Liverpool icon Hansen: Man City players just not that good

[chorlton blu]

Liverpool icon Alan Hansen says Manchester City's signings are being found out.

The former Reds captain believes even Carlos Tevez isn't on the level needed to bring the title to Eastlands.

Hansen told the Daily Telegraph: “City cannot point to the loss of the injured Carlos Tévez as the reason for their bad week, however. With the money they have spent and with the players they have, you cannot be so reliant on one player.

“Tévez is an exceptional player, but you have to remember that Manchester United chose to let him go.

“When he played in a front three with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, nobody could argue that Tévez was anything but the third ranking player in that threesome.

“Tévez isn’t of the same calibre as Ronaldo or Rooney and City, for all of their spending, have so far signed very good players rather than great ones.

“And until they break into the Champions League, they will struggle to attract the very best and will find it difficult to acquire the leader that they need.

“But it was always going to be a bumpy road to where they want to be and the last few days have only proved that to be the case.”


If City players are just not that good than Liverpool players must be fucking wank.

he's just a twisted jealous has been and if we sign torres,how many high calibre players will his beloved bin dippers have

 

[Balti]

has-been football club Liverpool FC has-been Alan Hansen - just not that good

 

[scenecreamer]

Rags must be having some problems, what with aging players who need replacing and high profile second stringers commanding huge sums(Rooney)... they need to sign young talent but the stars of yesterday want so much cash they might not be able to afford the best of the best to replace them... they got a bargain with that little Mexican, but there probably won't be to many opportunities like that.

City's players can't all be the stars regardless of what they think they deserve. I get the feeling Mancini is still holding try-outs.

 

[lostgalaxy]

City won't attract the best players out there.

But can produce some.

De Jong.

Boyata, Kompany, Boateng, Silva and Balotelli will follow.

Just a matter of time.

 

[citymad]

footy's weird, 2 weeks ago i was only looking at chelsea, pretty sure we'd be the ones trying to chase them down. Now I'm looking over our shoulder at Spurs/Everton hitting form and thinking - shit, we could come 6th!!

Same manager, same players - no panic. It's a blip.

nah mate, its a blip and a long one at that. Lets face the truth hey, the Arsenal, Rags and Chelsea are on another level to us. Spurs and Everton are our rivals but even that could change if Bob doesn't start getting his team selection right and the team unified.

 

[johnny on the spot]

Alan Hansen, get back to your house and keep up eye-butting your expensive furniture.

And If Lee Dixon's a City fan, I'm Vincent van Gogh back from the dead.

 

[Bill Walker]

Course this is all true.

30 goals in 43 appearances is just not the sort of form that would win you a league.

I wonder how many Torres has got in the same period.

good point mate..

 

[GerBlueBear]

Dear Alan Hanson

In the words of Duke Nukem "Blow it out your ass!"

 

[Joga Bonito]

The difference between an on form Rooney and an on form Tevez is probably very little. But Tevez is on form. Rooney is nowhere near. So not sure what sort of point he is making there...

Now for the Champions League argument that pundits have been going on about ever since we were taken over...

Which players could we sign only if we were to get into the Champions League, and how would they improve us?

Let's look at the Ballon d'Or nomination list...

World Player of the Year nominees:
Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

Straight away you will realise that a number of those players already play for the top teams in Europe.

Barcelona and Real Madrid players are untouchable even if we did qualify for the Champions League so that leaves us with...

Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil),Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland).

Inter Milan are the current European champions. We can safely rule out them selling any of their best players to us. Arsenal and Chelsea are direct rivals so that rules out them selling important players to us, unless there is a reason for it.

So that leaves....

Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Thomas Muller (Germany), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany),
Bayern Munich are one of the most well run clubs in the world. They were only a game away from winning the treble themselves, losing in the Champions League final to Inter. Considering they don't need the money, would they sell Robben, Schweinsteiger, Lahm or Muller, unless said player really pushed for a move? What reason have any of their players got for pushing for a move? None really.

So that leaves...

Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Miroslav Klose (Germany),

We could sign Forlan now if we really wanted him. Same for Klose. Gyan has just gone to Sunderland. Forlan was poor in England and is in his 30's. He's been great in Spain, but would an English club take a punt on him? Probably not. So that leaves Klose, the 32 year old striker who scored 6 goals in 38 games last season, and who has 0 in 3 this season. Not really an improvement.

We can also pretty much rule out any player from United (aswell as Chelsea and Arsenal). So, so far we have excluded...

United
Arsenal
Chelsea
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Inter
Bayern

That'll never change unless we reach a point where we are dominating Europe, and recent history suggests that this isn't likely, given that no team has successfully defended the Champions League

The next tier down brings in teams like Juventus, Milan, Roma, Valencia, Villareal, Sevilla, Spurs, Liverpool, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Auxerre, Schalke, Bremen, Hamburg, Porto, Benfica etc...

I look at those teams, and i don't see really any players who improve us, but would only join City if we were in the Champions League. Juventus, Porto Sevilla, Liverpool, Bordeaux and Hamburg aren't in the Champions League anyway, so playing in the Champions League is hardly a deal breaker for any of their players. In any case there's only a handful of players there who could possibly improve us.

AC Milan and Roma are rife with players who are suited to Italy, and as such, probably wouldn't move to England. Totti, Pirlo, Nesta, Pizarro, De Rossi etc. All very good players, but the majority are pushing into their 30's, and as a said earlier, suited to Italy.

We've proven that we can take the very best players from Valencia, by signing David Silva, despite there being Champions League interest in him. With that in mind, i find it hard to believe that we couldn't do the same to Sevilla or Villareal, regardless of the fact they are in safer financial situations than Valencia.

Closer to home there is Liverpool and Spurs who both possess some good - very good players. Bale, Modric (VDV has just moved so i can't include him), Torres, Gerrard. Is Torres better than Tevez? If on form, it's close. On current
form, he's nowhere near, and he doesn't look like getting there again. Would Gerrard leave Liverpool? It's possible, but he had the chance to move to a Champions League team in Chelsea, but backed at out the last minute. The only thing that has changed is the fact that Liverpool seem to be sinking, but if this is the case, a lack of a Champions League berth probably wouldn't prevent him from joining us. As for Bale and Modric. Good players, but i don't really see Champions League participation stopping us from blowing 'Arry out of the water if we really needed them (not that we do).

After that you are looking at players from outside the top 3 (supposed) leagues. Would not qualifying for the Champions League stop us from buying players from Benfica, Porto, Hamburg, Schalke, Bremen, Lyon etc? Probably not. Even if there was the odd player, what are the chances that he would drastically improve us? Does Hansen know who these players are? Or is he just repeating a cliche without ever giving it any thought?

City being successful will not rely on us getting into the Champions League and the buying all the best players. If anyone thinks that's the case, they will be in for a shock, especially with the Financial Fair Play regulations. City being successful will rely on timing. The likes of Silva, Balotelli, Boateng, Kolarov, Kompany, Hart and whoever else we sign, will be reaching their peaks at a time where the likes of Drogba, Lampard, Terry, Cole, Berbatov, Ferdinand, Scholes, Giggs etc will be close to retiring if they haven't done so already.

We're set up for a period of domination that will last years upon years. It's really not that far away. Let the pundits continue with their rabble and cliches. The Bluemoon is rising. It's just that we can see it much clearer than anybody else. The next decade is ours. It's not far away.

Take a bow.

This post should have it's own thread

 

[cityboy1]

go fuck your self hansen