Will we win the league this season? No

[thegoatsthegoat]

Stones and Rodri have been integral to our success and their injury absence wrecked last season. The answer to the conundrum you raised is that 75% of our games are against weaker opponents.

We have been here before Marvin and you ignore the question every time. How can stones have been integral when his availability has been less than 50%? That does not mean he hasn't played a part, of course he has and we love him but I could maybe point to a couple of seasons where he was that important to us, out of 9 seasons that is poor. We've won leagues without Stones due to him being injured, believing his presence is as important as Rodri is insulting.

I get what you're saying, but John played a huge part in us winning multiple trophies despite only playing in less than 50% of games

He played a part in a few seasons out of 9.A huge part in 1 or 2. If you are not on the pitch you cannot play a huge part. It is pretty simple. If we are relying on 31 year old John Stones who has started 18 league games in two years to contribute in a change in our fortunes then you are going to be incredibly disappointed.

 

[Mancity1980]

We won’t start as favourites, that’s clear for most of us.

Liverpool weren’t favourites last season. There are a lot of uncertainties from a number of teams going into this season, not least because there are 4 more weeks of the transfer window to go. Far too many pundits and fans are making a lot of assumptions about how the season will develop (not your good self), this reminds me of this time last year and they all got that wrong as well.

 

[Sebi]

All said haha

https://onefootball.com/de/news/premier-league-legend-writes-off-manchester-city-in-202526-title-battle-41466872

 

[Marvin.]

Note that Liverpool's senior forward line is Salah, Ekitike, Nunez and Gakpo and the ACON runs for a month in Dec 2025, Jan 2026.

What are Liverpool going to do if they don't sign Isak? They obviously need another forward. Perhaps they are going to rely on their academy.

City fans focus on our own problems but our rivals are not anywhere near as strong as City 2022.

 

[Corky]

Note that Liverpool's senior forward line is Salah, Ekitike, Nunez and Gakpo and the ACON runs for a month in Dec 2025, Jan 2026.

What are Liverpool going to do if they don't sign Isak? They obviously need another forward. Perhaps they are going to rely on their academy.

City fans focus on our own problems but our rivals are not anywhere near as strong as City 2022.

City losing a left back and forward for 8-11 games doesn't help.

 

[Prophet of Doom]

We have been here before Marvin and you ignore the question every time. How can stones have been integral when his availability has been less than 50%? That does not mean he hasn't played a part, of course he has and we love him but I could maybe point to a couple of seasons where he was that important to us, out of 9 seasons that is poor. We've won leagues without Stones due to him being injured, believing his presence is as important as Rodri is insulting.


He played a part in a few seasons out of 9.A huge part in 1 or 2. If you are not on the pitch you cannot play a huge part. It is pretty simple. If we are relying on 31 year old John Stones who has started 18 league games in two years to contribute in a change in our fortunes then you are going to be incredibly disappointed.

Our biggest problem is that we knew we had to replace Stones and Akanji months ago.

We’ve signed 3 centre half’s this year - Bah is playing in France - Reis we are trying to farm out to Girona and Khusanov they have decided is nowhere near up to our standard. All 3 signings really poor that won’t ever play any meaningful games for City. Reis and Bah unlikely to ever make another appearance.

 

[RiversideBlue]

Plenty of discussion but surely this thread needs a vote on it now, before the season starts.

 

[richards30]

We will finish 3rd imo but will have some outstanding performances but wont win enough of the big games unfortunately.

 

[citeh94]

What makes you say that? Frimpong/Bradley,Konate/VD and Kirkev/robertson in front of Allison and Marmoushvilli (sp?) looks pretty impressive to me. Bookies should stop taking bets.

Bradley?!? Fuck me, that’s bad if we’re scared of him, and they have 2 fit decent centre backs. Robertson is washed as well.

 

[Blue Pete]

Our biggest problem is that we knew we had to replace Stones and Akanji months ago.

We’ve signed 3 centre half’s this year - Bah is playing in France - Reis we are trying to farm out to Girona and Khusanov they have decided is nowhere near up to our standard. All 3 signings really poor that won’t ever play any meaningful games for City. Reis and Bah unlikely to ever make another appearance.

I expect Khusanov to be our first choice right back now that he won't cost £10m extra for playing a game. He has the key thing missing in our defence, pace.

 

[BlueNomad]

I’m looking forward to seeing how Pep integrates the fast break into his possession beliefs coupled with getting the ball wide.

With Haaland & Marmoush upfront, flying wingers, attacking full backs and exciting, creative attacking midfielders, 2025/26 looks like it could be a very interesting season for City fans.

To be honest, if we can tighten up against the fast break ourselves, there’s absolutely nothing to stop us sitting at the very top table, even though this is clearly a transitional season.

The top competitors have all spent massively in an attempt to cement their position in the Top 4 and give themselves a chance at the Trophy.

Let the games begin!

 

[BlueNomad]

I expect Khusanov to be our first choice right back now that he won't cost £10m extra for playing a game. He has the key thing missing in our defence, pace.

He will play RCB with Dias in the middle and Gvardiol playing LCB, with RAN playing further forward with the ball, and dropping in when we don’t.

 

[Blue Pete]

He will play RCB with Dias in the middle and Gvardiol playing LCB, with RAN playing further forward with the ball, and dropping in when we don’t.

100% agree, only difference is what you call the position (RB tucking in when LB moves forward, or RCB going out when LWB drops back)

 

[Marvin.]

Most of my hopes for next season do not rest with Cherki, or Reijnders but with Rodri and Stones and today I was reassured to see them looking healthy in the photos taken at the Academy.

 

[calumdown]

yes.
we will.

 

[East Level 2]

We will finish 3rd imo but will have some outstanding performances but wont win enough of the big games unfortunately.

We don't need to win the big games if we stop pissing away points against shite like Southampton, rags, Spurs and other bottom half teams. - But we won't stop dropping points if Pep wants to stick to his "system" rather than going all out to blitz poor opponents.
His system has worked of course, but will it continue to now that many more teams are adopting "sit back, hoof and chase" tactics.

 

[Gray]

The heading should be "Where will we finish next season?", not a bloody chance we will win it.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

The heading should be "Where will we finish next season", not a bloody chance we will win it.

Questions require a specific punctuation mark at the end to denote them as such.

 

[Gray]

Questions require a specific punctuation mark at the end to denote them as such.

I had a friend who I regularly rambled with (sadly no longer with us), he had a thing about the use of the apostrophe.

He was so fanatical that I offered to buy him a couple of marker pens, a black one to add an apostophe where it was missing and a white one to blank out wrongly placed ones.

We had a bloody good laugh about it.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I had a friend who I regularly rambled with (sadly no longer with us), he had a thing about the use of the apostrophe.

He was so fanatical that I offered to buy him a couple of marker pens, a black one to add an apostophe where it was missing and a white one to blank out wrongly placed ones.

We had a bloody good laugh about it.

He would have had fun with my username!