didierforever

we seem to be penny pinching these days. do u really think a 20mil 3rd/4th choice CM is worth the money when we have mvg? nect year we need a top quality CB, a RB(the way things with iva are going), a top world class CM. RLC/mvg as 4th choice is fine.

he seriously should have. atleast that would have made it look like a proper red. anyways, costa needs to tone it down a couple of levels. media scrutiny will be even more on him. refs and linesman will be even more aware of him and would be looking for the slightest reason to send him off. ps - considering the arsenal game, i dont think costa did anything wrong except for the swipe at kos. that was a red if the ref had seen and the FA will ban him.

exactly. DD was as physical as anyone can get. but he did not go about punching/scratching/slapping people. (he did slap vidic once though. ). but still, there is much more to "physically imposing" than actually hitting people.

mvg has been performing decently for stoke. i would rather have him than spend 20mil on a back up.

cos GC is a better defender than both. and given that stones would have cost 30+mil, he would have started. zouma would have been turned into a tactical sub/tactical change in mid for yet another year.

and i got fucked in saying that buying stones would have made him suffer. he deserves these chances and he is showing that he is as good as stones right now. just hope he gets the positional sense or that JT helps him with that. but normally, that part of the game develops with experience.

i hope that does not happen (though i think it might). iva is 31 and needs the appropriate rest, and these carling cup games are the time to do that. plus i love watching azpi closing down everything and everyone when he plays RB. insane energy.

azpi instead of aina and i agree 100%

again, i have to disagree. the fact that argentina boasted of messi, maria, lavezzi, aguero, higuain etc etc and yet their defence was their USP. messi has so much quality that he will have a moment of magic. but overall, he was uninfluential. as for the leader, i thought argentina had only one leader. and it was mascherano. infact if the man of the tournament had to go to some player from argentina, it should have been masch. he was their best player. i know there is can possibly be no winner in the "what-if" game. so lets leave it. but i honestly dont think suarez could make any difference to city in CL. as for the comparision between those 2, i think both of these players are very close to each other in every aspect but suarez is more clinical. u might disagree, but i honestly think villa led them as well as costa. for eg - against barca in the CL. to start costa in the final was more an emotional decision or soemthing and it backfired. they could have used a fresh pair of legs in extra time. but even then, villa led them really well for most of the match even in the final.

go and watch any of their matches against barce. watch how dominant koke-luis was. and that trend continued through out the season. the way they dominated alves against barca time and again and how tactically important those 2 were.

i honestly think, costa would have killed simeone or something if he was not played in the CL final. i mean this is a guy who wanted to play against WBA or some team after we had won the league and he was not completely fit. what would this guy do to be a part of the CL final. anyways, fair point about his importance for ATM, and no denying that he was important. he was someone who defined ATM - bullish, fighters, massive character and will. but i still think, koke-luis partnership was ATM's main focal point and X-factor that season.

i agree with a lot of points that you have made, but strongly disagree with some. lets start with messi. he was poor all throughout the knockout stages. cant remember a thing he did in the final. or against belgium or against switzerland. giving him the man of the tournament was one of the biggest farce i have seen ever. aguero played as a winger in the world cup just so messi could be slotted in the center. hardly a thing i would judge him on. a question here, do u think suarez is world class? if yes, would suarez make a difference for city. if you swap aguero and suarez right now, would it make a difference. instead of "MSN" shit that goes on, people would be going crazy over "MAN", while man city would still be underperforming in CL. most of the matches in CL, city get their midfield get dominated. forget barca, if you have seen the cska moscow games, hell, their midfield got over run in those matches. the way city approach these games, i honestly doubt anyone except for messi would be able to make a change in place of aguero. so again, i cant judge him on that. yes, he has not performed in the "biggest of tournaments" but he has a tremendous goal scoring record against us, against spurs, has scored against united or arsenal number of times. so i dont think he "chokes" under pressure or under performs under pressure or in big games, if that is what you were trying to say. at the end of the day, i feel he is going to end up in RM next year or so. nothing would make me happier to see him gone. and then would be the proper time to judge him in the biggest tournaments.

yes, they are players from different team or "foes", but u can give players their due, call a spade a spade, tell it exactly how it is and still support your team.

koke was a vital cog in ATM system when they won the league, went to CL final. and no he is not a world class player. so costa's acheivements have been impressive but it does not make him a world class player. filipe luis is not a world class player too, by the way and he has achieved as much as costa, and infact it was him and koke down the left which was ATM's main weapon. the loss of filipe hurt atm more than anything last season. costa got the goals, but in terms of importance, he was as important as those 2 or a 32 year old villa (who was not world class by then).

"as well as guiding Atletico to the CL final scoring 8 goals again something Aguero could only dream of doing." costa taking ATM to CL final was given as one of the reasons for him being as good as aguero or something aguero could only "dream of". hence city's performances in the CL came into question mark. ATM as a team went to CL final and almost won it, costa was an important cog (even though atm beat barca over 2 legs without costa) but not the main cog. what has diego's injury got to do with him world class or not. we know he is a fighter (infact, sometimes, i forget he is a footballer). him coming off a massive injury is a testament to his character and will, not to him being world class. maybe i am biased. but if someone says hazard is better than messi, i ll be biased in that case too. simply cos its far from the truth.

i will support costa. i dont need your permission for that. but a certain poster on here, put in some dubious stats to compare aguero and costa. i am simply clearing his misbeliefs. also, give me a sentence where i have been "pining" for aguero. or wait, now if someone says that messi/CR are better than hazard, they dont support chelsea and hazard and are pining for messi/CR?

the first argument can be given for messi too. the second one would make suarez look stupid a year ago cos pool was not even in the CL. that does not change the fact that suarez was a world class player even before joining barca and winning the CL. aguero has done anything in CL cos city have underperformed massively. pelegrini played 4-4-2 against barca, while trying to attack fire with fire, what did you think is going to happen in that case. none of these makes aguero not a world class player.

now now, let me get this straight. you used a dubious "goal/game" stat to somehow show that costa is world class and u want me to use logic. okay, sure!!! anyways, just by stats, costa has a 100minute/goal+assist ratio compared to 78 of aguero. lukaku has 105 and chicha has 99. all the stats, show how exactly aguero is superior to costa in every thing. also, let me get the latter part of your argument straight. just cos man city underperforms in the CL, means aguero is shit? so before the last season when suarez was in liverpool and pool were not even in CL, means suarez was not world class? how are you extrapolating pelegrini's shit tactics of playing 4-4-2 at camp nou as aguero's limitation? so costa is the only player to recover from an injury? with that "logic" aguero is god, cos he keeps getting injured but comes back like nothing has been missed and start banging them in for fun. also, aguero did not shift to a new league, new team and blah blah blah in 11/12 which are also included in your stats? if i remember correctly city too won the PL that season adn aguero was a massive player for them. lastly, 2 people have said the same thing about costa's position. aguero has played 72 appearance "behind dzeko/tevez/balo". (http://www.whoscored.com/Players/14260/History/Sergio-Agero) so there is not much difference. also, lets look at their overall play. costa is a "big" guy yet, his hold up play and ball shielding is average at best. look at yesterday to see what i am talking about. aguero's ball shielding is barely second to any striker in the world. his on the ball strength makes it a massive deal for the defenders to even get the ball off him. despite being a "big" guy, costa's aerial prowess is downright poor. lets not even compare aguero and costa's "dribbling" and "link up play". what is left is goal scoring which costa is great in as is aguero. but overall play wise, no where near. simply said, given an option between the 2 to lead your team (you being the manager), i am sure majority of the people would take aguero in a heartbeat compared to costa. ps - aguero has 16 goals by penalties since 11/12, costa has 13 (http://www.transfermarkt.com/sergio-aguero/elfmetertore/spieler/26399/plus/?saison_id=2015&wettbewerb_id=) (http://www.transfermarkt.com/diego-costa/elfmetertore/spieler/44779). so another dud argument.

there is a lot of difference in the stats. look at them. specially when it comes to minutes/goal+assist ratio. and that is what defines a world class player and a good player. for city, there have been times through out the 4 seasons when aguero has played in a supporting role, so i dont know why u keep bringing that one season up again and again. and then there is the massive difference between their general link up play and quality of football. so yes, aguero is world class and costa is not.

nervous to start with, made one or 2 errors, but in no way was he "poor". no way. he was very good in attack, and was not even really tested in defence. made a couple of poor passes, so i dont know how people are judging him to be poor enough to not even replace iva.

thank you. i too just posted the same.

i honestly dont know where you get your stats from, but this is not the first time you have given dubious stats aguero 2011/12: 48 30 3450 2012/13: 40 17 2702 2013/14: 34 28 2269 2014/15: 42 32 3186 2015/16: 7 1 398 total: 171 games, 108 goals, 12005minutes. 0.63 goals/game. 111 minutes/goal costa 2011/12: 16 10 1312 2012/13: 43 20 3001 2013/14: 51 36 4141 2014/15: 37 20 2915 2015/16: 7 2 584 total: 154 games, 88 goals, 11953minutes. 0.57goals/game. 135minutes/goal. also, in the same time span aguero has had 43 assists compared to costa's 33 assists. so yes, aguero is world class and costa is not. ps - http://www.transfermarkt.com/sergio-aguero/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/26399/plus//saison/2015 http://www.transfermarkt.com/diego-costa/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/44779/plus//saison/2015 you can verify each and every stat from this page.

thank god. the way people were talking about oscar in the match thread, made me feel that i actually watched a different game. my MOTM too.

and traore.

we SHOULD. but we played with an almost first team in the last round of CL group games last season and that was a dead rubber.