[mancunian_mike]

Adlab I wouldn’t put it as simply as more attackers mean more goals; when City has Mancini his first season he played with 2 defensive midfielders every game (Barry and De Jong), 3 if you include Yaya Toure as a DM. They still win the title and scored more goals than anyone else. Mancini did it whilst his defence got used to playing with each other, the second season he exchanged a DM for another attacking midfielder because he knew his defence was a solid unit who knew each other. I have no issue with Rice and Philips giving us a solid midfield in front of what was a new CB pairing (Stones and Mings). I think once they are used to each other maybe we can let loose a little more but I agree with everyone on hear that we eventually want to play to our attacking strengths. I suppose it’s a question of how much time each of us is willing to grant to Southgate to achieve it, and if not Southgate who? Personally I am happy to give him time as I can see progress.

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[mancunian_mike]

Tugay, sorry you are quite right, obviously my memory is not as good as I thought 😂. If that doesn’t prove that nobody remembers the games in the early rounds I don’t know what does 🤣😂🤣

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[mancunian_mike]

We’ve looked pretty good at the back but only offered sporadic attacks up-front. We’ve got plenty of gifted individual players but we’re still developing a team so it’s a little understandable. Maybe Southgate should be further on, maybe not, but it’s been hard to get game time for any of them through Covid, and several were missing in the warm up games due to participating in European finals, so I give him the benefit of the doubt. The best teams I’ve seen so far have largely been together for over a decade (Belgium and Italy) so they look slick, whilst many of the others are in the same position as England and trying to work out how best to get their teams to play successfully.

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[mancunian_mike]

Sorry Ed, I meant finish 2nd to avoid France’s group. If we come 2nd we play whoever finishes 2nd in group E (which looks easier on paper than playing France, Germany or Portugal).

Steveo, if the aim of this tournament for England is to keep progressing, developing the system so it works better, and gaining more experience of international tournament football for our younger players, there is little point in aiming to face the favourites in the first knock out game and potentially going home. Do you remember who France beat in the first knock out round on their way to winning the 1998 World Cup…neither do I…but I remember they lost the opening game to Senegal; few remember the path you take, just that you got there 😉

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

This is the first City transfer in a long time that I’ve been worried about. I hope I’m wrong but I agree with Brian, Kane is not worth £100M, he’s too old, too injury prone, we would never be able to sell him if it didn’t work out, and it could take too long for him to fit into our system (even EPL player of the year Mahrez took 18 months to learn our system and get regular game time). I can only assume that City have already enquired about Haaland and Mbappe and been told that neither have any interest in coming to City, in which case Kane is probably the next best option. If this isn’t the case then we are opening the door for all of our rivals, especially the currently skint Spanish ones, to have a free run at Haaland or Mbappe in the near future. I hope I’m wrong on all counts.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

Definitely Nike. We need a draw tomorrow, not a win. Avoid France for now at least and get a far more winnable knock out game under our belt first.

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[mancunian_mike]

England qualify for next round without kicking a ball, regardless of tomorrow nights results. Funny that 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

Nike if France’s media and fans are anything like ours they’ll currently be throwing the team and manager ‘under the bus’ for drawing against a lesser team 😉

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

Have to say I’m generally surprised at the negative reaction to England’s performance. England have played 2 games and have 4 points. England didn’t need to win the Scotland game and are learning that in international football you do not need to lose your heads chasing a result you don’t need just for pride, or to appease fans or the media. I am old enough to remember moaning at Englands performance in virtually every tournament for the last 40 years and England have never looked as comfortable at the start of a tournament. There are no easy games at this level, the important thing is to get to the knock out stages without injury and without exhausting your players who have already had long seasons, to allow the team to grow into the tournament. England are, for all intents and purposes through to the next round, possibly even with a loss against the Czechs, whereas Scotland are in all likelihood going home with that result. England are not amongst the favourites for this tournament and should be using it as a stepping stone to gain more experience for the World Cup next year. We have a lot of young technically gifted but inexperienced players who are learning the right things and we do not need to play the ‘blood and thunder’ football that got us nowhere in the past. Don’t listen to the 3 dinosaur pundits on ITV who haven’t got an ounce of experience of international football success between them.

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[mancunian_mike]

Havertz and Werner both had difficult seasons for several reasons and both are still young and having to settle in a new country. Given time I’m sure they will both come good. I would expect Chelsea to have learned from past mistakes when young players have been discarded too soon, De Bruyne and Salah the obvious examples.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

Welcome Foxey.
There was a nice interview with Foden on Sky the other week and they asked him who is the toughest player he’s played against, he said ‘Kante, he’s everywhere, just when you think you’re away from him and he’s back again’ 🤣. I think it’ll be a good game with some good match-ups across the park. Sevilla proved that it’s easier to defend than attack and that seems to be the way both City and Chelsea have improved from early wobbles this season. I don’t think previous form will play a part, both teams have the ability to cause problems for the other, but I’m confident the game will be a far better spectacle than the Euro League final which was pretty awful to watch. May the best team win 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

I’d agree with that Sean. 2nd and a penalty away from winning a cup, not a bad season and it would be a knee jerk reaction to think of getting rid of Ole over it. Utd team has issues with creativity when facing deep defences and they now know what they have to do to sort it out.

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Yeah you may be right Ed, he’s been on the slide for several seasons now but he’s been a good servant for the club. There was talk as to whether or not he’d even play tonight. To be fair to him though the ten outfield players had 2 hours to find the net before the PK’s. Commiserations.

Selfishly I’m a little sad there definitely won’t be a derby in the Supercup final.

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[mancunian_mike]

It’s a lot easier to defend than attack Ed. Villarreal didn’t do much to win it but agree that Utd didn’t play well. Sloppy passing for much of the game. You still did a lot more than Villarreal to try and win it though.

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[mancunian_mike]

Hard to the blame the llama 🦙 as you can’t expect a keeper to score, but he’s not made a save all night…and he faced 11 penalties.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by mancunian_mike.
• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

Terrible game but a great penalty shootout, so many excellent penalties.

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[mancunian_mike]

Hey Nike, Utd definitely deserve to be ahead, Villarreal haven’t offered much going forward but they have defended well. ‘Deserve’ doesn’t always mean you win though 😉

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by mancunian_mike.
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[mancunian_mike]

The diving from both sides is making it difficult to watch for me. Completely ruins a game of football.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by mancunian_mike.
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I think Utd will do it but it’s a cup so anything could happen. Slight chance of a Manchester derby in the Super Cup final 🤔. No doubt UEFA will hold it on the moon 😂. Agree with you Brian, great for the City.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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Hey 9’s, yeah I get you copied the article for us, I’ve not lost all my marbles…yet 😂. I’m still hoping the ref does a better job this time round; his team also disallowed City a goal in the closing stages of the first leg of that Liverpool tie for offside which was borderline. We never seemed to have any joy from refereeing decisions in Europe before this season when Dortmund definitely should have had a goal for Bellingham, maybe this season we will get the rub of the green but hopefully it won’t be needed 😉. Fingers crossed for no controversy whatsoever in the final 🤞

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