***everton v city official match thread***

[Hazy2]

Just spoken to a lad who was at the game, his words one of the best games he has seen.

I thought City played the best football today, that I've seen in many many years. First half was mesmerising, jovetic and silva not being able to hit a cows arse with a banjo really didn't help, but the football that went before it was incredible pass and move.

Not seen it mate so you two will do for me. Cheers

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Where was Milner today? Wasn't in the squad? Is he injured? Or on his way??

little niggle so precautionary I heard

[Douglas Higginbottom]

You can really tell when Yaya's not there. The composure of the whole team goes down a notch.

I noticed that during the game too. He gives us control in the middle of the field which becomes more conspicuous in his absence

According to Sky we have not won away from home without Yaya for two years. Not sure how many games he has missed, so can't judge that properly but we need him back asap.

That was the fourth away game he's missed, we drew three and lost one.

I do agree though that we miss Yaya's composure and his ability to pick attacking players out in good positions.

It's also part of the way he sees a game and the need for upping the pace and doing something significant.It might be just that he drives forward more and creates havoc or a great pass or simply scores one of his special goals like he did against Sunderland. I don't care whether it's home or away we miss Yaya when he doesn't play because he is special.

Today at Everton and home v Burnley are the 2 most recent examples of how important he is to us.

[sheblue]

You can really tell when Yaya's not there. The composure of the whole team goes down a notch.

I noticed that during the game too. He gives us control in the middle of the field which becomes more conspicuous in his absence

According to Sky we have not won away from home without Yaya for two years. Not sure how many games he has missed, so can't judge that properly but we need him back asap.

That was the fourth away game he's missed, we drew three and lost one.

I do agree though that we miss Yaya's composure and his ability to pick attacking players out in good positions.

It's also part of the way he sees a game and the need for upping the pace and doing something significant.It might be just that he drives forward more and creates havoc or a great pass or simply scores one of his special goals like he did against Sunderland. I don't care whether it's home or away we miss Yaya when he doesn't play because he is special.

Today at Everton and home v Burnley are the 2 most recent examples of how important he is to us.

And to think many wanted him sold in the summer!
Bye the way on today's show Barkley 50 million? Really.

[sheblue]

Where was Milner today? Wasn't in the squad? Is he injured? Or on his way??

little niggle so precautionary I heard

Hope that's all it is.

[Spurge]

He looked ok in training on inside city on either thurs or friday (cant remember the day the footage was taken from)

[Douglas Higginbottom]

He looked ok in training on inside city on either thurs or friday (cant remember the day the footage was taken from)

I assume it was in training on Friday he picked it up.

[Ted Hughes]

Bye the way on today's show Barkley 50 million? Really.

Jovetic has had a fair bit of criticism for his performance (not sure why, we were better before he went off) but in a comparison with Barkley, he was absolutely streets ahead, in class & in workrate.

There are kids in our own academy who, given time & space to get on the ball by a City side mainly concerned by attacking, would cause us many more problems than Barkley did & would work a lot harder. Our midfield looked like dolphins swimming round a dinghy by comparison.

50 mil is a lot of money, & whatever his potential in the past, he is not currently showing 15 million worth, never mind 50. It could well be down to still recovering from injury, so obviously he gets judged over more time & all that taken into consideration, but he would handicap our team if we picked him right now.

[blues2win]

Who would pay 50 million for Barkley instead of Pogba? I suppose Pogba might cost a bit more. English players with any sort of talent are ridiculously expensive. We have a better and cheaper alternative to paying silly money and that's to promote our own home grown talent. We could start with Barker Denayer and Lopes next season. Won't cost us a penny unless they do really well and we give them better contracts. I think all of us would be delighted to see the Club spending money in those circumstances.

[Hazy2]

Who would pay 50 million for Barkley instead of Pogba? I suppose Pogba might cost a bit more. English players with any sort of talent are ridiculously expensive. We have a better and cheaper alternative to paying silly money and that's to promote our own home grown talent. We could start with Barker Denayer and Lopes next season. Won't cost us a penny unless they do really well and we give them better contracts. I think all of us would be delighted to see the Club spending money in those circumstances.

Pogba is the man who will do for me, get him before Messi all day long, not saying I do not want messi.

[freshie]

He looked ok in training on inside city on either thurs or friday (cant remember the day the footage was taken from)

I assume it was in training on Friday he picked it up.

Is this similar to the injury that Yaya supposedly had prior to the Burnley game? ;)

[Ted Hughes]

Who would pay 50 million for Barkley instead of Pogba? I suppose Pogba might cost a bit more. English players with any sort of talent are ridiculously expensive. We have a better and cheaper alternative to paying silly money and that's to promote our own home grown talent. We could start with Barker Denayer and Lopes next season. Won't cost us a penny unless they do really well and we give them better contracts. I think all of us would be delighted to see the Club spending money in those circumstances.

Well they are different players imo.

Barkley when at his best, was more like a Jovetic kind of player imo. And he looked a better bet than Rooney in that role for England, not long ago. Then of course he fills one of the 'home produced' places. The current version of Barkley is a kind of midfield plodder with a shot on him. Pogba is more of a midfield allrounder, very dynamic.

Neither imo have any similarity whatsoever to Yaya Toure, who people keep likening them to. Both, at their best, would play with Yaya, not replace him.

[blues2win]

When Yaya goes he won't be replaced like for like imo. We'll be looking to reshape our midfield probably with a more dynamic athletic formation. I accept that Barkley is a different kind of player to Pogba but if we're going to go on press suggestions of value then I'd rather have Pogba any day. Meanwhile we probably have to start selling off some of our foreign imports as they age or become surplus to requirements to provide space for some of our youngsters, at least that's surely the plan. That probably means that over the next couple of years the likes of Jovetic Yaya Kolarov Sagna De Michelis and Dzeko disappear and the likes of Barker Lopes Denayer Angelino Maffeo and Ntcham come in. Not all will go in either category but some surely will in both.