a betfair poll raheem sterling

If it was a Champions League final or a World Cup final you might consider putting Pogba in a combined team Utd?City but if you were talking about who you want on a league basis there really is no comparison. Pogo has all the attributes apart from the most important one - attitude.
Combined team for me would be

De Gea
Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy
                 fernandinho
     De Bruyne  David Silva
Bernardo Silva              Sane
                 Aguero


Appreciate Guardiola would nearly always play Sterling but for me Bernardo Silva and sane are slightly preferable.

Pogba has a great attitude for France and did for Juve, players have downed tools under Mourinho his last 2 clubs, Pogba would thrive under a different manager.

De Gea

Valencia  Smalling  Kompany  Shaw

       Matic

Martial   Pogba   De Brune/ Silva   Mane

        Aguero ( Sanchez)



As Utd stutter to a 0-0 at home v canon fodder and City breeze to a 4 - 0 away win this cretin looks ever more cretinous..........

^ silly boy , Spurs 3-1 win against Chelsea was more impressive than city’s as was Liverpool’s away win

ps special mention for Sane , the best player in the league as I said before

Utd are appalling at the minute : )

Still waiting for scandinavian_hamann to thank me.

If you mean when you said  that Tottenham will finish 10 points ahead of United, Chelsea and Arsenal then there's another 25 games to go!

Think you may be right with United unless they sack Jose, doubt you'll finish 10 above Chelsea and Arsenal, though you should finish 4th behind City/Liverpool/Chelsea.

Chelsea just had an off day, they are much better than that last night - you also have to factor in Europa League football which you get dragged into.

Not sure what is funnier Matic ahead of Fernandinho or Pogba ahead of either Silva or De Bruyne

Truth is at a push maybe De Gea but Ederson is perfect fit for a City side

highly unlikely we get hugely dragged into the europa league. we don't care much for it - haven't got past the quarter finals in umpteen recent attempts. most likely we'll go out in the first 2 knock out rounds however poor the opposition might be

Scandinavian, think you are wrong about Pogba. Of course his attitude at the World Cup was fine because it's a short period with a massive trophy at the end. For Juve he was strolling through games most of the time but in Italy for Juve he could. His attitude since aged 17/18 has always been bad. He forced through the move to Man Utd when Mourinho was manager yet his attitude has been questionable more or less from the start. He'll play with a better attitude when he's looking to put himself in the shop window. Until then he won't care regardless of who is in charge. Along with Sanchez he remains a very poor buy (for the money involved) as they only really care about themselves not about any team ethic. Lukaku and Matic were poor buys for other reasons. Lukaku just isn't very good and Matic had already peaked and was on the downgrade. Overall Utd's transfer policy since Fergie left has been abysmal and that's part of the reason they are languishing so badly. It's hard to remember who was the last good signing. Probably Zaha and then they didn't give him a kick!

Sterling is a Jamaican .

Pogba was with France though qualifying and all the way to the European Championship final, done it for France over a long period of time as first choice. Considering he's working with an ego maniac he's attitude's been pretty good, at least he didn't do what Hazard did, another who in the end couldn't stand him, bby flipping his hand up to him when he was coming off as if to say get lost. Juve got a good deal for him.

Nov 25, 2018 -- 1:18PM, mcfc1981 wrote:

Not sure what is funnier Matic ahead of Fernandinho or Pogba ahead of either Silva or De BruyneTruth is at a push maybe De Gea but Ederson is perfect fit for a City side

Guardiola would pick Ederson over De Gea everyday of the week

Guardiola would as Ederson clearly fits his philosophybut most other managers wouldn't. Nothing against Ederson, he's a very good keeper and clearly exceptional with his feet. De Gea has generallybeen the best in the world for a few years now though.

lfc1971 25 Nov 18 08:00 Joined: 06 Nov 11 | Topic/replies: 29,116 | Blogger: lfc1971's blog
^ silly boy , Spurs 3-1 win against Chelsea was more impressive than city’s as was Liverpool’s away win


WTF are you going on about? What have LFC & THFC wins got to do when comparing Utd V City?!!!

You picked 7 out of 11 players from Utd in a combined side with City. I said you are a moron. Yesterdays results and your moving the goalposts yet again shows it to be more valid than ever. I mean Matic above Fernandinho for eg. is ridiculous.

I am amazed how you can always have so much conviction about absolutely everything and yet be so utterly clueless on all subject matters.

charwell I said that there wasn’t much between the top 5 or 6 teams , player for player
Last time I looked Liverpool and spurs were two of the top 5 or 6 teams
Now pipe  down , I don’t want to have to keep explaining things to you

charwell I said that there wasn’t much between the top 5 or 6 teams , player for player


Stop being thick/contrary. City are miles ahead of Utd player for player; which makes your 7 out of 11 Utd players in a combined team an absolute load of bollox. I would seriously struggle to name 2. Now please stop digging and admit you are wrong every once in a while.

Player for player - if you put an 11 together and forget who the manager is

De gea is superior to Ederson
Smalling is generally on the same level to City's centre backs
Shaw imo is a better left back than Mendy, at least from what I've seen he definitely has that potential.
Pogba would get in the same team but not in favour of Silva/De Bruyne.
Martial I'd have in on the left hand side over Sane.

Matic whilst according to some not in his best form, is not a lesser player than Fernandiho who's what 34 now?

I think player for player you can make a case for 5/6 United players

it's just that under Mourinho that all look so abject at times, they need a new manager.

But of course, De Bruyne, Silva, Walker, Aguero are shoe-in's for any combined teams, the rest you can debate.

And as said before, with City's defence, they're never really tested because the front six have the ball so much so it's not because they're all so great that they concede so few, they've generally been exposed in Europe however by better teams, even Lyon who will probably score on Tuesday imo.

City's defensive players pass the ball as much, if not more than the front six. United's defence can't pass, to start with :

Passes season to date :

City top passers :
Laporte 1151
Fernandinho 940
Walker 829
D Silva 801
Stones 669
B Silva 570
Mendy 565

United :
Pogba 749
Matic 617
Shaw 613
Lindelof 562
Smalling 446

Forget the previous Lyon game. Guardiola wasn't on the touchlines and that's twice now they've been lost without him.
Fernandinho is massively superior to Matic and is also seriously underrated. Arguably the most important player in the squad. Martial whilst a very good player doesn't come close to Sane. Smelling is undoubtedly not close to City's centre backs even if he has been treated pretty unfairly by Southgate. Shaw is nowhere near the level of Mendy (even if there would be a worry about Mendy's consistency since his injury and particularly with him being out again). It might be tough for Utd fans to debate but City's system works so perfectly no one apart from De Gea would be required. I would however start Rashford ahead of Sterling for England. He fits that system better imo.

Pretty damning of a team if they need their manager right there on the touchline to get a result, you'd have to be pretty weak mentally for that to be a factor, they've already done their full preperation, tactical analysis etc. Not an excuse. Fernandinho suits City the way they play more than Matic but player quality wise there's no real difference, Matic has been superb the vast majority of his career. Martial is better than Sane and has a attitude problem hence why Lowe left him out of the World Cup and then there was that incident with the Burnley play where he nonchalant kicked him on the floor - luckily for him there was no bad reaction as most players would have taught him a lesson, Pep also left him out start of season for similar reasons, needs to lose the arrogance, Shaw is definitely talent wise a very good left back and can see why United paid so much for him at an earlier age, injury has got in the way of progress.

The debate is not which or how many United players would get into the City team, it's who is better player for player, what would a combined team look like, forget about the manager, and man for man can only conclude it would be fairly balanced, see last post.

No one in England is better than Sane

Haven you are having a laugh.

Like CCM you have picked 3 Utd defenders for 5 positions. Clearly you don't understand a team that has conceded a quarter of the goals has a better defence! Smalling is dreadful. Mendy is on a another planet to Shaw. Matic is not half the player Fernandinho is. Sane p1sses all over Martial. 'Fairly balanced' man for man is ridiculous. Utd's team is vastly inferior to City's, Liverpools and Spurs. Probably on a par with Chelsea and Arsenal is the reality.

LFC1971 not CCM!

lol Charwell, you have just taken certain points in isolation of my post and willfully ignored everything else I said that backed up my point! 

You keep getting confused about teams v players

We're not talking about the teams, again the question was, man for man, who would make a combined 11 - forget who is the manager, who is the best in their position.

So I said that City concede far fewer goals because their front 6 has far more of the ball and therefore the back 5 come under much less pressure than United, that's what they are, a possession based so you look at the players themselves - and when City's defence has come under real pressure from teams that actually have something about them and are willing to attack - like Liverpool last season and like the CL v Lyon, they looked lost at sea at times.

I don't see any City centre back better than Smalling - you can make an arguement that they are but there's not much in it, same goes for Shaw v Mendy and Martial v Sane.


A lot of Man United's top players are not in vogue atm because they are in a lull and have been for some time under Mourinho

What is your criteria for "best in their position" (bearing in mind Smalling can't pass as well as any of City's centre-backs) ?

On your criteria I expect you might have Smalling ahead of Mascherana, Puyol and Pique

I don't see any City centre back better than Smalling

The stupidest post I have ever seen. Well done.

themover I'm not saying smalling is a world beater, but you hardly say Laporte or Stones are really that much better, Stones is a different type of player, that's why it's your own choice, I think Smalling is a better defender, Stones might be a better baller. Kompany is better than the lot of them but he's out the equation really as he seems surplus to requirement and is very injury prone.

Smalling has made 14 tackles all season in the Premier League! Even Fred, Shaw, Young, Matic, Fellaini, Lindelof have made more! I'm really struggling to see what you see in him that puts him even slightly close to any of City's centre-backs in any department.

which part of United's players are suffering under this manager do people not understand!

it's not them the players are bad it's all steming from Mourinho, Smalling was excellent under Fergie

You said to forget who the manager is and who is best in their position but then said Kompany can't be selected because he seems surplus to the current City managers requirements

If there's one set of players that shouldn't be suffering under Mourinho it's the defenders!

United are 2nd on the list of teams who've made most changes to their starting line up this season, or this calender year? can't remember or the other.

yes I did say that - that's the point, United's players imo are suffering under Jose, when  they've been under the right manager they've proven to be very good. But if you're putting together a combined team of City and United players their very best, I don't how Smalling is so easily dismissed.

Only Laporte has played more minutes for City than Smalling and Shaw have for United in the defence.

yes but who and what is going on around you affects you, you need to build up understand and partnerships.

can we stop getting fixate down on minutes players, who has done what this season, it's not about the first 12 games so far.

Let me put it more clearly.

You are the manger, it's your choice, put together a combined first 11 of United and City players, it's your preference, based on what you've seen of them over their careers, what you think you could get out of them, based on how you would play picking your formation, how good you think they are in comparion to others in their postion - Pep is getting the best out of his players the way he wants them to play, he bought certain players for that reason, Jose imo is suffocating his players and has lost his man mangement skills and it's a dead man walking, so it's not fair on United players to leave them out because one manager is making them look worser than what they are and picking City players because they're results are better - quality wise, I haven't seen Laporte and thought to myself, you are better than Smalling when Smalling was at his best. That's just my opinion.

fixated on minutes played*

Walker Kompany Laporte Mendy

maybe not, but you must have thought Kompany is? Kompany at his best is/was better than Smalling.

I don't see any City centre back better than Smalling

sorry, just had to post that again.

yeah I did that themover, Kompany is better than the lot of them, but I think fitness wise he's finished.

Walker is a shoe-in, De Gea is imo, and I'd have Smalling and Shaw.

Chris Smalling is a good player tbf, but we are talking about the best team of all the players in the league.

You can make a case that Smalling is better at last ditch tackles than Laporte or Stones. But if you are building some sort of premier league super team you do not care about last ditch tackles as you are creating a team that is going to dominate games. You want your centre halves to have great reading of the game and be able to set attacks in motion. Smalling and Phil Jones are just not good at passing the ball so it keeps coming back or they hoof into a contested area.

At actual defending against attacks the Pep Barca defenders were not very good when players were running at them in a 3 v 3 situation, but as those defenders were good at keeping possession and good at passing the ball to other players who were even better at keeping possession, those sort of attacks were once a game events if that.

no tober it was about the best combined team between United/City.

no wonder we have problems with Brexit when we have people like tober and charwell : (

plus I never thought anyone would have the audacity to mention Stones

When he makes a mistake he puts on that big silly face

have you seen Phil Jones mistake face

It doesn’t matter if Sane is better than Martial , of course he is he is better than anyone in the world in that position

But we are playing Martial on the right , instead of Sterling who is not a proper footballer

lfc, I can guarantee you are not a twin, God would not have unleashed two of you on the world.

Now also you can say what you like but there is going to have to be a place for Sanchez
It’s impossible to leave a player of his quality out

twins run in my family scand : )

It's got to be said that lfc posts some utter drivel, but I'm sure he's not dopey enough to think that Chris Smalling is a better centre-back than City's options in that position.

do you know I’m beginning to wonder just if we can find a place in the team for Aguero , he is a terrific player
But is maybe just getting a littke past his very best

jed I’m not sure but you might have said at some point that Sterling was a good player
si your judgement seems fatally flawed right there

Smalling is a very talented player

I’m wary of quite a few of these city players , I feel they deserve to be treated as just another team that has a style of play
And that style of play can be dismantled by the right team and manager

I've seen nowt to suggest Martial will ever consistently contribute as much as Sterling in games.

Well of course Martial has had some good games , some poor ones
However I have only to watch Martial for 5 minutes to know he is a better player than Sterling

That’s all it takes  ,  5 minutes

after a awful weekend at Wembley, it has cheered me up no end that people are actually making a case that smalling is a decent player.
I have memory problems nowdays, but I cant think of many worse players than him, except probably graham wilkins

I think you'll find end product is what's necessary.

perhaps you should take a bit longer lfc you do seem to come out with some rash statements.

well exactly , Sterling is useless at that of course

I'm not necessarily saying on current form but quality wise, under Jose nobody is really flourishing are they. Most people have seen Laporte play a few times live this season and that's it, they have him nailed on.

end product ? Look Sterling is not and never will be good in that respect

The fact is Sterling could score and assist 20 a piece and you still wouldn't recognize him as a player. City could win 5  titles on the bounce and you'd still try and deconstruct their achievements on flimsy sentiments.

lfc are you serious goals and assists at city he isn't delivering fcuk me!

not at all , I am very fair
Yes I am being a bit harsh on sterling , he dies have some good qualities and I thought he did quite well in the World Cup , well especially compared to some others

But I can’t get past the simple fact that he has major weakness in the fundamentals

He is a far better and more complete player than the one who left Liverpool 100%.
Didn't think would reach level he is at to be honest.
Or score as many goals.

His footballing brain has developed

He’s the same player , nothing has improved really in regard to his game
But yes I admit he has certain good qualities also , they were always there

He is pretty much exactly the same player

you talk some absolute guff

Play with better players you will become better Lfc.
Fairly obvious one to be honest.
To say he is the same is just not true.In your opinion maybe but not in reality,visually,statistically.

I've no doubt he would have developed the same maturity under Klopp but of course I cannot prove it. I doubt many City fans wouldn't think he's come on a bundle in his time there.

Not something you can quantify,it's and buts.
Got a good fee for him,he has progressed,nothing to see as a Pool fan.
We paid much less for Sadio and Salah FGS

Well I’ll give you an example , the match when he fell and got the pen , just recently
No point mentioning that again , but in the very same match the ball was played through to him quite high over his shoulder coming down
a little tricky , he went to control it with his left foot , his body wasn’t the right shape , he watched it come down poked out his left foot his toe hit the ball and it bounces up again above head height

That sort of thing

I'd  be interested to hear what he's supposed to produce before he is rated as a very good player in this league.

Well i would expect him to be able to control that sort of difficult pass before we consider him a good player
Just for starters

And not have the ball bouncing back up towards head hight when it should be in the back of the net
That sort of thing

I'm sure he controls plenty of difficult balls but aside form that as long as he scores and assists and is regularly contributing that is surely what's important.

Martial has often had dire games but at least he is a better player, ok then.

How do you rate Joe Gomez as a CB lfc?

I'm only asking because you seem to like going completely against the grain on virtually everything.

I like him

Would you swap Chris Smalling for Joe Gomez?

No

lfc1971    26 Nov 18 20:17 
I like him

finally my work is done for the evening.

If i was Jose yes I would...

: )

A better player and he is still only 23!!

Wow. Gomez is a fabulous young CB and playing next to VVD is helping him further. He is miles better than Smalling already; and has potential to be one of the best CB's around.

Not sure which teams Scandi and LFC71 support but even Man Utd fans don't rate Smalling one iota and they see him on a weekly basis!

charwell’s confused again

As a Liverpool supporter I would not swap Gomez for Smalling

And I wouldn’t swap him for any of the Man City defenders either

when i put this poll up an yes or no answer would have been good enough

every day goes by, scandinavian_hamann looks more clueless

improved bundles,but he is playing
in a much better team.

he is better but he still wouldnt start for us.

no way he gets in ahead of mane salah or bobby