Anybody have confidence that this season a Mikel-Matic pairing can work in the big games/later UCL matches? Last season Mikel was injured for months, and in the few games they played together (Livepool COC away) they looked very very shaky/poor. We still haven't replaced the qualities that David Luiz offered for the 'Big Games'. (City Away 2013, Arsenal Home 2014)
so this is what it feels like to have a full-back get in behind the defense and whip in a cross that doesn't hit the first man? I don't think I can handle all this at once. Keep playing Ivan.
Agree whole-heartedly. That's how Fergie built a team that would go on to win the PL 3x on the trot, and get to 3 UCL Finals in 4 years! JM swooped in and set a new standard, better tactics and higher point totals and Fergie responded brilliantly. Great teams raise the standard that everybody else adheres to. If City win the league by 8+ points like we did last season, and City did the year before. One of the main rivals WILL respond (prob Man U or Us) by buying big in the summer. It doesn't look good for the EPL when LvG's point total last year wouldn't have been good enough to finish in the top 4 the year Moyes got fired in 13/14.
He's capable of more, and he fluffed a lot of our attacks... But I'm not overly concerned, right now. The focus has to be on JM and our core players in Hazard, Cesc, Oscar, Costa, Ivan etc.