OK......was I right or wrong about TLMLF?

As you all know, I've been posting since last summer that (T&&&re) TLMLF should never have been allowed to stay with our team and should have been sold for his ridiculous outburst last summer, and once again in December, ridiculing our club by making comments about "a dream to play for PSG"......

I said then, as I did in the summer, he's an over-aged player who only turns up when he feels like it and then, only in PL games against shit opposition. He rarely plays well lately, against ANY of the big teams and once again, especially after the AWFUL performances against Burnley and Liverpool, graced the biggest stage tonight in front of the world's media, and gave us another lazy and abject 70 mins of effort, before being yanked off.

So....where does everyone stand on this lazy twat?

1. Fuck him right off come the summer?

2. Pander to his over-paid bank manager and agent?

Simple opinion poll....1 or 2.

1.

1

He'd never have played this season for me
Just a cunt

Paulpowersleftfoot wrote:He'd never have played this season for me
Just a cunt

Yes he's been piss poor this season & yet MP has stuck with him throughout
Wot does that say about MP?
You can bet your life Fergie would have dropped him months ago had he been in one of his teams

1....but if MP goes, the new manager could well want to keep him.

It might appear miserly in the face of such rich brilliance as Barcelona brought to the Nou Camp on Wednesday night but the Champions League is the ultimate proving ground. And Manchester City failed.
That they failed on such a grand stage was because their big names, their stellar acquisitions, failed. Sergio Agüero failed, not least from the penalty spot, Vincent Kompany failed, not least for his lack of leadership and David Silva failed to orchestrate from midfield. The big beasts failed to take the fight.

But above all there was Yaya Touré. These were the nights for which the Ivorian was bought. These are the nights for which he earns the biggest, highest-paid contract at City and demands the status conferred on him.
These are the nights for which he was signed from Barcelona.
And yet he did not even last the 90 minutes, with Manuel Pellegrini delivering the ultimate verdict on Touré’s callow contribution: he hooked him even though the tie was still alive.

The stats said it all: no shots on target (although there was one powerful effort that brushed the netting), no tackles won, no crosses completed, two fouls, 78 per cent pass accuracy – but no key passes. He was afforded a warm ovation from the Barcelona supporters but that was from memory and was charitable.
Here was another in that catalogue of no-shows for Touré in big European matches and when City needed him most. After all, also, this was Touré’s first game back after being suspended for three matches following his foolish dismissal against CSKA Moscow. “I always say that we can play without Yaya but if you ask me I prefer to have Yaya in my team,” has been Pellegrini’s stock response to the inevitable Yaya question. But he sounds increasingly unconvincing in stating it these days.

It was after Touré had gone that Agüero missed the spot-kick which might just have turned the dynamics of this tie when otherwise Barcelona should have racked up half a dozen goals as they embarrassed Kompany and co and Pellegrini also.
This felt like one of those occasions that marks the end of something. It will be far easier said than done to break up this City team, the contracts the players are on prohibits that, but changes will be made. They have to be.

City are now entering into a period of renewal which will probably begin with the apparently inevitable: a change of manager. For if City’s big-names failed to deliver last night then so did Pellegrini who got his tactics and personnel wrong. He did not deploy City in a 4-4-2, thankfully, but neither did he form a midfielder partnership that could cope either.

So Touré was used alongside Fernandinho in one of the 'two’ behind the attacking trio in a 4-2-3-1 line-up which drew the inevitable fear that they would be over-run. They were. Beyond that Touré was never going to have the energy and discipline to cover defensively and supplement the attack from that position – although he did it once in almost setting up James Milner.
From the commentary box high in the Nou Camp he was skewered by Gary Neville who labelled him a “liability” in that deeper role.
Pellegrini changed things as he re-jigged his midfield in the second-half but by then damage had been done. Barcelona had increased their advantage and Touré was as culpable as Kompany even if there was the mitigation that they were undone by Lionel Messi’s brilliance.
But that did not mean that Kompany, unsure and struggling, needed to be drawn to the ball or that Touré simply gave up tracking back to follow Ivan Rakitic who was given time and space to beat Joe Hart who otherwise produced an astonishingly defiant display to keep the scoreline to an incredibly narrow result given Barcelona’s dominance.

Touré was certainly better once he was pushed further forward and it was from his clever pass that substitute Jesús Navas was able to run into the penalty area to create one chance. Soon after Touré burst down the right but was unable to move away from Jordi Alba and tumbled to the turf as the ball ran away from him, desperately appealing in vain for a free-kick.
Are City spent also? Touré, at 31, is one of their older players in what is the oldest team in the Premier League. The average age of the squad is 29. The average age of the team last night was 29 and two months. The bench was even older – an average age of 30.
The average age of the Barcelona team was 27 years and five months and that is a crucial difference of almost two years younger. It showed.
Age is overtaking City. What is the next manoeuvre for Touré? With two years left on his contract it will be difficult to move him on but that may need to happen for the blood-letting to begin.

I'm surprised you didn't do a bit of cutting and pasting in that article Bluey

And once again, rat boy's assessment of TLF was spot on. He's a total liability.

Blaming the age of the team is one thing, but nobody in that midfield could string a pass together. Dino was about the best player we had in a blue shirt (at least until Navas came on) and even he struggled. Silva, Nasri, Milner, TLF... None of them did much more than lose the ball.

Vinny and Serge need dropping. Give them a rest.

Aguero will be dropped from the WBA match...

Topdawg wrote:Aguero will be dropped from the WBA match...

I presume having him as my FF Captain this weekend's not the thing to do then

Hold on.......let me get this right. Our Manager will drop Aguero?

FFS....he can't even drop the lazy fucker, how would he possibly drop our best striker?

Can't see it happening. We need to win nearly every game until the end of the season, and dropping Sergio is not MP's style.

Sorry, Bluey, Den has caught my drift. I'm dropping Sergio as captain in my Fantasy team. He's scored me bugger all points these last few weeks.

I'm sticking with him.....you fickle fuckers!

Lampard should start ahead of Nasri and start with Dzeko with serge on the bench, keep Sanga at RB he's not that bad but have Zab on the bench. I would drop Yaya but MP wont do it.

Dzeko? he's as useless and as lazy as the 'lazy one!

I'd drop Serge tomorrow, me. He's not scoring at the mo and that penalty miss just reinforces my position. His confidence is down and to pile on the pressure to score now will only make things worse. Give the bloke a rest, it's not as though he hasn't earned one.

Dzeko, on the other hand, has proved he can rise to the occasion. For some reason, when the pressure is on, he seems to up his game a bit. Give him the job and get Navas and Kolarov (or Barker?) to feed him.

Unless anyone has any better suggestions?

A better suggestion than Dzeko?
Yeah, I'd rather see Samaras up there than him!
His last outing was toe-curlingly bad.

Agree... He's been piss poor this season. Has anyone actually looked at his stats this season? They're nothing short of embarrassing.

titbumwilly wrote:A better suggestion than Dzeko?
Yeah, I'd rather see Samaras up there than him!
His last outing was toe-curlingly bad.

Yes, but we don't have Samaras on our squad. I know what you're trying to say, but I'm after actual solutions, not reminiscences of past crap strikers.

So what's the alternative? Nobody else thinks Dzeko can do the job (which was the same case last season and yet he chipped in with some vital goals). Bony doesn't look up to it. Jovetic has been a massive disappointment. Serge is low on confidence and piling pressure on him isn't going to work (as we saw on Wednesday). Yaya can't be arsed.

So what's the solution?

The thing is Leo, we all know that Aguero needs a goal, Bony has been with us for one month and has hardly had any run of games with Aguero. Sub appearances for 25-30 mins isn't going to get him up to speed.

Dzeko has been awful when given a chance to start - and for him, there's no excuses for his inept performances.

We've bought Bony, so they will have to use him. I think if Bony get's one goal, he'll go on a scoring run which in turn, may help Aguero by easing the burden on him.

My problem is the lack of chances being created or taken by our 20 goal supposed world class player - TLMLF. Silva has chipped in with goals, but the likes of Navas hasn't.

Nasri was playing really well until he had one average game and since then has hardly featured....he must be thinking wtf? He was no doubt frustrated at being brought back into the fold against the likes of a Barca team at the Nou Camp.

I'd love to say give youth a chance - Ambrose or play Barker wide left, but MP just won't do that.

So I'd much rather stick with Bony and get him some proper game time, as Dzeko's proven once again, he cannot put back to back performances in....and rarely has. His important goals have come from being a sub late on in games....not when he's started.

Fair points, Bluey.

Okay. We're playing at home to West Brom tomorrow. Give Bony a start and see how he gets on.

I just worry about the reasons for buying him. Most goals in 2014 in the PL sounds impressive, but given he was up against nobody else prolific at Swansea doesn't really fill me with confidence.

I just worry about the reasons for buying him. Most goals in 2014 in the PL sounds impressive, but given he was up against nobody else prolific at Swansea doesn't really fill me with confidence.


.................................................


Isn't that impressive enough? Most goals in the PL in 2014, playing for a Swansea team....where he would possibly get half the chances that he would do in a City team....IF, he gets a run of games.


I understand your question, why did we buy him, but lets face it, at the time, in January, with 2 strikers who were injured and woefully out of form, who could we have possibly brought in for around £25m?


I think Bony may turn out to be better than he shown so far - when, he gets a run of games.

have to agree about Bony getting game time to fit in. Think Dzeko scored enough at the end of last season starting games not just as sub & every couple of games Palace & Everton then Villa 3 on the trot there. Still think he is lazy tho. Doubt Barker would feature, as he is injured at the mo. Missed the game v Roma in midweek due to injury

Probably why we got beat...he's been in scintillating form for the EDS.

Problem we have now - is that we need to pretty much win most games until the end of the season, just to stay in the top 4 safely....therefore, the manager won't risk a youth player at this stage, regardless.