there are rumors that Il Maestro will join Don Antonio's Coaching staff @ CFC - we shall see, but my money is for Il Maestro to join AC Milan who need to qualify for Champion's League next season or face a huge punishment from UEFA for FFP

12 hours ago, robdog said:

Big Sam to Everton & Moyes to West Ham? WTF is going on in the footie world?

Pundits love to claim foreign mangers block young English mangers getting jobs. When in reality its people like these dinosaurs people should blame. I mean Moyes has failed in his last 3 jobs, yet he still gets work.

Confirmed that Moyes is going to West Ham. I bet the Pikeys are going berserk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41889848

I find it bizarre Moyes is going there, part of me thinks he will get Carroll scoring again and that may be the key to keeping them up.  A big man to man thing though it is a huge risk.

 

does anybody else think this season that city are like us last season? their style of play for e.g has been difficult to figure out so far and towards the latter end of this season and into next season coaches will eventually suss out how to negate them more effectively? as much as city are playing very well and the media are praising them up to the hilt, there's chinks in the armour and no team goes without getting figured out eventually. 

Edited November 7, 20178 yr by enigma

1 hour ago, enigma said:

does anybody else think this season that city are like us last season? their style of play for e.g has been difficult to figure out so far and towards the latter end of this season and into next season coaches will eventually suss out how to negate them more effectively? as much as city are playing very well and the media are praising them up to the hilt, there's chinks in the armour and no team goes without getting figured out eventually. 

For now, there isn't a clear strategy other than sit deep and counter with pace.

I think everyone else is waiting for City to meet one of the European powerhouses and learn from that game.

 

City are on 9 wins in a row, to match 13 they need to beat Leicester, Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham. If they manage that, a 14th win would be at Old Trafford. It's hard to see them not getting to 13 straight wins and to be honest, at that point the title race is likely to be over save something really dramatic happening.  

1 hour ago, carrickblue said:

City are on 9 wins in a row, to match 13 they need to beat Leicester, Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham. If they manage that, a 14th win would be at Old Trafford. It's hard to see them not getting to 13 straight wins and to be honest, at that point the title race is likely to be over save something really dramatic happening.  

The more pressure the harder it is.

although an 8 point cushion certainly helps. 

9 hours ago, carrickblue said:

City are on 9 wins in a row, to match 13 they need to beat Leicester, Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham. If they manage that, a 14th win would be at Old Trafford. It's hard to see them not getting to 13 straight wins and to be honest, at that point the title race is likely to be over save something really dramatic happening.  

Sometimes, they might crumble at the business end. Remember the years City won it? The Aguerooooo year and the Stevie slip year at least tells me that the season is still long enough.

19 minutes ago, Deino said:

Sometimes, they might crumble at the business end. Remember the years City won it? The Aguerooooo year and the Stevie slip year at least tells me that the season is still long enough.

And I think back in the 13/14 season, towards the end of November, city were actually something like 9 points behind Arsenal if I remember correctly.

They've only played one decent team anyway.

Has Wenger got away with criticizing the referee again? I don't think Conte or Jose would have gotten away with that. The International friendlies are officially a joke when the likes of Henry Winks could call a sickie, don't you worry he will be back next Saturday. It's pretty much the next available and willing player will get a cap.

On ?07?/?11?/?2017 at 14:10, enigma said:

does anybody else think this season that city are like us last season? their style of play for e.g has been difficult to figure out so far and towards the latter end of this season and into next season coaches will eventually suss out how to negate them more effectively? as much as city are playing very well and the media are praising them up to the hilt, there's chinks in the armour and no team goes without getting figured out eventually. 

City seem to have their defence sorted this season and are playing four at the back. Was that all that was needed like us going three at the back last season?

Agree about teams having chinks in their armour and the 2nd half of the season needing to change or tighten up.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

City seem to have their defence sorted this season and are playing four at the back. Was that all that was needed like us going three at the back last season?

Not really imo. Our change was because in the 4141 or the 4231, the whole team wasn't playing at their best. We were quite shaky defensively, Matic and Kante seemed to get into each other's way, Oscar was ineffective, Hazard needs to defend and Fabregas had issues holding the midfield in a two. The 343 helped us bring the best out of everyone and solidified us at the back.

From what I saw, their defence being seemingly stronger is that their attacks are so fluid and centers around possession that other teams can't press them as well as they can due to the speed of passing and the sometimes intricate movement ala Pep's Barca. The other team can't get the ball as much as they want and when they do have the ball, the whole City team presses hard and cuts off passing lane pressuring opponents to go long then recycles the ball.

City's change seemed to me that Guardiola decided to change his whole outlook on the PL. Before, he had 4231 or 433 with Fernandinho dropping into CB, Gundogan, KdB and Silva being more of an AM than CM . The wingers provided the width and Aguero has to play like a targetman. Their fullbacks tucked in sometimes as midfielders and sometimes as central defenders. It was honestly quite weird in a way. Before, they focused more on attack with the front 5.

This season, he played more of a 442, 4141 even a 433 but it's more flexible than last year's because the fullbacks can bomb forward more, wingers can go wide or inside depending on situations, KdB and Silva drops deep and sometimes interchange. It's quite complex in a way that their entire team seems to always be on the move. It helps that Fernandinho's playing superbly this season. Aguero and Jesus has somewhat of a free reign in the box this season.

Pep reverted to the very basics of football. Play simple passes, play the ball to your best players, defend as a team, always be available to your teammates off the ball. 

26 minutes ago, Deino said:

From what I saw, their defence being seemingly stronger is that their attacks are so fluid and centers around possession that other teams can't press them as well as they can due to the speed of passing and the sometimes intricate movement ala Pep's Barca. The other team can't get the ball as much as they want and when they do have the ball, the whole City team presses hard and cuts off passing lane pressuring opponents to go long then recycles the ball.

City's change seemed to me that Guardiola decided to change his whole outlook on the PL. Before, he had 4231 or 433 with Fernandinho dropping into CB, Gundogan, KdB and Silva being more of an AM than CM . The wingers provided the width and Aguero has to play like a targetman. Their fullbacks tucked in sometimes as midfielders and sometimes as central defenders. It was honestly quite weird in a way. Before, they focused more on attack with the front 5.

This season, he played more of a 442, 4141 even a 433 but it's more flexible than last year's because the fullbacks can bomb forward more, wingers can go wide or inside depending on situations, KdB and Silva drops deep and sometimes interchange. It's quite complex in a way that their entire team seems to always be on the move. It helps that Fernandinho's playing superbly this season. Aguero and Jesus has somewhat of a free reign in the box this season.

Pep reverted to the very basics of football. Play simple passes, play the ball to your best players, defend as a team, always be available to your teammates off the ball. 

I seem to remember last season that opposing teams closed down their defence causing them to concede goals through defensive errors. Part of this was the predictability of the keeper playing it out from the back.

Has that changed or are opposing teams so in fear of their offensive qualities that they are not pressing their defence?

 

I had to share this image because of Poch is selling dvds

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

I seem to remember last season that opposing teams closed down their defence causing them to concede goals through defensive errors. Part of this was the predictability of the keeper playing it out from the back.

Has that changed or are opposing teams so in fear of their offensive qualities that they are not pressing their defence?

 

Atm teams are more reluctant to press because of the potential of the City team but when they do press either the City midfield or defence, players like De Bruyne and Fernandinho dropped really deep to start recycling the ball and play triangles. 

Their keeper isn't as weak this season and Fernandinho's playing has been superb. A perfect storm for them if you will

 

City got a proper Gk this year, made a real difference. I remember him making a couple of good saves against us, last year Barvo just let our shots in without getting a hand on anything. Damn you Barvo, had you player we'd got something out of that game. KDB is the ultimate all round CM this season, he's probably worth 160M and going up every game.

Remember the real test starts when key players are injured like KDB or Fernandinho. If you are lucky they stay fit the whole season and you have a good chance to scoop up the trophies at seasons end.

We were relatively good last season with being able to play our best players despite DC threatening to throw a spanner into the works in January.

Watching PL 25 Seasons on Sky Sports. This show is fronted by Roy Keane, Thierry Henry and ... Kenny Daglish

Poor Kenny, 25 Seasons of Liverpool failures to talk about. 

On 11/9/2017 at 07:56, lukecfc said:

They've only played one decent team anyway.

Have they ? They have beaten us, Liverpool and Arsenal so far in this run of their's and all 3 are expected to finish in the top 6.

Their issues last season was having a goalkeeper that couldn't keep the ball out of the net, defensive errors and their players not taking their chances, these issues have been sorted this season. The only crack that seem's to be appearing of late is that they are conceding goals again.

1 hour ago, Scott Harris said:

Have they ? They have beaten us, Liverpool and Arsenal so far in this run of their's and all 3 are expected to finish in the top 6.

Their issues last season was having a goalkeeper that couldn't keep the ball out of the net, defensive errors and their players not taking their chances, these issues have been sorted this season. The only crack that seem's to be appearing of late is that they are conceding goals again.

Yeah I was taking the piss.

this video shows why I don't hate spuds - they are not a big club 

Not a rival but a great gesture from Chelsea.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/11/chelsea-donates-to-footballs-first.html

Football’s oldest club is on a mission to move back home and Chelsea FC has answered its request for assistance. 

Sheffield FC was founded in 1857 by two Yorkshiremen who were also the first to write a set of commonly accepted rules for the emerging sport, and their venture is nowadays officially recognised by both FIFA and the Football Association as the world’s first football club. Sheffield FC was instrumental in the founding of the FA. 

Now the club wants to move back to its original home in Olive Grove in Sheffield which it left five years after its formation. It plans to build a small stadium and a museum there and to help the ongoing fundraising for the project, it has asked other clubs to donate a sum equivalent to the year each one was founded, so Chelsea has given £1905 to the cause. 

Sheffield, who currently play in Dronfield, a village in Derbyshire which coincidentally is the birthplace of Gary Cahill, has been granted a free lease by the local council for the land on which their original ground stood. The intended museum will feature the history of the game and the stadium will also provide the perfect venue for the Sheffield FC Ladies team, who play in the Women’s Super League, and their youth team.

Chris Townsend OBE, commercial director of Chelsea FC said: ‘When we learnt of Sheffield FC’s desire to return to their original home and the imaginative way they wanted Premier League clubs to contribute to their crowdfunding, we were very happy to donate the sum equivalent to Chelsea FC’s founding year. 

‘The history is fascinating and this is a grassroots project that will allow schoolchildren from around the world to learn about the origins of football, and it will also benefit Sheffield’s Ladies side and junior players. 

‘Chelsea looks forward to our Ladies and youth teams having the opportunity to play at Olive Grove in the future.’