Couldn't quite believe my eyes. Newcastle beat Man City 2 - 0 away with an under strength team, (in the spirit of the league cup) against an almost full strength Man City side?!
Well yes and no. They will bounce back as they were just outclassed by Newcastle on the day. Don't forget Newcastle are in decent form at the moment and have nothing to lose.
City have a fairly big week to come with United on the weekend then an important Champions League game.
That said, they will be disappointed, and did have most of their main team on, definitely more of their main team than Newcastle had on.
They are in trouble, no question. 4-4-2 is clearly not working and the middle looks like a OAP convention this season with Fernando, Toure and Fernandinho all under-performing. The centre backs are also misfiring. Aguero is the only forward you'd trust to score.
With Toure out of form (compared to last season) they heavily rely on Silva and Aguero - so when they don't play or are snuffed out they are very predictable as they hardly venture from 4-4-2. They'll bounce back soon enough though - United probably didn't want them riled by a series of jarring results.
As a United fan, it is always good to see City "Struggling" although i think it is more than a blip than anything else and at United we have more problems then they have at the time being.
City will not fall down the league and they have too much quality in there squad to carry on losing for too long. City probably won't win the league this season as Chelsea seem to be the strongest team in the league but no team wins it every year. Chelsea are strong team now but they have only won the league Once in the last eight seasons a poor return for the money they have spent and the squad they have, just shows it goes in cycles. It is unlikely they will win the Champions League, that is one area City need to improve on, they are out of the League Cup and although they would like to win it, it will be last on there list of priorities for the season and who knows what will happen in the FA Cup.
If City don't win anything this season or fail too badly in Europe Pellegrini will probably lose his job, which is a shame for him as he has done nothing wrong but sadly that is the nature of the beast in modern football today and he will get a hefty pay off. City even if they don't do anything this season compared to previous seasons will comeback as they will just splash the cash until they get it right and it is a long term plan with City. Although things aren't going right at City at the moment there is a long way to go this season and things can change so it may be too early to write City of just yet.
As a United fan, i hope City aren't firing on all cylinders on Sunday and we can get at least a point at the the Ethiad, but i'm not holding my breath as City always raise there game for the Derby and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the start of a good run of form for City and everything will be rosy in the garden again for a while.
I would not call it a blip more its down to they have not really done much improvement from last season and its something a top team needs to do every season (I think really only Utd and Chelsea have done so out of the top clubs).
They had a bad result at the weekend and the mid-week game although a bad result since its the League Cup its about as relevent as a five a side training game. They are still going to be in the top 3 (2 for me).
Yes they have to do some work in the transfer windows and with the way the groups are picked for the Champions League changing that will help them in the future with playing for the Champions League crown
If the don't get through in the champions league could the manager be in danger
Rumors from City fans that I know is that plans are in place for a change at the end of the season. Whether these rumours have any substance remains to be seen of course.
Yes they have to do some work in the transfer windows and with the way the groups are picked for the Champions League changing that will help them in the future with playing for the Champions League crown
It'll only help them if they win the title though.
Personally I don't think Pellegrini's a particularly great manager, certainly not in the top bracket. He may have won the title last season but they weren't exactly convincing despite having by far the best squad of players and ended up relying on Liverpool blowing it in the final three games. It's hard enough having sustained success in our league, nevermind if your manager's not one of the best, so it wouldn't surprise me if they made a change at the end of this season.
It'll only help them if they win the title though.
Personally I don't think Pellegrini's a particularly great manager, certainly not in the top bracket. He may have won the title last season but they weren't exactly convincing despite having by far the best squad of players and ended up relying on Liverpool blowing it in the final three games. It's hard enough having sustained success in our league, nevermind if your manager's not one of the best, so it wouldn't surprise me if they made a change at the end of this season.
They are more then likely to have a couple of title wins over the next few years.
They just need the experence gained from one or two decent runs in it to help them out when they have a tough group game.
He is not a great manager (but a very very good one) but apart from Jose and Van Gaal and Wenger there is nobody even close and even if up and coming ones get near him the reasouces at City will keep him in front of most of the pack
They are more then likely to have a couple of title wins over the next few years.
They just need the experence gained from one or two decent runs in it to help them out when they have a tough group game.
He is not a great manager (but a very very good one) but apart from Jose and Van Gaal and Wenger there is nobody even close and even if up and coming ones get near him the reasouces at City will keep him in front of most of the pack
Personally I'd put him in a similar bracket to Rodgers, I just think he has much better resources available to him. Below the others you've mentioned, although maybe not so far behind Wenger these days.
But anyway it's going to be hard enough for everyone in the next few years - after we won our 2nd PL title under Mourinho probably not many people would have predicted we'd only win one more in the next eight seasons. If Mourinho stays put this time, and Van Gaal does work out at Man U then City may need a better manager to win anything more than just an occasional title, in my opinion.
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City have a fairly big week to come with United on the weekend then an important Champions League game.
That said, they will be disappointed, and did have most of their main team on, definitely more of their main team than Newcastle had on.
City will not fall down the league and they have too much quality in there squad to carry on losing for too long. City probably won't win the league this season as Chelsea seem to be the strongest team in the league but no team wins it every year. Chelsea are strong team now but they have only won the league Once in the last eight seasons a poor return for the money they have spent and the squad they have, just shows it goes in cycles. It is unlikely they will win the Champions League, that is one area City need to improve on, they are out of the League Cup and although they would like to win it, it will be last on there list of priorities for the season and who knows what will happen in the FA Cup.
If City don't win anything this season or fail too badly in Europe Pellegrini will probably lose his job, which is a shame for him as he has done nothing wrong but sadly that is the nature of the beast in modern football today and he will get a hefty pay off. City even if they don't do anything this season compared to previous seasons will comeback as they will just splash the cash until they get it right and it is a long term plan with City. Although things aren't going right at City at the moment there is a long way to go this season and things can change so it may be too early to write City of just yet.
As a United fan, i hope City aren't firing on all cylinders on Sunday and we can get at least a point at the the Ethiad, but i'm not holding my breath as City always raise there game for the Derby and it wouldn't surprise me if that was the start of a good run of form for City and everything will be rosy in the garden again for a while.
I would not call it a blip more its down to they have not really done much improvement from last season and its something a top team needs to do every season (I think really only Utd and Chelsea have done so out of the top clubs).
They had a bad result at the weekend and the mid-week game although a bad result since its the League Cup its about as relevent as a five a side training game. They are still going to be in the top 3 (2 for me).
Yes they have to do some work in the transfer windows and with the way the groups are picked for the Champions League changing that will help them in the future with playing for the Champions League crown
Rumors from City fans that I know is that plans are in place for a change at the end of the season. Whether these rumours have any substance remains to be seen of course.
It'll only help them if they win the title though.
Personally I don't think Pellegrini's a particularly great manager, certainly not in the top bracket. He may have won the title last season but they weren't exactly convincing despite having by far the best squad of players and ended up relying on Liverpool blowing it in the final three games. It's hard enough having sustained success in our league, nevermind if your manager's not one of the best, so it wouldn't surprise me if they made a change at the end of this season.
They are more then likely to have a couple of title wins over the next few years.
They just need the experence gained from one or two decent runs in it to help them out when they have a tough group game.
He is not a great manager (but a very very good one) but apart from Jose and Van Gaal and Wenger there is nobody even close and even if up and coming ones get near him the reasouces at City will keep him in front of most of the pack
Personally I'd put him in a similar bracket to Rodgers, I just think he has much better resources available to him. Below the others you've mentioned, although maybe not so far behind Wenger these days.
But anyway it's going to be hard enough for everyone in the next few years - after we won our 2nd PL title under Mourinho probably not many people would have predicted we'd only win one more in the next eight seasons. If Mourinho stays put this time, and Van Gaal does work out at Man U then City may need a better manager to win anything more than just an occasional title, in my opinion.