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MaineRoadMemories wrote:It would be typical City to finish 4th in the league and then get knocked out in the qualifying round of the Champions League to some team I cannot pronounce :-)

Typical, yes, but i'm not sure that can happen anymore. I mean, isn't the qualifying round supposed to have become much harder since this season? But maybe i'm wrong and these unpronunciable teams are still around...

Well MRM how about this for a Maine Road memory

MALCOLM ALLISON 1968..... (at Newcastle) "WE WILL TERRIFY EUROPE"...We lost to Fenerbahce in the 1st game.
FRANCIS LEE 1969.............(at Manchester Town Hall) "WE WILL PACIFY EUROPE"...We won the ECW Cup.

....:-)

Typical City wrote:I don't think we are as good as some people think we are. I don't think we have a hope in hell of making top 4. We haven't got a clue what our best team is compared with more established challengers. That's the negative bit. We will make UEFA and with the money available next pre season can have a damn good time and win it next year. I'm happy with that. I think it will be the next step, really challenge for the UEFA, top 4 and domestic cups next year. Learn the talk, learn the walk and then run off with it. Slowly comes the revolution.

It is one of the worst suggestions I have ever heard on here that we would be better off in the UEFA, and clearly the board disagree with you, or Hughes would still be the manager.

You have to start to get that experience somewhere, look how long it took United, Liverpool, Arsenal to regularly be expected to reach the knock out stages - that only comes with the right experience in the squad and manager, so every bit of experience we can get is vital at this stage.

I would be happy to finish 3rd in the group stage for the experience and the wheelbarrow full of cash, and then you still get a run at the Europa league.

Keep the sights up chaps. One crappy game and defeatism is rampant!

Not sure whether the midfield is being criticised for not defending well enough, or for having too many defensive midfielders and no 'box to box' man. Either way if we dont concede, we will win - it's quite simple and the Bill Shankly concept. This worked at first for Mancini, but not lately.

Personally I think we'll do better with a first choice of defenders. And I'd still rather Barry at LB than Bridgey boy.

Richards Toure/Komps Lescott Barry

Hopefully things will look much better after the Bolton and 2 Stoke games, the league one being one of our games in hand.

So if next week we are in 4th, do we want the WAFFA? Of course not.

Vhero wrote:

gilford wrote:Does it not worry anyone the fact that we are not in the Europa this year and we still under perform? Imagine if we did make top 4 this season, do you think we could actually cope with the extra games? I dont with the squad we have, we blow too hot and cold!@

I think if we made top 4 mate our squad would look very different at the end of the summer window!

Exactly!!

We need to be in champs league asap. No ifs ands or buts about it. What will follow our qualification will be spectacular and we won't have any problems competing for everything.

Also, if we won our games in hand, we'd be in fourth right now and within touching distance of Arsenal, which means we're not hoping for others to fuck up - its ours to throw away. As long as this is the case, then we have to be favourites.

We just need to realise this and play with some aggression and we'll be ok for possibly third. Like Mancio said, this month is HUGE for us and come March, we'll be a hell of a lot wiser as to whether we can make top four this season. I pray to God we can because that's where its at.

Big players follow the big competition and trophies follow the big players.

Original Dub wrote:
............... its ours to throw away......................

This is what worries me.............

MaineRoadMemories wrote:Very good chance this year that only 5th will get the Europa spot as both cups could be won by non-top four clubs.

It would be typical City to finish 4th in the league and then get knocked out in the qualifying round of the Champions League to some team I cannot pronounce :-)

If it is the final qualifying round of the CL and you are knocked out, you get dumped into the uefa anyway as far as I can remember

johnpb78 wrote:

MaineRoadMemories wrote:Very good chance this year that only 5th will get the Europa spot as both cups could be won by non-top four clubs.

It would be typical City to finish 4th in the league and then get knocked out in the qualifying round of the Champions League to some team I cannot pronounce :-)

If it is the final qualifying round of the CL and you are knocked out, you get dumped into the uefa anyway as far as I can remember

Correct. I think this is what will happen if we finish fourth. If you look at the standard of non-champions in the final qualifying round this season, they're pretty decent, and from our UEFA coefficient, we may be unseeded (I posted the potential permutations at the start of September, and can't be bothered to do it again at the moment, but, from what I recall going on general trends, we'd be either the lowest seeded, or highest or 2nd highest unseeded).

The UEFA cup is a waste of our time and development. Id rather have an educational trip into the group stages of the Champions Leauge, and see us take our chances, than play 19 games or whatever it is to win the UEFA cup.

We learnt last time the UEFA cup is bollocks.