The Title is there for the taking...

[OB1]

Honestly though, for Pellegrini to win it in his first season at City and in England will be an achievement which him and the players will be able to be hugely proud of and one which will certainly dispel any skepticism about the abilities of the players or the management.

Now that I can agree with. He's got his work cut out for him this season though.

We should've sacked Mancini last summer and allowed Txiki to make the technical decisions even though he hadn't officially joined. Long term we'd have been better off instead of being in the position where we had a manager who no longer wanted to be at the club and a club that no longer particularly wanted him for an entire season. Was a fuck up and something Khaldoon should carry the can for because ultimately Roberto was his mate and the decisions to keep/reward him with a new contract should've been a technical footballing one rather than one based on a fear of negative PR mixed in with a dollop of "we owe it him".

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and with the benefit of what I know / think I know now, I would have to agree with you that Mancini should have gone immediately after the title win. KAM should not have needed the benefit of hindsight though and whilst I rate him as a fantastic chairman, in the harsh glare of the floodlights, he cocked-up - big time.

He would though I think have faced a big problem in replacing Bobby at that point but the obvious move should have been to agree with Pep that he would takeover after his sabbatical and then find an interim manager. We now know that Rafa was available on on interim basis and I think it is reasonable to postulate that he could have come in and kept the seat warm whilst also adding to our trophy haul. That is what we should have done last summer; just as we should have bought Bale and Cavani then. Easy to say now, but I did say (possibly not on BM) at the time that we should buy Bale and Cavani.

 

[Cobwebcat]

We've got a good 25 man squad now.

Our success depends on a lot of aspects but in particular:

1. Kompany being available to play

2. Pelle using the players he now has well

Feel a bit sorry for Pelle in that 1 impacts 2.

 

[Anonymous]

And then you wake up, Utd have strengthened with a great buy. Chelsea have Eto and Torres, We now have a weak midfield due to yaya not being active enough to play with only 1 man next to him. And a defence with the speed of a cripple on a stairlift. It is going to be a tough season, Arsenal still won't be contenders their defence is worse than ours.

Have to agree with this post in general , i'm not happy with our midfield , and it will be a tough season for us .... although Demichelis could well turn out to be worth his weight in gold.

i also think we shouldn't understimate Arsenal , they are perpetual Champions League qualifiers , and Ozil is an excellent addition to their squad.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Traditionally, the league is decided not by how you perform against your peers, but how well you do against the rest. But this season, I think the top 5 or 6 are SO much stronger than the rest, I expect the top teams will win the vast majority of their games agains the lower sides, with few dropped points.

How we fare playing against our direct competitors will be vital this season I think. And also the Cardiff dropped points is a mistake we can ill afford repeat too often.

I think in the last 10 years of the premiership only once has a team not won the top 4 head to head mini league and still won the league so on that basis results against the rest of the top 4 are always important.

Really? I had heard otherwise, but I am happy to stand corrected.

In a way it makes no difference to my argument though. More so than in previous years I think we can bank on the scum and on Chelsea grinding out result after result. We have to do the same, and then the head to heads will be vital.

If we keep losing at Stoke/Sunderland/Everton/Swansea then it won't matter as we will be out of it anyway.

 

[Blue Theatre]

We've only played 3 games, but my thoughts so far (for what they're worth) are:

Good news:
- Navas gives us something we were missing under Mancini: speed / directness / willingness to cross
- Negredo gives us something we were missing under Mancini: someone who wants to (and can) get on the end of crosses and convert them [I know Dzeko should have been able to, but he rarely did]
- we are told by everyone that Pellegrini is an expert at happy dressing-rooms and getting the best out of every player (although little proof of that so far, Dzeko's performance against Newcastle apart)

Bad news:
- Is Kompany injury prone ? Because if he is, we have no adequate cover for him
- Is Joe Hart's form a blip from which he is about to recover ... or is it something worse ?
- There are some concerns over Pellegrini's "pruning" of City's squad (Keeping Garcia rather than Barry ... could/should more effort have been made to keep Tevez instead of Dzeko ... making a big effort to keep Kolarov even though Juventus and others were set to offer good money for him ?).

Looking at our rivals:

- Moyes is a big downgrade on Fergie (just doesn't have same authority or stature) and they haven't really strengthened, so I would be really surprised if Utd win the league ... however, what they do have is the same old gang of players that have known each other for years, are used to winning, and are determined to grind-out results even when they are rubbish. So no doubt they will be near the top.

- Mourinho will do what Mourinho always does - which is try to concede as few goals as possible .. hope to grab a goal then try to kill the game - never allow the oppostion a way back into the game. So Chelsea will rack up the points but win few friends, I would suggest

- Arsenal: surely it will take more than Ozil to make them title contenders, and instill that elusive "winning mentality" again ?

- Spurs: great squad, so they may not feel injuries and suspensions like some others ... but their 1st-eleven is arguably still less good than all the other contenders, including Arsenal.

- Liverpool: surely they don't have enough goals in their squad to win the title, even with Suarez back ?

City, Utd and Chelsea have better squads than the other 3, but they also all have new management, which means that a few bad results will be quickly seized upon (by fans and press), and a small blip could become a crisis more quickly than for established managers.

So I would say every team / set of supporters has its worries and unknowns this season ... it could be very interesting and rather close ! Fingers crossed it's City that come out on top.

 

[Any1aBlue]

Now that I can agree with. He's got his work cut out for him this season though.

We should've sacked Mancini last summer and allowed Txiki to make the technical decisions even though he hadn't officially joined. Long term we'd have been better off instead of being in the position where we had a manager who no longer wanted to be at the club and a club that no longer particularly wanted him for an entire season. Was a fuck up and something Khaldoon should carry the can for because ultimately Roberto was his mate and the decisions to keep/reward him with a new contract should've been a technical footballing one rather than one based on a fear of negative PR mixed in with a dollop of "we owe it him".

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and with the benefit of what I know / think I know now, I would have to agree with you that Mancini should have gone immediately after the title win. KAM should not have needed the benefit of hindsight though and whilst I rate him as a fantastic chairman, in the harsh glare of the floodlights, he cocked-up - big time.

He would though I think have faced a big problem in replacing Bobby at that point but the obvious move should have been to agree with Pep that he would takeover after his sabbatical and then find an interim manager. We now know that Rafa was available on on interim basis and I think it is reasonable to postulate that he could have come in and kept the seat warm whilst also adding to our trophy haul. That is what we should have done last summer; just as we should have bought Bale and Cavani then. Easy to say now, but I did say (possibly not on BM) at the time that we should buy Bale and Cavani.

It's always a good sweeping statement 'hidsight's a wonderful thing' - as though that's all the excuse anyone who 'cocks-up' needs to absolve themselves.
Fact is, many of us here were called 'rags' and 'traitors' and 'dont know about football' etc etc - for saying we thought Mancini should go after title win and that our transfer policy was crap and the culprits should be brought to book upon the failure many of us predicted.
I banged on and on and on about breaking the bank for Bale last summer when we could have had him for 60m - most here said he wasnt worth 40m and some clowns that he wasnt worth 20m. At worst we could have made a 30m profit.
Same with Cavani. And we spent 50m on inferior players (nasty excepted).
I have also gone on,and on and on about getting in a world class centre back - again, most here saying nothing wrong with what we've got. That has been proved patently incorrect. Now we have a manager who wants to play a high line with immobile defenders and reduced their cover to only one holding midfield player - this isnt hindsight, its stating fact as it happens. We're going into the derby with a shambolic defence and a bunch of 'strangers' - just ready to be picked off by a fast and skilful attack minded side. We look a team that looks bereft of ideas and %100 commitment again. Anyone who watched the Cardiff and Hull games and thought otherwise is kidding themselves...................

 

[lewis2013]

I Said Mancini should of gone after the title win, and got slated on BBC Manchester for saying that, now other people jump on the bandwagon, to be a true blue speak your mind not a year later! CTID

 

[Anonymous]

Really? I had heard otherwise, but I am happy to stand corrected.

I remember researching it at some point last season. If I can later I'll post the link where I found the stats/info but it definitely showed that the winners of the head to head mini league have won the league itself 9 years out of the previous 10.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Really? I had heard otherwise, but I am happy to stand corrected.

I remember researching it at some point last season. If I can later I'll post the link where I found the stats/info but it definitely showed that the winners of the head to head mini league have won the league itself 9 years out of the previous 10.

No need to go hunting for it Billy. If you read it somewhere then fair enough. My assumption that it was the other way around was based on what I had learned over perhaps 30 years, so maybe it's not been true for a while.

 

[jimharri]

And then you wake up, Utd have strengthened with a great buy. Chelsea have Eto and Torres, We now have a weak midfield due to yaya not being active enough to play with only 1 man next to him. And a defence with the speed of a cripple on a stairlift. It is going to be a tough season, Arsenal still won't be contenders their defence is worse than ours.

Have to agree with this post in general , i'm not happy with our midfield , and it will be a tough season for us .... although Demichelis could well turn out to be worth his weight in gold.

i also think we shouldn't understimate Arsenal , they are perpetual Champions League qualifiers , and Ozil is an excellent addition to their squad.

I say!