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Leicester once it goes sour for Ranieri

Victor Valdes wasn't tippy tappy. Barca coped.

Buying 3 decent 30m players will never take you to the next level. To compete at the very top, you need the very best players. 3 Girouds does not make an Aguero. 3 Joe Harts does not make a Neuer.

I can do the nonsense with the best of 'em too! ;-)

Equally Joe's been considered the best English keeper for a number of years, and has won the 2 League titles, 2 League cups and 1 FA Cup and 4 x Golden Gloves. He's the international number 1 too. That ain't too shabby! Victor Valdes wasn't some amazing keeper with the ball at his feet - but he...

Nobody should be immune from the chop - if there's a genuine improvement to be made and the opportunity presents itself, then it's worth taking. However, that doesn't mean we can wield the axe wily nilly only to discover those 'improvements' aren't as good as we thought they were. We'd better be...

i'm not buying this ''he has to play with the ball at his feet' line. I think Neuer has set an incredible example of it, but most of the world's keepers simply aren't like him, and it's not a prerequisite for success - being a good keeper is. If Pep doesn't think Joe is good enough, then that's...

I think if we have a fantastic season, none of this will matter and all ill feeling goes out the window. There's nothing like City doing well to make your troubles fade away. What's done is done, we have to treat this is a fresh start. It's just very hard to do that as fans as we all have...

There was a time when this was the mantra of every winger - 'get to the byline and cross it in' - and it was up to somebody else to make sure they were in the box. There's no reason why it can't still work. The game is a simple one, people just want to make it sound complicated. Mind you, it...

I think he's making a reasonable point in the sense he's saying people said Pellers was the problem, far less the players. We had a seriously good group of players and Pellers ought to be getting more from them. In that sense, he's right to say that now we have a manager who most regard as one...

All things being equal, when you think about a typical goal kick, the ball is in the air long enough that it's effectively 50/50 who wins the balls. If you're dominant in the air, it makes sense, but if you're not, it's a bit of a crazy thing to do, it becomes worse than 50/50 in that situation...

I don't think we're singling Joe out - just discussing one area where many fans think he's weak. We could just as easily be discussing YaYa's tracking back / stamina, or Silva's reluctance to shoot, or Sergio's sometimes greedy nature etc. Not so much 'all that is bad', just 'what could be better'.

I got the impression it was after the game, but I could be wrong. I don't have it recorded and only remember the comment in passing - suggesting there was tension there.

He reckoned he saw some bad body language / tension between Joe and Pep. We'll soon see it for ourselves at the Etihad if it's there. Until then, I'll take Hamann's interpretations with a pinch of salt.

Hamann reckoned he saw some poor body language between Hart and Pep, but it's easy to read too much into things if a player is disappointed in a loss, or doesn't happen to be glancing at the manager when the manager is looking. It's chicken and the egg though, if you think the manager's looking...

I agree with this. But I think Joe's only 50% of that problem. Certainly the number of kicks to the wings that go into touch is disappointing / frustrating - it's an area he could improve on, but when he's kicking to midfield, there's a huge onus on our midfield to win the ball in the air! If we...

The other thing though is 'opportunity'. Even if Joe isn't our weakest link, not by a long shot, if a manager is faced with the opportunity to improve that position, he'll probably take it. We might also need a CB, but if the opportunity to buy isn't there, despite the greater need, is he going...

Honestly, I don't think it's that - it's just normal football talk. People are bound to look at what we do and speculate on what Pep might be thinking. Then we combine that with rumours of incoming transfers like Stones, or dissatisfaction with Joe Hart etc and ponder stuff. It's not about...

Possession isn't the same as passing ability. If you're passing it sideways and backwards most of the time, your possession stats will look great, but the moment you try to pass forward and lose the ball - and the other team can pass very well, you can get cut open. Arsenal are more than capable...

Why is a 'sweeper keeper' a prerequisite? Valdes wasn't one at Barca. This 'sweeper keeper' thing is most Neuer's doing and I don't believe it's a prerequisite.