Zoob

I think he's a one trick pony, who studied Guardiola, and thinks that what worked 8 years ago can work now. That's why it's all about possession for the sake of it. Nothing else. We lead the league in possession %. Great. We just don't do anything with it, aren't incisive, aren't quick on the break, can't defend, don't run more than the opposition, don't press etc etc. This is on the manager. Even with players like VVD and Salah in huge decline, with the players we have at the club, 21 points from 18 games is an embarrassment.

21 points from our last 18 league games I think. That's a pretty large sample size. And it's not like we've been terribly unlucky and deserved more. We've just been s***. Players, manager, Hughes/Edwards. All s***

He was crap today, but so was everyone aside from Dom. Needs to do more and be better, but most here have watched football for decades and can't make any sense of what the manager is even trying to have us do. Am sure many of the players (including Wirtz) feel the same way.

I think we are probably the 'best' team in the league for advancing the ball to the edge of the box and then passing backwards. It's like inventing a whole new brand of football that achieves absolutely nothing. Teams are happy for us to have the ball because we do nothing with it, and eventually will give it to them so they can attack us on the break.

Remember earlier in the season when we scored a few last minute winners? That was fun. What's the count now for last minute losing goals? 6? And was anyone surprised? If you had to pick one team to score a late winner, it was always going to be them. Holy f*** we are s***. s*** all over. Dom the only player who can hold his head up, and he was shunted to right back again. Salah and VVD both looked like they should be playing in Legends games from now on.

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If it's a choice between not playing for Villa or spending some time in the MLS, then the latter is better, but not by much. Ideally, in a situation like this, the players union (is that even a thing anymore?) would be stepping in to try to find a resolution, but it's just a matter of neither club wanting to spend/lose money on him, which is why it's such a s***-show.

Guardian has a piece about Villa, and the last paragraph mentions them trying to cancel this loan deal. Shows how f***ed the game is that Elliott through no fault of his own has been totally f***ed by the system here. It's not like Sterling at Chelsea, who is on 350k a week or whatever. Elliott just wanted to play, and it's unbelievable that Villa / Emery have screwed him and had him play even fewer minutes than he would have here, just because they don't want to pay up. I know he's paid well, but it's still a mess, and we know Slott doesn't fancy him either. Just a crappy situation all round.

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Apparently his dad passed away. RIP.

Loved the bit where he raced past their defender who pulled him to the ground and then the ref gave the defender the free kick.

Needs a haircut.

He's 22, but the point still stands. He can and will get much better, and still makes some wrong choices, but he's insanely talented

I had my first, and hopefully last ever exposure to those two for our FA cup game. Never again.

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Haha! He even seemed surprised to see the red card. Lunatic.

I get that. But it's still kinda disingenuous to say "Pep Guardiola's youngsters" given the experience and cost of their lineup.

Weird to see this from the BBC report "Pep Guardiola's youngsters froze in the -9C temperatures as City suffered another embarrassing loss". Makes it sound like they were playing their youth team. Alleyne, O'Reilly, and Lewis are all 20 or 21, but O'Reilly, and Lewis have played loads for them and the rest of their team were all regular established players.

That really is insulting our intelligence. It does look like City paid him Bosman wages right now, but saying we wanted him for 35 million last summer or for free this summer, but not for ~20 million now, is stupid. And "the fact he would have been available on a free transfer in five months if he stayed at Crystal Palace until his contract expired this summer" is dumb, because it became clear he wasn't going to stay at Palace, so that's totally irrelevant.

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Weird how overhead kicks break keeper's brains. I don't really understand why he didn't save that. Or at least try.

The UAE has announced it will cut funding for Emirati citizens who want to go and study in the UK. They've cited concerns about students becoming radicalized by the Muslim Brotherhood, but there's suggestions that the City investigation is partly behind the decision.

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