jim5000

terrible performance so far, and a truly awful, awful, away strip.

Maddison has been pretty poor today.

Parking the bus

Slimani is the only player without a photo on https://www.lcfc.com/teams/first-team

I think this is one of the toughest starting games we could have been given. Wolves are in the group of clubs competing to break into the top 6 with us, are very dangerous, at our level, and have already played competative games this season. Against most other teams in the PL you could almost predict (or hope for) what would happen but this match could genuinely go either way, especially as first match of the season. Hope we don't miss Maguire too much at the back, play our game, and nick a win, but I wouldn't bet either way if I was a gambling man.

I just can't see it happening. It reaks of the paper talk we've experienced over the past few summers, with Vardy and Marhez and the like. The papers WANT Maguire to play for Man Utd as he is probably England captain in the next couple of years, and they see that as the way it should be, he SHOULD play for Man Utd, and it will sell a lot of copies of their rags and drive their online advertising revenue. Whether Utd really want the player or are interested in meeting the valuation of a recently signed 5 year contract is irrelevant to them. The main downside though, is the distruption to Maguire and potential head turning. Hopefully he is down to earth enough that he's not going to go all Mahrez in 18 months time and sit in Long Eaton train station waiting for the call from the north.

Maguire isn't leaving this summer. It's all paper talk.

That makes sense (apart from the NFL part!!)

I've noticed that we have setup our pre-season fixtures entirely against UK based clubs, generally away to lower league teams and finishing with a glamour tie against Atlanta at home. Most other top half Premier League teams, and all of the 'Big 6' are playing all over the world, in Asia, Australia, and the USA. Some are even having their last pre-season fixture on the other side of the world, 5 days before PL kick off! Do you think this will help City get off to a good start? We may be warming up against lesser opponents but we won't be exhausted and jet-lagged from spending a month jetting all over the world playing friendlies. Will it make any difference and enable us to (hopefully) get off to a flying start?

I was under the impression that Fuchs said he was leaving after last season and was planning to move to america, yet he's in the training photo's and the club aren't looking to bring in another left-back. Did I imagine him saying he was leaving, or has he changed his mind?

The likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and Utd may be going through a blip, but they will be back and will always be around the top 6. They are massive clubs and will always attract the top players and be able to pay the most. We are having pretty much the most succesful period in the clubs history right now, and hopefully still have a few years yet around the top. But we are only one bad managerial appointment from dropping back to mid-table, the bottom half, or even the unspeakable. If this happens, our ability to recruit top class players over the long term will diminish a lot faster than Chelsea etc. Anyone who has supported City for any decent period will surely know to enjoy these good times because we have always been a yo-yo club, we are currently at the apex of the up-yo

double post

I think BR will manage to keep the squad together this season at least, with the promise that they will re-asses depending on how successful we are. All of our desirable players are tied down to decent, long-term contracts, and we don't need to sell. Most of the first team have got plenty of years ahead of them too, and a lot of confidence with how the season ended, a pre-season with BR, no european distraction, and the likes of Tileman signing on a permanent and Perez joining really strengthens us. I can't see Maddison, Maguire, or Pierrera, or Chillwell leaving this summer

The problem is pretty much any of the top 6 can come in for our best players; Maguire, Chillwell, Piererra, Maddison, Tielemans; and offer them more money, a more prestigious club, ground, and city to play in, and European football, and there's not a lot we can do to stop them if they want to go. We will pull in big transfer fees for them, but we have to uncover and develop the gems for ourselves with the constant risk of them being poached the moment it becomes apparent we found someone with something special. Consistently and sustainably breaking into that group is a massive ask.

Hopeful for next season if we can keep the team together. Been an eventful season off the season, and with BR rather than Puel and teams like Utd in free fall we should be able to push top 6

Bit of a damp end to the season this

Can't believe the value of those season tickets. I travel up to Leicester for 2-3 games a season, generally paying around £30-35 per ticket. To be able to get a season ticket for £40\month direct debit is a great deal.

Thank god Twitter and it's ilk didn't exist when Vardy was a youth!

Imagine the stars we could pluck from the Portuguese league for £150m

Hey that's not fair, Morgan is great playmaker and starts all of our best moves!

I can't see the fans giving him stick. He's a local lad and still young, it's not like we've spent £20m and expect him to be the next Mahrez instantly. Sure, he'll get some negative comments on FT, but what member of the squad doesn't?

He's the new Mahrez, just needs time to get into the flow

What I liked about the Chelsea game was how many academy and English players we had. Chilwell, Hamza from the academy, with Maguire, Albrighton, Maddison, Vardy and Gray representing the English players. It's great to support a team like this in a time of a Galactico filled Premier League awash with talent from all over the world. We have a lad from Loughborough in the team ahead of a Portugese European Championships winner in the centre of midfield! The academy apart, the age of the team and the prospect for the future if they hold it all together is amazing. People forget that as a club we are doing better than ever before; never in my life have City been a stable PL team, and to be doing it while developing the first team into the exciting prospect that it is is a real tribute to what Vichi has helped us achieve. The likes of Pochettino and Klopp have been at their clubs for 3-4 years building and progressing a core of players. If we can ride out a few rough results while the squad is developed then hopefully we can be competing at their level in a year or two. I'd much rather than than going back to yo-yoing up and down between the top two divisions for the next 20 years!

Puel took the chance that he could rest some of the key players and rely on the backups. Hopefully he's shown that the backup players aren't quite there yet and the club back him in the transfer market with some more creativity in attack an more than promising youngsters backed up by aging superstars. We're a few class players in their prime short of really pushing to break into the top 6 right now.

Fulham are a newly promoted club and are bottom of the table. Even with their new manager bounce and the fact it's Ranieri back against Leicester, we should be disappointed if we don't win.