It's Quiet the £250m return

blueparrot said:
Don't even know what that means, you don't play in a team that finishes 3rd in the league with a squad of weak players.
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To go from Champions, to scraping 3rd on the last game of the season, losing a cup final to a team in the bottom half of the league. Crashing out the CL before the knock out stages, We was weak last season, physically and mentally. It can happen but with the best manager around, 150m of signings added in the January with the likes of Haaland, KDB etc playing most weeks, stumbling to 3rd wasn't from a position of strength.
 
thegoatsthegoat said:
To go from Champions, to scraping 3rd on the last game of the season, losing a cup final to a team in the bottom half of the league. Crashing out the CL before the knock out stages, We was weak last season, physically and mentally. It can happen but with the best manager around, 150m of signings added in the January with the likes of Haaland, KDB etc playing most weeks, stumbling to 3rd wasn't from a position of strength.
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We may have got 3rd and the most points but our performances were average at best for most of the games we played as well? Rags away, wolves at home and Southampton away to name a few were truly awful!
 
thegoatsthegoat said:
To go from Champions, to scraping 3rd on the last game of the season, losing a cup final to a team in the bottom half of the league. Crashing out the CL before the knock out stages, We was weak last season, physically and mentally. It can happen but with the best manager around, 150m of signings added in the January with the likes of Haaland, KDB etc playing most weeks, stumbling to 3rd wasn't from a position of strength.
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Of course last season wasn't great in comparison with the 5 or 6 years that went before, of course there was a drop off from the treble and 4 in a row.Last season was a hard slog. What you don't seem to get is how hard it is for teams to contunually finish top 4, nobody else has done it every year for the last 10 years, nobody but us.
A team doesn't finish 3rd a couple of points behind second place when struggling for form and fitness by being weak, it takes a fair bit of mental and physical strength.
 
John Wayne said:
No, that's bollocks, I'm happy to acknowledge the positives as well but I give it as I see it whether you like it or not.

I'm not sure that fans clinging to us having the best record since January is a solid argument for saying that Silva has individually been playing well for us. We stabilised after a very bad November and December, but the standard of performance was still some way off what it needed to be. Liverpool took their foot off the gas after clinching the league title and Arsenal put all their eggs in the CL basket. Both of these things played a part in us having the best record over that time period. We proved incapable of getting results in the biggest games - Real Madrid away, Liverpool at home, Arsenal away, Forest away, Palace at Wembley, etc. How much of this is attributable solely to Silva's performances is difficult to determine but it's largely irrelevant. My view is that he's a shadow of the player he once was and there was just as much a case for retaining KDB.

For what it's worth, I think Khusanov is a magnificent centre-half who had a big impact in helping us to stabilise before mysteriously losing his place in the side. Gvardiol moving to central defence and the emergence of O'Reilly also helped massively in propelling us towards CL football. So there goes your wanky argument about only seeing negatives in players.
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Agree with the last paragraph! The rest you believe what you believe and fair enough but saying my opinion is bollocks is the usually thing that happens on all forums! Trying to win an argument!
 
IOWBlue said:
None of those players played in a season as bad as last. Strange that.
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2016/17...................2024/25
3rd - Premier League - 3rd
Last 16 - Champs League - Play off
Semi Final - FA Cup - Runners up
4th round - League Cup - 4th round

All of the players you mentioned, apart from Kyle Walker, played for us in 2016/17. Strange that.
 
thegoatsthegoat said:
You can disagree, but if you think at 2 down he subbed Cherki for minutes, believing he was our best attacker then you are clearly very wrong. You keep your better players on to save the game, your undying loyalty to Cherki is admirable but extremely deluded. Bernardo won't start every week, it is why I didn't want him as captain. He shown glimpses in a game we comfortably lost, without scoring a goal. To replace KDB he needs to do a lot better and I believe he will
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I have loyalty to any City player.
I am also realistic, and have said, repeatedly, that all young players are not the finished article. We have to be patient, but we have the chance to witness the emergence of greatness.
Many are the opposite of that.
I don't recall enough of your posts to level that at you, and I think (in the absence of face to face discussion) we are actually close in our assessment of Cherki. The written word cannot convey tone in the same way.
I don't believe that he was hooked because he was poor, at all.
 
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blueparrot said:
Of course last season wasn't great in comparison with the 5 or 6 years that went before, of course there was a drop off from the treble and 4 in a row.Last season was a hard slog. What you don't seem to get is how hard it is for teams to contunually finish top 4, nobody else has done it every year for the last 10 years, nobody but us.
A team doesn't finish 3rd a couple of points behind second place when struggling for form and fitness by being weak, it takes a fair bit of mental and physical strength.
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Guess it will depend upon whether you are a glass half full person or not.

The op is not by his own admission, therefore does lean towards the empty view.

A forum characteristic - as has been pointed out many times.
 
oldius said:
Correct. We have bought huge, globally recognised talents, but you read here and it is like we are mid-disaster, mid-table nothings without a pot to piss in. I don't know if it's an inability to write with nuance, or it is people's frustration being spilled on to the page, but it irritates me to the point where I want the end of the window and absolutely no right-back bought, just so that people have to deal with the realities of being where we are. We are blessed to be here, and where we have been, so enjoy the ride. It will be choppy at times, but it will be fun if you let it happen.
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Maybe just me but I didn’t have much fun last Saturday!
 
oldius said:
I have loyalty to any City player.
I am also realistic, and have said, repeatedly, that all young players are not the finished article. We have to be patient and have the chance to witness the emergence of greatness.
Many are the opposite of that.
I don't recall enough of your posts to level that at you, and I think (in the absence of face to face discussion) we are actually close in our assessment of Cherki. The written word cannot convey tone in the same way.
I don't believe that he was hooked because truth was the opposite of that.
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Your truth and I repeat, if you are two down in a game you do not take what you claim is our most creative player off just for the sake of it, just to give someone else minutes. If you believe that then there isn't much more we can stay on the topic. He didn't play well, he got subbed early and that's that. He is a very good player but that match in isolation didn't reflect his ability. I am sure and I hope in a few game time we will be celebrating his performances.
 
blueparrot said:
Of course last season wasn't great in comparison with the 5 or 6 years that went before, of course there was a drop off from the treble and 4 in a row.Last season was a hard slog. What you don't seem to get is how hard it is for teams to contunually finish top 4, nobody else has done it every year for the last 10 years, nobody but us.
A team doesn't finish 3rd a couple of points behind second place when struggling for form and fitness by being weak, it takes a fair bit of mental and physical strength.
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Which you haven't taken the factors in as to why we finished relatively close to second. A team who prioritised CL games for a number of weeks/months knowing they can't win the league but comfortable enough to know they had CL football in the bag. You could even argue that after spending 150 plus in Jan, on top of already having a good squad (current champions) no European football or distractions that to finish behind a team that took their eye off the ball in the league for a while isn't the plus you are making it out.

We was the current champions, that means we had a very good team and a very good manager, third still is not this strength you are portraying. We dug in, but the mental strength was invisible for much of the season using many different examples.
 
BerkshireBlue said:
And there lies the problem. Lewis' role is not defined as he's not good enough to be a No 6, No 8, or a No 10. He neither defends or attacks properly and is just making up numbers, a complete passenger
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I totally disagree mate. He's acting on Pep's orders. No other player is asked to, or expected to do what Rico does. The only player who comes close is Rico.

Now if Rico were to play as a standard RB, No 6, No 8 & No 10 & be underwhelming, then I'd get the constant (& unfair imo) criticism he faces.

Let's see how other players would fair playing Pep's complex Rico role. Then we can make a fair A>B like for like comparison.

Also, let's see Rico plays as an under/overlapping RB without having to invert. Then again we can make a fair A>B like for like comparison.

Because no one at City or at any other football team I can think of plays Rico's unique role, I fail to see how any fair comparisons can be made.

However, if we're criticising the effectiveness of Rico in the unique role he plays, how about we stop looking at the only player asked to perform this role & take a closer look at the person tasking him to carry it out?

Or is taking a closer look at the best football manager I've ever seen too taboo to do?

I'll end on that potential hit song I've accidentally created! :-)
 
blue ranger said:
How many city players get in the Arsenal team? We are miles off the quality of previous years. I'd say Gvardiol, Rodri and Haaland plus Foden when he is back to his normal levels. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. The drop off in the quality of our players over last 18 months and beyond is huge.
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So even by your count almost half the outfield, I'd add Reijnders and a fit Stones possibly Ait Nouri at left back,but that's just opinion, would get in a team expected to be winning the league.
Anyone saying otherwise is just another opinion as valid as yours ,no kidding needed.
 
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