The boring Man City discussion

[Norman]

8 minutes ago, David said:

1 red card, 18 yellows in over 120 games, he's not a player to go out and "hurt" others. Not saying Warnock didn't send them out to leave a boot in, disrupt their flow but to say a player went out with the intention of hurting other players, I just don't see it. 

He lost his head twice imo. They were both red cards. He obviously doesn't lose his head that much, so something riled him. Cardiff's poor form, being outplayed, Warnock's tactics, an 18 year old breezing past him, being shown up on tele, frustration by his performance or his team mates?

Don't know which one it was, but the tackle on Diaz was just as bad. You can't say he wanted to stop the attack. It was 2-0 in the last minute and he was already on a yellow, with your team in a promotion push and needing you available to play. Stupid. I think he intended hurt both.

I don't think he went out intending to do it. He just did it.

[Day]

21 minutes ago, Norman said:

I think he intended hurt both.

I don't think he went out intending to do it. He just did it.

Contradicted yourself slightly here, how can he intend to hurt both but not go out intending to do it?

He has hurt them yes, won't argue that, but I don't think he's set out to send players home in an ambulance, just take them down and slow the game.

It's quite an accusation to aim at any player to say they have, you will find your slightly unhinged players that will admit to wanting to genuinely hurt players but Joe Bennett doesn't strike me as one of those players, his history backs that theory up. Not to say he wont throw a reckless tackle in there from time to time.

[Norman]

15 minutes ago, David said:

Contradicted yourself slightly here, how can he intend to hurt both but not go out intending to do it?

He has hurt them yes, won't argue that, but I don't think he's set out to send players home in an ambulance, just take them down and slow the game.

It's quite an accusation to aim at any player to say they have, you will find your slightly unhinged players that will admit to wanting to genuinely hurt players but Joe Bennett doesn't strike me as one of those players, his history backs that theory up. Not to say he wont throw a reckless tackle in there from time to time.

Yeah, couldn't be arsed to edit to clarify.

I don't think he intended to go out there and hurt anyone, or those specific players. There was no revenge or anything going on. Nothing from earlier in the game to show it was calculating. But in those 2 moments, imo, he showed intentions to hurt both players.

I just feel he lost his head twice for seconds at a time.. 18 yellows in 120 games and then gets two plus a red in one. Out of character, yes.

I also don't think he meant to send anyone home in an ambulance. I think he was frustrated. I don't know why, there are many possible reasons. But the Diaz tackle especially is why i've formed that opinion. He had no other reason to go in that hard, that late - at that stage of the game on a yellow card having already seen one of his reckless tackles lead to the player being substituted. Which leads me to believe he was capable of thinking like that when he lunged in to Sane.

[SaintRam]

New record signing today, bringing in Laporte for 57m

 

 

 

 

[SFox1993]

34 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

New record signing today, bringing in Laporte for 57m

 

 

 

 

Jesus thats just over £450 million for their team thats mad !

[maxjam]

Now also buying Jack Harrison for 4m and immediately loaning to Boro

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11228892/man-city-set-to-sign-jack-harrison-from-new-york-city-and-loan-to-middlesbrough

[Day]

54 minutes ago, SaintRam said:

New record signing today, bringing in Laporte for 57m

 

All that money spent yet can’t afford a real pair of Adidas trainers

[cannable]

2 minutes ago, David said:

All that money spent yet can’t afford a real pair of Adidas trainers

Are those K-Swiss? 

[Day]

19 minutes ago, cannable said:

Are those K-Swiss? 

Probably, the brand that was semi popular for all of 5 minutes, poop Pep, these defender must be eating into his clothing allowance

[Bris Vegas]

39 minutes ago, maxjam said:

Now also buying Jack Harrison for 4m and immediately loaning to Boro

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11228892/man-city-set-to-sign-jack-harrison-from-new-york-city-and-loan-to-middlesbrough

Jack Harrison looks a decebt prospect. I’m surprised nobody else is willling to take a gamble on him for just £4m.

[cannable]

11 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Jack Harrison looks a decebt prospect. I’m surprised nobody else is willling to take a gamble on him for just £4m.

Aren’t City’s owners effectively paying £5,000,000 to themselves though?

[Bris Vegas]

Just now, cannable said:

Aren’t City’s owners effectively paying £5,000,000 to themselves though?

Ah yes. Explains the low fee then I guess.

[Andicis]

Have bid 50 million for Mahrez. Chequebook manager strikes again.

[ViewsFromTheMiddle]

Wasn't there a player they could've got the other week who's better and cheaper? Can't think of his name.

[Bris Vegas]

5 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Have bid 50 million for Mahrez. Chequebook manager strikes again.

Chequebook manager? If they don't have anybody coming through the youth ranks which can play at the very top level, they will have to buy somebody or risk having only two fit wide players for the next two months.

Having said that, I've defended City pretty much all season. Even the Laporte signing made sense for me.

But I won't defend them if they go out and buy Mahrez for like £60m. I think that would be a ridiculous sum of money for a player who I wouldn't ever consider near world class ability.

He's no doubt a top player. But he's not on Sane's level and they got him for much cheaper and much younger.

You can totally understand City buying another wide player now that Sane is injured, but I feel there are better value for money players out there than Mahrez. 

[cannable]

2 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Have bid 50 million for Mahrez. Chequebook manager strikes again.

Meh, he’s still got to analyse their style of play, strengths and weaknesss etcetera and envisage how they’ll fit into the team. 

They could sign almost anybody but they’ve still got to be the right player… something that teams spending big regularly struggle with

 

[Andicis]

1 minute ago, Bris Vegas said:

Chequebook manager? If they don't have anybody coming through the youth ranks which can play at the very top level, they will have to buy somebody or risk having only two fit wide players for the next two months.

Having said that, I've defended City pretty much all season. Even the Laporte signing made sense for me.

But I won't defend them if they go out and buy Mahrez for like £60m. I think that would be a ridiculous sum of money for a player who I wouldn't ever consider near world class ability.

He's no doubt a top player. But he's not on Sane's level and they got him for much cheaper and much younger.

You can totally understand City buying another wide player now that Sane is injured, but I feel there are better value for money players out there than Mahrez. 

Man City have spent more than any club in England since Pep has been there. City are ruining the game in the way that they're run, their spending isn't close to being sustainable. I'd like to see Guardiola manage a club without unlimited resources or the best player in the world. I despise City as a club and everything they stand for.

[Andicis]

2 minutes ago, cannable said:

Meh, he’s still got to analyse their style of play, strengths and weaknesss etcetera and envisage how they’ll fit into the team. 

They could sign almost anybody but they’ve still got to be the right player… something that teams spending big regularly struggle with

 

You say that, but every club does that already, and most of it will have been compiled by scouts and not Pep himself. Being a manager with the resources available to him that Pep has is substantially easier than doing it the hard way. I'll always have more respect for a manager like Mauricio Pochettino.

[Bris Vegas]

3 minutes ago, Andicis said:

Man City have spent more than any club in England since Pep has been there. City are ruining the game in the way that they're run, their spending isn't close to being sustainable. I'd like to see Guardiola manage a club without unlimited resources or the best player in the world. I despise City as a club and everything they stand for.

City have spent more than any club because they've literally gone out and bought in 10+ new players. They had to because they had so many players who were over 30 and on the way out - Caballero, Hart, Demichelis, Sagna, Kolorov, Clichy, Sagna, Zabaleta, Fernando, Jesus Navas, Bony, Negredo, Dzeko, Jovetic, Nasri and the only young one was Iheanacho.

In a squad of say 25 senior players, I've just named 16 who weren't good enough for one reason or another.

Pep has had to go out and buy more than half a new squad of players. City aren't ruining the game. They've not set any of the current transfer records. They haven't raised the bar in terms of the inflated transfer market.

You're right in that their current spending in not sustainable. But now they've drastically decreased their average age, they now have Ederson, Stones, Mendy, Sterling, Laporte, Sane, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus, Zinchenko, Phil Foden, Brahim Diaz, Tosin Adarabioyo who are all 23 or under, while De Bruyne, Danilo, Gundogan and Walker are 27 or under.

That's 16 players who they won't need to replace for years to come. Then you have Delph (28), Aguero (29), Otamendi (29) which still have three or so more years at the top.

David Silva (32), Fernandinho (32) and Kompany (31) are the last three big ones which will need replacing in the next two, three years.

City won't be spending mega bucks (net) every summer for the next few years. They now don't need to.

I guarantee over the next 5 years Chelsea and United's spending will be very similar if not more than City's. Them two have older players which will need replacing.

 

[cannable]

13 minutes ago, Andicis said:

You say that, but every club does that already, and most of it will have been compiled by scouts and not Pep himself. Being a manager with the resources available to him that Pep has is substantially easier than doing it the hard way. I'll always have more respect for a manager like Mauricio Pochettino.

I always tend to think that managers are pretty decent at one specific sort of job which they excel at. 

There’s that quote about Hodgson (who I would argue will be manager of the season if he has Palace finish mid-table) that “he makes bad players perform averagely but he also reduces the good players to that level”. Which is why he performed a ‘Great Escape’ in 07/08 with Fulham, just two years later had them in a UEFA Cup Final and then bombed with Liverpool. 

Guardiola has show that he can mould a team of eleven technical footballers, however he acquires them (because let’s be fair, he promoted a lot of youth at Barca), raise their level and build them into the best team in the world. The fact he spends money to get them to the club shouldn’t really be a slight on him, just something that prevents the ‘Pep or Ferguson’ argument, for now at least.

It’s kind of why I think Clement would be a relatively better manager at a top club than he was with us or Swansea and why I also think that clubs should focus more on what managers do that what successes they achieve.