Obviously they're not near the likes of Barcelona, Real, Atleti and Bayern, but Pep has definitely improved them.
Our Rivals' squads next year - Manchester City (2016/2017)
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Unfortunately at worst all you can say is that they were overhyped, Spurs had to be at their very best to beat them and by all accounts (like us against Stoke) they were unlucky not to beat Everton
When all is said and done they'll still win the title imo
When all is said and done they'll still win the title imo
Dunc our best summer signing
TBF, everyone in the media were ripping us apart after that week...City suffer similar results and I bet you will hear nothing....
Even now the narrative is that they were better before the red card and 4-0 flatters them...
Barca hardly got out of 1st gear mainly cause of the two subs at the back early on...They do the same to every side, even against Arsenal every time people say that.... The thing is though, they are such a good side, they can raise the tempo at their will... If city had scores, you would have seen them playing at a different level... They were just in cruise control...
Barca had several gears to go up if they needed to so no City were never winning tonight
What's Yaya doing these days?
I would say, the title is very open till New years.Only then can we get a clear picture.... No one team is going to run away with it...
I agree they won't run away with it, it'll be a lot closer than the media would of had you believe a few weeks ago but I still believe they're the best team in the league
Where were those gears against Alaves and Celta Vigo?
They were the best team in the league even last season!!!
Messi....Injured/ coming back from injury.
True but they have a top manager now, that's what's always held them back (even when they were winning the league)
Same
Aaahahaa, they made the trip to Spain 4 nothing.
Great first page quote in this thread
Really looking forward to our League Cup game against them now that Mourinho seems to be getting a hold of our side tactically.
City could be up the creek without a paddle here.
Barca play the El Classico 2 days before the final group game v MGB.
That's horrendous luck for City.
Barca play the El Classico 2 days before the final group game v MGB.
That's horrendous luck for City.
4 games without a win now. I know losing to Spurs and Barcelona is quite different than losing to Feyenord and Watford, but I bet it gets nowhere near as much criticism.
City fans are claiming it was only 1-0 before the red card, and anything could have happened otherwise. How delusional. The red card happened because Bravo was trying to illegally prevent a sure second goal happening. And if Neymar had not taken such a poor penalty, the score would read 5-0. Yeah, 5-0!
On hindsight, if we were not so overawed by the City hype, and played like we did against Pool the first half, the derby match would have had a different result.
On hindsight, if we were not so overawed by the City hype, and played like we did against Pool the first half, the derby match would have had a different result.
Honestly was impressed with them nullifying barca to an extent in that first half. Almost impossible to do it all game though and they beyond collapsed in the second, but there isnt a side in world football or coach who can make a side better then this Barca one when Messi is in the mood. Or even they just need to step up a few gears on occasion and thats it. So like.... I hate makin excuses for them, but Barca can smash literally every team in the world 4 or 5-0 if on form, or even close to it.
Anyway, back on City, they have struggled to pick up points the last few games but they are still the team to beat. At the start of the season I thought it would be close between us and them, but they are well ahead of us in terms of overall play so far. Once martial and miki get back in the team and are fit, and when Pogba gets in form, then we might get close to them but as of now we have a lot to do.
Anyway, back on City, they have struggled to pick up points the last few games but they are still the team to beat. At the start of the season I thought it would be close between us and them, but they are well ahead of us in terms of overall play so far. Once martial and miki get back in the team and are fit, and when Pogba gets in form, then we might get close to them but as of now we have a lot to do.
There are certainly many positive things for them in the first half.
Their goalie and back four are not nearly good enough. No matter how much money they spend on their defense its still poor. League Champions are built from a solid defense first. Not only are they individually poor at the back but tactically they are defensively poor too. Those passes between goalie and defenders totally invites pressure on their last line of defense, so instead of losing possession in a pushed up midfield from a goal kick they will lose it around their area with the opposition pushed up against them. With defenders prone to individual errors this is suicidal. Opposition teams have seen the suspect goalie and nervous defenders and will harry and press them into many mistakes. When a new manager comes they get an initial boost as an unknown quantity but after a while they get found out and teams copy tactics and exploit the weaknesses. He's going to need more transfer windows and tactical flexibility to be a success imo.
Season after season, City start off in blistering form, are hyped up to amazing heights and that this will be the season they dominate the league and Europe, only to soon get hit back to reality. They remind me of Arsenal in that regard and start believing their own hype.
Just like Arsenal they have a soft underbelly. When the going gets tough and the time for rolled up sleeves, they go missing.
Personally I thought city were excellent and the better team from 1-0 to the red card. They created much more than Barca during that time but lacked a finisher (Aguero). Barca were poor last night until City went down to 10. Will be interesting to see the return leg. 4-0 was nowhere near a fair reflection on the game as a whole, the first two goals came from poor mistakes.
4 games without a win now.
Makes the Southampton game at the weekend a must win really. Granted, they are still top of the league, and two of those games were in the champions league.
Makes the Southampton game at the weekend a must win really. Granted, they are still top of the league, and two of those games were in the champions league.
Agree with this. For an away game at barcelona they looked quite good until bravo destroyed them, before that an equalizer was in reach. Anyway watching them in europe or bigger games i´m always worried about their attitude. Last year at the game in madrid they just seemed to accept their defeat with several minutes to go (i a freaking cl semifinal?!). And also yesterday they really showed some lack of effort and with the game not going in their favor it got worse. Saying that despite sometimes cheeky defence i think their mentality and lack of real leadership on the pitch could be a bigger problem.
Still their offence is high class and they can steamroll oppontents when everything is clicking but it will be interesting to watch their perfomances in bigger matches, especially after setbacks
Can't say i'm surprised as I thought they'd struggle early on but got a bit of luck with wins against Sunderland, West Ham and ourselves. When a poor Celtic team managed to score 3 times against them it gave everyone else hope. Bravo will continue to make mistakes, whilst Pep has 4 fullbacks he'd like to replace and a centre halves he's probably not that impressed with. Stones may well be exceptional on the ball but has a lot to learn to become a great defender. Teams will continue to press City and they'll continue to make mistakes as the keeper and defenders are a long way off what he's had previously, The lack of a more imposing physical figure up front is an issue too as they don't have an out ball.
Still one of the weirdest games I can remember watching.
Don't think I've ever seen a team so meekly exit a competition when only one goal was needed to get through.
I wish we were in a crisis situation like they allegdly are. top of the league with a good chance to progress from their CL group.
I thought City were good until Bravos brainfart.
Maybe confidence will have taken a little hit but we lost away to Spurs and Barcelona, probably the best team in England on current form and the best team in Europe. We were unlucky against Everton and Celtic was the only really ropey performance. But I think the intensity Celtic played with was great, they treated in like their CL final and returned to normal against some german team.
Honestly the way some people and mainly City fans on another site are reacting is crazy. This wasn't defeats to mid level clubs. Taking the season as a whole, I'm of bitten the hand off someone for the start we've had, at this stage of the season with away games against United, Spurs and Barcelona, I'd expect a couple of defeats. The only result I'm unhappy with was Celtic and we could have won that game 7 or 8-3.
All in all its about where I'd expect us to be points wise in both competitions maybe 2 points worse off in the CL but Celtic isn't always an easy place to go. Performances have been far above expectations even though we lack a little bit of killer instinct and even last night despite our worst result against Barca in 5 games it was easily our best performance against them.
We've been away at 2 of the top teams and are still top of the league so I'll take the odd blip of 2 or 3 games if this standard of football keeps up and we stay top of the league.
Honestly the way some people and mainly City fans on another site are reacting is crazy. This wasn't defeats to mid level clubs. Taking the season as a whole, I'm of bitten the hand off someone for the start we've had, at this stage of the season with away games against United, Spurs and Barcelona, I'd expect a couple of defeats. The only result I'm unhappy with was Celtic and we could have won that game 7 or 8-3.
All in all its about where I'd expect us to be points wise in both competitions maybe 2 points worse off in the CL but Celtic isn't always an easy place to go. Performances have been far above expectations even though we lack a little bit of killer instinct and even last night despite our worst result against Barca in 5 games it was easily our best performance against them.
We've been away at 2 of the top teams and are still top of the league so I'll take the odd blip of 2 or 3 games if this standard of football keeps up and we stay top of the league.
They will win the next game and this will all be forgotten.
Wouldn't go as far as saying we were excellent but we certainly held our own and the scoreline was not a fair reflection of the game and individual errors cost us again. Last time we were at the Nou Camp we got absolutely humiliated yet Hart managed to keep it to 1-0, yesterday we were significantly better but lost 4-0. That's football for you. Barcelona's first goal involved a huge slice of luck (Kolarov's tackle not dispossessing Messi then Fernandinho's slip), the turning point in the game was then gifted to them by Bravo and from then on you're playing the world's best team with 10 men, it can only end one way. People are overreacting to our poor run of form, we missed two penalties against Everton, Kolarov gifted Spurs the lead with an own goal, and of course yesterday was the same. Individual mistakes do not worry me, they happen, it's only when the team starts to struggle that I'll begin to worry.
That sounds like a string of excuses very articulately put
Most of the games are decided on individual mistakes, at least for big teams.
Blind made a mistake against City
Feyenoord scored offside goal
Watford scored after fouling Martial.
On the other hand, City got lucky against Sunderland with own goal, lucky when Aguero didn't get Red card when score was 2-1, lucky against ManUtd when penalty was denied.
When one highlights city's players making individual mistakes, you start to question the weakness of certain players, spurs I would not totally rule them out winning the PL considering they don't look like last season was a set back, bravo has a GK, their inexperience CB, there is weaknesses in that backline that can be exploited as bravo getting sent off proved. I would not totally say they were fave, lets not forget how we started turning it around against city we could have had a penalty or 2, after Jose seemed to be on drinking with that team he started against city.
Barcelona were in cruise control last night. If you had managed to take the lead they would have just gone up a gear to get it back. It's foolish to think that you would have got anything out of the game with or without Bravo. It's also a massive case of sour grapes to say that Spurs only beat you due to your mistakes. They were vastly superior all over the pitch & unlucky to only score 2.