***toffees v Man City official match thread***

[Mase]

I’ve just read that Laporte has had to set his Twitter to private due to receiving abuse. Hope it’s bullshit but if not that’s pretty sad.

Poor guy. Hope he’s okay.

[PeterParker]

I’ve just read that Laporte has had to set his Twitter to private due to receiving abuse. Hope it’s bullshit but if not that’s pretty sad.

Poor guy. Hope he’s okay.

Odd, what abuse?
Abuse is what Bernie got after the witch hunt the media had on him.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I’ve just read that Laporte has had to set his Twitter to private due to receiving abuse. Hope it’s bullshit but if not that’s pretty sad.

It's true, he's unlocked it again now.

[Mase]

I’ve just read that Laporte has had to set his Twitter to private due to receiving abuse. Hope it’s bullshit but if not that’s pretty sad.

Poor guy. Hope he’s okay.

Odd, what abuse?
Abuse is what Bernie got after the witch hunt the media had on him.

“You played shit” - FUCK IT IM CANCELLING MY TWITTER!! IM SICK OF THIS.

[Mase]

They’re getting better every week

[CTID Hants]

They’re getting better every week

"pigeon Dancing nonce"

[Hazy2]

Of course it’s Foden .

he's not ready. david silva deserves to start. etc.

Exactly - I see the “stick him on the bench “ brigade are pretty quiet these days .

Hazy has disappeared .

Lovely - break up the defensive partnership baldie and there you go

Haha the irony!

[s1ty m]

They’re getting better every week

The funniest yet.

[aaron bond]

Stones got it in the neck, now he's reliable.

Laporte was reliable, now he's getting it in the neck.

When is Dias turn?

When he starts playing like Laporte or starts to play HOW Stones used to play.

It’s really weird this determination by some people to appear to never criticise a poor performance by a City player.

Stones was crap for a long time and rightly called out for it. He’s been playing well this season so he’s receiving praise.

Laporte started well for us but has become increasingly error-prone.

Player performances change over time. We don’t have to pretend everything is perfect all the time. Otherwise what’s the point of a forum?!?!

[CTID Hants]

Stones got it in the neck, now he's reliable.

Laporte was reliable, now he's getting it in the neck.

When is Dias turn?

When he starts playing like Laporte or starts to play HOW Stones used to play.

It’s really weird this determination by some people to appear to never criticise a poor performance by a City player.

Stones was crap for a long time and rightly called out for it. He’s been playing well this season so he’s receiving praise.

Laporte started well for us but has become increasingly error-prone.

Player performances change over time. We don’t have to pretend everything is perfect all the time. Otherwise what’s the point of a forum?!?!

Laporte is a classic case of injured out for a longish period, it's a combination of lack of game time and confidence. Initially having been out for such a long period it was confidence, not wanting to get injured again so not tackling like he used to do, but more recently lack of game time and that Dias/Stones have forged such a partnership that none of us anticipated.

[stupot]

Stones got it in the neck, now he's reliable.

Laporte was reliable, now he's getting it in the neck.

When is Dias turn?

When he starts playing like Laporte or starts to play HOW Stones used to play.

It’s really weird this determination by some people to appear to never criticise a poor performance by a City player.

Stones was crap for a long time and rightly called out for it. He’s been playing well this season so he’s receiving praise.

Laporte started well for us but has become increasingly error-prone.

Player performances change over time. We don’t have to pretend everything is perfect all the time. Otherwise what’s the point of a forum?!?!

It's not to never criticize a poor performance= I've done that loads of times. It's the total pessimism before the game even starts like with Laporte yesterday and Saturday, Mahrez every time he plays, ditto Jesus and even Gundo until very recently.

Other players get nowhere near as much criticism. Bernardo was poor for 12 months but Pep was blamed for dropping him, Mendy for being on the receiving end of his joke, De Bruyne as he plays better without him.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Stones got it in the neck, now he's reliable.

Laporte was reliable, now he's getting it in the neck.

When is Dias turn?

When he starts playing like Laporte or starts to play HOW Stones used to play.

It’s really weird this determination by some people to appear to never criticise a poor performance by a City player.

Stones was crap for a long time and rightly called out for it. He’s been playing well this season so he’s receiving praise.

Laporte started well for us but has become increasingly error-prone.

Player performances change over time. We don’t have to pretend everything is perfect all the time. Otherwise what’s the point of a forum?!?!

It's the ott nonsense I have an issue with. I've criticised all three.

[Mase]

“We have no problem with it” then why cry about it on every thread and try defending players with stats that make no sense?

Let the forum run. If someone says “John Smith is playing shite” it’s subjective. Pulling up bollocks stats about him having 676 touches in a game means fuck all to that persons opinion that they’re playing shite. It’s got to the point I’m just making up stats that no one is checking just to see who is actually arsed about these stats. The answer as far as I can see is very few.

Let people have an opinion without trying to prove them wrong with irrelevant stats.

That being said, I do think that the posters I’m referring to bring a lot to the forum and the more City fans that join with different opinions the better. It’s just the “you can’t call that player crap because of this stat” that I don’t like.

[carl_feedthegoat]

“We have no problem with it” then why cry about it on every thread and try defending players with stats that make no sense?

Let the forum run. If someone says “John Smith is playing shite” it’s subjective. Pulling up bollocks stats about him having 676 touches in a game means fuck all to that persons opinion that they’re playing shite. It’s got to the point I’m just making up stats that no one is checking just to see who is actually arsed about these stats. The answer as far as I can see is very few.

Let people have an opinion without trying to prove them wrong with irrelevant stats.

That being said, I do think that the posters I’m referring to bring a lot to the forum and the more City fans that join with different opinions the better. It’s just the “you can’t call that player crap because of this stat” that I don’t like.

If it wasn't for stats FIBD would hardly post at all.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

“We have no problem with it” then why cry about it on every thread and try defending players with stats that make no sense?

Let the forum run. If someone says “John Smith is playing shite” it’s subjective. Pulling up bollocks stats about him having 676 touches in a game means fuck all to that persons opinion that they’re playing shite. It’s got to the point I’m just making up stats that no one is checking just to see who is actually arsed about these stats. The answer as far as I can see is very few.

Let people have an opinion without trying to prove them wrong with irrelevant stats.

That being said, I do think that the posters I’m referring to bring a lot to the forum and the more City fans that join with different opinions the better. It’s just the “you can’t call that player crap because of this stat” that I don’t like.

I'm not stopping anyone having their opinion, if I use stats it's to support my argument.

Some couldn't wait to blame Laporte for that goal when it was a collective fuck up.

[City64]

Laporte is top of the league !

Mahrez is top of the league !

Zinchenko is top of the league !

That is all !

[carl_feedthegoat]

“We have no problem with it” then why cry about it on every thread and try defending players with stats that make no sense?

Let the forum run. If someone says “John Smith is playing shite” it’s subjective. Pulling up bollocks stats about him having 676 touches in a game means fuck all to that persons opinion that they’re playing shite. It’s got to the point I’m just making up stats that no one is checking just to see who is actually arsed about these stats. The answer as far as I can see is very few.

Let people have an opinion without trying to prove them wrong with irrelevant stats.

That being said, I do think that the posters I’m referring to bring a lot to the forum and the more City fans that join with different opinions the better. It’s just the “you can’t call that player crap because of this stat” that I don’t like.

I'm not stopping anyone having their opinion, if I use stats it's to support my argument.

.

'Different conclusions can be drawn from various statistics depending on one's perspective, but actually, statistics don't always tell the whole story. They aren't as definite as many people lead on'....or in this case....where FIBD leads on.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I haven't even used stats here.

[belleebee]

Some couldn't wait to blame Laporte for that goal when it was a collective fuck up.

Totally agree. The defending on our left after after Dias's header out from Digne's initial cross wasn't great then, in the seconds immediately before and after Coleman's cross to Digne, our positioning went completely to pot: two defenders plus Ederson pulled over to the near post, Bernie following nobody and Laporte stranded after his failed attempt to cut out Coleman's cross. In the end, their goal seemed to me to be an unfortunate combination of circumstances, with Laporte no more culpable than any of the other City players involved.

Possibly Laporte has taken stick simply because he was picked by Pep in preference to Stones, thus breaking up what has proved to be a remarkably resilient defensive partnership during our superb current run. Two points on this. First, being chosen ahead of Stones wasn't the fault of Laporte, it was Pep's decision. Second, Pep's choice was likely a reflection of the role that Cancelo has played (very successfully, of course) in recent games, i.e. as an ancillary midfielder. When I saw that Cancelo was ostensibly playing left-back, the preference for Laporte on the LHS of the centre-back pairing seemed logical to me - to provide some left-footed 'balance' on the left flank: this interpretation more or less aligns with that given by Andy Morrison on #WNRH pre-match. I think that we should expect a fluid use of our three 'first rank' centre backs in our upcoming games, so perhaps we shouldn't get too fixated on the Stones-Dias partnership.