The Week Ahead

[Bluedj]

Don’t play Sterling, then we have a chance

[Dimples]

It is way too early in the season to worry about this one week . Sure , three big games . The results of which can easily be rectified if necessary later on in the season.

Difficult games, we play our best and see what comes. Some feel we should be winning every game, especially away from home. Let’s keep the expectation real.

We beat all 3 teams away last season. It’s realistic to expect the same again.

No it is not.
Chelsea and Liverpool are a lot better this season.
We are not.

[Mase]

It is way too early in the season to worry about this one week . Sure , three big games . The results of which can easily be rectified if necessary later on in the season.

Difficult games, we play our best and see what comes. Some feel we should be winning every game, especially away from home. Let’s keep the expectation real.

We beat all 3 teams away last season. It’s realistic to expect the same again.

No it is not.
Chelsea and Liverpool are a lot better this season.
We are not.

“A lot better”…What a negative post. We can beat all 3

[Dimples]

It is way too early in the season to worry about this one week . Sure , three big games . The results of which can easily be rectified if necessary later on in the season.

Difficult games, we play our best and see what comes. Some feel we should be winning every game, especially away from home. Let’s keep the expectation real.

We beat all 3 teams away last season. It’s realistic to expect the same again.

No it is not.
Chelsea and Liverpool are a lot better this season.
We are not.

“A lot better”…What a negative post. We can beat all 3

It is not a negative post, it is a realistic post.
Both those rivals are a lot better.
Chelsea bought Lukaku, Tuchel's ideas better understood after a full pre-season, etc...
Liverpool have VVD back, he makes a massive difference to them. Plus they have other players back.
We are not. We did not strengthen in the areas where we are weakest, CF and LB.

So if they have improved and we have not and it is unusual to play let alone beat three of the best teams in world club football away from home ON THE SPIN -. how is that a negative post ?

[Mase]

Liverpool have one player back, otherwise it’s the same team as the one we beat away plus we have Grealish.

Not thinking that it’s realistic for City to beat teams is negative.

[Mase]

One down, two to go.

[sheblue]

1 down 2 to go.
Pep will have to rest some mid week.
Today will take its toll on a few.

[nottsblue]

Great interesting read JC

Indeed.

What happened to card schools and a crate or two of ale on the coach after an away game with a stop off at the chippy?

Mind blowing the detail that goes into performance these days

I bet they have a few sherbets tonight!

[zuricity]

1 down 2 to go.
Pep will have to rest some mid week.
Today will take its toll on a few.

well we get an extra day to wednesday and extra for scouse until Sunday afternoon.

[johnny crossan]

1 down 2 to go.
Pep will have to rest some mid week.
Today will take its toll on a few.

well we get an extra day to wednesday and extra for scouse until Sunday afternoon.

PSG is on Tuesday night ZC

[Bear60]

Chavs sorted two to go

[Beefymcfc]

It is way too early in the season to worry about this one week . Sure , three big games . The results of which can easily be rectified if necessary later on in the season.

Difficult games, we play our best and see what comes. Some feel we should be winning every game, especially away from home. Let’s keep the expectation real.

We beat all 3 teams away last season. It’s realistic to expect the same again.

I see it very different. Don’t get me wrong, it would be superb for us to win all 3 but these games will take their toll, physically and mentally, and that would just be if they were segregated, not played back to back during a period when fixtures are so condensed. You may expect us to win all of these games whereas I am taking yours and others advice that the Pep will fuck up in at least one of them.

Ps. It’s weird that we always get a tough set of fixtures around a CL game, as if the PL need to exert authority and prove that the PL games are the better fixture.

Pps. Did they say that Pep has took another record today?

[Mase]

It is way too early in the season to worry about this one week . Sure , three big games . The results of which can easily be rectified if necessary later on in the season.

Difficult games, we play our best and see what comes. Some feel we should be winning every game, especially away from home. Let’s keep the expectation real.

We beat all 3 teams away last season. It’s realistic to expect the same again.

I see it very different. Don’t get me wrong, it would be superb for us to win all 3 but these games will take their toll, physically and mentally, and that would just be if they were segregated, not played back to back during a period when fixtures are so condensed. You may expect us to win all of these games whereas I am taking yours and others advice that the Pep will fuck up in at least one of them.

Ps. It’s weird that we always get a tough set of fixtures around a CL game, as if the PL need to exert authority and prove that the PL games are the better fixture.

Pps. Did they say that Pep has took another record today?

Pep may fuck up one of them, but my point is that is very realistic for us to win all three. As you and others have pointed out, the run we went on last season was incredible - so a three game run isn’t out of the question.

The PL is a weird one. All other countries competitions make it easier for their clubs in the CL. They see the bigger picture and that those teams doing well in the CL will in turn help their league. The PL is very different. They make it harder for certain teams.

[nottsblue]

Would you take 3 draws out of this?

I would.

I'd rather take 4 points in the league and a loss in the CL, if I could adjust the results.

Anything else you want to wish for pal

Would have taken the same myself beforehand so am pleased we came through these fixtures the way we did

And the performances in all three games were excellent in the main which is also extremely pleasing

[Beefymcfc]

Would you take 3 draws out of this?

I would.

I'd rather take 4 points in the league and a loss in the CL, if I could adjust the results.

Anything else you want to wish for pal

Would have taken the same myself beforehand so am pleased we came through these fixtures the way we did

And the performances in all three games were excellent in the main which is also extremely pleasing

Normally we’d be happy with a 2 points in such games and have to admit that getting 4 is very good considering PSG in between.

[johnny crossan]

The week is over and Sam "The Athletic" man reports -
‘That’s why I am happier than ever’ – City are playing superbly despite the lack of end product

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 03: Phil Foden of Manchester City celebrates after scoring a goal to make it 1-1 during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield on October 3, 2021 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
By Sam Lee Oct 4, 2021 20

“I have absolutely nothing in my body, my mind or my soul, any disappointment about what we have done,” Pep Guardiola said of Manchester City’s performance at Anfield. “When you play the way we played the first half, especially between 15 and 45 minutes, in this stadium, it was really good.”

And it really was. For the third time in a week, City played superbly. They were incredibly good in so many areas, just as they were against Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.

They were brilliant in west London and won, they were more or less the same in Paris and they lost, and now they complete the set with a performance to top the lot and a draw to show for it.

The character, after such a draining week, was as admirable as the tactical organisation and technical prowess that went into such a fine performance against one of the top teams in the world.

They kept coming back when they looked out of it, although it could be argued that they should never have looked out of it at all.

Guardiola was asked about a tinge of disappointment because he had raised his side’s issues in front of goal. For all that he was thrilled about the performance — and he is absolutely right to be — it could have been even better, even taking into account the fine opposition.

“We created chances, we didn’t score because we’re not good in those departments,” he said, another stark admission after last Friday, when he said his side are “missing” something without a clinical No 9.

“We know Kevin (De Bruyne) is not a good header, Phil (Foden) missed the first one and the chances that we had, when you do not take advantage… we knew it at half-time, we spoke about that, we couldn’t expect it to be any different after half-time.”

That was part of a long answer that took in basically every element of City’s season so far. Guardiola said again that he was not happy with the performance in the goalless draw against Southampton, but he said that the best teams are determined by how they lose, and he liked what he saw even in defeat in Paris.

He saw the same in victory at Chelsea, of course, and here it was the same again.

Much was made, understandably, of the return of the Liverpool fans for this match, after City’s 4-1 victory behind closed doors last season, but Guardiola’s side rode out the inevitable early storm and then played out an extremely accomplished first half, leaving the home crowd bewildered.

Liverpool do not look so meek that often, but they did on Sunday because even if their approach was a little too passive, you’re going to suffer when City play like this.

And the good news for City is that they are playing like this a lot.


“When we have had injuries and Phil and Kevin trained for just two weeks, the level and consistency in those two games is so good,” Guardiola said on Friday. “That’s why I am happier than ever.”

He knows his side are missing a No 9 and he would not have known, heading into the season, how his players — several of whom wanted to leave this summer — would start the season.

Would complacency set in after working so hard and getting so far last season?

The answer is developing in front of us. Guardiola likes to say City “are there” — in the right place, with the right mentality, the right quality. At this point of the season, they are certainly “there”.

“We were really good, in all departments and we played with incredible personality,” Guardiola said of the past week. “The way we played these last few games, Paris was quite similar to Stamford Bridge. Today, unfortunately, we could not score a goal but we played massively well.”

Gabriel Jesus, a week on from his Chelsea winner, put in another monstrous shift on the right, chasing back with his man every time, joining each charge forward and picking out a fine assist. Foden was a thorn in James Milner’s side throughout the match and he scored at Anfield yet again just when City needed it. It was another incredibly mature performance, full of threat and character, embodying his team.

Bernardo Silva was phenomenal. “It was just amazing, to come here to Anfield and do what he’s done,” Guardiola said. “He’s an exceptional player.”

The Portugal international, who came closer than anybody to leaving, did the usual Duracell bunny gig, sitting, holding, chasing down opponents, carrying the ball up the pitch — there was one logic-defying dribble in the first half and in the second he was hauled down by Milner, who really should have seen red.

He was also key to City unpicking Liverpool so often, especially in the first half. He and Joao Cancelo were happy to hold onto the ball until the very, very last moment, then nick it away to the free man, who was ready to play Foden in behind or switch the play.

City did that so often in the first half and they really could have, should have, been ahead. Instead, they were behind twice, to the type of ruthless goals that they struggle to come up with at times.

They’re “not good in those departments”, as Guardiola says.

Liverpool will feel they could have won the match as well. Rodri stretched out a leg for a vital block, just as Fabinho was sizing up an open goal.

Jurgen Klopp’s side improved after half-time, finding Fabinho far more often, and after being ahead twice they will feel they could have got all three points. But should they have been there at all?

In the past week, City have kept Lionel Messi, Neymar, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah quiet for most of the match, but they have combined and/or scored regardless.

And at the same time, City controlled those matches but find those types of goals harder to come by. Never mind a No 9, what about the players City have got, who need to do that little bit more?

“The way we played (in Paris) was awesome, and we lost the game. The way we played the first half (at Anfield), we were losing 1-0, and then 2-1, and still being there, yeah, it’s quite good,” Guardiola said, in praise of City’s mentality.

“That doesn’t make you champions, that doesn’t give you the results maybe, but the satisfaction is massive.”

That sums up their season so far. The performances are there and City can be satisfied with that indeed. Time will tell if it’s enough to win.