What do you think of it so far?

I don't think many were shocked by Man Citeh ripping us a new one, but that's not the point being made.

There's a bit of a cliche going around that results against the top clubs don't matter because we'll find three clubs worse than us to stay up - that's a very dangerous assumption. I still believe that's possible myself, but the lack of any thinking "outside the box" against the top teams so far by those in the driving seat is worrying. Then post match go to the media and just trot out "Bah gum lads, weren't they bloody good, mind you, I thought our lads did alright" is pissing a lot of us off.

I didn't expect to beat either Chelsea up there or Man City at home last weekend, but FFS we looked as if we'd given up as soon as they scored their first goals - but there's probably an obvious underlying reason. The bottom line is we lack the class to compete up here and are relying on other clubs to fail.

Having said that, staying up is not the be all and end all of this season, but the hard work getting here has been done - for goodness sake don't give up the achievements of last season by going out with a whimper.

 

I hear what you are saying Sparks but in current day football you can't just kick lumps off the opposition and expect to get away with it.

Ralls mistimes a tackle and the northern pussies are calling for him to be hung, drawn and quartered. I would love to see us giving good old fashioned stick to these much more skilled footballing sides but we just can't do that.

As has been said, we did as well as could be expected in the first half hour then their superior skill, movement and fitness tore us apart. In reality our players were knackered just trying to keep up with them. They just couldn't keep it up, so to speak.

We will not see those levels every game and Warnock has to show he has the management skills to give us a chance of beating the lesser clubs - as we should have done at Huddersfield.

Burnley will be a major test for him and the players. In score terms they kicked Bournemouth's ar$e but if you look at the game stats (yes I know lies, damned lies and statistics) Bournemouth should have achieved a better result. Burnley are not a Man City, Chelsea or Arsenal so this will be our best chance to start to turn the season around.

Clearly some changes are needed, but only a couple. Murphy for Hoilett and Jazz for Peltier unless Manga (who I thought had his best ever game for City even allowing for gifting the fifth) returns to right back and Sol comes back or possibly resting Morrison (who looked what he is, a good Championship ch but outclassed in the Prem) for Sol. The only other option is Bennettt back in for Cunningham. We don't really have many other choices. I don't see a fit Gunnar (not necessarily match fit) improving midfield to the exclusion of any of the present three for now.

Whatever happens next weekend it's going to be a long season.

 

i agree with some of your sentiments here Sparkey, but what would you expect the manager to say? Is there any point in slamming a bunch of players he knows were highly unlikely to get a result against two of the best teams in Europe?

 

I know it's difficult to say much else but Warnock is sounding like an elite club admiration society lately. I like the guy but for all his front, he's struggling at the moment.

He can say what he likes after the game, but that won't alter the result - he's just trying to justify it because of our own shortcomings on the pitch.

We just haven't got the players but you could also be forgiven for starting to think he's trying to disguise his own managerial skills at this level as well.

 

OK guys, based upon what you've seen so far, here's the bottom half of the table after half a dozen games - pick 3 to go down if City are going to stay up..............

11 Crystal Palace -2... 7
12 Everton -3............... 6
13 Brighton -3,......... .. 5
14 Southampton -3.... 5
15 Fulham -5............... 5
16 Burnley -3............... 4
17 West Ham -6........ .. 4
18 Newcastle -4........... 2
19 Cardiff -11................ 2
20 Huddersfield -11.... 2

I went for Huddersfield, Southampton and Fulham pre-season and I'll stick with that - who do you reckon based upon how it's gone so far?

 

I wouldn't argue there Sparks although Newcastle could easily implode if Benitez walks in January if he can't get the transfer budget he wants.

 

I keep hearing that we have not got the players to compete in this league, but NW had three months to recruit such players. Cardiff has everything to offer, except money...although I guess we are paying wonderful salaries for Championship qualities!

 

Huddersfield, Burnley & Brighton but I wouldn’t put a dime on that

 

Other than the fact half of our 6 games so far have been against 'top 6' sides I would say every other side in that bottom half list has a bit more going for them than City have shown so far. For me, as disappointing as our 5 nil loss on Saturday, was Burnley's 4 nil win. It reminded me that our 'easier' game in this run was against the team who finished in 7th place last year! I agree with Sparky that Huddersfield and Southampton (partly because of the other Sparky) may be our best hopes to finish above but I struggle to pick a third! I think Fulham have spent well on players who are already performing for them. Newcastle because they seem to have the worst relationship between board and manager.

 

Udders, Newcastle and Southampton. Its going to be a long arduous season, but we all knew that anyway.
If we are still in touch come the January window, we surely have to get some sort of striker in, plus we need to start thinking about replacing our centre halves.

 

Brighton, Newcastle and Huddersfield for me. Agree with ISAW's comment regarding a striker in January but who would we attract? I suspect we will be looking at paying inflated prices for Championship players out of desperation.

 

For me, the most realistic shouts would be Huddersfield, Newcastle and Southampton but we are undoubtedly and realistically speaking the weakest team in the division.

Southampton have brought in a couple of proven players.
Newcastle have quality players throughout their side but are a bit of a crisis club.
Huddersfield have a marginally better squad than us but have had the money to spend given their excellent survival skills last season.

As has been said previously, the Prem (for all the moaning the elitist snobs do) HAS gotten stronger since our last visit and in some respects our squad this year isn't as strong as our last Premier League sojourn.

However, our last visit came off the back of sustained building and a £10 million plus outlay on the squad that final year.
This time we've come off the back of a relegation battle and a team mostly full of bargain buys and free agents!

I personally am resigned to us going down and to echo Abers sentiments, I couldn't care less if we do. We'll be much stronger for our brief stay and back in a division of "real" clubs and fans rather than the poncy, overhyped freakshow that is full of self preening snobbery....

Rant over

 

Hey Brizzle (and the rest of you) - interesting point in all that above.

Would you want Warnock again next season if we did go down. More to the point, would you want him again next season if we managed to stay up?

 

Said a few times that Colin is the only football brain at our top table and will be good for the club longer term though possibly not as manager.
Would be nice to see a younger manager at the club but still need an old footballing brain around the place. I think if we stayed up Warnock would bow out at it would be the last jigsaw piece to complete his management picture.
Would be happy if we got relegated for Colin to get us back up though.

 

I’d be really disappointed. It would have been a totally avoidable scenario.

Oscar Wilde said something along the lines of one cock up being unfortunate but two being careless - or in my lingo, a case of not being able to organise a pIss up in a brewery.

If City can just keep afloat until January maybe just maybe Tan will open his money chest. Otherwise we’ll limp through the rest of the season.

I reiterate it won’t be easy going straight back up BUT more important to me is if Warnock stays next season we’ll witness largely dull and attritional football.

I could as a neutral watch the likes of Bournemouth and Watford every week; that’s the type of football I want to see. How much did their squads cost? The difference is their managers’ style of football to ours.

 

To be honest I think I'd be happy with him again next year but would love to see Bellamy being brought in to the 1st team set up ready to take over the following year.

If not Bellars then someone else a little younger and eager for success that'd have the club at heart.

Well, either that or Tony Pulis!

 

I've can't argue with you on the style of football Nin, other clubs ARE easier on the eye than us and have done it on relatively small budgets (even our little cousins down the road managed it for a short while).
However, I'm actually happy to see us get the ball forward with purpose rather than play tippy tappy stuff for the sake of it.

If we could play nice but be forward rather than sideways thinking then I'd buy into that, but it takes time to develop.

I've also always maintained that our fans would also rather see a fully committed full back steaming into a tackle on a consistent basis than some fancy Dan trickster that can only turn it on every so often... you know, players to fit our image...

 

Bring back Peter Rodrigues!!........

 

Sorry to say a little bit before my time Sparky (though not too much).

Always preferred defenders though...
McNugget
Terry Boyle
Kevin Ratcliffe
Phil Baker
I'd add Gary Medel to that list too (even though he's more a midfielder)