I don’t know how Arteta will view the Calafiori and MLS situation for Brugge. Calafiori can’t play v wolves so you might play him to protect MLS but also MLS needs some match time to be ready for Wolves as he’s looked very rusty recently

If it was me I’d start MLS and make a pre planned sub at 60

https://x.com/_afcbanks/status/1997546029483282582?s=46&t=fkwaCrtFB5yR-j6VVZXEoA

At 12 seconds highlights a problem with our attack on transitions. Ødegaard actually carried the ball really well from deep but who is actually helping him, there is no intensity, no penetrating off the ball runs. We need to start putting as much in to transitions in attack as we do when we are running back to stop a counter attack

Yeah. I think that is where Martinelli is very good at making clever runs. Gyorkeres presumably too. It's not really Eze or Merino's game. It was also good to see Ødegaard taking more shots and the radar seemingly improving.

On the other hand, after the save (at 28 seconds), Ødegaard just has to show more urgency, and hit it first time, either towards Merino (who is very well placed) or at goal. He does that too often.

Agree - it's why the wide left position is our Achilles heel - I reckon Martinelli could easily be no9 and reason he never gets deployed there is out lack of left sided width

We really could do with a left sided Saka! We are too dependent on our right side attacking wise

There is no doubt in my mind that a huge percentage of ‘neutral’ fans will be cheering on City to win the title. There is no rivalry with City, nothing that really means anything. And no one has a City fan in their friendship group and City fans are basically non existent, so everyone’s lives are made more bearable if City win it. The majority of pundits will be the same.
It’s always amazing how so many people in football can casually seeep aside the rampant cheating of both City and Chelsea and activity cheer them on to win the big trophies.

How are those 115 charges coming along against City by the way?

https://x.com/arsenalzne/status/1997307118580293753?s=46&t=fkwaCrtFB5yR-j6VVZXEoA
Important not to lose perspective- that game could easily have gone either way or ended as a draw. Saka’s shot here is going in but blocked by a late boot by the defender, Ødegaard had one tipped over and we created many more chances. Villa had their chances too and Raya made a couple of good saves. It was a knife edge game where the ball ran nicely for Villa for both of their goals.

City almost threw away a 5-1 lead v Fulham and would have drawn if not for a goal line clearance. City beat Leeds in injury time with a shot very very similar to this one from Saka that found its way through the bodies instead of being blocked.
The late equaliser v Sunderland wasn’t going in but for it deflecting and ballooning in off Gabriel’s head

We’ll face many more games like that this season. We need to make sure as many games as possible aren’t decided by fine margins and when they are that we ensure we’re on the right side

We’ve fallen behind v Liverpool, city, Newcastle, Chelsea and Villa we pegged 4 of those teams back, drawing 2 winning 1 and losing 1. But the first goal is so often crucial in this big games we have to stop giving it away

Back in November the decision was allegedly to be announced before Christmas. The length of time it is taking tells me they will get a slap on the wrist.

Utter and total BS. If it is us or City the vast majority will back us because although Man City have a huge fan base they are where they are through financial doping. I've met manure supporters, die hards who'd rather Liverpool win the title than City.

You after yet another pay rise Rog?

I have adjusted the MySQL tables to allow a much larger number of topic views (up to ~18 quintillion now).

I ran a command over all the tables so this error shouldn't happen again for any of the tables.
The forum software is quite old and will need upgrading one day but this should be a decent band aid for now. ;-)

I'll monitor it for any errors. If anyone sees anything errorwise, if you could let me know - Ta.

Rog ...
Edit - Yeah, couldn't sleep - and I don't like error messages.

I think us and City have only played 5 identical fixtures so far
Leeds at home we both won
Fulham away we both won
Villa away we both lost
Spurs at home we won they lost
Newcastle away we won they lost

Looking through the rest of City’s wins there are 3 that stand out that we’d do well to match
Beating Liverpool at home, Man U at home and Brentford away

City will stumble in tough games as well, especially if they pick up some knocks. Pep is using the same core 12-13 outfield playets at the moment.
Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Gonzalez, Foden, silva, reminders/cherki, Doku, haaland.
He’s not rotating them. I’m hoping their legs start to feel it and they pick up some injuries as we deserve to have them go through what we’ve been through

Thanks for this. My son is in IT. He talks like this as well. I appreciate all you do for the forum. It doesn't exist without you. I do not even pretend to understand what you have fixed. But thanks anyway.

Yeah. I think that is where Martinelli is very good at making clever runs. Gyorkeres presumably too. It's not really Eze or Merino's game. It was also good to see Ødegaard taking more shots and the radar seemingly improving.

On the other hand, after the save (at 28 seconds), Ødegaard just has to show more urgency, and hit it first time, either towards Merino (who is very well placed) or at goal. He does that too often.

I agree with Gaz.
Have no clue what you did but I thank you Rog for keeping this wonderful forum going
Thank you
A.

This isn't a great City team at all and doesn't have great depth. They do have a great manager.

Fully agree. I hope the rebellious MySQL tables yield to Rog's command.

I propose adding another 0 to his salary.

Thanks Rog.

Unless we improve at centre forward, we are going to have many games which are in the balance right up to the final whistle. Still early days, but Gyökeres is a worry. In my view Havertz isn't good enough to be the striker for a top side. He is a very good player but not a natural striker at all, yet still seems to be a better option than Gyökeres when fit. Jesus barely counts due to his terrible injury record.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c78vmek3x3po

People are connecting the dots and coming up with Muñoz who has started every game for Palace until their game today v Fulham.

Saw the same spaces open up for Eze and he didn’t even bother taking it forward. Attacking with numbers at pace just isn’t our game it seems unless it’s Martinelli making a run.

The wages all go into a numbered Swiss bank account.