Ali B....How good was he ?

he stopped off at Platt Lane with his agent on his way to Sunderland, but he liked the smoked salmon sandwhich he had and ended up signing for us, this is not a joke by the way
 
42 assist in the league in his first season at City. Amazing. And he did not even arrive until early october?

Most assist in the french league ten seasons in a row. Can´t beat that. World class. Imagine Ali at his prime in todays City!
 
graham baker said:
42 assist in the league in his first season at City. Amazing. And he did not even arrive until early october?

Most assist in the french league ten seasons in a row. Can´t beat that. World class. Imagine Ali at his prime in todays City!
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I ask the question though if he was as good as the stats suggest why did he spend almost his whole career in the small time and not get a big time offer i.e Barca, Real, AC, Inter, ragheads, arseholes etc.....
 
BoyBlue_1985 said:
graham baker said:
42 assist in the league in his first season at City. Amazing. And he did not even arrive until early october?

Most assist in the french league ten seasons in a row. Can´t beat that. World class. Imagine Ali at his prime in todays City!
Click to expand...

I ask the question though if he was as good as the stats suggest why did he spend almost his whole career in the small time and not get a big time offer i.e Barca, Real, AC, Inter, ragheads, arseholes etc.....
Click to expand...

he was playing in a league where he was happy alongside players like trezeguet and thierry henry for fuck's sake. why did henrik larsson stay at celtic so long? why did le tissier stay at southampton for his entire career? why did pele never come to europe? why did maradona sign for napoli and sevilla? ali benarbia was fucking magic at city, in the french league and in the champions league.
 
citykev28 said:
levets said:
was about 50% of the player Silva is.... In his Prime
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did you watch a lot of paris or monaco in the mid 90's? he played at the top level in the champions league for monaco. it was his pass to trezeguet that ripped united's defence open at old trafford and knocked the red cunts out.


ali benarbia was fucking class.
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Yes... and I never said he wasn't class.... But Silva is twice the player...

People who say Ali is the best they've ever seen need to remember he was playing in the championship...
 
01MANC said:
adammck said:
Geez i was so in love with Benarbia, still have his signed photo somewhere back at the family home.

For me he was the real deal, but on the level we are on now then perhaps a class behind that. But he shone in that side.

Still one of my fav players
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^
Well put

Great player, great memories, but he wouldn't make our 1st team now. He was a class above our pretty average players at the time..

Silva is a class above most players in the league...as is Aguero...as is Tevez...as is Dzeko...as is Nasri etc etc
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He wouldn't make our first team, but then he was 33. At 27, I think he might have done.

Still remember his debut - some little bloke I'd never heard of taking the mick out of Birmingham for about 60 minutes. In some ways, even more impressive a debut than Kun's, as I had no expectation of how good he was
 
citykev28 said:
BoyBlue_1985 said:
graham baker said:
42 assist in the league in his first season at City. Amazing. And he did not even arrive until early october?

Most assist in the french league ten seasons in a row. Can´t beat that. World class. Imagine Ali at his prime in todays City!
Click to expand...

I ask the question though if he was as good as the stats suggest why did he spend almost his whole career in the small time and not get a big time offer i.e Barca, Real, AC, Inter, ragheads, arseholes etc.....
Click to expand...

he was playing in a league where he was happy alongside players like trezeguet and thierry henry for fuck's sake. why did henrik larsson stay at celtic so long? why did le tissier stay at southampton for his entire career? why did pele never come to europe? why did maradona sign for napoli and sevilla? ali benarbia was fucking magic at city, in the french league and in the champions league.
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Woah woah woah mate it was a genuine question. No need to blow a artery over it. Although there are good reasons behind the people you mentioned. So Benarbia played with a Henry for 1 season and Trezeguet for 2 if you want to be honest about it.
Anyway it was a question i wasnt implying anything and apart from going over the top you didnt actually answer it
 
Ali who?

At least that was the question being brandied about in the Beehive before the birmingham game, by 3.30 we knew who he was and we wanted more.
With Ali and Eyal in midfield, and the pace of huckerby, wanchope's total unpredictability and the Goats nose for goal, this really was a great time to be watching City, especially after the dogs of war era that rescued us from our lowest ever position.
To compare Ali to David Silva is the same as trying to compare eoin morgan to Sir Donald Bradman, totally different players in a totally different era of the game.
Just glAD i HAVE HAD THE PLEASURE OF WATCHING TWO GREAT PLAYERS IN A cITY SHIRT (THOUGH saddened that I never got to see Sir Donald)
 
Great player for City. Brilliant entertainment in that Championship season.

Only got one real class season from him so he isn't an integral part of the history. But a real class act, even though his legs had gone.

Older fans will rate the like of Bell, Lee and Summerbee above him and new fans rate the likes of Tevez, Silva and Garry Cook above him
 
i was talking him up with schoolmates, who used to joke about him. it drove me insane! then it showed citeh fans on MOTD showing him "the love" & repect he deseves...... it was then i knew i loved citeh.... love benarbia!!!! had the heart of the club!
 
des hardi said:
i was talking him up with schoolmates, who used to joke about him. it drove me insane! then it showed citeh fans on MOTD showing him "the love" & repect he deseves...... it was then i knew i loved citeh.... love benarbia!!!! had the heart of the club!
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Citeh ???
 
forevermancity said:
johnmc said:
Dont get me wrong I loved watching him and Eyal as well - he was the best player in the Championship. However he didnt make the step up - too slow/old for the premier league.

Same story with a lot of players - Scott Sinclair for example this year.
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comparing ali to scott sinclair.

wow.

just wow.
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Not a direct comparison at all. But just saying Scott Sinclair stood out last year in the championship. No way will he do the same in the prem.

Just like we had Ali when he was amazing in the champ he was too old to do it in the prem.

Ali too old. Sinclair never good enough.
 
johnmc said:
Dont get me wrong I loved watching him and Eyal as well - he was the best player in the Championship. However he didnt make the step up - too slow/old for the premier league.

Same story with a lot of players - Scott Sinclair for example this year.
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Agree pace was a problem however Keegan didnt play him much in the prem - when he did play he was brill. Very underused IMO.
All time city legend!!!
 
bluesteve1964 said:
I think he came to England to find a club and Sunderland(?) said they would give him a trial!!!!
Had the same agent as a City player and Keegan snapped him up. He was absolute class and his debut for us was one of the best I have ever seen.
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against birmingham , id never heard of him but loved him and still do to this day, silva is so like him !
 
bluesteve1964 said:
I think he came to England to find a club and Sunderland(?) said they would give him a trial!!!!
Had the same agent as a City player and Keegan snapped him up. He was absolute class and his debut for us was one of the best I have ever seen.
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I think that's true remember reading that years back, if only his recommendation Belmadi had been as good lol.
 
I quite liked Belmadi when he first played. Had a decent debut against Southampton (I think).

Mind you, I liked Kenny Carr too. Their other mate. More for his the bloke at Rochdale who announced is name though
 
JohnMaddocksAxe said:
I quite liked Belmadi when he first played. Had a decent debut against Southampton (I think).

Mind you, I liked Kenny Carr too. Their other mate. More for his the bloke at Rochdale who announced is name though
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Haha.

I always thought his debut was against Fulham when we won 4-1 cause I thought he came in January (then again I thought he scored in that and just checked the stats and he didn't so what do I know!?).

To be fair we did have a lot of creative players at the time and having perhaps 3 in midfield would have been adventurous even by Keegan's standards so maybe he never got enough of a chance to show what he could do.
 
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