I get quite alarmed when posters respond to a disappointing result with two fairly predictable attitudes: the first is that the manager should be sacked and the second is along the lines that some of our players are "championship quality at best". They are both rubbish and, in February, irrelevant. I take the view that I took at the start of the season, and that is that our squad is the best in the PL. At the moment there is a problem of enforced absence through injury and in certain positions it is critical. There is an argument that against Chelsea the injuries proved decisive, but against Norwich they did not. I sat watching the game with mounting frustration because too many players were simply having an off day against the Canaries. It's the kind of thing we hope won't happen, but we all know it will at times. We simply hope we're good enough to win when it does! It looks as though we will have 2, 3 or 4 key players out against Barca and they will have their best team. This could be decisive, but it will still be bad luck. Barca can beat anyone on their day - but so can we, and we'd better not forget that. The game in Munich is an inspiration in this context. We all thought Pellers had given up: through to the last 16, clearly not as good as Munich and with Arsenal to play on Saturday...pick a "second eleven" and hope you don't lose too heavily!!! That night Ya Ya was suspended, Vinnie and Sergio were on the bench (and stayed there!), Samir was not even in the squad, our CBs were the much maligned Lescott and Dimichelis, our captain was the similarly maligned Kolorov and we were two down in 12 minutes. Then we started to play! Silva was superb, Milner became Milner of Munich, Dzeko led the line superbly, Kolorov and Zaba ran riot and we won 3-2 against the strongest side Guardiola could field.
My point? That City squad has class and strength in depth. On form we are as good as any team on the planet - even with injuries.
