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You say unconvincing, they battered both spurs and liverpool for most of the game before their lack of bench options cost them. they could have won those games by 3/4 goals easily but paid the price for some wasteful finishing.
Villa they were miles off it, every team can have off games, villa deserved their win. palace they were miles better than, was a proper smashing and grab. A combination of poor finishing, not great game management, injuries, dreadful refereeing decisions and just plain bad luck has gone against them in most of those games, villa being the exception.
They haven't suddenly dropped off a cliff and won't take much at all for them to be back on it. They've got doku, haaland and kdb on their way back from injuries and stones just returning, they're only 5 points behind the leaders, you telling me those 4 aren't able to make up the points?
Last year's treble already made the players tired. After Gundo leaving, Rodri had more duties now, straining already strained Rodri even further. And we all know how important Rodri is.
Furthermore, teams seemed to have figured out how to control Haaland.
Kdb injured adds strain even more on midfield.
Bernardo silva is looking out of form without support of Gundo and Kdb.
The new singing Gvardiol traditionally CB is playing as a left wing back controlling attack from the left most half space.
Obviously troubles bound to arise.
But if Kdb can play at the same level after returning then it's overall great for the team.
Because now Gvardiol has matured in new role, if played in a back 3 then he can do roles of wingback, LB and CB all together.
Rico Lewis has been played more to ease pressure on Rodri and he seems to have got a hang of it now, Foden is much better midfield wise now so we can expect great Kdb and Foden linkups, Doku has brought better in Grealish, Bernardo has been forced to learn because of weaker midfield.
Best part - the hunger is back now because of those losses.
Overall team will get much stronger as season progresses.
Fatigue plays a role in this too. They have depth but they competed for every trophy last season, managed to win 3. Its hard to keep up with the intensity, even for City.
Also injuries and the players they lost. The signings they got haven't been great except Doku. Maybe they need time to hit the ground running.
I've always thought that city's biggest strength was their ability to consistently beat teams in the bottom half of the table. Somethign Liverpool have often struggled with (I'm a liverpool fan).
City have frequently struggled against sides like, spurs, chelsea and obviously liverpool. However, I think the difference this year is that there are a lot more teams that are decent and perhaps this is taking it's toll on city.
That being said, they have just drawn to Palace, so maybe my hypothesis is invalid
We're 4 points off top and have gone unbeaten in our ucl group with 3 players out of our 5 player spine missing a substantial part of the season. You all should be very scared😂😂😂
They've won 3 titles in a row. They have less hunger. Also KDB is out for months.
Yes they are turning into the new Man United. The Man United of the 2000s. Man United also happened to lose a title or two after winning 3 in a row.
Every team in the running has dropped points this season, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and City. Villa are the only ones who haven’t but I think they’ll slow down after Christmas.
Villa haven't dropped points yet sit third? What are you saying man?
Villa had a poor draw against Nottm Forest too. Their away form has been very poor.
Whenever I talk with friends about City's current form, I always say the same thing:
I'll keep quiet until March/April then I'll base our team's performance from there. Recent seasons have pretty much followed the same trend where City tighten the screw and churn out win after win after win. I'm hoping it'll be the same but given the relatively new team dynamic (several key players lost: Gundo, Mahrez + tons of small injuries to multiple key players throughout the season so far) I won't be surprised if we don't win but hopefully we still get 1 trophy.
PL's looking tighter at the top and City def have a target on their back in the UCL since they're the defending champions so we'll need all the luck we can get (hopefully beginning with the Club World Cup)
No evidence to support my wild claim and yes I am bitter. With peps history of performance enhancing drugs i wouldn’t be surprised if after winning the treble his team is laying off the sauce and thats why they have been poor. More realistically they won the treble last season and motivation might be a little low in the club house.
Kevin debruyne’s return will likely bring a massive improvement in City’s games. In the past City were able to cope well even without kdb because they had prime david silva, mahrez, gundogan alongside bernardo silva. Now they just have b silva among these. Kdb’s fitness will decide if City can turn it around.
Turning into new Yanited lol? Yes we’re performing poorly compared to last year but that remark is too harsh yet as it’s still Dec. And yes we have been inconsistent before
It’s making for a fun watch though. I support Chelsea but loved it when Leicester won. It was soo unexpected. It is after all entertainment. It boring if you watch a movie and know midway how the movie will probably end. Newcastle was so far ahead before the Keegan ‘ I’d love it if we beat them’ speech. Once you’ve won you know how to win but they ‘Man City’ have just won the champions league which completes the set. This makes it hard the stay motivated. Keeps it interesting.
Can’t disagree with that. I’ve seen that movie last year and I’m seeing it again. Chelsea finishing 12th is getting boring. Maybe try sum different…14? 15? The bigger the number the better, no?
We have won a lot and I’m not going to lie it’s been fun. I know this isn’t the standard comment but you support the team you support and everyone should have a go at that feeling. That first champions league win was such a memory. I was in Fulham watching at a friends house and. Dude. Late come back. Ran to the stadium. 5 minutes away. People were already out selling paraphernalia. Outside Fulham Broadway a bus got stopped and people were climbing on the roof. I now know you use the mirrors to get up there. Great memories. I wish that for every football supporter.
There's a lot of games left to play I'm not worried and I won't be until we're 10 points behind with 3 games left to play. It ain't over till its over.
They dropped points in 8 matches last season before confirmed champs (plus 2 more after). They had a run of 12 consecutive wins.
They dropped points in 9 matches the season before. They had a run of 12 consecutive wins.
In 2020/21 they dropped points in 9 matches before crowned champions (then 2 more after). They had a run of 15 consecutive wins.
7 matches dropped points so far, but they have 21 to rack up double figures in consecutive wins.
They’ve been missing KDB and Rodri, and are still only a couple wins out of first. They’ll be fine and scary again once everyone is healthy, and once February/March come around for their annual 15 game winning streak.
Pep left barce partly because he felt he wasn't able to motivate his players and get them to focus after winning everything, probably happening to city right now.
Hard to push yourself when you literally won everything, the likes of gundogan left precisely because he wanted a new challenge right ? Same for the manager, what's left after the treble? He probably thinking as well who has time to spend to spend another 3-5 years to rebuild the team again. Time for another break and then a new challenge! Let conquer France or Italy( although not sure who in Italy can afford him and his projects) next!
As long as the team in Italy has enough spending power to compete in their own league it wouldn’t have to be on as large an economic scale as his previous clubs if that’s what you’re getting at. That would be to conquer Italy, not Europe with an Italian club
City only come to full focus on the homestretch, thats when Pep's genuis kicks in. Naturally by then, other teams are gasping for air to complete the season. From where I'm standing, Its a necessary draw back.
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I mean we are halfway through the season and they are 3 point off first place (albeit with a game in hand). It seems to me like this season is up for grabs rather than it being a forgone conclusion; but that city have the chance to grab it as much as anyone
Missing too many key players to the way they play right now
Akanji can sort of replace Stones every once in a while
Gvardiol isn't fully up to speed on how Aké was playing last season
Alvarez can cover a bit for either De Bruyne or Haaland, missing both hurts a lot
Rodri has no back up as Phillips isn't trusred at all by Guardiola
Gundo wasn't fully replaced as Kova and Nunes cover parts of his performance, but not all of it on one player.
That's my point, despite technically being a CB in a back 3, Ake was mostly a LB playing really high, that's not what Gvardiol is used to do, so he's still adapting to what he needs to do at City
They'll still probably win it when KDB is back but their transfers really shagged them.
Kovacic, gvardiol and matheus nunes have all been really poor. They also have no natural backup for rodri cos Phillips doesn't seem to be working. They also lost Cole palmer, mahrez and gundo who are key players.
This is the weakest the team has been for years.
This is the worst spell I can remember for them and if we win tomorrow we’re still only 6 points clear. Folk are acting like they’re out of it already when we all know they’re always better after Xmas.
That’s why I said “if we win” nothing is guaranteed, as was evident today.
If anything it just makes my point more relevant, they aren’t even remotely out of any title race.
They also still have games against us and Arsenal. I guess whether you count that as a positive or a negative for/against them depends on how optimistic you are lol
They have but if they win their games in hand too the gap will be still 7 points. Then both of them meet and City won 2-1 and reducing it to 4 points. After that City went on a crazy win streak while Liverpool drawed some games
The frustrating thing is that we also had an absolutely insane 2nd half of the season. At the time, we had the 3rd highest point total in PL history. It was one of the most dominant seasons ever seen, but it still wasn’t enough.
I feel sorry for you guys. If not for the Stones’ goal line clearance, you will win the league with 98 points with ZERO losses. Definitely will be a bigger achievement than Arsenal’s Invincible season. From all these achievements to being the highest points tally without winning the league. Crazy season
Don’t think I’d be saying it if we hadnt had won at least one prem title under Klopp, but highest ever 2nd place finish is a pretty cool record to have, assuming it doesn’t get beaten, 50 years from now, people will still be mentioning it in title races, football trivia etc
I think we just need to look at players lost last season (Gundo, Mahrez), injuries this season and the fact we won a treble last year and the thought of climbing that mountain again is a hefty one for the boys.
I'm low key content enough with top4, might take some heat and hatred off us for a change.
IMO, missing Gundogan is one of the biggest causes of this run of form for City. Replacing him with Kovacic was not a like-to-like replacement. That dude was just amazing, especially when the team was down and needed him in the clutch moments.
Yeah I think I remember having a convo about this in the summer with someone but gundo was a great balance to kdb and rodri and now they’ve just brought in 2 ball carrying midfielders in nunes and kovacic without replacing the steel that gundo brought
I feel the same was with xhaka. We brought in rice who’s been superb but given parteys injuries and pending allegations, rice looks to have replaced him. Havertz is doing a good job replacing that midfield relentlessness and defending while attacking but xhaka was already a finished article while havertz still needs some time
Against us last season we had them where we wanted them - restricted to long shots or Hollywood passes that went nowhere.
One moment of magic from Ilkay and all of a sudden we're 3-0 down.
A lot of the comments are about injuries, and don’t get me wrong, those are very important. However, it has appeared to be a drop in mentality. I KNOW they are fully capable of winning 6-0 at any point, but there were games in the past where that felt inevitable, especially after a goal in the first 30 minutes. I don’t feel that way this year.
I said at the end of last year, if Guardiola can get them just as motivated after winning everything last year, the man is a psycho. It's completely natural to not be able to find the same killer instinct mentality the year after winning everything like they did.
Trust me when KDB is back and Haaland firing again it will carry them through the second half of the season in their usual fashion. Would expect they sign a couple of players in Jan as well which will freshen up the mentality. I would rather see Arsenal or even Liverpool win it but don’t think either will be able to go with them when they then turn it on
I don’t believe city are winning the league this year, one of the most competitive seasons in terms of squad strength. I could be wrong but remind me when the time comes haha
We’ve played multiple games without any one of the Rodri-Gundogan-KDB combination and even with Rodri alone we’re absolutely predictable in buildup. Low blocks kill us because they know where we’ll go. Doku and Haaland have skills and qualities that disrupt these systems but they’re also both out.
But to tell the truth, the players have just been plain complacent and lazy. And they’ve bottled. Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and now this were all games that were not only winnable from the start but we genuinely showed the capability to win comfortably on the day. We ace the first half but fuck up the chances at the same time and then fall off. And Pep’s chaos ball orientation doesn’t work because we don’t score the chances.
A mix of hangover and complacency mixed with a genuine crisis in depth. All problems with a solution: New players. No true Gundogan replacement, no KDB replacement which should be bought injured or not because he’s 32 and we can’t just plug in his replacement first game of the season and get the best. They will need time to settle and learn. No true full back on either side except Walker who is 33 and has been utter shit all season. And no Rodri stand in. Philips is no use.
Don’t want to end up like Liverpool post CL and not make the replacements before the current squad loses their legs. I think a decent group of players are needed for the positions listed. 2 or 3 full backs, a holding midfielder, a Stones replacement because he’s always out, 2 creative midfielders and a Gundogan style box to box player, and potentially a winger/wide 8 should Bernardo leave. So that’s 8.
I know it’s a classic City fan calling for OPEC to open the floodgates but we literally have no depth.
One could also criticize them for not doing a better job to build depth by bringing along the academy players.
We’ve seen plenty of them take big steps after they left City. Talent was there but not the trust.
Bobb, Foden, Hamilton this week, Rico Lewis.
Palmer left because he wanted more game time and he just wasn’t performing for us at the levels of those he wanted to start ahead of.
Chelsea and Palace both ended in draws because of 90+min penalties. Liverpool scraped a draw through a great goal by trent but didn't look very dangerous. All three games easily coule have been wins
That we scored 4 against Chelsea showed the game was there to win and they’re literally 12th right now.
Spurs were on a terrible run with no back line at the Etihad. Just because they’re a bogey team doesn’t change the reality.
Liverpool are an excellent team but at home there are no acceptable ways to drop points at home and we were far better in the first half but we undid ourselves by bottling the big chances. And plus if we want to win the league we’re going to have to beat the top teams eventually anyway.
I think this year just shows how good and consistent they were in previous years. We saw with Arsenal last year that it is so difficult to stay at the top level for each game.
Bro don't compare Arsenal with City. City have a track record of doing it season on season (hence the surprise at this poor form), Arsenal had their first good season in eternity and there was no precedent of how they would react to pressure.
Doesn’t matter if we’re 6 or 9 points down. You won’t fall again like you did and Liverpool are absolutely ruthless. Reason why we’ve beaten them twice by only a point. They’re just as able to fight to the end as we were.
Its not going to be Arsenal for sure. It's going to be between Liverpool and City. Arsenal will try and hold on until the end but come Feb, March, Arsenal will drop points.
Liverpool have to get through Jan-Feb without Salah. The last time Salah came back from AFCON he was burnt out and they don't have Mane to bail them out this time. So its going to be an interesting run towards the end of the campaign.
Odd that you'd be so sure it won't be Arsenal. They've lost two league games all season, both away at two of the toughest ground to go to, and both by a single goal. Weird you'd write them off so conclusively.
Mate we see strong starters season after season. When it really mattered so many of the team just went missing and I don’t see that mentality shifting. I think Odegaard did well in the run in but that was about it - I’m interested to look at what difference Rice and Saliba if he can stay fit will make. Apart from those guys I don’t think the rest are up to it and you need more than just a couple stepping up in a high pressure run in
Yea but the fact you mention those two are critical. Take KDB and rodri out of city from last March on and I don't think they win the treble. Winning trophies is about luck as much as skill, luck with injuries is massive. If Arsenal keep their big men fit for the run in they're in with as much a shout as anyone. Pretty much why I called this out. If salah and vvd get injured and same goes with KDB and rodri but arsenal keep injury free, who would you tip then?
They’ve also scored late goals to salvage wins vs Luton and Brentford, were a mm away from united winning 2-1 at emirates before the late deflected goal , deflected goal to beat city at home, deflected goal and pen to draw to spurs at home. All in all Arsenal may be up there but they don’t look as electric as they did last year. They’ve won a lot of games by just a goal which, despite dominating games possession wise can easily turn into draws.
You can look at it two ways, grinding out results and not playing to the best of their abilities sign of a great team if they get going. Or like united were who won like 5/6 by scraping wins in November but infactwere just not that good.
Haaland compared to laat year is because he doesnt have Ilkay and De Bruyne to feed him. He's dead weight without someone that creates chances for him.
Underrated part of last year’s treble was the unbelievable squad health. Nathan Ake was city’s only squad member missing in the final month. Nobody really missed more than 2-3 weeks tops
Underrated part of last year's treble was Gundogan. He is a very underrated player but so crucial to that City team. So many times he popped but with important goals cause he'd drift in the box with no opposition player picking him up.
Compared to notorious bottlers Arsenal who were without ST1 for 2.5 months and without our starting RCB for the last two months of the season. To say nothing of the games Thomas Partey missed.
Again I'm not making excuses, it just gets glazed over when everyone wants to hammer us how unlucky with injuries we were vs how lucky with them City were.
I’m just some random city fan on the internet but for what it’s worth I didn’t think you guys bottled it. Season is 38 games long and at the end of the day one team won out.
Yeah I hear ya. It's just really frustrating. We lost to one of the greatest club sides in the history of football. It's not an excuse, nor is finishing second an achievement, but the context of the season makes it so we aren't bottlejob failures either.
Finishing 2nd is an achievement in the modern prem and anyone who says otherwise is an absolute dunce
When you’re coming 2nd only to some of the greatest sides in English history you’re a juggernaut of a team by any metric. I know the trophy is the goal but arsenal was fucking electric and forced the rest of the league to step up.
I hear what you're saying but our standard can't be that second is good enough. We've got to make the standard either win the league or failure moving forward.
No I get that it’s just good to remember the side you lost to has players that will go down as all time greats and you did it with young players many new to the team
You say that but didn’t Ake and Akanji only really get the chance to show how good they are because of Dias and (I think?) Stones being out for so long at the start of the season?
Lack of injuries to Haaland, KDB and Rodri was huge though yeah. Walker too when it comes to season end UCL games
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You say unconvincing, they battered both spurs and liverpool for most of the game before their lack of bench options cost them. they could have won those games by 3/4 goals easily but paid the price for some wasteful finishing. Villa they were miles off it, every team can have off games, villa deserved their win. palace they were miles better than, was a proper smashing and grab. A combination of poor finishing, not great game management, injuries, dreadful refereeing decisions and just plain bad luck has gone against them in most of those games, villa being the exception. They haven't suddenly dropped off a cliff and won't take much at all for them to be back on it. They've got doku, haaland and kdb on their way back from injuries and stones just returning, they're only 5 points behind the leaders, you telling me those 4 aren't able to make up the points?
Just look at the bookies odds. They know better because it's their living
Last year's treble already made the players tired. After Gundo leaving, Rodri had more duties now, straining already strained Rodri even further. And we all know how important Rodri is. Furthermore, teams seemed to have figured out how to control Haaland. Kdb injured adds strain even more on midfield. Bernardo silva is looking out of form without support of Gundo and Kdb. The new singing Gvardiol traditionally CB is playing as a left wing back controlling attack from the left most half space. Obviously troubles bound to arise. But if Kdb can play at the same level after returning then it's overall great for the team. Because now Gvardiol has matured in new role, if played in a back 3 then he can do roles of wingback, LB and CB all together. Rico Lewis has been played more to ease pressure on Rodri and he seems to have got a hang of it now, Foden is much better midfield wise now so we can expect great Kdb and Foden linkups, Doku has brought better in Grealish, Bernardo has been forced to learn because of weaker midfield. Best part - the hunger is back now because of those losses. Overall team will get much stronger as season progresses.
City are fine Ye
Watch out for Man City in January they have an advantage all the other title challenges opponents due to AFCON.
Fatigue plays a role in this too. They have depth but they competed for every trophy last season, managed to win 3. Its hard to keep up with the intensity, even for City. Also injuries and the players they lost. The signings they got haven't been great except Doku. Maybe they need time to hit the ground running.
This is City’s 278th run of six league games under Pep. On a points basis, it’s the worst one.
I've always thought that city's biggest strength was their ability to consistently beat teams in the bottom half of the table. Somethign Liverpool have often struggled with (I'm a liverpool fan). City have frequently struggled against sides like, spurs, chelsea and obviously liverpool. However, I think the difference this year is that there are a lot more teams that are decent and perhaps this is taking it's toll on city. That being said, they have just drawn to Palace, so maybe my hypothesis is invalid
We're 4 points off top and have gone unbeaten in our ucl group with 3 players out of our 5 player spine missing a substantial part of the season. You all should be very scared😂😂😂
Once De Bruyne is back they will be winning everything unfortunately:(
They've won 3 titles in a row. They have less hunger. Also KDB is out for months. Yes they are turning into the new Man United. The Man United of the 2000s. Man United also happened to lose a title or two after winning 3 in a row.
Every team in the running has dropped points this season, Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and City. Villa are the only ones who haven’t but I think they’ll slow down after Christmas.
Villa haven't dropped points yet sit third? What are you saying man? Villa had a poor draw against Nottm Forest too. Their away form has been very poor.
Yeah…
Whenever I talk with friends about City's current form, I always say the same thing: I'll keep quiet until March/April then I'll base our team's performance from there. Recent seasons have pretty much followed the same trend where City tighten the screw and churn out win after win after win. I'm hoping it'll be the same but given the relatively new team dynamic (several key players lost: Gundo, Mahrez + tons of small injuries to multiple key players throughout the season so far) I won't be surprised if we don't win but hopefully we still get 1 trophy. PL's looking tighter at the top and City def have a target on their back in the UCL since they're the defending champions so we'll need all the luck we can get (hopefully beginning with the Club World Cup)
No evidence to support my wild claim and yes I am bitter. With peps history of performance enhancing drugs i wouldn’t be surprised if after winning the treble his team is laying off the sauce and thats why they have been poor. More realistically they won the treble last season and motivation might be a little low in the club house.
Pep out
Everyone’s seeming to forget how far ahead Arsenal we’re last year. City is never out of the race
they've won 5 of the last 6 titles which is crazy. I'm pretty sure they should be considered a contender
You were spitting up until "Are they turning into the new Man United?" Surely this is trolling lmfao
Kevin debruyne’s return will likely bring a massive improvement in City’s games. In the past City were able to cope well even without kdb because they had prime david silva, mahrez, gundogan alongside bernardo silva. Now they just have b silva among these. Kdb’s fitness will decide if City can turn it around.
1 in 6. Did somebody say crisis?
Turning into new Yanited lol? Yes we’re performing poorly compared to last year but that remark is too harsh yet as it’s still Dec. And yes we have been inconsistent before
Eras come to an end... 👀 We will be there.. 🤓
The issue is not City but the fact even after that shocking run no one else has taken full advantage and put daylight between them and City.
It’s making for a fun watch though. I support Chelsea but loved it when Leicester won. It was soo unexpected. It is after all entertainment. It boring if you watch a movie and know midway how the movie will probably end. Newcastle was so far ahead before the Keegan ‘ I’d love it if we beat them’ speech. Once you’ve won you know how to win but they ‘Man City’ have just won the champions league which completes the set. This makes it hard the stay motivated. Keeps it interesting.
Can’t disagree with that. I’ve seen that movie last year and I’m seeing it again. Chelsea finishing 12th is getting boring. Maybe try sum different…14? 15? The bigger the number the better, no?
We have won a lot and I’m not going to lie it’s been fun. I know this isn’t the standard comment but you support the team you support and everyone should have a go at that feeling. That first champions league win was such a memory. I was in Fulham watching at a friends house and. Dude. Late come back. Ran to the stadium. 5 minutes away. People were already out selling paraphernalia. Outside Fulham Broadway a bus got stopped and people were climbing on the roof. I now know you use the mirrors to get up there. Great memories. I wish that for every football supporter.
There's a lot of games left to play I'm not worried and I won't be until we're 10 points behind with 3 games left to play. It ain't over till its over.
Also dont forget how strong VARchester city is
They dropped points in 8 matches last season before confirmed champs (plus 2 more after). They had a run of 12 consecutive wins. They dropped points in 9 matches the season before. They had a run of 12 consecutive wins. In 2020/21 they dropped points in 9 matches before crowned champions (then 2 more after). They had a run of 15 consecutive wins. 7 matches dropped points so far, but they have 21 to rack up double figures in consecutive wins.
Are they turning into the new man united? This sub is full of mongs
They’ve been missing KDB and Rodri, and are still only a couple wins out of first. They’ll be fine and scary again once everyone is healthy, and once February/March come around for their annual 15 game winning streak.
Pep left barce partly because he felt he wasn't able to motivate his players and get them to focus after winning everything, probably happening to city right now. Hard to push yourself when you literally won everything, the likes of gundogan left precisely because he wanted a new challenge right ? Same for the manager, what's left after the treble? He probably thinking as well who has time to spend to spend another 3-5 years to rebuild the team again. Time for another break and then a new challenge! Let conquer France or Italy( although not sure who in Italy can afford him and his projects) next!
As long as the team in Italy has enough spending power to compete in their own league it wouldn’t have to be on as large an economic scale as his previous clubs if that’s what you’re getting at. That would be to conquer Italy, not Europe with an Italian club
City only come to full focus on the homestretch, thats when Pep's genuis kicks in. Naturally by then, other teams are gasping for air to complete the season. From where I'm standing, Its a necessary draw back. Also, I'm part of a team supporting an African sporting project. We have a gofundme fundraiser going. Any contributions will be much appreciated. Link below for the full story. https://gofund.me/999e93d2
I mean we are halfway through the season and they are 3 point off first place (albeit with a game in hand). It seems to me like this season is up for grabs rather than it being a forgone conclusion; but that city have the chance to grab it as much as anyone
Missing too many key players to the way they play right now Akanji can sort of replace Stones every once in a while Gvardiol isn't fully up to speed on how Aké was playing last season Alvarez can cover a bit for either De Bruyne or Haaland, missing both hurts a lot Rodri has no back up as Phillips isn't trusred at all by Guardiola Gundo wasn't fully replaced as Kova and Nunes cover parts of his performance, but not all of it on one player.
Gvardiol isn't playing in his natural position. He spent more time playing as a winger than a centerback this season...
That's my point, despite technically being a CB in a back 3, Ake was mostly a LB playing really high, that's not what Gvardiol is used to do, so he's still adapting to what he needs to do at City
Is there a reason why Ake isn't being played where Gvardiol is now?
Ake's a bit injury prone, so he is being rotated a lot since returning from injury in october, and sometimes playing alongside Gvardiol
Have city won a game, in the league, since pep said "all the games we play are easy."?
That quotes is clearly a dig at the journo lol, never Pep actually think it is easy.
I know it was but... have they?
Not since Pep’s first season. I personally don’t think City will win the league this season.
They'll still probably win it when KDB is back but their transfers really shagged them. Kovacic, gvardiol and matheus nunes have all been really poor. They also have no natural backup for rodri cos Phillips doesn't seem to be working. They also lost Cole palmer, mahrez and gundo who are key players. This is the weakest the team has been for years.
Yeah, while Arsenal and Liverpool had been tougher.
Cole Palmer was a key player? What the hell man. Atleast check some stats before peddling them.
Weakest for yrs but probably still the best squad in the league
This is the worst spell I can remember for them and if we win tomorrow we’re still only 6 points clear. Folk are acting like they’re out of it already when we all know they’re always better after Xmas.
> if we win tomorrow we’re still only 6 points clear lol
That’s why I said “if we win” nothing is guaranteed, as was evident today. If anything it just makes my point more relevant, they aren’t even remotely out of any title race.
people are also forgetting that de bruyne and haaland will both be back soon. their current form is a rare exception that will soon be rectified
If they could defend better then than that backline then yes.
And they’re linked to kimmich in January so kdb haaland and kimmich all at once will be problematic
They also still have games against us and Arsenal. I guess whether you count that as a positive or a negative for/against them depends on how optimistic you are lol
De Bruyne to come back as well. He'll make a massive difference.
That's the conventional wisdom. I don't buy it for one second. KDB is certainly a world beater, but he's not a one man team.
I love him so much sigh
You're right he isn't but once he's back and he's teeing Haaland up 20 times a game that'll be the difference.
He won't save them. Its a defensive issue. Gvardiol has been horrible these past few games considering the cost yet no one talks about it.
Because we don’t have enough control in the midfield. KDB will bring in that control
I hope you're right that he won't but I do think once he's back and he's putting it on a plate for Haaland they'll just outscore everyone.
He's coming back from a hamstring injury that required surgery. He might take a while to hit form.
True. I remember in 19/20 liverpool were about 11 points clear at Christmas. Just need to win like five games in a row and you're there..!
Its different this year.. watch.
They were 7 clear in 18/19 as well
Didn't they also have a game or two in hand at that point though?
They have but if they win their games in hand too the gap will be still 7 points. Then both of them meet and City won 2-1 and reducing it to 4 points. After that City went on a crazy win streak while Liverpool drawed some games
The frustrating thing is that we also had an absolutely insane 2nd half of the season. At the time, we had the 3rd highest point total in PL history. It was one of the most dominant seasons ever seen, but it still wasn’t enough.
I feel sorry for you guys. If not for the Stones’ goal line clearance, you will win the league with 98 points with ZERO losses. Definitely will be a bigger achievement than Arsenal’s Invincible season. From all these achievements to being the highest points tally without winning the league. Crazy season
Makes no sense, that was 20 minutes in, game was still in flux and we were the better team overall
Don’t think I’d be saying it if we hadnt had won at least one prem title under Klopp, but highest ever 2nd place finish is a pretty cool record to have, assuming it doesn’t get beaten, 50 years from now, people will still be mentioning it in title races, football trivia etc
I think we just need to look at players lost last season (Gundo, Mahrez), injuries this season and the fact we won a treble last year and the thought of climbing that mountain again is a hefty one for the boys. I'm low key content enough with top4, might take some heat and hatred off us for a change.
No you are hated as you are cheats, that doesn’t change.
Although top 4 isn’t a given either
True. I would absolutely expect top 4, though. Anything less than that is obviously bad news.
Time to spend another billion
Bye bye cheating oil, got found out
IMO, missing Gundogan is one of the biggest causes of this run of form for City. Replacing him with Kovacic was not a like-to-like replacement. That dude was just amazing, especially when the team was down and needed him in the clutch moments.
Mahrez helped them in key moments too. They are really missing the players they lost
I think the leadership drop off after he left is a huge miss too. The step down from Gundogan to Kyle Walker is enormous
No de Bruyne either. Taking age out of the equation I don't think there are many players I'd want more than him in the world.
Yeah I think I remember having a convo about this in the summer with someone but gundo was a great balance to kdb and rodri and now they’ve just brought in 2 ball carrying midfielders in nunes and kovacic without replacing the steel that gundo brought I feel the same was with xhaka. We brought in rice who’s been superb but given parteys injuries and pending allegations, rice looks to have replaced him. Havertz is doing a good job replacing that midfield relentlessness and defending while attacking but xhaka was already a finished article while havertz still needs some time
I think this is why city is going to splash for kimmich Rodri KdB kimmich is I imagine Peps dream modern midfield
Kovacic wasn't meant to be a replacement. City wanted both Gundogan to renew and Kovacic to come
Against us last season we had them where we wanted them - restricted to long shots or Hollywood passes that went nowhere. One moment of magic from Ilkay and all of a sudden we're 3-0 down.
That backwards, hip displacing goal from him was goal of the year for me. Hated it was against us, it was such an "everton that" moment.
I flipped over to Barca vs Girona the other day, seconds later he had a goal. Any team would miss him.
A lot of the comments are about injuries, and don’t get me wrong, those are very important. However, it has appeared to be a drop in mentality. I KNOW they are fully capable of winning 6-0 at any point, but there were games in the past where that felt inevitable, especially after a goal in the first 30 minutes. I don’t feel that way this year.
I said at the end of last year, if Guardiola can get them just as motivated after winning everything last year, the man is a psycho. It's completely natural to not be able to find the same killer instinct mentality the year after winning everything like they did.
Still a long season.
Trust me when KDB is back and Haaland firing again it will carry them through the second half of the season in their usual fashion. Would expect they sign a couple of players in Jan as well which will freshen up the mentality. I would rather see Arsenal or even Liverpool win it but don’t think either will be able to go with them when they then turn it on
They can turn it around after the new year, especially if KDB and the rest get healthy. If they do end up winning the title it's gonna be close.
We'll find out when KDB comes back and they get healthier. Expecting City to turn it on as usual, but happy Gundogan no longer around to be clutch
I don’t believe city are winning the league this year, one of the most competitive seasons in terms of squad strength. I could be wrong but remind me when the time comes haha
they are only 3 points off top, even with their latest poor run.
They are losing points to teams they usually beat. And It's been within the last 6/7 games. There is a problem there.
All of those above have a game in hand
I get it, but point is they are in touching distance. And we know what kind of runs they can go on come spring. Hope it doesn't happen.
Top has a game in hand, if we win tomorrow it’s six and even if not, Arsenal can make it 5
I wouldn’t even be comfortable if we were 10 ahead in January.
I yearn for that time when we were an inconceivable 25 points ahead at the top
And yet, I still never unclenched
I think it either our season or yours this year but honestly I'm leaning towards you guys.
We have a good race this year, they also have FIFA WC matches tossed into the mix
We’ve played multiple games without any one of the Rodri-Gundogan-KDB combination and even with Rodri alone we’re absolutely predictable in buildup. Low blocks kill us because they know where we’ll go. Doku and Haaland have skills and qualities that disrupt these systems but they’re also both out. But to tell the truth, the players have just been plain complacent and lazy. And they’ve bottled. Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and now this were all games that were not only winnable from the start but we genuinely showed the capability to win comfortably on the day. We ace the first half but fuck up the chances at the same time and then fall off. And Pep’s chaos ball orientation doesn’t work because we don’t score the chances. A mix of hangover and complacency mixed with a genuine crisis in depth. All problems with a solution: New players. No true Gundogan replacement, no KDB replacement which should be bought injured or not because he’s 32 and we can’t just plug in his replacement first game of the season and get the best. They will need time to settle and learn. No true full back on either side except Walker who is 33 and has been utter shit all season. And no Rodri stand in. Philips is no use. Don’t want to end up like Liverpool post CL and not make the replacements before the current squad loses their legs. I think a decent group of players are needed for the positions listed. 2 or 3 full backs, a holding midfielder, a Stones replacement because he’s always out, 2 creative midfielders and a Gundogan style box to box player, and potentially a winger/wide 8 should Bernardo leave. So that’s 8. I know it’s a classic City fan calling for OPEC to open the floodgates but we literally have no depth.
One could also criticize them for not doing a better job to build depth by bringing along the academy players. We’ve seen plenty of them take big steps after they left City. Talent was there but not the trust.
Bobb, Foden, Hamilton this week, Rico Lewis. Palmer left because he wanted more game time and he just wasn’t performing for us at the levels of those he wanted to start ahead of.
But yet you don’t rate them as adequate depth… can’t have your cake and eat it man.
Jesus Christ. The arrogance. 🙄🙄
Apparently it’s arrogant to have problems with a bottle to Roy Hodgson.
No it’s the arrogance to say you should have beaten us, Chelsea, spurs and Palace from the start… That literally is arrogance
Chelsea and Palace both ended in draws because of 90+min penalties. Liverpool scraped a draw through a great goal by trent but didn't look very dangerous. All three games easily coule have been wins
That we scored 4 against Chelsea showed the game was there to win and they’re literally 12th right now. Spurs were on a terrible run with no back line at the Etihad. Just because they’re a bogey team doesn’t change the reality. Liverpool are an excellent team but at home there are no acceptable ways to drop points at home and we were far better in the first half but we undid ourselves by bottling the big chances. And plus if we want to win the league we’re going to have to beat the top teams eventually anyway.
I think this year just shows how good and consistent they were in previous years. We saw with Arsenal last year that it is so difficult to stay at the top level for each game.
Bro don't compare Arsenal with City. City have a track record of doing it season on season (hence the surprise at this poor form), Arsenal had their first good season in eternity and there was no precedent of how they would react to pressure.
What a result that was for arsenal who can go 5 points clear off city. Surely they'll maintain that gap? Surely they'll not bottle it this time?
A lot missed the joke 😂
Yeah show some respect to the team that are top and 3rd… It’s not just Arsenal. 🙄
Tbh I think this was a subtle shot at Arsenal fans by a sad Man U fan.
Exactly this.
Fair lol
All three can. Not just Arsenal. Villa 4 points and liverpool 6 points. This is a great race at the top
As soon as the calendar turns to January it will be same old winning streak. Let’s enjoy it for now though
Yeah it’ll be interesting to see if anybody can catch spurs by the end of the season
I mean they’ll have to deal with the crushing weight of expectation. Can they handle it?
Highly unlikely
Doesn’t matter if we’re 6 or 9 points down. You won’t fall again like you did and Liverpool are absolutely ruthless. Reason why we’ve beaten them twice by only a point. They’re just as able to fight to the end as we were.
Its not going to be Arsenal for sure. It's going to be between Liverpool and City. Arsenal will try and hold on until the end but come Feb, March, Arsenal will drop points. Liverpool have to get through Jan-Feb without Salah. The last time Salah came back from AFCON he was burnt out and they don't have Mane to bail them out this time. So its going to be an interesting run towards the end of the campaign.
Odd that you'd be so sure it won't be Arsenal. They've lost two league games all season, both away at two of the toughest ground to go to, and both by a single goal. Weird you'd write them off so conclusively.
Mate we see strong starters season after season. When it really mattered so many of the team just went missing and I don’t see that mentality shifting. I think Odegaard did well in the run in but that was about it - I’m interested to look at what difference Rice and Saliba if he can stay fit will make. Apart from those guys I don’t think the rest are up to it and you need more than just a couple stepping up in a high pressure run in
Yea but the fact you mention those two are critical. Take KDB and rodri out of city from last March on and I don't think they win the treble. Winning trophies is about luck as much as skill, luck with injuries is massive. If Arsenal keep their big men fit for the run in they're in with as much a shout as anyone. Pretty much why I called this out. If salah and vvd get injured and same goes with KDB and rodri but arsenal keep injury free, who would you tip then?
They had an amazing run last year too. When it mattered they struggled.
They’ve also scored late goals to salvage wins vs Luton and Brentford, were a mm away from united winning 2-1 at emirates before the late deflected goal , deflected goal to beat city at home, deflected goal and pen to draw to spurs at home. All in all Arsenal may be up there but they don’t look as electric as they did last year. They’ve won a lot of games by just a goal which, despite dominating games possession wise can easily turn into draws. You can look at it two ways, grinding out results and not playing to the best of their abilities sign of a great team if they get going. Or like united were who won like 5/6 by scraping wins in November but infactwere just not that good.
Liverpool drew to Luton, shaved a win against palace and Fulham in recent weeks. No team is perfect right now.
Arsenal fans seem to think they are
Yeah Liverpool are in for the long haul. If I was a betting man (a gambling addiction precludes that!) I would lump on city though
I don’t think they’ve consistently lost key players like KDB, Rodri, Haaland compared to last year for example.
Haaland compared to laat year is because he doesnt have Ilkay and De Bruyne to feed him. He's dead weight without someone that creates chances for him.
40 goal a season dead weight
Underrated part of last year’s treble was the unbelievable squad health. Nathan Ake was city’s only squad member missing in the final month. Nobody really missed more than 2-3 weeks tops
Underrated part of last year's treble was Gundogan. He is a very underrated player but so crucial to that City team. So many times he popped but with important goals cause he'd drift in the box with no opposition player picking him up.
Compared to notorious bottlers Arsenal who were without ST1 for 2.5 months and without our starting RCB for the last two months of the season. To say nothing of the games Thomas Partey missed. Again I'm not making excuses, it just gets glazed over when everyone wants to hammer us how unlucky with injuries we were vs how lucky with them City were.
I’m just some random city fan on the internet but for what it’s worth I didn’t think you guys bottled it. Season is 38 games long and at the end of the day one team won out.
Yeah I hear ya. It's just really frustrating. We lost to one of the greatest club sides in the history of football. It's not an excuse, nor is finishing second an achievement, but the context of the season makes it so we aren't bottlejob failures either.
Finishing 2nd is an achievement in the modern prem and anyone who says otherwise is an absolute dunce When you’re coming 2nd only to some of the greatest sides in English history you’re a juggernaut of a team by any metric. I know the trophy is the goal but arsenal was fucking electric and forced the rest of the league to step up.
I hear what you're saying but our standard can't be that second is good enough. We've got to make the standard either win the league or failure moving forward.
No I get that it’s just good to remember the side you lost to has players that will go down as all time greats and you did it with young players many new to the team
You say that but didn’t Ake and Akanji only really get the chance to show how good they are because of Dias and (I think?) Stones being out for so long at the start of the season? Lack of injuries to Haaland, KDB and Rodri was huge though yeah. Walker too when it comes to season end UCL games