The Manager

[Anonymous]

I'd say Bayern have a better outfit and say Chelsea have a squad very close to ours too. They are a CB and CDM short of a sublime team. Courtois a keeper on loan is outrageously talented.

Chelsea for my money aren't close to us. They only have Torres as a forward for starters. Well, Torres and Sturridge. Central midfield is Mikel, Lampard, Ramires. Again, I'd fancy Yaya, Garcia, Rodwell/Barry over those three.

Bayern are on the same level as us as far as i'm concerned. They're stronger in certain areas, but weaker in others.

I've also always struggled with the idea that a club needs to get used to playing in Europe. I look at the wealth of CL and international experience in our squad and for me there's enough there to challenge anyone.

I believe we will win CL over next 5 years but we lack a true CM. I said in transfer window over and over. Our best play comes via Yaya and we rely on him to bring the ball from back to front. We need someone along side him to give him options and take off strain.

A CM of true world class quality is hard to find but if we do find it I believe we will take the prize. A younger Scholes and Xavi type player would perfect us. It's gonna be a task to buy a quality player from a European rival but Moutinho looks the best fit. Set piece monster too. Spurs nearly had him sealed for £24mill so if we go in at same fee I am sure he'd come to us.

Not a world away from being a top outfit though, team isn't playing fantastically yet are unbeaten in league despite sloppy defending and injured frontmen. Happy with the way things are going for sure.

I don't think we're going to see a Moutinho type of player. You can see with Mancini that he plumped for Garcia when replacing De Jong. Rodwell came in as the replacement for Hargreaves/Pizarro. We have Yaya and Barry there too plus Milner who slots in there.

I've never gotten my head round the notion that you need a world class player in every position to compete for the top prizes. Our squad has everything it needs IMO. We have diversity, versatility, pure quality, match winners, local lads, a blend of technical players and hard working players. All they require now is belief in themselves and a system to play in Europe against top teams which gets the best out of them. We found that in the league last season, but we have found it in Europe and that's where the manager needs to earn his coin between now and the Dortmund game.

They are a top team and if we don't win that game then difficult questions will need asking.

 

[supercrystal7]

Getting carried away are we with the quality of our squad? PMSL. Lets get it right. Madrid and Barca are the only clubs on earth with a squad as good as ours. The only clubs on earth. The fact that we lost to Madrid is no shame and on the night we did our best even if our players didn't play to their maximum capabilities.

The talking down of our squad by people makes me despair. Have we all forgotten the clubs in the last decade who have won the CL. How many of them had the best squad in the world? We need to have belief in our players to be able to win whatever tournament they enter.

I'd say Bayern have a better outfit and say Chelsea have a squad very close to ours too. They are a CB and CDM short of a sublime team. Courtois a keeper on loan is outrageously talented.

I believe we will win CL over next 5 years but we lack a true CM. I said in transfer window over and over. Our best play comes via Yaya and we rely on him to bring the ball from back to front. We need someone along side him to give him options and take off strain.

A CM of true world class quality is hard to find but if we do find it I believe we will take the prize. A younger Scholes and Xavi type player would perfect us. It's gonna be a task to buy a quality player from a European rival but Moutinho looks the best fit. Set piece monster too. Spurs nearly had him sealed for £24mill so if we go in at same fee I am sure he'd come to us.

Not a world away from being a top outfit though, team isn't playing fantastically yet are unbeaten in league despite sloppy defending and injured frontmen. Happy with the way things are going for sure.

Spot on analysis and bang on about Chelsea. However, there team is a very young one and not ready to challenge for the league. This year I think they would be more than pleased coming 3rd and winning a trophy, whilst bleeding in the new players. Interesting you mentioned their need for a CB and CM, because they are very aware of this. Notice that Lampard and Terry fill those positions. They are probably slowly easing those two out of the team, but not quickly as to cause trouble like AVB or plain selling them like Arsenal and losing the winning mentality.

For me Bayern are every bit as good as Madrid and Barcelona. Don't know much about PSG, but they have bough lots of quality and could be a serious threat.

On the City front I think you are once against correct about the need for another midfielder. Yaya is overworked and MUST start every game. The situation with him is ridiculous. You are a world class CM short.

I also do not have much faith in Nasri. He is not putting the performances a player of his quality should be. If things continue Milner will probably be out and the money will be used to buy Nasri's competition. Luckily there are a lot of those players about.

 

[supercrystal7]

I'd say Bayern have a better outfit and say Chelsea have a squad very close to ours too. They are a CB and CDM short of a sublime team. Courtois a keeper on loan is outrageously talented.

Chelsea for my money aren't close to us. They only have Torres as a forward for starters. Well, Torres and Sturridge. Central midfield is Mikel, Lampard, Ramires. Again, I'd fancy Yaya, Garcia, Rodwell/Barry over those three.

Chelsea's team is a very young one and they are purposely given Lampard and Terry more time. They will replace them next year. Chelsea have two quality players for every position. They are not on your level, because the young players have not yet matured.

Bayern are on the same level as us as far as i'm concerned. They're stronger in certain areas, but weaker in others.

I've also always struggled with the idea that a club needs to get used to playing in Europe. I look at the wealth of CL and international experience in our squad and for me there's enough there to challenge anyone.

Bayern are plain better than you. They are stronger in ALL areas with the exception of their strikers, but they only play one upfront anyway and are not too far off.

I believe we will win CL over next 5 years but we lack a true CM. I said in transfer window over and over. Our best play comes via Yaya and we rely on him to bring the ball from back to front. We need someone along side him to give him options and take off strain.

A CM of true world class quality is hard to find but if we do find it I believe we will take the prize. A younger Scholes and Xavi type player would perfect us. It's gonna be a task to buy a quality player from a European rival but Moutinho looks the best fit. Set piece monster too. Spurs nearly had him sealed for £24mill so if we go in at same fee I am sure he'd come to us.

Not a world away from being a top outfit though, team isn't playing fantastically yet are unbeaten in league despite sloppy defending and injured frontmen. Happy with the way things are going for sure.

I don't think we're going to see a Moutinho type of player. You can see with Mancini that he plumped for Garcia when replacing De Jong. Rodwell came in as the replacement for Hargreaves/Pizarro. We have Yaya and Barry there too plus Milner who slots in there.

I've never gotten my head round the notion that you need a world class player in every position to compete for the top prizes. Our squad has everything it needs IMO. We have diversity, versatility, pure quality, match winners, local lads, a blend of technical players and hard working players. All they require now is belief in themselves and a system to play in Europe against top teams which gets the best out of them. We found that in the league last season, but we have found it in Europe and that's where the manager needs to earn his coin between now and the Dortmund game.

They are a top team and if we don't win that game then difficult questions will need asking.

Mancini definitely wanted a Moutinho type player. His number one target was De Rossi. How hell bent he was to get De Rossi shows he wants a world class passing central midfielder. The problem is that at the moment there are not many of them about. He got in Garcia, because better to have somebody than nobody in case of injuries.

The amount of world class players needed depends on the teams you are competiting with. To consistently challenge for European and domestic honours needs a whole host of world class players. With the squad you have now, of course you can compete domestically and at Europe, but if you face one of the top 3 and both teams play at their full potential you will most likely lose. You are also far more liable to an upset by the likes of Chelsea, United, PSG, Juventus or Dortmund than they are. Just have a look at the great teams of recent years. Randomly look at Chelsea

Cech=world class
Terry=world class
Calvarlho=world class
Ferreira
Cole=world class
Mikel
Essien=world class
Lampard=world class
Robben=world class
Drogba=world class
Cole

Or the Madrid team now

Casilas=world class
Marcelo=world class
Pepe=world class
Ramos
Abeloa
Alonso=world class
Ozil=world class
Khediera
Modric=world class
Ronaldo=world class
Benzema=world class

Or the Barcelona team

Valdes
Alves=world class
Pique=world class
Mascherano
Alba
Buscquets=world class
Fabregas=world class
Iniesta=world class
Xavi=world class
Messi=world class
Villa=world class

Now look at the City team

Hart
Richards
Kompany=world class
Lescott
Clichy
Toure=world class
Barry
Silva=world class
Nasri
Aguero=world class
Tevez=world class

It's a great team and very impressive, but it's not at the level of the others.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a great team and very impressive, but it's not at the level of the others.

Ok, so Bayern, Madrid, and Barca currently have squads superior to ours. Anyone else?

BTW ... you say Bayern are much stronger in every position. Are their two first choice centre halves better than ours? They play 433 right .... so of their 3 in the middle of the park (Martinez, Schweinsteiger, and Kroos) - would you say that they are "better" than a three of Yaya, Garcia, and Silva ?

I don't see how randomly naming three great teams from the last decade is relevant to our chances of winning the CL. Like I said, Barca, Madrid, and according to a few people I know Bayern, have better squads than us. There isn't anyone else so for my money, we are amongst the favourites to win the tournament if we get out of our group of death.

 

[supercrystal7]

It's a great team and very impressive, but it's not at the level of the others.

Ok, so Bayern, Madrid, and Barca currently have squads superior to ours. Anyone else?

BTW ... you say Bayern are much stronger in every position. Are their two first choice centre halves better than ours? They play 433 right .... so of their 3 in the middle of the park (Martinez, Schweinsteiger, and Kroos) - would you say that they are "better" than a three of Yaya, Garcia, and Silva ?

I don't see how randomly naming three great teams from the last decade is relevant to our chances of winning the CL. Like I said, Barca, Madrid, and according to a few people I know Bayern, have better squads than us. There isn't anyone else so for my money, we are amongst the favourites to win the tournament if we get out of our group of death.

Last year I would say that their centre back pairing of Boateng and Badstubber was not better than Lescott/Kompany, but Badstubber and Boateng have improved. So is close. Kompany is easily the best out of the four though.

I would definitely say their midfield is better than yours. Schweinsteiger and Xavi are probably the only two midfielders better than Yaya. Too early to judge Garcia and Martinez for me, but by hype Martinez is better. Whilst Gustavo IS better than Barry. Kroos has stepped up his physicality this season and has been brilliant. He is not far off Silva.

I agree in my opinion just those 3 teams and that is why I think you will win the league and a cup this season. However, I don't know about PSG. Would not put you as fourth favourites due to lack of experience. By this I mean Manchester City dont have the respect and fear factor in Europe. You saw yesterday how United got lots of fortunate decisions. The more consistently you do well, the more referees give you dodgy decisions, which help. Not only that, but clubs begin to fear you. As does building up a good record. These things matter.

 

[sir baconface]

sad truth and exactly what I said a few days ago to those deluded people who thought we were going to madrid to "mark a sign"

unfortunally FFP has clipped our wings a year before we could be on the same level as the RM or Barca. we still are 3/4 world class player away from them and i cannot see how we'll close that gap.

I think people get a bit carried away thinking that if you're the best or one of the best Premier League clubs then that automatically makes you the best in Europe. Well, it simply doesn't. The Prem is a great league but it's overrated by us here in England ir maybe i should say that other leagues are better than we give them credit for and Real/Barca are way ahead of any English clubs. They're not always goin to win the top trophies - just like we wont in England - but not winning the trophies doesn't mean you're not the best.

today it seems that you can read in my thinking.

strange, because usually do not agree with your positions.

You and I have never agreed on anything either, mancio, but I must say you made some good points on this thread. The score could easily have been worse on Tuesday, in truth, and we should not get carried away.

Where we would differ is in thinking City's squad is significantly behind those others. I think the present gap is due to a combination of temporary factors, the main one being the huge and crucial disparity in CL experience. We are beginners whereas Real, Barca and Bayern have been competing for years. Other factors include loss of form by key players and lack of assimilation of the new arrivals. Maicon, Garcia and Nasty had a grand total of 2 games experience before Bernabeu.

I don't believe we are too late re FFP. I am optimistic that we have the manager and squad who will learn from this year's CL and become serious challengers in the next 2 or 3 years.

 

[LoveCity]

When Mancini says "We need more players, we must improve" after bossing the league and looking the best, games like Tuesday's are why. Real Madrid were a level above and had far more in reserve (Ramos, Modric, Kaka, Benzema, Ozil) than we did. We worry about players like Milner not getting games while Real have the likes of Modric and Kaka sat on the bench. This is Mancini's mindset, to be the best you have to match teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona, this is why he wanted to add superstars like Thiago Silva, De Rossi, and van Persie, along with an expensive young prodigy like Hazard to our already talented squad and probably would have if not for FFP/agent fees/etc.

 

[Deleted member 14625]

I think people get a bit carried away thinking that if you're the best or one of the best Premier League clubs then that automatically makes you the best in Europe. Well, it simply doesn't. The Prem is a great league but it's overrated by us here in England ir maybe i should say that other leagues are better than we give them credit for and Real/Barca are way ahead of any English clubs. They're not always goin to win the top trophies - just like we wont in England - but not winning the trophies doesn't mean you're not the best.

today it seems that you can read in my thinking.

strange, because usually do not agree with your positions.

You and I have never agreed on anything either, mancio, but I must say you made some good points on this thread. The score could easily have been worse on Tuesday, in truth, and we should not get carried away.

Where we would differ is in thinking City's squad is significantly behind those others. I think the present gap is due to a combination of temporary factors, the main one being the huge and crucial disparity in CL experience. We are beginners whereas Real, Barca and Bayern have been competing for years. Other factors include loss of form by key players and lack of assimilation of the new arrivals. Maicon, Garcia and Nasty had a grand total of 2 games experience before Bernabeu.

I don't believe we are too late re FFP. I am optimistic that we have the manager and squad who will learn from this year's CL and become serious challengers in the next 2 or 3 years.

We are to the Champions League what Swansea are to the Premier League. The experience thing is massive at the top level, we have a few players with it but a lot without and a club as a whole we have very little.

Chelsea first played the CL in the 1997-98 season and won it for the first time last season.

 

[Mancio]

When Mancini says "We need more players, we must improve" after bossing the league and looking the best, games like Tuesday's are why. Real Madrid were a level above and had far more in reserve (Ramos, Modric, Kaka, Benzema, Ozil) than we did. We worry about players like Milner not getting games while Real have the likes of Modric and Kaka sat on the bench. This is Mancini's mindset, to be the best you have to match teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona, this is why he wanted to add superstars like Thiago Silva, De Rossi, and van Persie, along with an expensive young prodigy like Hazard to our already talented squad and probably would have if not for FFP/agent fees/etc.

this.

 

[bapi]

It's clear Barca and Real are the best clubs in the world but Bayern is very, very close. I don't know how anybody can think our squad is better than Bayern's. Ok, maybe our defence could be better but when I see their midfield...

Yaya, Barry, Rodwell and Garcia against Martinez, Gustavo, Schweinsteiger and Kroos? Or Silva, Nasri, Milner and Sinclair against Robben, Ribery, Shaqiri and Muller? And with Mandzukic they're more variable now.

And PSG is in shit league so should be fresh in UCL.