Alexis Sanchez

[Exeter Blue I am here]

He's right mate. They have all of the same problems as last year with the exception that they now have a better finisher. They still look like a team that has no build up plan, are slow to transition into defensive shapes and very often get lost in the shuffle.

People are seeing a false dawn here and overreacting.

Are they, or are you assessing united against a set of idealised footballing attributes that are perhaps of lesser importance than the way the strengths they do have sit against the ability of the other teams in the Premier League to cope with them? I would argue that it doesn't matter that they don't have much of a build up plan and that they aren't the quickest to resume defensive shape. They're a gigantic physical team with blistering pace in the final third, and attacking players who thrive running against isolated defenders, and those are precisely the strengths they utilise. If they face a parked bus, they rain whipped crosses in to an assortment of giants until something breaks for them by accident or design, and then they rape you on the counterattack thereafter. When they face decent opposition capable of outplaying them - limited pretty much to City and Spurs - they park a massive bus of their own.
There's no great finesse to it, but it's hugely effective and they have a squad full of expensive players ideally suited to that MO.
As we saw last season, it's rare that they lose anyway, but I think the draws that blighted them against the lesser lights will not be an issue this time around. They may not be a great side in the traditional sense, but they will be hugely effective

 

[Neville Kneville]

Which is why you cannot judge them. I saw MOTD last night and in one highlight they looked the same as last season when they dont have the ball. Pogba didnt know where to put himself and Swansea basically just cut through them. They will of course bully the lower teams and against the the likes of us and the rest of the so called top 5 they will revert to maureens park the bus, stagnate the game tactics.

That said the proper judgement will be when the rest of the other competition kick in, maureen will run his frst eleven into the ground before the end of the season. I haven't seen anything to be worried about to be honest. Even jenas on motd highlighted the fact they dont look that accomplished

We get Sanchez and that will just elevate our attack to another level

When Mancini's team won the title, we were on another planet to the rags, but only won on goal difference.

They knew how to beat shit teams & had refs to help even it out on other occasions.

It doesn't matter if we are ten times as good, if they win every week, it means we have to do the same. The way they scord v us,pre season, just booting it forward, is the way about ten other teams (including Everton with Lukaku) scored v us.

We have done absolutely nothing in the market to fix that problem, just hope it goes away with practice.

Sanchez would indeed raise us even further away in quality, but it can't change their results. If they can beat enough shit teams, they will challenge.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Which is why you cannot judge them. I saw MOTD last night and in one highlight they looked the same as last season when they dont have the ball. Pogba didnt know where to put himself and Swansea basically just cut through them. They will of course bully the lower teams and against the the likes of us and the rest of the so called top 5 they will revert to maureens park the bus, stagnate the game tactics.

That said the proper judgement will be when the rest of the other competition kick in, maureen will run his frst eleven into the ground before the end of the season. I haven't seen anything to be worried about to be honest. Even jenas on motd highlighted the fact they dont look that accomplished

We get Sanchez and that will just elevate our attack to another level

Sadly if they do beat the shit teams and just park the bus against the decent teams, they will have a great chance of challenging for the league.

 

[come-on-barney]

We're 7th - six places below the rags and an inferior gd it's over I tell you, sooner we get to 40 points the better. :)

 

[not my fault!]

Highly doubt that. £50m-£60m should be enough. At least, that's what we should be targeting. Also, most reliable sources have indicated that he'll earn £300k a week (including bonuses), so it'll probably be £250K basic. Aguero is the highest earner at the club right now with a basic of £220k or something like that.

Our last set of account showed our highest paid was on less than £200k pw. City now have a policy where we pay bonuses rather than huge wages. This is for two reasons, 1) it motivates the player, play well get a nice bonus. 2) in relation to FFP bonuses do not count! They can only assess us on wages earned not bonuses gained. It's a similar reasoning to business' paying CEO's etc a dividend. It was a loophole that's now abused by everyone.
Yaya was the highest paid until he took a pay cut last year & he was something like £180k if I remember correctly? All wages & fee's paid/received are in the official accounts for anyone to see.

 

[BlueMoonz1977]

Sadly if they do beat the shit teams and just park the bus against the decent teams, they will have a great chance of challenging for the league.

True but their defence is shocking and is nowhere near mentally strong enough to hold out for 90mins. If they had the defence of Juve in its prime then yes I would agree. But not after seeing them get torn apart by Real, and then beat mediocre opposition and still look unconvincing without the ball.

Dont forget that they had a busy pre-season and are basically up to full speed straight away, that is what peg wanted all along. get fit and match ready asap so that they could bulldoze a load of early points.

 

[Neville Kneville]

True but their defence is shocking and is nowhere near mentally strong enough to hold out for 90mins. If they had the defence of Juve in its prime then yes I would agree. But not after seeing them get torn apart by Real, and then beat mediocre opposition and still look unconvincing without the ball.

Dont forget that they had a busy pre-season and are basically up to full speed straight away, that is what peg wanted all along. get fit and match ready asap so that they could bulldoze a load of early points.

They will add 6 players to the defence vs better teams, thus be harder to break down, whack it forward at Lukaku & hope he scores, or try to win it on a set piece.

Against the lesser teams, they will take more risks at the back & expect to still win, due to superior firepower.

If it works, they are right up there.

 

[domalino]

Our last set of account showed our highest paid was on less than £200k pw. City now have a policy where we pay bonuses rather than huge wages. This is for two reasons, 1) it motivates the player, play well get a nice bonus. 2) in relation to FFP bonuses do not count! They can only assess us on wages earned not bonuses gained. It's a similar reasoning to business' paying CEO's etc a dividend. It was a loophole that's now abused by everyone.
Yaya was the highest paid until he took a pay cut last year & he was something like £180k if I remember correctly? All wages & fee's paid/received are in the official accounts for anyone to see.

Bonuses do count towards FFP.

They didn't count as wage increases when we were under sanctions, but they do count now in normal run of things.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

When Mancini's team won the title, we were on another planet to the rags, but only won on goal difference.

They knew how to beat shit teams & had refs to help even it out on other occasions.

It doesn't matter if we are ten times as good, if they win every week, it means we have to do the same. The way they scord v us,pre season, just booting it forward, is the way about ten other teams (including Everton with Lukaku) scored v us.

We have done absolutely nothing in the market to fix that problem, just hope it goes away with practice.

Sanchez would indeed raise us even further away in quality, but it can't change their results. If they can beat enough shit teams, they will challenge.

Exactly right. It doesn't matter a toss that they don't knock the ball around like Holland circa 74, just that they have an effective game plan to defeat what's in front of them......which the early indications are that they do

 

[Bob Smiles]

Our last set of account showed our highest paid was on less than £200k pw. City now have a policy where we pay bonuses rather than huge wages. This is for two reasons, 1) it motivates the player, play well get a nice bonus. 2) in relation to FFP bonuses do not count! They can only assess us on wages earned not bonuses gained. It's a similar reasoning to business' paying CEO's etc a dividend. It was a loophole that's now abused by everyone.
Yaya was the highest paid until he took a pay cut last year & he was something like £180k if I remember correctly? All wages & fee's paid/received are in the official accounts for anyone to see.

I'm not buying that UEFA would let anyone get away with that