so this agenda thing.

[moomba]

Bloody hell. Slagged off when we spend, slagged off when we don't. Thought Mangala was decent yesterday too.

 

[nowantads]

"Whilst the ever-calculated Manuel Pellegrini could be seen celebrating his first Premier League title at City with a well-earned holiday"

-didn't pellegrini say 'we'll celebrate for a day and get back to work tomorrow'?

-for anyone who has an ounce of intelligence sagna is clearly recruited as a backup. He will never displace zaba.

"Manchester City won the league last season, not just on their own merit, but because those around them gave them a big hand in doing so - and that hand papered over the cracks in their squad, cracks they failed to address in the transfer window and cracks that will ultimatelty cost them their league crown."

What is 'the cracks'? The writer doesn't explain it at all in the article. And the ol' not giving us any credit for winning the league. Why would anyone help us? Why didn't they help themselves? Does it hurt not winning anything with 'the special one'?

Clearly the writer is a chelsea fan, he can't bring himself to write about lampard strengthening manchester city. Seems like many yahoo writers are chelsea fans. Their website is not worth a click.

 

[Bill]

So we completely dominated Villa today and played them off the park. Would anybody who doesn't believe in an agenda tell me why we haven't received the credit we deserve so far?

Good luck with that.

 

[cibaman]

So we completely dominated Villa today and played them off the park. Would anybody who doesn't believe in an agenda tell me why we haven't received the credit we deserve so far?

Good luck with that.

We can play much better than we did yesterday

 

[Kenny Clements Perm]

Listened to Villa game on radio and Collymore and the bloke he was working with we're devastated when Villa missed anything like a half chance.

Watched the game, in full, when I got back and have just watched MoTD and Shearer reckons City were poor, and don't really know how hard they have to work to win away. To make that sort of comment about players and a manger that have won the league twice in three years is baffling.

I can't listen to talk sport, 5 live or MoTD anymore if city have been beaten or drawn, because the level of enjoyment filtered through the commentators is irrational to the point I want to smash the TV or the car's radio up

Owen is the worst: what a weasel. My Mrs comes in and asks why I'm watching the match with the sound off, and it's because of that little cant. Saying that, Craig Burley is just as bad though.

I just don't get it? I think I might be paranoid

 

[Deleted member 58678]

So we completely dominated Villa today and played them off the park. Would anybody who doesn't believe in an agenda tell me why we haven't received the credit we deserve so far?

Good luck with that.

Well you both should have Sky+'d Sky's coverage and watched it back today. They were full of praise for us.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

So we completely dominated Villa today and played them off the park. Would anybody who doesn't believe in an agenda tell me why we haven't received the credit we deserve so far?

Good luck with that.

We can play much better than we did yesterday

We certainly can. We were slow in possession before we scored, we weren't ruthless in front of goal with all those chances and we were vulnerable to the counter attack until Fernando came on.

Yet Carragher and Quinn said we were very good, could have won by a larger margin, said Silva is someone that even good players like Mata and Cazorla should look up to and he's as good as Xavi and Iniesta, Kun is lethal and doesn't even look 100% fit yet, Fernando was what won us the game and that Pellegrini's move to bring Džeko off and him on was the difference and that's what you get from a top coach.

Quinn did highlight our vulnerability to the counter attack and showed Yaya being lazy when they happened, but he was right to do so.

But yeah, that agenda where nobody gives us praise is all anyone can talk about.

Plus after the good highlights and match stats MOTD showed, Linekar pulled a face to Shearer's bitter punditry, then they showed the Prem minutes per goal table and Linekar stripped down Shearer after a did about, saying "you're nowhere near that list...it took you about 9000 minutes to score your amount though".

 

[George Hannah]

So we completely dominated Villa today and played them off the park. Would anybody who doesn't believe in an agenda tell me why we haven't received the credit we deserve so far?

Good luck with that.

Well you both should have Sky+'d Sky's coverage and watched it back today. They were full of praise for us.

That is an absurd remark, from beginning to end ratboy and his scous sidekicks were hammering us for everything and anything they could right up to and including the Yaya interview at the finish. Their disappointment with our win was etched on their sad little faces, much as it was on Shearer's. Beautiful to behold.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Good luck with that.

Well you both should have Sky+'d Sky's coverage and watched it back today. They were full of praise for us.

That is an absurd remark, from beginning to end ratboy and his scous sidekicks were hammering us for everything and anything they could right up to and including the Yaya interview at the finish. Their disappointment with our win was etched on their sad little faces, much as it was on Shearer's. Beautiful to behold.

Codswallop!

 

[adrianr]

Terrible article

Man City surrendered their Premier League title during the transfer window
<a class="postlink" href="https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pitchside-europe/man-city-s-short-fallings-in-the-transfer-window-will-see-them-surrender-title-to-chelsea-223624208.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/pi ... 24208.html</a>
Weeks before the season had even started, probably at some stage during the World Cup – when we were either all waxing lyrical about Jogi Loew’s Germany or weeping over our respective nations’ fortunes as they fell by the wayside – it was already apparent which clubs would be challenging for the Premier League.
But, to be honest, it’s always pretty obvious which teams are going to be there or there abouts, isn’t it?

England’s top flight is one of the most exciting leagues in world football. It throws up some truly astonishing results and score lines, but, come May, the usual crowd are always there. Arsenal hogging that fourth spot that they hold so dear to them, of course.

But this year, it was slightly different. There were only two team names on the lips of those trying to make an educated guess at who would sit atop the pile after 38 glorious Premier League matchdays.

Manchester City and Chelsea.

Louis van Gaal’s appointment at Manchester United brought about an air of excitement amongst United fans that was so clearly lacking during the ill-fated David Moyes reign. But the damage had been done at United. Too much even for Van Gaal to resurrect in the short time that he had between guiding the Netherlands to third at the World Cup and taking over at Old Trafford.

Liverpool, who finished two points behind champions City during the previous campaign, had to contend with the departure of talisman Luis Suarez. A catastrophic loss and one they weren’t going to recover from ahead of the new term. The addition of Champions League football would also inhibit Brendan Rodgers’ men from making a second consecutive jaunt for Premier League glory.

And we all figured that Arsenal would impress, keeping pace with those at the top before ultimately falling away.

So, just Man City and Chelsea, then?

Not quite.

Whilst the ever-calculated Manuel Pellegrini could be seen celebrating his first Premier League title at City with a well-earned holiday, Jose Mourinho was doing his sums, adding the final few touches to a formula that would transform his third-placed outfit into league champions.

The Special One had already selected a special few; a group of players that would complete the puzzle.

Pellegrini, on the other hand, was off on his jollies, contemplating how to improve a championship-winning side whilst adhering to financial constraints. The Arab-owned club were limited to a net spend of £49 million over the summer, just to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations.

The west London outfit had no such worries. They were free to do their business early on. And by mid-July, Mourinho had acquired the players that will see his Chelsea be crowned champions.

The Blues boss’ acquisitions were exactly what you would have come to expect from a man who has made it his business to achieve success on whichever shores he has washed up on.

Man United’s signing of Radamel Falcao will certainly live long in the memory of those who sit in front of the TV on deadline day, waiting for the drama to unfold as Jim White nears a breakdown, but the signing of the summer was undoubtedly Cesc Fabregas.

View gallery
.Cesc Fabregas celebrates with Diego Costa (Getty)
Cesc Fabregas celebrates with Diego Costa (Getty)
At £27 million, the former Arsenal midfielder was cheaper than Alexis Sanchez, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, and he cost only £2m more than Liverpool paid Southampton for Adam Lallana. But he arrived at Stamford Bridge with over 150 appearances for Barcelona and 91 caps for Spain, at the age of 27. More importantly, though, he arrived with bags of Premier League experience, having made 212 league appearances for Arsenal in which he scored 35 goals and notched 77 assists.

Just last season, Chelsea attempted fewer through balls into their strikers than relegated Norwich, which is why Mourinho desperately needed someone with the ability to knit a team together. Fabregas was that man.

After the first six league games of the season, Fabregas topped statistics tables, passing at a higher rate and more accurately, and creating more goalscoring opportunities than his rivals.

Along with Fabregas arrived his Brazilian-born compatriot Diego Costa, who became hot property following an astonishing season with Atletico Madrid in which he fired them to La Liga glory and a runners-up medal in the Champions League.

“Can he cut it in the Premier League?” asked the doubters as the injury-prone 25-year-old prepared to make his mark on the top-flight.

Eight goals in six Premier League appearances suggests that he can.

Elsewhere, Mourinho found a long-term replacement for the departing Ashley Cole in Filipe Luis, and added Loic Remy to bolster his striking ranks. The acquisition of Didier Drogba was a masterpiece that pleases fans and players alike, even though the Ivorian will never replicate the form he showed during his first stint at the club.

And champions Manchester City? Well, one of their first bits of business was very astute. Bacary Sagna arrived from Arsenal on a free transfer, but the Frenchman has yet to replace World Cup runner-up Pablo Zabaleta.

Fernando gives City another dimension and will help to plug the gap between their attacking midfielders and back line, whilst it is hoped that £32m Eliaquim Mangala will partner captain Vincent Kompany at the heart of the City defence.

View gallery
.Eliaquim Mangala (Getty)
Eliaquim Mangala (Getty)
Whether France’s fourth-choice centre-half can do so remains to be seen, of course. All things looked rosy following his impressive debut against Arsenal, but Mangala’s subsequent two performances in a City shirt were nothing short of woeful.

The 23-year-old scored a rather hilarious own goal and then conceded a penalty against Hull last week and made mistake after mistake in City's 2-0 win over Aston Villa. The defender lacked composure against Paul Lambert's side - perhaps a knock-on effect from the confidence-sapping performance against Hull - and, were Villa more clinical in the final third, would have been responsible for gifting the opposition goals yet again.

And in that is the difference; Mourinho was sure that his signings were the missing pieces of the puzzle. The Chelsea boss knew where his side were lacking last year and set out early to address those issues in the summer.

Manchester City won the league last season, not just on their own merit, but because those around them gave them a big hand in doing so - and that hand papered over the cracks in their squad, cracks they failed to address in the transfer window and cracks that will ultimatelty cost them their league crown.

I do wonder if we'll ever win anything because we deserved it, rather than because everyone else conspired to let us? Shame we have to throw those two league titles in the bin.