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City were shocking. It was a decent team, but lacking in some key areas. Willy isn't the keeper Hart is and may not even be a good enough replacement for Pantilimon, and I have no idea how long it's going to take Pellegrini to realise Jovetic just isn't that good. Sagna isn't the player he used to be either, and Mangala is the drizzling shits. It was surprising to see Silva, Toure and Dzeko in the squad over the likes of Lampard, but Silva went out early and the others weren't able to make up for weaknesses elsewhere.
Why the hell did we let Negredo go?
Negredo went because your champs league squad was cut to 21 players because you spent too much money (financial fair play).
Sagna would be good, but rarely plays, same with jovetic and willy as well.
This isn't a comp city will care about, you'll be hoping to push in in the champs league and overturn Chelsea.
No way are we doing anything in the champions league now. Chelsea maybe, but even that looks to be a stretch. United seem to be confident of overturning a ten point deficit though, so who knows? If they can do it, we can.
The squad cut was fair, but Negredo? Why him? It's very possible that we wouldn't have won the league last year had it not been for his contribution, and now everyone else has stronger squads. I have very little hope for us getting anything this year, especially now the league cup has gone.
I'll be torn in the next round. I'm usually a Newcastle apologist but since they knocked us out I may have to go the revenge route and side with Spurs.
Because Negredo isn't english. You needed to up your quota, so he was sacrificed.
Plus, he seemed to start really well, and then go completely cold. Agrero is your first choice, and the Dzeko, so Negredo was looking at 3rd choice, and with jovetic being younger it looks like u went that way. Neg was probably quite insistent on being first choice.
Also, I've not heard a thing about him since he left. When tevez went he was still talked about because he was scoring goals for juve, not heard anything about Neg tho, so looks like it might've been a gd choice.
Because Negredo isn't english. You needed to up your quota, so he was sacrificed.
Plus, he seemed to start really well, and then go completely cold. Agrero is your first choice, and the Dzeko, so Negredo was looking at 3rd choice, and with jovetic being younger it looks like u went that way. Neg was probably quite insistent on being first choice.
Also, I've not heard a thing about him since he left. When tevez went he was still talked about because he was scoring goals for juve, not heard anything about Neg tho, so looks like it might've been a gd choice.
Just looked him up, and he's yet to play a game for valencia.
Also, he scored 9 league goals in 32 games last season, which isn't great, plus he's 29 and the loan deal with valencia means they have to purchase him at the end of the seseason for 27m euros. That sounds like a great deal to me (from city's point of view)
He's still injured, that'll be why he's not playing. Those nine goals all came at the start of the season when he was in great form, but then he got hurt.
The English player rule is fine, but again, why him specifically? We have a hundred foreign players who aren't doing anything for us. I still don't really get why Dzeko is second choice over him, he's a good player but not better than Beast.
Anyway, looks like bad times ahead if you ask me.
He's still injured, that'll be why he's not playing. Those nine goals all came at the start of the season when he was in great form, but then he got hurt.
The English player rule is fine, but again, why him specifically? We have a hundred foreign players who aren't doing anything for us. I still don't really get why Dzeko is second choice over him, he's a good player but not better than Beast.
Anyway, looks like bad times ahead if you ask me.
Dzeko hit 16 league goals in 31 games. He's a more consistent scorer, and has a better all round game (imo). Maybe Neg is seen as injury prone?
Maybe. As far as I know it was just the one long-term injury, but it could be something related to that.
He's scored 23 in 48 appearances for City across all competitions, which isn't a bad record at all. Dzeko has a good finishing touch, but when Negredo was on top form he was banging them in all over the place. He scored three against CSKA last year, we could have done with that last week.
Anyway, whatever the reason for ditching him, if he was going to leave we needed a replacement. We don't even have Guidetti now.
So what's going on with Spurs then? Aren't you guys supposed to be awesome now you sold Bale and got all these other guys? How long does a team need to "settle in"?
Never count all competition goals. Harry kane us spurs top scorer, but has got almost all his goals against part timers in Europe or against lower league sides in the league cup. Premier league goals are the best leveller.
Spurs are fine. We sold the 3rd best player in the world and used the money to buy some great potential (lamela and Eriksen are going to be fantastic). Now we have a new manager who is working on fitness (the saints players talk about needing a 3rd lung). This takes time. Basically, we have a whole new tactical set up at the club.
I'd be happy finishing 8th and keeping Lloris at the end of the season because I believe in our manager and think we'll be much better next season when our boys have the legs to do what the manager wants us to.
It's a slow and painful process building a club, especially when teams like man city and Chelsea move the goalpost. Far better to build a side the way arse do (feel dirty saying it, but it's the truth)
In other news, how funny is the bindippers fall from grace? Their no by manager came out last season and said a team spending £100m should be winning the title, well, I don't see Liverpool winning any titles this season... 😉
Rhys, what ever happened to Michu? Haven't heard anything about him in a while. Was class when he first came in. I only ask because he just scored against me on Football Manager.
Rhys, what ever happened to Michu? Haven't heard anything about him in a while. Was class when he first came in. I only ask because he just scored against me on Football Manager.
Think he was homesick and they sold him back to Spain for a couple of million. Was a reasonable player, but not special. Just had a special season (much like Cisse for your boys).
He's on a season long loan to Napoli. Rumour is they are desperate to send him back to us.
Thanks Taker_2004 for the banner!
Quite a lot of Newcastle fans piss me off with this whole Ben Arfa business. Now that Pardew has gone, unbelievably people want Ben Arfa back at the club. The guy didn't move on because Pardew is a moron like people want to believe, we sent him out on loan because his head is far too big and he's lazy - players were actually complaining about him he was that bad. Sensible fans pointed out that he's had trouble at every club he's been at, but some still won't listen. He goes out on loan and says he wants to prove a point - all he does is show how selfish he is and lazy, shows how unprofessional he is by going AWOL, and then Hull terminate his season long loan. And people still want him back at the club. What is wrong with people. Glad he's going to Nice to play out the rest of his Newcastle contract. The guy has incredible talent, but really doesn't have the slightest bit of right attitude to go with it. Good riddance to the guy.
I've been enjoying the Magic Sponge podcast with Rob Becket & Jimmy Bullard. The stories Bullard and guest footballers have are hilarious. Papa Bouba Diop getting tea-bagged on the massage table. David Bentley shouting "Postman Pat" in Fabio Capello's face. Jason McAteer and the coat-hanger & meeting Jimmy White.
Does anyone else feel like the football punditry is worse than it's been for years, possibly ever?
There are so many examples of TERRIBLE pundits/experts/whatever you want to call them.
Robbie Savage is an absolute bellend. He either writes articles saying something completely stupid with half-arsed "facts" to back it up - or he writes an article stating something incredibly obvious and acting like he's the only one who was able to come up with the conclusion. His comments are also completely contradictory (like criticising someone for getting booked a lot when he had a history of being booked continuously throughout his career) and I get the feeling he thinks he was a much bigger piece of history than he actually was (he was average at the peak of his career).
Just look at the headline of this article, need I say more about twat face Robbie Savage?
Mark Lawrenson is one of the worst. His "predictions" on BBC sport are an absolute joke. Not only is he terrible at predicting (he predicted Swansea to lose 20 out of their first 29 games this season, which anyone who knows anything about the Premier League knows that's ridiculous...) he also just sounds like he doesn't give a shit about anything. He's always just monotone, boring, blah. Put some damn effort in. Swansea are 10th in real life, in his predicted table their 19th, Sunderland are 17th irl, in his table 10th, Hull 15th IRL, 9th in his table. I don't expect him to get every result right obviously, but he always predicts the same things... he very rarely predicts Liverpool to lose (typical since he's Liverpool through and through) or Swansea to win (seems to have a grudge against them for some reason).
Don't forget the great Phil Neville, who said, and I quote (roughly), "That clearance off the line was more important than if he had scored for his team" - he said that about a striker. Pretty sure the goal would mean more. He's had plenty more stupid commentary or punditry lines which I just can't remember at the moment.
Sky Sports consists of Gary Neville (who I don't mind as much as the others) and Carragher. I know Henry has recently joined but I haven't watched any of his punditry so I can't comment. I wouldn't mind Carragher's grating accent if the words he spoke were actually useful but he speaks a lot of bollocks too. (seriously, who thought "this guy's voice is made for TV!" because I honestly can't think of a worse accent. Even welsh is better, and the welsh accent sounds horrible on TV).
This is really just a rant, no point to it. I just think sometimes I could do a better job at punditry and that's saying something. I regularly watch MOTD and those kind of shows and find myself correcting or just shaking my head at what someone has said at least once per episode.
Last edited by rhys (Thu-19-Mar-2015 20:17:27)
Thanks Taker_2004 for the banner!
Gary Neville is brilliant though. He is a proper class pundit and surprisingly shows no bias towards Man United. The guy shows great knowledge and analyses stuff really well. Everyone thought he'd be shit and my best mate who supports Liverpool hates the guy, since he used to play for United, but even he admits that he's a great pundit. He's only going to get better at it as well.
Paul Merson is a terrible one. He hates Newcastle as well for some reason (someone did explain why to me at one point, but can't remember what that was), and predicts us to lose 95% of the time. Doesn't usually have anything nice to say about us at all.
Have you ever had to listen to a match on BT Sports? Owen is the most boring person ever! Like in the history of football. He mentioned in a match a month or two ago that he doesn't watch movies at all. And he's so incredibly bias towards Liverpool that it borderlines on insulting towards other teams. Cabaye scored a class goal against Liverpool from distance. The first thing Owen's fellow commentator said was "what a goal, WHAT. A. GOAL". Owen: "keeper should have done better there". He would not say that Newcastle had scored a great goal. Liverpool score a good goal and he's basically licking their assholes. Did I mention how he's the most boring person in football? Yeah... monotone voice doesn't help much either.
Yeah, Owen's pretty bad. Great footballer, terrible commentator. Now that my mind is refreshed a little, other shit pundits that come to mind are Andy Townsend, Danny Murphy and Steve Claridge.
Think it was Danny Murphy who kept calling Oxlade-Chamberlain "The Ox" as if they were best buddies or something.
They should just have Gary Neville and Alan Shearer doing all the punditry as I usually like what they bring to the table.
Thanks Taker_2004 for the banner!
I can't take any pundit seriously if they're a useless manager, like Shearer.
Steve Claridge looks like he has 10 kids and lives on the dole. Proper scruffy fucker.
Well I think we have European goal of the season already. Den Haag, my favourite Dutch team thanks to Football Manager (seen them play live too), were losing 1-0 to PSV in a league game. 95th minute their keeper Hansen decides to go up for a corner and scored a class goal. Sky Sports had a close up of it and he clearly went for it and was no fluke.
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/ … gainst-psv
Scores the winning goal, Pedro wants to be somewhere else.
So the new rules for offside were clearly drilled into the refs and linesmen like the FA said. First call of the season and they get it wrong. You can see that Boruc expected Coutinho to get the ball, since he went for it, so should have been ruled offside. Instead they let it stand when Benteke taps it in. Awful decision and a prime example of why the rule was put in place, as it clearly affected the keeper. Bournemouth should be fuming at that one.
Man City look up for it this season, looks like Chelsea peaked last season and are struggling to find form, not to mention Mourinho 3rd season syndrome. Van Gaal is a fraud and Arsenal will never be champions again under Wenger. I'd put money on City winning again.
Although it's ridiculius how much the Premier League mid table teams can pay their players. Shaqiri had the chance of going to Stoke or a bigger team in Europe who are challenging for their domestic league but chose Stoke cos they pay him like 3 million more a season. Over the next few season we're gonna see some fairly big names playing in the smaller teams.
I'm surprised that Arsenal haven't signed a striker yet. Although I still think they need to sign a world class defender more than anything. I like Walcott as a striker though so would be nice to see him play there throughout the season instead of being pushed back to a winger.
I'm surprised that Arsenal haven't signed a striker yet. Although I still think they need to sign a world class defender more than anything. I like Walcott as a striker though so would be nice to see him play there throughout the season instead of being pushed back to a winger.
Arsene Wenger goes into every season with massive holes in the squad. Last season everyone was like we need a striker and a DM, he gets Welbeck and we struggle until we put Coquelin in the squad and Wenger sees what we've been missing for so long. Coq wasn't even that great did the basic job and Arsenal fans jizzed cos we haven't had that since Gilberto Silva (Coq's no Gilberto).
There's a whole list of things I could list off as complaints towards Wenger but lemme put it like this; regardless of money spent he could've done a better job making Arsenal title contender but he just never fixes the weaknesses in the squad and doesn't implement winning tactics until we're in desperate need to make the top 4, so we do the same shit every season. It's boring tbh.
City were shocking. It was a decent team, but lacking in some key areas. Willy isn't the keeper Hart is and may not even be a good enough replacement for Pantilimon, and I have no idea how long it's going to take Pellegrini to realise Jovetic just isn't that good. Sagna isn't the player he used to be either, and Mangala is the drizzling shits. It was surprising to see Silva, Toure and Dzeko in the squad over the likes of Lampard, but Silva went out early and the others weren't able to make up for weaknesses elsewhere.
Why the hell did we let Negredo go?