Season’s expectations?

[nottsblue]

So the new season is upon us. And it’s a season of big changes with a new manager and changes to the squad. And we aren’t alone with a new manager. Dippers, Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs, rags have all got new or very recently appointed managers. Indeed, only Arsenal and Villa from the top 6 have a semblance of continuity and Villa are selling key players galore.

For me, the PL is actually more open this year than for years. I don’t subscribe to the notion Arsenal will win at a canter. They weren’t great champions last season, relying on set pieces and cheating at corners and defending for their lives. And defending the title is notoriously difficult.

You can make a case for anyone of us, Chelsea or the dippers or Arsenal to win it. Even the rags won’t be as far behind as in recent years, though they won’t win it, they might have a say in who does.

Personally I think we won’t win it but will finish in the CL slots. And we always are a big threat in cup competitions. I think we can write off any hopes of winning the CL as well

I’d expect a CL place and a good cup run. Possibly retaining one of the trophies we won last year. Haaland to win the Golden Boot again. And last 16 or maybe last 8 in the CL.

Bit of course, the transfer window is still open so that may change a little

[Wooders]

Top 4 and I’d say we’ve done well to be honest - way too many big changes and a pretty new squad has got me concerned, well concerned isn’t the word, I’m not that worried but if we’re not in the CL again next season that would be a disaster it goes without saying

[salford city]

Top 4 and I’d say we’ve done well to be honest - way too many big changes and a pretty new squad has got me concerned, well concerned isn’t the word, I’m not that worried but if we’re not in the CL again next season that would be a disaster it goes without saying

+1

[john@staustell]

I honestly have no idea what we will end up doing. But I spent many years thinking I would not live to see City win another trophy, and convincing our kids to keep the faith.

So having many years of great success - I no longer have to talk about winning the league, the cup, league cup and cup winners cup in 68/69/70. I can talk about the Mancini, Pellegrini and Guardiola years!

So anything is a bonus

[stupot]

I honestly have no idea what we will end up doing. But I spent many years thinking I would not live to see City win another trophy, and convincing our kids to keep the faith.

So having many years of great success - I no longer have to talk about winning the league, the cup, league cup and cup winners cup in 68/69/70. I can talk about the Mancini, Pellegrini and Guardiola years!

So anything is a bonus

Took my daughter to Wembley in 99 when at 9 years old and probably one of the only blues in her class she was crying her eyes out when Gillingham went 2 up 4 days after the rags had won the treble and I felt like the worst dad in the world. We didn't leave early and the rest is history.

24 years later she was with me watching us beat the rags at Wembley for the double and then cried again a week later in Istanbul but totally different tears.
What a journey, it's not over yet.

[sheblue]

Too early to say, we haven't a clue what the squad will be like on Sept 1st.
Revisit this then.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I’m more interested in how Baldie 2 sets the team up over the next month or so. The other day had better been a one-off — if he thinks playing Kovacic, Dias and Anderson out of position is the way to go, he’s in for a torrid time.
Top 3 minimum, and we should still win a cup. Even if it’s the Mickey Mouse former League Cup and he better make sure we are not embarrassed in any fucking game this season like we were the other day.

[bigblue]

I’m more interested in how Baldie 2 sets the team up over the next month or so. The other day had better been a one-off — if he thinks playing Kovacic, Dias and Anderson out of position is the way to go, he’s in for a torrid time.
Top 3 minimum, and we should still win a cup. Even if it’s the Mickey Mouse former League Cup and he better make sure we are not embarrassed in any fucking game this season like we were the other day.

Agree, this sunday vs Bournemouth will be very telling. Personally I've always been underwhelmed by Maresca, played slow sideways passing football with Chelsea and fluked their way to the CWC win.

We haven't replaced big outgoing names for 2-3 years with players who are as good or better. And this year losing Bernardo & Rodri basically means our midfield will struggle to compete with any of the title challengers. Hopefully we can get some good incoming players over the next week. But leaving the business late is almost never a good sign and we seem to be flailing around atm.

I see a season where we struggle to reach top 4, get knocked out of 1 domestic cup early, have a decent run in another but don't win it, and end up with quite a few dissatisfied players publicly angling for a move next spring

Would love to be completely wrong though

[Nickyboy]

Think we'll win the league and at least one other cup.

I'm loving the fact that all the dumb cunts pundits are writing us off and predicting we'll struggle to get top 4.

[bigblue]

Think we'll win the league and at least one other cup.

I'm loving the fact that all the dumb cunts pundits are writing us off and predicting we'll struggle to get top 4.

I love the optimism but genuinely curious how you see our midfield besting Arsenals, especially when they just added Guimaraes

[PeterParker]

Top 4 and direct attacking football is enough for me this season.
Beat Rags, Scouse and Arse at home.

If we are playing the same death by 1000 passes it would be difficult to watch.

[Im_Spartacus]

Hard to say - I'm finding it hard to understand what our starting 11 will look like come the end of August, so I'm wavering anywhere between mid table and 2nd.

As it stands today I don't think we can sustain a title bid even with reinforcements - but a lot depends on the rigidity of Maresca's system and how new players can integrate quickly, rather than the old concern about taking 18 months to get to grips with Peps demands.

If it's anything like what it appears based on the rumoured remaining sales, then we could be in for a tough season. But I'm confident the club would not sanction sales if they didn't have nailed on replacements coming in that were at least as good, if not better than those exiting.

Deadline day could be fun this year as a city fan for the first time in ages

[stupot]

Top 4 and direct attacking football is enough for me this season.
Beat Rags, Scouse and Arse at home.

If we are playing the same death by 1000 passes it would be difficult to watch.

We got top 2 last season whilst beating rags, dippers and arse at home.
Listening to Leicester and Chelsea fans I t think this guy is far less direct and attacking than Pep.

[PeterParker]

Top 4 and direct attacking football is enough for me this season.
Beat Rags, Scouse and Arse at home.

If we are playing the same death by 1000 passes it would be difficult to watch.

We got top 2 last season whilst beating rags, dippers and arse at home.
Listening to Leicester and Chelsea fans I t think this guy is far less direct and attacking than Pep.

[Hazy2]

Top 4 and direct attacking football is enough for me this season.
Beat Rags, Scouse and Arse at home.

If we are playing the same death by 1000 passes it would be difficult to watch.

Our style love it hate has created the biggest trophy cabinet.
If we get anywhere the level of winning ever again I would be surprised. The keeping the ball as we saw with England is key to winning. Enzo is Italian we are going to keep the ball mate.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Top 4 and direct attacking football is enough for me this season.
Beat Rags, Scouse and Arse at home.

If we are playing the same death by 1000 passes it would be difficult to watch.

Enzo is Italian we are going to keep the ball mate.

We lost the last match 3-0

[zabbadabbado]

Last Season I didn't expect us to put up a Title challenge, yet we did.

I actually thought Top 4 would be a struggle, yet we comfortably finished second.I think we can all agree though last season there were a lot of sides nowhere near their normal standard which helped us.We won 2 Cups in a Season I thought we would win nothing.Quite an achievement really.

This season sadly I think Top 6 is likely going to be our limit.

We can't compete over a season with the Top sides with a thread bare squad that lacks real quality.It pissed me off today when they said on TNT we had a squad comparable to Arsenal. Absolute bollocks.We have lost and entire team of Tier 1 quality players over the last few seasons.And replaced them with average players.We have punched above our weight for 2 Seasons.we now lack quality in every department.We need 6 possibly 7 Stellar signings to be anywhere near Arsenal squad quality fact.Replacing them all will not be done in 1 transfer window.

We are going in to this season relying on squad players who couldn't even start games for us last season.It is going to be a long season, that is the reality.2 tier 1 signings is not going to cover all the Team frailties.

I have resigned myself to this season is going to be a season with likely more lows than highs.As we get to watch players we should have got rid of 2 seasons ago starting regularly again.

I know the Charity Shield means fuck allot being a nothing game.That didnt bother me losing a nothing game.What bothered me was Maresca seemingly looked clueless.I had no idea what he was trying to achieve a week before the season kicks off.Pushing Anderson out wide.Watching Kovacic blowing out of his are, midfield overrun.That display was right up with the worst display for a very long time.It was like Maresca was trying to be Pep,play his style but much slower.It was fucking awful and has left me worried that maybe his job might be too much for him after just 1 game.That is how bad that game was.

We could be going in to the Season with a thread bare squad and a Manager who has no idea how to utilize the average squad players.

It is actually criminal how our Club has taken its Eye of the Ball with the squad planning and rebuilding.Hearing stories of Vianna using AI tools to target the last crop of shite signings is pretty disturbing.Only Cherki looks half decent.

We have a big job on our Hands to get back to an elite level.All we can do is get behind the Manager and hope for the best.We are likely going to lose as many as we win this season with our shite defense and light weight midfield.There might be one or two good hidings we are not used to.

[Nickyboy]

Last Season I didn't expect us to put up a Title challenge, yet we did.

I actually thought Top 4 would be a struggle, yet we comfortably finished second.I think we can all agree though last season there were a lot of sides nowhere near their normal standard which helped us.We won 2 Cups in a Season I thought we would win nothing.Quite an achievement really.

This season sadly I think Top 6 is likely going to be our limit.

We can't compete over a season with the Top sides with a thread bare squad that lacks real quality.It pissed me off today when they said on TNT we had a squad comparable to Arsenal. Absolute bollocks.We have lost and entire team of Tier 1 quality players over the last few seasons.And replaced them with average players.We have punched above our weight for 2 Seasons.we now lack quality in every department.We need 6 possibly 7 Stellar signings to be anywhere near Arsenal squad quality fact.Replacing them all will not be done in 1 transfer window.

We are going in to this season relying on squad players who couldn't even start games for us last season.It is going to be a long season, that is the reality.2 tier 1 signings is not going to cover all the Team frailties.

I have resigned myself to this season is going to be a season with likely more lows than highs.As we get to watch players we should have got rid of 2 seasons ago starting regularly again.

I know the Charity Shield means fuck allot being a nothing game.That didnt bother me losing a nothing game.What bothered me was Maresca seemingly looked clueless.I had no idea what he was trying to achieve a week before the season kicks off.Pushing Anderson out wide.Watching Kovacic blowing out of his are, midfield overrun.That display was right up with the worst display for a very long time.It was like Maresca was trying to be Pep,play his style but much slower.It was fucking awful and has left me worried that maybe his job might be too much for him after just 1 game.That is how bad that game was.

We could be going in to the Season with a thread bare squad and a Manager who has no idea how to utilize the average squad players.

It is actually criminal how our Club has taken its Eye of the Ball with the squad planning and rebuilding.Hearing stories of Vianna using AI tools to target the last crop of shite signings is pretty disturbing.Only Cherki looks half decent.

We have a big job on our Hands to get back to an elite level.All we can do is get behind the Manager and hope for the best.We are likely going to lose as many as we win this season with our shite defense and light weight midfield.There might be one or two good hidings we are not used to.

Squads not sure that bad. First XI match for anyone.

Donna
Rulli

Khus. Guehi Gvardiol. O'Reilly
Nunes. Dias. Reiss. Ait Nouri


Anderson
Bouadi

Cherki. Foden
kova Nico G


Doku. Haaland. Semenyo
Grealish. McAido

[john@staustell]

Last Season I didn't expect us to put up a Title challenge, yet we did.

I actually thought Top 4 would be a struggle, yet we comfortably finished second.I think we can all agree though last season there were a lot of sides nowhere near their normal standard which helped us.We won 2 Cups in a Season I thought we would win nothing.Quite an achievement really.

This season sadly I think Top 6 is likely going to be our limit.

We can't compete over a season with the Top sides with a thread bare squad that lacks real quality.It pissed me off today when they said on TNT we had a squad comparable to Arsenal. Absolute bollocks.We have lost and entire team of Tier 1 quality players over the last few seasons.And replaced them with average players.We have punched above our weight for 2 Seasons.we now lack quality in every department.We need 6 possibly 7 Stellar signings to be anywhere near Arsenal squad quality fact.Replacing them all will not be done in 1 transfer window.

We are going in to this season relying on squad players who couldn't even start games for us last season.It is going to be a long season, that is the reality.2 tier 1 signings is not going to cover all the Team frailties.

I have resigned myself to this season is going to be a season with likely more lows than highs.As we get to watch players we should have got rid of 2 seasons ago starting regularly again.

I know the Charity Shield means fuck allot being a nothing game.That didnt bother me losing a nothing game.What bothered me was Maresca seemingly looked clueless.I had no idea what he was trying to achieve a week before the season kicks off.Pushing Anderson out wide.Watching Kovacic blowing out of his are, midfield overrun.That display was right up with the worst display for a very long time.It was like Maresca was trying to be Pep,play his style but much slower.It was fucking awful and has left me worried that maybe his job might be too much for him after just 1 game.That is how bad that game was.

We could be going in to the Season with a thread bare squad and a Manager who has no idea how to utilize the average squad players.

It is actually criminal how our Club has taken its Eye of the Ball with the squad planning and rebuilding.Hearing stories of Vianna using AI tools to target the last crop of shite signings is pretty disturbing.Only Cherki looks half decent.

We have a big job on our Hands to get back to an elite level.All we can do is get behind the Manager and hope for the best.We are likely going to lose as many as we win this season with our shite defense and light weight midfield.There might be one or two good hidings we are not used to.

Just think back to Alan Ball and chill out

[zabbadabbado]

Last Season I didn't expect us to put up a Title challenge, yet we did.

I actually thought Top 4 would be a struggle, yet we comfortably finished second.I think we can all agree though last season there were a lot of sides nowhere near their normal standard which helped us.We won 2 Cups in a Season I thought we would win nothing.Quite an achievement really.

This season sadly I think Top 6 is likely going to be our limit.

We can't compete over a season with the Top sides with a thread bare squad that lacks real quality.It pissed me off today when they said on TNT we had a squad comparable to Arsenal. Absolute bollocks.We have lost and entire team of Tier 1 quality players over the last few seasons.And replaced them with average players.We have punched above our weight for 2 Seasons.we now lack quality in every department.We need 6 possibly 7 Stellar signings to be anywhere near Arsenal squad quality fact.Replacing them all will not be done in 1 transfer window.

We are going in to this season relying on squad players who couldn't even start games for us last season.It is going to be a long season, that is the reality.2 tier 1 signings is not going to cover all the Team frailties.

I have resigned myself to this season is going to be a season with likely more lows than highs.As we get to watch players we should have got rid of 2 seasons ago starting regularly again.

I know the Charity Shield means fuck allot being a nothing game.That didnt bother me losing a nothing game.What bothered me was Maresca seemingly looked clueless.I had no idea what he was trying to achieve a week before the season kicks off.Pushing Anderson out wide.Watching Kovacic blowing out of his are, midfield overrun.That display was right up with the worst display for a very long time.It was like Maresca was trying to be Pep,play his style but much slower.It was fucking awful and has left me worried that maybe his job might be too much for him after just 1 game.That is how bad that game was.

We could be going in to the Season with a thread bare squad and a Manager who has no idea how to utilize the average squad players.

It is actually criminal how our Club has taken its Eye of the Ball with the squad planning and rebuilding.Hearing stories of Vianna using AI tools to target the last crop of shite signings is pretty disturbing.Only Cherki looks half decent.

We have a big job on our Hands to get back to an elite level.All we can do is get behind the Manager and hope for the best.We are likely going to lose as many as we win this season with our shite defense and light weight midfield.There might be one or two good hidings we are not used to.

Just think back to Alan Ball and chill out

I am very chill.

I think oner or two of our fans are expecting too much from a thread bare squad and a new Manager adapting. So i am saying it as i see it.

I wont be surprised if these same fans are screaming for him out by Christmas if he don't hit the ground running.

We are definitely in transition and it will likely be 2 seasons before we are anywhere near what we once were.

It shouldnt be that way,it is what it is thanks to Vianna.