----We are better than Barca----

[Bluemoon16]

As La Liga leaders Real Madrid extended their lead with a 7-1 win over CA Osasuna, it could be said they are on a par with FC Barcelona.

However, if there's one team who really could be level with Barca, it's Manchester City.

The Premier League leaders are five points clear of second-place Manchester United and have a goal difference of 29, 13 better than the Red Devils, who are again second-best.

The Citizens have won 10 and drawn once in their opening 11 league matches, scoring 39 goals and conceding just 10.

Barcelona in their opening 10 games have conceded less than City, but also scored less and have won just seven, drawing three.

In their 11th game on Sunday against Athletic Bilbao, Barca would need to score seven goals to match the amount City have scored at the same stage in their campaign.

Considering the Premier League is said to be the most competitive in the world and is ranked top of the UEFA coefficient, it could be said Manchester City have started their season better than FC Barcelona have.

And while they may not have done as well in the UEFA Champions League as of yet, City do have the toughest group, with Bayern Munich, SSC Napoli and Villarreal joining them in Group A, while Barca have the likes of BATE Borisov and Viktoria Plzen in Group H.

The Citizens have arguably had a better season so far than Barcelona, but are they as good as them on the pitch?

Of course they haven't got the magical Lionel Messi, who's got 22 goals in 17 games so far this season.

But, as far as goalscoring players are concerned, Barca seem to have less than City, with the next-best La Liga scorers for La Blaugrana being Xavi Hernandez and Cesc Fabregas. Both have four, compared to Messi's 13.

And the next-best Barca goal scorer in all competitions is David Villa with seven.

Manchester City, on the other hand, have Edin Dzeko, who's scored 10 in the Premier League and 13 in all competitions, while £38 million signing Sergio Aguero has nine league goals and 10 in all competitions in his first season in English football.

Then there's Mario Balotelli, who's on a par with Villa, scoring seven goals in all competitions, but has done it in eight games, seven less matches than the World Cup winner.

So—at the moment anyway—it seems Man City have more goal-scoring options than Barca.

As far as assist-making goes, both sides have 11 players who have gotten assists so far in the league, but it's City who come out on top, assisting 36 of City's 39 league goals, while Barcelona have only set up their teammates on 24 occasions.

And for Barca, it's Lionel Messi who again tops the charts, making six assists in La Liga, with Cesc Fabregas in second with four.

For City, meanwhile, Samir Nasri and David Silva share the assist-making honour, both setting up six goals, while James Milner is in third with five assists, with ex-Barcelona man Yaya Toure joint fourth with right-back Micah Richards having both made four assists each—the same amount as Barca's second-best assist-maker.

David Silva and Samir Nasri Have Both Made More League Assists Than Any Barca Player Apart Messi (Joint With Him on Six)

So it seems the Citizens also have more players able to create goals that Barca do.

However, while Manchester City evidently appear more of a goal threat than FC Barcelona, they are much more leaky in defence.

City have conceded 10 goals—which is very good, but it seems like school-boy defending compared to Barca's four.

And the Citizens concede on average 12 shots per game, which is double the amount of Barcelona.

They also win less tackles, making on average 16 per match (three less than Barca). They also make one less key interception per game and concede two more fouls per match.

Meanwhile, offensively, City create three more chances per game than Barca but don't carry the ball as well, making four less completed dribbles per match.

The Eastlands club are slightly more efficient in attack than their Camp Nou counterparts, having an ever-so-slightly better goals to shots ratio and have been caught offside two fewer times per game.

In the coming months, Real Madrid may well stake a claim to being the best side in Europe.

After all, they have in their ranks Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain, who both have a 100 percent goals to games ratio or better, as well as Angel di Maria, who has a 100 percent assists to games ratio, with 10 assists in 10 league games.

But for the time being, the two best teams in world football, based on overall squad strength and the even distribution of goals and assists throughout the team, has to be Manchester City and FC Barcelona.

And while Barcelona have long since dominated Europe, City are emerging as a contender to the throne.

Are Manchester City as good as FC Barcelona? Only time will realistically tell, but as far as current form and attacking threat goes, they sure are more than a decent matchup to the Champions League winners.

By
Yoosof Farah

[Patrick]

Nonsense

[CityGer]

Mr Farah should stick to making trousers.

[feedthegreek]

just been praising us on the monday night club,
graham hunter said btw hes a so called expert on spanish football
and he reckons if city play barca 10 times
city could well come out on top.
he also said since the victory over villa real, we are viewed as a seriously
great football team who play great football.
by the spanish football media fans etc.

[gillie]

I definately think we would give Barca a better game than the rags did in the CL Final but "better than Barca" not just yet.

[Ted Hughes]

The thing is; if we play Barca and get fucking mullered, all these characters who are spouting this crap in the media will go: "that will teach City fans not to count their chickens.."

[Bluemoon16]

just been praising us on the monday night club,
graham hunter said btw hes a so called expert on spanish football
and he reckons if city play barca 10 times
city could well come out on top.
he also said since the victory over villa real, we are viewed as a seriously
great football team who play great football.
by the spanish football media fans etc.


Its true though, although im not being carried away by the media hype yet, but according to statistics, we started the season better than Barca.

[patrickblue]

The thing is; if we play Barca and get fucking mullered, all these characters who are spouting this crap in the media will go: "that will teach City fans not to count their chickens.."

I seriously don't think we would get mullered. Not saying that we're at their level, but IMO we're certainly good enough to give them a test

[stommy]

take it easy Mr Yoosof...

[Sideshow Bob]

Having watched barca many times, including on the weekend against athletic (who btw are amazingly good at the moment), I have to say we're nowhere near barca...yet. All of their players have INSTANT control and ability to keep the ball in tight corners. We have a few players capable of that but we also have players who are scared to fucking death in those situations. Barca would get 65%+ of the ball against us.

[Rag_hater]

I think that Barca have improved a little but not as much as the other teams in La Liga especially Real.I think Real are gonna overtake Barca this year.As for us against them to I think they might have a little bit more than us.We would be more of a test for them than the rags.
Mourinho>Guardiola.
Real> Barca.

[Tokyo Blue]

I disagree with that article. We are not better than Bayern yet.

We are better than united though, which is a nice start.

[MARKMAKAVELI]

I'd be happy with life if we were on par with Barca. Apart from the cheating and diving, they are simply the best.

[Dendza]

Barca is simply the best. City has some good players but barca just has that the team chemistryy that city won't have in next 2-3 years.

[feedthegreek]

i dont think were better than barcalona, like the guy above said were not as good as bayern yet, but as were all
city fans on here i think its hard for us to imaginr how good we are at the moment,
weve always thought we were basically crap, so its not easy to come to terms with how
much better we are. but constantly since the 6-1 people can no longer ignore us when talking about winning the title
were always mentioned, on tv radio etc which is a bit unreal to us. also other fans will view us differently than we ourselves do.
i can remember when chelsea won their first title everyone on here was thinking they would win it that season.
and when they were gonna play scum that they would beat them. i wonder how many chelsea fans really thought
they would win that 1st title before that season had started.

[steveo_88]

When we win trophies consistently and are challenging for everything consistently then and only then can we compare ourselves to a great club like Barca. They are one of the most famous sides in the world because of the consistency at the highest level, something we have yet to achieve!

[Douglas Higginbottom]

When we win trophies consistently and are challenging for everything consistently then and only then can we compare ourselves to a great club like Barca. They are one of the most famous sides in the world because of the consistency at the highest level, something we have yet to achieve!

and there in a nutshell we have it. Sadly in a way the same goes for the scum.We showed in the demolition derby how much better than them we are but we need to add the titles to really prove it. No point battering them if they still win the league and they have shown in the past (like last year) that they can win things without playing that well or being the best football team.

[Ted Hughes]

It's not City fans or staff that are saying we are better than Barca, it's outsiders. We will get the shit for being arrogant though, thanks to these bastards; you can bet on it.

[brite blu sky]

When we win trophies consistently and are challenging for everything consistently then and only then can we compare ourselves to a great club like Barca. They are one of the most famous sides in the world because of the consistency at the highest level, something we have yet to achieve!

and there in a nutshell we have it. Sadly in a way the same goes for the scum.We showed in the demolition derby how much better than them we are but we need to add the titles to really prove it. No point battering them if they still win the league and they have shown in the past (like last year) that they can win things without playing that well or being the best football team.

That all seem a bit confused or cross wired.
As a club we won't be as good as or better (than other clubs) till we have outshone over a period of time. Basically winning stuff.
As a team we can be better than other teams, superficially by beating them, comprehensively by beating them in competitions.

Club and team are different things.