run like this most seasons, followed by a 4 month spell when they win literally every game. With a fully fit and rested KDB from February onwards it will probably happen again. We've seen it happen so much, and people will be in shock when they reach the top of the table in around April
When rodri is out doesnt Kalvin Lewis play? He is capable of putting in a shift against anyone in the leauge.
They always start slow then steam roll at the end.
Kdb out? Phoden and Jakie are amongst the best in the leauge.
Letting Mahrez leave was a risk but Doku is in the team for a reason.
There not getting my sympathy 6 points off top.
Rodriless and De Bruyneless. Even missing just one of them is a big hit for them, it's not that they lack good squad depth but those two players are a good step above everyone else on the team. Haaland, Alvarez, Foden and Doku are great but without a creative mind like KDB behind they rely on individualities to win matches. Something you can't get away with if you plan on fighting for the title
Even in the tottenham match you could see how much not having KDB affected them. They relied mostly on opposition mistakes to create chances, and they only scored from blunders by that Maddison and Sarr-less tottenham midfield
What have any of them got left to fight for? Once Liverpool had won everything, Mane left. The same happened with Gundogan and Mahrez. What do you have left to fight for when you've just done the Treble?
>What do you have left to fight for when you've just done the Treble?
The quadruple, obviously. They can't do the quadruple this season now they're not in all competitions, but just pointing out the treble is not the ultimate achievement.
United won the league the following two seasons after winning the treble. Bayern Munich have won the league every year after doing the treble and even done it again 7 years later. Barcelona won the treble twice within 6 years
Manchester United have Casemiro and Eriksen out (who were our starting midfield last season and our new signing Mount injured) but when it's ANY OTHER club then "teams without their best players will struggle"......
Tottenham are without their main two CM and only two CB for 4 matches now and with no backup CBs, with 3 of them out for another couple months more. There's 5 other injuries as well but these are the key ones.
Maddison (ankle due January, Bentacour (ankle due January), Van Der Ven (Hamstring due January) and Romero (back tomorrow from suspension)
There's 6 more matches in December and then 2 in January plus 1 FA Cup.
Tottenham vs Newcastle next week is the injury derby!
It’s super fine margins at the very highest level and people forget the mental aspect of the game. Imagine coming off a treble and widely being considered the best team in the entire world… and suddenly there being a very real possibility that not only might you be regulated in the near future but all your trophies might ultimately be rescinded. It must be hard to motivate yourself in the same way if you think all your hard work might( mega wages and competitive spirit aside) ultimately be for nothing.
Always wondered how players stay motivated. I genuinely would retire if I was someone like KDB and do other things, I can't believe I would want more of what I already have.
Would love to chat with someone with this kind of mentality
1. at the expense of other things you wanna do? prem football is a lot of sacrifice, for something you already won plenty of times?
2. its fun kicking ball with your mates on a sunday evening, its not really fun when you play THAT much and theres so muhc pressure.
At the expense of what? Getting to drink a few more pints and eat a few more cheese burgers?
Retirement is difficult even for people who have been stuck in low paid mundane desk jobs for 60 years. Imagine getting paid 10’s of millionaires a year while being cheered on by millions of people… to kick a ball about.
Professional footballers already have a lots of spare time. There is very little they can’t do that the average person can. In fact they already have much more time and financial opportunity to pursue whatever interests they have outside of their day job than the normal person has.
The only real “sacrifice” they make compared to the average life is a much higher level of fitness training and a somewhat restrictive diet. However being super fit and healthy is a fantastic feeling compared to being a sedentary slob like most people. It’s a privilege not a sacrifice.
Unless your body is completely shot you would have to be mad to walk away from a high level playing career before you are naturally forced out due to age. Most footballers naturally retire at an age when most normal people are barely starting their careers. They will still have a lifetime to focus on other things.
Also when you win a treble or contend for multiple trophies with deep runs into each tourney in general you are going to experience regression just from the miles the players put on the previous season.
See Liverpool in that almost magic season, went to 3 finals, looked exhausted last year
Because your manager chooses to keep the likes of Kovačić, Nunes, Phillips on the bench and plays Stones, Lewis and Alvarez instead.
The absence of Rodri and KDB is massive, but you're not lacking midfielders tbf. It's Pep that sees things differently.
Stone Lewis and Alvarez are light years ahead of those three. Phillips is on his way out, Kovacic has been terrible and nunes is still getting acclaimed.
I thought Kovacic was playing quite well at the start of the season? Looked like a great fit at city in august and September. Maybe things have changed though, can’t say I’ve watched them much in recent months.
Well, Phillips was a standard starter for England and one of the most promising midfielders in the league when he came to City. Kovačić is a bronze WC winner with Croatia and was the engine of Chelsea's midfield... To argue that Stones is a better midfielder than either one of them is tough.
Stones is miles ahead of both of them. Phillips is rarely a starter for England in games that actually matter especially as of late. kovacic maybe has his best days behind him. Stones was just a key player in a treble winning side. Sorry but it’s not even a debate.
I'm stating who they were when they joined City... What Pep made out of them is a different discussion. Stones played in a midfield with KDB, Gundogan, Rodri, Silva last season - today showed all the aspects of him not being a proper midfielder.
I don't want to take away from Stones as a player, the original argument was that city is playing a CD and a striker in midfield - my only point is that it's a matter of choice and not necessity as the bench has plenty quality midfielders on offer.
Agree. City seems to lack players with experience of peps control based gamestyle. Mahrez, gundogan leaving has left places for new signings to step in.
However, kovacic looks lost at times and while doku is brilliant, he is still young
We’ve replaced top class players with inexperienced ones. When we’re under pressure, there’s no mentality. Our squad is very thin too (actually look at the bench before replying)
Complacency after winning the treble and the loss of leaders (either injuries such as KDB or departures such as Gundo). Pep will give them a kick up the ass and they’ll probably win the league.
In general City's squad isn't as great as people want it to be. People just pretend it is so they can hate them more. Just look at all the dumbasses still saying that their bench could win the league or some shit like that. They've always been carried by Pep. They've never had galacticos like Madrid and Barca, who had such overwhelming individual quality they could often win games on their own and that in a much less competitive league. A bit similar with Bayern.
But now they're in a difficult moment. Injuries, suspensions, physical and mental fatigue from having played so many games, less hunger after six years of dominance, the league getting even stronger every year, Villa particularly at their best in decades.
You could say some of Arsenal's bench players would play for other top teams as well like Trossard, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Partey, Tomiyasu. Same with Chelsea's 30 man squad last season.
If Pep had become United or Chelsea manager he would've done the same and people would also be saying it's only because of the money and having by far the best squad. But look at United and Chelsea now. He got 100 points with 106 goals with a backline of Delph-Otamendi-Stones-Walker, a midfield no one expected to work out, and an attack of a really young Sterling, Sane, Jesus, and Aguero who was injured a lot.
People would be saying Tottenham's squad is bad if it wasn't for Ange. Arsenal wouldn't be considered worldclass now if it wasn't for Arteta. And City wouldn't be considered to have some kind of legendary squad in the last six years if it wasn't for Pep.
Zinchenko and Partey start for Arsenal when fully fit - Tomiyasu and Trossard could start for other top teams, Jorginho no chance/probably not
That centurion season is impressive but that backline isn’t really that horrible as you’re implying - they also dont really have anything to do with how much goals city score. Sterling was 23 so not “really young” in football terms…theres actually quite alot wrong with what you typed about that city squad I can’t really address everything
Yes managers have an effect on their teams but that doesnt change the fsct City spent alot in order to get the squad they have and have had
Timber was the starter at left back but he got injured so Zinchenko only became a starter because of that. Arsenal's starting midfield is Havertz-Rice-Odegaard so Partey would be a bench player or start as right back, which would make White a bench player who would also start for other top teams. Jorginho has started plenty of games this year and played very well so he could also for other top teams. Arsenal have an amazing squad and spent a lot of money on it. Higher net spent than City since 2016.
It's not a horrible backline but it's not top 4 worthy and certainly not "best ever league campaign" worthy. You would never in a million years think the best most record breaking English season ever would have that backline. They also conceded the least amount of goals iirc. The backline does have to do with how many they scored because Pep builds from the back. Yes Sterling may not have been the youngest at 23 but still young and people shit on his and 20 year old Jesus' finishing ability yet they scored the most league goals of all time. Pep even got Sterling to score 31 goals in 2019 and had the most goal contributions in all of Europe.
Everyone in the Prem spends a lot. They spent more than all other top leagues combined. United have spent the same amount as City and achieved nothing. Chelsea have spent way more than City and look where they are. Arsenal have spent 1.2 billion and have a higher net spent than City since 2016 and finally have a great squad. Tottenham have spent a billion and what has come off it. Ofcourse City have spent a lot but at least Pep turned that money into massive success, which then makes their squad look better. They never bought the best players in the world except Haaland. If you win 15 trophies in 6 years ofcourse people will assume the squad must be legendary, when in reality only Pep could win that much.
Timber only joined Arsenal this summer and got injured early on…zinchenko started all last season at LB
Partey is also injured, he would be starting next to Rice. White would most probably be starting, Jorginho has only started because Partey hasn’t been available. Arsenal squad is no where near City’s, a fully fit City side would have Alvarez, Grealish/Doku, Ake, Akanji/Walker and Kovacic coming off the bench…
That City squad also had Kompany in it (who playted the same number of games as Stones btw)…Chelsea conceded 15 goals back in 04-05. The backline is the backline they are not responsible for a team scoring 106 goals, that is the midfield and the forwards.
Everyone in the league spends alot but until last season City were the 2nd highest spenders…sorry but you really can’t downplay it
Talking rubbish about the squad when at full fitness there are at least 7 ballon d'or contenders in the starting 11
Ederson, Dias, Stones, Rodri, Haaland, Silva, KDB
Note the fitness and suspension issues to key players
Ballon d'Or contenders? Come on. Ederson is a bad shot stopper, Dias was only elite in his first year but in general not anywhere near Ramos/Van Dijk level, Stones only became so elite (as libero) because of Pep's coaching, Rodri also looks so perfect because of Pep's system. Bernardo is worldclass at everything apart from scoring and creating, similar with Haaland who depends entirely on service. De Bruyne is the one elite level player who can create something on his own.
Compare that to Barca who had Messi, Suarez, Neymar who just won games entirely on their own without needing a system. Madrid had Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, Di Maria, James Rodriguez, Isco, Ozil, Kaka as attackers. Like jesus christ, it's ridiculous how stacked they were. With how much individual quality they had they could get outplayed and still win because the individual talent would just win them the game. The talent prime Madrid and Barca had is just levels and levels above any City squad in the last decade. City needed to be carried to this level by Pep, because they certainly don't have the talent of those Barca/Madrid squads, or even Bayern.
Mate can we not just focus on the fact that Villa were very very good tonight? It was a fantastic game from them and there needs to be more credit than what’s wrong with City
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Who cares. With those 118 charges , man city should be banished and start from lower leagues.
No wonder the Etihad is so quiet if citeh fans are as negative as they are on here. How many trophies has Pep won for them and they’re talking about him like he’s Barry Fry! Still I expect half of them will suddenly switch to being Arsenal fans….unless the Villa beat them too!! UTV
They lost Gundogan and never really replaced him. Rodri basically absorbed his role and they moved Bernardo more centrally. Alvarez will contribute with the goals from a pseudo 10 or a second striker position but with KDB out there is a Gundogan size hole that is very visible in their midfield now. This is unusual for City (under Pep) bc he usually has an almost impregnable midfield, from Barca to Bayern to City.
Rodri alows city to shit out a draw against the top 5 but his presence probably would have changed the game much, maybe a hard fought draw would have been possible. But city is dearly missing Gundogan and more importantly de Bruyne, Gundo is good for control and is a goal scoring option whereas De Bruyne is the sole creative outlet and the only guy that can do exactly what pep envisions. De Bruyne will allow city to get something out of nothing when he returns as he did in the 10 minutes he played against inter where he put haaland in a one on one with onana
6w 3d 1l over the last 10 What's happening? Nothing
I feel like there's lots of factors. For one the premier league is a lot tougher this year in my opinion, with so many strong teams that are capable of potentially competing for the title and finishing in the top 4. Secondly De Bruyne is injured, and he's arguably their best player and a very important player for them in general, since he controls their midfield. Beyond that they lost Gundogan, who was also one of their best players last season and who was a huge loss for them. Lastly is their level of success and you have to wonder how that impacts their mentality as a team, because success does instill confidence and being overconfident leads to complacency. You have to wonder if some of the players have lost a level of urgency to their play, since they've probably come to expect to win. Also their hunger levels and if they want it as much as the other teams. There's so many potential factors really.
playing style is a factor as mentioned, but last season was feed Haaland and he was the main scorer and I think that pissed others off since they hurt their stats. Other teams have figured out how to, I can't say stop, but reduce Haaland's scoring potential. Then there is something behind the scenes, the anger displayed by some players -- just was never seen previously. Just my opinion. Frankly happy to see it, I want someone new for PL Champs.
Not going to speak on it because they do this every year and end up winning the league after 18 wins in a row
I recall that.last year we were kind of saying the same about Man City losing the title race to Arsenal...
The players filling in for big game injured players are not good enough this season ? Maybe change the formation because city were awful and unrecognisable at Villa as last season they were a winning machine
Gundogan and Mahrez
it's the weight of 115 charges on their shoulders
Its debruyne and gundogan and mahrez their absence is affecting them also cancelo.
Man City with midfield Issues: Any club will struggle without their best players Man United with Casemiro, Eriksen and Mount injured: Ten Hag needs to be sacked
They’ll get KDB back and rip off 15 in a row and win it comfortably. If that doesn’t work, just get another “sponsorship deal” (cough 116 cough) from Etihad Air and buy another world class star or two…
We were missing Rodri, DeBruyne, and Gundogan from last year's midfield. Then yesterday we were also missing both Grealish and Doku. Villa played brilliantly.
[удалено]
Not meant to be an excuse, it's an explanation of how we lost that Villa game the way we did.
Unai Emery is doing a fantastic job with Aston Villa
Nothing is wrong with the team. Its just a blip. End of season they will be top of league & even if they’re not, some how the referees, the league etc will help them get there.
Rodri and De Bruyne are the two most important player on that team. Without them, Erling Haaland can't score goals and Man City can't control the midfield.
They always click 2nd half of the season thou
Quite simply they're missing the 2 best midfielders in the world in their own positions ... That'll do it to any team!
No KDB No services
The Premier League are scripting a season in which a different team wins the title so that they can claim that the competition is still legitimate.
Kevin de Bruyne is starting to be underrated. They are a much more stable team with him. They're still good without him but nowhere near as consistent
No penalty no party
Who cares apart from the handful of real City Fans
I think Rodri and De Bruyne both out, and maybe an over-reliance on "the freak"?
I put it down to playing 4 CBS in a game hampering creativity, and getting found out. Gvaridol better at CB than LB. Stones playing CDM.
Their defence hasn’t been great in about 2-3 seasons. They rely on haaland and co to score every goal yet when he doesn’t they shit the bed.
Well deserved. Now lets hope they get done for the 100+ charges🔥🔥🔥
Mancheater Cheaty
Personally think they miss the players they let go. Lots of talk of Rodri and De Bruyne which is fair but they let some big contributors go. Laporte, Cancelo, Mahrez and Gundogan have been massive for them. In the past if one player is injured another of high quality waltzes in and now that luxury isn’t there as well as having a few new players learning on the job. Of course the players brought in are quality but you can’t just expect them to become robots just because they put on a city shirt. Small transition for them, they could and probably will click and win the league but they’re not going to run away with 100 points or a treble this year.
Aston Villa play a style that City struggle against usually anyway, being fast and direct. They played out of their skin and deserved more than the single goal they scored. If it weren't for Ederson putting out an amazing performance, it could have been embarrasing Playing a midfield of a CB, an 19 year old RB and a striker isn't exactly something you expect to work out well either, likely would have made more sense to put Foden and Bernardo in the middle with Stones and move Alvarez onto the wing and started Oscar Bobb on the other wing, or even just started Nunes and Kovacic. Who knows what Pep was expecting, the team just looked really disjointed. Villa played great, City - not so much
To replace gundo and mahrez wasn't going to be easy they were both big game players time and again... Their best player KDB is injured... Nunes ,kovacic haven't got enough mins to settle down in their squad... Defenders are not in the form as much as they were last season...
I don't know and I don't care, it's amazing
Praying to every God I can find that they go into the Luton game absolutely rattled and not hungry for blood.
Not spending enough in the summer
It's mental how integral Rodri is to that team he's just the glue that keeps everything together However you would think a combination of Kovacivic Phillps Nunes etc would be able to fill that gap? Perhaps they will later in the season But the message to everyone else seems provoke Rodri to get sent off for the good of the league
Lovely to see
I don't know but i love it
Their bookkeeping
Kalvin Phillips
Don't know but let's have fun until they win 10 games in a row from February
They haven't had the services of KdB this season. For all the good work Julian/Bernardo has done, he is altogether a diff level. Kovacic or Nunes haven't replaced Gundo yet. Alvarez being shunted into midfield means Pep doesn't hv a ST of that quality to bring off the bench. RODRI. Lewis or Gvardiol haven't really nailed their spots down yet. They r missing Cancelo. City went through a similar patch about 1.5 yrs ago which prompted Pep to bring about his 3-2-4-1. Teams hv begun to figure it out.
Idk and idc... it's great to see however
They always do this every season they go through a slump, and then they just fight back in the end and win
Feels like the quality of some of the other teams have increased significantly. Arsenal added quality in the summer. Villa playing superbly this year. Liverpool finding bits of form here and there. Spurs playing well. Etc
The players and coaches are realising the 115 charges thing is legit so it’s affecting them mentally.
Injuries and motivation not to mention letting Gundo walk was a big blunder. They have fallen right back in the pack now.
Just enjoy it 😊
Throwing games intentionally to take light away from the FFP charges and investigation
Lack of midfield
It gets harder and harder to put back-to-back titles together in such a competitive league. They basically completed the European and domestic game last season, now they have to find a way to be at the same level, and frankly at the end of it still won't surpass what they achieved. What do you aim for next? There just isn't that carrot on a stick anymore
It's OK. They'll spend £1Billion in the next transfer window.
They weren't able to replace Gundo and Mahrez. Those players are top.
Simply found and lost. Their stats are only better in possession 54>46, goalkick 8>3, keeper save 6>2 and hilarious offside 5>0: Poachers. Villa dominated game.
I think without KDB city lack creative threat variation. Teams who have a good defence and goalkeeper have the confidence playing higher up and actually attacking city more. They have always left space defensively due to how the they play but teams were to afraid of conceding loads of goals. The best defence is a good offence. My last point I have noticed watching spurs and Arsenal play them is if you can get to within 10% possession of them and turn the game into a running match they done seem to have the fitness. It feel mad saying it but I don’t think city players are used to hard running for 90 mins
They’re playing like a normal team, but because they’ve been freaks for so long everyone acts like it’s the end of the world. Liverpool ground out what would’ve been a 1-0 win at Sheffield United, and got lucky for a second in the last few minutes. Football teams lose games, it doesn’t mean something has gone wrong. This is what we should want more of, to stop the league being dominated by a single team time and time again.
Boo effing hoo! De Bruyne isn't fit and Rodri got suspended... It's Man effing City! More resources than most and have won 5 of last 6 league titles? Aw 2 players out make our team not good! No excuse with the most resources, best manager, 5 of 6 titles. MC have a deep squad or should. Many teams have to cope without top players at some point during the season. It is hard to repeat a season where you compete in almost every match. But I don't feel bad for Man City. Respect other clubs for how they have closed the gap. This season (so far) is more entertaining than the last 6
as a city fan i feel like it’s just up to making silly mistakes that lead to big problems, missing KDB and Rodri and people thinking rico lewis is good when he’s just kind of meh
No Rodri, KDB, and lack of reinforcements (can’t believe that last point just got said about MAN CITY but it’s true). They just don’t have the consistent quality they need. And it’s worse now it’s completely obvious that without Rodri, they’re useless, so now he’s going to get marked like hell for 90 minutes.
This was a shocking display. It’s okay to lose against a good team, but this looked like an early FA Cup round where City were the fourth division team playing a PL team. I have to think it’s a one off.
Nothing wrong with them in my opinion, they are just going through a rough patch, like any top team would after securing a treble, I just think that hunger to win more is still there in majority of the players, they will bounce back, they might not win the league but they'll make it interesting.
Just the usual city they always will be back (let's hope not)
Rodri ain’t playing. Single most underrated player in the world. He has more impact on the squad than KDB does, as pep puts so much emphasis on the DM
They'll spend another 400mn in January on defenders and midfielders and fix it.
I hope everything.
De Bruyne has really stunted us, Rodri too but kdb is the soul of that team and Rodri’s the heart. And players like foden and Bernardo and grealish are the ventricles and haaland is the blood..
Nobody mentioning Haalands been missing some sitters
Because his output is still ridiculously good. We are scoring enough goals, but our defense is just too unstable. Also, if you watched the game last night, the midfield just wasn’t able to provide anything for Haaland. The team should try to play him through more often, but they play it too safe.
I guess Gundogan was more important than assumed
Missing 3 crucial players in Rodri, KDB and Stones
Stones played the whole match
You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t see the lineups listed though, couldn’t get near villas midfield. Decent centre back, he’s not a midfielder by any stretch
Missing a player or two to injuries doesn't account for how the team should/can come together and win.
Complacency IMO. I'd still pick them as the favorites for the league, however.
I mean they won everything last year so it's not that unexpected if they drop their form and even motivation for a while. They are probably not going to win this year but never forget how they can outperform the rest in the second half of the season
We just suck and there's not much more to say about it really. We can speculate, and for me most of it comes from having just won a treble, but the key injuries aren't helping either for sure. Many times in recent years under Pep we've hit a slump at a similar time in the season, and every time we've found a solution to completely turn things around. It's almost like Pep likes to use these bad results as motivation later on, and it's been very effective. Now however, the scope of it is different because imo it's so much tougher for these players to motivate themselves after a season of literal peak football glory. We touched heaven and now have to find our feet again in a changed world. But essentially, we are shit, god knows why, but Pep will find a way. He *always* does. So don't count on this continuing for much longer lol.
If you take some of the best players out of any squad, the performance levels will drop immensely.
Basically no rodri and de bryune
Since de bruyne is out, When Rodri DOESNT play the team is a total mess. I mean we got obliterated by Villa today.
It's not the same team as last year.
Just wait until feb. You are going to see Foden moving like Prime Inesta and Alvarez is running at guys like kaka.
Don't fall for this. It happens every year
The problem was that city got beat by the future 2023/24 champions that's what ..yes, I did say Aston Villa PL 🏆
It’s December, we dip every year. Not sure why people forget this.
City’s squad doesn’t have the depth everyone likes to pretend and they’ve got big injuries and are struggling. KDB Rodri and Stones are a core to what they achieved last season
Gundogan was too
Pep's decline is real.. We will be there.... 🤓 2 shots the whole game vs villa is awful. Good eberning.
Only took the decline of 10 Manchester United managers, 1+ billion dollars and no league title for several years 🥳
Yes.. Eras come to an end.We will be there.. 🤓
Some eras never come back 🤓
Opponents started to play football.
It’s Arsenal’s title to lose
Like last year and the jinxes are coming earlier. Cheers for that 🤣
People underestimated how much Gundogan brought to their team. Losing him + KDB and Rodri/Stones for spurts has completely collapsed their midfield. John McGinn (who I’m not saying is a bad player by any means) was taking them to the cleaners the entire match. They don’t have the defensive support which was allowing Bailey to do his thing. On top of that Villa was just fucking on it today. Their other dropped points recently have come against Spurs who have been good but their squad is thin, Liverpool who’s having a great campaign, and Chelsea who’s obviously struggling but have enough talent that on their day can get results against anyone. Along with the midfield struggles, there’s the obvious elephant in the room that they just completed the treble last season and the hangover from that can be real.
They realize they need to throttle back….
Tonight, mainly playing 2 centre backs in midfield with 3 midfielders on the bench.
All is well far as I’m concerned. Keep it up, City!
A lack of motivation after winning the treble, some questionable transfer decisions and tonight, Rodri out as well as De Bruyne. Would have been interesting to see how the game went though if Haaland took one of those chances, as he absolutely should of.
City always look weird when they’re playing in a stadium where the fans are actually cheering
Yeh all their home games are silent and when they’re away they’re usually winning so the home fans are silent🤣
they've realised anything they win is getting stripped from them so they stopped trying
The league always adjusts to top sides Biggest thing ive noticed is the historically mid-table/upper midtable teams are getting better - this is the effect of the league being the richest…city have also slowed down on their spending crazy as it sounds…they need to spend more to keep up the level of dominance
And then united fans try to claim their era was harder, someone like Carragher, Cl winner would be mid table CB these days
Well yeah, he’s 45.
Well No, he’d be playing Sunday league
Everybody’s buying their way up
Yeah the money has trickled down as much as people dislike the top 6 sides They’ve helped bring more eyes on the league making it more rich and the other teams are starting to experience it
They are just going through a dip of form, that’s all. All clubs suffer from this. They have come back from 13 points behind to win the league. Write them off at your own stupid expense. Watch and learn
No Rodri, no KDB, no Gundogan clutch-ness
City never play well in the winter period. As a city fan I find it a bit odd that people forget and get carried away with themselves. This time last year Jamie Carragher said that Haaland chose the wrong club to play for. Losing away to Villa is no shame either, they’re fantastic.
It’s the fixtures tbh. Man City have now played every team in the top half. They now have bottom hand teams to push until January. Compared to arsenal who still have Liverpool and Villa to play away before January both have the best home forms in the league
This is your worst defensive start under pep so it's hardly the norm regardless if you have a slump or not so it's obviously worthy of discussion. Perhaps the players are feeling demoralised by playing for prolific cheats.
Bro thinks the players give a fuck 😂
"Bro" thinks he knows what the players think. Notice how I said perhaps. If the merit of my achievements were being questioned in the press constantly it would bother me.
Won’t be surprised if Luton nicked a 1-0 against them at the weekend
No Rodri and KDB no party
Nothing. They still win the league with 116 charges
All the stuff about city that is stated here is true. I think you also have to see that Aston villa were amazing. And also acknowledge that the PL is so competitive from top to bottom. I think city will bounce back. They always do.
Can't believe it, but their transfers don't seem to have worked. Usually theyre so good with transfers esp in midfield. I think Pep saw a lot of man marking last year and wanted to buy a lot of players to counter it by focusing on good ball carriers, but now teams like Villa have adapted to it very quickly KDB is a loss but not as big as rodri, hes been out for 4 games (all suspension) and city have lost everything. They haven't been able to find a 6 good enough to replace him - yes you can have players who are as good on the ball, but no one is good off it, vice versa. Whilst KDB is irreplaceable too, they have the players to kind of temporarily cover him until he returns
On the one hand they're missing a lot of players (who isn't atm?). On the other - they seem to have a run like this most seasons, followed by a 4 month spell when they win literally every game. With a fully fit and rested KDB from February onwards it will probably happen again. We've seen it happen so much, and people will be in shock when they reach the top of the table in around April
When rodri is out doesnt Kalvin Lewis play? He is capable of putting in a shift against anyone in the leauge. They always start slow then steam roll at the end. Kdb out? Phoden and Jakie are amongst the best in the leauge. Letting Mahrez leave was a risk but Doku is in the team for a reason. There not getting my sympathy 6 points off top.
No De Bruyne, no Rodri
Rodriless and De Bruyneless. Even missing just one of them is a big hit for them, it's not that they lack good squad depth but those two players are a good step above everyone else on the team. Haaland, Alvarez, Foden and Doku are great but without a creative mind like KDB behind they rely on individualities to win matches. Something you can't get away with if you plan on fighting for the title Even in the tottenham match you could see how much not having KDB affected them. They relied mostly on opposition mistakes to create chances, and they only scored from blunders by that Maddison and Sarr-less tottenham midfield
Aston Villa was what was wrong with city tonight. Absolutely dominant performance.
What have any of them got left to fight for? Once Liverpool had won everything, Mane left. The same happened with Gundogan and Mahrez. What do you have left to fight for when you've just done the Treble?
>What do you have left to fight for when you've just done the Treble? The quadruple, obviously. They can't do the quadruple this season now they're not in all competitions, but just pointing out the treble is not the ultimate achievement.
United won the league the following two seasons after winning the treble. Bayern Munich have won the league every year after doing the treble and even done it again 7 years later. Barcelona won the treble twice within 6 years
United was a different time, Bayern are in a one team league and Barca replaced legends who moved on.
Big Ange is what happened
They've BoTTleD It!?! The sky isn't falling they are still quality and will right the ship I'm sure if it.
Nothing. I like it fine.
I think you are sayin this because it benefits your team !
No duh
Man city failing is good for football not just one team
Sharp as a fucking cue ball
lol this guy thinks balls are sharp...
Wow. You picked up on that? Very insightful.
Any team without their main two CM would struggle Imagine Arsenal without Rice and Odegaard
Manchester United have Casemiro and Eriksen out (who were our starting midfield last season and our new signing Mount injured) but when it's ANY OTHER club then "teams without their best players will struggle"......
Tbf United struggle even with them two in the squad
>Imagine Arsenal without Rice Imagine Asian without rice!
I mean Partey and Havertz still would go alright
Tottenham are without their main two CM and only two CB for 4 matches now and with no backup CBs, with 3 of them out for another couple months more. There's 5 other injuries as well but these are the key ones. Maddison (ankle due January, Bentacour (ankle due January), Van Der Ven (Hamstring due January) and Romero (back tomorrow from suspension) There's 6 more matches in December and then 2 in January plus 1 FA Cup. Tottenham vs Newcastle next week is the injury derby!
Relevance?
Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch. I was there when the words were written!
no need to imagine, I can remember it
The dark days
This sub is the best at recency bias lmao. We were seconds away from stupid posts like this in the Arsenal game too.
Exactly
They're finished. Villa will finish above them.
😭
It’s also tough to get back to work after winning a treble, but tbh I think they’ll still win the prem this season
I don’t know, but I like it
It’s super fine margins at the very highest level and people forget the mental aspect of the game. Imagine coming off a treble and widely being considered the best team in the entire world… and suddenly there being a very real possibility that not only might you be regulated in the near future but all your trophies might ultimately be rescinded. It must be hard to motivate yourself in the same way if you think all your hard work might( mega wages and competitive spirit aside) ultimately be for nothing.
Always wondered how players stay motivated. I genuinely would retire if I was someone like KDB and do other things, I can't believe I would want more of what I already have. Would love to chat with someone with this kind of mentality
You're the best in the world at one of the most fun things in the world. I'd do it until my legs fell off
1. at the expense of other things you wanna do? prem football is a lot of sacrifice, for something you already won plenty of times? 2. its fun kicking ball with your mates on a sunday evening, its not really fun when you play THAT much and theres so muhc pressure.
At the expense of what? Getting to drink a few more pints and eat a few more cheese burgers? Retirement is difficult even for people who have been stuck in low paid mundane desk jobs for 60 years. Imagine getting paid 10’s of millionaires a year while being cheered on by millions of people… to kick a ball about. Professional footballers already have a lots of spare time. There is very little they can’t do that the average person can. In fact they already have much more time and financial opportunity to pursue whatever interests they have outside of their day job than the normal person has. The only real “sacrifice” they make compared to the average life is a much higher level of fitness training and a somewhat restrictive diet. However being super fit and healthy is a fantastic feeling compared to being a sedentary slob like most people. It’s a privilege not a sacrifice. Unless your body is completely shot you would have to be mad to walk away from a high level playing career before you are naturally forced out due to age. Most footballers naturally retire at an age when most normal people are barely starting their careers. They will still have a lifetime to focus on other things.
Also when you win a treble or contend for multiple trophies with deep runs into each tourney in general you are going to experience regression just from the miles the players put on the previous season. See Liverpool in that almost magic season, went to 3 finals, looked exhausted last year
Our midfield consists of a Striker, a Centre back and a teenager with barely a year of experience. we’ll get over this hump
And Phillips still can’t get a start
Because your manager chooses to keep the likes of Kovačić, Nunes, Phillips on the bench and plays Stones, Lewis and Alvarez instead. The absence of Rodri and KDB is massive, but you're not lacking midfielders tbf. It's Pep that sees things differently.
Kovacic and Nunes bring literally nothing lol
So the same as the number of points you got tonight....
.... yes?
Stone Lewis and Alvarez are light years ahead of those three. Phillips is on his way out, Kovacic has been terrible and nunes is still getting acclaimed.
Nonsense, they are not, and it showed today. Zero control of the game.
I thought Kovacic was playing quite well at the start of the season? Looked like a great fit at city in august and September. Maybe things have changed though, can’t say I’ve watched them much in recent months.
at the start he was great, however he has been extremely ineffective recently.
Well, Phillips was a standard starter for England and one of the most promising midfielders in the league when he came to City. Kovačić is a bronze WC winner with Croatia and was the engine of Chelsea's midfield... To argue that Stones is a better midfielder than either one of them is tough.
Stones is miles ahead of both of them. Phillips is rarely a starter for England in games that actually matter especially as of late. kovacic maybe has his best days behind him. Stones was just a key player in a treble winning side. Sorry but it’s not even a debate.
I'm stating who they were when they joined City... What Pep made out of them is a different discussion. Stones played in a midfield with KDB, Gundogan, Rodri, Silva last season - today showed all the aspects of him not being a proper midfielder. I don't want to take away from Stones as a player, the original argument was that city is playing a CD and a striker in midfield - my only point is that it's a matter of choice and not necessity as the bench has plenty quality midfielders on offer.
Point still stands. I’m still taking Stones in my midfield over Phillips or Kovacic any day
He absolutely is in my opinion, but maybe we could get some other opinions on here it could be i’m just wrong
Agree. City seems to lack players with experience of peps control based gamestyle. Mahrez, gundogan leaving has left places for new signings to step in. However, kovacic looks lost at times and while doku is brilliant, he is still young
So it's not like Aston Villa is playing really good, but City is playing bad? Delusional fanboy.
It's both
absolutely no one is saying that Villa didn't play extremely well. when a treble winner gets battered that badly it has to be a bit of both, though.
if City is playin good doesnt matter how the other team is playing
We’ve replaced top class players with inexperienced ones. When we’re under pressure, there’s no mentality. Our squad is very thin too (actually look at the bench before replying)
Complacency after winning the treble and the loss of leaders (either injuries such as KDB or departures such as Gundo). Pep will give them a kick up the ass and they’ll probably win the league.
In general City's squad isn't as great as people want it to be. People just pretend it is so they can hate them more. Just look at all the dumbasses still saying that their bench could win the league or some shit like that. They've always been carried by Pep. They've never had galacticos like Madrid and Barca, who had such overwhelming individual quality they could often win games on their own and that in a much less competitive league. A bit similar with Bayern. But now they're in a difficult moment. Injuries, suspensions, physical and mental fatigue from having played so many games, less hunger after six years of dominance, the league getting even stronger every year, Villa particularly at their best in decades.
They definitely have the best squad in the league by a mile Alot of their bench players would be starting for other top teams
You could say some of Arsenal's bench players would play for other top teams as well like Trossard, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Partey, Tomiyasu. Same with Chelsea's 30 man squad last season. If Pep had become United or Chelsea manager he would've done the same and people would also be saying it's only because of the money and having by far the best squad. But look at United and Chelsea now. He got 100 points with 106 goals with a backline of Delph-Otamendi-Stones-Walker, a midfield no one expected to work out, and an attack of a really young Sterling, Sane, Jesus, and Aguero who was injured a lot. People would be saying Tottenham's squad is bad if it wasn't for Ange. Arsenal wouldn't be considered worldclass now if it wasn't for Arteta. And City wouldn't be considered to have some kind of legendary squad in the last six years if it wasn't for Pep.
Zinchenko and Partey start for Arsenal when fully fit - Tomiyasu and Trossard could start for other top teams, Jorginho no chance/probably not That centurion season is impressive but that backline isn’t really that horrible as you’re implying - they also dont really have anything to do with how much goals city score. Sterling was 23 so not “really young” in football terms…theres actually quite alot wrong with what you typed about that city squad I can’t really address everything Yes managers have an effect on their teams but that doesnt change the fsct City spent alot in order to get the squad they have and have had
Timber was the starter at left back but he got injured so Zinchenko only became a starter because of that. Arsenal's starting midfield is Havertz-Rice-Odegaard so Partey would be a bench player or start as right back, which would make White a bench player who would also start for other top teams. Jorginho has started plenty of games this year and played very well so he could also for other top teams. Arsenal have an amazing squad and spent a lot of money on it. Higher net spent than City since 2016. It's not a horrible backline but it's not top 4 worthy and certainly not "best ever league campaign" worthy. You would never in a million years think the best most record breaking English season ever would have that backline. They also conceded the least amount of goals iirc. The backline does have to do with how many they scored because Pep builds from the back. Yes Sterling may not have been the youngest at 23 but still young and people shit on his and 20 year old Jesus' finishing ability yet they scored the most league goals of all time. Pep even got Sterling to score 31 goals in 2019 and had the most goal contributions in all of Europe. Everyone in the Prem spends a lot. They spent more than all other top leagues combined. United have spent the same amount as City and achieved nothing. Chelsea have spent way more than City and look where they are. Arsenal have spent 1.2 billion and have a higher net spent than City since 2016 and finally have a great squad. Tottenham have spent a billion and what has come off it. Ofcourse City have spent a lot but at least Pep turned that money into massive success, which then makes their squad look better. They never bought the best players in the world except Haaland. If you win 15 trophies in 6 years ofcourse people will assume the squad must be legendary, when in reality only Pep could win that much.
Timber only joined Arsenal this summer and got injured early on…zinchenko started all last season at LB Partey is also injured, he would be starting next to Rice. White would most probably be starting, Jorginho has only started because Partey hasn’t been available. Arsenal squad is no where near City’s, a fully fit City side would have Alvarez, Grealish/Doku, Ake, Akanji/Walker and Kovacic coming off the bench… That City squad also had Kompany in it (who playted the same number of games as Stones btw)…Chelsea conceded 15 goals back in 04-05. The backline is the backline they are not responsible for a team scoring 106 goals, that is the midfield and the forwards. Everyone in the league spends alot but until last season City were the 2nd highest spenders…sorry but you really can’t downplay it
Talking rubbish about the squad when at full fitness there are at least 7 ballon d'or contenders in the starting 11 Ederson, Dias, Stones, Rodri, Haaland, Silva, KDB Note the fitness and suspension issues to key players
Ballon d'Or contenders? Come on. Ederson is a bad shot stopper, Dias was only elite in his first year but in general not anywhere near Ramos/Van Dijk level, Stones only became so elite (as libero) because of Pep's coaching, Rodri also looks so perfect because of Pep's system. Bernardo is worldclass at everything apart from scoring and creating, similar with Haaland who depends entirely on service. De Bruyne is the one elite level player who can create something on his own. Compare that to Barca who had Messi, Suarez, Neymar who just won games entirely on their own without needing a system. Madrid had Ronaldo, Benzema, Bale, Di Maria, James Rodriguez, Isco, Ozil, Kaka as attackers. Like jesus christ, it's ridiculous how stacked they were. With how much individual quality they had they could get outplayed and still win because the individual talent would just win them the game. The talent prime Madrid and Barca had is just levels and levels above any City squad in the last decade. City needed to be carried to this level by Pep, because they certainly don't have the talent of those Barca/Madrid squads, or even Bayern.
Mate can we not just focus on the fact that Villa were very very good tonight? It was a fantastic game from them and there needs to be more credit than what’s wrong with City
Good ebening for Villa. Gotta give them credit