Substitutes

[Nigels Tackle]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

[zuricity]

I think that if Pep got a chance to sell Sterling in the summer for anything near what we paid for him or more , he would sell him.

I think you are completely wrong, Pep loves Raheem.

I hope i am , but i can‘t help thinking , inspite of it all, Pep would sell.

[ENIAM NAM]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

Sterling has benefitted from a phenomenal and dominant attacking force. I think a lot of play breaks down with him, especially since the liverpool game, where he mentally couldn’t handle it. His confidence seems low to me. Just an observation from watching him live every week.

[mr_nool]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

Sterling has benefitted from a phenomenal and dominant attacking force. I think a lot of play breaks down with him, especially since the liverpool game, where he mentally couldn’t handle it. His confidence seems low to me. Just an observation from watching him live every week.

My observation – from watching him on the telly every week – is that he's been hit and miss the last few weeks, but so has the whole team. We look knackered. But I really don't agree with a lot of play breaking down because of him. I would even suggest the opposite. Against WBA he made the difference in the second half, in my opinion, just to name one example.

[zabbadabbado]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

I think Aguero will be sold at the end of this season for decent money. I don’t care what anyone says, he doesn’t suite Guardiola style, and hasn’t from day one. His goals mask his overall game.

Far too many games he simply doesn’t turn up, and does fuck all, none more so than yesterday. When he is in that kind of mood he contributes nothing to the side. This is why Guardiola prefers Jesus, not because Jesus is a more prolific goal scorer, because Jesus is a team player. He has better hold up play, recycles the Ball much better than Aguero. We keep possession for longer.

Yesterday a lot of our team had off days, including Razza. The thing is though the lad never goes hiding, he keeps trying. It matters not how off his game was, he still gave the Burnley defence something to think about. The minute he went off, was the minute Burnley thought “Hang on a minute we coukd win this”.

We should have taken off Bernado or Aguero who were doing nothing,or swapped Bernado with Sterling on the wing.

Sterling has had a great season,”Yes” he has missed a shit load, but so as Aguero and one or two others.

He is the reason we are 13 points clear at the top and not 6 points.

Next season Sterling will still be a City player feeding Griezmann and Lewandowsk .Aguero will be off to Atletico for his last hurrah.I would put money on it.

[zuricity]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

I think Aguero will be sold at the end of this season for decent money. I don’t care what anyone says, he doesn’t suite Guardiola style, and hasn’t from day one. His goals mask his overall game.

Far too many games he simply doesn’t turn up, and does fuck all, none more so than yesterday. When he is in that kind of mood he contributes nothing to the side. This is why Guardiola prefers Jesus, not because Jesus is a more prolific goal scorer, because Jesus is a team player. He has better hold up play, recycles the Ball much better than Aguero. We keep possession for longer.

Yesterday a lot of our team had off days, including Razza. The thing is though the lad never goes hiding, he keeps trying. It matters not how off his game was, he still gave the Burnley defence something to think about. The minute he went off, was the minute Burnley thought “Hang on a minute we coukd win this”.

We should have taken off Bernado or Aguero who were doing nothing,or swapped Bernado with Sterling on the wing.

Sterling has had a great season,”Yes” he has missed a shit load, but so as Aguero and one or two others.

He is the reason we are 13 points clear at the top and not 6 points.

Next season Sterling will still be a City player feeding Griezmann and Lewandowsk .Aguero will be off to Atletico for his last hurrah.I would put money on it.

Lewandowski is a pipe dream , 30 in August, way too old . Furthermore Bayern will not sell him.

[PrezIke]

I think that if Pep got a chance to sell Sterling in the summer for anything near what we paid for him or more , he would sell him.

I think you are completely wrong, Pep loves Raheem.

I hope i am , but i can‘t help thinking , inspite of it all, Pep would sell.

I think you're reaching quite a bit after a tough game, although I hear what you are trying to say. If Raheem regresses and struggles (I think he will recover as he has a pattern of resilience that shows he can) and was any other player and older then selling might be more of an option. Problem with this thinking is Sterling at this point is not sellable.

The thing we cannot overlook is Raheem's English/HG and we need enough players good enough to make the team that fit this category. He's also still young enough to improve, but I will be honest and suggest it is seeming plausible he may not develop the kind of finishing we get of top striker quality, particularly with long shots.

Salah on form right now is something closer to what Raz could become, as I think his finishing can be suspect at times, but he can still score some top draw goals. That goal Salah just scored against Spurs would be an example of the kind of composure Raz needs to work on. He just turned 23 so he can still improve.

Regardless, even if Pep would hypothetically sell due to the finishing issues that do still pop up despite having a great season up to this point with scoring and creating chances for the team, the options for HG players "good enough" to get into the team now that won't cost £100m or more are few right now.

As a result Raz stays with us for at least another season and I will back him 100% and Pep to keep helping his development.

[PrezIke]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

I think Aguero will be sold at the end of this season for decent money. I don’t care what anyone says, he doesn’t suite Guardiola style, and hasn’t from day one. His goals mask his overall game.

Far too many games he simply doesn’t turn up, and does fuck all, none more so than yesterday. When he is in that kind of mood he contributes nothing to the side. This is why Guardiola prefers Jesus, not because Jesus is a more prolific goal scorer, because Jesus is a team player. He has better hold up play, recycles the Ball much better than Aguero. We keep possession for longer.

Yesterday a lot of our team had off days, including Razza. The thing is though the lad never goes hiding, he keeps trying. It matters not how off his game was, he still gave the Burnley defence something to think about. The minute he went off, was the minute Burnley thought “Hang on a minute we coukd win this”.

We should have taken off Bernado or Aguero who were doing nothing,or swapped Bernado with Sterling on the wing.

Sterling has had a great season,”Yes” he has missed a shit load, but so as Aguero and one or two others.

He is the reason we are 13 points clear at the top and not 6 points.

Next season Sterling will still be a City player feeding Griezmann and Lewandowsk .Aguero will be off to Atletico for his last hurrah.I would put money on it.

Lewandowski is a pipe dream , 30 in August, way too old . Furthermore Bayern will not sell him.

I'm not sure.

Given his age they may be willing to sell if the price is right.

He went public about the money Bayern is not spending over the summer, and has still never won CL.

We are a better bet to do it next season right now, I'd say, and Bayern could use the money on new talent, possibly, or say swap with Aguero.

However, we can't forget they hate us, and I suspect resent Pep as well, so that would be a big problem.

His contract is until 2021, so that is not going to help either.

I think we may go for someone big this summer especially since I think Aguero is leaving and that will help cover some of the cost.

Rumours lately about legit Hazard interest from both sides as well, but Chelsea even less likely to sell to us versus Real Madrid, for less of course.

Griezmann seems a better bet, and I think his value is dropping. See Hazard 2 seasons ago for how not taking that chance can be a missed opportunity.

I

[Chinners]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

I think Aguero will be sold at the end of this season for decent money. I don’t care what anyone says, he doesn’t suite Guardiola style, and hasn’t from day one. His goals mask his overall game.

Far too many games he simply doesn’t turn up, and does fuck all, none more so than yesterday. When he is in that kind of mood he contributes nothing to the side. This is why Guardiola prefers Jesus, not because Jesus is a more prolific goal scorer, because Jesus is a team player. He has better hold up play, recycles the Ball much better than Aguero. We keep possession for longer.

Yesterday a lot of our team had off days, including Razza. The thing is though the lad never goes hiding, he keeps trying. It matters not how off his game was, he still gave the Burnley defence something to think about. The minute he went off, was the minute Burnley thought “Hang on a minute we coukd win this”.

We should have taken off Bernado or Aguero who were doing nothing,or swapped Bernado with Sterling on the wing.

Sterling has had a great season,”Yes” he has missed a shit load, but so as Aguero and one or two others.

He is the reason we are 13 points clear at the top and not 6 points.

Next season Sterling will still be a City player feeding Griezmann and Lewandowsk .Aguero will be off to Atletico for his last hurrah.I would put money on it.

His goals mask his game? What's his job then? I do get your point about not suiting Pep's style thou but like Sterling I don't think Aguero goes missing very often either, he was certainly trying yesterday getting into positions, just didn't work out. I've no doubt he'll bounce back, he always does and also think Pep will sell in the summer if he gets the chance.

Yours

An Aguero arsehanger

[Original Dub]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

You keep pointing to this, but it's normal that easy chances are missed over a season.

We're the best at scoring in the league and I think our conversion rate is also higher than every other team?

[iwasthere2012]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

You keep pointing to this, but it's normal that easy chances are missed over a season.

We're the best at scoring in the league and I think our conversion rate is also higher than every other team?

Did you see Harry Kane today.
Eventually scored the equaliser. A penalty after missing one earlier and missing a sitter in the game.
I thought he was gash.
But look at his stats.

[Chinners]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

You keep pointing to this, but it's normal that easy chances are missed over a season.

We're the best at scoring in the league and I think our conversion rate is also higher than every other team?

Did you see Harry Kane today.
Eventually scored the equaliser. A penalty after missing one earlier and missing a sitter in the game.
I thought he was gash.
But look at his stats.

Spot on, goal stats don't lie

[Mase]

There's a lot of crap in this thread. My favourite is probably "despite his 19 goals and countless assists". Sterling has been our best and most consistent attacking player this season. All forwards miss chances, that's a part of the game (just look at Kane's stats), but Sterling just gets on with it and keeps trying – he doesn't go hiding.

ALL our players are guilty of missing easy chances this season. none more so than aguero but too many on here still want to hang out of the back of him....

You keep pointing to this, but it's normal that easy chances are missed over a season.

We're the best at scoring in the league and I think our conversion rate is also higher than every other team?

Did you see Harry Kane today.
Eventually scored the equaliser. A penalty after missing one earlier and missing a sitter in the game.
I thought he was gash.
But look at his stats.

Spot on, goal stats don't lie

That’s why we bought Samaras.

[Dipstick]

The myth - so often perpetrated by lazy journalists - that we have a massive squad with two expensive world class players for every position is not only patently untrue but is actually the opposite of the truth which is that we have the smallest senior squad in the premier league.

The following table shows the number of senior (over 21 players) registered to each club.
There is a maximum of 25 senior players of whom a maximum of 17 may be non home grown.

21 - AFC Bournemouth
22 - Arsenal
25 - Brighton & Hove Albion
25 - Burnley
21 - Chelsea
24 - Crystal Palace
22 - Everton
23 - Huddersfield Town
19 - Leicester City
21 - Liverpool
18 - Manchester City
24 - Scum
24 - Newcastle United
24 - Southampton
24 - Stoke City
25 - Swansea City
21 - Tottenham Hotspur
25 - Watford
22 - West Bromwich Albion
20 - West Ham United

Source https://www.premierleague.com/news/612828

Our squad of eighteen registered senior players does not include Gabriel Jesus or Leroy Sane who still count as U21s (so do Icheanacho and Damarai Gray at Leicester, Rashford etc at Scum).

Our eighteen does include Mendy (out for most of the season), Kompany + Delph (can't be trusted to finish 90 minutes never mind 2 games a week) and Yaya (seemingly in his dotage).

Aguero Del Castillo, Sergio
Bravo Munoz, Claudio Andres
Da Silva, Danilo Luiz
De Bruyne, Kevin
Delph, Fabian*
Gundogan, Ilkay
Jimenez Silva, David Josue
Kompany, Vincent
Laporte, Aymeric
Luiz Roza, Fernando
Mendy, Benjamin
Mota Veiga de Carvalho E Silva, Bernardo
Otamendi, Nicolas
Santana de Moraes, Ederson
Sterling, Raheem Shaquille*
Stones, John*
Toure, Gnegneri Yaya
Walker, Kyle Andrew*

Another myth - that we have more foreign players than anybody else - is also untrue.
Tottenham (17), Chelsea (16 + Cesc Fabregas who is regarded as home grown) and Scum (15) have more senior foreign players than us and we are level with Liverpool and Arsenal on 14.

[fangsanalsatan]

Yes, it's a myth that's been peddled by all the clueless sheep since we had Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy etc. that we stockpile forwards and nobody bothered to check if anything changed in the last 10 years. They just keep the narrative going irrespective of facts.

Truth is, since Mendy's injury we have been effectively working with 7 players for our front 5. I'm not too hung up on Alexis or Mahrez in particular, but we do need another player, even with Díaz and Foden chipping in with some minutes.

[Bournemouthcityfan]

I rate sterling highly I think decent fans appreciate the points he won with late goals this season. The guy tries to the end I think he’s one of our best players guys coming on here and cribbing are probably rags disguised as City fans. Be fucking grateful we have the team and manager we have it’s the best team on the planet so stop the whinging ffs.