exiled blue

"Listen to Mancini after the game last night he absolutely slaughters Dzeko who has been one of their outstanding players so far this season, the man just doesn''t seem in control." he has admitted this morning that he let his frustration at what tevez had done spill into his dzeko attack. he has also said that he has apologised to big edin,admitted to him that he was in the wrong and that things are back to normal between them.

his family, including some of his relatives from argentina are all now living around him in cheshire. he speaks much better english than he lets on, if it was just mancini saying he refused to go on, then i could possibly, just possibly put it down to a communication problem. but david platt was involved, and says that he refused as well. zabaleta, a fellow argentine,visibly fell out with tevez whilst on the bench, and there are stories that zabs punched tevez in the tunnel post match. all of this i put squarely at the door of his agent, kia joorabchian, a piece of work if ever there was one. the only plus to come from this is that the agent may have picked the wrong club to try it on with this time.

"When Celtic brought 5000 fans to Carrow Road for the testimonial of Tim Sheppard they were impeccably well behaved, sung nothing inappropriate, and frankly created one of the best atmospheres that I have ever experienced at Carrow Road." they came to manchester to play city in a pre-season "friendly" 2 years ago. they lost. they were absolute scum. the violence before and after the game was shocking.it culminated in a 5 year old lad and his family getting attacked and beaten up. the kid was hit in the head by a house brick, he spent two weeks in hospital. this came about 18 months after manchester had hosted the uefa cup final when the rangers element had rioted in the city. they can stay in the joke league in scotland and they`re welcome to them.

lambert was on with alan brazil this morning for 15 minutes.

"Well they obviously haven''t cost TalkSport your ear!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i admit to dipping in and out ofTS all day, usually when i`m driving, but i really can`t listen to those two prats and sycophants. i gave up when they interviewed steve archibald. it went something like this:- grey-"good morning steve how are you?" "i`m fine lads, good" keys-" so... stephen..." "stephen`s my `sunday` name!" the two of them- " ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... oh dear!... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !" *continue for about a minute* when archibald came back on he sounded embarrassed!. it was excruciating to listen to. not listened to them since.

keys and gray has to be the worst show, on any radio station, ever. two complete and utter berks who interview their "mates" whilst making little `in` jokes about golf all the time. and richard keys, supposedly a coventry fan, asking gray after interviewing most players, "yes, but was/is he good enough to play for manchester united?" that show must be costing talksport thousands of listeners everyday!.

ooooh! good call on the "old firm" that man!!. can i have them as my third choice and only count as one club?. two sides with a vastly over inflated opinion of themselves. they see themselves as `giants` of world football, whilst actually they are two tinpot teams stuck in a terrible non-competitive league, with vile racist supporters, who play in the self-appointed "biggest derby in the world" about which absolutely nobody else gives a flying fergle!. "look at us, we`re the most successful team in world football, we`ve won the title 55 times" and they`re serious!!.

i`ll also reply to this if i may. no1 on my list is probably obvious. MUFC. a repulsive, evil empire with glory hunting fans. millions of them. with no connection in any way, shape or form to the city of manchester. but who all have some made-up tenuous link, "oh, my dad was from there" etc. when in reality, 95% of them have never been further north west than kings lynn. and spurs, scumbag fans who cause bother everywhere i`ve had the misfortune to encounter them. lairy wide boys. can`t really think of anyone else who i`d say i actually `hate.

great stat, that, exiled blue. It must be weird, Man City being good and everything. How are you coping? Just waiting for it all to go t1t5-up? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i`v supported city for a long time. went to my first game in about 78-79. since then i`ve watched an unrelenting stream of turgis crap tbh!!. god knows why i`ve put myself through it. what`s happening now though is nothing short of incredible. when the new owners came everyone was suspiscious of the motives. but as time has gone by,it seems these are the real deal. it`s not just what`s happening on the pitch either. they bought an area of land probably about 3 times the size of the riverside in norwich, and are spending close to a billion on it!!. on the pitch?, well what can i say!. but like most fans, apart from the glory hunters, we are all natural cynics, as we say "this is city" or TIC, so i expect it`ll go tits up soon and we`ll be back in division 1!!.

"Wes is better" we are all entitled to an opinion!... and one of the main differences in the prem, talking about shooting at goal, can be summed up in this stat i saw on a man city site. kun aguero, in league games has had 7 shots at goal. all 7 have been on target, and he has scored with 6 of them.earlier in this thread, someone said that you are more likely to get punished for mistakes in this league,if a single stat encapsulated this, then there it is.

"Foreign imports with the close control flair? " nail >>> head one name. david silva.

you are absolutely on the money with your comment about the strikers `being the golden boys` in this league.even some of the perceived `weaker` established premier sides have decent players upfront, look at odemwingie last week as if you need to be reminded, kevin davies at bolton etc. and at the other end of the spectrum, aguero, rooney, dzecko etc etc. it`s where the big money goes, and with good reason. a team can play all the possession , pretty football in the world, but if the ball never goes into the `onion bag` then it`s pointless, in every sense of the word!!. and i agree about both norwich`s and swansea`s front men. neither side seem to have a cutting edge atm. come january that may well change, but it`ll cost.

i`ll apply the same thinking to your game at notlob as i did to the west brom game. bolton , an established prem side have lost their last 3 league games, it`s very unlikely they`ll lose four on the spin. therefore i predict a 2-0 win for them. sorry chaps.

well, to say that there isn`t a gulf in class, over a whole division is, imho, wrong. there are teams in there like the one you mention stoke, who are not regarded particularly as classy. but stoke are very much a`style` on their own, no need to discuss delap etc. but to say that sides such as the two manchester clubs , chelsea, spurs, liverpool etc etc are not a step up from the championship... i think i get the point you are making, equating class with ability, but to pick up on teams at the lower end of the league (not stoke in this instance!) is fine as long as the teams at the other end are included.

100-1?

i post on here as a man city fan, because i live in norwich now, and most of my in-laws are norwich fans.

"There is no great gulf in class between the Premier League and the Championship," i couldn`t disagree more tbh!!.

"You only have to look at Wright Phillips last night to appreciate pace isn''t everything." exactly.that`s what a lot of man city fans say about milner. he`s basically a cross country runner who decided to play football!. swp`s trickery causes defences more problems than his speed. his low centre of gravity ties big plodding defenders up in knots. and as for david silva... ;)

ie or chrome for me. another thing about the prem which may dishearten so many. in the championship, lambert could prepare his side pre-game knowing that all things considered, you were at least a match for, and in many cases, clearly better than the side you were about to face. in the prem , there are times, when you just have to hold your hands up and admit even before kick-off, that you are facing a much better/stronger team. and there`s nothing you can do about it. players who have for the most part, plied their trade in the lower divisions are going to be slightly in awe of some of the players they are up against, it`s natural. i`d be the same.

i think you lot play them in 2 games time if i`m remembering correctly. not sure if that`s a good thing or a bad thing...

must be a browser thing. my `reply` page looks nothing like that and doesn`t have those boxes!.

", so everything that happens now seems extremely vital, " given that your last 6 games contain matches against tottenham, city, liverpool, villa and arsenal, you`re probably going to need to be a good few points, maybe 6 or 9, clear of the relegation places by that stage. so with that in mind, id say these last 4 games HAVE been vital. i don`t know what the `run-ins` of other likely relegation candidates is like, but if they are as tough as yours looks...

i think that, as someone has already mentioned, your biggest worry should be sunderland. steve bruce is having a torrid time up there, and has had a fair amount of money to spend. there are already rumours of a `win the next one or you`re out` threat having been issued.

"To some extent we have been victims of our own success during the last 2 seasons both in respect of what we have been used to and what we hoped/expected from this squad." very much this. some of the predictions i read on here with regards to the coming season were way wide of the mark. some on here were talking about europa league placings, and grant holt being a potential golden boot winner. the jump to this division was always going to be the hardest, as many, many teams have discovered to their cost before now. not for nothing are the three promoted sides nearly always the favourites at the bookies to drop straight back down.

i don`t know if the `fans of super clubs` was aimed at me as a man city supporter!!, if it was i`ve got broad shoulders!! :) i don`t `hate` the idea of salary capping, i am just realistic enough to know that it`ll never happen. without wishing to cast aspersions on the honesty and integrity of various football leagues, just look at the `calciopoly` thing in italy, can`t see them attempting to `bend` the rules much eh?!!. money has always ruled in the top division. going right back to when preston nth end were paying, by the standards of the day, `fortunes` for players in the 20`s. it`s just that now the sums involved are enormous. given enough time, every top division club will be owned by a billionaire. not a lot you, or i can do about it.