As a football club, do we have the will to win the League?

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Some right moaning old gits on this thread; questioning the best manager in the world because we slipped up against middlesbrough after beating barca is unbelievable.

Quite frankly I'm disgusted at some of the dross that has been written on here

 

[mayo31]

A lot of games to be played. We have drawn three at home which I sense is the big issue. Games we should and on any other day would have won, that is why I am not concerned. If this is how it is going to be as Pep beds in I ok with it.

Imagine if we had lost those three. Actually I cannot imagine as the world would have ended for some.

 

[SilverFox2]

I absolutely agree with you and hate it when people say *Well look where we were 10 years ago". It's irrelevant because we aren't owned by John Wardle, we're not managed by Stuart Pearce and we're not relying on Samaras for goals.

But I do think we took our eye off the ball under MP and it may take this season before Pep sorts out the wheat from the chaff and gets us playing with mentality we expect.

We may very well have taken our eye off the ball as you put it but we can still manage to generate chances to score if the stats are anything to go by.

Our problems this season stem from taking our eye off where the opposing goal is situated.
This may very well be lack of concentration or indifference but it should not be lack of ability. We have the best squad but for some reason they cannot or will not score goals. Am I being too simplistic in expecting the erring players to be fit for purpose or are they just going through a collective bad spell in this one area of our game that will fix everything.

I think this ´´look where we were 10 years ago´´ attitude by some supporters may very well be mirrored by some of our players.

 

[IanBishopsHaircut]

As a football club, do we have the will to win the League?

You mean as opposed to Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, United and Tottenham those regular league winners over the last few seasons?

 

[Wilf Wild 1937]

Not Starting our 11 best players when we have a 2 week break coming up would suggest we don't.

Following on from playing our reserves in the LC playing a weakened team in the PL suggests to me it's all about the CL this season.

Whether that's down to Pep, the Sheikh or both who knows?

I think Kompany would have come on if we'd been 1-0 in a CL match and approaching injury time. Pep's less than pragmatic approach suggests to me that the PL isn't the top priority.

 

[The Pink Panther]

What would you class as huge underachievement? Anything less than winning the league? There are some very strong sides in contention including Chelsea and Liverpool that have no European commitments, Arsenal and Spurs look strong too, while we are revolutionising the way we play. Unfortunately, we are going to drop points while we adapt. I see fans that expect instant success more of a problem than ones who are prepared to offer Pep more time to bed in his style and philosophy to be honest.

It's not underachievement if you're preparing to succeed. Restructuring.

GM's original post that I replied to said he was happy to accept a top four finish. As far as I'm aware top four includes fourth place
Sorry, but with a squad as talented as ours (and I said this earlier in the thread) we have one of the best squads in world football and should be very fucking disappointed with ourselves if we don't win the league
It's not instant success. We've won the league twice in five years and a number of the players that did are still with us, now much more experienced and at the peak of their careers. They can't sit on their laurels and be complacent, which is a feeling I'm getting from them and from an element of our supporters
If we don't win the league this season or next, what's our excuse then, that the players are too old!!
Well they're the ones who are letting it drift away and some of our support seems quite happy that they are

 

[robbieh]

Following on from playing our reserves in the LC playing a weakened team in the PL suggests to me it's all about the CL this season.

Whether that's down to Pep, the Sheikh or both who knows?

I think Kompany would have come on if we'd been 1-0 in a CL match and approaching injury time. Pep's less than pragmatic approach suggests to me that the PL isn't the top priority.

If that is the case then we will heaping pressure on ourselves as no way will we win the CL this year . Personally hope we are targeting the League as that is what matters to most of us.

 

[cheddar404]

You're another who will accept huge underachievement

GM's original post that I replied to said he was happy to accept a top four finish. As far as I'm aware top four includes fourth place
Sorry, but with a squad as talented as ours (and I said this earlier in the thread) we have one of the best squads in world football and should be very fucking disappointed with ourselves if we don't win the league
It's not instant success. We've won the league twice in five years and a number of the players that did are still with us, now much more experienced and at the peak of their careers. They can't sit on their laurels and be complacent, which is a feeling I'm getting from them and from an element of our supporters
If we don't win the league this season or next, what's our excuse then, that the players are too old!!
Well they're the ones who are letting it drift away and some of our support seems quite happy that they are

I don't know what you've been watching if you've not seen the rot that has set in over the last couple of years. Pep has by far the most difficult challenge he has ever faced as a coach and a unique style of playing which the players aren't used to. It will probably take another couple of transfer windows and a season of assessing what he has here already before everything is bedding in so yes I do count expecting to win the league as wanting instant success.

 

[SilverFox2]

Your attitude is worse than the teams and your grasp on reality seems tenuous.
We've spent a fortune, we have the best team and squad of players in England and apparently the best manager in the world.
Our owners, not unreasonably, expect us to win the league.
Why wouldn't we win the league?
If we don't win the league it should be classed as a failure.

Not saying you are wrong, merely explaining what my addiction to supporting City means to me. Any other investment either in time or money I have been able to walk away from without any regrets but it is a lifelong connection when you talk about being a City fan.
I hope pray and worry about our results and can only be in charge of my emotions by lessening my expectations, the reality is of course as you describe and if you can hack it then go for it(especially if you ignore the City Factor).

 

[Akiva]

Some right moaning old gits on this thread; questioning the best manager in the world because we slipped up against middlesbrough after beating barca is unbelievable.

Quite frankly I'm disgusted at some of the dross that has been written on here

Most sensible post I've seen round here since Saturday.