0% Villa - I've been waiting for this (Man City Implode)

[darren woolley]

I for one am glad that they are at each other's throat with all that money and big ego's it was bound to happen but i would still take Milner back.

[PeterWithe]

Tevez is now refusing to fly back from Argentina saying he isn't fit enough.

I'd have a little sympathy if he said he wasn't fit enough to swim back but how fit do you need to be to board a flight?

[KevinGage]

We had all this 'Man City are about to implode' stuff last season and the season before that.  And if it isn't Man City about to implode, it's Liverpool, Man United, Arsenal and whoever.

None of these clubs is going to implode any time soon...

Liverpool gave a pretty good impression of a side imploding at a rate of knots last year.
Looks like they're hell bent on keeping up the good work this campaign too.

 What they need to do is say to any manager, be it Mancini or a new bloke, just work with what you've got for the season and then tell us who you want rid of.  You then get a more solid base to buy and likely find that's it's two or three additions, as opposed to another large influx, and they come into a settled side with a manager firmly in his position.  It won't happen, but that's what I would do!

In fairness to Mancini when he arrived in last Nov he gave the then current line up plenty of time to prove themselves. I think he only signed Viera on a cheap deal and Johnson from Boro in Jan, so it was virtually the same squad that Hughes left him with for the bulk of that campaign. Hardly a revolution.

[Bad English]

We'll see how much they have imploded in December and January when we play them twice with our 2-8-0 formation

[Concrete John]

In fairness to Mancini when he arrived in last Nov he gave the then current line up plenty of time to prove themselves. I think he only signed Viera on a cheap deal and Johnson from Boro in Jan, so it was virtually the same squad that Hughes left him with for the bulk of that campaign. Hardly a revolution.

I think what then happened in the summer would suggest that the January window was more to do with what he COULD get in as opposed to what he wanted to do.

My point being that buying lots of new players is the easy answer and creates some of the problems we are seeing.  If he had to work with less money and more with the players already there, then I think they'd be better off.

[KevinGage]

But your initial point was that you'd say to any manager work with what you've got until the end of the season and then reassess.

Ultimately that's pretty much what happened.

He had the guts of a season there with the same squad -save for two relatively modest purchases by their standards.
 
I'm not going to try and second guess what his intentions really were last Jan, that only reluctance on the part of any potential selling club/ new player steered him away from an immediate revolving door policy. That might well have been the case - but I doubt it.

With their wealth they could just keep on going back until the player/ club they targeted buckled. There might be a handful of elite players who would still say no to them. But many more would have said yes.

[TimTheVillain]

We'll see how much they have imploded in December and January when we play them twice with our 2-8-0 formation

Not far wrong.

I watched them play the Dingles and to be honerst, Citeh played some football that we can only dream of seeeing at VP.

Silva - what a player.

I still think there's an element of Real Madrid about them, so will try anything to win a trophy, to be a Champs League player.

I give Mancini til Xmas.

[Concrete John]

Actually, what I said was:-

What they need to do is say to any manager, be it Mancini or a new bloke, just work with what you've got for the season and then tell us who you want rid of.

I don't remember too many players leaving Eastlands this summer?

So what you get is another large influx on top of last seasons large influx, to the point where it becomes unmanageable.  They obviously don't need to do it from a financial viewpoint, but a 'sell to buy' policy would have been sensible.

[Mazrim]

I watched them play the Dingles and to be honerst, Citeh played some football that we can only dream of seeeing at VP.

And lost. I dont dream of watching lots of nice passing and getting beat 2-1 by Wolves, cheers.
Also, even in our weakened, transitional state we managed to win there.

Anyway, they play some nice football. Of course they will with the players they've assembled. But a winning successful team needs a lot more than that. Character, resolve, motivation and purpose.
I'm not sure Man City can currently get a team together that has that in enough quantity to get anywhere near where they want to go.

And so you can see some cracks appearing already. It's what happens sometimes when you give players everything they want. Make them feel like they've made it etc.
Stephen Ireland said that even the kids are walking around there like they own the place. Its not healthy.
As Olneythelonely says: "or they might just implode."

[KevinGage]

Actually, what I said was:-

What they need to do is say to any manager, be it Mancini or a new bloke, just work with what you've got for the season and then tell us who you want rid of.

I don't remember too many players leaving Eastlands this summer?

Robinho, Petrov, Bellamy, Ireland, Onuoha, Benjani, Weiss, Caicedo.

That's quite a few, no?

[Concrete John]

Actually, what I said was:-

What they need to do is say to any manager, be it Mancini or a new bloke, just work with what you've got for the season and then tell us who you want rid of.

I don't remember too many players leaving Eastlands this summer?

Robinho, Petrov, Bellamy, Ireland, Onuoha, Benjani, Weiss, Caicedo.

That's quite a few, no?

Roninho was out on loan anyway.  The rest didn't feature much other than Bellamy.  Actually, without checking I do think Onouha got a few games.

The principle remains that there was a large influx numbers wise as they think the answer to everything is the cheque book.  And it's not. 

[richard moore]

We'll see how much they have imploded in December and January when we play them twice with our 2-8-0 formation

Not far wrong.

I watched them play the Dingles and to be honerst, Citeh played some football that we can only dream of seeeing at VP.

Silva - what a player.

I still think there's an element of Real Madrid about them, so will try anything to win a trophy, to be a Champs League player.

I give Mancini til Xmas.

Silva's not bad Tim - that is if you are watching him against Wolves or Blackpool. If he was that good, he wouldn't be at City I'm afraid. There's a reason he is not at the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid...

[Somniloquism]

Silva's not bad Tim - that is if you are watching him against Wolves or Blackpool. If he was that good, he wouldn't be at City I'm afraid. There's a reason he is not at the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid...

Considering he was bought as a def midfielder/breaker of play, Yaya has been playing some super balls through to attack. I suppose playing in such a passing league means even the worst players look better on the ball then most of the prem.

[Toronto Villa]

The thing with Man City is they have one method to fix their issues. They'll keep throwing money at it until it works. While it might bring some short term wins, what it does is simply perpetuate the problem they already have. They'll replace mercenaries and egos with other mercenaries and egos and the cycle will repeat itself. Outside of Mourinho whose ego is bigger than the lot put together and has a record to back it all up, no manager in the world is going to be able to control that for any length of time.

[alanclare]

We'll see how much they have imploded in December and January when we play them twice with our 2-8-0 formation

I couldn't agree more. We're getting a bit "previous" with all this talk about "imploding". Just wait and see where they're at in Feb/Mar, and then decide if they've fallen to bits.

It's a nice thought tho'.....