gerblod

Thanks for that informed and incisive comment. It's clarified so much for me. Sorry I didn't read it sooner.

He could become that pivotal player to supplant Maddison and later KDH. Which means that Cifuentes needs to stop placing speculative multiple subs before keeping effective players on the pitch.

It ain't you. He doesn't have anything effective to contribute. Taking James off in a fruitless attempt to shake things up is silly. Both Thomas and Choudhury are excellent passers of the ball, but both have weaknesses - Thomas with pace and Choudhury with sloppiness. Daka is never going to break the hex which seems to hang over him. Why did we loan out El Khanouss - someone remind me.

Is that a back-handed criticism of City's performance? I think, given the ins-and-outs of the close season, we're going to have to be grateful for the results the lads have achieved so far. W3, D3, L1 and 5th in the table is better than I was expecting. It's going to be a hard slog this season and to stay in the top six will be a battle. Funnily enough, for the first time ever in sixty-five years of supporting, I'm feeling the sharp pain of defeat a lot less than ever before. Maybe it's because I've accepted that until Top, Rudkin and Co. eff off we're going to dwell in this mediocrity.

Good enough. The lads stuck at it. A point away from home against West Brom is well-earned. Some of Cifuente's subs were puzzling. Carranza for one.

Has he ever been given the run of games which might have knocked him into shape? He knows he's not valued - why would he run his balls off for a succession of managers who've never given him the opportunity. He's not made the decision to keep himself here. The team's been badly coached ever since Rodgers dropped his rattle out of the pram. We got lucky with Maresca, but he nearly fvcked it up. Blame the players - they're the obvious targets for the kneejerkers. So you want the 'crap' players gone because Rudkin was free and easy with the wages. Bring in players for fvck all wages and then see how the results fare. You'd think it was your money City were spending the way you whinge.

You make no sense. Whose "regression" are you writing about - the fans or the team? Seems to me that, far from supporting the team, individuals such as yourself like to single out a player for the misery guts 'fun' of it and sneer at those who do see the best rather than the worst of the performances. So, for those reasons, I think your post is crap - exceedingly crap.

He's been scapegoated for several seasons now - too frail, too short blah, blah. When he Barnes and KDH were linking up on the left they made a thoroughly good unit. But Rodgers slide into incompetence saw the fans begin to slag off players. Older men can deal with it, but it can destroy confidence in younger players. Watching him on Sunday he hardly put a foot wrong. He's much better than some bully boys would have us believe.

Player of the match - Charles

Faes - don't give a fvck, does he.

Indeed. He has an automatic energy saving switch when he thinks he's done his bit. Lazy by instinct.

Skip 'stick your foot out and hope for the best' - but chaos defensively led to that.

Problem with this attitude is, consciously or unconsciously, you're not comparing like with like. Lot of blokes are so insecure about the women's game that the mantra in the back of their heads is "not as good as the men" when it's not relevant. The international games are superlative - even if women are never going to be faster and stronger.

The Club World Cup is a tedious irrelevance. It's the European Cup with ra-ra skirts on. I've got more enjoyment out of watching this women's tournament than anything in the recent men's game. Technically and physically not that far off the men's game and without the shithousery and the back chat. Plus Aslanni!

History is littered with examples of capable fathers spawning kids who get spoiled by daddy's largesse and learn very little of worth from their dad's experiences. Top and Rodgers inherited a fantastic squad (kudos to Claude Puel) and Vichai's set-up. That saw a team strong enough to win the Cup but it's been downhill ever since. It takes a lot of clarity and honesty to admit you're not up to the job. Neither Top nor Rudkin are that perceptive, honest or care enough about the club.

Agree wholeheartedly. Rodgers did very well out of the squad assembled under Claude Puel. The 'cracks' in his team management began to appear even before the Cup success. I think he believed any team less significant than Liverpool wasn't worthy of his full commitment. To get relegated with players like Maddison, Barnes, Vardy, KDH, Tielemans, Schmeichel and Castagne is tantamount to incompetence. Celtic rescued him - that's his level.

Interesting that the amount of money you're using as a barb to criticise Vardy's lack of commitment (in your eyes, that is) is exactly-ish what the Club laid out for his services. The outcomes of the last two matches are moot and yet you're stretching a minor and unknown quantity to lambast a man who, in my eyes, has done well over enough to allow him to choose how he leaves. Are you stating that he actually, financially, needs to get a 'good deal'? For me, these two decent results show that the players, knowing relegation was certain, have felt the weight of continued demand from all corners has dissipated enough for them to relax enough to play effective football. Only Winks and Vestergaard have pulled 'sickies' whilst Jamie Vardy has continued to give 100%. Save your aspersions for someone who warrants them. Have a dig at Rudkin like everyone else, but don't demean yourself in others' eyes by fighting a meaningless battle.

🤔😂🤣😂🤣

If you didn't single him out then I wouldn't have got into this discussion/argument with you. I'm not concerned about the Cup winning side either. Just concerned how a team containing good to great players can descend into the mire they're in now. Until Top and the rest of his cadre go, then I don't see the revamp of this demotivated team happening. I hope some players stay but they have the kiss of death planted on them as a squad. The club is in a beggars can't be choosers situation. The better players will be off if they get the right incentive so we'll be fielding a Championship mid-table side next season. It's to be hoped that Mavadidi, Fatawu, El Khanous and Hermansen stay - but Soumare and Faes need to go - bad attitudes. The rest will probably stay. Happy days are behind us now.

This isn't then a discussion with any viable result. Thomas isn't Ashley Cole and you can't deal with that. So, even though, for a significant period, he was an automatic selection in a team far more effective than this current one, he's the one you single out for opprobium. You're not alone. It's a pattern that individuals get singled out when the team isn't working. Chilwell got the 'treatment' as has Kristiansen. But 70% of any sports performance is confidence. The élan of that Cup winning side was superb until Rodgers gradually stifled it. There's no such thing as a bad player at Premiership level - there's much more telling factors at work. Anyway, you don't care what I think or believe. Fair enough.

Thanks for your honesty.

You've completely ignored the fact that he played well enough to get in the team that won two honours. You're just scapegoating one player whom you feel you have a reason to pick out. If you can't reply to a reasonably thought out post without resorting to guff then you're wasting your time. Some will agree with you no doubt - but I can't respect your thinking. Sorry.

This is one of the most perceptive an accurate posts that's been made - especially appropriate to one of the major fvck-ups in allowing Rodgers to hang on way past his manage-by date. This idea of 'bad players' at Prem level is laughable. To get anywhere near this level requires almost superhuman skill, strength, determination and persistence - especially when injury intervenes. Lack of self-belief and confidence in fellow players and a succession of ineffective managers has led to this shambles. The squad and club needs a complete makeover.

What the hell kind of statistic is that? Does it reflect on him in any way? He was an FA Cup winning player as well. It's not an achievement - takes a poor squad, poor manager and poor club management to "achieve" that. He was screwed over by Rodgers' temperamental fall-out with the club and the club's failure to act. Of course, Luke became the personal scapegoat for a number of posters on here, but Madders, Evans, KDH, Vardy (even) Ward, Faes, Vestergaard, Castagne, Daka, Winks and uncle Tom Cobley have all been labelled as 'unwanted' on here by someone or other. The squad needs a total overhaul and Thomas is one of the lads to keep.

For much of his time at City he's been left wanting the kind of service Mahrez gave him in the Pearson/Ranieri era. Had he gone to Arsenal his reputation would have been international. As it is, his reputation as the greatest ever is never going to be eclipsed at City. Despite the growing numbers of detractors who've wittered on about him losing his powers and about his pay packet, in reality he's still an effective Premier striker. The club has let him down by not getting him the kind of assistance he needed - making mediocre buys at inflated wages. I suspect he's just had enough of the incompetence and self-interest of those running the club and it's resulting current demise. Shame he couldn't retire here with the club secure in the Prem.