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The Official 2017/18 Premier League Thread

I know Emirates Marketing Project are playing well, but what annoys me tonight is how poorly Swansea defended.

Against us they were compact and left hardly any space between the lines. Tonight at times you could park coaches between the lines.
 
I know Emirates Marketing Project are playing well, but what annoys me tonight is how poorly Swansea defended.

Against us they were compact and left hardly any space between the lines. Tonight at times you could park coaches between the lines.

Yeah, I was surprised by that too. By far the most open game we've played since Napoli away, which is a surprise considering they're bottom of the league and we're on a roll. Their midfield today consisted of players with a non-too dissimilar style to our own midfield, which indicated they wanted a possession battle. The only team I wager to compete with us on possession is your own. I know Pep and numerous other City fans moan about "parking the bus" but it's a legitimate tactic, and one the Swansea manager seems to have been baited into not using.
 
Yeah, I was surprised by that too. By far the most open game we've played since Napoli away, which is a surprise considering they're bottom of the league and we're on a roll. Their midfield today consisted of players with a non-too dissimilar style to our own midfield, which indicated they wanted a possession battle. The only team I wager to compete with us on possession is your own. I know Pep and numerous other City fans moan about "parking the bus" but it's a legitimate tactic, and one the Swansea manager seems to have been baited into not using.
Quick, tell us what's the secret to baiting managers not to use the park-the-bus tactic. :D
 
Quick, tell us what's the secret to baiting managers not to use the park-the-bus tactic. :D

I think having a very loud, highly influential, extremely successful and supremely headstrong (read: arrogant) manager is the long and short of it to be honest.
 
I think having a very loud, highly influential, extremely successful and supremely headstrong (read: arrogant) manager is the long and short of it to be honest.
And a lot of money to buy an extremely expensive, world class squad must also help a little bit.
 
And a lot of money to buy an extremely expensive, world class squad must also help a little bit.

That only tempts teams to park the bus even more to be honest. Although something tells me you weren't interested in joining the conversation, you only really wanted to make sure people "Don't forget about the money!!".

Which is fine, I should add. I'm fully aware a lot of people don't recognise our apparent success, or do so whilst attaching an asterisk next to our name (as indicated by scaramanga's post above yours). I've said my piece many times over the various GG iterations regarding the money.
 
Considering what they've spent, that's the very minimum that should be expected.

Anything less than a 10 point gap at the end of the season and one cup or less should be considered a failure when playing on cheat mode.
Has their spending really been that outrageously higher than what Chelsea and Man United have spent?

I do think a real test for Guardiola will be their CL performances this season and next. Performances more than result as it's a cup and luck plays a major part. Their goal should be to join the elite clubs in Europe.
 
Has their spending really been that outrageously higher than what Chelsea and Man United have spent?

I do think a real test for Guardiola will be their CL performances this season and next. Performances more than result as it's a cup and luck plays a major part. Their goal should be to join the elite clubs in Europe.
I'm sure the accusation was somewhere around £1B. Abramovic has put something similar into Chelsea but at half the pace.

Utd hasn't been on cheat mode so I appraise them differently. Even with a direct comparison, I think their spend has been lower and slower than City.
 
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