One title in 10 years, a head coach on a one-year deal and no European football, but this summer showed what this Manchester City team should have to offer...
I genuinely think this will be a successful season for City. Anyone who watched them regularly last year will recognise that massive strides were made during the season. They have had a much better preseason this year and will hopefully hit the ground running, avoiding the poor starts of previous seasons. The squad is settled and packed full of quality and experience. Roll on 1st October!
City have huge issues, Taylor being one, and his short term deal, where is his authority?
Why should the players listen to what he has to say, if less than a year from now, he is off??
Roebuck is a liability as a goalkeeper, they don't have a reliable replacement for her, the fact that Steph Houghton seemingly doesn't understand the term retirement, is another, as she is way past her best, and when City played her, she was a massive liability at CB.
Yui, is not a good enough midfielder, look at the error that she did in the Manchester Derby at Leigh Sports Village, for Ladd's goal, so I have no idea what she brings to their side bar being yet another liability.
Then you have Shaw up top, who goes missing in the important games, no goals, but a sending off for Jamaica at the World Cup, no goals in the Manchester derbies last season.......she is far more hype then she is a goalscorer when I matters most.
They are just not a good side, where does Park fit into this side, why not send her out on loan, is she really, really going to get many games ahead of Hemp or Kelly??
It seems a huge waste to keep her, same for Fowler, she was excellent at the World Cup, but where does she fit in at club level?? She was hugely fortunate to be picked for the tournament, as the head coach certainly didn't pick her on her domestic club form last season, as there wasn't any, as she hardly played!
Same for Denya, 1 goal, and 1 assist, the same as the amount of yellows......another hugely talented player being wasted at City.
I don't see why such talented players wish to stay at City, when they are either stagnating, or more likely regressing.
This has to be a make or break season for such players, as if they once again miss out on a top 3 place, why on earth should Park, Denya, Fowler, and quite possibly Kelly and Hemp stay around, there would be no reason for them to do so, they would only be hurting their own respective careers by doing so.
Right now, all of them are good enough to be playing in a Champions League side, however, one does have to question their mentality, in so much as they are seemingly happy to still be playing for City this season, who if they really had any personal ambition, if they actually cared about improving as players on a personal level, then they would have demanded moves away from City, as soon as it was confirmed last season, that they wouldn't be in the Champions League this season.
So it does seem as if they are mentally weak, so there are huge question marks there about them.
The Queen song "Under Pressure" best sums up this coming season for City.
As a City fan, it'd be easier to feel some enthusiasm if we'd not had such a significant and prolonged difference between the club's stated ambitions and intent, and what we've seen them do in reality. When the club are talking about winning titles at the same time as opposition fans across the league are celebrating the manager's renewal, well, one side must know something the other doesn't!
The club don't have any real credit in the bank as far as I'm concerned, but I really hope this is the season they actually live up to the promises.
I genuinely think this will be a successful season for City. Anyone who watched them regularly last year will recognise that massive strides were made during the season. They have had a much better preseason this year and will hopefully hit the ground running, avoiding the poor starts of previous seasons. The squad is settled and packed full of quality and experience. Roll on 1st October!
City have huge issues, Taylor being one, and his short term deal, where is his authority?
Why should the players listen to what he has to say, if less than a year from now, he is off??
Roebuck is a liability as a goalkeeper, they don't have a reliable replacement for her, the fact that Steph Houghton seemingly doesn't understand the term retirement, is another, as she is way past her best, and when City played her, she was a massive liability at CB.
Yui, is not a good enough midfielder, look at the error that she did in the Manchester Derby at Leigh Sports Village, for Ladd's goal, so I have no idea what she brings to their side bar being yet another liability.
Then you have Shaw up top, who goes missing in the important games, no goals, but a sending off for Jamaica at the World Cup, no goals in the Manchester derbies last season.......she is far more hype then she is a goalscorer when I matters most.
They are just not a good side, where does Park fit into this side, why not send her out on loan, is she really, really going to get many games ahead of Hemp or Kelly??
It seems a huge waste to keep her, same for Fowler, she was excellent at the World Cup, but where does she fit in at club level?? She was hugely fortunate to be picked for the tournament, as the head coach certainly didn't pick her on her domestic club form last season, as there wasn't any, as she hardly played!
Same for Denya, 1 goal, and 1 assist, the same as the amount of yellows......another hugely talented player being wasted at City.
I don't see why such talented players wish to stay at City, when they are either stagnating, or more likely regressing.
This has to be a make or break season for such players, as if they once again miss out on a top 3 place, why on earth should Park, Denya, Fowler, and quite possibly Kelly and Hemp stay around, there would be no reason for them to do so, they would only be hurting their own respective careers by doing so.
Right now, all of them are good enough to be playing in a Champions League side, however, one does have to question their mentality, in so much as they are seemingly happy to still be playing for City this season, who if they really had any personal ambition, if they actually cared about improving as players on a personal level, then they would have demanded moves away from City, as soon as it was confirmed last season, that they wouldn't be in the Champions League this season.
So it does seem as if they are mentally weak, so there are huge question marks there about them.
The Queen song "Under Pressure" best sums up this coming season for City.
As a City fan, it'd be easier to feel some enthusiasm if we'd not had such a significant and prolonged difference between the club's stated ambitions and intent, and what we've seen them do in reality. When the club are talking about winning titles at the same time as opposition fans across the league are celebrating the manager's renewal, well, one side must know something the other doesn't!
The club don't have any real credit in the bank as far as I'm concerned, but I really hope this is the season they actually live up to the promises.
I'm still not over that Berger save. That and Stanway missing a penalty against Chelsea in the last game before Covid.
Small margins.