In his recent interview with Carra, BR explained that we are slightly ahead of plan at the moment as he didn't expect us to be challenging for fouth. Begs the question, did his grand plan include Suarez or not and was his vision of achieving top 4 next year written into Suarez's contract? I hope so
i doubt it was sadly, good point about was his vision with suarez in the team as he is the main scorer of our goals. city and chelsea will be sniffing if we don't get cl football and they will pay it, £60-70 mill odd? so just hope he can see where we are trying to head and sticks around, as if we have him going into next year with decent cover and a proper sqaud size we should be good for top4, guess it will be a good test if he is money driven. bit gutted in a way that we did **** all in jan to capitalize on where we are at and also squad numbers, but nothing we can do about that now, just thought position we are in could have grabbed 4th by the balls and said that's mine.
Agree, credit to Rodgers for getting us to where we are right now. The team is somewhat imbalanced but has created a world class attack. Again, it's a shame we didn't strengthen in January. I think the whole process was a bit farcical - Rodgers prioritising an attacker instead of a midfielder or full backs, Ayre (or the person leading the process) for spending so long on the Salah deal and then not chasing Kono sooner etc etc. Anyways, I don't want to turn this into a negative post - we're currently 4th with a somewhat depleted squad but playing some great football. One our best seasons in a long time (when comparing points) and we finally have something to cheer about. If we beat Arsenal, we could only be 6 points behind the leaders. That's a significant achievement considering the torrid time we've endured.
Suppose it depends what plan he's talking about. Was it the wee bit naive flashy one he brought to FSG to get the job or is it one made after a year with the squad and a summer where Suarez made clear his position? If the second then I can only assume he believed he could build a team from this year's squad and the Suarez money when he left after failing to get CL this year; that would be good enough to challenge next year. Tough but not impossible. Our so far success in the transfer market with no CL would suggest very tough with no Suarez. The pot would be big but not City big. Orrrr.... there's something in that new contract or talks with Suarez that has him believing he can continue building the team around him next year whether we get CL or not this year...I.e. he's got Suarez agreeing to his timeframe as long as we look competitive this year. Orrr... He's talking out his arse and making it up as he goes along.....
i doubt it did but i think they might have thought nobody would take the mad man. anyway.... it more begs the question how did the owners think sacking one guy and accepting 2 years for the same results would be acceptable... i think they thought kenny was not ever going to get 4th but had to pay for wasting cash. if the grand plan was to improve over 3 years to be ready to compete then I'm afraid its all based on one january window more than anything so for me... he should grab this chance cos i don't think he's quite on plan honestly.
Not sure how much credence to give the comment by BR, given JM's comment on Chelsea NOT being in the title race. #mindgames
Maureen's comments are so blatantly mind games though, talk about heap all the pressure onto City. BR may well be trying to take the pressure off us but it that's what it was, it kind of back fired on Sunday!
He's trying to take the pressure off himself if we fail to get top 4 and also trying to take a bit of the pressure off the players for the rest of the season (making out that getting top 4 isn't crucial to our development as a team). Plus if he does finish in the top 4 he will look like he is exceeding expectations and doing an even better job than most think he's doing at present.
i think he has been consistent on it.... but... a 3 year plan? why buy cheap knock off squad player if you've only 3 years to get 4th. surely you accept 2 average years and build a side, not buy aspas and hope
Oh come now Mito, he's just told you, Imagine if he'd actually been able to bring in decent outfielders injury free in last two Windows and we'd galloped into 4th or even third! He'd merely show you anyone can do the job. This way he looks like he meant it ! It's called delayed gratification. It's what makes us human.......
Nope, hoped with some buys we'd be competitive but on paper, looking at those around us, i thought nope. I sadly agreed with the drunk that we were 7 players off. Happy both he and I were wrong so far. My only worry is that it's so tight that if we even lose a couple of games in a row from here to end we could end up in 7th if those around us maintain consistency. I just hope there's no negative over reaction if that happens and the whole season is looked at objectively. I'm going on trust that the long term quality needed wasn't available in January to gamble on a push for CL this year. We'll see if the worst happens with Suarez, Summer War chest etc etc.
That was to challenge for the title. Probably still right as we lack quality and depth in some areas.
