The most important 5 matches so far

[Grob]

Often when we've had what would be perceived as an 'easy' run of games over the last couple of seasons, we have disappointed with our points tally.

One game at a time

[john@staustell]

Often when we've had what would be perceived as an 'easy' run of games over the last couple of seasons, we have disappointed with our points tally.

One game at a time

Yes but this isn't the same team is it? We have a team that is easily capable of winning all 5. We never have before, it was always rocket-fuelled optimism!

Unlikely to win all 5. Newcastle away will be a toughie, Villa certainly won't roll over and we very rarely seem to get the better of Everton.

On the contrary I think the likelihood is fairly high right now, if Tevez and Balotelli stay in the game. I think we will win at Newcastle and I think Villa have already rolled over and died. Everton I agree with you, but our new-look 'skilful bruisers' should better them at home.

Current odds to win against:

West Ham 4/5
Everton 4/6
Newcastle 4/5

Cant find any more but Villa and Blackpool home have to be heavily odds on, especially Villa.

And you'll need a new username in January mate!

[Grob]

Often when we've had what would be perceived as an 'easy' run of games over the last couple of seasons, we have disappointed with our points tally.

One game at a time

Yes but this isn't the same team is it? We have a team that is easily capable of winning all 5. We never have before, it was always rocket-fuelled optimism!

We also have a team and squad capable of beating sunderland, birmingham, blackburn and wolves but none of that happened.

[john@staustell]

Often when we've had what would be perceived as an 'easy' run of games over the last couple of seasons, we have disappointed with our points tally.

One game at a time

Yes but this isn't the same team is it? We have a team that is easily capable of winning all 5. We never have before, it was always rocket-fuelled optimism!

We also have a team and squad capable of beating sunderland, birmingham, blackburn and wolves but none of that happened.

Fair point. But as umpteen pundits expert and not so expert pointed out in August and Sept:

'they look like a team that's just met'
'they need time to gel'
'the players will play better when they get to know each other'
'Silva needs to get fit for the English game and the speed of the Premier'
'Balotelli needs to get used to the Premier'
'the defence needs to become more solid'

I would hope that at least some of that seems to be coming to pass (seasonal reference). And in fact in all those 4 games there were signs that we are getting there - whereas in the past no: Brum and Blackeye Rovers we had umpteen milllion shots but hardly put any in the net. Sunderland our main man missed a granny-type sitter, which would probably have taken us on to win. And Wolves we totally outplayed them until we scored, then it all went wrong mentally somehow. Yet by West Brom and Fulham we had learnt from that already.

[The Foggy Blue]

This is from the F365 s(h)ite under their piece entitled "It's going to be a Big Weekend For..."

Manchester City
They will have played two games more than United and one more than Arsenal, but the table will make fine viewing on Saturday night if victory at West Ham sees them leapfrog their neighbours and draw level on points with the Gunners. With Chelsea travelling to Tottenham on Sunday and Arsenal and United duking it out on Monday, the end of the weekend's fixtures could see the top four ease away from the rest and establish a six-point gap to Spurs. City need to win at Upton Park to ensure they're not left behind.

I couldn't agree more with this. We MUST WIN tomorrow, bearing in mind that December is our BIG OPPORTUNITY.

We're not the City of old, it's now time for us to step up. We should be expecting to win ALL our home games and the likes of West Ham away. And like Carlitos said, we should "get our act together" and get 5 or 6 wins on the trot to give the squad belief.

[john@staustell]

This is from the F365 s(h)ite under their piece entitled "It's going to be a Big Weekend For..."

Manchester City
They will have played two games more than United and one more than Arsenal, but the table will make fine viewing on Saturday night if victory at West Ham sees them leapfrog their neighbours and draw level on points with the Gunners. With Chelsea travelling to Tottenham on Sunday and Arsenal and United duking it out on Monday, the end of the weekend's fixtures could see the top four ease away from the rest and establish a six-point gap to Spurs. City need to win at Upton Park to ensure they're not left behind.

I couldn't agree more with this. We MUST WIN tomorrow, bearing in mind that December is our BIG OPPORTUNITY.

We're not the City of old, it's now time for us to step up. We should be expecting to win ALL our home games and the likes of West Ham away. And like Carlitos said, we should "get our act together" and get 5 or 6 wins on the trot to give the squad belief.

All true Foggy, quite right.

[ashton287]

I dont expect to win every game, but at the same time i know we are good enough to beat most and never expect to lose.

I dont know if id prefer it to be tight and push the other clubs all the way and come second or be comfortably fourth/third.

Dare to dream and all that.

[john@staustell]

Well one down and the worst we can finish the weekend is 3rd. Everton will be the trickiest of the 4 remaining. I still fancy we can come through having won all 5. With or without Emo.

[john@staustell]

So even the wise heads on Sunday Supplement think there is a good possibility we could be top after the holiday fixtures, with the other 3 having to play among themselves, so to speak, and Spuds. To quote one of the sage gentlemen:

"Top of the league with £100M to spend".
West Ham Away
Everton Home
Newcastle Away
Villa Home
Blackpool Home

To be honest I agree. The only potential banana skin should be Everton.

Am I getting too excited or is this a real possibility??

Well we well and truly slipped on the banana skin, but as for the rest, so far so good.

I'm backing us to beat Blackpool and Scum to draw at West Brom. In which case this period of games will have taken us to the top, AND WE NEED TO STAY THERE!!

[saulman]

So even the wise heads on Sunday Supplement think there is a good possibility we could be top after the holiday fixtures, with the other 3 having to play among themselves, so to speak, and Spuds. To quote one of the sage gentlemen:

"Top of the league with £100M to spend".
West Ham Away
Everton Home
Newcastle Away
Villa Home
Blackpool Home

To be honest I agree. The only potential banana skin should be Everton.

Am I getting too excited or is this a real possibility??

Well we well and truly slipped on the banana skin, but as for the rest, so far so good.

I'm backing us to beat Blackpool and Scum to draw at West Brom. In which case this period of games will have taken us to the top, AND WE NEED TO STAY THERE!!

I think Blackpool has all the potential to be another banana skin, though so did each of those matches. I'm still confident that we'll win but wouldn't be surprised if we came away with a point or even nothing.

[Slim]

Of course Blackpool has the potential to be a bananaskin, they are in 8th and playing way above themselves at the moment. However I think it important to note that we really are beginning to hit our stride. Last time out we trounced Villa without Barry, Tevez, Milner, Kolo and Kolarov starting. City have amazing depth now and at some point these teams like Blackpool are going to be found out for their lack of depth. Last time we saw it in glaring fashion was roughly at this point in the season when we destroyed Hull 5-1(and that was remarkably generous scoreline to them).

[Wonderwall]

Of course Blackpool has the potential to be a bananaskin, they are in 8th and playing way above themselves at the moment. However I think it important to note that we really are beginning to hit our stride. Last time out we trounced Villa without Barry, Tevez, Milner, Kolo and Kolarov starting. City have amazing depth now and at some point these teams like Blackpool are going to be found out for their lack of depth. Last time we saw it in glaring fashion was roughly at this point in the season when we destroyed Hull 5-1(and that was remarkably generous scoreline to them).

Birmingham 5-1 and Burnley 6-1 back to back last season as well.... although they were April :-)

[saulman]

Of course Blackpool has the potential to be a bananaskin, they are in 8th and playing way above themselves at the moment. However I think it important to note that we really are beginning to hit our stride. Last time out we trounced Villa without Barry, Tevez, Milner, Kolo and Kolarov starting. City have amazing depth now and at some point these teams like Blackpool are going to be found out for their lack of depth. Last time we saw it in glaring fashion was roughly at this point in the season when we destroyed Hull 5-1(and that was remarkably generous scoreline to them).

Birmingham 5-1 and Burnley 6-1 back to back last season as well.... although they were April :-)

Holloway learned a very harsh lesson earlier in the season at Arsenal. He said afterwards that he'd been naive to go there and try to play them at their own game. I strongly suspect that he won't make that mistake again, though I hope I'm wrong.

[Slim]

Of course Blackpool has the potential to be a bananaskin, they are in 8th and playing way above themselves at the moment. However I think it important to note that we really are beginning to hit our stride. Last time out we trounced Villa without Barry, Tevez, Milner, Kolo and Kolarov starting. City have amazing depth now and at some point these teams like Blackpool are going to be found out for their lack of depth. Last time we saw it in glaring fashion was roughly at this point in the season when we destroyed Hull 5-1(and that was remarkably generous scoreline to them).

Birmingham 5-1 and Burnley 6-1 back to back last season as well.... although they were April :-)

I think Burnley were a well broken side by the time we got to them, Birmingham could be a good example, but I don't think they were overachieving in the same vein as Hull and Blackpool.

[brite blu sky]

i'm not sure this is going to have anything to do with the OP but we have seen the team improve steadily this season. There is no doubt as well that the away form shows that against a team that is not going to park the bus we basically have an advantage.
We are still improving and tbh we have only just started to get it together in the way that was perhaps expected given the players at our disposal... but the real tests are the games like Everton. Arse away, Spurs at home, the rags, Chelsea away.

I expect us to drop a few b*ll*x on the way as the team and Mancini continue to learn.. and maybe that is the key now, how much more we can improve to unlock stubborn teams at home and the best teams away. I do now have the feeling that if we fucl up it wont be from lack of trying or not knowing what each other is doing, it will be more being unlucky on the day.

[john@staustell]

i'm not sure this is going to have anything to do with the OP but we have seen the team improve steadily this season. There is no doubt as well that the away form shows that against a team that is not going to park the bus we basically have an advantage.
We are still improving and tbh we have only just started to get it together in the way that was perhaps expected given the players at our disposal... but the real tests are the games like Everton. Arse away, Spurs at home, the rags, Chelsea away.

I expect us to drop a few b*ll*x on the way as the team and Mancini continue to learn.. and maybe that is the key now, how much more we can improve to unlock stubborn teams at home and the best teams away. I do now have the feeling that if we fucl up it wont be from lack of trying or not knowing what each other is doing, it will be more being unlucky on the day.

I agree BBS in that the team is still improving, and the more so with the 2 rumoured additions. People in the pub, on telly, wherever, still give opinions on us based on watching us in October or November, but we are better now and getting better still.

It is to do with the OP in that I seriously believe if we can get to the top, by Sunday, and more by next Weds, then we have the ability to be more consistent than the others and stay there. Shame about Everton but that's football.

[brite blu sky]

i'm not sure this is going to have anything to do with the OP but we have seen the team improve steadily this season. There is no doubt as well that the away form shows that against a team that is not going to park the bus we basically have an advantage.
We are still improving and tbh we have only just started to get it together in the way that was perhaps expected given the players at our disposal... but the real tests are the games like Everton. Arse away, Spurs at home, the rags, Chelsea away.

I expect us to drop a few b*ll*x on the way as the team and Mancini continue to learn.. and maybe that is the key now, how much more we can improve to unlock stubborn teams at home and the best teams away. I do now have the feeling that if we fucl up it wont be from lack of trying or not knowing what each other is doing, it will be more being unlucky on the day.

I agree BBS in that the team is still improving, and the more so with the 2 rumoured additions. People in the pub, on telly, wherever, still give opinions on us based on watching us in October or November, but we are better now and getting better still.

It is to do with the OP in that I seriously believe if we can get to the top, by Sunday, and more by next Weds, then we have the ability to be more consistent than the others and stay there. Shame about Everton but that's football.

Everton was a disaster as they surprised us again by the intensity that they started with. I thought we had learn't that but obviously not. The only thing that will soften that hard lesson is to go and do the same to them at Goodison. While we at it personally i think that we owe both them and the Arse and i want to see City pile into Arsenal and get the early goal and then take them apart over the course of the 90. We definitely have a ploy of trying to get the early goal, we have done it a good few times and come very close many times, i know it is obvious but as we have seen if we get the early one we are set up to take full advantage of that.
As for improving.. what is the limit? We can now pass and spread the ball around.. we can run through midfields and right into the area in some force, we can take the sting out of games and we can battle effectively with the best. We have all seen this taking shape and we have all seen the chances and half chances we have been creating since the Brum game. Another key striker that defences have to seriously worry about will only give the midfield crew more space, Balotelli has the poachers eye, so when and if we can get another killer striker on there, defences are going to have to keep an eye on Tevez, Balotelli, Silva, Yaya, AJ, Dzeko? plus the FBs and late runners like Barry. Way too much for nearly any defence to cope with.
The players need to relax a little bit more in front of goal and be that little bit more clinical and we will be the finished article at base... how much the players can then improve their play beyond what they are doing now is anyones guess, but i still rekon we haven't really seen anything yet.

[john@staustell]

i'm not sure this is going to have anything to do with the OP but we have seen the team improve steadily this season. There is no doubt as well that the away form shows that against a team that is not going to park the bus we basically have an advantage.
We are still improving and tbh we have only just started to get it together in the way that was perhaps expected given the players at our disposal... but the real tests are the games like Everton. Arse away, Spurs at home, the rags, Chelsea away.

I expect us to drop a few b*ll*x on the way as the team and Mancini continue to learn.. and maybe that is the key now, how much more we can improve to unlock stubborn teams at home and the best teams away. I do now have the feeling that if we fucl up it wont be from lack of trying or not knowing what each other is doing, it will be more being unlucky on the day.

I agree BBS in that the team is still improving, and the more so with the 2 rumoured additions. People in the pub, on telly, wherever, still give opinions on us based on watching us in October or November, but we are better now and getting better still.

It is to do with the OP in that I seriously believe if we can get to the top, by Sunday, and more by next Weds, then we have the ability to be more consistent than the others and stay there. Shame about Everton but that's football.

Everton was a disaster as they surprised us again by the intensity that they started with. I thought we had learn't that but obviously not. The only thing that will soften that hard lesson is to go and do the same to them at Goodison. While we at it personally i think that we owe both them and the Arse and i want to see City pile into Arsenal and get the early goal and then take them apart over the course of the 90. We definitely have a ploy of trying to get the early goal, we have done it a good few times and come very close many times, i know it is obvious but as we have seen if we get the early one we are set up to take full advantage of that.
As for improving.. what is the limit? We can now pass and spread the ball around.. we can run through midfields and right into the area in some force, we can take the sting out of games and we can battle effectively with the best. We have all seen this taking shape and we have all seen the chances and half chances we have been creating since the Brum game. Another key striker that defences have to seriously worry about will only give the midfield crew more space, Balotelli has the poachers eye, so when and if we can get another killer striker on there, defences are going to have to keep an eye on Tevez, Balotelli, Silva, Yaya, AJ, Dzeko? plus the FBs and late runners like Barry. Way too much for nearly any defence to cope with.
The players need to relax a little bit more in front of goal and be that little bit more clinical and we will be the finished article at base... how much the players can then improve their play beyond what they are doing now is anyones guess, but i still rekon we haven't really seen anything yet.

It is encouraging that we learnt from Everton by blowing away the next two teams in the opening minutes, even though Pardew had publicly stated he expected that reaction.

[edgeley blue]

Unlikely to win all 5. Newcastle away will be a toughie, Villa certainly won't roll over and we very rarely seem to get the better of Everton.

lotto numbers please

[john@staustell]

Unlikely to win all 5. Newcastle away will be a toughie, Villa certainly won't roll over and we very rarely seem to get the better of Everton.

lotto numbers please

Villa certainly did roll over and were always going to!