Polarboy

Our fluidity in front of goal will come back sooner or later. What's important is that we look to have a bit of that defensive solidity and commitment back. Build from a strong defensive base and the champagne football will come. 0-0 is a massive result for our first away game in the CL in 20 years.

Maybe Howe and Ashworth didn't prioritise upgrading Almiron this window because they have high hopes for Minteh. Of course I'd rather we had first team starters now and not have to wait an unspecified amount of time for players like Minteh, Livramento, and Hall to make a big impact on the first team. I suppose we should also remember how poor the Eredivisie is.

There's a difference between not being great with your feet as a keeper and being a liability, and unfortunately Pope is the latter. We need a better keeper. Being a great shot stopper, decent with crosses, and having a good command of your box is no longer good enough for a modern elite keeper. It's why De Gea is currently a free agent.

The quality needed to finish in the top four in the PL shouldn't be underestimated as compared to the quality of the other European leagues. The teams we were drawn against sound scary but PSG are rebuilding, Dortmund generally sell their best players year on year, and Milan while they have players like Leao and Hernandez are no great shakes either in a fairly poor Italian league. I wouldn't be shocked if we managed to finish in the top two of this group. The only thing that plays on my mind is the inexperience of some of our players when it comes to playing in Europe, or more specifically the Champions League level of European football.

It's nice of Man U to send their dinner laddies to the draw.

There's hot dogs involved, but they're not going in her mouth. Her behaviour might explain her sons to be honest.

Seen us linked to a 20 year old PSV right winger called Johan Bakayoko by various sauces. It would be great to have serious competition for that right wing spot, besides Almiron and Murphy given their limitations. Of course it seems unlikely given FFP. I'd actually be tempted to give Livramento a few games in a more advanced role given his skill on the ball.

Seems like the info about him leaving the stadium without crutches or a protective boot were true.

Apparently Botman was seen leaving the stadium without the aid of crutches or a protective boot. He was hobbling a bit, but if the aforementioned is true it appears that he escaped serious injury. So that's some small consolation I suppose.

Howe isn't as good as Pep and Klopp tactically, but who is. And it might be harsh given he was unfortunate not to score, but Almiron's limitations are always going to be a weakness in our side. Too many attacks break down because of his poor decision making and limitations on the ball. As people have said we need another two or three quality players in attack. More specifically we need a creative player who can get on the ball when the opposition has parked the bus, and who can play accurate and intricate balls through the lines. I honestly think we would have won the game the if they hadn't had a man sent off. Playing against ten seemed to unsettle our game plan, and Howe couldn't adjust, although we can't put all the blame on Howe given the players profligacy in front of goal.

Have to say I'm a bit worried about Gordon losing the head against the Klippity's team. That tackle he did the other week was borderline.

They were shaky already, so unless Endo gives a masterclass in how to protect a back four, things are looking even better for us in terms of our attack.

Would it free up a bit of money in wages etc for that competition for Schar's position? Probably not enough, so I couldn't see Howe sanctioning this unless it meant we were replacing him.

I was way ahead of Charlie Adam 😂 They're copying me if anything. They must have staff trawling my comments to get ideas for stories 😉

If the Saudi clubs are interested in buying Salah, and it seems they are giving all the reports, it does seem a bit of a coincidence that there are newspaper articles everywhere in the week we play Liverpool. And to be clear I'm not saying that they'd only make an offer to wind them up, as again I do think they hold a genuine interest in buying him. I suppose it could also be the case of the British papers trying to create clickbait in the run up to the game given reported Saudi interest in Salah predates this week.

Can you elaborate?

What are the chances that PIF are intentionally trying to psyche out Salah and Liverpool in the run up to the game, by making an offer for him this week. If the rumours are true of course. I fully support those kind of wind up tactics if the aforementioned is the case.

If you want to win against Citeh you can't have any weak links in your team, and you need to take every half decent chance you get, or at least hit the target from every half decent bit space you get. Burn and Almiron are our weak points. We have Hall to take over from Burn eventually, but the next big purchase needs to be a top class replacement for Almiron.

Botman ran Foden a close second for man of the match. He largely kept Haaland in his pocket. It's crazy to think he's this good at his age.

Turns out Citeh are still quite good even with injuries to several key players. Their ability to keep hold of the ball is absurd. The positives are that it's only 1-0, and we have a strong bench for late in the game, where you'd hope they will tire after their midweek adventures, and without the usual luxury of a bench worth 200m+

Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol, Rodri, Kovacic, Foden, Alvarez, Haaland, Grealish Subs: Ortega, Phillips, Ake, Gomez, Perrone, Bobb, Palmer, Lewis McAtee Still a very strong first 11, but their bench is noticeably weaker than normal.

Obviously this is just a guess in terms of what the Adidas money will be, but imagine going from 12m a year to 50-65m a year. I'm not even bothered at the minute about us being able to afford elite wages, but if we keep this up we'll be in that bracket pretty soon. I say not bothered, but obviously if the young players we've bought develop in the way we hope, and we consistently achieve success, such as top 4/5 etc, they'll most likely be looking for pay rises soon enough. We just have to hope our commercial end and the rest who run the club get their figures right, and we don't turn into Leicester in terms of an unmanageable wage bill.