Guardiola Has Enough Youth Quality To Prop Up Manchester City's First Team Squad

16 year old Brahim Diaz

Much emphasis has been put on Pep Guardiola's preference to play with a small squad of 14 to 15 players by the media, we all know for an elite English club to survive at the top and succeed a big squad is required. A prime example would be our 2015/16 season, we were in the later stages of all four competitions aka the FA Cup, Capital One Cup, Premier League and Champions League and no other English club could boast that feat BUT. As a result of that we suffered many injuries, injuries to key players might I add including Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and Vincent Kompany. All three of those players were injured against Everton FC over multiple matches, something I won't go into now but lets just say no one got punished for it at Everton.

Along with the injuries I believe fatigue also played it's part in Manchester City coming up short and dropping out of the FA Cup, along with the Premier League refusing to reschedule our matches to help us in Europe. So considering the issues that prevented us from a possible treble winning campaign with 2 players in every position to call upon, could 15 senior players go that far or exceed what 23 players could not. In 2015/16 we played with 23 players, one of which was Kelechi Iheanacho while providing a handful of EDS youth players bench duty or brief cameo appearances.

Could Pep Guardiola be successful with just 15 senior squad members?  We all know Spanish and German football are not as demanding as English football so is it possible? Will Pep cut our senior player list down to 15? And what would need to happen if he did?

Well much pressure would be put on our youth system, something Pep has done at both Barcelona and Bayern Munich. As most other City fans do, I want to see homegrown talent from our academy in our first team. The current rules dictate we should have but, who are capable of breaking into our first team under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and who would City fans most likely want to see?

The players I believe are ready to step up are Brandon Barker, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jason Denayer, Bersant Celina, Aleix Garcia and Manuel Garcia, I'd say Brahim Diaz but despite stepping up to EDS level he's still only 16. If I were Guardiola though I'd give Diaz his chances in the Capital One Cup and FA Cup, I believe all these players are ready to step up and take their chances. That counts two defenders and four midfielders, we are all more than well aware now that Guardiola loves his midfielders according to the media. So that's six youngsters which can be added to the already 15 supposed seniors totaling 21.

Of all those young players, the two that stand out the most for seasoned Mancunian City fans are Brandon Barker and Tosin Adarabioyo, both born Mancunians so there's nothing more we would like to see than those two succeed and become great players for our club. All these players are technically gifted and have been drilled hard in the way of keeping the ball and running at opposing players with the exception of Jason Denayer as he only spent the 2013/14 season with us at youth level before going out on loan, that should not be an issue though as he still has two years experience playing for Celtic then Galatasaray. Whether he makes the grade under Guardiola remains to be seen but, I have high hopes for the lad.

There are other gifted talent in our ranks aka Sinan Bytyqi, Aaron Nemane and Kean Bryan, have all impressed over the course of their City careers at youth level. So even if Guardiola does cut our senior numbers down to 15, we can quite easily accommodate although the more likely scenario will be that Pep goes with slightly more senior players at around 17 or 18.

What's even more exciting is that I haven't even mentioned our U15 and U18 talent and they are taking the youth scene by storm.

So only time will tell what happens but, what an intriguing time we find ourselves in. What do you think will happen? What are your hopes for the new season under Pep?

VIDEO: We Have No History, We Are The City Of Manchester, We Are City

Watch on as the entire population of Manchester sing for a legend, watch as English fans call for an ex World War 2 Luftwaffe Pilot and Prisoner of War who broke his neck and still played on for quarter of an hour. There's only one Bert Trautmann.


EMPTY SEATS? NO HISTORY? WE ARE CITY

Talks Of Integrity, Credibility and Transparency? Infantino Is Just Another Blatter

New Head of FIFA Gianni Infantino talks of FIFA needing to rebuild the Governing Bodies Credibility and Integrity? BUT he states Russia and Qatar get to keep their rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups? Despite ongoing investigations into the fixing of the bidding process, despite the Swiss and FBI arresting those connected with the bidding process.

As far as I'm concerned this is a disgrace and unless the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process is rerun, then I don't see how FIFA can be looked upon or respected anymore than they were under Sepp Blatter's reign of corruption. Gianni Infantino's first act of corruption is to allow Qatar and Russia to get away with buying votes to win the rights to host the World Cup.

What else is there to say, writing's on the wall.

HAVE YOUR SAY, New Badge? Final Consultation? Final Design Forced On You?

That's right, I feel Manchester City FC have sold out our history, we were formed in 1880 and not 1894. Yes I am fully aware St Marks aka Ardwick AFC became Manchester City in 1894, 8 years before Newton Heath became Manchester United. Not having 1880 on our badge is an almighty insult and slap in the face to St Marks of West Gorton, it is a disgrace that we do not celebrate their hard work and our history.

I believe it would have been better served if Manchester City FC, FOOTBALL CLUB, but we will deal with this in a moment, if Manchester City FC gave us fans a final consultation or a few badges to vote on instead of forcing an average and poorly designed Club Badge on us.

The Badge just looks like a cheap knock off of New York City's badge, but even NYCFC who are an American SOCCER club have Football Club in front of their Title? Sorry but the designers Manchester City FC employ need sacking, I'm an ex Art student and Artist myself so have plenty of experience to pass judgement not to mention having supported Manchester City since 1970's/1980's. as far as I'm concerned Manchester and City should never have been separated and Football Club should have still been present, it seems pretty clear to me that the minds behind this have a simple way of thinking. Design error No.1 you DON'T curve Manchester and then leave City un-curved, what were you thinking? that it makes some kind of statement or that it makes it stand out more?

I submitted a badge myself and even had a few other ideas like a small outer ring with Superbia in Proelio repeated all the way around within if not the ribbon below it as shown below. Yes I'm aware the three rivers are not present and I meant to add them but it's not something that can't be added so.

The only thing I like about the new badge is the outer ring which could be made a little larger to house Superbia in Proelio and the 3D design to it. Other than that it's an almighty failure as far as I'm concerned, so much so that I find myself compelled to abandon any future purchases of this new badge at the City Store and stick with my old shirts. Too buy anything with this new badge would mean I am ultimately conceding in buying something I do not like. You can say I'm spitting my dummy out and in all honesty I am I guess, but that's my choice but I'm intrigued to know how many other Manchester City fans feel the same.

So thumbs down on this one for me.

Feel free to have your say?

TIOC's Badge Redesign Idea For Manchester City FC, Thoughts?

For as long as I can remember I have dreamt of our club reverting back to our Retro Circular Club Badge, finally our club have decided to consult on a possible change with our fan base so I thought I'd get to work on a few ideas. I knew learning how to use Photoshop would come in useful so I'm glad I chose too, here are my idea's which I will submit.

I did one the same but without the Eagle, so what do you think City fans. For those new to City I'll explain, the Rose represents the Lancashire Rose, The Ship represents the Manchester Ship Canal and the 3 stripes represent Manchester's 3 rivers, The Irk, The Irwell and The Medlock. 1880 being the year St Mark's of West Gorton were founded who were later renamed Ardwick Association Football Club and then Manchester City Football Club. The Latin term 'Superbia in Proelio' means Pride in Battle.

I did some research into how the Eagle found it's way on to our crest, we know the Shield, Stripes, Rose and Ship were taken from the City of Manchester's Coat of Arms. The Latin motto was added by the club itself in 1997 along with the Stars which were just for show. Here I got rid of the pointless Stars but felt it worth keeping the Eagle.

An Eagle represents Courage, Strength and Immortality, so I hazard a guess that that is why it was chosen and incorporated.

What do you think? will you be submitting your own? Would you rather we stuck with the present, revert to the old Retro badge or something entirely new?

I'd still be happy even if we reverted back to the original Retro City badge of old but I equally like this Badge too.

Guillem Balaque Tweets: City Have Signed Nicolas Otamendi With Mangala Out On Loan

According to Guillem Balaque Manchester City have wrapped up the signing of 27 year old Argentine International Center Back Nicolas Otamendi from Valencia, as part of the deal Mangala would be going out on loan to Valencia for a minimum of one season.

Tomorrow all confirmed: Otamendi to City for €40m and Mangala on loan. Real Madrid would have paid €50m buy out clause if Ramos had gone

— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) August 16, 2015

After Mangala's superb performance against Chelsea today, many City fans will be disappointed for sure. But you need to look at the bigger picture here, 1. we're not selling Mangala 2. we're gaining an already established and experienced Champions League player and Copa America runner up 3. Mangala wouldn't get a look in once this guy partners Vincent Kompany or Martin Demichelis, so it's all good because Mangala will come back a better and more experienced defender should this move be correct. Balaque virtually never gets it wrong when it comes to La Liga so I'm inclined to believe it and I'm happy with this one either way.

UPDATE: Just to confirm further news is that the move is not dependent on Mangala going out on loan, if he was to refuse then City would probably up the offer.

Round Up Of The Week, De Bruyne, We Are Not Finished By A Long Shot.

Great game against West Brom last night, still a little messi at the back but as a whole great performance from our defenders. Surprisingly Mangala produced a fantastic performance as did Sagna who was a huge surprise to me on the night so well done to them. One good performance means nothing though in the long run so keep it up lads.

Kompany had a good game too so well done there, our lads just need to build their confidence up again. I believe that has been the thorn in our defensive frailty, our lads just need to kick on from here and fight to be crowned the best.

Still believe we need better left backs, sorry but Kolarov and Clichy do not cut it for me. Right wing is another area but hopefully we will plug that hole with Kevin De Bruyne soon. Then there's the ever talked about center back position, our center backs put on a good performance against West Brom but I still believe we need a proven European powerhouse center back, but honestly I just have this feeling that unless a new manager was to arrive then I just don't see us buying a new center back until Demichelis retires or leaves.

On that note I feel the need to highlight one big issue, right now Manchester City are still not the finished article. To be the finished article we have to have two world class or potentially world class players in every position, for that to happen time and patience is required. A large piece of that puzzle is our World Class academy to be, a regular injection of talent is required year in and year out into our first team just like Barcelona and Real Madrid etc. Two or three youth players per season capable of stepping up is sustainability, once Manchester City achieve that we will be on our way to being unstoppable.

But more pressing matters are at the forefront of my thinking, at left back we have two OK players who are clearly giving us all they have which isn't enough in the long run. They have to be thanked for their contribution and I believe they have been thanked and appreciated by our fans and club to date, been given the chance to play for City, the opportunity for great success in their careers with City and made a good living out of Manchester City. But I feel it's time for them to move on and make way for a proven world class left back and for Angelino to step up when he's done at NYCFC.

On that note and despite the good performance from Mangala last night, I feel we still need a solid world class center back. Our Captain Kompany is 29 so we're looking at roughly 4 or 5 more years, Demichelis is 34 years old. We're ok with Mangala and Denayer but we need an already established senior like Nicolas Otamendi or Diego Godin to plug the incoming hole.

With a bit of luck our right wing position will be solved by the hopeful capture of Kevin De Bruyne, I think all the news that have come out of Wolfsburg lately is nothing more than a club protecting their own interests. They've been playing this one down and denying reports left, right and center, but the media have never let go to date. I never believed a word Wolfsburg said, they claimed there were no bids from City, but they failed to mention whether or not there were any communication between the two clubs. Here's how I think it went down.

Manchester City contacted Wolfsburg inquiring about Kevin
Wolfsburg said no he's not for sale
The Media hype up the potential transfer
Word gets out to Kevin and his head is turned
The Media claim City have made a bid with no evidence
Wolfsburg denied a bid existed
Wolfsburg fail to state they had any communication with City
Kevin has to push for a move so Manchester City can come back to the table with a bid
Not forgetting that there's a player agent counting the cookies who's probably been secretly baiting the media.

So after highlighting this it's quite scary how much of an unfinished article we really are, scary that we have the best attacking force in the English Barclay's Premier League and there's still huge room for improvement. We are a heck of a long way off Barcelona and Real Madrid but we can still mix with the best of them, everyone looks at our current progress in Europe as a failure, to me it's been nothing but a success.

Raheem Sterling will come good and only get better, he will make our left wing his own over the coming years, IF we manage to prize De Bruyne away we could well see him on our right flank interchanging with Sterling and our very own Magician David Silva playing in his preferred position behind the main striker, the same position he plays for Spain to most effect. He was at his best last night, so much so that the dirty West Brom player Yakob had to take a swipe at Silva twice and commit foul after foul on Merlin to try stop him. Merlin set up Kompany's goal and flicked on Yaya Toure's first shot on target. How Yakob never received a red card is beyond me, i'd say if I didn't know better and know match officials show more favour to the weaker team. Match referee Mike Dean is a disgrace to his profession, as are all referee's that do not show impartiality. In fact two of West Brom's players should have seen red.

Great game lads, keep up the good work and keep proving our haters and critics wrong.

The Future Is Blue

Manchester City Rear Guard Still Not Right, A Cause For Concern?

Jose Angel Tasende (Angelino)

Every time Kompany and Mangala play together our Captain suffers, I don't believe Mangala is our answer to partnering Vinny at all. With Demichelis getting closer to retirement and only young Jason Denayer as potential at present. I feel somewhat underwhelmed by our lack of activity for a new experienced Centre Back. Here I have placed our players in the positions they can occupy to show a true picture of our strength in depth and positional strength. I really hope the Nicolas Otamendi rumour turns out to be true or we bring in a proven European Centre Back quick.

Goalkeeper: Hart / Caballero / Wright
Right Back: Zabaleta / Sagna
Centre Back: Kompany / Demichelis
Centre Back: Mangala / Denayer
Left Back: Clichy / Kolarov

Right Attacking Midfield: Sterling / Nasri / Lopes
Centre Midfield: Yaya Toure / Fernandinho
Centre Midfield: Delph / Fernando
Left Attacking Midfield: Silva / Iheanacho / Navas / Lopes

Centre Attacking Midfield: Silva / Iheanacho / Bony /Lopes
Striker: Bony / Iheanacho / Aguero / Sterling

This tells me one thing, we are one Centre Attacking Midfielder short, we are also weak at both Wing Back positions and at Centre Back. I'm not at all convinced by Sagna as well as Mangala and Kolarov's defencive ability is not exactly doing Mangala any favours either. We are for the majority of time attacked on our left which highlights how weak City are in that position. Clichy is past his best to say the least so we need Wing Backs super fast, the only Wing Back we have that I have faith in is Zabaleta. One good plus to all this defencive mess is, that we have young Left Back Angelino (Jose Angel Tasende) coming through the ranks and currently on loan at New York City FC.

I am deeply concerned with the season ahead, if we don't strengthen now I see us possibly losing the title race yet again considering the underwhelming emphasis Pellegrini puts on our defencive play. Chelsea clearly showed last season that playing from the back is needed to grind out results. You can't always outscore everyone especially when they always park the bus like most seem to do against us, what do you think of all this?

Video: Joe Hart In Intensive England Training, So Fun You Want To Be There Yourself

Note: JOE HART is in Orange boots in case of confusion, all England keepers are shooting at each other.

Opinion: Sepp Blatter And Why He Resigned, Russia And Qatar Should Lose World Cup Rights

It's blatantly obvious why he resigned now rather than cling on to his throne of power, he clearly thought buying Africa, Asia and Russia would protect him. There was one slight problem though, The FBI and the Swiss Authorities arrests of 7 of the highest FIFA officials under Sepp Blatter.

It was at the request of US authorities according to reports, and they are awaiting extradition to the United States to stand trial. Here's the interesting part that really tells the story. Those 7 former FIFA officials arrested will be at the mercy of the FBI once Extradited, meaning Sepp Blatter knew it is only a matter of time before he is arrested also.

How can one man not know that all the officials under him were breaking the law and accepting bribes?, it is absolutely impossible for Blatter not to know. I remember the first time I ever declared that I believed FIFA to be corrupt and bare in mind the home of football hadn't hosted a World Cup since 1966.

I was born in 1975 and the first time I believed FIFA were corrupt, were Italia90, when Italian football was as corrupt as FIFA themselves. Italy were not unlike FIFA, also allowed to get away with it for a very long time, in fact it wasn't until 2006 that the Italian's met their maker 2006 Italian football scandal.

Back then I wasn't much of a national fan to be honest, due to being a City fan and seeing McDonaldster United's players dominate the English national side, it kind of lost it's way with me. After all England were never going to win anything with that bunch of over hyped lot were they, I was more interested in Girls and Adventure and the fact England still haven't done that well to date only proved I was right. On that note though I believe our youth will one day lift the World Cup again.

The first time I actually put an England shirt on was funnily enough 2006 when Italy was ousted and Germany was awarded as 2006 World Cup hosts, did you know Germany have hosted the World Cup prior to that in 1974 as West Germany? That's right they've hosted it twice TWICE. I was empowered to start supporting my country because of that fact and the fact I disliked the snotty nosed Germans at the time, even today I find Bayern Munich the epitome of Egotistic Egoists, not unlike the bunch of clowns McDonaldster United or Real Madrid in their respected countries.

But what's all that got to do with Sepp Blatter you say because he wasn't in power back then you may ask? Well it's worth noting that from 1981 to 1999 Mr Sepp Blatter was General Secretary and then President from 1998 to 2015.

So now here I am, never have I seen my country and the home of football host a World Cup, while knowing Germany hosted it TWICE. Here I am now a father to my 3 year old son wondering whether he will also be denied seeing England ever host a World Cup in his lifetime, would you blame me for feeling a little angry at these money sucking vampires?

As soon as those 7 are extradited they will give up Sepp Blatter, that is if the FBI don't find something to hang him with first, It's blatantly obvious Sepp Blatter only stood for another term to try buy himself more time. He probably thought with the political situation between the US, Europe and Russia that he could rely on Russia to support him, but the truth is Russia are just a posturing bunch of egotistical bullies who have realised they are out of their depth.

I knew it was only a matter of time before Sepp Blatter would crumble after the FBI launched their investigation, now that the cretin has stood down I celebrate this momentous event with extreme enjoyment.

Now it's time FIFA should revoke the right for Russia and Qatar to host the World Cup, the problems we have though are as follows. Russia, Asia and Africa all knew they cheated the system to earn the right to host the World Cup, they robbed everyone else just as much as Sepp Blatter and FIFA did.

How do FIFA deal with that fact?, do they reject them countries from having a FIFA representative?

Whatever happens next will be interesting but one thing needs to happen right now, Russia and Qatar should not host the World Cup unless FIFA rerun the voting and it is fairly monitored and scrutinised but those who bribed their way and are found guilty should not be allowed to submit again. Even if England were found to be guilty I would still support that those found guilty are not permitted to enter.

This is our City's Message To Real Madrid CF Concerning Sergio Aguero

Message to Real Madrid CF concerning Sergio Aguero or any other of our star players like David Silva, Joe Hart etc etc etc, and this goes for any other club sniffing at our door for our best.

Joe Hart, David Silva, Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero are not for sale, we don't need to sell and we don't need your money. Not even if you offered us £250 million, Sergio Aguero is priceless.

Best Wishes To Queens Park Rangers FC, A Time For Reflection, Not Over Excitement

As positive as beating a troubled Queens Park Rangers by 6 goals is, too our fight for automatic Champions League qualification, I feel the need to dumb the result down.

After all we were playing a side with the useless big mouth Joey Barton taking up valuable space, a very good job well done by our lads. But the extremely over excited tweets I've witnessed from City fans on Twitter (I hate Twitter by the way) after the match prompted this.

It's hardly the time to start raving and shouting about the score line, David Silva and Sergio Aguero have always been electric in an otherwise poor season. Yes I know but we're in 2nd place, if unfortunate then maybe 3rd by the end of the season you may say. But to start accepting that as successful, is to become an under achieving Arsenal. If we were still the City of old I'd accept the position we're in right now as successful, but we are not the City of old and we should look to criticise ourselves to use it as a spring board and improve. Even our fan base can improve in certain aspects, do those attending matches look at themselves as much as they do our club? Why just a singing section?, why not make the entire stadium (minus the disabled and family section) a singing section?

Wanting better and expecting better for our club is not arrogance, a winner pushes the boundaries and sets a high bar.

Lets face facts that we came up against a Queens Park Rangers side in trouble, if the news is to be believed they are in financial turmoil also. We've been there many times before so know the pressure first hand, it wasn't exactly going to be a tough game for us with all due respect to QPR.

In all honesty it's a bit of a shame it was City that had to condemn them to relegation, Joey Barton aside I wish they weren't relegated and believe he should be he first person they get rid of immediately. If anyone's a bad egg then he's top of the pile.

I just want to wish Queens Park Rangers all the best for the future and hope that they will be back with a bang soon. Shame it wasn't MancDonaldster United instead, they could do with a dose of relegation pie.

With that said well done to our lads, but you need to keep winning now until the end. Excited for Sergio Aguero's well deserved Golden Boot, extremely disappointed Silva and Aguero didn't get a look in for Premier League team of the year, but then it is a stupid award run by stupid people anyhow so no biggy.

Hopefully we can kick on and take some momentum into next season with some top class fresh faces and an injection of our own youth lighting up the Etihad.

U21 Manchester City Lift The Premier League International Cup Defeating FC Porto

Manchester City once again make history by being the first U21 side to lift the Premier League International Cup by defeating FC Porto B 1-0 who ply their trade in the Portuguese Segunda Liga, the equivalent of England's Championship League 1.

Kelechi Iheanacho scoring the only goal of the match, a future forward for our first team without a shadow of doubt what so ever.

The Premier League International Cup is a new competition for under 21 and elite development teams from all over Europe.

Manchester City defeated Schalke, Benfica, Celtic, Leicester City and Porto, which marks an historic moment for the club and Manchester City's youth academy. But more importantly it highlights the huge influence and work Patrick Vieira and his team have achieved to date, another step in the journey of our club. But it never would have been possible without the contribution of one man and his team, all hail Jim Cassell, the man that put our academy on the map for Sheikh Mansour to see.

All our lads were standout performers but the ones that excite me are Olivier Ntcham, Brandon Barker, Kelechi Iheanacho and Seko Fofana.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

Denayer, Lopes, Barker And Iheanacho Deserve Call Up, The Neville Brothers Not So Hidden Agenda

Left Winger Brandon Barker

I won't deny it that I fear Manuel Pellegrini will fail to put faith in our youth and opt against promoting Jason Denayer, Marcos Lopes, Brandon Barker and Kelechi Iheanacho to our first team squad. I fear they will be loaned out, just look at how John Guidetti has turned out who I must add is out of contract so we've lost a few £million there. The same happened with Daniel Sturridge, as much as I detest the money motivated little mercenary scumbag, it was City's fault we lost him on a free to Chelski. I must say I did take much enjoyment out of watching him rot on their bench, it's clear our club still has one or two creases that need ironing out. If Pellegrini survives the Axe then I pray he gives these 4 lads a chance, if he fails too then I'll continue to call for his sacking. I'm not happy about his latest comment that he still believes our squad as they are, are still up to the task but there you go.

On too rat face Gary Neville and his slightly better looking brother Phil, we all know exactly who got hit by the ugly stick in that story aye. Well well well Gary Neville the Sky Sports presenter slams City, Arsenal, Liverpool and United?, stating Chelsea deserve more respect? Even Phil Neville's at it himself, praising Arsenal?

What I find blatantly obvious is they have a not so hidden agenda, rat face is clearly butt hurt over Uniteds lack of success. I mean both he and his sister, I mean brother are rags so that's to be expected, but what wasn't expected was their new found affection for those rival clubs they loved to gloat over. So why have they become fans of Chelsea and Arsenal all of a sudden?

I put it down to the fact they hate Manchester City more than anything or anyone, it's a fact they hate City more than they do Liverpool. For 2 decades the Neville brothers, United and their fans have hidden behind the rivalry with Liverpool as well as our unfortunate lack of success and used it as a smoke screen to disguise their hatred towards Manchester City, the one and only true club of Manchester 1894, after all our very existence goes against everything that is United. Just Manchester City being in the European spotlight scalds everyone connected with United, our club is a huge billboard proving Manchester never were United.

Gone a little off track here but never mind, bottom line is the rags have become so bitter and hurt that they are now showing other clubs around Manchester City support. Only yesterday I witnessed a United fan goading City fans and revelling in Chelsea's title success, the same United fan has been on the Daily Mail website for the last 11 months trying to wind Manchester City fans up, he clearly has some bitter and envious mental health issues not to mention a sad life spending the time he does mouthing off. Oh he's not the only one either as a large number exist web wide, well now it seems the Nevilles are getting in on the act, supporting other clubs even if it does mean they have to include United in their rants to save face. It's blatantly obvious that anyone who stops Manchester City has their vote and support.

It's also pretty clear fellow players of other Premier League clubs have hidden agenda's against Manchester City, how on earth can David De Gea be chosen ahead of Joe Hart or Thibaut Courtois the undoubted best goalkeepers in the league? Or choose Harry Kane and Diego Costa over the undoubted best forward in the Premier League, who may I add is currently top goalscorer and heir to the Golden Boot award if he has his way. Currently standing (22) 2 goals more than Kane and 3 goals more than Costa, 1 goal short of his 23 goals in 2012, add to that 6 assists, 3 more than Costa and 2 more than Kane.

Evidence of an agenda is laid bare for all to witness, I forgot to mention match officials reluctance to red card players like Diego Costa for stamping but lets leave that for now. Despite no one really putting up a fight for the title this season, I must congratulate Chelsea on their title success if only for sustained consistency. On the other hand I'm in support of Manuel Pellegrini's honest opinion that they were, are boring, play boring football and that we are more entertaining. But with that said I'd like to see us defend and counter attack more, as opposed to always playing in our opponents half all the time, not as boring as Chelsea but more adaptable to our surroundings.

There's nothing wrong with being honest, now that Chelsea are English Champions lets see the rest of the league up their game against them for a scalp, this is why it's never easy to win back to back titles. To be honest I think this will be a blessing in disguise for Manchester City, a chance to regroup, freshen up, give our youth a chance and bring in a few fresh legs.

Memory Lane, The Worlds Greatest Ever Title Win

You can have all the money in the world, but you can't buy things like this. One day there will be a Hollywood movie about this. 2012 the best year of my life, the birth of my son and City fan Lucas and my first top flight title win since I was born in 1975.

Roman Needs To Muzzle His Pet Jose Moronho, Absolutely Embarrassing

Not content with winning the Barclays Premier League title with a bit of class and respect, the surreal chump Jose Moronho at Chelsea FC has continued his childish attack on City, over FFP's apparent favouritism towards Manchester City FC. What? Aye? Is he trying to say we've been given some kind of special treatment by Uefa or something?

While 4 of the top 5 clubs in the Premier League spent far more than Manchester City in 2014 as follows:

Man United            153.1m   (29)  All mid to low 20s
Liverpool               116.8m   (33) 1 player in their 30s, the rest mid 20s
Chelsea                 87.7m     (29) All mid to low 20s
Arsenal                 78.2m     (29) All mid to low 20s
Southampton          57.9m     (29) All mid to low 20s
Manchester City      54.5m     (33) 3 players over 32, 2 in their mid 20s

AGE OF SIGNINGS: Just to put it into perspective in brackets are the ages of the oldest player bought by each club above, this does not include free transfered players or January winter signed players.

The players Manchester City signed were:

Frank Lampard   aged 36    (FREE)
Willy Caballero    aged 33   (4.4m)
Bacary Sagna      aged 32   (6.1m)
Fernando           aged 27   (14.0m)
Mangala             aged 24   (26.4m)

More perspective that we spent less than Southampton FC because the FFP forced us to not spend proving the FFP is only a corrupt tax scam to protect the status quo and punish everyone else. The players City purchased in 2014 were reminiscent of the calibre of player we would have purchased around 5 to 10 years ago before any takeover at City. We were screwed before the 2014 season even kicked off, with that said we really should be proud of where our club is right now in the table come to think of it.

On top of this we were punished by Uefa with a £49 million pound fine and had our European squad stripped down to 21 players. If that wasn't a more obvious plan to keep a leash on City to stop them from succeeding in the Uefa Champions League I don't know what is.

Now Jose Moronho repeats his claim that Manchester City FC should be deducted points?, hasn't anyone told the moron that Uefa can't impose or force points deductions in domestic football?

Or does he mean in Europe, fat lot of good that would have done for Chelsea or any other club for that matter as 1. Manchester City don't need cash from the Champions League, we don't even need the Champions League either. The Champions League need us more than we need them, just like any other club. 2. English clubs never meet each other in the group stage. Give the whining little baby his points deduction for this seasons Competition to shut him up, utterly embarrassing little cretin of a man if you ask me. I am soooooo glad we dodged that bullet and never signed him as our coach, all he ever does is whine, cry and moan all the time, half of what he comes out with makes no sense at all and he carries himself around like he's something special. I suppose that's why he fits in with the Russians philosophy, I mean Russians are an arrogant bunch too aren't they. But lets not go into all the political stuff, I hate politics to be honest.

Manchester City have been punished enough by the European FFP tax scam, in fact Uefa shouldn't even be imposing FFP regulations in football. It should be down to footballs domestic bodies to impose such, like England have already done.

Congratulations to our Football Manager 2015 Competition winner, Adrian Brodkin for correctly answering our question: Who are the only two players in history to score in two World Cup finals and go on to win the World Cup twice or more. The correct answer was fellow Brazilian legends Vava and Pele, your game will be winging it's way to you soon.

UK COMPETITION: Football Manager 2015 Up For Grabs, Got To Be In It To Win It

[Apologies but this competition is only open to UK Residents]

Brand new PC Windows/Linux Football Manager 2015 game up for grabs, all you have to do is visit the link in this article and send your Name, Email address, UK County of residence and Answer to the question below, too me using the message box to the right here.

Question: Who are the only two players in history to score in two World Cup final matches and go on to win the World Cup twice or more.

Only correct answers will be submitted and I will pick a name at random on the 1st May 2015, all entries after 12am on 30th April 2015 will unfortunately not be included.

New Improved Football Manager 2015 has added more than 2000 new motion captured animations, new lighting, improved player models and ball physics to the 3D engine. Improved Artificial intelligence with individual player shouts, touch line team talks along side other additions make this game the closest simulation to a football match available.

Check out Cash Generator for bargains on Wii Consoles etc

The new user interface makes management easier and more intuitive, A new Scouting Centre integrates all areas of player recruitment, adding the ability to set scouting assignments to find specific levels of player.

Added more realistic player personality gifting player power, Players are more vocal in the press and are quicker to issue ultimatums if they're unhappy. A deeper media experience with tabloid and broadsheet reporters developing more varied stories, also brand new tunnel interviews before and after matches.

Good Luck.

Wilfried Bony's First Start Was Unlucky, Real Reason Why Kompany Isn't The Kompany We Know

Anyone reading our blog will be well aware I'm not a huge fan of Edin Dzeko and Wilfried Bony's first start and performance for City against Leicester City, his positioning was almost perfection and he was lucky not to score as Schwarzer put in a very strong performance.

I strongly believe starting the match gave him time to settle in finally and find his feet and scoring touch. I'm in no doubt what so ever that given more starts he will get on the score sheet sooner rather than later, he made more goal scoring chances for himself in that one match than Dzeko ever does in five combined matches.

Unlike Dzeko who prefers to run the left channel, Bony runs both left and right channels and patrol the 18 yard area. Here's some statistics comparing both players.

2014/15

Appearances:           Bony 26  Dzeko 28
Minuted played:      Bony 1.462  Dzeko 1.412
Minutes per goal:    Bony 162'  Dzeko 235'
Assists:                    Bony 3  Dzeko 4
Goals:                      Bony 9  Dzeko 6

These statistics clearly show that Wilfried Bony is a better Center Forward than Edin Dzeko without any doubt what so ever. Add to that that Bony achieved these statistics with Swansea City, as opposed to Dzeko being surrounded by the likes of Silva, Aguero, Toure and co. Don't get me wrong Dzeko is a good forward but in my opinion not as good as Bony who also defends better than Dzeko, I just don't believe Dzeko is the right man for City anymore. Compared to Bony, Dzeko is defensively lazy, an opinion shared by many of our City fan readers. I only hope Pellegrini now continues to start Bony and surprise me enough to gain my support back, but that's also only going to happen if he also learns from his mistakes of playing a forward that can't defend against the likes of clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool and instead either play Bony who can defend playing in the hole behind Aguero or an extra man in midfield.

Well done to Leicester City for keeping the score low, they did themselves credit and I hope they can kick on and survive the drop if they keep playing like they did against us. I'm not completely convinced Pellegrini's the man for City, if he continues to refuse to balance attack with defense, continues to play 442 against big clubs and continues to rely on the unreliable Dzeko and continues to fail to come up with a plan B and C then he has to go.

Vincent Kompany, now why exactly is he struggling?

Although I am not a fan of Roberto Mancini anymore, under Bobby we had the best defense in England. I truly believe one reason why Kompany is suffering is because Pellegrini continues to do nothing but attack and play in the opponents half. Now Left Back is our weakest position and it seems every club we play attacks us more down the left than down the right. So Pellegrini has us playing high up the field which exposes Kompany and his defenders to counter attacks, our midfielders are left back tracking all the time against the fast teams like Barcelona and Liverpool.

While Pellegrini insists on sticking to just one style of play, our defenders will continue to struggle and suffer, especially when they only have back up in the form of just one defensive midfielder in favor of two forwards against dangerous opposition. Everyone's figured us out and parks the bus playing counter attacking football and quite frankly, Pellegrini is looking naive, ignorant and arrogant.

Being out injured did Kompany no favors either, so it was inevitable that he would struggle especially by being exposed by his manager. I don't blame Kompany for the situation we find ourselves in, although a lot of our players have under performed, I strongly believe it's because Pellegrini has been running them into the ground by forcing them to play high up the field attacking at pace for 90 odd minutes all the time, the only time our lads get a break and slow down is when we are on the back foot and under pressure.

Some of you will probably see me as a Pellegrini hater but that couldn't be further from the truth. When he arrived I was excited, it's only this season that I've seen a side of him I don't like. His reluctance to get us playing like a world beater, As I said we have no plan B or C, we never play on the counter attack. I find nothing more frustrating than watching us counter attack as slow as we do, allowing even the weaker of teams plenty of time to get back into position and it's quite frankly sad with the players we have.

I would much rather we play a balanced game than attack attack attack, winning trophies and titles is a bonus and should come second. If Pellegrini woke up this morning and said to himself  'I'm going to learn from my mistakes, get my team back on track and create a plan B. Get my players playing a few different styles and make us Champions of Europe' then I'd back him to the hilt and he will have won my support back. Unfortunately I don't see that happening, but it's up to him to prove me wrong.

Right now I'm a big fan of Diego Simeone of Athletico Madrid, what he's done makes that grey haired muppet at Chelsea look average. I've watched and studied him closely over the past 6 odd months and I see no weakness in his armoury. OK his English isn't great to my knowledge but it's not like he can't learn from the best, half of our players speak Spanish, Portuguese or Brazilian anyway.

If Pellegrini does end up messing up completely and find himself sacked, then I sincerely hope Simeone is the man to replace him. Either way I'd be happy with a reformed Pellegrini or Simeone.

One thing I am in know doubt about though is, I'm not a fan of Edin Dzeko.

Barcelona Loss Was Manuel Pellegrini's Fault Alone, Our Players Did Themselves Credit In Second Half

When we play the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich in Europe, we are already on the back foot before matches are even played. European match officials are under immense pressure and 8 out of 10 times favour the established elite. This was clear against Barcelona, Roma and Bayern Munich, when their players commit fouls none of them get booked unless it's impossible not to book them. But the second one of our players commit a foul the cards come flying out. I've always said you need to be able to beat a 12 man team in Europe to succeed, most recently Frank Lampard said it himself. You need luck to win the Champions League and it's pretty clear we have been on the other end of luck for the entire world to see.

Never been a fan of cheating little scumbag Dani Alves, he feigned injury to get Clichy sent off, then got subbed off after even fooling his own club. Then proceeds by throwing a childish liccle baby hissy fit about it.

BUT this most recent game against FC Barcelona was doomed from the start, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that without Yaya Toure we were going to struggle. It is pretty clear that only two Manchester City players were capable of replacing him in Wilfried Bony and Fernandinho, so why was it that Fernando and Dzeko who were useless and totally inconsistent chosen ahead of Bony and Fernandinho?

Instead of crowding out the midfield and playing on the counter attack like Malaga did, Pellegrini decides to play two forwards with Edin Dzeko who can't tackle for shit and Fernando over Fernandinho. The first being a flop (maybe flops a little harsh but still) and the second being a success since they arrived at City?

In Wilfried Bony we have the perfect player to replace Yaya Toure, the fact we played better when Fernandinho and Bony came on in the second half clearly shows I'm right and it is Pellegrini's fault. From day one of Pellegrini being linked with the job at City I was excited, enthusiastic and totally behind the man for the job, but a few years on I'm starting to see flaws in Pellegrini.

He has an unwillingness to adapt, to have a plan B, C and even D, this sticking to one style of play will never bring the Champions League trophy to Manchester City. Again it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that, Pellegrini needs to learn to adapt and get City playing 2 or 3 different ways.

If we go out of the Champions League at Camp Nou and lose our Premier League title, I will have no choice but to call for the sacking of Pellegrini in much the same way I lost faith in Roberto Mancini. Pellegrini and Mancini both have my respect for what they can do, but not for what they fail to do.

In the first half we were blatantly caught short in Midfield because of Dzeko and an ineffective Fernando, as soon as Barca cut us open and scored the first, we were a total mess and everyone was panicking. We lost the fight in midfield because of Pellegrini being naive and thinking we could take on Barcelona with Fernando and Dzeko. The media had been screaming for Pellgrini not to play 442, Barcelona themselves were saying they were looking forward to playing City even more after finding out City would attack attack attack. If that wasn't a bloody warning then what is aye.

Luckily for us Pellegrini was forced to see the error and get on Fernandinho and Bony before it was too late, luckily for Pellegrini our lads put in a strong second half display and gave us an outside chance at Camp Nou. We even have Frank Lampard on the bench, where the heck was he on the night other than stuck on the bench?

My  Man of the Match: Joe Hart

Keep the Faith - Pride in Battle

Cheerio Mike Dean You?, Tata Back To London Mouronho And Your Dirty Band Of Cheats

Well well well, Mike Dean certainly did have it in for us tonight didn't he, he was like a dog on heat just waiting to shag a City stars leg or three with his cards out ready. He was more pumped up for this game than the entire two squads put together, it was like Mike Dean starring Mike Dean, Directed by Mike Dean.

Prior to the Chelsea game Diego Costa went on record stating that opponents have been targeting him and giving him a rough time, welcome to the English game you muppet. So Mr Costa do you think they should give you an easy ride and let you score goals for free?

It's clear from the first whistle that Diego Costa had full intention of getting City players booked, as did a few other Chelsea players I could mention. Didn't help that Mike Dean was blatantly in Mouronho's and Chelsea's back pocket, we showed tonight that we are true CHAMPIONS. We played against 12 men and kept them at bay until the 12th man aka Mike Dean sent off Zabman for nothing but the theatrics of Diego Costa, video reruns clearly show Zabaleta went for the ball and little contact was made with no malice. If anything Diego Costa knew Zabaleta was on a yellow card already and should have been sent off for violent conduct after his over reaction at a fair and innocent tackle.

Mouronho was centre stage in his technical area looking smug, oh wait a minute it's a master class coming up. The Engineer is sending on Frank fuming Lampard, oh dear what can the matter be, you're going to get stung by this bloody angry bee.

Step up Frank Lampard, man of the match for sticking two fingers up to Chelsea, Mouronho and that Russian and those smug Chelsea fans who thought they had it in the bag and was about to beat us with the help of a corrupt referee.

Thank you Mr Frank Lampard, you've made my day despite the two points lost. You deserved that goal and Chelsea deserved that slap in the face for dropping you like garbage, I hope you have a wonderful end to your career with New York City FC.

Well done lads for fighting in the face of adversity.