***city v napoli official cl match thread***

[Nigels Tackle]

the battle of the belgians - de bruyne vs mertens in what is likely to be our toughest test of the season so far...
napoli are having a stormer in the league and are currently top...
8 games / 8 wins
26 goals for / 5 against

[Wonderwall]

It will be a game for the football purists, especially after Pep singled them out last month as one of the best in Europe just before they lost their opening group game.

I can see a good game here, I think the Italian defensive mentality will come.e to the fore though as it's a must not lose game for Napoli. A point will be seen as an excellent results for them. If there is an early goal, it might turn into a classic. If not it might be a dull game.

[BlueinBosnia]

Is this on Freeview in the UK? Seems to be the choice fixture for most countries around Europe, from what I've seen. If not, has City's Freeview group game been selected by BT yet?

[Swales4ever]

Think WW punditry is pretty solid, particularly if there's truth in the headline I read somewhere, quoting Napoli owner as saying they should rest players ahead top Serie A clash with Inter.

Just wanna add that, since the draw, I regarded this tie as the one reality check on City progress.
Pep is probably a tad exaggerated in his praise when rating them among top 3 European best, but I am convinced that because of its features Napoli is probably the perfect fit to pose problems to City.
Specular (lower quality content) Juego de Position fanatics but with addition with a tad of that counter-attacking competence, somehow imprinted in Italians successfull outfits as per WW, and with a few players featuring skills and competences particularly fit at the break.

Should City prove able to keep the passing game control comfartably unscanted against them, I 'll continue to pay my due respect to all fellas who feel the need to show off what I call their "anti-arragonce antibodies", but inthe same time I will feel entitled to laugh off at any irrational assessments of the season perspectives.
barring, off course, an unprecedented spell of calamities in shape of combined key injuries and overly bent officiatings.

[City64]

Should be a cracker . Napoli will test us but even the very best Italian teams of the past play a cautious game in the CL so expext Napoli to be no different . We on the other hand are playing the best explosive clinical football I have ever witnessed . Bit of a tactical nightmare for any away team coming to the Etihad to say the very least should be a great game !

[Green & Blue]

TV3 in Ireland snub City once again. As a spectacle it makes no sense but of course they are showing Maribor V Liverpool over City v Napoli.

[City64]

TV3 in Ireland snub City once again. As a spectacle it makes no sense but of course they are showing Maribor V Liverpool over City v Napoli.

You may be in luck if that fucking hurricane today wipes TV3 satellites out ! Just sayin !

[CTID Hants]

Is this on Freeview in the UK? Seems to be the choice fixture for most countries around Europe, from what I've seen. If not, has City's Freeview group game been selected by BT yet?

It took some searching but it looks like this weeks Showcase game is the fookin rags against Benfica!!!!!

God's Own v Napoli UEFA Champions League Group Stage19:45 BT Sport 3 / BT Sport 4K UHD

Benfica v Man Ure UEFA Champions League Group Stage19:45 BT Sport Showcase / BT Sport 2 (Wednesday)

http://www.live-footballontv.com/live-f ... sport.html

[CTID Hants]

Napoli president turning all Maureen with this BS.....

[CTID Hants]

Pep: I like to watch Napoli as a spectator,it’s a fascinating challenge for me to try to beat them, I’m sure the fans who come will enjoy it

#PEP: We can always do better, if we think we've reached our highest level now then we are done. #cityvsscn

[Sideshow Bob]

Napoli president turning all Maureen with this BS.....

if by that you mean he's palying mind games, i'm not so sure. they are clearly prioritising their league campaign this season - one reason they lost to shakhtar. that said, i'm sure they'll play a full strnegth side against us. the world will be watching this and they won't want to be embarrassed.

[BlueinBosnia]

Napoli president turning all Maureen with this BS.....

if by that you mean he's palying mind games, i'm not so sure. they are clearly prioritising their league campaign this season - one reason they lost to shakhtar. that said, i'm sure they'll play a full strnegth side against us. the world will be watching this and they won't want to be embarrassed.

We'll possibly start to see this more and more these days - teams from strong leagues with not much hope of progressing past the last 16 putting all their focus on the league, and just cashing in on the group stages, so as to hopefully get first place in their domestic league and a Pot 1 place in next season's CL, or simply to ensure CL football for next season.

[Wonderwall]

The result is a big carrot for us tomorrow. A win puts us on 9 points and depending how the other fixture goes it could see us needing one more win to secure top spot.

It would be great to be able to send out a second string in our final CL group game which is away at Shakhtar on the Wednesday before the Derby.

[South Stand Balti]

I was watching a program on the radio just before the season started. A European football thingy when the expert said Napoli would be one of the best teams in the world this season. I was a bit surprised but their perfect league form shows he may have a point.

[iwasthere2012]

Watching a program on the radio?

[AFKAE]

I was watching a program on the radio

Interesting concept.

[Nigels Tackle]

I was watching a program on the radio

Interesting concept.

maybe not as daft as it sounds (although it probably is) but you can watch the radio on sky...

[Justified logic]

Vengence! Payback time for Napoli (hopefully!)

[Swales4ever]

The result is a big carrot for us tomorrow. A win puts us on 9 points and depending how the other fixture goes it could see us needing one more win to secure top spot.

It would be great to be able to send out a second string in our final CL group game which is away at Shakhtar on the Wednesday before the Derby.

top notch!

Besides, on Aurelio, he's clearly a napolitan drama queen (i.e. most hopeless case of dq), also out of filmmaking Hollywood industry... but the Special Asshole is a league of his own, imho at least.

[PrezIke]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but an important note is that they just played (and defeated 1-0) Roma, and their next match after ours is against Inter at home, who they are currently 2 points ahead for 1st in Serie A, so that is a HUGE game for them.

How that affects team selection and how they setup, given that they are a more attacking oriented side, will be interesting to see as that is surely more of a realistic goal (winning the league, which they haven't done in ages) than expecting a win against us whilst they are away from home as they can still get out of the group, and how we are playing, they may be wary of what might happen if they push forward.