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City would win the Quadraple; According to Kompany
Topic Started: Jan 17 2014, 12:16 PM (1,178 Views)
Gooner0893

City should be favored to win the Carling cup, FA cup and the premier league with the squad they have. They have a better striking force than Barca and as good a defense. Barca has the better midfield. If anyone has watched Barca this year, they have not been dominant. They have labored to beat teams. Without Neymar, City will fancy their chances to get to the next round. Barca's European experience could be the difference. Xavi is less influential because of age, and Messi is asked to do too much. This will be a close matchup. I have said from the beginning that Chelsea and City have the most talented teams in the premier league. Arsenal's advantage is the stability that comes with having a long tenured coach. Liverpool should remain the hunt because they have the best player in the premier league and he is playing out of his mind right now.
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supercollider7
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dream_team
Jan 17 2014, 10:01 PM
dsch15
Jan 17 2014, 06:57 PM
dream_team
Jan 17 2014, 06:33 PM
supercollider7
Jan 17 2014, 06:21 PM
With only two competent CMs in the squad they'd be lucky to win the League...Cup.
but but they have tremendous 'strength in depth' ,abundant of talents, deepest squad in the league blah blah blah
When did Lescott and Nastasic become incompetent? They seem both to be solid backups and more than capable of spelling the first choice pairing against lesser competition or in some Cup games.

We can quibble about whether City have the deepest squad in the league, but they are at least among the deepest.
Like I said few days ago Arsenal should be at least 6 points ahead of city based on squad depth alone. I've mentioned before that there are at least 3 clubs with a deeper squad than city - Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs. Obviously spurs had coaching issue earlier in the season that's why they are where they are. I didn't mention united even though they too have a bigger squad, but that includes a 40 year old and about 6-8 players who should be playing for Swansea at best and a coach who have finally convinced me he has no business at united. Spurs , Chelsea and Arsenal have talents similar to city but a bigger squad than city.
Why do you oversimplify every issue?

Arsenal don't have a deeper squad than City when it comes to strikers. They have better strikers and 3 of their strikers have scored more goals than our Giroud, who is our only real forward. The fact that we've lost Theo makes our situation even worse, and why we need to dip into the market.

Chelsea also don't have that kind of quality in the striker department.

And that quality in front of goal has carried City at times. Another thing they have done really well is make Eithad a fortress. They get all the decisions there, they score almost at will there. Home form can be so important and they have the best so far.


Given the injuries that Arsenal have had, and given the fact that we had the most difficult CL schedule, I think we've done quite well to stay ahead. Although there is some regret that we should've maybe had 2 or 3 more points at this stage.

I really don't get how you judge teams. Is it on performances, or reputation, or what?

City have clearly shown they are the best attacking team. Our attack has been good but inconsistent at times: we have a striker who isn't clinical. Chelsea have been the weakest of the three but they've been picking up points.

City still do have a strong squad (no squad is going to have perfect depth in every position) but they need to figure out how to keep their first choice defence and midfield fit and firing through the season. That's a big question mark.

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supercollider7
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Gooner0893
Jan 17 2014, 11:17 PM
City should be favored to win the Carling cup, FA cup and the premier league with the squad they have. They have a better striking force than Barca and as good a defense. Barca has the better midfield. If anyone has watched Barca this year, they have not been dominant. They have labored to beat teams. Without Neymar, City will fancy their chances to get to the next round. Barca's European experience could be the difference. Xavi is less influential because of age, and Messi is asked to do too much. This will be a close matchup. I have said from the beginning that Chelsea and City have the most talented teams in the premier league. Arsenal's advantage is the stability that comes with having a long tenured coach. Liverpool should remain the hunt because they have the best player in the premier league and he is playing out of his mind right now.
I know you're partial to City, but you're trying to make Barca look a lot weaker than they are. Messi has not been asked to do too much, he's been injured most of this season. He's barely played. And Tata has played a more direct style which means they aren't as "dominant" but they've still swatted aside most teams easily.
Atletico offered up a tough test but Barca defended really well against their counters, even if they couldn't create much themselves. If defending was their weakness they've improved on that front and won't make it easy for City's strikers.
I think City have a good chance, but Barca are still clear favorites for me, especially with Messi back.
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Gooner0893

supercollider7
Jan 17 2014, 11:19 PM
dream_team
Jan 17 2014, 10:01 PM
dsch15
Jan 17 2014, 06:57 PM
dream_team
Jan 17 2014, 06:33 PM
supercollider7
Jan 17 2014, 06:21 PM
With only two competent CMs in the squad they'd be lucky to win the League...Cup.
but but they have tremendous 'strength in depth' ,abundant of talents, deepest squad in the league blah blah blah
When did Lescott and Nastasic become incompetent? They seem both to be solid backups and more than capable of spelling the first choice pairing against lesser competition or in some Cup games.

We can quibble about whether City have the deepest squad in the league, but they are at least among the deepest.
Like I said few days ago Arsenal should be at least 6 points ahead of city based on squad depth alone. I've mentioned before that there are at least 3 clubs with a deeper squad than city - Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs. Obviously spurs had coaching issue earlier in the season that's why they are where they are. I didn't mention united even though they too have a bigger squad, but that includes a 40 year old and about 6-8 players who should be playing for Swansea at best and a coach who have finally convinced me he has no business at united. Spurs , Chelsea and Arsenal have talents similar to city but a bigger squad than city.
Why do you oversimplify every issue?

Arsenal don't have a deeper squad than City when it comes to strikers. They have better strikers and 3 of their strikers have scored more goals than our Giroud, who is our only real forward. The fact that we've lost Theo makes our situation even worse, and why we need to dip into the market.

Chelsea also don't have that kind of quality in the striker department.

And that quality in front of goal has carried City at times. Another thing they have done really well is make Eithad a fortress. They get all the decisions there, they score almost at will there. Home form can be so important and they have the best so far.


Given the injuries that Arsenal have had, and given the fact that we had the most difficult CL schedule, I think we've done quite well to stay ahead. Although there is some regret that we should've maybe had 2 or 3 more points at this stage.

I really don't get how you judge teams. Is it on performances, or reputation, or what?

City have clearly shown they are the best attacking team. Our attack has been good but inconsistent at times: we have a striker who isn't clinical. Chelsea have been the weakest of the three but they've been picking up points.

City still do have a strong squad (no squad is going to have perfect depth in every position) but they need to figure out how to keep their first choice defence and midfield fit and firing through the season. That's a big question mark.

Good assessment by Trees. City's weakness remains its defense especially on the road where their opponents play at a higher level. They are not great on the road even though they have gotten better in recent weeks. They still have to play at Arsenal, Pool and United. They will drop points. They haven't dropped any points at home and I don't see that changing much the rest of the season. Chelsea is interesting. They have the second most talent behind City. Mourhino has given up on playing attacking football and they are starting to win games 1-nil and 2-nil which is the Mourhino way. I have been really impressed with the job Brandon Rodgers has done with Pool. They are a dark horse to win the league if they can beat City, Chelsea and Arsenal at home.
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Gooner0893

supercollider7
Jan 17 2014, 11:23 PM
Gooner0893
Jan 17 2014, 11:17 PM
City should be favored to win the Carling cup, FA cup and the premier league with the squad they have. They have a better striking force than Barca and as good a defense. Barca has the better midfield. If anyone has watched Barca this year, they have not been dominant. They have labored to beat teams. Without Neymar, City will fancy their chances to get to the next round. Barca's European experience could be the difference. Xavi is less influential because of age, and Messi is asked to do too much. This will be a close matchup. I have said from the beginning that Chelsea and City have the most talented teams in the premier league. Arsenal's advantage is the stability that comes with having a long tenured coach. Liverpool should remain the hunt because they have the best player in the premier league and he is playing out of his mind right now.
I know you're partial to City, but you're trying to make Barca look a lot weaker than they are. Messi has not been asked to do too much, he's been injured most of this season. He's barely played. And Tata has played a more direct style which means they aren't as "dominant" but they've still swatted aside most teams easily.
Atletico offered up a tough test but Barca defended really well against their counters, even if they couldn't create much themselves. If defending was their weakness they've improved on that front and won't make it easy for City's strikers.
I think City have a good chance, but Barca are still clear favorites for me, especially with Messi back.
I disagree. Its 50-50 in my opinion. I think that you and I have watched different Barca teams. They are not the same team of past years and do not overwhelm their opponents the way they used to. They remain a great team. The loss of Neymar is going to hurt though. I don't know who is going to win. It could easily go either way.
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supercollider7
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Liverpool this season have had the advantage of no European football. Which has made up for their relative lack of depth. Suarez's goals have also carried them.

But the thing about relying on goals is that they do inevitably dry up. Every goal has a bit of luck tied into it and sometimes it doesn't go for you. Instead of shots rippling the net from 30 yards you see close range headers bouncing off the woodwork at crucial times.

It's happened to us before, and it can happen to any team. And that's why having a proper defence where you can grind out 1-0 wins is important.

The fact that Chelsea have started doing that is ominous. City and Liverpool need to show that they can do that too.

But that doesn't mean you can play poorly all the time and get away with it. Liverpool have the easiest schedule but in terms of quality they are a step below the top 3. They couldn't get close to Arsenal when they visited the Emirates. They created chances vs City and Chelsea but were ultimately the second best team. So I'm not convinced they can beat their rivals at home. In fact Arsenal, City, and Chelsea will go there thinking they can get 3 points. Especially Arsenal because we were probably the most successful in shutting out the SAS.

City have the most difficult schedule along with Arsenal. But aside from the big games that come one after the other, Arsenal have a run of very easy fixtures. If we can beat City and Chelsea we will most likely win the title.
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KamyFC
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City got annihilated by Bayern at the Etihad. Enuf said. They will fall short in Europe. But they are favorites for the triple - with the crazy squad depth they have
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phatosas

I think City play a very archaic formation and I have seen it time and time again where teams just stroll past their midfield. In the last few league games they have been able to score the first goal and then defend and in many cases have been forced to switch to a more conventional 4-2-3-1 just to regain control of the game. I am therefore intrigued about the Barca game because even though Barca are different, if City are going to cede the midfield to Barca they would get punished. I think they got away with one when they faced Arsenal because this season when we have come against teams that had unbalanced formations like Liverpool earlier in the season and Spurs in the FA cup, we have just deprived them of the ball and killed them off. As for City chances, I have seen teams fall apart when they start thinking of winning too many competitions at the same time. I would give them a 60% chance in the Carling cup but they don't have a better off chance than any team in any other competition
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dream_team
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Gooner0893
Jan 17 2014, 11:17 PM
City should be favored to win the Carling cup, FA cup and the premier league with the squad they have. They have a better striking force than Barca and as good a defense. Barca has the better midfield. If anyone has watched Barca this year, they have not been dominant. They have labored to beat teams. Without Neymar, City will fancy their chances to get to the next round. Barca's European experience could be the difference. Xavi is less influential because of age, and Messi is asked to do too much. This will be a close matchup. I have said from the beginning that Chelsea and City have the most talented teams in the premier league. Arsenal's advantage is the stability that comes with having a long tenured coach. Liverpool should remain the hunt because they have the best player in the premier league and he is playing out of his mind right now.
I agree about the barca tie being close, saying city will get embarrassed by a team with a dodgy defence is ridiculous IMO(no insults intended.) but I disagree with city's squad should be favored to win the treble, they are light in 2 positions to do that.
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dream_team
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KamyFC
Jan 18 2014, 03:33 AM
City got annihilated by Bayern at the Etihad. Enuf said. They will fall short in Europe. But they are favorites for the triple - with the crazy squad depth they have
Which crazy squad depth? Chelsea and Arsenal have better depth. But city have a better starting 11, that's all.
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