petre ispirescu

I was thinking the exact same thing, but then I thought it's City we are talking about. To be fair, PL with City and PL w/o City is kind of the same thing. No matter how many trophies they win, they seem to be nobody's rivals. The fact that everybody wants City to win when the other big clubs are challenging, well it speaks volumes IMHO. The FA will be in major trouble if it touches one of the big four. As soon as they touch United, Chelsea, Liverpool or Arsenal, I am sure it's game over for them. As much as we hate Arsenal, if they get punished for whatever reason and decide they leave the PL and go to the Super League, I am positive that Chelsea, United and Liverpool would join them, too and we, as fans, would accept it. Same goes for United - if they leave the PL, Liverpool would join their cause, too. But in the end it's probably going to be a point deduction in one of the next seasons. They will start minus 10, 12 points and that's it although a transfer ban starting this summer would be better for all other clubs as City's cicle seems to have come to an end and that locker room is as toxic as it has ever been. Guardiola seems to have fallen out with all his star players.

Hard to hate on Mase, he is a top guy and Chelsea through and through, but unfortunately for him this club is moving into a direction that frankly does not correspond to what he can offer. It's clear for all of us to see that Chelsea is slowly moving towards a 4231 and where does Mount fit in all this? What is his actual position? To me he is best suited for an inside forward in a 343. But there is no inside forward in 4231 though. He is not a winger, an average no. 10 and definitely can't play in the pivot. He's become a luxury player and as much as I'd like to see him impose himself in the first eleven, I just can't see it happening. Would be a top player to have on the bench, but I am sure he would not accept that unfortunately.

Long shot but imagine we miraculously improve under Potter (although I don't see where it could come from as I feel Potter is nowhere near good enough tactically). But if it were to happen somehow - we make a long run in the CL and eventually win it through massive luck and City pipes them to the league title. It would be glorious haha

I second that. The way that toxic fanbase behaves these days makes my blood boil, first time in two decades they challenge at the top and they sound as if they've just reinvented the wheel and have discovered that water can get warmer if heated. City must get their sh*t together and win the league title.

Bayern under Flick was one of the greatest teams I have ever seen. Total football, truly a juggernaut. The current shape of squad seems to fit Flick's philosophy, too. I remember he played a high line in a 4231, with Kimmich and Goretzka in the double pivot, constant pressing and direct, pacey attackers. Terrific on the counter, too. Probably one of the most enjoyable sides to watch for the past decades, what football should look like. But his time at the Germany NT is underwhelming so far and people criticised him a lot for his selections and constant moaning and choice of lineups. But I would not read too much into this you know. I think I saw something on this the other day saying Flick and his staff will do a massive scouting job in this period and attend lots of matches involving German players, especially the ones they think that have the potential to rebuild the NT around. Could look at Havertz being one of those, who knows!?

Cucurella, Malang Sarr, Lukaku, Hudson Odoi, Mount, Gallagher, RLC, Ziyech, Aubameyang. We have young Hall to replace Cucurella and feel no difference in terms and performance and Lukaku feels like a lost cause although we surely could use the Lukaku of Inter, the one under Conte. Others are simply not good enough for what this club is trying to achieve. If our selling game is still as good as it was under Marina Granovskaia, we could potentially get at least 250M for all of these players who would only play a bit part next season and frankly would not improve us that much in any context.

If this was the Bayern board tonight with all their ex players in the stands, analysing live, in depth tactics as the game was being played, then Potter was in big danger IMHO. Luckily for him, Boehly and Eghbali probably know nothing about football tactics, nevermind figure out if something is totally wrong as the game unfolds. But they might soon get frustrated and start asking questions to the ones that are at the training ground everyday and base their future decisions on what those people have to say about Potter's methods and in game tactics. Potter better improve his tactics soon or else I can see the owners getting fed up with the poor results and sack him to protect their business.

Speaking of Germans, the Dortmund tie should decide Potter's fate if we're getting knocked out by them. My point is I watch most of their matches and they are an entertaining side, but suspect at the back and that's me putting it nicely. Every match I watch, no matter the opposition, they are a mess at the back and every average club with the worst of players create tons of chances against them. If we don't score at least four or five across the two matches against Dortmund, or even worse we get knocked out by that team, then times up for him I am afraid.

I don't get your point though. I said that if Mount felt he was not involved enough, he should have done something about it. But he did not and was a passenger for most of the night. Top players get frustrated easily if they are not involved that much and react by dropping deep, looking for something to feed off of. That was to respond to our fellow Blue who asked me if Mount maybe was instructed to play that close to Havertz and that far from Enzo Fernandez, hence his poor performance.

Well it's even worse then because it means Potter completely f**ked up the lineup and on top of that has no clue on Enzo Fernandez's role. He always played in a double pivot as the creative force. At River, Benfica and for Argentina. Tonight was the sole defensive midfielder, completely isolated from any attacking situation... Sucks to agree with that rat Gary Neville, but to have that distance between your players, especially at this level, unfortunately is the sign of bad management. Potter's piss poor tactical decisions does not make Mount any better though. Tactics aside, he missed some easy passes and f**ked up good situations that could have turned easily into goals. Plus a top player can twitch the manager's instructions if he feels he's not involved that much.

I agree, at first I thought it would be a 4231 with Enzo given a bit more freedom to look for forward passes and have his eyes on the attackers most of the times , but it was actually a trainwreck of a three man midfield in a 433 as Mount never got involved, never dropped deep and was always in no man's land somewhere close to Havertz and Gallagher ran like a headless chicken most of the time. Both awful tactically and left Enzo for dead when he was actually the one to build up the play... Baffles my mind that such poor tactical decisions and such poor execution can happen at a club like this and in such league.

I feel sorry for him, but just like Mount, he does not do anything to help his cause. Two week break, brand new expensive signings, truly a great atmosphere and lots of excitement inside the Bridge before kick off, the stage was set for a fun night and we get served that dull, dog sh*te performance, a wrong starting eleven and piss poor substitutions...

I play Sunday League football but I never made it to the pros. Most of my mates that I play with did, but they are well in their 40s. I am young and my main attributes are speed and stamina. They are better in every other football aspect. Most of the times I am the only weak link in that team because I disrupt their play as I can't get to their level, technically and tactically. And I feel it. It's what I felt tonight with Mount, Ziyech, Gallagher and Cucurella. Unbelievable how many single passes they missed and how many easy situations they ruined. At this level it is enough to have one player to disrupt your entire game, nevermind four or five. I feel sorry for Mount and Gallagher, but some energy and some tackles is not enough at this level. They are part of a three man midfield only, I'm afraid they can't be simple passengers in the most important area of the pitch. Hopefully it'll get better as soon as Chilwell, Kovacic, Kante, Joao Felix are back. Team should pick itself from now on, it's Chilwell, Badiashile, Silva, James, Enzo, Mudryk, Felix, Sterling/Madueke, Havertz and one of Kovacic/Kante to partner Enzo in the pivot. Don't know what happened to Mudryk at HT, but if it was a tactical decision it surely was a stupid one.

It makes sense to include those three in the CL squad. Badiashile is a top prospect, but Koulibaly is a proven defender and to be fair there is no difference between a back four with Badiashile in and a back four with Koulibaly in to replace him as long as the team clicks. If the team is on a high, I feel Koulibaly gets to that level, too and puts a solid performance everytime he is called to do the job. On the other hand there is a big difference between an attacking line with Joao Felix in and an attacking line w/o him and it makes total sense to have him in the squad.

You know our rivals wait for this match just as much as we do. All these fools that think they know it all on the internet because of Football Manager and YouTube analysis and all the brainless pundits wait for our new signings to make a bad pass to say "See, we've told you, they're sh*te, they'll go bankrupt for signings duds on long contracts." I wish for a flawless performance and an electric show by Mudryk. He is the one I want to take the league by storm and show everybody he's the new boss in town and make all rivals fear him from his very first full 90 mins match in the PL. Let's smash these c**ts. 5-0 to the mighty Blues! 🔥