It will go down the same way it did for Romero at Spurs and to a lesser degree Enzo at Chelsea. The club’s PR will turn the fanbase against the player, they will have a big spend transfer period, get rid of the vocal Argentine and all of the higher ups get to keep their jobs despite all of the issues at the club still existing.
Had their most succesful year in decades and immediately start sacking staff. Reminder that even the bum they bought from Brugge cost £34m and god knows what wages he’s on.
yeah but its ok though for them, our club have dodgy owners that *EVERYONE* knows apparently, but they are different because their owners *only* treat humans like numbers on a spreadsheet. that one's fine /s
They played a rapist and he was charged only after he left their club. What a convenient coincidence. Hope their emails and communication related to him get leaked one day.
The fact that he was charged literally days after his arsenal contract expired tells you all you need to know. We were vilified for not cutting Mendy the instant the news broke, and then it turned out he was found not guilty of the crimes he was accused of. And yet, Partay continued to play while everyone knew he was being investigated and was the only suspect, but I guess the police only grew a spine when he was no longer a player?
Weren’t the swamp dwellers saying how great it was that their board recruited one of the best midfield for this season on a shoe string budget?? Weren’t they laughing at us for paying too much for Anderson?? Quality over quantity you dumb swamp dwellers.
They were so bad yesterday, there’s a reason Tielemans was bought for 30m. Putting Bruno at RW 😭. The cherry on top was waking up to the Martinez interview, good to have a break from the media talking about us for a few hours until tonight ofcourse.
tbf, when baleba came on against spurs, he was pretty good. the improvement was clear to see but he alone doesn't solve their problems. i'd have loved baleba at city with the out of possession problems we have.
also saying baleba has done fuck all is pretty misleading. he had a minor reccuring injury last season, had off the pitch problems, and brighton in general had a drop off last season compared to their 24/25 season. Baleba definitely had a drop off last season but he was still one of the better players in an underwhelming brighton side last season.
lol you’re right, he was on a hat-trick in a game like this and it seemed like another day at the office. He looked so frustrated, as if he had blanked lol
It’s hilarious how rival fans seriously think we care about whether they think our wins are trophies are “legit” or not. As if we need their approval to celebrate and enjoy winning! 😂
weird that the "integrity" of football is at stake because we broke rules that were not introduced until... 2011? are we saying that there was no integrity in the sport until then?
I used to comment a lot that we need another proper midfielder because Bouaddi is too young but boy o boy, if he gives a performance like that he is sufficient. What a half did he have..
Why do we keep seeing quotes from the head of the IFR in the media when this case wasn't being handled by the IFR specifically because the PL jumped to gun to prove they didn't need the IFR introducing to handle their affairs?
This squad man. So good. Yes, the first half, especially those first two goals, was painful. PSG showed their quality, we were lost. Second half, totally different game. The boys showed they’re not to be fucked with, and it really could have gone either way. Maresca has impressed me more than I could have hoped for. Think of how different this squad played after losing to Arsenal in the community shield. We went on an 8 game tear. After this? I struggle to think of anyone in the league that can match us.
Seriously. The second half we dominated, created so many chances. The fire we showed to fight back, really, really impressive. If we started the game that way, it would have been a massacre.
Not gonna lie, i was kinda happy seeing Haaland mad. He was all fired up yelling at everyone around him to press for the ball and asking questions whenever we conceded hell even i sitting on the coach felt motivated as if i was playing on the pitch. Yes he missed a few sitters but boy did he give it his all today by being everywhere in the attacking positions and even linking up play. This guy has the mentality to be our future permanent team captain and i hope the players listen to him.
Also, has anyone noticed how good Haaland has become in headers? I remember when he joined the club he sucked at headers and he said he needed to work on that aspect and he’s been a beast at scoring brilliant headers ever since
So, is Andy Burnham doing a good job as PM? I’m guessing the current smear campaign of “he met with City’s owners and deleted records” bullshit on the BBC is because he is and the press needs a scandal against him so they can continue to steer the country to the far right?
This country loves to install a saviour, then slowly murder him. Then moan that we have had the same number of PMs in the last decade as UTD have premier league points.
Apart from goals he was also pressing like an animal and demanding the rest to press as well. Haaland is captain material for sure i hope he becomes a permanent team captain some day. Top top mentality from this guy.
I wonder if he’s going to blame his spitting incident on us too? You know, since he spit on a child who laughed at him during a red light. Totally normal and fine behavior.
genuinely can’t tell if the ‘city fans had my sympathy until now’ thing is a joke or not, can’t even wipe my ass with your sympathy, you flock of diseased pigeon
Lol it's been a growing mocking, derogatory voice against us since COVID after the UEFA charges. These charlatans thought themselves more qualified than CAS to say we were actually guilty despite the verdict. They've now multiplied since the PL case and especially after the verdict.
As a City fan, the idea of the defining interaction with other fans being anything but antagonizing over the last 5 years is ridiculous.
I can say a double pivot of Anderson and bouaddi is the go, Enzo as a ten, cherki on as rw... semenyo needs to see the bench to become sharper ... this is the worst I've seen from semenyo this season.... ndiaye was more dangerous than him
Guys, don’t worry. I’ve seen the UCL script. This PSG-Barca-City triangle is going to be exactly that: a triangle. Each team will get an away win. PSG beats City away, then Barca beats PSG away, and then we beat Barca away. Come back to this comment (cope).
PSG - 6th in Ligue 1 w 11 Points (3 W, 2 D, 1 L) and One dominant win over Bratislava (6-1)
MCI - 1st in PL with w 18 Points (6 W, 0 D, 0 L) and One solid win over a very physical Porto (2-0) w Gvardiol, Erling & Donnarumma on Yellow.
At a best case scenario I see a tightly contested fixture w a high scoreline (3-2/3-4 type shi) but very difficult to see who can come out on top. Given PSG's slightly shaky performance in Ligue 1 its easy to ignore them but we all know better, they are 2 time UCL winners and will be out to best us.
All in all this fixture has BLOCKBUSTER written over it.
I've read (skimmed) the panel's report and honestly given the redactions and overly broad implications of vague language don't really see how anyone not physically in the room could form their own, unbiased opinion and think it 100% correct. Very strong language against City, but without any understanding of the process and all related items, even with a City bias lol, couldn't make up my mind either way.
Did think first of all, I'd fucking kill to to see Appendix 7, and second, the implications of B.iv (‘Missing witnesses’ and ‘missing documents’) are a bit spicy.
Insane game, sucks we lost but I'm very very happy with the second half performance. Ndiaye and Bouaddi changed the game
2 clearances off the line, we hit the post 3 times and we missed a ton of other chances. Not to mention, Donnarumma could've done a lot better on some of those goals.
On another day, it could've been a very different outcome
Most I've enjoyed our football this season even with the loss. No bs incidents or VAR or "they should show humility" shit. Straight up joga Bonita. PSG are a class team and on another day we'd have put them to the sword in the second half. Absolutely loved it. Not looking forward to the PL nonsense again on the weekend.
Just seen an athletic post analysing our game and it's all praise for PSG(which they deserve) with no mention of City apart from saying they beat us. Another BBC post saying the game has ruined the mood for us.
I don't know if you're English or not. But I rated BBC football and the Athletic somewhat highly prior to our verdict. My respect for them has dropped significantly. For sources that should report news impartially, man these guys are just bare naked showing where they stand. For everything they supposedly hate us for btw, don't be this jubilant that PSG beat us
That second half shift was excellent, I remember chelsea fans saying enzo cant adapt and all but thats just not true, his subs are perfect and he changes things to improve the team, wish our guys weren't shooting like brunade launcher, I think we beat them if we meet in KO stage
Yea I agree he gets a goal now and then and puts a good ball.
But the amount of wastage he generates is criminal. He has to heavily work on that. It's just right decision making. I remember Doku being wasteful and now he rarely loses the ball and doesn't boot it out for goal kick 10 times a game.
Honestly he plays like he's in jeans. He beat Mendes on the outside pretty often, but his final action was always a shot straight into a centre-back. I really wish he was more mobile
incredible fightback from the boys!! result aside, that was a super fun game. not often you get battered 4-2 yet still find it an encouraging performance
Donnarumma - bad for the first goal, very unfortunate for the fourth, saved the pen at least to make up for things somehow
Khusa - pretty bad in the 1st half. i hope that finally shuts up everyone who still keeps insisting he can play RB
Anderson - really needed a controller beside him. great spirit in the 2nd half, just ran out of gas at the end
Cherki - really needs to improve his off the ball movement. wanted the ball a little too much when we started conceding which just clogged the midfield even more. i think his lack of physicality gets pretty apparent when the game gets away from us like this. should probably play at RW in place of Semenyo
Semenyo - terrible performance. rare that a winger is the outfield player most lacking in technical ability in any given match, but it was clear as day today. lacked the final decision and finish almost every single time. super unfortunate because his (imo) best trait is his positioning, and he showed that really well as he kept getting into all the best positions which i think is what made Maresca keep him in
Ndiaye - don’t think PSG were ready at all for how good he was. seems there gameplan was to shut down Doku completely in the 1st half, which obviously worked, but they had no answer for Ndiaye in the 2nd. great effort from him, you could tell he really wanted it
Bouaddi - team was instantly better the moment he stepped foot on the pitch. his composure was exactly what the team was missing, allowing Anderson and Enzo to actually be more effective on offense
Nunes - Matheus “1 Mistake per Game” Nunes. pretty funny that despite putting in such great performances consistently, he’ll still always have that clanger in his locker. love this guy so much
Maresca - love how unafraid he was to fix his mistakes immediately at halftime
This league phase is so dumb. I’m really not arsed at all if we lose this game. I feel like the old group stages were much more consequential, we should still qualify for knockouts easily.
In the first half, PSG were better than us, and more clinical. In the second, we dominated them, and on another day might've scored 4 more goals - that's how many opportunities we created. With both Bouaddi and Anderson together on the pitch, as well as Fernandez, we won a vast percentage of our duels and created a multitude of clear chances.
As for the goals, the only one on the defence is the second goal. The first was an accurate shot at the near post; Donnarumma is not to blame. The third, well lol. It's credit to Donnarumma's world class shot-stopping that he was able to even palm such a freak shot - no doubt it was lucky, and against the run of play.
coming from a donnarumma doubter: we need to collectively stop acting like trafford is some sort of infallible goalkeeper everytime we have to deal with donnarumma's shenanigans.
The other day I had said that with Donna being an influential squad player, we should build and mask his weaknesses. For that, Dias can't be there especially given how weak he is under pressure.
Game state aside, I enjoyed the Khus CB play for this reason, and that he generally defends better there lol. Nunes dynamism aided plenty.
I don't think Anderson or Enzo were great (both better 2nd half), and I think the latter has issues under pressure— I like Bouaddi under pressure and how he defends. The way he won the ball up the pitch to find Haaland>>>
Khus/Guehi, Bouaddi/Anderson build-up, Enzo 10 and cherki false winger would be what I want personally I can't lie.
Ndiaye is lovely. Keeps the ball, defends, final third quality. Good playa and definitely somebody that can be useful in big games.
Usually you'd think this scoreline was embarassing- in 2025 we had the same score and yet, I come away feeling more positive because we have the solutions in the squad. And I love so many of these guys.
There was a back three lineup idea someone in here floated around a month or two ago. It was probably you as well haha. Do you see this working better atm?
Posting the link to it in my comment under this comment
Ndiaye or Semenyo, though I’d lean towards Ndiaye. While I think Semenyo is better going forward, I think Ndiaye edges him out with his work rate and defensive contributions.
I would prefer Semenyo cause he's really physical , meaning he would really trouble mendes on that wing , not to mention he can also dribble and brings a lot of crosses from the wing , I think the only downside with his game is his defensive contribution
Yeah I wouldn’t be mad with Ndiaye or Semenyo. I don’t anticipate a lot of changes to the lineup, Maresca has been pretty clear as to who he wants to start. But this is our biggest test yet, so maybe he’ll switch things up. Ndiaye offers more defensively, Semenyo in attack, so neither is a downgrade, just different. I’d also be fine to see either of them coming off the bench against tired legs.
Not to sound like one of those people but I’m glad we at least got to play this psg team so we can see our level compared to the best. There’s a long way to go
We had enough chances to settle this score line. Disappointed we didn’t get enough goals in. But we were amazing in the second half. I’m not upset. It was a great game.
Another day we get closer or level at least. Fair play, they were the better team today. This team raised our expectations quite a bit, but they obviously have a long way to go to be dominant at the highest level.
The team played really well especially the subs changed the game.. ...but semenyo I can't speak....he can't be wasting chances like that...I think doku should have at least stayed or cherki and semenyo out.... cherki is a threat from the flank
El equipo mejoró mucho el segundo tiempo con el ingreso de bouaddi y ndiaye, teníamos para empatarlo si no se hubiesen comido varios goles.
Haland estuvo muy activo hoy, inclusive metiendo dos goles.
No me gusto la salida de doku, yo creo que también pudo aportar algo más, ya que segmento no estuvo bien hoy en realidad era el cambio de el por ndiaye.
En cuanto el mediocampo, eliot estuvo muy bien hoy, enzo mejoro mucho el segundo tiempo,sin embargo quizás cherki y enzo no pueden jugar juntos, en estos partidos contra rivales fuertes se necesita dos mediocampistas de contencion.
En cuanto la defensa mejoro mucho con el imgreso de nunes.
Donarumma no fue su mejor noche, es en estos partidos en donde más se necesita.
Maresca todavía tiene bastante trabajo, en cuanto seguir realizando ajustes y determinar quién debe ser titular
Por lo pronto a preparar el partido frente al ipswich y confiar en que el equipo seguirá mejorando.
Is anyone else feeling blue (pun intended, sorry) from all the discourse around City? I know that sounds obvious, but I don’t specifically mean the charges themselves, or how it relates to us and our opinion of the club.
To me it’s a microcosm of our current society with misinformation, clickbait and media bias, tribalism (or nationalism), and the increase of extremism.
We’re going away from critical thinking. We’re going away from positive (or even neutral) interactions with people whose opinions differ from our own, and further and further into divisions. And it’s all so depressing.
Don’t get me wrong, social media is magnitudes worse than reality. But reality is catching up.
A lot of it is still attributed to online spaces. Once you start interacting with normal people in real life, it really isn't that bad. I say this as a 20 year old who used to be one of those people in online spaces: People are smart. Fandoms bring the worst to the top because they're the loudest, but they're not the smartest.
My uncle is a Man UTD fan and naturally we tease each other a lot but he at least has the capacity to listen to my reasonings regarding this case, even if he doesn't necessarily agree with them. That's a smart person. Every person is a different person and there will always be a different angle to consider.
There will always be those who are willing to listen. If one doesn't, block out the noise and don't try to argue. You don't owe them anything and they do not deserve to be explained to if they're not willing to be open-minded.
It sucks but first loss being that isn't bad , they are back to back European champions. Proud of allot of them. Issues definitely on the first need to be addressed by Maresca but hopeful signs.
Lots of chances, we can work with this. Hope they realise we ain't that mad about this one. Great attempt in the second half there.
Bouaddi you are brilliant, one of the only positives from today’s match, I’d recommend playing him and Anderson in a double pivot from now on, Anderson does the dirty sweeping, Bouaddi the calculated play disruption and orchestration. Cherki goes RW and I’d move Enzo to the 10 or just have a 3 CM midfield, you could do that or make Bouaddi the 6. Nice fight from the boys today, perhaps in a different universe where Bouaddi played from the start, goal luck wasn’t on our side too much either. Psg converted what they had, props to them.
1st half was depressing but in retrospect we weren't that bad across 90 mins. But it is yet another game that proves how fucking unnecessary signing Enzo F was. Elliot Anderson isn't freaking Moses. With what we have, he needs Bouaddi more regularly in midfield.
I also hope we stop with the Khusanov at RB experiment.
Midfield changed because of Bouaddi's work in sweeping up 2nd balls and plugging holes. Enzo operated as a 10 in that 2nd half and did fuck all other than hail mary after hail mary. I'm convinced Cherki would have been better.
Having 3 players of somewhat similar stature for the 10 is just unnecessary. NOR would be better off being that peripheral 3rd option.
It's a good signing if they're willing to bench him if the game needs it. I don't like how they find it easy to bench Cherki, who offers more in attack, than the record signing. His position shouldn't be set in stone like that.
Prior to the international break I was starting to think it was time for Dias to step down and let khusanov get the starting minutes. While he has been exposed some performances this season, after his press conference I get why we need his leadership around the squad. At least for anfield and probably the game today. If you haven’t watched the press conference I highly recommend it, really describes the mood right now.
Also hearing him say the players back the club and are ready to defend it does give me some hope that they know something we don’t even if its copium.
Still hope to start seeing khusanov get more minutes as things begin to settle though.
At the start of the season I was completely ready for us to start phasing out Dias. I have been completely humbled by his performances. I never doubted his leadership, but he has been playing his best football since the treble.
Hakimi cause of his physicality, Mendes needs cherki, foden and Nunes to run rings around him down that right hand side. But i'm almost 100% sure we'll start with the attacking that finished the game against liverpool.
Weird question - why have we been charged with breaking FFP/PSR from 2009 when they didn’t become a thing in Europe until 2011 and weren’t a thing in the prem until 2013?
Ive said it and i’ll say it again, we wont win anything when you have a winger like Semenyo. We also need to start a traditional no 6 in the midfield coz u cant have 2 number eights pushing up. Cherki needs to lock in and boss the midfield like de bruyne but obviously he’s very inconsistent. Lastly Khusa should never play right back.
Semenyo really looks like a deer in headlights when he’s on the ball. He gives possession away constantly when he is required to dribble or play a pass.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a great goal scorer but we either need to keep the ball away unless he’s making a run or just play Ndiaye.
I dont think semenyo is a world class player am sorry. He’s got good instinct for goal but thats just it. He’s poor at passing and poor at dribbling. He’s the kind of player we call a wingless winger. God help us.
With the dark cloud that has been hanging over us in the past 3 weeks and the much-welcomed ray of sunshine we got over the weekend, I maybe fooled myself into not thinking about the personnel issues as much for a bit. Hec, I was negotiating with the idea that "we're at war, and we need every soldier. Someone like Enzo F might be a cunt, but he's our cunt" lol.
All that said, the result has just made me think about it again. I think our squad is lopsided as hell, in terms of profiles, and how we have been designed to play and aim to play.
It's a system that will ultimately rely on so much overcompensation for others' weaknesses to work the way most of us I imagine envision it. It needs to be more complicated than simple to work. And that's bad.
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u/Jyuan83 18h ago
The duality of rags fans
Rags: Martinez is right! Owners who don’t invest enough in this team are bad!!
Also the rags: City’s owners invest too much in their team!! They are bad for football!!
Make it make fucking sense please.