Popular Post pas5898 Posted April 4 Popular Post Share Posted April 4 On 16/02/2024 at 13:11, jimmygreaves said: Guardiola is the very definition of a checkbook manager. This will always be associated with his career and legacy. As will accusations of doping be it financially or medically. Anyone claiming him to be one of the greatest ever must, by default, look the other way at the "advantages" he's been afforded. I maintain what Rob Edwards has done at Luton is harder than what Guardiola has done at Man City. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a-k Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 11 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: This is literally true, yes. And in general, Villa fans made *far* more noise all night. I'm not making some biased point about how great Villa fans are here; I imagine that happens every week. And sometimes the away fans are louder at VP too - you get this experience sitting as I usually do in the Upper Doug - but the differential is completely different. While VP may not always be a cauldron of noise, there are at least a number of standards that get sung multiple times per game; they just don't even really seem to have chants at City. Down 4-1, and all I can hear on the telly were Villa chants 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 17 minutes ago, pas5898 said: I maintain what Rob Edwards has done at Luton is harder than what Guardiola has done at Man City. Sure, that is an opinion. To anyone that says this is the case, why don't man city get rid of Guardiola, save absolute millions, and get Rob Edwards? And in similar fashion, considering Man City control most games and don't face many attacks, is Rodri a fraud of a defensive midfielder? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pas5898 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 (edited) 1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said: Found myself at the Etihad last night, for the first time in nearly 20 years (pretty sure the last time was back when Stuart Pearce was managing them). I know it's not a novel observation but it is a dead, dead place to watch football. Literally only started singing when they were 3-1 (with the bizarre chant, 'to the library, 3-1') and then only for a minute or two, then again after the fourth but for less time this time, then about 15% of them had left by 82 minutes. What, you don't even want to clap them off the pitch? Seem to have no songs for any individual, except 'super Jack Grealish'. Nothing for Foden or Rodri. Silent, boring, utterly dead. It's not just the ground, there was honestly way more atmosphere when they Joey Barton and Sun Jihai in midfield. I was there and completely agree. We was all discussing this is the dystopian future "death of football, fans and atmosphere". As the game kicked off until their first goal it was literally silent, genuinely worst atmosphere in such a beautiful stadium. Same after we equalised. By the time they went 3:1 their "hardcore fans" near the away section were mainly just trying to taunt the Villa fans, no ground atmosphere at all. They were probably the ones who go away to VP and had the taunting in the reverse fixture (fairs fair). They are now 90 percent a tourist club. My friend is a Man City Fan (Polish + Wisla fan but decided Man City will be his UK team). We went to the Real Madrid semi final last year as his friend and his son could not make the game. Family to the right of me were Rotheram fans I think, In front was a Leeds fan. Guy behind me was from Miami. Edited April 4 by pas5898 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 I was thinking about their squad lying in bed last night. Rodri Haaland Foden Silva Alvarez Ederson Dias de Bruyne Imagine if other top European sides had just 1 of these players in their squad they’d be a star player. City have them all (plus others who could arguably on the list like Grealish, Walker, Stones). It’s ridiculous they have amassed such an over strength squad and smashed the rule book to pieces. Nobody else comes close to such a collection of world class players. I really hope they get the mother of all punishments. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ_Villain Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Just now, Genie said: I was thinking about their squad lying in bed last night. Rodri Haaland Foden Silva Alvarez Ederson Dias de Bruyne Imagine if other top European sides had just 1 of these players in their squad they’d be a star player. City have them all (plus others who could arguably on the list like Grealish, Walker, Stones). It’s ridiculous they have amassed such an over strength squad and smashed the rule book to pieces. Nobody else comes close to such a collection of world class players. I really hope they get the mother of all punishments. Outbreak of anthrax? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 31 minutes ago, Mic09 said: Sure, that is an opinion. To anyone that says this is the case, why don't man city get rid of Guardiola, save absolute millions, and get Rob Edwards? And in similar fashion, considering Man City control most games and don't face many attacks, is Rodri a fraud of a defensive midfielder? Or why do several Chelsea and Man utd managers struggle to get 100% out of some very expensive players It's a skill to do what pep does, it's very different to what the Luton or Grimsby boss does, he has full internationals costing £50m+ on £200k a week starting 15 games a season yet happy to be there, same player at Chelsea moans like **** 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 19 minutes ago, villa4europe said: Or why do several Chelsea and Man utd managers struggle to get 100% out of some very expensive players It's a skill to do what pep does, it's very different to what the Luton or Grimsby boss does, he has full internationals costing £50m+ on £200k a week starting 15 games a season yet happy to be there, same player at Chelsea moans like **** They moan at Chelsea because they aren’t winning anything and not close to getting back into the CL. The players were expensive but not actually top tier. City are possibly the best club in the world, paying top money and winning trophies. Nobody would complain about being there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 7 minutes ago, Genie said: They moan at Chelsea because they aren’t winning anything and not close to getting back into the CL. The players were expensive but not actually top tier. City are possibly the best club in the world, paying top money and winning trophies. Nobody would complain about being there. They only became the best club in the world once Guardiola arrived there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 minute ago, LondonLax said: They only became the best club in the world once Guardiola arrived there. He didn’t convert the existing players to elite level, he bought them which makes it hard to give him all the credit. I think there’s others who could do the same job with those resources. Then I also don’t think he could have turned Villa around like Emery has, for me that is more of an achievement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisvilla4 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 41 minutes ago, Genie said: I was thinking about their squad lying in bed last night. I'm sorry. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 15 minutes ago, Genie said: He didn’t convert the existing players to elite level, he bought them which makes it hard to give him all the credit. I think there’s others who could do the same job with those resources. Then I also don’t think he could have turned Villa around like Emery has, for me that is more of an achievement. i dont think emery could do what pep does at man city, like he didn't at PSG or to a lesser extent arsenal like i said different skill sets, i think emery's skill is with villa or villareal or sevilla, teams that aren't top table with absolutely elite players but good size and set up, im not convinced he would be the right man for man utd or liverpool for example, i just think thats not him 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 2 hours ago, HanoiVillan said: Found myself at the Etihad last night, for the first time in nearly 20 years (pretty sure the last time was back when Stuart Pearce was managing them). I know it's not a novel observation but it is a dead, dead place to watch football. Literally only started singing when they were 3-1 (with the bizarre chant, 'to the library, 3-1') and then only for a minute or two, then again after the fourth but for less time this time, then about 15% of them had left by 82 minutes. What, you don't even want to clap them off the pitch? Seem to have no songs for any individual, except 'super Jack Grealish'. Nothing for Foden or Rodri. Silent, boring, utterly dead. It's not just the ground, there was honestly way more atmosphere when they Joey Barton and Sun Jihai in midfield. It's just a tourist atmosphere like at Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs.... I have to say I used to have a big soft spot for Man. City. Growing up in the 90s and following Football in 96/97 they were the classic big club then falling through the leagues and making catastrophic decision after decision. As they got worse the fans piled more in to Maine Road and of course in that era Man. United were winning everything so they had my sympathies. Latest Man City Results, Fixtures & Betting Odds | Soccer Base Have a look at some of their attendances in the 98/99 season. They had 27.500 in for a 1-1 v Chesterfield in September 1998. Maine Road at the time held 31k. 30.7k v Burnley a few weeks later. So given the empty seats dotted around their ground now for most games their local fanbase probably hasn't grown that much from the 30k hardcore support they had in those bleak times. Their ownership dosen't care much about though given the worldwide fanbase they now have. We'll be like that eventually. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 I genuinely would like to see Man City completely liquidated. I despise them with a passion. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 3 minutes ago, Mantis said: I genuinely would like to see Man City completely liquidated. I despise them with a passion. Worse than Chelsea under Mourinho? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ_Villain Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 (edited) 9 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Worse than Chelsea under Mourinho? Absolutely! Chelsea didn’t break the rules that everyone else had to follow! Chelsea never paid an army of lawyers to drag what should be a pretty simple process of investigation over a long period of time - all whilst dozens of other clubs are being sanctioned for breaking far fewer rules in the blink of an eye… Chelsea didn’t routinely sign our English captain every 5 years as soon as they broke into the England squad in order to comply with “homegrown player” rules… when they had dozens of Manc words removed that they could have scraped up off the streets of Moss Side to choose from Edited April 4 by DJ_Villain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 Oh yeah Man. City should get endless points deductions for what they've done so would be amusing to see their slow relegation if they got hit with a -40 or -50 and the ensuring fallout (no chance whatsoever Guardiola hangs around for all that). Not sure though if you follow the news recently that Chelsea were following all the rules on transfers under Abramovich. Pretty sure there's a current court case going on about that. I probably misread what Mantis was saying given the discussion above and he was claiming Man. City fans were worse than Chelsea ones which I would find surprising as there are still a good amount of decent Man. City fans who remember their dark days of 90s and early 2000s so this success isn't completely going to their head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Worse than Chelsea under Mourinho? Yes. And no I don't necessarily think Man City fans are worse, just that the club is the worst of them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pas5898 Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 (edited) 3 hours ago, Mic09 said: Sure, that is an opinion. To anyone that says this is the case, why don't man city get rid of Guardiola, save absolute millions, and get Rob Edwards? And in similar fashion, considering Man City control most games and don't face many attacks, is Rodri a fraud of a defensive midfielder? Horses for courses. All managers needs to be tactically astute. Managers of the "top clubs" is more about managing egos, or having a stronger character than improving players. Rob Edwards might not be able to manage big ego's. even Unai struggled at PSG with the biggest of egos. Likewise Pep might not be able to take a team of league 1 players and premier league rejects and improve them to the level where they may stay in the PL. Unai has taken a relegation level team to the cusp of the CL. Improved every player. Rob Edwards has taken a league 1 team to the premier league. Improved every player. Pep has taken unlimited resources, and a stacked team to where they should be. With regards to Rodri, if you look at Man City's form without him, i'd hasten to add he is the main reason why they control games. Edited April 4 by pas5898 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted April 4 VT Supporter Share Posted April 4 (edited) 2 hours ago, villa4europe said: i dont think emery could do what pep does at man city, like he didn't at PSG or to a lesser extent arsenal like i said different skill sets, i think emery's skill is with villa or villareal or sevilla, teams that aren't top table with absolutely elite players but good size and set up, im not convinced he would be the right man for man utd or liverpool for example, i just think thats not him Emery recorded 2.37 ppg at PSG. The highest in their history (until Tuchel tied him). Ancelotti is famed for being able to manage top teams and world class players and he only got 2.14. Suggests that Emery can manage top clubs and could do what Pep has done. Edited April 4 by Rds1983 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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