₦airaland Forum

Kagawa10:
All you've admitted is the fact that City's defence is quite poor! On top that, add a midfield of ageing Yaya and the crock, Gundogan and tell me if that should be a team aiming for the title! You already have your answer!

Yaya that scored a brace on his return from suspension?

Gundogan, the midfield maestro that would teach EPL mf how to play ticki tacka?

You need to read this. Just before the season began...

http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/37040156

Kagawa10:
Klopp wouldn't even go near Stones in the first place and I'm sure Koeman is already counting his blessing that he was quickly sold off! I could still recall how he looked against us in our friendly match against Everton, Ibra made him look like pub player in that match..

Stones' problem is his, not anyone! He's not even a player!

This is crazy!

Mou was the first to go for Stones. Pep came and said he is the best ball playing defender in EPL.

So you sabi ball pass them?

chrisley024:
Only Sanchez can make City attack.

4-2-3-1 with everyone fit

Cech
Bellerin...Mustafi...Kos...Montreal
..........Fern....Cazorla....
Silva....Debruyne...Sanchez. ..
............Aguero...........

while De Bryune/Silva joins the cm in 433

I don't even think Fernandinho is much better than Coq.

Come see where Monreal dey boss EPL. Lol!

If I say he is the best RB una go chop me finish.

Le Coq better than Fernandinho...

Walcott, most clinical...

Arsenal best defence...

Kwantinu...

When others coaches are failing to get the best out of their players, they say the players are not good enough.

Maybe City should sign Messi, Neymar and Suarez so that they can have good players.

Kagawa10:
Top defenders? Chai!

Even Mustafi hasn't been that good! He's just lucky to have a good partner in Koscielny. He's still better than Stones and Mangala (penalty magnet) though.

Mustafi seems better because he is not playing for City. Even Ake is better than all City defenders right now abi?

raumdeuter:
Check his starting 11 last game and see how many of them are over 30 Bravo, Sagna Kolarov, Zabaleta Yaya Silva.

Are there no young players in City? Why is he not starting them?

Eruditor:
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Everton beat city 4-0 they didn't trash City. They literally had 4 shots on target and 4 goals which were results of individual mistakes from City players. They didn't dominate the game, have more shots etc etc. This is important and I'd say why. When Barca beat AFC 3-1 in 2011 that was a trashing even though the scoreline doesn't reflect it. Also when Bayern beat AFC 5-1 that was another trashing. Rewatch those games to understand why.

Now concerning Pellegrini, he inherited a City team that had won the league in 11/12. The core of that team is still very much around today only older. Whether you accept it or not, that's the fact. Pellegrini won a title in 13/14 and since then CFC (14/15) and LFC (15/16) have been champs. After 13/14, I doubt Pellegrini had beaten Wenger again. But Pep took that older team and not only beat Wenger but he outplayed AFC abysmally. AFC couldn't put 3 passes together in the 2nd half. They couldn't even cross their half. That game was reminiscent of Pep's time in Barca and Bayern- and he did it without...Messi or Robben!

Not taking anything from Pellegrini either. His team were on their last legs. What we are seeing this season is a replica of last season. City started well and tailed off because an aged core will do exactly that. Do you remember how Arteta was his penultimate and final seasons with AFC? That city squad was aged. Pep is here to not only switch their style, win titles (the whole shebang). He is here to reduce the age of the squad and he has to do it piecemeal. That's why he recruited fledgling talents like Sane and Gabriel Jesus. He is making the team his.

He is a great tactician. Even with less quality his teams are dominating games and creating chances. There have been mistakes along with it but everyone makes mistakes. Go and look at his losses this season (all 5 of them). They have not been forlorn losses. They dominated CFC, Everton, LFC and even Tottenham and missed chances early on that may have changed the games. The only game they looked really flat was against Liverpool and even that game was a borefest.

United keep mouthing off about how their draws would have been wins and would have seen them higher on the log but City can make the same argument. They had no business drawing with Southampton, Boro or Everton (Jeez, they fluffed 2 penalties in this game and Stekelenburg had the game of his career pulling saves Neuer might envy).

Even when things started well Pep told y'all to calm down as they were still a work in progress. I am a big Pep fan but I wasn't on Nairaland boasting because I was one of those reminding those CFC haters last year that the previous city team finished 4th (and as such could not be termed the best team by any stretch).

We have seen moments that give us hope that City could become what Pep desires. The Barca game had to be a crowning glory. Remember they had lost 4-0 first leg only to outplay Barca like no one has ever done recently. Not even Bayern of Jupp's day can make the same claim. That's why I laugh when people think Tottenham's form should be the reason City should be overlooked. Sterling buries an early chance and Tottenham open up, it could turn to a drubbing.

We all give Conte credit because his style just looks like champ-stuff. CFC look extra difficult to score against but when they played City it didn't look that way. That's why Pep gets offended when people ask him to change. His method is not fool-proof, but it has been working for years.

Take note too that Conte is inheriting a team that won a title 14/15. Similar to Pellegrini of 13/14 (because there is just a one year gap between that title-winning season and this one). Should we expect the same dominance from CFC in 18/19 without a serious overhaul in what will be an aged team? If that's not the case then why attack Pep?

Revel in your self deceit.

You already stated you are a Pep fan, which is ok. But drawing up useless excuses about what trashing means is silly and sentimental.

Your old age excuse too is lame. Most teams have players 30+ who are shining. Ibra is looking at you right now.

Even Pep in his press conference yesterday said 'maybe he is not good enough'.

So stay there and enjoy your self service.

sod09:
i just day look d guy

You go get okpolo eye o...

Check this, if Mustafi had joined City, would he be that good?

Remember that Otamendi, Mangala, and Stones were top defenders before they arrived City. Three of them worth over £130m.

You can't have that quality and still complain.

raumdeuter:
You will pick Stones over Mustafi, Kolarov over Monreal and even put Silva as your CM a position he has never played or doesnt even know how to play

Walcott is a more productive Winger than Sterling. Sterling can become anything in the future but I will pick Walcott at this point over him this season despite having been out Theo has 11 goals Sterling has about half

I am sure most of your Arsenal fans will disgree with you

How was Stones before he joined City?

Silva can play that role, the one that initiates play from defence to attack. Modric does that sometimes too for Madrid. Other similar players are Fabregas, Iniesta etc.

Hardetayour:
Bros. Chill out. Stones over Mustafi? Kolarov over Montreal? I can still accept Sterling over Walcott but the rest Na bullshit

If I say its Pep that makes them look bad, you people will attack me. So let me not say it.

raumdeuter:
Regardless of where Bravo came from Cech is a better keeper or is anyone from Barcelona automatically better than everyone elsewhere?
So if Coman comes from Bayern, He is automatically better than Alexis?

2. Bellerin is younger and better than City's right backs. Full backs do a lot of running, and bellerin is younger and more dynamic than any of Sagna and Zabaleta.

3. Gibbs and Monreal vs Clichy/Kolarov. Citys LB are old and cant compete

Otamendi and Stones are very poor compared to Koscielny and Mustafi. Infact I will pick Arsenals entire defence line + keeper over City

Midfield. The only genuine world class player on top of the game in City midfield is Debruyne. Silva is older, Same with Yaya. Fernandidnho and Fernando are not any different from Coq and Xhaka

I will pick Walcott as a winger ahead of any of Sane, Navas and Sterling

Infact if you combine both teams my 11 as at today will be

-----------------Cech
-Bellerin---Koscielny--Mustafi---Gibbs
------Fernandinho--Cazorla
--Walcott-----KDB------Sanchez
-------------Aguero

Tell me anyone you disgree with

I will drop Mustafi, Gibbs, Cazorla and Walcott for Stones, Kolarov, Silva and Sterling/Nolito respectively.

......................... Cech
Bellerin .. Stones .. Kosc .. Kolarov
............... Fernandi .. Silva
Sterling .............. KDB ............. Sanchez
........................... Aguero



Some may argue about Cazorla, but he has never been better than Silva even in Spain NT.

And we have only considered the first team. There are other qualities on the bench.

Nihilist:
I can only blame Pep for Bravo if I'm being completely honest... and i said as much in my original post.We all know that Pep chased Hart away for Claudio Basket.

I can't blame Pep for Stones - Stones was always going to go to a big club last summer. There was too much hype around him being a young English ball playing defender. We bid 40m for the boy if you recall. Manyoo and Barca were also reportedly chasing him too. City were just the only ones willing to pay Maga money for the boy, otherwise he would have been some other team's problem by now. So it's not as if Pep had identified him as one badass defender...he was quite simply a HYPE buy, like Sterling the year before.

If Klopp, Poch or Koeman had picked up Stones, they would have been shattering glasses upandan.

Pep was the hype not Stones.

Nihilist:
Pep doesn't have access to the Man City Bank Account - He is not the one that decides whether Stones is worth 50 million pounds. All he can do is recommend in the same way Jose did. The difference is that guy holding the purse string at Chelsea decided that Stones was worth 40m max - while at City that is being bankrolled by State Budget, Money is really no object - They are the same people that bought Mangala for 35m.

You're coming back to pragmatism in the second half of your post, and that is something I agree with having stated in my original post:


Pep's main mistakes have been Hart/Bravo, and insisting on playing a style that he doesn't seem to have the legs for.

We can all see that these players don't have the legs to play the kind of demanding football that Pep wants to play. He might be able to succeed in his chosen style if he had gotten new defenders in the market which he didn't for whatever reason.

Its his refusal to switch up the style and work to the tools that he has that I can blame him for. He's trying to be Picasso with Children's Crayons.

lol

So Pep is the best coach with the best players?

Put another way,...

Pep is an average coach with average players.

diggz:
Wait oh!!! Are we saying sagna,zabaleta,clichy and kolarov are right offs bcuz they are 30+?

My brother I tire o...

Only City has this luxury of 4 experienced fullbacks. Now some pessimist turn it to 4 oldmen because na Pep.

They only need to look at Liverpool to have their senses sorted.

raumdeuter:
Spy360 come and defend your "City has the best squad" claim

Keeper Cech vs Bravo or Cabalero
Right Back Sagna/Zab vs Bellerin
Central defence Kos/Mustafi vs Otamendi/Stones
Left Back Gibbs/Monreal vs Clichy Kolarov
DM Coq/Xhaka vs Fernandinho/Fernando
CM Cazorla/Ramsey vs Yaya/Gundogan

etc

If you will allow unbiased reasoning, that City squad has more individual quality than Arsenal and the rest of the top 6.

Bravo came from Barca and was meant to lecture other EPL goalies and ball playing. A bad tool is only bad when depending on the workman.

Stones, Otamendi etc were the next best thing after North Korean defensive nukes. Mustafi and Koscielny only look good in an Arsenal shirt.

Calculate what City midfield is worth - KDB, Silva, Fernandino, Fernando, Toure, Gundugan, Navas, Sane etc. These were la cream de la cream when they arrived City.

Our only enviable midfielders are Ozil and Sanchez. Some will say Cazorla, Xhaka, maybe Walcott don't even dare call Chamberlain or Coquelin- these are only good for Arsenal. (sod09 remember Schneiderlin/Le Coq comparison)

As for the attack, its a no brainer.

For me its even silly comparing City and Arsenal. When you could do better with United or Chelsea.

It's like saying Liverpool and Tottenham have better players just because they have Coutinho and Alli.

Get sense abeg.

sod09:
no bro... another escape route
u said his squad is better dan afc
so will u agree bravo is better dan cech
zaba nd sagna better dan bellerin etc
u know wat, u like excuses alot so dat arsenal can look like d underdogs where as day are d best, our coach is just failure
apart from dere attack cos of aguero nd kdg. we are far better dan shity.
but u and dat old fool will like d hiden part so we dont get d specialist in failure tag
pep is still better dan wengay for all i care... but hes a fraud

What is this one saying? So if a mad man come to tell you Arsenal squad is better than City you will accept?

Ndo.

Eruditor:
I have engaged different people on this thread and to some degree each have their own positions and subtleties in ideas. Perhaps you are conflating who said what. I can give you an example, if you didn't say they were better someone else did. Also, find out my stance on what I felt Pep's first season will be or what his time in England will be like. In my opinion, he is the best manager in the world by some distance (if that's what you are asking me) and as a tactician, he is otherwordly - just ask players he has coached including Robben.

Your last statement already shows your escape route. If all goes well, claim he has the best squad in the league and needs to prove himself coaching Swansea. If all doesn't exactly go well, also claim he has the best squad in the league. Afterall, Zaba or Sagna is better than Bellerin, Stones and Ota better than Kos and Musti, Clichy and Kola better than Mon and Gibbs etc etc. Even the keepers, Bravo is better than Cech. While doing the comparisons..take note how far younger and less injured the city squad is. Your better manager who is currently sitting higher than Pep is averaging 28% possession against him in their history (and Just before you mention Bayern and Barca) I mean with City.

And don't forget, Wenger plays "possession football".
William James Sidis level IQ stuff I tell you.

Interesting view.

But it was the same pundits who awarded him the best tactician even before he saw an English made football that also claimed he has the best squad to work with.

I mean, what difference has he made from Pelligrini?

You talk of Bravo and Stones? I can only laugh.

Joe Hart will judge you.

Or is it that Pep is the best manager with the best players? If he's now got putty players, so do others around him. Add that he is acclaimed best tactician, he ought to be doing better than being trashed by Everton.

Again, quit calling on Wenger because I NEVER mention him. This battle is not Pep vs Wenger, it is Pep (the hyped) vs Pep (the real).

The focus here is on Pep winning the EPL. Which is simple enough for 'our' low IQs.

Eruditor:
All the players listed had gone seasons without winning nothing but sure they are grade A footballers. Ozil, Sanchez, Cech, Kos, Mustafi, Bellerin are grade B footballers because your genius is underutilizing them.

The stock-in-trade of pseudo-analysts is to throw names about in an argument then rubbish same names in another argument. I can see how well Simeone is doing this season or how well Klopp did his first season with LFC or his last with Dortmund. Ok remind me about the time Pochettino's Tottenham crashed out ignominiously in the UCL. What about the time they went unbeaten with a ton of draws? Or when they bottled a lead against CFC and did diddly squat against United in OT? How great is Koeman doing? Any better than Roberto Martinez at the same point? Has Koeman not thrashed AFC 4-0 when they were top of the league only last year? Hahahaha. Did Martinez not destroy Wenger 3-0 with less quality? So guess what? In your estimation are they not also better than Wenger?

Are you saying Pep is better than them?

What are you saying? Because you made a pointless remark.

The argument was based on what people like you said about Pep before the season started.

Lots like you claimed Pep was a genius who would swallow up the EPL in his first season.

It is that claim that we are refuting, not saying that anyone is better than him.

By the way, in terms of determining who is better, the final league table will tell us.

And just in case, just in case your Pep ends up somewhere outside top 4, don't come up with a useless flimsy excuse. Afterall he has got the best squad.

If Chelsea want to unsettle us by coming for Sanchez, Arsene should revenge with his £40,000,001 wicked bid for Costa.

ollah1:
Wonder why u didn't mention your olodo man aka specialist in failure?

Because you will think I am sentimental like you.
Besides I didn't also mention Conte, Mourinho, and Klopp.
I gave you 'small boys' you begin poop for pant.
Receive sense now or its too late.

ollah1:
And you lots that have sense have refused to make use of it. What quality players does man city have? Aguero that is always injured. Silva that is always injured. Nasri that wasn't consistent or an ageing Yaya toure.


Or you wanna talk about the leakage in the defence and their ages. Call a spade a spade. Man city doesn't have a team and you lots should quit writing nonsense about them been the best team.

Give that team to Pochentino or Koeman.

Stop blabbing.

Ibime:
That's good for him because he had vastly superior team to the EPL sides. Soon as they paired him with Barca and Madrid, we started hearing 7-0.

Pep only looks good in comparison with incompetent bozo like Rijkaard. Ask him to take over Jupp Heynckes team, he started disgracing Jupp Heynckes good work.

Even average manager like Pellegrini who was widely thought to be underacheiving, they gave Pep his team plus £180m to upgrade it, and he started making Pellegrini look like Arrigo Sacchi.

...and Joe Hart like Oliver Kahn

ollah1:
So that automatically means they are the best team? You guys are really dumb. A best team that was the 4th on the log and won just the carling cap last season.

Nice one bruv

So which team is the best?

Leicester?

It is you who have refused to have sense.

Best team is the team with the most quality players. The team 'most likely to win'.

The bookmakers will tell you when they fix their odds.

ollah1:
How dumb can you sound? How can u label a team that was 4th in the league last season and won just the carling cup the best team in EPL.

Do you have lies stock all over the fats in your body?

Donbisili...

Even the pundits say so...

http://m.bbc.com/sport/football/37040156

Pep's rooster slurpers...

raumdeuter:
So Ferguson despite having Ronaldo the world best player cant stand Pep and Messi, Wenger another EPL legend cant stand Messi

Man city was a punching bag for Barcelona until City bought Pep. City that couldnt get a draw vs Barcelona suddenly won with Pep as coach

Playing field levelled? No be Pep tilt the playing field to start with? abi no be the same Barcelona wey dey go 2 season trophyless

For 2 seasons before Pep, Barcelona was eliminated by English clubs, Pep came into Barca and turned EPL clubs into chewing sticks

Oya bend...

Brightwood:
Can't you find more productive things to do than this intense level of stupidity

Don't do Keky. He fries balls for eggs.

Don't say you were not warned.

CONTEDDICTED:
If you can't support us when we move from 6th to 6th, don't support us when we move from 6th to 6th again

Baddest bado

RooRuudRonSaha:
I love mourinho, he is applying his 6th sense in keeping man u in 6th position. He drew Liverpool after his 6th consecutive victory making him the 6th best manager in the current EPL. Will he be 6th time lucky or he wanna employ a 6th man. . Man u now moving with a constant velocity, will they retard to rest. Time will tell. The rate of change of Man u on the EPL table is 0,true or false.
Jose sixto Mourinho.

Or a new award for longest time on a particular position.

Fkhalifa:
When you have messi,iniesta,ribbery & robben and some Grade A players, football fans will think you are soo spectacular...

Pep in his first season at both barca and Bayern was leading the league at this stage with 12 points, but in England here, he was made to look like a Roberto mancini.

Even wenger with his so called average team,(excluding Ozil's,Sanchez, kosc,coq and santi) is rubing shoulders with his world class expensive squad..

In all honesty, pep is good but not a genius, I'll rather salute and praise Simeone, klopp,pochentinho and few orthers.

Exactly my point.

I find it shocking why many fail to understand this.

Nigerians have low IQ.

TRendlona:
This doesn't determine the better coach. We all know Pep is the better coach

You are biased already

TRendlona:
Who is a better coach between Pep and Wenger

Like I said before, we will find out when season ends.

sod09:
lmao

Evildoer:
This guy sef

Follow the discussion ndi iberibe

We are comparing teams that play attractive football to those that do not.

Mourinho's Chelsea didn't play attractive and still won trophies.

Pep's Barca played attractive and won trophies too.

So winning trophies is not based on whether you play attractive or not.

diggz:
Keep lying to yourself maybe in your dreams it will become a reality or turn true.

Teams that play attractive footie win trophies. I rest my case.

Any team can win trophies, but it is better with attractive football. I wonder how this is difficult to accept?