We have the best squad.....

[Blueknows]

I don't buy into any of those excuses.

We've struggled with injuries more than we should because our manager is incapable of adapting. When the entire defence falls apart because of one man missing, especially when you've got two centre halves at over £30 million each, or we can't score a goal because one man upfront is injured, or we can't create chances because Silva is injured despite having spent £100 million on 2 attacking midfielders in the summer then imo you look at the manager and question why he can't cope. Yes, anybody would miss players of the calibre of Kun or Kompany but not to the extent we have given our squad. Arsenal have had more than their fair share of injuries this season too and seem to cope so much better, and not wanting to make excuses for them but the rags have been decimated with injuries this season too.

Everybody suffers from poor officiating, i don't believe we've had more decisions go against us than anyone else, and we've had our fair share of decisions go in our favour too it's just far far easier to remember the ones that don't go our way. there's no hidden anti-City agenda that the FA and the refs have devised.

As for the last one, Yeah we've played more of the top teams away than at home but it all evens itself out eventually, we've still only beat 2 of the top 10 home or away so far this season, even if they were all away games that is nowhere near good enough and not a record you can win titles based on.

When discussing our troubles in defence its not that simple whatever anyone thinks we do miss our captain (the best captain we've ever had in my lifetime) he is a leader and has a voice who organises the defensive back line , long term injuries to 2 world class players (our playmaker and number 1 striker) will have an effect on any top side .

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

I am getting ever more frustrated by the sense of entitlement and complete contradictions I keep hearing in the media and amongst our Fans. I keep hearing the well used mantra, that 'we have the best squad' therefore we should be doing better on the one hand but then on the other I'm continually reading that Yaya is past it, navas can't cross, mangala is a liability, bony is sh*te, de bruyne doesn't track back, Fernando is rubbish, Sterling isn't worth 50m and can't finish, Kolarov can't defend. Zabaleta is on the wane, and I could go on. How then does that equate to having the best squad ? All the above can't be true and then we have the best squad.

We either have the best squad, in which case the slagging of the players is valid and we are slightly underperforming, or, the above comments I have read about the players is true and Pellegrini is working a minor miracle. You can't have it both ways.

These contradictions are compounded further by the fact that we are 3 points off the top of the league, quarter finals of the champs league - finishing top of footballs elite competition - and in the semis of the capital one cup and we've won 12 out of 15 games at home. This is hardly the sign of a team that is struggling. You can't even claim that we should be doing better with the money we've spent, were vastly outperforming the rags who have spent considerably more than us and arguably from a stronger base, same with Chelsea same with Arsenal who's records 'overall' this season don't stack up to ours.

It's time fans got a real sense of perspective and think what it feels like to be a villa fan or Leeds fan. I expected better from City fans. I genuinely thought that having experienced the hard times would make us grateful for what we are experiencing now, instead the sense of entitlement is disappointing.

How has it got to this where fans are moaning like the world has ended when we are still in every competition ?

Brilliant post , the fact we get 100 pages when we lose a game and barely 30 pages when we win , confirms the self entitlement of some of our fellow bluemooners , i can assume there are a lot of posters on this forum who never seen the baren years , because they certainly are not enjoying the good times

 

[ninjamonkey]

You've made a couple of statements about decisions that you can't really back up. Find me any of our rivals who have conceded a goal when a player receiving the ball is 3 yards offside in front of the linesman, or the myriad of fouls we have suffered in the box where there's contact but no penalty given I think there has been one of those in about the last 6 games including Arsenal.

As for arsenal coping better, they have gone out of the capital one cup and scraped through their champions league group with a far easier set of teams.

I can accept that at the half way mark we are probably slightly below par but it's only a handful of games different from where we likely could be and I don't share the doom and gloom that this group of players, particularly those like silva and Aguero getting back up to speed, that we won't come on far stronger in the 2nd half of the season.

It's a fantastic time to be a City fan and frankly I am absolutely loving us challenging on all fronts and going into games feeling like the favourites. It's taken some getting used to, but the days of 8 goals at home all season under Stuart Pearce are now a distant memory and there isn't a week goes by when I don't forget where we as a football club have come from. I find it keeps me grounded and stops me going rag like.

I'm not going to trawl through footage of other games to find a bad decision from a ref, but rest assured it happens in virtually every game, watching motd, every game generally has 2-3 awful decisions it's not exclusive to City. We've had a few bad decisions go against us recently, that's nothing more than unfortunate. Just like when we had a few games earlier in the season when we had 2-3 very fortunate calls go for us in the space of a few games it wasn't refs favouring us it was just coincidental that the decisions happened to favour us. Anybody that seriously believes we're being singled out by the refs are probably supporting the wrong team as it's bordering on scouse levels of delusion at times. It's staggering that so many have convinced themselves this is the case.

I can't speak for everybody that isn't happy right now but from my point of view, i'm not seeing it as doom and gloom at all, obviously this is the best team we've ever had and a great time to be a blue but that's no reason to accept underwhelming performances on a consistent basis.

I've used the saying myself, probably even this season when sat on a coach back from another crap performance and an away defeat but as a set of fans we really need to get over the whole "at least we're not in division 2 and shit" mentality.

We've been at the very top for at least the last 5 years now. Reminisce and remember the dark old days fondly and in jest but lets stop using them as a reason to put up with whatever underwhelming performances we produce week in week out. There's a real danger of wasting a huge opportunity to win multiple competitions this season, and it's predominantly because of one man and his mind-boggling decisions. and that's what people aren't happy about,

When discussing our troubles in defence its not that simple whatever anyone thinks we do miss our captain (the best captain we've ever had in my lifetime) he is a leader and has a voice who organises the defensive back line , long term injuries to 2 world class players (our playmaker and number 1 striker) will have an effect on any top side .

You're right, Kompany is an exceptional leader and offers more than simply being a better defender and i agree with your second bit, i said as much in my post. But when we've got world class or bordering world class players virtually everywhere on the pitch and even the bench, we shouldn't just fall apart like we seemingly do when we miss 1 or 2 players.

 

[cleavers]

We have the best collection of individual players, absolutely no doubt about it.

The problem is we've had two managers in succession (Mancini and Pellegrini) who have failed to pick players based on merit, instead relying on the big name players to try and get instant success.

If you want long term success you have to breed a hard working, competitive culture within the squad so they're all driving each other on. By picking players based on merit and not talent, you're forcing the more talented players to work harder. Hard working talented players will inspire the squad players and academy players to be the best players they can be.

It's really that simple IMO.

I think you make a lot of sense.

We do seem to have an issue with perpetual injuries which doesn't help, and we shouldn't change the team every week if someone has a single drop of form, and expect consistency, but players have been played who shouldn't have been, in fact beyond that we've kept players who were clearly struggling at the level we want to be, yet we don't try alternative young players often enough.

A better balance is needed somehow, but individually we do have the best collection of players, but there is no I in team, and its teamwork we seem to lack most.

 

[WRicko]

We need another central midfielder Fernando should be better can surprise people when he plays well. In a normal season without these injuries we would be overstocked in attacking midfield / wide positions. Yaya looks old he is not past it he must be being over played. The players have recently struggled with passing that not because of there ability or the mangers not sure what it is. Would like a different backup striker but hard to sort that. I like our left backs and right backs Sagna probably needs a rest from time to time. Back up goalie is slated but not really an issue and good backup goalies are hard to find. We have had bad luck with injuries and decisions.We are not helped by not using youth even a little at the end of games or as 4th choice CB instead of Demi

 

[Walson]

We place too much stock in the likes of Bony, Mangala, Navas ect. Just because we paid big money for them, doesn't mean they offer anything. How can we have a great squad when with one injury to Kompany, we lose all faith in the team being defensibly stable? I really dont rate Bony as anything special, he scores rarely, and his goals are not very important. We bring on Navas off the bench for pace and energy outwide. Fernando and Delph is nothing special. So we bring on these players like Mangala, Navas, Bony, Delph, Fernando - and supposedly this is awe inspiring that Chelsea, Arsenal, United and Tottenham can only dream off? Arsenal have Wilshere, Chamberlain, Gabriel, Gibbs, Welbeck, who cant get in their team. United have Fellaini, Schniederlin, Carrick, Lindgard, Rojo who dont often feature in their first team. Chelsea have Oscar, Mikel, Remy, Ramires, Pedro who dont often feature in the Chelsea 11. So whats so significant about Bony, Navas, Fernando, Mangala?

When Nasri gets back, that will offer us a new dimension. But we need to remember, this isnt the days of Aguero-Dzeko-Balotelli-Negredo which represented our strength in depth. I think too many of you are being generous with regards to the strength of our squad. Because the premise of our strength in depth rests in the quality of Bony, Navas, Fernando, Delph, Mangala, and they all would not get in the first 11 of the top 6.

 

[Blue Mooner]

I'm not going to trawl through footage of other games to find a bad decision from a ref, but rest assured it happens in virtually every game, watching motd, every game generally has 2-3 awful decisions it's not exclusive to City. We've had a few bad decisions go against us recently, that's nothing more than unfortunate. Just like when we had a few games earlier in the season when we had 2-3 very fortunate calls go for us in the space of a few games it wasn't refs favouring us it was just coincidental that the decisions happened to favour us. Anybody that seriously believes we're being singled out by the refs are probably supporting the wrong team as it's bordering on scouse levels of delusion at times. It's staggering that so many have convinced themselves this is the case.

I can't speak for everybody that isn't happy right now but from my point of view, i'm not seeing it as doom and gloom at all, obviously this is the best team we've ever had and a great time to be a blue but that's no reason to accept underwhelming performances on a consistent basis.

I've used the saying myself, probably even this season when sat on a coach back from another crap performance and an away defeat but as a set of fans we really need to get over the whole "at least we're not in division 2 and shit" mentality.

We've been at the very top for at least the last 5 years now. Reminisce and remember the dark old days fondly and in jest but lets stop using them as a reason to put up with whatever underwhelming performances we produce week in week out. There's a real danger of wasting a huge opportunity to win multiple competitions this season, and it's predominantly because of one man and his mind-boggling decisions. and that's what people aren't happy about,

You're right, Kompany is an exceptional leader and offers more than simply being a better defender and i agree with your second bit, i said as much in my post. But when we've got world class or bordering world class players virtually everywhere on the pitch and even the bench, we shouldn't just fall apart like we seemingly do when we miss 1 or 2 players.

Ninja, if you're going to make statements of fact you have to back them up. Everton, Watford, Leicester, Arsenal, Swansea we have had very givable penalties not given. All of them were game changing decisions and I could find you many more softer penalties given every season, one particularly good example being the rags against Chelsea the last time they won the title. Even if 50% had been given, which you might expect given the law of averages, our current position would be better.

We've won 9 games at home and 2 away by more than two clear goals 3.0, 3.0 , 4.1, 6.1, 5.1, 5.1, 3.1 Sevilla, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2 BMG, 4.1 - sorry but those are not the results of a team giving underwhelming performances but to expect that every week, particularly in the premier league is unrealistic - we are not Barcelona just yet. This is particularly true when all teams up their game 5-10% against us.

You seem to take no account of the opposition, the expectation appears to be that we should dominate a team like Everton on their own patch, yet if the media are to be believed, they have a 50m central defender in Stones, 50m midfielder in Barclay and currently the best striker in the premier league up front, and we all know the talent of Gareth Barry and Baines was a long time target for the rags.

Sure, I can understand being disappointed with Weds night, I was, but the reaction on here after that performance and with our current situation is way out of kilter and expectation has run away with itself to ridiculous proportions imo.