When teams go to the Etihad and don't try to win.

[Esky]

I'll start by saying all 11 City players were fantastic last night - we pressed high up the pitch, our passing game's back and we actually had width to our play (credit Kolarov, Zabba, Johnson).

Still, for years people on here have riled about teams in the bottom half/Fat Sam going to Old Trafford and just throwing the game. Blackburn for me did that yesterday. 17% possession in the first half, 79 minutes before their first shot - for whatever reason, they didn't even try to make it a contest.

The Big Four might have been broken up - and I'm loving being involved in the title race/having a perfect home record (especially since I made it over to see a few games) - but I hope FFP and later (more sensible) reforms do actually make the league more competitive by eroding the hegemony of the top clubs. As great as this season is, I'd rather watch us win things in the next decade when starting from a more level playing field, rather than 10 years of playing keep ball with the scum, Spurs and Chelsea.

And for what it's worth, I don't begrudge one cent of the money spent since the Sheikh game in - after the hundreds of millions put down by United/Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool since 1992, someone needed to do something major to upset the apple cart. I just hope things somehow start trending backwards now, rather than heading closer to some bullshit European super league.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

The second we get to the top you wanna shake it up?

Can we have a few years there 1st?

[john68]

@ Esky,
Love the sentiment Esky mate but it ain't likely to happen Mate and despite what the romantics may tell you, a level playing field has never existed in any era of football. At any time, the English game has always had a small group of clubs that dominated.
Money and resources, maybe more so recently than previously, have always defined the successful clubs and the failures.

There is good reason to be optimistic about the future. From a (recent) time when the rags and Arsenal were coining in the CL cash, to being joined by Chelsea and Liverpool, we now have a top 7, rather than a top 2 or 4 and if Villa and Sunderland were ever to realise their potential, that could be a top 9. That would be a better situation than possibly any time in English football.

[ant london]

Be very interesting to see what happens in the PL with relation to FFP this summer

I think everyone at the swamp knows that they are going to have to spend some not insubstantial money....ditto at Chelsea.....and Arsenal. I can see it coming to a point where UEFA just can't enforce it....or at least have to back off for a few more years as I just don't think lots of clubs will be willing or able to meet the conditions and if they don't I can't see them accepting any sanctions from UEFA re European competition and the old "breakaway" talk will start again

In respect of the OP's point though, no, FFP will have the exact opposite effect to a levelling of the playing field...it will just make it more inequitable

[john68]

IMHO, The reality of a European Super League ever breaking away is solely dependant on whether the old order get what they want from UeFA or not. Since the early 90s, UeFA have beat a fighting retreat, eventualy caving in to the demands of the G14 group, thus stopping (or delaying?) a breakaway league.
Though the G14 Group formally disbanded, they old order still rules the roost in the newly formed ECA and the threat of a breakaway is still very much alive.


Money has always dictated most areas of the game, never moreso than now. The Prem generates so much income that it has become all important. Relegation is now viewed as a disaster by most clubs and so increasingly the bottom clubs become riddled with fear. Hence the ultra defensive tactic of parking the bus to limit damage when they play away at the top clubs. Until the Prem offers an even fairer share out of the cash, we're stuck with what we've got.

[Dipstick]

Still, for years people on here have riled about teams in the bottom half/Fat Sam going to Old Trafford and just throwing the game. Blackburn for me did that yesterday. 17% possession in the first half, 79 minutes before their first shot - for whatever reason, they didn't even try to make it a contest.

Steve Kean more or less explained the situation after the match:
"... but at least we have no injuries. We have some games now against clubs around us, like Villa, Bolton and Wigan."

[sweenyuk]

What annoys me is last season Blackpool were fined for playing a weakened team in the prem. That team tried to play but lost. This season both Stoke and now Blackburn have made no attempt to try and score against us so whilst it may have been their normal team it was a weakened style of play yet no action will he taken and their small but loyal traveling fans have wasted money expecting to see a contest.

[Blue Since 76]

What annoys me is last season Blackpool were fined for playing a weakened team in the prem. That team tried to play but lost. This season both Stoke and now Blackburn have made no attempt to try and score against us so whilst it may have been their normal team it was a weakened style of play yet no action will he taken and their small but loyal traveling fans have wasted money expecting to see a contest.

And we played like that lots of times when we were shit and went to somewhere like arsenal.

They haven't kept a clean sheet all season and were up against the league leaders, a team who, according to the song, score when they want. They did exactly the right thing- kept it tight and frustrated us in the hope that they could nick a point.

They came out of their half once, lost the ball and we went down the other end and scored. They then had to step it up and we scored again. At that point, they must have known they weren't going to win, so 2-0 would be much better than 5 or 6 if they lost discipline.

It's not great for entertainment, but that's not their job. Anyway, we're they worse than Everton who started the game without a striker on the pitch? This is the downside for us of being so good. A lot of teams will turn up and would accept a 2-0 defeat before the game has even started. It's a compliment and we just need to learn to appreciate a different style of game

[Esky]

I don't blame teams for setting up defensively, or for prioritising matches against sides in the lower half, just pointing out that the Blackburn game was the kind of roll over that's been played at the Swamp time and time over in the past few years.

And Ant London, I agree, FFP seems like it'll lock out the likes of Everton and Villa more than it'll draw the bigger clubs back to their level.

Was just wondering whether people still think the system needs a massive overhaul, or, now that we're one of the Haves, that it doesn't matter so much anymore.

[PeterParker]

As i said before, i think there is starting to look like a "City Syndrome". Teams don't go here because they know they can't win and prefere to try to snach a point or lose, but with an minimum score. Look at Barcelona, no other team beside Madrid and maybe Valencia will go there and take them by the balls. They will sit back and hope for the best.
The same example was two years ago, in the Premiership,when Chelsea won the league. Remember scores like 7-1, 9-0, etc? Teams were scared.
It would had been the same this season if Scum were any good, but teams started to see that they are shite this season and they are top only because of bent refs and cheating and started to actually play good football in the swamp.
Imho, it all comes down to the way our team looks at home. Last year, we had terrible games at home and a lot of teams took advantage of this.

[Ted Hughes]

Tbh, I don't mind if sides do that at our place or OT, provided they make the teams work for the goals. Too many sides go to OT, try to defend for 5 minutes but leave half the side unmarked in the box, miss 3 chances to go 1 up through the rags being shite, then help them score. Then give up.

Stoke gave up at our place but I don't think Blackburn did, we were just too good.
Blackburn didn't make it easy for us to score, we grafted & grafted & grafted. When we lost the ball, we were like a pack of fucking wolves getting it back.

We were fucking fantastic. Unfortunately for those of you watching on tv, you'll never know quite how brilliant our tactics & movement were but it's the best I've seen. Poor ol Blackburn are getting slated for being turned over by a side who would have possibly beaten Spurs or Utd by a bigger score on the day, as they would have thought they could come out. We've shown them earlier, what happens.

I'm all for competitive leagues though, but not by subjecting us to rules which weren't there when Utd & Co were in our position.