Man City v Leicester

Kaspars kicking has gone to shit this game.

Expected Vardy to score there.

I have so much time for this scoreline.

Absolutely fucking brilliant!!

I haven't been able to watch this, unfortunately. Can't wait to see the highlights later though.

As a philosopher once said - "It's a funny old game".

Kolarov has been terrible with his crossing.

Jarv said:

Why did City extend their stadium, Loads of empty seats in every single block apart from where the away fans are

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Commentators said it was a record attendance actually for us so will have also been a sellout. 55 odd thousand or whatever. Good analysis though - I doubt any other United fans will have been sharp enough to make such commentary

On the game itself, we've been a disaster and deserve to lose by more. Injuries make it harder for us here, hence having Demi playing against Vardy, but equally Pelligrini never makes changes to our setup to accommodate that. Leicester have been great but its much been self inflicted.

JimJams said:

Kolarov has been terrible with his crossing.

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Kolarov isn't brilliant and has his bad days, but he's been the worst player on the park today. Can't do anything right. It was him who gave the free kick away right at the beginning too.

Tesl said:

Commentators said it was a record attendance actually for us so will have also been a sellout. 55 odd thousand or whatever. Good analysis though - I doubt any other United fans will have been sharp enough to make such commentary

On the game itself, we've been a disaster and deserve to lose by more. Injuries make it harder for us here, hence having Demi playing against Vardy, but equally Pelligrini never makes changes to our setup to accommodate that. Leicester have been great but its much been self inflicted.

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To be fair i missed the first half. Maybe they all left at half time

Fantastic stuff, excellent performance this.

Jarv said:

To be fair i missed the first half. Maybe they all left at half time

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Most of them have gone by now! Can't blame them either =/

We should thank our lucky stars we're only getting hammered 3-0.

Thats old skool Danny Simpson. Not seen that in a while.

JimJams said:

Thats old skool Danny Simpson. Not seen that in a while.

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Would have been a totally undeserved but interesting finish had Aguero just put that home.

So who thinks Leicester are going to win it?

I still think it's City's title but this certainly makes it more interesting.

Destruction said:

Aguero to score.

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Bang on mate.

biggest underdog story in football history.

Avatar said:

biggest underdog story in football history.

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predicted by me in July

Tesl said:

Commentators said it was a record attendance actually for us so will have also been a sellout. 55 odd thousand or whatever. Good analysis though - I doubt any other United fans will have been sharp enough to make such commentary

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premierleague.com have it down as 45k in attendance.

Stagat said:

Bang on mate.

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Cheers mate, when you know you know as they say.

Offside though eh?

Fair play to Leicester, what a story this is turning into.

G.B said:

premierleague.com have it down as 45k in attendance.

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Which would make sense considering all the empty seats around the ground.

They should call this thread the Etihad because there's no (Manchester) City fans in it.

G.B said:

premierleague.com have it down as 45k in attendance.

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I've no idea how these things are counted, but City's page:

http://mcfc.co.uk/News/Match-reports/2016/February/City-v-Leicester-City-6-February-PL

Shows attendance as 54,693.

Leewilson - It is by no means our title. I actually make Leicester pretty big favourites right now, because I think we are knackered and somewhat crippled by injuries. Apparently Silva got injured today so we are now down to 13 fit players. For 4 competitions, when (unfortunately) the CL will take priority over the league. I honestly don't think we'll be able to keep pace with that kind of injury list.

Also worth noting we've lost almost every game against decent sides this season, we never win when we are playing in form sides. Spurs are up next and I fully expect them to win easily. The only way we win the league is if we go out the FA cup and europe soon, get some players back, and finish the season with a long winning run. I don't see it happening.

Tesl said:

I've no idea how these things are counted, but City's page:

http://mcfc.co.uk/News/Match-reports/2016/February/City-v-Leicester-City-6-February-PL

Shows attendance as 54,693.

Leewilson - It is by no means our title. I actually make Leicester pretty big favourites right now, because I think we are knackered and somewhat crippled by injuries. Apparently Silva got injured today so we are now down to 13 fit players. For 4 competitions, when (unfortunately) the CL will take priority over the league. I honestly don't think we'll be able to keep pace with that kind of injury list.

Also worth noting we've lost almost every game against decent sides this season, we never win when we are playing in form sides. Spurs are up next and I fully expect them to win easily. The only way we win the league is if we go out the FA cup and europe soon, get some players back, and finish the season with a long winning run. I don't see it happening.

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Were you at the game or did you watch the game on TV, either way you could see clumps of empty seats throughout the crowd.

13 fit players? I'm pretty sure you filled your bench today so you had 18 fit at least - Arsenal and United have kids on their bench (in United's case team more often than not) all season because of injuries. You have just sent Patrick Roberts who you spent 12 million on out on loan to Celtic for 18 months so you can't be that short of players

Tesl said:

I've no idea how these things are counted

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The home team generally either count tickets sold no matter how many people actually turn up or just flat out lie about the figure when the attendance isn't great. Posting false figures is nothing new, see Arsenal adding an average of 6.5k on to the Met Police's official figures. Jarv made a valid point before you attempted to mock him. When a club only get 35k for a Champions League game against Italy's second best team, what's the point in expanding the stadium? You never come close to filling it, the misleading figures can't hide all the empty seats.

i'm loving these plastic mancs dissappearing every week

JimJams said:

No joke our game went down a level about 20 minutes in.

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And sure enough you had a superb second half while I was having my lovely nap, correct?

Indeed.
You didn't switch on for the last 10 minutes by any chance did you?

Nah. Sorry.

Well.. That could have gone better. Leicester absolutely deserved the win. Let's get that clear right out of the gate. They also had the rub of the green a little and things just went for them. I, as I'd imagine any football fan would have been, was disappointed that neither of the penalty shouts were given. The first looked on the line to me, and on the line is 'in'. It's a shame John McEnroe doesn't play for City really. The chalk flew up. But I was more irritated with the shove on Fern. A straight arm push is a foul, and the ref gave a free kick for the same thing later in the game. A penalty and an equaliser then might have changed the game massively. (That's three in two games against Leicester...)

Seemed a pretty archetypal Leicester performance. Cede possession, defend deep and in numbers in the box and work on the break. So a bit annoying that MP wasn't able to counter it, but when you've got the right tactics to fit the squad, it's hard to counter.

But now is where it gets interesting, because this was a game changer for Leicester. How they do in the next couple of matches will be key. They wouldn't be the first side to win a key game and then freeze. Look at Liverpool a couple of seasons ago. They 'won the league' against City and just collapsed. Hell, they pretty much did the same thing this season! How will they hold up now this shit has got even more real.

Both times City have won the Premier League they have chased down the 'Champions Elect'. They pulled back eight points from United, much later in the season and Liverpool were pretty much on the open top bus as City went about taking 16 points from the last six games to take the title. When they chased down United, they won their last six straight after being 'dead and buried' when they lost to Arsenal.

Hart, Kompany, Zabaleta, Clichy, Nasri, Silva, Toure, Aguero and Kolarov have all lived through both of those seasons with City. Demichelis, Fernandinho and Navas were there for the second one. That's a lot of experience of pretty much exactly this situation. Yeah, some of them are injured, but they are still knocking about the place and the return of Kompany will make a vast difference. I hope.

And for Leicester, this is all new ground. How will they cope with no longer being a bit of an oddity, but actually being favourites? How will they cope with a bit of pressure? Surely they have a few injuries due FFS!!

Leicester are there to be shot at now, and City have a squad full of players who have done this exact thing before. (Even if most of them are injured) I'm not saying lightening will strike in the same place thrice, but that it's not unknown for sides who have it all but won in February or March to come unstuck. Bring it on.

But if they do it, I certainly won't begrudge them any success at all. It's fucking ace that they are really going for it, and it's something I've wanted to see in football for a couple of decades. A bit annoying that the universe chose a season where City were the challengers, but cest la vie. I suspect that they won't be the last.

Spurs are sneaking up on the inside too, and, while it would be gutting for Leicester, it would also be a good thing for English Football.

But if either of you two do end up hitting the wall and fucking up, and you hand the title to Arsenal... I'll not be happy.