Back with a Bang, Liverpool Fans Whining and the Anthony Taylor Saga

OK, here we go.

Liverpool fans currently reporting Manchester City fans for throwing Coins, Bottles and Flares as very much white pot calling a white kettle white (I'm White btw, just thought I'd throw that in for the White privilege infatuated Snowflakes). Liverpool now very much famously known for being violent football fans always smuggling in Flares amongst other objects on European Match Days, not to mention publicly arranging to lynch opposing clubs team buses in the National Media and following through with their threats by laying siege to Manchester City FC's team bus with FLARES, BOTTLES, BRICKS and anything else they can get their filthy bin dipping hands on. OR how about the Manchester City away fan buses they ambushed and attacked in the streets of Liverpool, or how about arranging to meet up with A.S. Roma fans in the backstreets of Liverpool, that's right they want it so much that they go to the lengths of arranging it, this confirmed by a Liverpool fan.

I don't condone anything being thrown into people but, you get what you pay for and Liverpool fans have been constantly asking for it since 2017. It smacks of a Bully getting his dues, a term springs to mind 'They can dish it out but they don't like it up them'. I could go on and raise the issue of Liverpool fans throwing death threats at Raheem Sterling and his family, even going as far as to threaten his kid but they do enough themselves, what poor little victims, they certainly love playing the victim. Am I wrong for thinking Liverpool fans deserve what they get, I don't think so.


Lets move on to Referee's with Greater Manchester born Anthony Taylor currently being the big talking point, the fact he's born in a Greater Manchester suburb being the problem when he's being chosen by the PGMOL to officiate games including Manchester City or that other club in Trafford, not Manchester but another suburb of Greater Manchester. That's right Anthony Taylor has no affiliation with Manchester proper and is not a Mancunian, Mancunians only come from Manchester, people need to educate themselves enough to understand that first and foremost.

Next people need to educate themselves even further because Anthony Taylors record against Manchester City speaks volumes, I wouldn't go as far as to say he's the worst Referee Manchester City could hope not to end up with but, he's certainly never in favour of Manchester City as the majority of Manchester City matches he's officiated have ended up with City drawing or losing. So to try imply he favours Manchester City is ludicrous and there's no evidence to support he does favour City.

Right now the Media, their Liverpool loving Pundits and Liverpool fans are in love with the thought of seeing Liverpool FC win the Premier League for the first time and all at the expense of Manchester City, all this fall out smacks of bitter and sore loser syndrome. Manchester City FC certainly destroyed any chance of gifting them their dream of Liverpool going 10 points ahead and Manchester City falling further behind so what's going to be next?

Liverpool FC and their fans have certainly being creating a new rivalry with Manchester City, taken to the extreme with a dash of violence, well when you attack other clubs fan bases you should really not cry foul when it's returned, well that's the way I see it anyway. So while I can understand some Manchester City fans problems with Liverpool fans I'd never condone violence, that said it's Liverpool's away following that attacked Manchester City's Team and Fan buses, that is unless the Liverpool fan I spoke too has their information wrong.

I certainly enjoyed watching Klipperty Klopp and his players thinking they could just turn up and roll us over.

I massive well done to our lads for turning up and being counted, special mention for Kompany for putting Salah in his place.

What are your thoughts on the whole Saga?

Did Pep and our Players learn their lesson? Only time will tell for City

Before anyone jumps the gun hear me out, like many others I admittedly bought in to the Pep Guardiola is the best Coach in the world like many of world Footballs fandom but. I can see where I'm wrong to believe that and I'll explain by saying the following. I believe Pep's up there as one of the best coaches in world Football, to brand him the best Coach though is a step too far, he still has a lot to learn about English football for a start and I'm sure he would agree. This season has been nothing but magical as well as surprising in more ways than one, but to repeat our 16 point haul feat would be nothing short of miraculously historical. A handful of clubs have worked us out and it's only a matter of time before the rest follow suit, thus making it more difficult for us prompting for us to adapt our game further.

Against Liverpool and United recently, Pep Guardiola exposed his weakness. He came out to the Media and explained that his players don't need him in his technical area. So lets do away with technical area's then shall we? I'm personally pro technical area and pro animated and passionate Coach operating his so, to claim that our players have it in them to win matches without their Coach on the sidelines was ludicrous, any opposing Coach or Manager will always take advantage of their opponent being sent to the stand.

We can't control match officials or their actions so we have to learn to treat them as our twelfth opponent, our enemy if you will. Its' blatantly obvious that Uefa have an agenda against us and this isn't the first and won't be the last time we are robbed blind by a Uefa Referee, take a gander back to when we were robbed against Barcelona over two legs or against Real Madrid. You're not alone in your contempt for Uefa my fellow City fans, I totally understand why our fans are not so big on the European Competition and I'd be quite happy seeing us win the English Premier League every season.

Before the Tottenham match last night I was fearing the worst, that Pep was falling in to the same trap Bobby Mancini and Pellegrini did so dramatically. Trusting their players to go out and stick to their game plan and get it done all by themselves, lambs to the slaughter.

After the first leg of the Champions League match against Liverpool, Pep should have learnt from the mistakes made. After all he and his coaching team pride themselves on their analysis and preparation as much as their ethic and brand of football. To then allow Man United to copy Liverpool and inflict the same on us was Criminal, to then allow Liverpool to once again inflict the same on us all in the space of two weeks was unforgivable to say the least.

As previously mentioned I feared the worst against Tottenham, so I sent a message to to Vincent Kompany via his Facebook account.

"Vinny, I don't care what anyone says, since Zabaleta has left Manchester City, you have all grown soft. You need to all be teaching Pep that you can't just win in England with fancy tippy toe football, you've all lost your gonads and need to toughen up. You were made utter embarrassments by Liverpool and United, you embarrassed our fans who deserve better. You ask any dyed in the wool Manchester City fan including me, I'd give up the trophies just to go back and put it right against Liverpool and United. Wake up the lot of you and start dishing out as good as you get."

Now I'm not suggesting Vinny read my comment, or that his representatives relayed the message to him but, the answer I got against Tottenham Hotspur was exactly what I demanded from Pep and our players for our fans. I was hoping Pep would see the error of his ways and thankfully he did, our players took a more cautious approach only retaining 53% possession, as well as closing down our opponents quicker. He brought about tactical change once Tottenham started to press us as did Liverpool and United, by taking off Sane, Jesus and De Bruyne and replacing them with Bernardo Silva to give us fresh legs in midfield, Yaya Toure to give us some defencive cover and height in our own box and Otamendi to tighten up our back line. Exactly what we should have done against Liverpool and United. As I said in my prior Article, Pep Guardiola was solely to blame for making Liverpool and United look far better than they actually are.

All Liverpool are are a bully team, now I'm not saying that's a bad thing, quite the reverse. I want Manchester City to add that to our game more often as a few tactical yellow cards are welcome, it's exactly what we lack at time as the only City players to really show it are Fernandinho and Otamendi. Boy will I be glad to see Mendy back in the side, of course Aguero is as tough as they come but it's not his job to defend and dominate in defence and midfield. We certainly could do with a few more defencive and midfield aquisitions in the Summer with Yaya Toure at the end of his City career, Fernandinho not getting any younger and having no cover for Mendy aside Delph.

Tottenham, United and Liverpool have always been bully teams, it's why they've dominated the top English league for so long. They've never been a great team like Real Madrid of old led by the Brazilian Ronaldo or Barcelona of old led by Messi, they just got the job done, be it only briefly in European football. Even Chelsea for instance only beat Barcelona in the Champions League because of the English way they played, defensively and on the counter.

It's not brain science after all, we're a possession based side so if our opponents are having more of the possession and we're struggling to regain possession, then change it up, make a tactical change and play on the counter. We also have some of the fastest players out there, exploit it and go for the throat.

I can only hope for my fellow fans that Pep and our players have learnt from this almighty mistake and we move forward from here having learnt our lesson. If we are to become a truly great European side then we need to mix it up and get our hands dirty.

Well done to our players and coaching team for turning over Tottenham Hotspur and the forever always playing for penalties and over rated Dele Alli.

Ederson's the Keeper to take City to the next level, thoughts on Sanchez to City

Manchester City's latest signing has me extremely excited, City's new No1 Brazilian Goalkeeper Ederson Moraes has it all. City were first linked with Ederson in 2015 before Benfica signed him, I was extremely disappointed and especially now that we find ourselves paying 3 times the fee for him. Not that he's not worth the money, I am over the Blue Moon that we've finally captured his signature. I was a huge fan of Joe Hart up until he constantly failed to shake the monkey off his shoulder, was sorry to see him go but I think Guardiola was correct in shipping him out. Joe's still be best England have in between the sticks, managed to keep his place in the England squad so every body's happy.

With the right Defence in front of him we will be a formidable side, this is by far our signing of the season no matter who else we sign.

Lets look at Ederson Moraes:

Full name is: Ederson Santana de Moraes

Aged 23 and standing 6ft 2inches Ederson is strong in the air and off his line, a great shot stopper from both short and long range.

For Benfica last season he made one Assist and was rewarded for 2 Man of the Match performances.

In 2016/17 Uefa Champions League Ederson kept 3 clean sheets and saved 1 Penalty for Benfica.

2016/17 for Benfica across the board

Saves made 56

Saves caught 4

Saves parried 23

Saved shots inside the box 28

Saved shots outside the box 28

Catches 22

Punches 7

Crosses not claimed 1

Total passes 764

Pass accuracy 65.3%

Completed Passes 54

Successful distribution 233

Unsuccessful distribution 92

Clean Sheets 22

Penalties Saved 2

Discipline: 4 Yellow Cards 1 Red card

As you can see his pass accuracy and distribution is relatively high for a Goalkeeper, exactly what Pep was looking for and what Manchester City require. Along with that we gain a Goalkeeper that likes to save and catch when he can. Ederson is strong at intercepting corners, something we've struggled with lately.

He has the ability to pick out players in advanced positions with powerful accurate long balls and can hit them almost the entire length of the pitch. This will add spice to our passing game, another weapon against teams that play high up the field like Pep's City do.

Ederson Moraes only one weakness is his Discipline but, he's still relatively young at age 23 so it's not such a big deal. I'm 100% sure Manchester City and Guardiola can take Ederson to the next level, exciting times now that we have the best of Brazilian up front and in goal.

Ederson's coming to an entirely new and tougher league so will need patients from my fellow City faithful but, one thing stands out and that that, this lad has it all to make it to the top.

Sanchez to City

Earlier I re-tweeted Gerard Romero's tweet on Arsenals Alexis Sanchez imminently signing for Manchester City, I'd be a little sceptical but it's Gerard Romero and he's certainly in the now for sure with a reasonable track record so I'm going with this one. Arsenal fans are split on this one, while you have your die hard fans aka the anti Clichy and more so anti Nasri brigade moaning about not wanting to lose more players to Manchester City, others are saying it's not so bad as long as Wenger signs an adequate replacement of the same level. Current Arsenal grapevine is that Wenger's targeting Real Madrid's James Rodriguez, Spanish television show El Chiringuito claim Arsenal are looking to hijack Man United's plans to sign the Colombia international. Get complete coverage of football matches today. It's been suggested that Arsenal submitted an offer of around £60 million for Rodriguez and Jose Luis Sanchez, a Journalist close to Real Madrid has stated that Real have rejected the bid with it falling just short of Real's £69.8 million valuation. Where as Man United have played hard ball over David De Gea and now refused to sell him to Real Madrid, this is being touted as pay back for the Sergio Ramos saga, so it's highly unlikely that Arsenal will have any opposition to United in the race for Rodriguez.

I was sceptical when we were first linked with Alexis Sanchez but, after Romero's tweet I'm more inclined to believe City signing Sanchez is a real probability but it will all hinge on whether or not Arsenal can sign a replacement. Sanchez still has a year to run on his contract so Arsenal could play hard ball but, risk losing him on a free in 2018.

Will we sign Sanchez? Well news is the player wants to play for Guardiola and has rebuffed Bayern Munich in the process so? YES

Temperamental anti Manchester City, Uefa co FFP instigator Arsene Wenger can play hard ball all he likes, if he refuses to let Sanchez leave then Arsenal stand to lose him on a fee bosman in 2018. If that was to happen then Arsenal would go down as the most childish bite their nose off to spite their face club in footballing history.

Final thoughts: If I'm honest I don't even think we need Sanchez, do I want City to sign him? Not really that fused if I'm honest. Would I welcome him? Sure, he'd be an asset to any club but no matter where he ends up I'll wish him the best, doubt many Arsenal fans will though with their track record.

Tribute to a true Legend: Argentine Bruiser Zabman Pablo Zabaleta, Blood and Sweat

Tomorrow on 16/05/2017 and after 9 loyal years we see the end of an era for one player who captured our hearts for so many reasons, it's a bitter sweet moment in Manchester City's history. A player who gave his all, blood, sweat and the determination of 11 men in 1, he will forever be remembered as the Argentine Bruiser Zabman.

Step forward Legend Pablo Zabaleta, "maybe I come back in a different role".

Always remembered, never forgotten LEGEND. Pablo Zabaleta.

Manchester City Transfer Targets: Who will City sign? TIOC's Predictions

We've already been linked with a number of players, one thing that makes me feel extremely happy is that finally we are being linked with a large number of Defenders. While I acknowledge that our defence has been poor this season, it's worth highlighting that they haven't really done a bad job considering we are still in the top four and a Champions League position. So while they have been unworthy of the Premier League title, they don't deserve any level of abuse. Peps Philosophy has after all left our ageing Defenders in their 30's, open to counter attacks from much younger and fitter opponents.

These are the Players below who are rumoured to be Pep's targets, I'm going to run the rule over them for you.

Goalkeeper

Ederson is a Keeper I like the look of, he ticks all the boxes and I've been aware for some time that City are seriously showing significant interest in the lad, I think this one will happen for sure.

Ederson Morae (23) Market Value £10 million, Ederson is a Brazilian Keeper who can play as a Sweeper Keeper. (Probable)

Defenders

Unfortunately we're a few seasons off producing any Wing backs ready to step up with a few of them learning their trade out on loan, so we'll have to go in to the transfer window looking for them. It's no new news that our wing backs are all over 30, We've been linked with Spurs left back Danny Rose aged (26) but his market value is currently around £17 million and to prize him away from Spurs we're looking at over double that fee with inflation on English players sky high.

Jose Luis Gaya (21) Is a Spanish Left back who can also play in left midfield. Market Value £15 million. (Probable)

Álex Grimaldo (21) aka Alejandro Grimaldo is a Spanish Left back who can also play in Center Midfield and Left wing. Market Value £6 million. (Probable)

Sead Kolašinac (23) Bosnian Left back who can also play in Defencive Midfield and Left wing back. Market Value £7.7million. (Possible)

Benjamin Mendy (22) French Left back Mendy can also play at Left Midfield, has impressed for AS Monaco. Market Value £8 million (Possible)

Benjamin Henrichs (20) is a German Right back who also plays at Left back and in Attacking Midfield. Market Value £9 million. (Possible)

Jury is out on Virgil van Dijk for me, while he has promise he hasn't exactly improved since leaving Celtic, I view Celtic as a mid table club and I mean no offence by that, mid table in the Premier League is still a tough position to hold. We really need to find a player capable of replacing Vinny Kompany, I don't see van Dijk as the one to do that.

Virgil van Dijk (25) Market Value £21 million (Unlikely)

Juventus Defender Leonardo-Bonucci (29) Market Value £34 million, for 29 the figure upwards of £34 million is quite a steep number, if Juve were willing to sell at say £20 million then I'd support the signing of Bonucci. The Media have swarmed all over this one with Guardiola saying he likes the Defender, to Bonucci saying he's flattered and happy. But that doesn't mean to say we're going to sign the player, or that he's worth the current asking price. I suppose this one boils down to whether our Owner Sheikh Mansour and City feels Bonucci is worth the huge investment, will it happen? I'm not so sure it will. Reports are in that Juve would be demanding around £60 million, ludicrous.

Leonardo-Bonucci (29) Market Value £34 million (Possible)

For £4 million Portuguese Pepe he still has a season or two in him at the highest level, he's an immediate solution if we struggle to find a younger defender to replace Vinny. Pepe will want to end his career on a high, and there's no one better to follow than Patrick Vieira who ended his career at City successfully. Although Real Madrid are preparing to offer their Defender a new one year deal, City offering more could land the club a short term fix.

Pepe (34) Market Value £4 million (Possible)

Midfielders

Didn't want to cover this one as I believe it's just a joke, Wilfried Zaha who plays In Leroy Sane's Right back position makes no sense, he is no where near good enough to even play in our reserves and nothing more needs to be said.

Wilfried Zaha (24) Market Value £10 million (Unlikely)

We've been linked with Real Madrid's James Rodriguez (25), an Attacking Midfielder who can play both left and right but, his market value is a high £42.5 million. It's unlikely that Pep would consider signing Rodriguez when we already have Leroy Sane and Sterling able to operate on both wings.

James Rodriguez (25) Market Value £42.5 million (Unlikely)

We've been linked with German Center Midfielder Joshua Kimmich (22) Market Value £22 million, to pry him away from Bayern Munich it would take over double that fee and I don't see Bayern even selling the player. Besides we already have David Silva who has more seasons in him, and Kevin De Bruyne in his position.

Joshua Kimmich (22) Market Value £22 million (Unlikely)

AM Brahim Diaz (17) a Manchester City Attacking Midfielder, Diaz will end up a far better player than Dele Alli and cost us nothing while he's at it. He can also play at Right wing giving us a replacement for Jesus Navas who is clearly not good enough. I strongly believe Diaz is ready to step up even at such a young age, he will no doubt to on the Plane to the States with City in the Summer. Diaz has made 30 Appearances in all competitions this season for City's reserves scoring 9 Goals and 9 Assists.

Brahim Diaz (17) Free

Then we have Paolo Fernandes (18) a Spanish Central Attacking Midfielder in our youth ranks, he's made 27 Appearances for City, scoring 12 Goals and 5 Assists. Another player deserving of a place on the flight to the US with City.

Paolo Fernandes (18) Free

Real Madrid's Isco rumours just won't go away, City reportedly tried to sign him but he snubbed us for Real Madrid. I'm of one mind with players like this, never go back in for them but luckily for me I don't think Real Madrid are willing to sell him anyhow, so this ones dead in the water for me thankfully. Besides we already have Silva and De Bruyne.

Isco (24) Market Value £30 million (Unlikely)

Forwards

One striker light up front I'd say with only Aguero, Jesus and Iheanacho. I'd send Iheanacho out on loan to a Champions League club for one season, with a premature termination clause in case of injuries and sign Griezmann. While I see Iheanacho having a future with us, I think he deserves to play regular and we can't offer that currently with Aguero and Jesus ahead of him.

I think it's pointless going into the market for Alexis Sanchez when we already have Sergio Aguero,both aged (28), Sanchez's market value doesn't look all that great so unless Aguero was to leave City, then Sanchez is a pointless waste of cash. With Sanchez able to operate on both wings, he would prove a hindrance to Sane and Sterling also. There's still a strong possibility that we will sign Sanchez, but I don't think we really need him so to me he'd be a luxury buy.

CF Alexis Sanchez (28) Market Value £55.25 (Possible)

Same with us being linked to French Secondary Striker Antione Griezmann (26), he lacks the one thing we need in a secondary striker, height and he lacks it at 5ft 9 inches.

FW Antoine Griezmann (26) Market Value £68 million (Unlikely)

Torino's Italian Centre Forward Andrea Belotti (23) has been linked with Manchester City, while he's has a successful season at Torino scoring 26 Goals and Assisting 5, he can only play in that one position and is only 5ft 9 inches and doesn't fit the Guardiola mould. It's being touted that Joe Hart could be used as part of a deal for Belotti but, I just don't see this one happening.

FW Andrea Belotti (23) Market Value £26 million (Unlikely)

CF Lukas Nmecha (18) a Striker for Manchester City, English International who was born in Germany and another player I tip to make the Plane to the States in the Summer. I've been raving about this kid since joining us, he could still choose to turn out for Germany in the future. He joined city's academy in 2009 and earned his full scholarship in 2015, Nmecha's made 25 Appearances in all competitions this season for City's reserves scoring 18 goals and Assisting 2 goals.

Lukas Nmecha (18) Free

Lyon's French Center Forward Alexandre Lacazette (25) has had a super season making 38 Appearances, scoring 30 Goals and Assisting 4. Market Value £34 million While he is prolific he is only at 5ft 7 inches and right footed exactly like Aguero.

Alexandre Lacazette (25) Market Value £34 million (Possible) With Jesus Navas hopefully on his way out, English Attacking Midfielder Patrick Roberts currently at Celtic, can fill his void and play backup to Raheem Sterling, no brainer saving us some money.

Patrick Roberts (20) Free

FULL LIST

Ederson Morae (23) Market Value £10 million (Probable) Video  TIOC says sign him up

Jose Luis Gaya (21) Market Value £15 million (Probable) Video

Álex Grimaldo (21) Market Value £6 million (Probable) Video  TIOC says sign him up

4 homegrown player listed below added to our player roster with only Gael Clichy and maybe Fabian Delph set to leave.

Brahim Diaz (17) Free

Paolo Fernandes (18) Free

Lukas Nmecha (18) Free

Patrick Roberts (20) Free

Pepe (34) Market Value £4 million (Possible)

Sanchez (28) Market Value £60 million (Possible)

Alexandre Lacazette (25) Market Value £34 million (Possible) Video

Leonardo-Bonucci (29) Market Value £34 million (Possible) Video

Benjamin Mendy (22) Market Value £8 million (Possible) Video

Sead Kolašinac (23) Market Value £7.7million (Possible) Video

Benjamin Henrichs (20) Market Value £9 million (Possible) Video

Virgil van Dijk (25) Market Value £21 million (Unlikely)

Wilfried Zaha (24) Market Value £10 million (Extremely unlikely)

James Rodriguez (25) Market Value £42.5 million (Unlikely)

Joshua Kimmich (22) Market Value £22 million (Unlikely)

Antione Griezmann (26) Market Value £68 million (Unlikely)

Andrea Belotti (23) Market Value £26 million (Unlikely)

Isco (24) Market Value £30 million (Unlikely)

Right back is a concern for me, Henrichs is the only Right back with a solid link to City that I'm aware of at present. I'm sure we'll be linked with many more player between now and the Summer window, intriguing times.

Reluctancy for Video Refs? I predicted Marriner would screw City again, Referee bias.

Andre Scumbag Marriner
Before we played Arsenal I predicted Andre Marriner would screw us over, as this evidence shows.

@Andre_Marriner I'd like to know if you're going to screw @ManCity over against Arsenal, like you did against Spurs? PGMOB advised again?

— Jason Halfpenny (@MCFC_TIOC) March 28, 2017

With the game tied at 2 goals a piece, Arsenal's Nacho Monreal handled the ball in Arsenal's 18 year box as Jesus Navas went to kick the ball.

Monreal even goes as far as to admit it, Andre Marriner witnessed it all but refused to award a penalty.


Sergio Aguero brilliantly tricks Monreal into... by Spanish-Football
I freely admit we haven't done ourselves any favours this season but, I feel strongly that we have been unfairly treated by Match Officials this season and the 'these things even themselves out over the course of a season' excuse doesn't fly I'm afraid, it certainly hasn't evened itself out for Manchester City now.

On to my point with Video Referee's and why the Football Governing Bodies are reluctant to introduce it, I believe it is because it takes away the ability for Referee's to manipulate the outcome of games. In previous articles I've covered the problem in English football with the FA, PGMOB and match officials.

About how Match Officials are threatened to keep quiet or lose their severance package and face consequences, about how former Premier League Referee Mark Halsey became whistle blower after admitting to being asked to ignore incidents, waving his right to his severance packet to write his Autobiography. How it was all brushed under the grass by the Political Elite and Football powers that be.

Andre Marriner and Anthony Taylor have screwed Manchester City over this season and got away with it, Referee's are protected far too much these days. Clubs and Businesses are losing millions if not billions over time, due to corrupt Governing Bodies and Match Officials. It's high time football clubs join forces and fight this injustice against the governing bodies and the established old elite who profit from it i.e. the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. The Football Association have their hand up the puppet named PGMOB, who appoint Match Officials and their teams and instruct them into doing their bidding.

Why hasn't English Football been ousted like Italian Football once were? Because the political power and money of English football, and powerful broadcasters are more than likely paying corrupt Fifa to keep their mouths shut.

Sorry but I'm not gullible enough to believe or think every mistake a match official makes are human error, Anthony Taylor and Andre Marriner have officiated 3 out of 4 title fight matches for us against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea, all of which we have drawn or lost because of blatant bias towards our opponents.

I love Manchester City but,right now its the opposite for English football. I can accept that we haven't been good enough to win the title this season, I can accept that we are in transition and Pep Guardiola needs more time to weed out the pap average like Otamendi, Navas, Nolito, Delph, Fernando and Bravo, along with letting go of the OAP's in Clichy and Sagna. I can accept losing fairly but, what I will never accept is unfair bias and corruption at all, not even if it was ever for us and not against us.

Against Chelsea Anthony Taylor showed blatant bias towards them, allowed David Luiz to run riot over Sergio Aguero, shirt pulling, clipping his heels, man handling him resulting in Aguero getting frustrated. Sent Aguero off rightfully but failed to send of Nathaniel Chalobah for violent conduct, sent off Fernandinho but failed to send off Cesc Fabregas for violent conduct. The game ended 3-1 to Chelsea thanks to his blatant interference.

Against Spurs admittedly in October we didn't do ourselves any favors but Andre Marriner showed Spurs a lot of favour, that game resulted in us losing 2-0.

Again in the return match against Spurs Andre Marriner should have awarded Manchester City a penalty and red carded to Kyle Walker. Instead with the match at City 2 - 1 Spurs, rather than award City a stone wall penalty and send Spurs rightly down to ten men, Andre Marriner helped Spurs back into the game. Former Referee Graham Poll blasted Marriner for it, I like Poll as he will defend Referee's but also blast Referee's if he believes they got it wrong. As far as Manchester City goes, Graham Poll has blasted both these Referee's in favour of Manchester City. Resulting in a 2-2 draw.

And now against Arsenal Andre Marriner has screwed Manchester City yet again, by failing to send off Nacho Monreal and award City yet another penalty, 2 lost points ending 2-2.

I make that an 8 point loss in the title race, we'd be in the top 2 had these two Referee's not of screwed Manchester City over this season.

I suspect foul play by the Football Association and the PGMOB.

Premier League Goal Quiz, care to test your Premier League knowledge?

There is no doubt that Premier League fans have been treated to some truly spectacular and sensational goals over the last 25 seasons. From two yard tap-ins, to net-busting screamers from outside the box, the fans have probably seen every type of goal imaginable. Even the Premier League Betting enthusiasts have put a bet on the types of goals that will be scored.

However, there are types of goals that come along very rarely and are truly mesmerising to watch. They may not be the very best, but the amount of skill involved or the significance of the game can make certain goals truly memorable and go down in history books forever. This quiz will test your knowledge on the most memorable goals in Premier League history. How many can you get correct?

Twilight Zone, Delph, Tosin, Yaya, Power, Messi, and Txiki shopping in Valencia?

After City's surreal performance against Everton, I fully intended on avoiding the media fall out, but instead I decided to weather it.

First off Fabian Delph? he's been available to play but Pep has chosen to go with Zabaleta in midfield, Delph was supposed to be on his way out with West Brom apparently in contact with City over singing him this month. Pep however has pulled the plug on any possible transfer out and fingers are being pointed at our apparent midfield crisis, OK we've lost our two best midfielders in Fernandinho and Gundogan but it's hardly a crisis. We had Delph available, there's nothing wrong with Fernando and his absence is also as confusing as Delph's. Neither were or are injured and both have played the invisible man, then there's Yaya, OK he had a poor game against Everton but he's surprised me since his comeback. Fernandinho being red carded 3 times this season has hurt us more than anything, followed by John Stones and his constant errors.

Next up and to add insult to injury, we are encouraged to believe our 19 year old Mancunian Defender Tosin Adarabioyo is on his way to Everton. All because the lad's turned down a new contract offer, with 6 months left to run on his current contract. As far as I'm aware there has been no interest from Everton in Tosin, so I'm led to believe it's just some moron trying to add insult to injury. Bottom line is yeah, we'd all like to see him stay at City and fight for his future, but if he doesn't want to stay then there's nothing we can do about it other than move on. I mean after all we only want players at our club who want to be here, I hope he sticks with us but it's not the end of the world if he doesn't.

The Independents Simon Hart caught up with ex City Leftback Paul Power, believes Manchester City have lost our identity? But with all due respect I think he's dead wrong. He points to the lack of Mancunian lads in our first team, and compares City of today with the City on his day. Which is in my opinion pretty lame and narrow minded. Back in the 1980's we were up and down in the first and second divisions, so far away from where we are today. Our unwanted neighbours over in Trafford were poaching all the best youth around Greater Manchester, they even poached Ryan Giggs right from under our noses. We weren't fighting for the League Title or the Champions League and we certainly didn't have the youth capable to compete with the bigger clubs.

It's only now that we can compete with the big clubs because now we are a bigger club ourselves, OK we've only got one Mancunian on our first team in Tosin Adarabioyo, but he's not the only young Mancunian on our books.

Manchester born Cameron Humphreys-Grant in our EDS squad.

Manchester born Brandon Barker on loan at Nac Breda

Manchester born Issac Buckley-Ricketts in our EDS squad

Manchester born Kean Bryan out on loan at Bury

There are a lot more Manchester born youth in City's academy but, those lads above are the four I believe have a good chance of making it into our first team. What Paul Power needs to realise is, we have been playing catch up and with that in mind, we've done pretty well in my opinion. I think age is catching up with Paul, it's unrealistic to think Manchester City can field a team full of Mancunian lads and sustain our Premier League and Champions League status. You can't just build a multi-million pound academy and then expect it to instantly roll out a production line of world class Mancunians, but I'd also like to point out a few other points.

Manchester City's players are not the only people that form the identity of our Football Club, the fact Power only spoke about the lack of Mancunians in the side, was just a slap in the face for us City fans. It's us City fans who make up most of the identity, after all if it wasn't for the fans of a club then the club wouldn't exist in the first place. I haven't even mentioned Manchester City's work in the Community, City are at the forefront of Community work and have achieved many awards to show for their hard work in Manchester.

Onto the Lionel Messi speculation that City have enquired about a potential world record transfer away from FC Barcelona, right now I would bet that it's nothing more than just talk. City may well have enquired but, that doesn't mean to say Lionel Messi is about to up sticks and move. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a front three of Messi, Aguero, Jesus but something just tells me Messi hasn't got it in him to make the move to England of all places. He's had a few chances to leave Barca but every time, he was just happy to take a pay rise.

And finally our Txiki Begiristain was spotted in Valencia, allegedly meeting with Valencia's Jose Ramon Alexanko, they currently have Eliaquim Mangala on loan but the talk was reported to be about the possibility of City signing 21 year old Spanish Leftback Jose Gaya. Any deal would more than likely include the permanent transfer of Mangala if both clubs were interested in doing a deal. With Clichy showing his age in his performances lately and Pep's intentions of using Kolarov as a Centerback, we are in need of fresh legs in that position so a move would make sense. To be honest, being constantly linked with Messi is getting boring, my money's on Messi signing a new deal with Barcelona.

I haven't even touched on Alexis Sanchez being on Peps radar with all the speculation over the players contract situation, all I care about right now is seeing Gabriel Jesus make his debut and see City get back to winning ways.

Check out the odds on live football matches at William Hill Lets hope Gabriel Jesus will help us back to winning ways and improve our odds, got to be in it to win it.

Back Off, Pep Guardiola and our Lads need time, to stand up and be counted.

After taking time to assess and watch the fall out of the embarrassing Everton loss, lets be honest we made their average side look better than they are. I could have been rash and attacked Pep and certain City players, but hold on a minute? there's already way to many already attacking Pep and his squad, from idiotic pundits like Jamie Carragher to morons like someone that goes by the name of Mickey T? Some rag who thinks Pep's not all that, someone forgot to remind him United fans were once calling for Alex Furguson to be sacked.

So now every one's had their say I feel it's my turn, I'll hold my hands up and admit I expected a bit more progress from Pep and our team than they've achieved to date. I thought well look at Chelsea and Conte, look how well they're doing and it's Conte's debut season on charge at Stamford Bridge. it's easy to compare but then, Conte has pretty much kept most of Jose Mourinho's squad together and just tinkered with a few players. He's inherited last seasons Champions, so it's hardly surprising that they are doing so well.

Pep on the other hand has shipped out and replaced many players

Joe Hart out for Claudio Bravo

Stuck with an ageing and injury plagued defence, aka Vincent Kompany has been in and out for almost an entire season, Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna have been out injured. Aleksandar Kolarov to my amazement has been our stand out defender at Centerback, and with Gael Clichy our only Leftback it's blatantly obvious we were going to suffer. Ages 33, 32, 31, 31 and 30, which leaves John Stones at 22 and Tosin Adarabioyo 19.

Eliaquim Mangala out for John Stones
Martin Demichelis out for Ilkay Gundogan

We've suffered with the loss of Ilkay Gundogan who's out for the rest of the season after surgery, Fernandinho has been unfairly targeted by referee's this season aside the later red card which can't be justified. Referee's have been part of our problem this season, they've been guilty of showing our opponents favour rather than stay impartial and fair. This has led to our players becoming frustrated and left to feel unfairly treated. Manchester City have the highest possession statistic in the league yet, our players have picked up more bookings than any other club?

Samir Nasri out for Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sane

Wilfried Bony out for Nolito

Noting that Gabriel Jesus has only just joined us and is yet to make his first team debut, that's 5 for 6 first team players,all of which are pretty much first 11.

Injuries and poor refereeing have played a huge part in our season so far and we are still in the top 6, Gabriel Jesus is about to make his debut and I say better late than never.

SO if you claim to be a City fan and have found yourself attacking Pep Guardiola or our players, then back off, take a breather and evaluate what I've just covered.

This is Guardiola's first season in charge and as far as I'm concerned he's done pretty damn well so far, he deserves more respect than he's currently receiving and it's pathetic.

There are a few City fans attacking Claudio Bravo at present too, I call for them to back off also. Again you're only going to cause our club more harm than good. Bravo is obviously low on confidence so it doesn't help that you're cheering him every time he's saving a shot, it doesn't help that our defenders are committing silly errors all the time. Every one of us should be rallying around our lads and singing louder than ever before, while the British Media and opposing clubs fans hang Pep and our lads out to dry.

If you have any sense then you will come to your senses and see the bigger picture, we've been through more disappointment than most clubs on the planet so what's one freaking season of transition for us? not the end of the world.

I'll be happy so long as we stay in the top four above the rags, that my son is progress.

Keep the faith and remember, it's time for those fans sitting on their backsides to stand up and support our players. You should be privileged to be able to be there week in week out, yet you leave it too away fans to turn up and sing.

Our lads messed up and lost against Everton, so what? we're still only half way through the season and we're still in the Champions League, you have Gabriel Jesus to look forward too and the transfer window is still well and truly open.

Get behind the lads, City needs you.

British Media and Anti City Bandwagon want Pep to fail, The FA control match officials.

I absolutely categorically support Pep Guardiola in his stance with the Football Associations meddling with match officials via the back door of the PGMOL, I absolutely understand why Pep is confused by what has been going on in English football since the arrival of Alex Ferguson and his own arrival.

Most of you anti City bandwagoner's will claim it's a conspiracy, that I wear a tin foil cap and it's all in my head, that's all well and good until it's your club who also ends up suffering from injustice. You whine like little babies when it happens to you but, as soon as it happens to Manchester City you're all laughing your backsides off plastering Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with your Emoji's.

Since Pep Guardiola's arrival almost everyone other than Manchester City and City fans have been gunning for Pep, and wanting him to fail and that includes the likes of the British Media, Robbie Savage constantly bad mouthing City, Jamie Carragher can't hide his allegiance to Liverpool and has slated City and Pep on many occasions, Michael Owen is another culprit. BT have had a hugely publicised agenda against Manchester City and even Sky Sports couldn't help but have a pop at Raheem Sterling today after the Burnley win instead of crediting City for the hard fought win against a 14 man Burnley.

Most recent facts:

THE English Football Association who also head the PGMOL board (Professional Game Match Officials Limited), appointed Anthony Taylor is an English professional Football Referee from Wythenshawe, a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, home of Man United to officiate the high profile title fighting match between Manchester City and current table toppers Chelsea. He's from Greater Manchester ? WTF I always assumed a Referee wasn't allowed to officiate a match within their home location? OK Trafford isn't Manchester but it's surrounded by Manchester and it's home to United. Now He claims to support non-League side Altrincham, but many have claimed that he's been spotted on quite a few occasions in the crowd at Old Trafford. This particular game against Chelsea honestly came as no surprise to me as Taylor has a short history of screwing City, Admittedly we didn't turn up against Leicester City in 2016 but, he didn't help matters by gifting Leicester advantage. Against Arsenal in 2016 Taylor helped them make a comeback and needlessly decided to yellow card two City players just before the final whistle.

Now I'm not going to defend Sergio Aguero or Fernandinho for their actions against Chelsea BUT, had Anthony Taylor rightfully sent off David Luiz for smashing in to Aguero and send him flying. (No Taylor put his whistle to his lips and then bottled it). Then Aguero's rash retaliation on Luiz and the brawl the followed would have never come to pass. For the entire match Anthony Taylor allowed Chelsea to ruff up City and not end up with a single caution or yellow card, but as soon as City players gave as good as they got out flew his cards.

Manchester City are kicked, shoved and assaulted but that's not a problem as our players can stand up to it. Our problem is when we give as good as we get, then we're punished for it and our opponents either just get away with it or get a little verbal telling off three or five times before a yellow even appears.

Same thing with Lee Mason against Burnley, every incident went Burnley's way. Burnley turned up to ruff our players up and when City players gave as good as they got, out flew his cards. Again I'm not defending Fernandinho but as far as I'm concerned our players got frustrated, including Fernandinho because the Referee was without any shadow of doubt bias in favor of Burnley, so much so that he tried to get them back in the game and a few City players were fouled without caution let alone a card.

Now all our players are shown red cards but David Luiz, Cesc Fabregas, Nathaniel Chalobah, Marcos Rojo escaped red cards and bans. Now recently I've seen players make the same foul David Luiz made on Sergio Aguero, they all got penalized so there's clear and blatant inconsistency and I strongly believe the English Football Association and the PGMOL are behind it, in blatant attempts to manipulate the outcome of the league.

An ex Referee came out in the Media recently admitting, that they and other Referee's were asked to change the outcome of games by their bosses. Since that revelation for some unknown reason there has been a media blackout on the subject, nothing more was said and no one is asking questions and ruffling feathers?

Now the PGMOL and Match Officials are currently not accountable for their actions and that in my opinion is a disgrace, it sets a platform for Referee's to do as they please and not have to answer to anyone other than the FA. Their bosses who are far more concerned about protecting them, than they are punishing them with appropriate and proportionate punishment and consequences that the clubs and players end up with and or in.

Just to give this article some balance I stress that I only believe four clubs truly benefit from the Football Associations meddling in the English top flight, they are Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man United, more so Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea. On the rare occasion where Leicester City won the title I believe they were also at work. Even further balance by saying not all Premier League Referee's are poor or corrupt but most of them are. We've lost games fair and square, like our matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City recently when we never turned up, those matches were well officiated. I'm not saying every game in the English leagues are manipulated by Referee's, just the important fixtures that decide title fights.

Now Pep Guardiola has every right to choose not to speak to the media, or be provoked into answering questions that he doesn't wish to answer. He has a point when he says he needs to get to grips with the rules, as there really is two sets of rules for Referee's to follow when officiating. Inconsistency and constant meddling by Referee's are currently a big issue in English football, I'm not saying it doesn't happen in other countries around the world either.

Pep Guardiola isn't here to entertain the British Media or you anti City bandwagoner's, we all know you want Manchester City and Pep Guardiola to fail. Our Club and Players are now getting the message, so keep it up, keep it all up, because we will come out fighting every time like we did against a 14 man Burnley and we will prevail.

Every match from now on needs to be treated like we're playing against 14 men.

We're right behind you Pep, we've got your back.

Comon City.

Anthony Taylor to blame for Chelsea fracas, It's OK to slap a player and simulate now

I'm starting to wonder that if we can't beat them when they're cheating then maybe we should join them? Before Chelsea sold David Luiz i thought he was the dirtiest player in the Premier League. So you could imagine my disappointment at hearing Chelsea were bringing him back, I just knew we'd be on the receiving end of him eventually and Hey Presto. Not only would they have Diego Costa but also now David Luiz, you couldn't make it up.

What grated on me more than anything was, that he always managed to get away with everything, absolutely everything and recent evidence shows he's at it again and referee's are letting him get away with it.

David Luiz was guilty of provocation and should have seen red after fouling Sergio Aguero in the box, but yet again Manchester City are screwed over by another corrupt Referee Anthony Taylor. Taylor should have known Luiz had previous history with Aguero, Taylor went to blow for a foul with the whistle to his lips but, he bottled it and allowed Luiz to get away with it. This is why I believe Sergio Aguero got frustrated, because he was allowing Luiz to take a piss.

I'm not excusing what Aguero did, he deserved the red card for the tackle on Luiz. But if anyone deserves Karma for all his dirty play and tricks, then it's David Luiz but he doesn't just do it for Chelsea, he also does it for Brazil.

One issue I'd like to highlight is, that Anthony Taylor is Greater Manchester born from Wythenshawe, he claims to be an Altrincham fan. But I suspect foul play, he's either manipulated by PGMOL, Proffesional Game Match Officials Limited or the Premier League themselves and the FA, English Football Association. Since PGMOL formed in 2001, I've always believed the level of refereeing in England has taken a nose dive. Every single game week there's controversy and to my knowledge when a match official gets it catastrophically wrong, the only punishment dealt out is temporary demotion at the most. Referee's have often cost clubs valuable points in title races up and down the English leagues, these Referee's impact on Football Fans lives and they are rarely made accountable for their actions, actions that would otherwise get someone the sack in any other working industry.

In 2016/17 Taylor officated 3 Chelsea matches and they have won all 3.

In 2015/16 Taylor officiated 4 Arsenal matches, they won 3 drew 1, Chelsea weren't as lucky in 2015/16.

In 2014/15 Taylor officiated 3 Chelsea matches, they won 2 drew 1, Arsenal also enjoyed having a twelfth man over the last 5 seasons.

In 2014/15 Taylor officiated 3 Chelsea matches and they won 2 drew 1, Arsenal won 2, draw 2.

It's blatantly obvious that Taylor has plenty of previous and favor for Chelsea and Arsenal, in recent seasons Manchester City have been on the receiving end of Anthony Taylor against Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester City.

Don't let Taylor fool you, he officiates our games against mid to lower table clubs with impartiality and our win to loss ratio is reasonable, but when it comes to title chasing teams Manchester City always suffer his wrath.

Before the Chelsea match and after I found out Taylor would be officiating, I knew straight away we were going to suffer and Taylor didn't disappoint.

In this clip below David Luiz knew he was beaten and Aguero was in on goal, Luiz plays Aguero by shoulder barging him off balance, and the commentators state Luiz was lucky and it should have been a red card. Ex World Cup Referee Graham Poll also claimed on his Daily Mail Column that he agreed David Luiz should have been sent off.



Anthony Taylor put his Whistle to his mouth but then bottled it and failed to send Luiz off, had he sent David Luiz off rightfully then Sergio Aguero would never have made that tackle on Luiz in the first place. This wasn't the only incident where David Luiz took the piss out of Aguero and Taylor let slide, which is exactly why Sergio felt hard done by and lost his cool.

The media and Chelsea fans are now trying to make out Aguero is a nasty guy but, none of them know the guy and quite frankly everyone that does, knows he's far from it and certainly not as bad as Costa that's for sure.

Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware on a rare occasion a City player has escaped being sent off but it's been rare, rare because the majority of the time City players almost always get sent off. What I find interesting is, before all the money arrived at Manchester City, we almost always got the raw deal, famously known as everybody's favorite second club. They would try to make out it was because they related with but, it was because we were everyone's favorite whipping boys. When City come to town it was an almost guaranteed 3 points in the bag for them, I'm sure we have all lost count of how many times we've heard the term 'Typical City'.

I'm not about to go down the same route of Man United, Liverpool or Arsenal fans and claim we deserve better from Referee's because the last thing I want is to see Referee's helping us out and taking credit away from our Club and players. What I do want to see though is Referee's doing their job correctly, right now they aren't and for a long long time now, I have suspected foul play.

Now The PGMOL Board consists of the three governing bodies' Chief Executives and Referees Managers in addition to The FA's Head of Refereeing. They are tasked with the responsibility of developing excellence in officiating in the English game at professional level. It's headed by an official of the English Football Association, The FA, yet the PGMOL are well known for being secretive and have hardly ever been made accountable for controversy. In fact it's always been swept under the carpet, the most high profile controversy was when they were accused of bias towards Man United and more importantly Sir Alex Ferguson. Even in Alex Ferguson's own Autobiography, he admits to having a favorite Referee.

You only have to Google and you will find Referee's like Dermot Gallagher admitting to controversy and more recently a Referee exposed the truth about Referee's being asked to manipulate games but, it's all been swept under the carpet as usual.

Fifa are the only Organisation who can put pressure on the FA and PGMOL but, they're pre-occupied fighting their own corruption cases.

Anthony Taylor may have just made a serious error of judgement, human error, but it was a serious error which affected the title race. He even went one step further and protected Cesc Fabregas and another Chelsea player by issuing yellows despite the fact he or his team noticed those two Chelsea players either retaliate at Aguero or provoke Fernandinho by slapping him around the face and then feign a theatrical accident, while deciding to send off a second influential Manchester city player in Fernandinho. Fernandinho is the only City player to have played every single game for City up until the Chelsea game, as a result Chelsea currently top of the table still have two influential players who have wrongfully escaped red cards and bans. While Manchester City have lost the two most important players in Aguero and Fernandinho for 3 to 4 games, Taylor has drastically changed the outcome of the title race and to be honest I think he's put a serious dent in our chances of winning the title. So what no one saw Cesc Fabregas feign being hurt and stumbling back looking for the ad board, before throwing himself over it accept us fans? All us City fans can hope for now, is that Gabriel Jesus arrives and immediately sets the Premier League on fire and that Guardiola pulls some serious transfer coups out on the bag to improve our defensive frailty.

Keep the faith, we need to start beating the 12th man to stand any chance of winning the title.

How Manchester City destroyed FC Barcelona, they didn't see it coming and Messi wasn't happy

Pep's now more dangerous than ever.

This has to go down as a major turning point in Pep Guardiola's career and Manchester City's evolution to reach European Champions status.

Guardiola first reluctant to abandon his philosophy and style, decided Manchester City weren't quite ready to go toe to toe with the mighty Barcelona who have played the Guardiola way for such a long time.

But Pep didn't abandon it all, our full backs still pushed up field and our center backs moved out wider to stretch Messi, Suarez and Neymar but, we resorted to the long ball tactic over the heads of Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets. Barcelona being Barcelona had no answer to a team as evenly matched and able to counter at devastating speed, playing long ball. City forced error after error out of Barcelona fighting for second balls, in turn Rakitic and Busquets started to suffer as a result.

If only we played the same way against Spurs, Southampton and Celtic, this is however great news for Manchester City and extremely bad news for the English Premier League and the rest of Europe. Pep Guardiola has finally adapted his philosophy to tame the beast he created with his own two hands.

Manchester City are now a more dangerous Manchester City, a City that will now adapt at will. This is the dream I've had since we first tried to sign Pep, I knew his one flaw was that he wouldn't adapt no matter where he would go. A dream I thought would never come to pass, boy am I glad it did.

We're 6 new signings away from perfection, two new full backs, a center back, a defensive midfielder, a winger and a striker. We already have right back Pablo Maffeo, we already have striker Gabriel Jesus, that just leaves a center back, left back, a defensive midfielder and a winger to replace Fernando and Navas.

Manchester City are still a work in progress but, what a great time to be a Citizen.

Everton have come at the wrong time for Manchester City, don't need another Injury

The Everton game couldn't have come at a more badly timed stage of the season for Manchester City, Everton have a track record of injuring our players and getting away with it. With Aguero's glass knee, De Bruyne and Vinny only just back from injury, both Zabaleta and Sagna out injured, Everton's careless physical game isn't what we need right now.

In 2014 Everton players sandwiched Aguero, Coleman fouled Aguero and Besic shoved Aguero to the ground, but what this video doesn't show is a poor tackle by Gareth Barry moments before. All Everton players got away with zero cautions or bookings. It's Besic who should have been punished for the shove which led to Aguero's injury.

In 2016 Kevin De Bruyne was injured against Everton, again the Everton player Funes Mori didn't get cautioned or booked.

Going to be a tough game, especially seeing as they are a new Everton under new boss Ronald Koeman.

Evertons players that our guys should watch out for are Gareth Barry, Ramiro Funes Mori and Muhamed Bešić.

Good luck lads, hoping you all come out of it injury free.

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United never learn, Manchester City can operate without Aguero, we have Iheanacho

The decades of goading which can't be written off as banter, Owen and Rooney's Derby winning goals, Young's constant diving and getting away with it, Fellaini's constant elbowing which went unpunished. You'd think that United would have learnt their lesson in 2012 after it was all undone in a few seconds of what was the biggest title win in the history of Football. All repaid on the last day of the season, you couldn't have made it up if you tried.

United's fans and the Media have gone all out contacting the Football Association and provided propaganda to get Sergio Aguero banned, so far the FA have followed protocol but it's hard to see any outcome other than a 3 match ban when the Football Association are admittedly pro Trafford United.

Oh wait..... pic.twitter.com/0f4nQnHPQH

— Trevor Sinclair (@trevor8sinclair) August 30, 2016

The FA have since removed the Header of United winning the Community Shield with a simple England badge on a Grey backdrop.

But nooooooooooo it's not in the fabric of their club or fan base to come down off that pedestal, as soon as they signed the two biggest ego's in world sport, all of a sudden the Utd fans started mouthing off about how they are back in the big time again.

The only problem they seem to have not remembered though is, nothing lasts forever and Karma really is a bitch.

Manchester City can live without Sergio Aguero for 3 matches because we have the second best forward in the league, in Kelechi Iheanacho and sooner of later we will have another forward in Brahim Diaz, Heir too Aguero himself.

6-1, 2012 just the calm before the storm.

They have another Derby to play at the Etihad yet and i'm sure Sergio will be gunning to set things straight should he be banned, the title isn't won in September.

Time for Iheanacho to shine.

Kelechi Iheanacho's injury not bad, only minor says Dad

Kelechi's Dad has told allnigeriasoccer that his sons injury is just a minor one and Manchester City have told him to rest up for 2 weeks, so he could be back in action in as little as 3 weeks.

The Manchester Derby is probably a long shot at best for a return but, with Leroy Sane set to more than likely make his debut. I suspect he will be fit to play a part in our first Champions League match against Mönchengladbach on the 13th Sept, or Bournemouth on the 17th Sept.

Manchester City include Stones in Champions League list for Steaua Bucharest, full list of registered players.

Uefa have confirmed Manchester City asked for John Stones too be included in our squad for Steaua Bucharest, under the shirt number 24

Hart, Caballero

Zabaleta, Stones, Kolarov, Clichy, Sagna, Denayer, Otamendi

Sterling, Sane, Delph, De Bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho, Navas, Fernando, Yaya Toure

Iheanacho, Nolito, Aguero

Where will Sane play under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City?

German wonderkid Leroy Sane looks set to make the move from Shalke to Manchester City for approximately £35m. Where will Pep’s fourth major signing of the summer fit into the City team? 

Leroy Sane 

Sane is a predominantly left footed player capable of playing anywhere across a front 3. For Shalke he has mainly been used as a right winger cutting inside to great effect. 

It is this position that Pep has him down for. 

Pep Guardiola’s style of play 

Thierry Henry did an excellent piece on Pep’s style of play in a Monday Night Football piece on Sky Sports. Henry mentions the 3 P’s that make up Guardiola’s philosophy. 

Play, possession and position. 

To see how Sane will fit in watch Henry’s discussion and compare them to the clips of Sane 

 
You’ll see that Sane often holds his position wide on the left until the final 3rd being released to devastating effect, just as Henry describes Pep Guardiola’s demands. 

At 20 years old Sane already plays to Pep’s demands and will only get better with the Spaniard’s coaching. 

Who’s place will he take?

An admission: I like Jesus Navas. Watching City under Pellegrini the team, in my opinion, was better with him in the team than without. Navas created a structure to the team and just by staying out wide he created space for the likes of Silva and De Bruyne. 

Navas got into position to create many chances and last season was one of the highest number of assists in the side (7 in the Prem league). His pace and willingness to track back was an asset in the team and his workrate helped Sagna (who for me was player of the season) on that right hand side. 

However there is one glaring area where Navas fails. 

In 33 Premier League games Jesus scored 0 goals! 

For an attacking player in an attacking team that is not good enough (we scored more Premier League goals than anyone else!). Navas should be looking to score around 10 goals, the much derided Raheem Sterling scored 6 whilst Kevin De Bruyne scored 7 in a bad year for City. 

Navas v Sane 

Goal scoring is where Leroy Sane has a major edge over Jesus Navas. For a Shalke team, that only scored 51 goals finishing in 5th place last season, Sane scored 8 times, whilst also assisting 6 times (only one less than Navas). 

Both players played a similar number of minutes last season, let’s see how they compared

• Successful Take-on’s: Navas 48, Sane 92

Leroy Sane has been described as a dribble king and from these you can see why. Pep style of play is to build a team to create one on ones. Sane would fit perfectly into this. 

• Shots: Navas 31, Sane 68 

So Sane took more than twice as many shots as Navas last season. Not a major surprise as Navas seems to lack confidence in front of goal often passing rather than taking the shot. 

• Passes: Navas 1267, Sane 615 

An area where Navas destroys Sane! Maybe due to the team style, maybe due to Sane’s different style of play being more likely to dribble, take-on and shoot. Probably an area where he will change in a Pep Guardiola side which usually have a high level of possession and passes. 

• Aerial duals won: Navas 9, Sane 27 

Ok not an important stat for a winger but Sane is over 6ft tall so will improve a forward line of 5ft 8 Aguero and 5ft 7 Sterling. 

Finances 

Sane’s cost of around £35m will be frowned upon much as Raheem Sterling’s fee was (it is City after all – no one else spends money!). However recent reports suggest Navas could be back off to Sevilla for £15m. 

If this was the case it could be a great bit of squad upgrade with swapping a 30 year old Navas for a 20 year old Sane who assists the same and scores a lot more for a net spend of £20m. 

Txiki you’re not doing a bad job after all. 

(Did I just say net spend? – I’m turning into an Arsenal fan!).

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