Great season again stop the moaning trust our owners...

[Pigeonho]

Kiam the super-fan still living in 2003?

Times have changed, we're not the same club that we were in 2003. Our expectations are nothing like what they were in 2003. If in 2003 we had finished 2nd and got to a final of a cup then I think your post would be spot on, but we're not, so it isn't.

The only thing you're right about is that we don't have a divine right to win things, but the flip side of that is we should at least defend what we have won with an ounce of effort. By that I mean we shouldn't have found ourselves with huge gaps between us and them as the business end of the season commenced. Of course finishing 2nd requires some effort, so i'm not for one minute saying the entire season was lacklustre. There was a time in March, probably after the Southampton game where we may as well have DHL'd the trophy to United with purdy pink ribbons and bowed to them as it was placed nice and neat in their hands, because that is what the defence of the title equated to, and with City no longer being that same City you pointed to in your post, it simply wasn't good enough. People have a right to moan about that, should they want.

It's not even worth discussing the final.

All that said, the season is over and we will indeed now look to the next one with anticipation, but it's up to the players who bent over and took it up the arse this season to make sure we don't just ask for the title back, but go in all guns blazing and leave them crying in their cornflakes.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Over a 38 game season we finished second how can there be a lack of effort?!!!

Well it's either a lack of effort or fitness. We've come up against teams who beaten us or drawn purely because they worked harder than we did. If we'd matched their work rate, with the quality of players we have we'd blow them away.

Compared with last season i think both our pressing and movement off the ball has been worse.

There are about four or five things which play into the oppos hands (or feet!). One is the pace at which we build an attack - twenty passes when five would do, the pace at which we proceed from our half to their half, too many players 'waiting' for the person on the ball to produce the killer pass instead of trying to shake off their marker, the reluctance as a team to challenge for the ball (Wigan had three pressing our back four when Joe had the ball, and yesterday there was one point where five Norwich players were pressing three quarters of the way up the pitch. It ain't rocket science or tactical sorcery for even the grimmest teams to work it out, and we pay for it. One Cup Final, one title and the performance yesterday epitomise this 'paint drying', 'grass growing' approach to play! We mesmerised teams two seasons ago with the sheer pace of play. They found themselves in a whirlwind and few teams throughout Europe can cope with that.

 

[pee dubya]

Over a 38 game season we finished second how can there be a lack of effort?!!!

Well it's either a lack of effort or fitness. We've come up against teams who beaten us or drawn purely because they worked harder than we did. If we'd matched their work rate, with the quality of players we have we'd blow them away.

Compared with last season i think both our pressing and movement off the ball has been worse.

There are about four or five things which play into the oppos hands (or feet!). One is the pace at which we build an attack - twenty passes when five would do, the pace at which we proceed from our half to their half, too many players 'waiting' for the person on the ball to produce the killer pass instead of trying to shake off their marker, the reluctance as a team to challenge for the ball (Wigan had three pressing our back four when Joe had the ball, and yesterday there was one point where five Norwich players were pressing three quarters of the way up the pitch. It ain't rocket science or tactical sorcery for even the grimmest teams to work it out, and we pay for it. One Cup Final, one title and the performance yesterday epitomise this 'paint drying', 'grass growing' approach to play! We mesmerised teams two seasons ago with the sheer pace of play. They found themselves in a whirlwind and few teams throughout Europe can cope with that.

Yeah, pretty much, we regularly struggle against teams who press us high up the pitch (Any team managed by Brendan Rodgers, Pochettino's Southampton, Dortmund, Bayern, I dread to think how we'd cope with Barca). However i don't have a big problem with a slow build up at times, provided we don't miss counter-attacking opportunities. If you want your attacking players to be pressing high, and also providing great movement, you've got to give them breather as well. Passing it around the back for a while lets them catch their breath and maybe gives the opposition defenders time to switch off. Sudden bursts and changes of tempo can be very effective i think.

 

[yozzer]

it was a good season, not a great season, some of the performances made me furious about togetherness in the team, but i totally trust the owners always

 

[kiam06]

What people seem to forget is there are 38 teams trying to stop us winning the title and it takes time to get everything into place and our owners are working on that as we speak. For me last years title win was amazing but well ahead of schedule.

Times may have changed but we are not as good yet as some people think we are our Champions League form showed that. We need to take a step back and not expect everything to happen instantly, those who thought last season was the start of us dominating for years are simply deluded.

Our owners want us to dominate and I am sure they will find a way for that to happen but let's just give it a chance and have a bit of faith in what is happening rather than constantly knocking it.

If the Sheikh decided to pack up tomorrow some of the blues on here would deserve it they are letting themselves be influenced by the pro rag media and not looking at the bigger picture which is fantastic.

 

[Pigeonho]

What people seem to forget is there are 38 teams trying to stop us winning the title and it takes time to get everything into place and our owners are working on that as we speak. For me last years title win was amazing but well ahead of schedule.

Times may have changed but we are not as good yet as some people think we are our Champions League form showed that. We need to take a step back and not expect everything to happen instantly, those who thought last season was the start of us dominating for years are simply deluded.

Our owners want us to dominate and I am sure they will find a way for that to happen but let's just give it a chance and have a bit of faith in what is happening rather than constantly knocking it.

If the Sheikh decided to pack up tomorrow some of the blues on here would deserve it they are letting themselves be influenced by the pro rag media and not looking at the bigger picture which is fantastic.

Nobody is deluded, but people are right in expecting a much more half-hearted attempt at retaining a trophy we played hard to win. There wasn't though, it was a mere 'there you go, we can't be arsed', at times and that isn't good enough.

 

[kiam06]

What people seem to forget is there are 38 teams trying to stop us winning the title and it takes time to get everything into place and our owners are working on that as we speak. For me last years title win was amazing but well ahead of schedule.

Times may have changed but we are not as good yet as some people think we are our Champions League form showed that. We need to take a step back and not expect everything to happen instantly, those who thought last season was the start of us dominating for years are simply deluded.

Our owners want us to dominate and I am sure they will find a way for that to happen but let's just give it a chance and have a bit of faith in what is happening rather than constantly knocking it.

If the Sheikh decided to pack up tomorrow some of the blues on here would deserve it they
are letting themselves be influenced by the pro rag media and not looking at the bigger picture which is fantastic.

Nobody is deluded, but people are right in expecting a much more half-hearted attempt at retaining a trophy we played hard to win. There wasn't though, it was a mere 'there you go, we can't be arsed', at times and that isn't good enough.

You seem to missing the fact that United went out and signed the top Premier League goalscorer from the season before and we did not strengthen in fact with the loss of De Jong we actually weakened our team.

In addition to this our top striker Aguero was out for most of the start of the season not to mention Kompany/Yaya missing.

It's not as black and White as you make out we defended our title best we could with what we have available, remember we only won the title on goal difference last season so this logic that we should have gone on to win it again this year does not add up to me.

The truth is there are many blues on here that can't or won't admit that we lost out to a good team who due a culmination of things meant they were able to find more consistency than we were.

 

[Dodge]

Great. Another thread from a "super fan" telling us how to support the team.

BTW it wasn't a great season, it was a below average season and a missed opportunity to stamp our authority on the League. I am hoping next season we wont have as many players under performing and we romp home with the title.

I agree, I don't like it when someone tells me a supporter of Manchester City since 1966 what I can and can't do when watching the team. I actually don't boo the team or any player but as in the film "The Life Of Brian" if someone who has paid their brass feels the need to when they are under performing then fair enough, how else can a supporter let the players know their feelings whilst witnessing a shambolic performance as yesterday was.

OK, but apart from The Premiership title, the FA Cup, Aguerooooooo, the best squad ever assembled at our club, the Etihad Campus, the trams, the City Circle, the bigger stadium &
free wiFi, what have the new owners ever done for us??

:)

 

[Pigeonho]

What people seem to forget is there are 38 teams trying to stop us winning the title and it takes time to get everything into place and our owners are working on that as we speak. For me last years title win was amazing but well ahead of schedule.

Times may have changed but we are not as good yet as some people think we are our Champions League form showed that. We need to take a step back and not expect everything to happen instantly, those who thought last season was the start of us dominating for years are simply deluded.

Our owners want us to dominate and I am sure they will find a way for that to happen but let's just give it a chance and have a bit of faith in what is happening rather than constantly knocking it.

If the Sheikh decided to pack up tomorrow some of the blues on here would deserve it they
are letting themselves be influenced by the pro rag media and not looking at the bigger picture which is fantastic.

Nobody is deluded, but people are right in expecting a much more half-hearted attempt at retaining a trophy we played hard to win. There wasn't though, it was a mere 'there you go, we can't be arsed', at times and that isn't good enough.

You seem to missing the fact that United went out and signed the top Premier League goalscorer from the season before and we did not strengthen in fact with the loss of De Jong we actually weakened our team.

In addition to this our top striker Aguero was out for most of the start of the season not to mention Kompany/Yaya missing.

It's not as black and White as you make out we defended our title best we could with what we have available, remember we only won the title on goal difference last season so this logic that we should have gone on to win it again this year does not add up to me.

The truth is there are many blues on here that can't or won't admit that we lost out to a good team who due a culmination of things meant they were able to find more consistency than we were.

We defended the title as best we could? Really?! The performances at Everton and Southampton alone say that is bollocks. Our incoming manager once did all he could with Real Madrid, but Barca did better and that was the only reason Real didn't win the league that year. Can we honestly say the same? No. The reason United won the league was because they did as well as they could, but we put hardly any fight up, relatively speaking. It's not like we pushed them all the way, maintained a shit load of points but lost out because United were that much better than us there was literally nothing we could do. If that was the case there would be nothing for anyone to moan about. It isn't the case though.

 

[TGR]

OP. You have made your point. Please give it a rest.