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Other games 4-6 July

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I'm proper confused. Thought City were the real best team in the country?
 
City have a weird mentality issue.

They're suddenly a bit like an incredibly quality version of us in the 90s. They put everything into playing the best sides, do enough to play most of the above average teams, but are inconsistent as fuck against some of them & get beat when you least expect it.
 
City have a weird mentality issue.

They're suddenly a bit like an incredibly quality version of us in the 90s. They put everything into playing the best sides, do enough to play most of the above average teams, but are inconsistent as fuck against some of them & get beat when you least expect it.

Agree, but don't think we can read too much into these games.
 
Their set up would expose the best defenders, but that ramshackled, rag tag bunch of midfielders and mercurial talents shoehorned into a back four is a nightmare. Add the fact that they've spent hundreds of millions on full backs alone is enough to make your eyes water.

Zinchenko Garcia Laporte Cancelo

Just look at that back four. For all of Guardiola's strengths, he doesn't know how to build a defence. He more often than not just sticks midfielders there and hopes the team's superior technical ability smothers the opposition. Which it does, 9 times out of 10.

They'll always give you a chance at the back. And if they have a rare off day up top, there's a good chance they can be beaten.

It's a God send that Virgil chose us over them. He would have made a huge difference, though I suspect he wouldn't look as good as he does here. But still.

Let's hope Guardiola carries on stubbornly ploughing that furrow. If they get another Kompany to play alongside Laporte, they'll be a force.

I wouldn't put it past him spending another £200m on full backs, though.
 
Their set up would expose the best defenders, but that ramshackled, rag tag bunch of midfielders and mercurial talents shoehorned into a back four is a nightmare. Add the fact that they've spent hundreds of millions on full backs alone is enough to make your eyes water.

Zinchenko Garcia Laporte Cancelo

Just look at that back four. For all of Guardiola's strengths, he doesn't know how to build a defence. He more often than not just sticks midfielders there and hopes the team's superior technical ability smothers the opposition. Which it does, 9 times out of 10.

They'll always give you a chance at the back. And if they have a rare off day up top, there's a good chance they can be beaten.

It's a God send that Virgil chose us over them. He would have made a huge difference, though I suspect he wouldn't look as good as he does here. But still.

Let's hope Guardiola carries on stubbornly ploughing that furrow. If they get another Kompany to play alongside Laporte, they'll be a force.

I wouldn't put it past him spending another £200m on full backs, though.

What also gives me hope is that so far in his career the longer he stays at one team, the more radical/outlandish his ideas become. In Barca he went from a superb balance of athleticism and technique to peak tiki-taka (otherwise known as a team of hobbits) by the end of his reign. At Bayern he lost in the CL due to defensive problems in the 1st and 2nd seasons and didn't really do anything to fix these issues in the 3rd (instead focusing on converting the world's best attacking LB into a CB). To be fair, I have to admit that he actually became more pragmatic with his attacking approach by the last season at Bayern, simply playing Lewandowski instead of trying to create the "false 9" systems like he did initially.

But anyway, it seems he thinks a solution like just going into the market and buying the best specialist CB available is somehow too simple and almost beneath him. If other decision-makers at the club don't prevail upon him, I fully expect to see the CB pairing of Walker and Fernandinho at some point.
 
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What also gives me hope is that so far in his career the longer he stays at one team, the more radical/outlandish his ideas become. In Barca he went from a superb balance of athleticism and technique to peak tiki-taka by the end of his reign. At Bayern he lost in the CL due to defensive problems in the 1st and 2nd seasons and didn't really do anything to fix these issues in the 3rd (instead focusing on converting the world's best attacking LB into a CB). To be fair, I have to admit that he actually became more pragmatic with his attacking approach by the last season at Bayern, simply playing Lewandowski instead of trying to create the "false 9" systems like he did initially.

But anyway, it seems he thinks a solution like just going into the market and buying the best specialist CB available is somehow too simple and almost beneath him. If other decision-makers at the club don't prevail upon him, I fully expect to see the CB pairing of Walker and Fernandinho at some point.

Found myself nodding along with every word. It's as if he has to prove something by shoehorning players into new positions. It's been an ongoing feature throughout his career, and largely an unnecessary one.

Mascherano at cb. Lahm at cm. Alaba at cb. Martinez at cb. Fernandinho at cb. There's tonnes more. But these are some of the best players in their positions in the world and they're being shuffled about and asked to do a job because... reasons? It's not money. He could've bought anyone in the world at all of the clubs he's been at. It's as if he has to make things harder for himself just to prove that he can do it.

Would've liked to have seen him give himself a real challenge by not taking over world class teams with endless buckets of cash, but hey ho.
 
I hope they don't buy Kouilbaly as that will seriously improve them. I hope they do what man u did last year and panic

harry maguire is like when you go into town to get a hdmi cable or something and they're out of all the cheap good ones so you need to buy a gold plated Monster™ cable that costs 20x the price cos you really need one now
 
They've lost 9 league games over the course of a season. You can defo read something into that shit.

Koulibaly would make a huge difference. The only saving grace is he's 29 and will have to replace him again in five years.
 
They've lost 9 league games over the course of a season. You can defo read something into that shit.

Koulibaly would make a huge difference. The only saving grace is he's 29 and will have to replace him again in five years.

Five years is such a long time in football though. It's not like he's 33 or 34. Same age as Van Dijk.
 
These games? As in all the games this season?

That's how long this inconsistency has been going on for.

I'd say we can read at least something into this.

Yeah, fair shout. Even last season when they pipped us by a point they lost a few games against the lesser sides.
 
I hope they don't buy Kouilbaly as that will seriously improve them. I hope they do what man u did last year and panic

harry maguire is like when you go into town to get a hdmi cable or something and they're out of all the cheap good ones so you need to buy a gold plated Monster™ cable that costs 20x the price cos you really need one now

That last phrase sure triggered some painful memories – I had to do exactly that a couple of weeks back.
 
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I think there is another angle to this, I kind of doubt the determination of every team wanting to win the league so badly, some try and are not good enough, but this City lot they have won it a few times now, and perhaps the will or desire is not enough in every game, I think most of those players have got their eye on the CL - it is the universal cup that is seen as the apex of club football. There are three tiers to this league this season - us - with an absolute determination to win every game till we win the league, then there is City, then there are the other clubs. So of their inconsistent form can be put down to us applying the pressure over the course of the season - but the other part of this story is the story of the PL adapting to City's style.
 
Loris and Son are kicking off on each other. No idea why. Anyway, it’s half time and a shite mid table clash.
 
This is a pretty good match. Chelsea are a fun team to watch and Palace are putting up a fight as well.
 
You know, if he would come, I think Willian would be a very very sweet backup for our front three.

I think he’ll go for a mega contract somewhere. Definitely way above what we could offer.
 
You know, if he would come, I think Willian would be a very very sweet backup for our front three.

I thought I read somewhere he was linked to a couple of Serie A clubs - Roma, Inter (?). Makes sense from his perspective. He could be a guaranteed starter for a number of years in Serie A.
 
Unless Salah or Mane get a few hatricks in the remaining games the golden boot will definitely go to Auba or Vardy.
 
I know Leicester haven't been all that for a bit but Arsenal are tearing them apart and should be another couple of goals to the good by now.
 
I was shocked to see that if this result stays the same, Arsenal will be just 6 points behind Leicester.

Mad considering how good Leicester had been, and how shit Arsenal were before this recent run.
 
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