Mole_Toonfan

He isn't I was crucified for suggesting such a thing in the summer though....

Aye quite the gimmick change.

Those who watched Wrestling in the 90s will know who this is and it's not Van Dijk

They were rightly criticised for that too, if we had the same team as Man Utd and Rafa took the same approach as Mourinho I'd have been angry. As it is we have a load of championship standard crap and the approach was justified.

Yeah close to spot on is how I'd describe it tbh, if you were to nitpick I'd say there's probably moments where you push harder when possible but there's nothing to really complain about. Also Hans I completely agree with you with regards to our ability on the ball tbh, there's not much else we could have done really. I'd ignore Neville tbh, the man is a moron and the fact Guardiola is praising Benitez says everything we need to concern ourselves with tbh.

Do both sides not realise there's room to be more aggressive or more defensive on both sides? It's not that black and white. With that said, there's not much wrong with what happened tonight. I expected a lot worse and we were in the game right till the end, really not sure what anyone expected tbh. After all this is a team which has now won 16 in a row.

While I agree, we are more than likely to get beat, Silva being out does at least give us a glimmer of hope. Him and De Bruyne are a class above everyone else in that side. Of course, it's natural they would be a much tougher team to beat with the two best midfielders in the league this season. As I said I'm still expecting to lose pretty easily I live in hope that we don't.

Gundogan has been fine this season, he's just not played a lot because Silva and De Bruyne have been ridiculous. Toure has barely played all season so no doubt be rusty but I doubt it will matter because Fernandinho will cover his general laziness. Expecting to get utterly smashed, but that's fine almost everyone has. We just need to pick up against teams we actually have a chance against.

I wasn't and got massive amounts of s*** for it, it's rare that mid table sides spend s*** loads on a striker and they turn out to be the real deal. In fact I'm struggling to think of one tbh, not saying this lad won't be but I honestly wouldn't worry about it. Brighton were going to be fine even before signing him anyway.

People said the same about the City lad that went to Leicester, it's possible he's not at that level.

Nah, they won't even be in 50 years. Not while the likes of Barca and Madrid exist.

Yedlin would be a pretty shite winger tbh, his dribbling ability is pretty meh so you would be taking away the best thing about him. If you want a more defensively solid RB that's fine, just realise you'll need a new winger too. There's a reason why Yedlin and players like him are fullbacks, the position allows him to make runs from deep without being picked up which he no longer gets being played as a winger.

Fuck the Luiz deal, the Hamsik stuff is the height of utter stupidity. The lad wouldn't look out of place for any team outside of City, there's silly season and there's this ludicrous shit.

I'm sure Rafa would want Luiz, that's about where it ends though.

This has been the best Man City performance in at least a month imo, I know they have been winning but recent weeks they haven't played anywhere near as well as before. Either that or Spurs have been shite, probably both.

:lol:

I suspect because we are away to Arsenal and he expects to be without the ball for long periods and thus picked Joselu as a horses for courses thing. I wouldn't have done it but the reasoning is understandable.

Wish people would stop treating Hardy like he's any different to any other Journo tbh, just because he wrote a book doesn't make him special. He's no different to Balague in that regard, before he wrote the book he was as clueless as any other journo and now we are supposed to take him seriously? nah he's a moron. Unless it comes from Caulkin ignore it.

Alan Benitez.

No, when you have teams which have had the likes of Huntington and Ramage among others getting consistent minutes that's not even a discussion worth happening. We've had some absolutely disgusting teams over the years which are far worse.

I'd have started Gayle and Manquillo would be shot out of a cannon. That aside i agree, i think it's a pretty decent XI considering what's available. Happy to see Ritchie out of the team as he's done nothing in months and some pace out wide for once could be decent.

Not even close, someone has a very short memory. Hell i'd argue we have fielded worse this year alone.

What's wrong with showing recognition to someone who entertains you? weird thing to complain about tbh.

Do i read into this that Mahrez is leaving?

While I agree, I'm not sure that type is a great fit with Merino. Obviously that means we are crying out for 3 in midfield, not particularly sure Rafa is comfortable with that though.