We would be lucky to have more than a point playing like we have done in the Premier League....that is all
Compared to the last time we where in the Championship I think the quality has being pretty poor. Wolves aside none of the teams have looked that good. There are also a lot more teams who seem to want to hold onto the ball more and pass it sideways. I know it's 'modern' and seems popular, but it does nothing for me.
Question is, if we go up, what'll we do this time to make sure we stay up for more than 2 seasons ? How did we **** up last time & have we learnt from our experience ?
This league is full of decent teams who are well organised and are capable of playing some good football. The problem for most of them is being able to do it consistently and having the attacking quality to take advantage of it. PNE were a prime example of this yesterday. I think we have enough strike power in the squad to be slightly better than most other teams in the division, and - at the end of the day - that's all you need to be.
I think he's an absolutely top-class goalscorer and I think he would really prove this at a team like ManU.
That fine observation is another way of saying that the Premier League standard is miles above that in the Championship. And you are quite right. It is all very well clearing out the old squad that failed in the Premier League, but what next? The Club's objective must not only be promotion again, but not coming back down yet again. This calls for a long-term policy and stability, and so the question of the Allam family pops up once more. As far as players are concerned, City should let go McGregor, Elmohamady, Meyler, Jelevic and Huddlestone here and now. They've had their chance and fluffed it. They'll not do at all if City go up again soon. There is little point of promotion with them in the team. Happily I am not running the Club, and I am content seeing City win regularly rather than getting smacked about in the Premier League. Give me the Championshiup any day. What supporter likes seeing their Club lose?
I assume you're talking about Austin as that's the last player that's been talked about above, I don't really see him as a Man Utd player in a million years, if he goes anywhere it'll be mid table team at best. However I think QPR have priced him out of a move, maybe Newcastle will come in for him at the death, outside of that I don't see any of the other teams taking a gamble on him. Edit. Just seen on SSN he's 1/2 to go there. So maybe something in it, it just seems a weird one though!
We are playing poorly and winning games and for me that is a really good sign because is means that when we start playing well we'll absolutely muller the opposition. Sides that win things have the knack of winning even when they're having off days. I like the fact that there are more midweek games. I'm in the UK with work during the week quite often so I'll make a few more games and I'll be able to get tickets at fairly short notice. I'm already fairly bemused at people saying if we played like that in the Premier League we'd get hammered. Well were not in the Premier League. Our squad was never going to improve this season after we got relegated from the richest league in the world. I'm amazed it's as good as it is. I started last season full of hope and joy. Dazzled by our transfer dealings I expected (yes EXPECTED) us to push on and progress into mid-table comfort. This season I have started with a much more familiar feeling of worry and dread looking down as much as up but things are not too bad so far.
I think we have been slow getting that winning mentality back - with a squad of players that spent a lot of effort for little reward last season I guess it takes a while or them to play the game the other way ... We have been ****e in each game I've seen, with the first glimpses of what we are capable of against PNE
The primary objective is promotion, then money from the TV deal, Allam would then go and someone new come in. Then we go from there.
It's a reflection on the relative quality of the Championship and what you can get away with, performance wise, when compared with playing even mediocre Premier League sides (like Newcastle for example). Besides, our squad has lost just 2 established Premier League players in Brady and Chester, and possibly another, in N'Doye, that had the quality to be a Premier League regular, so we aren't that far removed from our Premier League side. We aren't playing particularly well but winning. Are we in a false position or is the league simply a poor one? I guess we will find out for sure in the next few months, but I've been fairly shocked at how poor it has been so far.
If you thought the first half performance against Fulham was "****e", then I'd suggest you've got unrealistic expectations.
I personally think the quality has descended since the last time we were in it, and I expect that if City click into some sort of coherent form over a period of time, that we'll comfortably go up. Not arrogance, I just think City's squad is much stronger than most and the football served up by most teams is quite primitive.