capriccioso

Don't call it a comeback.. he's been here for years

Has Caeruleus won everything yet?

Torrenting is awesome. I'll not hear a word against hurting the corporations who overcharge us and are responsible for the current economic climate.

Should we change our flag, if we become a republic? Or more controversially:

I'm very suspicious of political correctness. Its masqueraded off as a phenomenon to treat minorities fairly in terms of the spoken and written word. In practice, it seems to me, that we're entering (or are already in) a period of censorship across the West; Soviet style, where anyone who deviates from the accepted version of history/truth suffers enormous damage to their reputation and are often discredited. It also maintains the illusion of free speech and democracy.

One thing we have to remember is that our entire CL campaign was predicated on being far up shit creek without so much as a water cracker to paddle with and yet somehow staying in the game. That's not a sustainable model; and for that reason we can't really expect too many things from a squad that technically hasn't been improved. We've shipped out the man who peaked at 32, the man who peaked whenever he played Messi and the man who never peaked at all and replaced them with a bunch of 20 year olds.

There are a few others who do better than usual when they're getting stick from the media. Terry is a great example, to a lesser extent, Drogba always responded very well whenever an opposition manager called him a diver (hi, Rafa).

Can you imagine someone being suspended from three CWC games? They'll probably never serve out that ban

Yes, it was an actual attempt at helping the team, whereas Terry's seemed to be more about a personal battle with Alexis. He did something physical to him at the Bridge as well, I can't quite recall, but I think it was an overly forceful bodycheck, which Sanchez wasn't happy with, and was probably still annoyed about in the 2nd leg.

I'm disappoint. I wanted to see Paulo

He has to, has to hit the ground running. Or the media will get on his back just like Torres, and so will some of our own fans and of course, opposition fans. Everyone wants him to fail, United/City because he rejected them; Liverpool because we're plastics, Arsenal, QPR and the Yids, of course. And then there's the legion of neutrals he pissed off having a wank over himself on twitter. He'll feel like the world is against him, and that sort of thing can be devastating for a player whose game is so strongly based on ego.

It's Ferreira time. *Insert MC Hammer reference here*

Absolutely no room for experimentation with these lot. Mourinho's years of "4-3-3 up and at them" is drummed into the heads of players that he never even worked with. Short of selling 10 players most influenced by Jose, and buying 10 new ones, we cannot facilitate such a change. It's just not possible for us. It would be like Big Sam at Bar-senal. Remember Ancelotti with his diamond midfield? AVB with the high line? They don't like change. @ sure loves his Libero's.

1 goal is hardly a bag.

Guys what do you think of us bringing in Adebayor on loan? He's pretty good, 78 PL goals, even got 14 at the Yids, and he would offer a great physical alternative for us to whack high balls at if Torres isn't working.

We could bring in Adebayor on loan... he'd be a great, physical alternative to Torres.

Watching him score goals for another club is just so.. wrong.

A. Johnson: Contracted to 2016, should be on about 70k. Adebayor: Contracted to 2014, should be on 150k, at least. Dzeko: Contracted to 2015, should be on 140k. Santa Cruz: Contracted to 2013, should be on 90k. Kolarov: Contracted to 2015, should be on 90k. M. Johnson: Contracted to 2013, should be on 60k. Barry: Contracted to 2014, should be on 130k. Milner: Contracted to 2015, should be on 100k. Bridge: Contracted to 2013. Out on loan, should be getting about 60k out of 80k from City, subsidised by the loanee. That's 890,000 pounds a week they're bleeding for players who aren't first teamers, aren't really needed. 890! 46.280 million a year! We thought we had it bad, we probably never crossed more than ~650k in unnecessary wages. 890k is worth 5-6 world class players. They've really missed a trick.

Who can challenge them? No-Midfield United? No-Midfield or Defence Chelsea? Nothing Liverpool? Villas-Boas Spurs? Unreliable/unproven Arsenal? They wouldn't be the best if this team was up against our Double winning team or United's CL/PL double team; but at this point everyone has some key weaknesses that City don't. The only problem they have is a lot of deadwood.

Lets look at their squad and the high paid dead wood: Milner Adebayor Dzeko A. Johnson Santa Cruz Barry Bridge De Jong/Rodwell Kolarov Boyata That's going to be about ~700k a week that they're paying for players who're either shit in general or too shit to crack the starting XI. I assume their line up will be: Hart Richards-Kompany-K.Toure-Zabaleta Silva-Y.Toure-Rodwell-Nasri Tevez-Aguero Bench (likely to get a lot of game time) Pantili-lol Lescott Clichy Nasri Milner Balotelli Dzeko Depth/deadwood: A. Johnson Savic Nielsen Barry Kolarov De Jong 100% deadwood: Adebayor Santa Cruz Boyata Bridge Compared with us in 2007: Starters: Cech Paulo Ferreira-Carvalho-Terry-A.Cole Essien-Ballack-Lampard J.Cole-Drogba-Malouda Bench: Hilario Alex Belletti Makelele Mikel Kalou Anelka Depth/deadwood: Cudicini Ivanovic Bridge Shevchenko Utter wank: Wright-Phillips Sidwell Ben-Haim Sahar Pizarro Roughly the same as City.

Milner can be their Malouda!

Wigan line up should look something like this: Cech (Captain) Paulo Ferreira ( )-Cahill-David Luiz-Cole Ramires-Meireles "Azar"-Oscar-Mata Torres Bench: Bertrand Hutchinson Essien Lampard Mikel Marin Sturridge Terry should not play, he was absolutely terrible. Worst player on the pitch by some margin. First goal- why not leave it for Ramires to clear? Why try and make an off balance clearance? Second goal- Awful positioning, basically stumbled over himself trying to close down Tevez.

It's not a tragedy. We were 10 men down and lost by only 1 goal to by far the best team in the land. Certain key areas underperformed, specifically centre midfield and defence, but the attacking players all looked in pretty good shape. All in all it wasn't too concerning. This is the first I've seen of our pre-season, I don't get what all the fuss is about, I thought we were decent. Yet to hit 6th gear but still holding our own.

12 million sounds great for Everton, they could always use a bit of cash I think City are at the stage we were at the start of Mourinho's 4th season in charge. The owners feel they've invested enough and its up to the manager now to make do with what he has. If that keeps going for the next 2-3 seasons, they will find themselves in the same place we found ourselves after Bad Moment version Ancelotti. Hopefully they then keep messing up in the transfer window and enter Bad Moment version Villas-Boas.