Our owners - next move?

[tonea2003]

No idea what to do about Pellers. I think he is a good, but inflexible manager. I imagine he will be there till the end of the year barring a complete breakdown. What I am certain of is that the current crop of players have taken us as far as they will. Which portion of the field would you consider our strength currently?

Goalie: Joe may not be world class but he's damn good.

Defense: Quite terrible considering the individual qualities of the players. Regardless of how fantastic Mangala is in 5 years, spend the bulk of our summer money on him was a proper fuck up if we were aiming to compete this year.

Central midfield: Yaya still has moments but seems past it and unbothered. Fernandinho has been a shell of himself for 9 months. Fernando has shown no ability to merit the reputation he enjoys on this site and Lampard is a pensioner.

AM: Silva is unimpeachable. Nasri and Navas would flatter to deceive other than an odd good game. Neither get anywhere near the starting 11 of a champions league contender.

Forrwards: Aguero, when healthy, is world class. Despite high praises, Jovetic has proven nothing but an ability to disappear on the pitch and pick up injuries. Dzeko is...dzeko.

My point is this: whatever the reasons for our purchases over the last 3 years, we are left with an aging, uninspired squad without a specific strength. And for anyone who may mention our goal scoring exploits from a year ago, the 20+ games we have played this year is a substantial sample size. That team is no more. Management has some work to do.

Can't argue with any of that.

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

 

[blueinsa]

No idea what to do about Pellers. I think he is a good, but inflexible manager. I imagine he will be there till the end of the year barring a complete breakdown. What I am certain of is that the current crop of players have taken us as far as they will. Which portion of the field would you consider our strength currently?

Goalie: Joe may not be world class but he's damn good.

Defense: Quite terrible considering the individual qualities of the players. Regardless of how fantastic Mangala is in 5 years, spend the bulk of our summer money on him was a proper fuck up if we were aiming to compete this year.

Central midfield: Yaya still has moments but seems past it and unbothered. Fernandinho has been a shell of himself for 9 months. Fernando has shown no ability to merit the reputation he enjoys on this site and Lampard is a pensioner.

AM: Silva is unimpeachable. Nasri and Navas would flatter to deceive other than an odd good game. Neither get anywhere near the starting 11 of a champions league contender.

Forrwards: Aguero, when healthy, is world class. Despite high praises, Jovetic has proven nothing but an ability to disappear on the pitch and pick up injuries. Dzeko is...dzeko.

My point is this: whatever the reasons for our purchases over the last 3 years, we are left with an aging, uninspired squad without a specific strength. And for anyone who may mention our goal scoring exploits from a year ago, the 20+ games we have played this year is a substantial sample size. That team is no more. Management has some work to do.

Can't argue with any of that.

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

We dont have to sign anyone in Jan to gaurantee top 4.

Do some one here honestly believe this team will finish outside of the top 4?

 

[SPIDERBOY]

Can't argue with any of that.

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

We dont have to sign anyone in Jan to gaurantee top 4.

Do some one here honestly believe this team will finish outside of the top 4?

You would think we were rock bottom with no points,going off the reaction of some on here.

 

[chris85mcfc]

Can't argue with any of that.

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

We dont have to sign anyone in Jan to gaurantee top 4.

Do some one here honestly believe this team will finish outside of the top 4?

It would be a disaster if we managed to have anyone apart from Chelsea finishing above us

The league really is that poor this season

 

[cibaman]

Can't argue with any of that.

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

We dont have to sign anyone in Jan to gaurantee top 4.

Do some one here honestly believe this team will finish outside of the top 4?

Finishing 4th would be a nightmare. It would ruin my summer. The prospect of City playing a CL qualifier doesnt bear thinking about.

 

[BobKowalski]

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

We dont have to sign anyone in Jan to gaurantee top 4.

Do some one here honestly believe this team will finish outside of the top 4?

Finishing 4th would be a nightmare. It would ruin my summer. The prospect of City playing a CL qualifier doesnt bear thinking about.

4th and having to qualify is a nightmare scenario given our fragile mental state in the CL.

Its Top 3 or forget it.

Thankfully I just can't see us finishing outside the top 3. Said before even a small upturn in performance levels will see us get second. We may be under performing but everyone else bar Chelsea are absolute gash.

 

[blueparrot]

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

We dont have to sign anyone in Jan to gaurantee top 4.

Do some one here honestly believe this team will finish outside of the top 4?

Finishing 4th would be a nightmare. It would ruin my summer. The prospect of City playing a CL qualifier doesnt bear thinking about.

Even while not playing well we've got 13 points from the last 6 games, so even at that rate we'll get around 77 - 80 points, that will get us top 3 at least. Any improvement in form will get us to 80 plus points .

 

[coleridge]

PR exercise?

I think not.

Tolmie, mate, why do you still underestimate the owners in this way? That's tabloid talk, with the greatest of respect.

Have faith. The top Emiratis are more than a match for the likes of Platini.

There will be no rash decisions, ever. Time and patience backed by knowledge and cold hard cash allow for the most well considered of strategies. There are no 'next move(s)'. Merely progression.

The future shines glorious for MCFC. The start to this season is just one of those bumps along the way, annoying as it has been for all of us. Believe. The sun always shine on the UAE. ;)

 

[supercity88]

The players just aren't performing so far and I think it's down to last season's exploits in addition to the World Cup. Yaya isn't suddenly shite, it was only a few months ago that he was playing his best football for us. Whether it is mental/physical/emotional fatigue I don't know. But most of the players are showing a drop in levels. Lampard despite his age has been one of our best players, he has got into good areas and he has done a really good job in that advanced midfield role. I think we have actually missed him since his injury. The results would say we have. That's criminal in itself because he should be bolstering the squad here and there not being relied upon to provide cutting edge and ensuring there are no mistakes.

We will come good. The league has been strange in that Southampton are also showing consistency and are where they are on merit rather than through luck. They could most definitely finish in the top 4 if they keep this level of consistency. Liverpool did it last season without European competition. I thought the rags would be higher up because they only have domestic football but they have struggled. Arsenal have dropped more points than usual and they aren't likely to have a stronger second half of the season. Tottenham have been poor and Everton have slipped up. Over the next ten games I would imagine Chelsea and City become a little closer in the league but we pull away from Southampton slightly. Saints still have Rodriguez and Ward-Prowse to come back and they were fantastic last season. The top 4 is anybody's guess. It's really opened up to whatever team decides to be consistent.

Any finish lower than 2nd this season would be a really poor showing. See how we get on against Bayern and go from there. We could do with the money that European football would bring but if not we really should be winning most of our league games if we crash out. Our squad is capable of beating everyone in this league and should show that if we only play on the weekends.

 

[Citizen Green]

No idea what to do about Pellers. I think he is a good, but inflexible manager. I imagine he will be there till the end of the year barring a complete breakdown. What I am certain of is that the current crop of players have taken us as far as they will. Which portion of the field would you consider our strength currently?

Goalie: Joe may not be world class but he's damn good.

Defence: Quite terrible considering the individual qualities of the players. Regardless of how fantastic Mangala is in 5 years, spend the bulk of our summer money on him was a proper fuck up if we were aiming to compete this year.

Central midfield: Yaya still has moments but seems past it and unbothered. Fernandinho has been a shell of himself for 9 months. Fernando has shown no ability to merit the reputation he enjoys on this site and Lampard is a pensioner.

AM: Silva is unimpeachable. Nasri and Navas would flatter to deceive other than an odd good game. Neither get anywhere near the starting 11 of a champions league contender.

Forrwards: Aguero, when healthy, is world class. Despite high praises, Jovetic has proven nothing but an ability to disappear on the pitch and pick up injuries. Dzeko is...dzeko.

My point is this: whatever the reasons for our purchases over the last 3 years, we are left with an aging, uninspired squad without a specific strength. And for anyone who may mention our goal scoring exploits from a year ago, the 20+ games we have played this year is a substantial sample size. That team is no more. Management has some work to do.

Can't argue with any of that.

worryingly neither can i,

hopefully in jan there might be some flexibility to improve the squad to at least guarantee a top 4 position(minimum requirement)
then in the summer when FFP restrictions have been lifted we can them seriously improve our squad via ins and out

Sorry but no, I'm not having this, we've had a poor month for the first time since MP took over and everyone is writing him off as a one-trick show pony of a manager. The man has taken Malaga and Villarreal to the QF's and SF's of the Champions League respectively, won countless trophies in South America, and won the DOUBLE in his first season in England.

I'm also hearing how our 'ageing' squad is at it's end, so let's look at the facts.

Zabaleta and Kompany would walk into any team on the planet guaranteed, two awesome footballers.

Yaya is probably going through the roughest part in his football career to date and is clearly not in a very good place mentally atm, but he will come good, history tells you so. Fernandinho has been in and out of the team since the arrival of Fernando, he will nail his place down after the international break and return to his usual standard.

James Milner has vastly improved over the last 6 months.

Silva is the best play-maker in the league bar none, again, would walk into any team on the planet. Nasri has been out through injury but has been top drawer since Pellegrini took over.

Sergio Aguero is the best out and out centre-forward on the planet currently, and Jovetic will have his moments as the season progresses.

We then have top young talent like Mangala, Lopes, Rekik, Denayer and will no doubt strengthen this summer once we are working without FFP restraints. We need to come out of panic mode and get behind the boys, to me atm it seems as if we are buying into the media's bullshit!, we WILL come good. Stop flapping.