Ali Benarbia - Still one of my all time Favourites

Who could forget that magnificent goal against Sunderland ? Berko, Ali and the Goat were all involved. It was so great to watch !
 
He was of a level at the time, a little like kinky. and great during dire times, however, not in the same league as merlin and I think we have a better player in his namesake!
Notwithstanding Bernardo of course, but he needs back up / competition from a player of similar ilk. I watched a few matches of Benarbia for Monaco, Bordeaux & PSG, & it's only then you can see he was the real deal.

We got Benarbia at the end of his career, but it has to be recognised that he was the player who made PSG's super team of the 90s tick, which included Ronaldinho.
 
I think Eyal was doing just fine at WHU ...until a certain Mr Hartson intervened.
Got the impression no one would stand up to Mr H and iirc Eyal was never the same player for the Hammers afterwards.
I remember that. Hartson nutted him in training didn't he? I think Eyal went to Celtic after before coming to City, but I'm glad KK saw the benefit of playing a 3-5-2 to accommodate them both.
 
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Hartson would probably have wasted Eyal in a one on one scrap, but that's still a shit house move to spark him like that during training. It reminds me of Barton's training ground attack on Dabo... Another shit house attack.
 
His best display for us, imo.


My lad's first ever away game and the bugger saw us score 6, what I always remember from that game without watching the clip is Edghill getting loads of stick and being down injured on the edge of the penalty area, getting up to make an important tackle which could well have changed the shape of the game and collapsing again. Shame on any boo boys.
 
Notwithstanding Bernardo of course, but he needs back up / competition from a player of similar ilk. I watched a few matches of Benarbia for Monaco, Bordeaux & PSG, & it's only then you can see he was the real deal.

We got Benarbia at the end of his career, but it has to be recognised that he was the player who made PSG's super team of the 90s tick, which included Ronaldinho.

Not doubting you watched him pal, but I did also, his main standout was Monaco under Tigana, however, psg was seen as a bit of a flop with the players they had, they didn’t win a thing. He was a wonderful player, like I said, but there are genuine levels to the crop we’ve had over the last 10 years compared to those such as Ali & Eyal....

I think we romanticise these notions, now and again, due to the pleasure players like Ali gave us during more difficult times. It’s the same with Kinky, he wouldn’t get near this team today, despite the talent he possessed!
 
Not doubting you watched him pal, but I did also, his main standout was Monaco under Tigana, however, psg was seen as a bit of a flop with the players they had, they didn’t win a thing. He was a wonderful player, like I said, but there are genuine levels to the crop we’ve had over the last 10 years compared to those such as Ali & Eyal....

I think we romanticise these notions, now and again, due to the pleasure players like Ali gave us during more difficult times. It’s the same with Kinky, he wouldn’t get near this team today, despite the talent he possessed!
To be honest, I respectfully disagree. Kinky had Joe Royle as his manager, & Benarbia & Berkovic KK. City were a different proposition back then & so was the calibre of manager we could attract, the facilities & professionalism makes all the difference.

It's difficult to span the ages, but I'm pretty confident that if Kinky, Benarbia & Berkovic stood out amongst the dross they had to play with, I'm also sure they'd have positively flourished under a manager like Pep who knows how to get the best out of a player.

Conversely, could Silva, have flourished with Frank Clarke, Alan Ball or Steve Coppell as manager in the 1990s PL? Remember we had players like Jamie Pollock & Gerry Creaney in the squad too.
 
To be honest, I respectfully disagree. Kinky had Joe Royle as his manager, & Benarbia & Berkovic KK. City were a different proposition back then & so was the calibre of manager we could attract, the facilities & professionalism makes all the difference.

It's difficult to span the ages, but I'm pretty confident that if Kinky, Benarbia & Berkovic stood out amongst the dross they had to play with, I'm also sure they'd have positively flourished under a manager like Pep who knows how to get the best out of a player.

Conversely, could Silva, have flourished with Frank Clarke, Alan Ball or Steve Coppell as manager in the 1990s PL? Remember we had players like Jamie Pollock & Gerry Creaney in the squad too.

Your heart rules decisions like this, but I respect your opinions, despite them being wrong (:

Let’s look at it this way, why did none of the ‘great coaches’ take a risk on kinky? As for Ali, he’s the only one out of that bunch who would get a chance, as he displayed it at that level, but in my opinion, he wasn’t at the level of what we have today..

As for Eyal, I had a good chuckle at that one (:

Also to add, kinky played his best football, at the highest level, under Alan ball, just to clarify!
 
Your heart rules decisions like this, but I respect your opinions, despite them being wrong (:

Let’s look at it this way, why did none of the ‘great coaches’ take a risk on kinky? As for Ali, he’s the only one out of that bunch who would get a chance, as he displayed it at that level, but in my opinion, he wasn’t at the level of what we have today..

As for Eyal, I had a good chuckle at that one (:

Also to add, kinky played his best football, at the highest level, in spite of Alan ball, just to clarify!
I fixed your last paragraph for you. No need to thank me. :-)

Ajax managed by the presumably 'not so great coach' Louis Van Gaal, took Kinky for £5m which was only £2m below what ManUre paid for Andrew Cole. Talking about Ajax, I won't won't go into detail over how many times they've won Europe's premier club competition & their standing in European football at the time.

In terms of the effect a manager can have; Aguero is arguably the best foreign striker ever in English football, however reports had it that Pep wasn'y happy with his all round game.

The Superstar Aguero didn't spit his dummy out, he got his head down, listened & evolved his game which made him the vital attacking component for Pep. No other manager had an issue with Aguero before that, & this is the difference a proper manager can have in improving his players further. Are you seriously claiming Pep couldn't integrate and improve Kinky, Eyal or Ali? Really?

Were city seen as a big club with a 'great coach' when buying Yaya, Silva, Aguero, Balotelli, Dzeko, Nasri etc? We hadn't won a major trophy in nearly 40 years, so why did none of the other 'great coaches' go in for any of those players?

Like I said, I respectfully disagree with your opinion, however I respect them all the same. My views are just my very humble layman opinion.. :-)
 
My lad's first ever away game and the bugger saw us score 6, what I always remember from that game without watching the clip is Edghill getting loads of stick and being down injured on the edge of the penalty area, getting up to make an important tackle which could well have changed the shape of the game and collapsing again. Shame on any boo boys.
Edghill's treatment by a lot of City fans was appalling
 

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