On 24/10/2018 at 02:22, Ilya said:

Sounds like perfect moment to jump in with support for his opinion. :)

I'd like to see how this year plays out. But if things stay roughly how they are at the moment - it's about resource allocation. Is Kante useful to have in the squad? Of course. If you have infinite money to buy players - should you sell him? Of course not.

If he is worth, as a classical defensive midfielder (protector of defence and destroyer of opposition attacks) significantly more than he is as a box-to-box "engine" (whatever that means) and we are not using him in his most valuable capacity - should we sell him for f**k load of money and buy a top player for one of the positions we actually do need to upgrade?

I dunno. Kante for a top-top striker? And just play Jorginho, Kovacic and Barkley in midfield? Does it change the team for the worse so obviously that anyone who proposes this as an option is clearly a bell-end?

Or Kante for a top-class different kind of a midfielder. Say, Pogba. I know I'm gonna get vitriol for this because Pogba is a dick, but football-wise - would that make the team worse?

My thoughts:

1) Kante has always been a box-to-box engine. He's been more defensive than (say) prime Essien but he definitely wasn't an anchor man in the Makelele mould. He's just been making forward runs more often than he has been under Conte.

2) Kante and Kovacic are apples and oranges. Kante is a ball-winning box-to-box midfielder playing the Allan role whereas Kovacic is closer to a playmaker who helps to retain possession.

3) Pogba is extremely talented, but unless Sarri wants him I wouldn't recommend his purchase because IMO he is a bit too selfish and his mentality is a bit suspect. Also, trying to replace Kante with Pogba would make the side worse simply because there would be a lack of balance in midfield. With Pogba/Kovacic/Jorginho in midfield you wouldn't have a genuine ball-winner in midfield and you wouldn't get the best out of Kovacic either because he would be forced to sit back and retain possession while Pogba goes on his forward runs (Pogba too often neglects his defensive duties). Trying to play Barkley or RLC with Pogba would make the midfield even more suspect defensively as well. 

My biggest concern at this point is that our toughest opponents have all come at home and we have only won in one of those games. We beat Arsenal, but failed to get a win against Liverpool, Man Utd and now Everton. We are putting a lot of pressure on ourselves. 

2nd.

win it next year and cl semi

 

1/2 in jan and ill say 1st this season 

Top 4 chances just took a big boost with spuds and arse cancelling each other out. 

Hopefully we capitalize tomorrow.

 

KTBFFH!!

It all depends on Sarri, really. If RLC stays healthy and starts playing more, Emerson starts the majority of the matches, and he starts utilizing CHO more then I think top 4 is realistically achievable. If he does that I think it’ll finish:
1. City
2. Pool
3. United
4. Chelsea
5. Tottenham
6. Arsenal

I rather Chelsea finish in 5th & spuds finish in fourth,  but Chelsea win the Europa League & the chants of It's Happening Again!!! will be sung loud in the streets as spuds would KO of UCL before a match is ever played 

1 minute ago, robdog said:

I rather Chelsea finish in 5th & spuds finish in fourth,  but Chelsea win the Europa League & the chants of It's Happening Again!!! will be sung loud in the streets as spuds would KO of UCL before a match is ever played 

Unfortunately in that situation I think Spuds would still qualify.

9 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

Unfortunately in that situation I think Spuds would still qualify.

fuck there isn't a limit of how many clubs can qualify for the UCL from a specific league? What about Brexit?

23 minutes ago, robdog said:

fuck there isn't a limit of how many clubs can qualify for the UCL from a specific league? What about Brexit?

I think there is a limit but its 5. So if United came 6th and we came 5th and we all won the cups, THEN spuds would be out.

4 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

I think there is a limit but its 5. So if United came 6th and we came 5th and we all won the cups, THEN spuds would be out.

53 minutes ago, bisright1 said:

I think there is a limit but its 5. So if United came 6th and we came 5th and we all won the cups, THEN spuds would be out.

I’ve had a few beers and I’m totally f**kin confused

1 hour ago, Kev56 said:

I’ve had a few beers and I’m totally f**kin confused

Spuds finish 4th, Arsenal finish 3rd.

We finish 5th and win the Europa League

United finish 6th and win the Champions League.

If this were to happen, then Tottenham would be in the Europa League next season.

It won't happen though, no way are United winning the Champions League. They are going out on Wednesday.

City

Liverpool

Man U

Spurs

Chelsea

Arsenal

In no particular order.

9 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Spuds finish 4th, Arsenal finish 3rd.

We finish 5th and win the Europa League

United finish 6th and win the Champions League.

If this were to happen, then Tottenham would be in the Europa League next season.

It won't happen though, no way are United winning the Champions League. They are going out on Wednesday.

There is the chance of Tottenham coming 5th, winning the CL, Arsenal coming 6th and winning the EL and us coming 4th with nothing. 

Wait, sorry, no chance that Tottenham win a trophy. 

city

pool

chelsea

don't care

 

 

sh*tty

House robbers

Spuds

Chelsea

manure

up the arse 

We are actually in pretty strong position all things (like the hell hole of the late January to mid February) considered and a strong set of results in the next month would put us in pole position for 4th if not 3rd.

I'm not holding my breath on us taking advantage though.

Edited March 3, 20197 yr by Argo

15 hours ago, Kev56 said:

I’ve had a few beers and I’m totally f**kin confused

I had a nice spliff, and for a while didn't care

Surely United can’t keep this winning run up. It would be seriously impressive if they manage to do it, but I highly doubt it. They got to hit a slump somewhere between now and the end of season.

Hopefulky we’ve had our slump and have a strong finish to the season, at the moment it’s lookig like United May secure top 4, with it being between us, Arsenal and Spurs. Tough.

If we are to get top 4, we will really need to up our game. We can’t afford anymore slip ups at all as we’ve still got to go to United and Liverpool. 

Hopefully we have had our bad run but it will be tough. Personally I don’t think we will make it, we’ve allowed others to catch us up when we could have been out of sight. 

Utd have the momentum yet win our games in hand and we leap both Utd and Arsenal. It's all to play for chaps and we face the new manager bounce at Fulham with CFC and Spurs old boy Scott Parker.  

I hope spew and manu stay in cl for a couple more rounds with all the physical and mental effort followed by letdown. 

We could finish 4th but a great achievement if we do. 

23 hours ago, JM7 said:

If we are to get top 4, we will really need to up our game. We can’t afford anymore slip ups at all as we’ve still got to go to United and Liverpool. 

Hopefully we have had our bad run but it will be tough. Personally I don’t think we will make it, we’ve allowed others to catch us up when we could have been out of sight. 

 

On 28/08/2018 at 18:31, Strider6003 said:

I think City will drop more points without De Bruyne, I think he would have made the difference against Wolves though still to close between them and Pool for me.

Still think we will come 3rd.

1.City

2.Liverpool

3.Chelsea

4.Arsenal

5.Spurs

6. Utd

 

@Old Shaggy This was the thread and it was started by you too,  took me a while to find it.

Yes got Spurs and Arsenal the wrong way yet the rest were right including us!

1 Liverpool

2 Man City

3? ?Arsenal

4 Chelsea

5 Tottenha?m

6 Burnley???

That was my pathetic effort. Thankfully the top two reversed and I don’t rely on making a living from the bookies.

Interestedly 3rd place got the biggest vote but I suspect a lot of those votes were cast after the first couple of months. 

Edited May 12, 20197 yr by goose