Looking at Man City to provide a big win. Two or three nil should do it.

Hope City win it. Another United double (or worse treble) would be horrible.

they already disposed of united mate.

Ay, shit. Have had no sleep this week. I'll leave my mistake up there for posterity though.

Stoke isn't it?

yep, the neanderthals are in town.

It's in the thread title and all

And I was reading articles about it earlier. I think I've just given away how large and loathsome United loom in my mind.

Obviously Manciteh to win. Stoke can fuck off

burn.

City win please. It's probably cutting off my nose to spite my face but still.

You guys realize that Stoke have had some really big performances in recent months against Arsenal, Chelsea and Bolton. I'm really looking forward to this game. It's one of the few big games I can watch with no fear of being pissed off by the result.

I fancy Stoke to win. Similar to our Carling Cup final, I don't think Man City will turn up.

Lagos wrote:

when neutrals play what I really hope to see are a few fist fights, a few red cards, basically drama!

....plus some cracking goals, comedy goalkeeping disasters and Stoke to lose.

Wouldn't mind if de Jong kicked Shawcross really hard, just a few times.

Huth trying to wind Balotelli right up with an elbow to the neck that went unnoticed by the officials.

Pat Dolan's commentary on Setanta is hilarious, he seems to be working on a selection of comedy voices for the occasion.
Sky should hire him.

Didn't realise Pulis was Welsh.

Citeh deserve this. Toure is amazingly good if you take the tinted specs off.

Toure has been one of my top 10 performers in the league this year. He is a powerhouse. I hope Ramsey can grow into that soon.

I was looking at the Citeh squad today. They are seriously only one playmaker away from being a true contender in England and Europe. Bring in Sneijder. Maybe resurrect Kaka's career. I hope they go on to succeed if we don't

City deserved it, but no one stood out as quality really. Balotelli and Tevez were pretty good, not great, but David Silva is just about the most pointless/frustrating player I've come across.

What?! You want Citeh to succeed?!

Richards, Milner and Lescott are all versatile squad options and they're good enough for that role in a succesful club. Of the 5 you mentioned only Barry really plays too often and he'll probably be replaced this summer.

If City want to challenge seriously they need to sort out their front 3. Either new players or Balotelli and Dzeko to improve.

Impressed by city and glad the rugby team
lost. Bunch of cunts.

At this point I don't mind city as I already think footy has become shit so I find it kind of funny they can come along and will piss united off something chronic

they are just a playmaker away from being euro contenders. And you know they'll get one

Kolarov is not an acceptable starter for a League/Champions League winning team. Neither is Richards, or Zabaleta, or Lescott, or Milner, and they all start a shed load of games - City will need to spend big money to change that. The scary part is you know they will.

I was discussing this in the pub, so I wonder what thoughts are here - how many of our players would have got in that City side today?

If I were Citeh, the only player I would take from Arsenal today to improve that squad would have been Fabregas in place of Barry. Not to say we don't have better players in some of the other positions. Just that their needs are pretty minimal and well-defined at this point. And the manager has openly said as much.

That's no kind of answer. Who from our team is better than what they had in their team today?

Ricky, that's not the point.
It's about fielding a team that can both score and defend. And I think putting someone like Fabregas in place of Barry allows them to better exploit their very talented forwards without compromising their defense.
I'm not interested in naming who has better players because it's not just about the quality of players you have, but the function those players serve. We may have a lot of good players, but they don't offer the requisite diversity in abilities. We would probably do better in the front half of the field, and they would do better in the rear half, I expect.

Fair enough.

A mixed team of mine would look like this;

-----------------Hart
Sagna-Kompany-Vermaelen-Clichy
---------------De Jong
-------Fabregas--Yaya Toure
Nasri---------------------------Tevez
-------------van Persie.

If I was in charge at City and all our players were on the market, I'd look at Vermaelen, Cesc and Van Persie to come in and make a good improvement to the first XI.

For us, I'd be looking at Kompany, Yaya Toure, Tevez and possibly De Jong.

For the rest, it'd either be marginal or squad options.

City have a superb defensive base to build on. One things for sure, unless arsene changes things then city will be winning the premiership before we ever do again

I'd agree with that entirely actually, Tim.

He was good today, impressed me quite a lot.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Kolarov is not an acceptable starter for a League/Champions League winning team. Neither is Richards, or Zabaleta, or Lescott, or Milner, and they all start a shed load of games - City will need to spend big money to change that. The scary part is you know they will.

I was discussing this in the pub, so I wonder what thoughts are here - how many of our players would have got in that City side today?

Sagna, Clichy, Cesc, Vermaelen, Nasri, van Persie. Maybe Theo, Wilshere, Shava.

Give me Kompany, de Jong and Toure for the muscle
Throw in Tevez for the hustle

I'd happily give away Chamakh or Bendnter for the madman Balotelli as well.

If I were to pick a mix of players between Arsenal and the city side that played today it would be:

--------------------------Hart---------------------------------
Sagna---------Kompany------Vermaelen-----------Kolarov
-----------------De Jong-------Wilshere---------------------
Silva--------------------Fabregas-----------------------Nasri
---------------------------RVP---------------------------------

Very close calls between Woj/Hart, Nasri/Balotelli and RVP/Tevez for me.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Kolarov is not an acceptable starter for a League/Champions League winning team. Neither is Richards, or Zabaleta, or Lescott, or Milner, and they all start a shed load of games - City will need to spend big money to change that. The scary part is you know they will.

I was discussing this in the pub, so I wonder what thoughts are here - how many of our players would have got in that City side today?

TV, Sagna, Jack, Cesc, Robin, maybe Song, Nasri, maybe Arshavin.

--------------Hart
Richards-Kompany-Tv-Kolarov
----------De Jong--Jack
---------------Cesc
------tevez--------------Nasri
----------------Rvp

I thought you'd be someone who adored Yaya, Dules?

------------ Hart -----------------
Richards-Kompany-Tv-Kolarov
------De Jong ----- Toure------
---------------Cesc --------------
------tevez------------Nasri ----
----------------Rvp --------------

bench: Silva, Walcott, Wilshere, Song, Sagna, Toure