Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

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Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Piccsnumberoneblue » Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:37 am

>>>>Just blame Platini for Man City's £195m loss
By MARTIN SAMUEL
Last updated at 11:52 PM on 21st November 2011

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The craziest notion is that they had any alternative. There is nothing remotely lunatic in Manchester City running up a £194.9million loss for the financial year ending May 31, nothing bizarre in a wage bill totalling £22m more than turnover. To argue other options were available in the quest for elite acceptance: that is the true madness.
It was this way, or die wondering. Manchester City either bet the farm on Roberto Mancini and this squad before UEFA’s financial fair play rules kicked in or they remained outside forever.
Across football in Europe, a giant drawbridge is being pulled up. City had one last year to get the right side of it, or risk permanent exclusion. Given Sheik Mansour’s resources, any owner of ambition would have done the same.

Can you blame him? Manchester City owner Sheik Mansour
While UEFA’s financial constraints remain, the same way forward will not be open to another club. City could not wait until next year and while the cost of the project may seem astronomical, the consequences of inaction were far greater.
Had financial fair play been more thoughtfully structured, City’s development could have been less frenzied. Had Michel Platini, the UEFA president, ruled against owner investment that was given as a loan, there would not have been this clamour to spend, spend, spend.
Regulation was needed, we could all see that. The model whereby an owner could bankroll a huge spending spree beyond the means of a club, lose interest in the project and then seek repayment, putting its very existence in jeopardy, had to be curtailed. The insistence that all money invested in a club had to be in the form of a gift, not a loan, would have solved that problem.
What UEFA did by going further and linking spending power to generated income was effectively outlaw new money coming into the game to upset the established order. City then had a deadline in which to join the elite or be left behind.

Moneybags: Man City have bankrolled Roberto Mancini's signing of players such as Sergio Aguero (left)
The £194.9m loss is the cost of that artificial imposition, nothing else. City knocked the castle wall down by firing money at it and UEFA will shore it up behind them.
The greatest cost is elsewhere. The prospect of Everton being successfully sold dwindles by the day, despite the boundless optimism of chairman Bill Kenwright. ‘I’m searching very hard for a wealthy benefactor and I’ll find one,’ he insisted this week. ‘The doomsayers can say what they like, this is a great football club.’
Indeed it is. But who would want it, now UEFA have barred the new owners from providing the money needed to propel it towards the Champions League? If close to £200m is the cost of leading the Premier League, then at least half that is needed to break the top four.
Yet any potential successor to Kenwright could not spend it, because such sums could not be supported within the football club. It would take decades, or luck on a spectacular scale, to compete at the elite level without utilising a significant cash injection.
Enlarge
Star-studded: Man City's expensively assembled squad train in Italy
And new money does not want a daily grind spread over many decades. It wants fun, success and excitement; it wants to be put on the map.
Imagine buying Blackburn Rovers and growing it organically to the size of Bolton Wanderers, and then to the size of Stoke City and then maybe to the size of Aston Villa. That would take, at a conservative estimate, 10 years. And you’re still not guaranteed the Europa League, let alone the title.
Say it was possible to grow a smaller Premier League club to one the size of Everton or Aston Villa, just on good housekeeping and clever management. How would you make that giant next step? Answer: you wouldn’t. Say you produced a string of fantastic youth players. Where would that get you? Where are the products of Southampton’s youth academy? At Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. Wayne Rooney is now with Manchester United. So is Ashley Young. How much longer will Jack Rodwell remain at Goodison Park?

Fair play? Michel Platini's rules will have an adverse effect


The elite few will snap them up, because UEFA have decreed they will have more money to spend. Always. It will no longer matter if an oil man wants to invest in your club. Unless he strikes it beneath the main stand, his hands will be tied by UEFA.
So forget the fallacy of being propelled to glory by a brilliant youth team. Can’t happen, won’t happen.
Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, now admits he got Phil Jones from Blackburn on the cheap. Welcome to the future, as an elite cabal arrogantly claims the best talent throughout the league, safe in the knowledge they are now the only ones that can offer any chance of success.
There will be no point Everton telling Rodwell he can realise his dreams at Goodison Park. He can’t. We all know that.
So do not hate City for their debt. They did what they had to do because it was the only course UEFA left open to them. Blame Platini: it’s his idea


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... z1eOF6lUzr
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Ted Hughes » Tue Nov 22, 2011 2:05 am

Martin samuel is quality & has no agenda; breath of fresh air.

The thing is; so many fans of teams such as Everton, Villa etc have been reading this bullshit about FFP, looking at City & going "ha ha ha...that will fuck them up.."

No, we will get around it but all of you lot are condemned to mediocrity for the rest of eternity unless you manage to get the rules changed back, you stupid jealous bastards. We don't mind if you get an influx of money & compete with us, it's wankers like Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & the foreign elite clubs who are trying to fuck you over with this, not us. With FFP YOU are fucked, not us, our backers are too big to be stopped this way.

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!!
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby The Original Special One » Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:00 am

He's only just now arrived at the same conclusion that every City fan was screaming from the rooftops the day after Platini announced this 'Fair Play Madness'
The thing is, though: Platini has already realised it was madness
(assuming, of course, that he wasn't pressganged into doing it by Man U and Real-Barca, and the other members of the established European 'elite')
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Kladze » Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:25 am

I would add a comment but Samuel has pretty much covered everything.


I will agree with Ted though about Turkeys voting for Christmas.

I have an Evertonian mate who has insisted on telling me time and time again that Platini is right as "someone has to do something to stop City".

No matter how many times I respond that it's just dooming his team to eternal failure, he won't have it.
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby carl_feedthegoat » Tue Nov 22, 2011 3:30 am

Ted Hughes wrote:Martin samuel is quality & has no agenda; breath of fresh air.

The thing is; so many fans of teams such as Everton, Villa etc have been reading this bullshit about FFP, looking at City & going "ha ha ha...that will fuck them up.."

No, we will get around it but all of you lot are condemned to mediocrity for the rest of eternity unless you manage to get the rules changed back, you stupid jealous bastards. We don't mind if you get an influx of money & compete with us, it's wankers like Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & the foreign elite clubs who are trying to fuck you over with this, not us. With FFP YOU are fucked, not us, our backers are too big to be stopped this way.

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!!


Pmsl..fuck me Ted..I dont think Id get any of my vodka down the hatch at a bar with you.
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby The Original Special One » Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:18 am

Kladze wrote:I would add a comment but Samuel has pretty much covered everything.


I will agree with Ted though about Turkeys voting for Christmas.

I have an Evertonian mate who has insisted on telling me time and time again that Platini is right as "someone has to do something to stop City".

No matter how many times I respond that it's just dooming his team to eternal failure, he won't have it.

They believe everything Sky tell them
And the Rags propaganda machine
Sad, innit?
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Kladze » Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:50 am

The Original Special One wrote:
Kladze wrote:I would add a comment but Samuel has pretty much covered everything.


I will agree with Ted though about Turkeys voting for Christmas.

I have an Evertonian mate who has insisted on telling me time and time again that Platini is right as "someone has to do something to stop City".

No matter how many times I respond that it's just dooming his team to eternal failure, he won't have it.

They believe everything Sky tell them
And the Rags propaganda machine
Sad, innit?


Yup
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby ant london » Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:21 am

Agree massively with all said above and by Samuel. Had to post the following which is a letter from a united fan on f365 and a response yesterday from a lad who follows one of our other top 6 rivals (but not City)....funny (delusional) stuff from the former and just a good response from the latter.....


Some Wonderul Straw-Clutching About City
I do not quite understand why people are getting so carried away with Man City. Yes, they have looked phenomenal when attacking with the creative talent of Silva and Aguero's ability to finish from pretty much anywhere he likes (with Balotelli and Dzeko not exactly looking like a pair of cloggers either as they did at times last season), however I think that people are forgetting that City have so far gotten pretty lucky in terms of injuries and the fixture list.

If you take an average position of the teams that City have played and compare it to the teams that Man United have played, Man United's average opposition has been ranked 9.7 whereas City's has been ranked 11.8. City's average is artificially higher than it should be as they played Newcastle, a team who are in a position way higher than they deserve also because of a very kind run of fixtures. These figures show that City still haven't had a proper test yet (apart from games vs Tottenham and Man Utd which were freak results due to Tottenham's pre-transfer window slump and a combination of injuries and the uselessness of Jonny Evans).

In the next month City have got to play Liverpool and Chelsea away and Arsenal at home. If City get nine points from these games then I will happily roll out the red carpet for the City title celebrations myself, however I think that the maximum they will get from these games is four points. This would mean that if Man Utd won all their games (which isn't exactly a given at the moment with their current run of form) then the two teams would be separated by goal difference at the top.

The reason I am confident that City will only get around four points from those three games is (as well as being handy to make Man Utd level on points with City at the top) is that their attacking prowess has been masking the fact that have been slightly dodgy at the back, giving a two-goal lead away at Fulham and conceding two goals against teams like QPR and Bolton. Liverpool haven't conceded more than one goal in a game in the league this season when they've had 11 men on the field and if they actually manage to convert their shots on target into goals then they have got a great chance of nicking points off City. Arsenal and Chelsea, whilst being slightly more porous at the back than Liverpool have got attacking talent that will be more than capable of exposing City's defensive frailties.

Remember, at the start of last season Chelsea went goal-crazy and ended up fading. Whilst City's form has been more sustained, once they start to pick up a few injuries to key players (compare the injuries that City have had so far to the ones suffered by Man Utd or Arsenal for example) they too will fade and we will finally be able to see just how good City really are.
Alex (comparing City to Barcelona is just silly) Hunter


City Are Better. Full Stop.
I very much enjoyed Alex Hunter's analysis of how City have been lucky so far this season, and how they will only take four points from three games against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.

Um, not sure if you noticed Alex, but City are much, much better than all three of those teams. One of of which is my team. I'll be thrilled with a point at home to City. Because of how very much better than us they are. You see? The flaw in your analysis, is that City are much better than Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. I assume you're a Man U fan. I don't know if you noticed, but they were five goals better than you when you played them.

I do recall Chelsea's great start last year, which tailed off. But, you see - City are much better than the 2010/2011 Chelsea team.

Maybe, just maybe injuries will halt their progress. I'm not sure which key players you are referring to though. Tevez was supposed to be their key player, but they seem to be struggling by without him. Their squad has a very, very strong player ready to step in for every position on the pitch. Perhaps if fuel tanker crashes into a fireworks lorry on the training pitch during the 1st team vs reserves training match they might drop some points until the next transfer window opens.

Otherwise, I'm afraid that what usually happens is that the strongest squad wins the league. United are a bit light in midfield. City, are much better than the rest of the teams in the league.

So yes, once City pick up a few injuries we will be able to see how good they are. The answer will by 'very'. Because they are much, much better than everyone else.

You see?
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby john@staustell » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:35 am

The Original Special One wrote:
Kladze wrote:I would add a comment but Samuel has pretty much covered everything.


I will agree with Ted though about Turkeys voting for Christmas.

I have an Evertonian mate who has insisted on telling me time and time again that Platini is right as "someone has to do something to stop City".

No matter how many times I respond that it's just dooming his team to eternal failure, he won't have it.

They believe everything Sky tell them
And the Rags propaganda machine
Sad, innit?


Everton are the classic case of a club that will be doomed by FFP.

However I tend to agree with Christian Purslow on last night's Sky job, where he said it feels a bit like the Milennium Bug, where everyone thought the world would end as we know it, but nothing happened.

No one seems to point out the obvious weakness that clubs can still get rich owners and 'buy the league', as it only applies to UEFA comps. So when a new team wins a big league, are they then excluded by UEFA? Not on your nelly.

Assuming UEFA survives the growing muttering for a breakaway and it's disbandment.
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby simon12 » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:29 am

Ted Hughes wrote:Martin samuel is quality & has no agenda; breath of fresh air.

The thing is; so many fans of teams such as Everton, Villa etc have been reading this bullshit about FFP, looking at City & going "ha ha ha...that will fuck them up.."

No, we will get around it but all of you lot are condemned to mediocrity for the rest of eternity unless you manage to get the rules changed back, you stupid jealous bastards. We don't mind if you get an influx of money & compete with us, it's wankers like Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & the foreign elite clubs who are trying to fuck you over with this, not us. With FFP YOU are fucked, not us, our backers are too big to be stopped this way.

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!!


Can`t add much to that Ted..
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Tokyo Blue » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:33 am

Kladze wrote:I would add a comment but Samuel has pretty much covered everything.


I will agree with Ted though about Turkeys voting for Christmas.

I have an Evertonian mate who has insisted on telling me time and time again that Platini is right as "someone has to do something to stop City".

No matter how many times I respond that it's just dooming his team to eternal failure, he won't have it.

A good post.

I often wonder exactly why "someone has to do something to stop City". I can only assume Everton fans were equally outraged when their club were the first club to spend 100 grand on a player.

Wankers. "If you know your history" indeed.
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Alex Sapphire » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:43 am

Ted Hughes wrote:Martin samuel is quality & has no agenda; breath of fresh air.

The thing is; so many fans of teams such as Everton, Villa etc have been reading this bullshit about FFP, looking at City & going "ha ha ha...that will fuck them up.."

No, we will get around it but all of you lot are condemned to mediocrity for the rest of eternity unless you manage to get the rules changed back, you stupid jealous bastards. We don't mind if you get an influx of money & compete with us, it's wankers like Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & the foreign elite clubs who are trying to fuck you over with this, not us. With FFP YOU are fucked, not us, our backers are too big to be stopped this way.

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!!


I reject both these ideas

I dislike the "acceptance" that we are somehow frigging the system
This is the first season that counts towards FFP and our income is up and spending down, so our first (of three qualifying years) will be a very different picture. We will comply with the regs, not "get round" them, and that's Samuel's point.

Our owners may be wealthy but they're not stupid and we should show them more respect than this big bollox nonesense that "my dad's bigger than yours". They have in fact been very shrewd indeed and will not need to flex their muscles half as much in future as the "drawbridge goes up" (again Samuel's point)
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby ashton287 » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:07 am

The Original Special One wrote:He's only just now arrived at the same conclusion that every City fan was screaming from the rooftops the day after Platini announced this 'Fair Play Madness'
The thing is, though: Platini has already realised it was madness
(assuming, of course, that he wasn't pressganged into doing it by Man U and Real-Barca, and the other members of the established European 'elite')


I think he has been against ffp from the start. Pretty sure i read one of his articles about it not long after it was announced using bolton as the example of "the little guy".
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Foreverinbluedreams » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:23 am

A good article from Samuel as usual.

Why aren't the Chairmen of the PL clubs that will effectively be shut out of the CL not kicking up a fuss over this? Surely they can see what's happening here?
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Alex Sapphire » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:29 am

ant london wrote:Agree massively with all said above and by Samuel. Had to post the following which is a letter from a united fan on f365 and a response yesterday from a lad who follows one of our other top 6 rivals (but not City)....funny (delusional) stuff from the former and just a good response from the latter.....


City Are Better. Full Stop.
Perhaps if fuel tanker crashes into a fireworks lorry on the training pitch during the 1st team vs reserves training match they might drop some points until the next transfer window opens.



For fuck's sake don't let Mario read this thread
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And you'll have his shoes.


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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Mase » Tue Nov 22, 2011 10:44 am

Ted Hughes wrote:Martin samuel is quality & has no agenda; breath of fresh air.

The thing is; so many fans of teams such as Everton, Villa etc have been reading this bullshit about FFP, looking at City & going "ha ha ha...that will fuck them up.."

No, we will get around it but all of you lot are condemned to mediocrity for the rest of eternity unless you manage to get the rules changed back, you stupid jealous bastards. We don't mind if you get an influx of money & compete with us, it's wankers like Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & the foreign elite clubs who are trying to fuck you over with this, not us. With FFP YOU are fucked, not us, our backers are too big to be stopped this way.

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!!


Spot on.
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby brite blu sky » Tue Nov 22, 2011 11:17 am

Alex Sapphire wrote:
Ted Hughes wrote:Martin samuel is quality & has no agenda; breath of fresh air.

The thing is; so many fans of teams such as Everton, Villa etc have been reading this bullshit about FFP, looking at City & going "ha ha ha...that will fuck them up.."

No, we will get around it but all of you lot are condemned to mediocrity for the rest of eternity unless you manage to get the rules changed back, you stupid jealous bastards. We don't mind if you get an influx of money & compete with us, it's wankers like Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & the foreign elite clubs who are trying to fuck you over with this, not us. With FFP YOU are fucked, not us, our backers are too big to be stopped this way.

Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!!


I reject both these ideas

I dislike the "acceptance" that we are somehow frigging the system
This is the first season that counts towards FFP and our income is up and spending down, so our first (of three qualifying years) will be a very different picture. We will comply with the regs, not "get round" them, and that's Samuel's point.

Our owners may be wealthy but they're not stupid and we should show them more respect than this big bollox nonesense that "my dad's bigger than yours". They have in fact been very shrewd indeed and will not need to flex their muscles half as much in future as the "drawbridge goes up" (again Samuel's point)


Was a good article by Samuel.

I rekon the truth is somewhere in the middle of these two posts, I agree with Sapphire that the owners are a lot cleverer and shrewd than just throwing their weight around... yet however understated they are, they are still Bigger than your Dad! We just don't need to mention it.
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Patrick » Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:23 pm

ant london wrote:Agree massively with all said above and by Samuel. Had to post the following which is a letter from a united fan on f365 and a response yesterday from a lad who follows one of our other top 6 rivals (but not City)....funny (delusional) stuff from the former and just a good response from the latter.....


Some Wonderul Straw-Clutching About City
I do not quite understand why people are getting so carried away with Man City. Yes, they have looked phenomenal when attacking with the creative talent of Silva and Aguero's ability to finish from pretty much anywhere he likes (with Balotelli and Dzeko not exactly looking like a pair of cloggers either as they did at times last season), however I think that people are forgetting that City have so far gotten pretty lucky in terms of injuries and the fixture list.

If you take an average position of the teams that City have played and compare it to the teams that Man United have played, Man United's average opposition has been ranked 9.7 whereas City's has been ranked 11.8. City's average is artificially higher than it should be as they played Newcastle, a team who are in a position way higher than they deserve also because of a very kind run of fixtures. These figures show that City still haven't had a proper test yet (apart from games vs Tottenham and Man Utd which were freak results due to Tottenham's pre-transfer window slump and a combination of injuries and the uselessness of Jonny Evans).

In the next month City have got to play Liverpool and Chelsea away and Arsenal at home. If City get nine points from these games then I will happily roll out the red carpet for the City title celebrations myself, however I think that the maximum they will get from these games is four points. This would mean that if Man Utd won all their games (which isn't exactly a given at the moment with their current run of form) then the two teams would be separated by goal difference at the top.

The reason I am confident that City will only get around four points from those three games is (as well as being handy to make Man Utd level on points with City at the top) is that their attacking prowess has been masking the fact that have been slightly dodgy at the back, giving a two-goal lead away at Fulham and conceding two goals against teams like QPR and Bolton. Liverpool haven't conceded more than one goal in a game in the league this season when they've had 11 men on the field and if they actually manage to convert their shots on target into goals then they have got a great chance of nicking points off City. Arsenal and Chelsea, whilst being slightly more porous at the back than Liverpool have got attacking talent that will be more than capable of exposing City's defensive frailties.

Remember, at the start of last season Chelsea went goal-crazy and ended up fading. Whilst City's form has been more sustained, once they start to pick up a few injuries to key players (compare the injuries that City have had so far to the ones suffered by Man Utd or Arsenal for example) they too will fade and we will finally be able to see just how good City really are.
Alex (comparing City to Barcelona is just silly) Hunter


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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Ted Hughes » Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:44 pm

Patrick wrote:
ant london wrote:Agree massively with all said above and by Samuel. Had to post the following which is a letter from a united fan on f365 and a response yesterday from a lad who follows one of our other top 6 rivals (but not City)....funny (delusional) stuff from the former and just a good response from the latter.....


Some Wonderul Straw-Clutching About City
I do not quite understand why people are getting so carried away with Man City. Yes, they have looked phenomenal when attacking with the creative talent of Silva and Aguero's ability to finish from pretty much anywhere he likes (with Balotelli and Dzeko not exactly looking like a pair of cloggers either as they did at times last season), however I think that people are forgetting that City have so far gotten pretty lucky in terms of injuries and the fixture list.

If you take an average position of the teams that City have played and compare it to the teams that Man United have played, Man United's average opposition has been ranked 9.7 whereas City's has been ranked 11.8. City's average is artificially higher than it should be as they played Newcastle, a team who are in a position way higher than they deserve also because of a very kind run of fixtures. These figures show that City still haven't had a proper test yet (apart from games vs Tottenham and Man Utd which were freak results due to Tottenham's pre-transfer window slump and a combination of injuries and the uselessness of Jonny Evans).

In the next month City have got to play Liverpool and Chelsea away and Arsenal at home. If City get nine points from these games then I will happily roll out the red carpet for the City title celebrations myself, however I think that the maximum they will get from these games is four points. This would mean that if Man Utd won all their games (which isn't exactly a given at the moment with their current run of form) then the two teams would be separated by goal difference at the top.

The reason I am confident that City will only get around four points from those three games is (as well as being handy to make Man Utd level on points with City at the top) is that their attacking prowess has been masking the fact that have been slightly dodgy at the back, giving a two-goal lead away at Fulham and conceding two goals against teams like QPR and Bolton. Liverpool haven't conceded more than one goal in a game in the league this season when they've had 11 men on the field and if they actually manage to convert their shots on target into goals then they have got a great chance of nicking points off City. Arsenal and Chelsea, whilst being slightly more porous at the back than Liverpool have got attacking talent that will be more than capable of exposing City's defensive frailties.

Remember, at the start of last season Chelsea went goal-crazy and ended up fading. Whilst City's form has been more sustained, once they start to pick up a few injuries to key players (compare the injuries that City have had so far to the ones suffered by Man Utd or Arsenal for example) they too will fade and we will finally be able to see just how good City really are.
Alex (comparing City to Barcelona is just silly) Hunter


I can't believe this wasn't written by Bridges Right Foot


The 1st half of that is actually classic 'Rag Hater' in posting style. (I'm not accusing him of being a rag btw, just meaning the style of posting). The bizarre logic, use of stats to prove the exact opposite of what they actually show & accidental comedy one liners are like a tribute to our resident space cadet. I was literally rolling around laughing reading that. Fantastic.
The pissartist formerly known as Ted

VIVA EL CITY !!!

Some take the bible for what it's worth.. when they say that the rags shall inherit the Earth...
Well I heard that the Sheikh... bought Carlos Tevez this week...& you fuckers aint gettin' nothin..
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Re: Martin Samuel Get's it Spot On Again

Postby Mikhail Chigorin » Tue Nov 22, 2011 12:46 pm

Patrick wrote:
ant london wrote:Agree massively with all said above and by Samuel. Had to post the following which is a letter from a united fan on f365 and a response yesterday from a lad who follows one of our other top 6 rivals (but not City)....funny (delusional) stuff from the former and just a good response from the latter.....


Some Wonderul Straw-Clutching About City
I do not quite understand why people are getting so carried away with Man City. Yes, they have looked phenomenal when attacking with the creative talent of Silva and Aguero's ability to finish from pretty much anywhere he likes (with Balotelli and Dzeko not exactly looking like a pair of cloggers either as they did at times last season), however I think that people are forgetting that City have so far gotten pretty lucky in terms of injuries and the fixture list.

If you take an average position of the teams that City have played and compare it to the teams that Man United have played, Man United's average opposition has been ranked 9.7 whereas City's has been ranked 11.8. City's average is artificially higher than it should be as they played Newcastle, a team who are in a position way higher than they deserve also because of a very kind run of fixtures. These figures show that City still haven't had a proper test yet (apart from games vs Tottenham and Man Utd which were freak results due to Tottenham's pre-transfer window slump and a combination of injuries and the uselessness of Jonny Evans).

In the next month City have got to play Liverpool and Chelsea away and Arsenal at home. If City get nine points from these games then I will happily roll out the red carpet for the City title celebrations myself, however I think that the maximum they will get from these games is four points. This would mean that if Man Utd won all their games (which isn't exactly a given at the moment with their current run of form) then the two teams would be separated by goal difference at the top.

The reason I am confident that City will only get around four points from those three games is (as well as being handy to make Man Utd level on points with City at the top) is that their attacking prowess has been masking the fact that have been slightly dodgy at the back, giving a two-goal lead away at Fulham and conceding two goals against teams like QPR and Bolton. Liverpool haven't conceded more than one goal in a game in the league this season when they've had 11 men on the field and if they actually manage to convert their shots on target into goals then they have got a great chance of nicking points off City. Arsenal and Chelsea, whilst being slightly more porous at the back than Liverpool have got attacking talent that will be more than capable of exposing City's defensive frailties.

Remember, at the start of last season Chelsea went goal-crazy and ended up fading. Whilst City's form has been more sustained, once they start to pick up a few injuries to key players (compare the injuries that City have had so far to the ones suffered by Man Utd or Arsenal for example) they too will fade and we will finally be able to see just how good City really are.
Alex (comparing City to Barcelona is just silly) Hunter


I can't believe this wasn't written by Bridges Right Foot


Ouch....what a lovely, wry comment. Nice one.
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