1 hour ago, KonaKai Blue said:

So confused as to why people want Neto sold. There are at least 6-8 players that need to be shipped before him. Neto has that in his bag where he will win you games or salvage points in big games ala Arsenal.

Because he’s bad. One single goal is an outlier, not the norm.

Last year his goals came against Hull x3, Charlton, Cardiff, Leeds (we lost), Burnley, Wolves, Forest, West Ham. Where are these big moments? For 200k a week and such an ego this should be the bare minimum.

1 hour ago, KonaKai Blue said:

So confused as to why people want Neto sold. There are at least 6-8 players that need to be shipped before him. Neto has that in his bag where he will win you games or salvage points in big games ala Arsenal.

I dont get it either.

His ability to do a couple of step overs, fake a cross, do another step over, fake a run, do a cruyff turn, fake another cross, then turn around and play it safely back to a defender, killing all attacking momentum, is irreplaceable.

19 hours ago, AJMurphy said:

He had the best team in the league at Leicester and still played his dull, boring football to the point Leicester fans were pleased to see him go.

The trophies he won at Chelsea both have massive caveats attached. The conference league would have been embarrassing not to win, in the same token as Leicester, he had the best team in the competition by a mile.

The club world cup we can go back and forth on, but in my personal opinion its nothing more than a glorified pre season friendly competition.

Now let's look at City vs Arsenal. Lots of aimless sideways and backwards passing for passings sake. Granted its a small sample size, but its exactly what I expect to see from City this season.

CWC is not treated as some glorified friendly by the participants. The prize money and global coverage are enough make them taking it seriously. They' took their first team into that competition. real madrid even purposely paid 10 mils to get trent ready for that competition which they could get him for free a month later. I get why the importance of CWC is downplayed by some clueless pundits and those fans whose team either exited early or not even in it at all but for the fans of the winning team to belittle the competition is just a strange take.

Back on maresca, are you sure it's already maresca's city given he's just taking over about a month ago? How much time does he have with the world cup players? a week? Had city won (which could be considering raya motm performance), would you then say it's still pep's team?

It's okay not to rate him that much, me neither or dislike his playing style but I feel some people are getting overly personal with their review, some even went with the hyperbole.

19 hours ago, acaeus said:

We sure can't have it both ways. Either Maresca was the yes-man with little say in how the club was run, or he had enough control over everything, including players' availability.

There were plenty of reports that the physios were actually the ones dictating player availability. If that's true, blaming Maresca for every player's dip in form is a bit difficult to square with that.

I'm not sure how that follows. Maresca certainly had full control over tactics and the day-to-day management of the squad. He used Palmer sub-optimally, in teams structured with very little support. He was required to do a lot of work on and off the ball while managing a chronic groin injury. Maresca could have changed our tactics, for example, using overlapping fullbacks to provide wide support to Palmer when playing at AM, or playing systems that better countered the opposition tactic of double-teaming him. He had no capability of doing so.

It's Maresca's job to work within the restrictions of player availability. Good managers can, and Maresca simply was not good enough in that regard. I'm well-documented supporting BlueCo's decision to allow medical personnel to make calls on player availability, I have been calling for that for years. Having worked in such environments I don't think that managers or players themselves are capable of making rational decisions regarding availability.

29 minutes ago, BolaBall said:

CWC is not treated as some glorified friendly by the participants. The prize money and global coverage are enough make them taking it seriously.

The CWC is a farce. FIFA is not involved in club football and the competition itself has no competitive history. It is no different to any other summertime corporate sponsored cup. There were only two European teams that took it seriously - us and PSG - and we beat them.

Edited August 19Aug 19 by SydneyChelsea

13 minutes ago, SydneyChelsea said:

The CWC is a farce. FIFA is not involved in club football and the competition itself has no competitive history. It is no different to any other summertime corporate sponsored cup. There were only two European teams that took it seriously - us and PSG - and we beat them.

What make you think others not taking it seriously? are you basing it only the teams that reached the final that can be deemed to be serious?

Put aside the fans view and think from the club and players point of view. Why would they not be taking it seriously? the money is there, the bragging right is there. Other clubs even wanted to join but denied. The competition is not just 1 or 2 games from lifting the trophy, it's long enough to be significant against some champions all over the world.

Glad it was psg in the final that Chelsea beat because they're the european champion beating all other big european teams along the road (even during CWC). It makes the victory even more meaningful for Chelsea.

Just now, BolaBall said:

What make you think others not taking it seriously? are you basing it only the teams that reached the final that can be deemed to be serious?

Put aside the fans view and think from the club and players point of view. Why would they not be taking it seriously? the money is there, the bragging right is there. Other clubs even wanted to join but denied. The competition is not just 1 or 2 games from lifting the trophy, it's long enough to be significant against some champions all over the world.

Glad it was psg in the final that Chelsea beat because they're the european champion beating all other big european teams along the road (even during CWC). It makes the victory even more meaningful for Chelsea.

Let's be real, outside Europe those teams are Championship standard at best.

Ancelotti's unscripted comments sum up what most people in club football thought about the CWC. The players were effectively on holiday in America. The money was a corrupt concoction with DAZN; no major media outlet wanted to take the rights, so Infantino leaned on Saudi who coincidentally invested just enough in DAZN to secure the rights. The players didn't support it either.

I think the final itself was meaningful because it contained two teams desperate to win it. Yes, we had an easy route but you can only beat what is in front of you, and to go from beating Flamengo and Benfica to playing PSG is a challenge in itself. However, I don't think the tournament itself meant much to anyone.

FIFA has nothing to do with club football.

11 hours ago, KonaKai Blue said:

So confused as to why people want Neto sold. There are at least 6-8 players that need to be shipped before him. Neto has that in his bag where he will win you games or salvage points in big games ala Arsenal.

For me, if its Neto the wingback we should keep him. He's a really nice profile to use in that position, as a winger I just dont think he's creative enough and will struggle to get in the team in front of Estevao and Quenda

Neto isn't creative/clinical enough to be an attacker and isn't good enough defensively to be a wing back.

He offers energy and a goatee, that is it. I would rather have a cocker spaniel on the wing.

4 minutes ago, All Barco no bite said:

Neto isn't creative/clinical enough to be an attacker and isn't good enough defensively to be a wing back.

He offers energy and a goatee, that is it. I would rather have a cocker spaniel on the wing.

Might be an improvement on the lapdog and the poodle that Maresca tried last season !

1 hour ago, SydneyChelsea said:

Let's be real, outside Europe those teams are Championship standard at best.

Ancelotti's unscripted comments sum up what most people in club football thought about the CWC. The players were effectively on holiday in America. The money was a corrupt concoction with DAZN; no major media outlet wanted to take the rights, so Infantino leaned on Saudi who coincidentally invested just enough in DAZN to secure the rights. The players didn't support it either.

I think the final itself was meaningful because it contained two teams desperate to win it. Yes, we had an easy route but you can only beat what is in front of you, and to go from beating Flamengo and Benfica to playing PSG is a challenge in itself. However, I don't think the tournament itself meant much to anyone.

FIFA has nothing to do with club football.

I went to take a look into the link you provided and it seems like it was in the early phase talk about the competition when the prize money of the entire competition was speculated to be just 20 mils? By the time the competition started, ancelotti was no longer involved and the prize money was above 100mils and that's the game changer, provided no reasonable reason for teams to not having a go seriously.

The argument is not about how the outside, including you or me, view the competition but how the participants view it. When city, inter and bayern got knocked out, you can see how disappointed their players were. real madrid paid unnecessary 10 mils to get trent alexander ready for the competition.

Regarding outside europe is at championship level is difficult to gauge accurately especially when the european counterpart always saying 'not taking seriously' when they lost.

Btw, why do you keep mention fifa is not involved in club football when quick googling showing fifa was the organizer for cwc?

2 hours ago, AndyDowsleftflank said:

For me, if its Neto the wingback we should keep him. He's a really nice profile to use in that position, as a winger I just dont think he's creative enough and will struggle to get in the team in front of Estevao and Quenda

The offensive role of wb and winger is very similar.

2 hours ago, Bob stark said:

The offensive role of wb and winger is very similar.

Sure, but in my view the role of a winger in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 is way more akin to an inside forward than an old fashioned winger. Neto has great intensity which helps him bomb up and down the flanks, I dont think he has the finesse or attacking instincts to be effective enough as an attacking winger/inside forward. Besides, it looks like we'll play with two 10's which is certainly not his role regardless

7 hours ago, BolaBall said:

What make you think others not taking it seriously? are you basing it only the teams that reached the final that can be deemed to be serious?

Put aside the fans view and think from the club and players point of view. Why would they not be taking it seriously? the money is there, the bragging right is there. Other clubs even wanted to join but denied. The competition is not just 1 or 2 games from lifting the trophy, it's long enough to be significant against some champions all over the world.

Glad it was psg in the final that Chelsea beat because they're the european champion beating all other big european teams along the road (even during CWC). It makes the victory even more meaningful for Chelsea.

Do you remember earlier iterations of the CWC. Manchester United took it so seriously once they pulled out the FA Cup one year, but it has always been a glorified set of friendlys, only the latest one has had substantial prize money behind it, given how badly CFC are in Debt, winning it was dictated by finances. Yes the Latin American clubs have always seen it as a way to play European ones. But it's always been a remote, side competition not worth the entry until this season.

PSG were on holiday, Maresca couldnt keep up the style of play we produced that day, and if he did it failed in the league where it mattered and we were nothing more than a stepping stone for city. It'll be fine in Manchester until Xams when Maresca introduces deathbore ball. Haarland will be bald by March through stress because of a lack of service - imagine him sprinting up the pich busting a gut only to see the ball return to the keeper.

1 hour ago, bluelightening said:

Do you remember earlier iterations of the CWC. Manchester United took it so seriously once they pulled out the FA Cup one year, but it has always been a glorified set of friendlys, only the latest one has had substantial prize money behind it, given how badly CFC are in Debt, winning it was dictated by finances. Yes the Latin American clubs have always seen it as a way to play European ones. But it's always been a remote, side competition not worth the entry until this season.

PSG were on holiday, Maresca couldnt keep up the style of play we produced that day, and if he did it failed in the league where it mattered and we were nothing more than a stepping stone for city. It'll be fine in Manchester until Xams when Maresca introduces deathbore ball. Haarland will be bald by March through stress because of a lack of service - imagine him sprinting up the pich busting a gut only to see the ball return to the keeper.

City fans are used to the boring sideways passing style. To be honest I found Peps style of football boring and having watch a game at the Etihad as a neutral the atmosphere reflected how bored everyone was. You could have a normal conversation with the person next to you. Cant remember who it was against but I know it was a bottom half team they expected to beat so maybe not the high stakes of a derby. Think the fans put up with it because they were winning.

They'll soon turn on Enzo. Think the downturn was happening anyway but losing Pep will highlight this even more.

Fabrizio has reported that Al Hilal consider Neto too expensive and won't continue in the region of our price tag.

Cannot even get the Saudis to buy lol

Shushing the captain? we don't need this from Neto. James was right too, don't look up to the sky all annoyed, fight to win the ball back!

Edited Tuesday at 00:313 days by Scott Harris

Despicable human. I’ve said this from day one, bang average player with the ego of Ronaldo. We need to get him out of this squad

7 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

Shushing the captain? we don't need this from Neto. James was right too, don't look up to the sky all annoyed, fight to win the ball back!

I saw this last night. Watched him not track back and was glad to see reece give him some after bailing him out. Didn't notice the sshhhh, thought he just said something back. If this is how he reacts to someone finally setting standards he should be shown the door.

Never saw that disgraceful shush on the live broadcast.

However that pathetic shot at the end into the side netting when a ball into the box would’ve caused so much chaos just highlighted how egotistical and braindead this chump is.

Xabi is building something and shipping out the bad eggs like Neto, Gusto & Enzo has to be a priority.

Reece was setting the standards, Lacroix was vocal all night, JP led from the front. These are the kinds of leaders we need not petulant kids.

Taking the impossible shot in the dying minutes rather than pull it into the area, or see there's no clean pass so turn out and keep possession shows just how f**king dumb he is.

I always thought Neto had a good attitude but that was very poor. Well done Reece James.

We've had far too many unlikeable players with a poor attitude for far too long. Hopefully Xabi can "drain the swamp"

Actually thought he did well defensively when he came on outside of that moment and the pointless shot at the end.

4 hours ago, dkw said:

Taking the impossible shot in the dying minutes rather than pull it into the area, or see there's no clean pass so turn out and keep possession shows just how f**king dumb he is.

It was the kind of thing you’d see a 9 year old child do.