How far off PSG and Bayern are City right now?

SambaStyle said:
I do wonder if City and Arsenal will start playing more squad players in the CL group stage next year to rotate the minutes a bit more.. Others such as Man U and Villa probably aren't strong enough to play weakened sides and still qualify.

The last two years now finishing 1st in the group stage meant absolutely nothing.
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I've said from the very second the format was announced we will see a shift to second string teams playing the group games for the biggest sides once a benchmark has been set for what kind of points gets you what position so I am with you there but i don't think you can say it means nothing to finish 1st.

Arsenal got a free route straight to the final for finishing 1st in the groups. Had they finished 8th like us and got Madrid in the last 16, with bayern, and psg lined up for potential quarter and semi final ties. They're not making it to the final. Penalties away from fluking a CL and probably nets them about £30m more than we get from CL is without a doubt worth finishing top of the group.
 
Stoned Rose said:
Miles off imo.

We don’t have enough game winners at the very top level. Take Haaland out and we’d be fucked.

We have too many various shades of shit in the squad who wouldn’t get near PSG’s women’s team never mind their men’s.

Reijnders, Marmoush, Savinho, Gonzalez.

If you look at the players they’ve replaced - Kev, Alvarez, Mahrez, Gundogan. That’s a fucking ridiculous drop in quality. That takes you from leagues to runners up and gives you fuck all chance in the CL.

We also need to sort out what’s happening with Philips, Grealish, Lewis and Ake.

We also have no **** who can put a free kick away.

This summer window is huge.
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Miles off?

You don't win a domestic double and loose one league game in the last 15 if your miles off!

Why do we need a player who can score free kicks? We scored more goals than any other team last season.
 
edinburgh123 said:
you have named four players who are never first choice as replacements for four - theee of whom were almost always first choice and the fourth (Alvarez) who wasn’t first choice but has significantly improved since he left us.
Hardly a fair comparison
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He also forgot that they all won the treble and left as City Legends!

Bernardo stepped up to replaced KDB

Alvarez won the treble & world cup in his first year, and still went with us all loving him because we have Haarland, and he cant be a back up!

Rhodri took over from Gundo

We replaced Mharez with Doku
Stoned Rose said:
Miles off imo.

We don’t have enough game winners at the very top level. Take Haaland out and we’d be fucked.

We have too many various shades of shit in the squad who wouldn’t get near PSG’s women’s team never mind their men’s.

Reijnders, Marmoush, Savinho, Gonzalez.

If you look at the players they’ve replaced - Kev, Alvarez, Mahrez, Gundogan. That’s a fucking ridiculous drop in quality. That takes you from leagues to runners up and gives you fuck all chance in the CL.

We also need to sort out what’s happening with Philips, Grealish, Lewis and Ake.

We also have no **** who can put a free kick away.

This summer window is huge.
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Phillips, Grelish, Lewis and Ake, started 7 league games between them last season for us, I'm sure there are more important issues than them 4!

They certainly didn't replace the 4 you mentioned, we did replace them to an extent tho (except maybe Alvarez)!

Bernardo stepped up to replaced KDB

Alvarez won the treble & world cup in his first year, and still went with us all loving him because we have Haarland, and he cant be a back up!

Rhodri took over from Gundo

and we replaced Mharez with Doku!

You sound very silly labelling this current City Squad as 'various shades of shit'

We played Arsenal 3 times beat them twice and drew one (aggregate score 5-2)
Played Liverpool 3 times, won all 3 (agg 9-1)
Played Chelsea 3 times, won 2 drew one (agg 5-1)


Its mad some blues enjoy slatting their own team after winning the double and finishing 2nd with a young team in transition!
 
I think a lot of the comparisons of us from 3/4/5 seasons ago are fair enough but we need to acknowledge those seasons were freaks. We absolutely blew the league away in the 100 pts season. This is never gunna happen again. Comparing us now to those seasons is unrealistic. Looking at the competition now IMO we are not far off. Our first 11 on their day beats the current champions and if we add 2/3 really good signing then we will be well in the mix. PSG didn’t look all that last night and they beat Bayern. It’s up for grabs IMO. That’s not to say we will rock up and regain the league next year but we deffo could. We are deffo not miles off.
 
lasereyes said:
Considering PSG struggled to beat Arsenal (and did only on pens) whereas we beat them twice (including whipping them in a cup final), I would say not far at all.
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Sadly it doesn't work like that, or it means the rags are better then us because they beat us the last time we played them.

Any team are good on their day.

Problem for us is there's too many days when we aren't, hence why we haven't been able to win the league for 2 years now, looked very shaky at times and getting smashed in the champions league against a rather below par Real Madrid.

So yeah, on our fay we aren't far off but in the real context of leagues and European competitions...we are trailing l.
 
We played PSG and our midfield wasn't good enough.

Defense is good, Wingers can improve a little especially on the right, but midfield is the difference right now.
 
The difference between us and PSG/Bayern is when they attack the box they are mentally focused on getting a shot off, we are thinking where our next pass is being played. We need to change that mentality and we will be close.
 
Probably an obvious statement but PSG's midfield is significantly better, especially with Bernie leaving. That's the big gap.
 
I'd like to think we can improve next season as we're currently miles behind our recent best, whether that's the 17-18 and 18-19 teams (100 points and domestic treble) or the 20-24 teams (CL, PL, FAC treble and 4 in a row).
However I don't think our points per game increased over the second half of the season, and we only produced a few performances of note during the entire season.
Rags at home, Liverpool three wins, Arsenal three good results, Chavs away and a great win in Madrid. Were there many others in a 60 game season? Not wins per se, but impressive wins.
Two cups is a decent season, especially for a side in transition, but 78 points isn't impressive however you look at it. And it won't improve as long as we buy down-grades to replace the players we lose.
 
A long, long way. We need to see what the new manager can do with what's at his disposal. We have a lot of exciting young players who might be 'unleashed' by a new set of ideas. I have found us incredibly boring to watch over the last two seasons.
 
Blue Bogey said:
The difference between us and PSG/Bayern is when they attack the box they are mentally focused on getting a shot off, we are thinking where our next pass is being played. We need to change that mentality and we will be close.
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Watching PSG trying to get a shot off v Arsenal I thought it was like watching City - pass, pass, back, sideways, till a shot over the bar.
 
PSG will not play competitively again until August 23, whereas we'll have started the week prior in Cardiff. They'll then have 34 League games and be prepared to go out of the sole domestic cup at the first round; they lost at home to Paris in the round of 32 in early January. How many of us remembered that? Most likely none because nobody cares, including PSG fans. We all know that they've won the Champions League for the last two seasons, though. In the Champions League, they finished 15th on 13 points in 24/25 and 11th on 14 points in 25/26, coincidence? No, they care about qualifying but don't care about the extra two games because they back themselves to knock out the likes of Brest and Monaco (fortuitous all-French ties) and probably everyone else for that matter. However, we desperately want to avoid those extra games to prevent fatigue, yet are still sending out first-team players to beat the likes of Exeter City and Salford in home ties.

PSG have prioritised accordingly and found a winning formula. We might give them more of a game next time we meet, but that may depend on us, first, reconsidering our priorities and, second, reappraising how we exploit our resources.
 
In a one-off game, we would give anybody a game at the moment. We are right now a cup team in transition, rebuilding the strength of the squad quality that is good enough to win the title.

I would say luck in the Champions League draw helps you look world beaters, but losing in the final to PSG in a very poor game means Arsenal are found out. I said in the match thread that the treble-winning Manchester City would have beaten both of them easily
 
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