Next season it’s time to admit

Draikin said:
PL title should be in the bag before CL QF and in April/May Pep has to make CL a priority
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Easy there...

This season, the runner-up is going to have a points total far in excess of most Premier League winners points tally.

The gulf between the top and bottom is getting wider, albeit with the occasional surprise result. However, simply looking at the table tells you that it will be very, very difficult for ANY club to have a season like we had last year ever again.

The TOP 6 appear to be consolidating their dominance and slamming the door on any prospective interlopers. The CL will continue to be any four from six, with any poor run of results costing any of the 6 even a sniff at the title, and possibly the CL.

As is this case again this season, the best chance to get into the CL for the 5/6 clubs is to win the EL, with them both getting to the SF so far, and one of them bound to win it all.

We are living a golden age for the British game, albeit in the backs of superstar foreign players who come here for the money, not the graft, because 99% of them couldn’t get in the Barca, Madrid(s), PSG, Bayern or Juve teams. Beyond those teams, playing for a PL Top 6 team is your next best bet to be in the CL, make your £10M/yr, and lead the superstar life that most of them dreamed about as kids.

So, to suggest that any team will be out of sight before the CL QF on any kind of regular basis ignores the reality of the League we are in today, IMHO.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
Easy there...

This season, the runner-up is going to have a points total far in excess of most Premier League winners points tally.

The gulf between the top and bottom is getting wider, albeit with the occasional surprise result. However, simply looking at the table tells you that it will be very, very difficult for ANY club to have a season like we had last year ever again.

The TOP 6 appear to be consolidating their dominance and slamming the door on any prospective interlopers. The CL will continue to be any four from six, with any poor run of results costing any of the 6 even a sniff at the title, and possibly the CL.

As is this case again this season, the best chance to get into the CL for the 5/6 clubs is to win the EL, with them both getting to the SF so far, and one of them bound to win it all.

We are living a golden age for the British game, albeit in the backs of superstar foreign players who come here for the money, not the graft, because 99% of them couldn’t get in the Barca, Madrid(s), PSG, Bayern or Juve teams. Beyond those teams, playing for a PL Top 6 team is your next best bet to be in the CL, make your £10M/yr, and lead the superstar life that most of them dreamed about as kids.

So, to suggest that any team will be out of sight before the CL QF on any kind of regular basis ignores the reality of the League we are in today, IMHO.
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There are a few players from Barca and Real who are probably there because they want to be but to suggest there are Premier League players in England are only here because they can’t get in the PSG, Bayern, Atletico and Juve squads is nonsense. The standard of German, French, Italian and 90% of the Spanish League is inferior to the top Premier football. From our Club, KDB, Bernardo, Eddie, Aguero, Spanish Dave, Ferdy, Sane, Sterling and Vinny at the top of their games would have/would easily be coveted by the teams you quote. The Italian, French and German leagues are absolute tripe bar half decent Juve, Dortmund and Bayern teams along with a very good PSG team that would not come anywhere near our performances over the last two seasons.
 
jay_mcfc said:
Great idea that. Now put it to Aguero, De Bruyne, Silva etc and let’s see how the next few transfer windows go.
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I was meaning the away games in the group stages, why should our main men go thousands of miles to the Ukraine for a midweek CL match when we have a vital PL game a few days later.

A 38 game competition against teams that are on the whole not cannon fodder should surely take priority over a 12 game (not include the final) mid week competition with all the air travel involved. If you have ever had to travel by air frequently you will know how tiring that can be.

The group stages of the CL includes teams that would not even get into our Championship, until the later stages the whole thing is a complete fag. It was far better when it was a straight knock-out competition.
 
colin's bell helmet said:
31 years of my life I waited to see my team in a meaningful cup final.....and win it!.....can't believe people talk about priorities where cups are concerned!.....31yrs...I want us to go ball's out fer every fuckin trophy going as we have done this year! Fucks up with some blues these days?
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thank you for clarifying my thoughts on this
 
jay_mcfc said:
That the quadruple isn’t going to happen and play reserves and youth players in the two domestic cups. It’s been a heck of a ride and something the club can be extremely proud of.

But we cannot put ourselves in a position again where we play a full strength team in the FA Cup one day and have to rest players a few days later in a CL quarter final.

I know how some will react to this post, especially those that dislike the CL. But when domestic cups become detrimental to success in bigger competitions then something has to give.
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A rather simplistic posting, dare I say, bordering on the moronic.

Since when did City put out full strength sides in the FA Cup? Against Rotherham: Laporte, Fernandinho, and Bernardo on the bench. Jesus, Foden, Mahrez started.

Against Burnley: Sterling, Aguero, Laporte, Sane and Silva were on the bench. Mahrez, Otameni, Danilo and Jesus started.

Against Newport: Walker, Sterling, Gundogan, Laporte, De Bruyne, Bernardo all on the bench. Mahrez, Danilo, Otamendi, Foden, Jesus all started.

Against Swansea: Stirling and Aguero on the bench. Otamendi, Mahrez, Delph and Jesus started.

In the League Cup the rotation was more marked with the likes of Diaz and Garcia starting matches and Foden taking the lead role. Some of the appearances by De Bruyne have been attempts to bring him back after injury.

The defeat to Tottenham had bugger all to do with lack of rotation in the EFL Cup or the FA Cup and anyone who thinks so has not looked at the facts. Apart from anything else there were no Champions League matches during the intensive period for the FA Cup. The early rounds of the EFL Cup had no impact on the Champions League as City easily won their group.

Of course, City could have done a Liverpool and threw the EFL Cup and the FA Cup at the earliest opportunity and, likely as not ended up with no silverware.
 
JGL07 said:
A rather simplistic posting, dare I say, bordering on the moronic.

Since when did City put out full strength sides in the FA Cup? Against Rotherham: Laporte, Fernandinho, and Bernardo on the bench. Jesus, Foden, Mahrez started.

Against Burnley: Sterling, Aguero, Laporte, Sane and Silva were on the bench. Mahrez, Otameni, Danilo and Jesus started.

Against Newport: Walker, Sterling, Gundogan, Laporte, De Bruyne, Bernardo all on the bench. Mahrez, Danilo, Otamendi, Foden, Jesus all started.

Against Swansea: Stirling and Aguero on the bench. Otamendi, Mahrez, Delph and Jesus started.

In the League Cup the rotation was more marked with the likes of Diaz and Garcia starting matches and Foden taking the lead role. Some of the appearances by De Bruyne have been attempts to bring him back after injury.

The defeat to Tottenham had bugger all to do with lack of rotation in the EFL Cup or the FA Cup and anyone who thinks so has not looked at the facts. Apart from anything else there were no Champions League matches during the intensive period for the FA Cup. The early rounds of the EFL Cup had no impact on the Champions League as City easily won their group.

Of course, City could have done a Liverpool and threw the EFL Cup and the FA Cup at the earliest opportunity and, likely as not ended up with no silverware.
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A bit ironic how you start your post, then produce something like that. This is a beauty, for example - 'Apart from anything else there were no Champions League matches during the intensive period for the FA Cup. The early rounds of the EFL Cup had no impact on the Champions League as City easily won their group'.

You're not looking at the bigger picture.

How many games were re-arranged because of our cup runs? Where do they get re-arranged to? How many games would we have played in April had we beat Tottenham? How did that fixture list contribute to the team selected at Tottenham? How many games have these players played in the last 20 months including a world cup? What do you think is the right number of appearances a top playewr should play in a season to optimize performance, especially at the business end?

And as I've said many times it's not me telling you this, it's Pep. Resting KDB and playing Delph at Spurs having started KDB in an FA Cup game a few days earlier was moronic but apparently necessary. If that was necessary, and not a tactical decision (arf) then something has to change because we cannot keep failing in the Champions League.

God knows how you think playing kids in the cups would mean us not winning another trophy, but there you go.
 
jay_mcfc said:
A bit ironic how you start your post, then produce something like that. This is a beauty, for example - 'Apart from anything else there were no Champions League matches during the intensive period for the FA Cup. The early rounds of the EFL Cup had no impact on the Champions League as City easily won their group'.

You're not looking at the bigger picture.

How many games were re-arranged because of our cup runs? Where do they get re-arranged to? How many games would we have played in April had we beat Tottenham? How did that fixture list contribute to the team selected at Tottenham? How many games have these players played in the last 20 months including a world cup? What do you think is the right number of appearances a top playewr should play in a season to optimize performance, especially at the business end?

And as I've said many times it's not me telling you this, it's Pep. Resting KDB and playing Delph at Spurs having started KDB in an FA Cup game a few days earlier was moronic but apparently necessary. If that was necessary, and not a tactical decision (arf) then something has to change because we cannot keep failing in the Champions League.

God knows how you think playing kids in the cups would mean us not winning another trophy, but there you go.
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The rescheduling hasn't been too bad this season. In fact the Everton game was brought forward which worked to our advantage in the end.

Also, it's worth noting that despite sacking off the domestic cups, Liverpool have 7 players who have clocked up over 2500 mins so far this season compared to us with just 2.

Our three defeats in the league that came from winning positions came at a time when there weren't even any champions league games to worry about.
 
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