Foxtrot

That's the moral of the story, absolutely, but don't think you can make a legal argument like that.

Obviously he's not working at all well for the team, but that's not down to not working hard. It is psychological and tactical, and I'm sure both he and the coaching staff are working on it. Hope they got the tools to make it happen. To me he looks like a shy, introverted lad who lives in a bit of a different world than other people, as is Messi too, and that can be a reason for things not working in a specific situation/league/club. So perhaps he is too meek for this league. Or perhaps he works best in a different system (Alonso). So either they make it or then they don't, sell him if it doesn't work. These things happen. But some of the criticism is unfair, still: it's not like he's a f***wit like Balotelli or Cassano, wasting their talent and other people's money.

Yeah, maybe not, but not having to start with any two of those strikers yesterday would help. Also, having better quality coming off the bench in any game helps too. You never know if injured players come back the same and we all have basicly resigned on Bradley now. That said, yesterday was a game effectively amputated by the ref and we could have won it with those lads.

A 115m fine for raking in a minimum of 900m should be just the start. They have to be stripped of assets corresponding with they scale of their financial unfair play. After this season finishes they will have to sell players in a garage sale.

Aren't the refs specifically ordered to ref the 'occasion' rather than the game? I have the impression that it's an explicit order, creating a presupposition of what the perceived context is, not the actual events in isolation. Be that as it may, the ref had a very obvious agenda today. As has been the case over the decades, with a clear pro-Manchester bias, as experienced by us, Arsenal, and Chelsea over the years.

Totally. Lack of a 'f*** these' attitude, fight and leadership has been obvious for years now.

Haha, while I agree with the sentiment, I'm not sure about all the names on that list. But Allardyce at Bolton bring back memories: he had a couple of good seasons with players like Jay Jay Okotcha, Youri Djorkajeff, Anelka and the Finnish keeper Jääskeläinen, and Hierro (!) and Campo. They were remarkably good to watch at times.

Same here. So many things that absolutely felt like the last sort of straw that broke.

c**** the lot of them. Gut-wrenching to watch. I too hope they are totally discontinued and expired. If they're sold they can reconstruct and start from the bottom, just like Fiorentina, Rangers and now Bordeaux, who entered judicial restructuring, lost professional status and was administratively relegated to the sixth tier. That's what I want to see, nothing short of that is sufficient. Chelsea had the nearly-decent approach to their former ownership, but got off way too nicely. But in comparison to that City have remonstrated in the ugliest possible manner and should have absolutely no mercy.

I honestly feel we are two very very good players away from a very good squad. And on top of that, the five injured first-team players we were missing today.

Just take the game today: Anderson came in the tackle against Wirtz very hard and recklessly, a tackle from days past. Luckily Wirtz did go full stretch and strength into the challenge himself, which was just as good, cause had he gone for the ball he'd been injured for sure. Also minute 1 Anderson elbowed someone in the neck with full force, could've/should've been a yellow straight away. And in comparison with Grav's two challenges, that Anderson elbow was a straight red.

All good points and comparisons. But the last bit about Wirtz's and his timidity: is not only him, both Isak and Barcola a more of the same. I really don't understand our recruitment for the past years. Yeah he was. Really looking out of place in the team and the league.

I'm starting to to lose hope seriously now. But I don't know anything anymore, everything around the club and the league as a whole has been mindf***ed since last summer, like a collective damage. (Re Wirtz: from carrying a torch for him here through thin and thinner, like, I now only have the slightest flicker of hope left for him. Thou should he come good in the end, I'll be sure to remind everybody that I never doubted.)

This was some gut-wrenching s*** today, like a final insult. This just can't stand man. Something really died in me after the red card and their two quick goals, and right now it feels like it'll take some time to recover from this emotionally. I'll always support this team just as much as i've always done, but from now on, now f***ing finally, that was a straw that broke this camel's hump. From now on the league is totally meaningless both going forward and looking back, as of for a whole generation of football. The only thing that can salvage mess is by kicking these s***s out of the game, indefinitely. The League should start with revising all their results to a 0-3 forfeit and null and void them for the rest of the season. That'd give me a wry smile at least, and could hopefully work as the beginning of a long recovery. (I still doubt that it'll happen though.)

Yeah, if he doesn't improve he needs a new start somewhere else and we have to think again. Happens sometimes, that's life. I still hope he can turn it around, but it needs to start very soon.

Has been going on for years against us, against both Manc teams for decades.

Yeah, they should’ve shouted the house down for 90 minutes.

If Chiesa had taken out of of theirs with a two footer there as his last action for the club, I’d have his name tattooed inside a big red heart on my arm.

Doesn’t need to. Nobody cares what the refs do anymore

Apart of watching us, I made that decision years ago. I much rather watch any 6 of the top six there than the PL.

f***ing referee killed it with laser guided decisions. f***ing f***ing f***.

He brought the ball up brilliantly well on quite a few occasions but that’s when we need our best players sound him and especially in front of him.

1st XI: sigh Bench: cry

Yes, today can be an act of defiance from them, against a verdict. But after a definitive sentence and the end of a long case, when they know whats coming, they might wilt and start to fall apart on the field. So not as ideal for us as I first thought.

Yeah, well, yeah ..