Man City next season...

[Tomo 21,751]

People who are convinced Cavani is going to City, remember the Eden Hazard saga?

[Jase 43,479]

you're assuming Pellgrini will walk in and make them a force.

There's still a lot of ego within that team and it's yet to actually become a 'team'. Pellgrini will face a battle in his first season trying to make them gel together, which isn't going to happen instantly.

Indeed. So many people are overrating Pellegrini and thinking he's just gonna come in and turn City into some unbeatable force YET the same people would well probably not rate him so high and say he's rubbish for hardly winning any trophies etc if he were to actually take over us instead.

[xPetrCechx 13,582]

Manuel Pellegrini claims to have verbal agreement to take over at Manchester City

"I have a verbal agreement with them and I hope it is carried out," he said in an interview with the Andalusian television station Canal Sur on Wednesday.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11679/8742186/Manuel-Pellegrini-claims-to-have-verbal-agreement-to-take-over-at-Manchester-City

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Indeed. So many people are overrating Pellegrini and thinking he's just gonna come in and turn City into some unbeatable force YET the same people would well probably not rate him so high and say he's rubbish for hardly winning any trophies etc if he were to actually take over us instead.

At the end of the day Pellegrini is still a gamble for Manchester City. Considering his successes have only been in Spain, thus far, he has a lot to prove if he can adapt his style to suit the Premier League. Whereas we're getting a coach that knows exactly how to coach in England.

[Term-X 7,891]

The concern is justified, because we can't seem to beat them (5/5 'competitive' games). Yaya Toure is like kryptonite for us, a 'one man team' quite literally due to how versatile he is, steamrolls our pivot with ease. It's embarrassing..

[DJames 729]

A little too premature to panic seeing that we don't know how much Chelsea's line up and tactical approach is going to be with the arrival of Mourinho

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

Just how it will take some time for Pellegrini it will probably take sometime for mourinho as well.

Pellegrini has always been known for playing a very good brand of football and he is very classy. Manchester City want to build long term projects and not just dip cash in. Pellegrini might not have many trophies but he is a good coach as he did wonders with villareal, was a favorite to take barcelona until pep arrived and didnt even do all that bad in madrid even though perez never really had faith in him. He didnt really lose the dressing room like some might think, he never really had a chance since mou was always perez' obsession.

For those who think Isco will arrive to city dont be so sure as all the spanish media is saying city and pellegrini will not touch isco.

Hes a good coach who took down madrid this season making madrid look like subpar clowns, while also nearly eliminating dortmund with some great tactical and team, team work.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/04/10/dortmund-3-2-malaga-pellegrinis-side-defend-well-but-are-unable-to-cope-with-late-pressure/

Much more promising than mancini imo.

[Toli 977]

^ winning 6-2 against malaga is making look "madrid like subpar clowns"? ok...

beside this, he is a great coach and surely better than mancini. he could turn City in to a real force while playing good football.

[Toli 977]

According to AS, Jesus Navas will sign for City. the transfer fee should be around 30 million euros.

http://futbol.as.com/futbol/2013/06/02/primera/1370188290_508732.html

if thats true, would be another bs transfer from City. he is nowhere near worth 30 mil..and also really one-dimensional in his game. Isco would be the way better choice for this money. Also Navas is rumoured to be homesick.

marca also reporting. fee to be 25 mio + 5 on objectives

http://www.marca.com/2013/06/03/futbol/equipos/sevilla/1370216061.html

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Players don't win you trophies, teams win trophies, squads win trophies.

[Kezza 1,965]

Players don't win you trophies, teams win trophies, squads win trophies.

Messi disagrees

[OneMoSalah 8,889]

Messi disagrees

as does Drogba.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Messi disagrees

[Jase 43,479]

as does Drogba.

And probably Van Persie as well..

[Kezza 1,965]

And probably Van Persie as well..

Bale too..

Oh thats right, we are talking about teams with trophies

[Spike 12,049]

Messi makes Barcelona Barcelona not those two. They are brilliant players no doubt, probably two of the best in the world, but Messi takes Barcelona to the next level, not those two. Barcelona can handle life without Iniesta and Xavi but not without Messi.

[Leif 6,006]

Right, so they've looked to have signed Jesus Navas (or about to anyway) for around £19m plus around £4m in variables.

He's a proper out-and-out winger who's known to be injury prone. He's incredibly fast and an amazing dribbler. However; He's just had the worst season of his career and new coach Pellegrini has never played with out-and-out wingers before to my knowledge. That said, Silva and Navas together is a frightening prospect.

[Peace. 4,352]

Messi makes Barcelona Barcelona not those two. They are brilliant players no doubt, probably two of the best in the world, but Messi takes Barcelona to the next level, not those two. Barcelona can handle life without Iniesta and Xavi but not without Messi.

The argument "Messi is good because of Xavi and Iniesta" is a relic from the area pre-2010. Actually, from the past two seasons, it's the contrary as you stated. Indeed, this Barcelona team has major flaws (within their players and as a consquence within their tactics). For this two past seasons Messi had been carrying Barça all by himself.

Without his impressive tally of 73 goals last season, Barcelona would have never reached the 91 points and we probably wouldn't had the chance to beat them in the semi-final of the Champions League. This year, he has gifted them La Liga and they would not have beat Milan without him (nor Paname).

Barcelona without Messi is still a top team, but an average top team, nothing special (a team which is easily beatable). With Messi, Barça is arguably the best team in the world. Just as you said, that's the kind of differece that Messi brings to his team (takes them to a whole 'nother level).

[Leif 6,006]

Their flank will be so exposed with Navas, honestly. He'll end up being told to cut in meaning Zabaleta will have to offer loads of support. That means either loads of space behind Navas to exploit and jink past Zabaleta or Zab will already be too far up the pitch and one ball over him to whoever our striker is will have us in an attacking position.

Navas is soooo good for attacking, but you'll be a shambles when it comes to defending.

Win-Lose for City.

[Zinedine Iniesco 172]

According to AS, Jesus Navas will sign for City. the transfer fee should be around 30 million euros.

http://futbol.as.com/futbol/2013/06/02/primera/1370188290_508732.html

if thats true, would be another bs transfer from City. he is nowhere near worth 30 mil..and also really one-dimensional in his game. Isco would be the way better choice for this money. Also Navas is rumoured to be homesick.

marca also reporting. fee to be 25 mio + 5 on objectives

http://www.marca.com/2013/06/03/futbol/equipos/sevilla/1370216061.html

^ winning 6-2 against malaga is making look "madrid like subpar clowns"? ok...

beside this, he is a great coach and surely better than mancini. he could turn City in to a real force while playing good football.

Malaga beat madrid this year when it counted in La Liga and lost when Pelle was nearing the end of his time as manager, was going through personal tragedies, and Malaga players were all looking for their next club.

Last year, Mou had 1 win and 1 draw against Malaga in La Liga

Pelle had a shat club in his first year and was a middle table to bottom third team. In his second year, Malage bought players like Toulalan, Isco, Cazorla, etc. and they finished 4th. This year, it started out a mess with the financial troubles and key players were sold like Cazorla. But Pelle kept the club in the upper tier regardless and did great in CL.

Honestly, Madrid had 10x more talent than Malaga. So you were going to have games where the talent just overwhelmed Malaga. But even then... malaga got results against Madrid.

Mou, as is his habit, made disgraceful comments about Pelle his first year and ate his words as Pelle caught up to him the last 2 years.

Pelegrini made us look like clowns when years of work toppled what years of work mourinhos madrid was capable of...A comubsted team with tactics that pellegrini figured out. It was madrid amongst its worst portrayals but a embarrassment well inflicted never the less. Dont want to sound too harsh on mourinho based on the possible reactions but we were literally seen as clowns by all spanish media. That is mainly to what i refer to.