Football LXXIV: Crystanbul - A Dream Deferred

[Grand Moff Mithrandir]

I'm still absolutely gutted by last night's result. I felt we played well for most of the game but, we simply lost it in the final 20 minutes or so.

We're definitely out of the title race, so what's next? We need to strengthen our back line, that means getting a proper old school no nonsense defender and a left back who actually knows what he's doing.

Also, I know the title sucks boo hoo.

[MercenaryChef]

truly i envy the pain of the liverpool faithful. i only wish i could have thoughts of winning the league as a newcastle fan. i wish i could imagine with some sort of reality of playing in the champions league.

in the end your red boys just lacked the final 'something.' as an outsider let me tell you what i felt it was.

• suarez could not score against real teams. he may well score seven against newcastle next week but not shit against the top teams.
  
• back four is almost totally shit. skrtel may have been a comic genius with his goal scoring this year but he is typically a terrible liability as a defender. you have no attacking backup coming from your backs.
  
• midfield is too easily broken up creatively by a disciplined defense with purpose ie chelsea match.
  
• as legendary as stevie g may be to your team he needs set aside. you can only keep deploying him farther and farther back in the formation until he is finally the tired old man behind the goal in the second row.
  
• sakho and toure. that says what it needs to.
  

kudos to you all for what you did with what you had. but, hardly a title winning team at this point. let's see what next year brings.

[Mark Antony]

Still can't believe it :(.

We missed the fuck out of Hendo these last weeks

Villa beat Chelsea they can beat City too right right :crying:

[redriver]

Still can't believe it :(.

We missed the fuck out of Hendo these last weeks

Villa beat Chelsea they can beat City too right right :crying:

You still have hope.Mine's gone. :drunk:

[Iskaral Pust]

I'm not clinging to any hope. At 3-0 and chasing more I dared to dream again. That way lies pain and misery.

This team has punched above it's weight all season. They have been far more than the sum of their parts but clearly fatigue was setting in. Suarez and Sturridge have been struggling for weeks. Henderson was a big miss and we just had no reinforcements. Lucas, Aspas and Moses proved to be terribly inadequate these last few games. And god only knows how we got through a season with Johnson, Cissokho and Flanagan, and even Toure, Skrtel and Sakho at full back when need was dire.

The good news is that any decent additions will upgrade the team and squad for next year. And Rodgers will learn lessons from the last couple of games, which he did from previous setbacks too. The bad news is that we are unlikely to catch that wave of momentum just right again.

[Mark Antony]

You still have hope.Mine's gone. :drunk:

If this seasons proven anything its that anything can happen :)

[Jeor]

If this seasons proven anything its that anything can happen :)

I wouldn't think for a second that the title is done and dusted. City are in the driver's seat, yes, but let's not forget two years ago - if it wasn't for those two goals in stoppage time from Dzeko and Aguero, they would have been beaten 2-1 by 10-man relegation-threatened QPR at the Etihad. City have two more games to go and while they have a bit of margin for error now, they cannot afford a shock loss. Neither of those games (Villa or West Ham) can be taken for granted in the circumstances - and neither can Liverpool's against Newcastle, for that matter.

EDIT: And look on the bright side - the title will still go down to the final day, even if City beat Villa mid-week.

[Alex.]

Believe me when I say that no City fans are taking this for granted as of yet, nor, I suspect, are the players

ETA: Different subject, but interesting from Ian Herbert in the Independent confirming my theory that journalists who aren't completely anti-City through club allegiance are gradually starting to recognise what the club is trying to do and that it is not an unsustainable project. I think this is a fair minded assessment from someone i know is not a City fan. Interested to hear thoughts on it.

[BigFatCoward]

So the fa are considering allowing prem and championship clubs to enter b teams in the the lower league's. It should be mandatory they field only players from the uk or a high percentage, otherwise what is the point.

[Alex.]

So the fa are considering allowing prem and championship clubs to enter b teams in the the lower league's. It should be mandatory they field only players from the uk or a high percentage, otherwise what is the point.

Is that actually happening? What a joke. First the new law which allows Premier League clubs to take the brightest talents out of lower league academies for a pittance and now this. Wouldn't be surprised if the lower leagues end up being forced to part fund them or something as well.

[Inigima]

Le football moderne à l'abbatoir.

[polishgenius]

Yeah, that would be shocking. Just coz Spain does it doesn't mean it's a good idea.

First the new law which allows Premier League clubs to take the brightest talents out of lower league academies for a pittance

This was the worst thing to happen to English football for years. There's all the constant handwringing about how Britain's youth training system is poor, but that move absolutely gutted the academies.

It doesn't even make sense for the Premier League clubs, in the long term, since for all the cheap talent they can steal right now, in ten years there's going to be a huge reduction in the quality and amount of players even coming through the lower levels. Absolute joke.

I do have a huge chip on my shoulder about Watford's new owners though. The club had worked out a way to maintain a high-quality academy at a relatively low cost, to the point that not just English clubs but from around Europe were coming to have a look at Watford were doing, then the new boys decided to downgrade it and start loaning players from Italy instead.

In other news, and to the baffled delight of many people (including me), FFP might actually work! Manchester City's squad being limited to 21 players for the CL next season is a brilliant punishment- just tight enough to be damaging without crippling them in the competition - whereas reports suggest PSG are going to get smashed: their wage bill is capped, they must sell before buying, and even if they do that then they can only buy a certain amount of players for a certain amount of money: example given here is that they could buy one player for 60mil, but not drown the competition by spreading that money out over several.

And because they tried to cheat (UEFA decided that their sponsorship deal was grossly overvalued), FIFA have increased the demanded reduction in losses for them.

[Alex.]

FFP is fundamentally flawed in almost every sense.

Cheers.

[Alcibiades]

Fuck yeah! I assume that if he's doing this that he's figured out a way to do so without risking making him ineligible to work in the UK.

[polishgenius]

This game is far better than an essentially meaningless kickabout has any right.

FFP is fundamentally flawed in almost every sense.

Cheers.

Well, yeah, it's pretty crap in that it makes it very difficult to dethrone the already-established big-boys (so City got in just in time, PSG and Monaco cutting it fine as seen by the sanctions) because obviously their revenue streams are much bigger than anyone else. This was true already of course but it's more entrenched.

But I think a lot of people expected the sanctions to be meaningless, and they're not. I should have qualified it really- it might actually work in terms of preventing billionaire owners treating clubs like their own personal toy.

[Maltaran]

Fuck yeah! I assume that if he's doing this that he's figured out a way to do so without risking making him ineligible to work in the UK.

It's in the article

Germans must relinquish citizenship when they are naturalized elsewhere, but because he is a minor, Zelalem would keep his German passport — thus, maintaining European Union credentials and avoiding England’s strict work permit guidelines.

[LRvHD]

Still can't believe it :(.

We missed the fuck out of Hendo these last weeks

Villa beat Chelsea they can beat City too right right :crying:

They did, but at Villa Park (and they beat City at Villa Park this season too of course). But at Etihad? City have left a trail of carnage behind them...

[Alcibiades]

It's in the article

Aha! That'll teach me to read to the end.

[Mexal]

Fuck yeah! I assume that if he's doing this that he's figured out a way to do so without risking making him ineligible to work in the UK.

Love this. Hope he plays for us. We need the talent.

[polishgenius]

David Mylar is a stupid, stupid, stupid bastard.


And Spurs had better get a point at the weekend. If we come out of this disaster of a season with not even avoiding a Europa League spot to show for it I'll be disgusted.