Ok to the jacksie987, Berbatov, as a striker on his day­ fine however which day of the week that is only he­ knows, Rooney, I think you might have not read my­ statement right, i said recognised striker, he has been­ thrust into the postion of being a striker only through­ the fact that he can play in that role but would love­ to be the one who sits behind the front two. And Owen,­ to say he is a recognised striker might be exagerating­ a tad. He is old, past it and not as fast as he was­ three years ago. He sits on a week on week contract,and­ never wanted to play for Newcastle ( cant say i blame­ him for that). He has the makings of being the bargain­ signing of the season, and if Ferguson gets out of him­ when he wants then he will be however, to sell Ronaldo­ for Owen and expect similar this year as last is a bit­ much to ask.

When i say recognised strikers I mean­ that they are recognised for their tallent at scoring­ goals, week in week out. The three you mention are far­ from reliable at doing that. So I stand by my comments­ that Manchester United do not have any recognised­ strikers and need to buy at least two before the start­ of the season.

I'VE HAD A FIVER ON MAN UNTIED TO BE RELAGATED @­ 5000/1.!
MONEY IN THE BANK !!
CTID.

Success for City this season is (winning the league or)­ finishing in the top 5 with a bigger gap between City­ and 6th spot, than between City and the team above­ them. This would expand the top 4 to a top 5.­

Practically speaking any position is possible, since­ each of the top 4 have their own foibles. They have all­ lost players apart from Chelsea who have again changed­ their manager.

City have uspet the top 4 in the­ transfer market too.

Robinho / Chelsea - Scolari was­ gutted.
Barry / Liverpool - Benetez was obviously­ miffed at one that got away.
Tevez / United - Fergusson­ tried to swipe him from under City's noses with a­ last ditch bid

The fact is Hughes is building a squad­ doubling up in every position, where each player is­ world class. This is what Mourinho did at Chelsea.­ Hughes isn't there yet, but not far off. Each time­ Hughes has failed to land a player, he has swiftly­ moved on and bought the next player on the list.

The­ main thing City have missed for the last 3-4 years is a­ target man up front and in Santa Cruz City now have­ this. Adebeyour and Tevez can also play that role but­ offer something different and Bellamy completes the­ quartet. All the other strikers (bar Portsmouth bound­ Benjani) have left or gone out on season long­ loans.

For the last 2 years City have carved out­ countless chances and not had the strikers to finish­ off the unrivalled creativity in the midfield of­ Robinho, Petrov on the left, Ireland, SWP on the right­ now with the guile of Barry, De Jong, Johnson and­ Kompany in the middle transform an all out attacking­ midfield into a more solid one.

The defense needs­ further strengthening, but the arrivals of Given,­ Bridge, Toure and possibly Lescot and the stronger­ midfield will remove many of last seasons­ frailities.

Looking at the opening fixtures City could­ and should win the first three, before facing Arsenal­ then United. If they come through those, City will be­ the team to beat.

That's the reality.

Success for City this season is (winning the league or)­ finishing in the top 5 with a bigger gap between City­ and 6th spot, than between City and the team above­ them. This would expand the top 4 to a top 5.­

Practically speaking any position is possible, since­ each of the top 4 have their own foibles. They have all­ lost players apart from Chelsea who have again changed­ their manager.

City have uspet the top 4 in the­ transfer market too.

Robinho / Chelsea

GORTON FC LINE UP SEASON 2009/10
1-2-2-6
AND 20­ SUBS
PREDICTION RELEGATION , FANS GO BACK TO­ SUPPORTIN' STOCKPORT COUNTY
GORTON FC SHIRTS PUT­ AWAY AGAIN
FOREVER IN UNITEDS SHADOW

based upon last year
formation = 4-1-5

given- bridge -­ lescott- toure- richards - barry - tevez - robinho-­ adebayor - ireland - santa cuz

because Hughes is a­ chimp

kompany is better than barry

comment 18 how stupid are you ????
go and wash the­ dishes mate

Onouha is better than Dunne!!!!!!!!

Money can't buy it all. Anyone ruling out Arsenal,­ cos they sold 2 rejects to Man City is on some good­ stuff. Eduardo\Arshavin, Vermaelen are better than­ Adebayor and Toure, FACT! that is why they where­ expendable to City. They were dead weights and a­ disruption to the teams plans this season and they­ fetch a hefty fee, Good business. Like selling salt to­ a snail. They will be off to Cup of Nations in January,­ so I guess Santa Cruz or Bellamy will start. THE TOP­ FOUR WILL REMAIN! City is a joke right now, even with­ Robinho, they could not buy a win to finish top 7,­ Everton with less stars were better and will still be­ better than City. I'm not hating, but it takes time­ and the right manager to be top 6. Arsenal has money to­ spend and will spend wisely, thanks for re-arming us.­ Liverpool will sell but also buy wisely, and still­ finish top 4 or 5. And to the dweeb that said Arsenal­ will deal with players playing in Africa in January,­ see the squad.. Almunia (esp) Clichy (Fra) Vermaelen­ (Bel) Gallas (Fra) Walcott (Eng) Fabregas (ESP) Rosicky­ (Cze) Arshavin (Rus) RVP (Net) Eduardo (Cro) other than­ Song (Cameroon) and Ebue (IVC) how many Africans do we­ have now?

As a City fan i'll be happy to finish top six , see­ which players gel and which don't ,(how many are­ injury prone as well this is City after all) only cause­ for optimism is that all the main teams except for­ Chelsea have gone backwards .Alonso out of Liverpool ,­ where do they go when Gerald and Torres are­ injured.Arsenal well we'll see what Wenge does when­ it gets around Xmas and his players are getting antsy­ again , Fabregas is key though he'll hopefully get­ best out of Arshavin and Walcott.Man U(re) without­ Ronaldo will Rooney and Owen make-up short fall in­ goals be good for England if they can.Everton will be­ up there but no depth and Villa are going right way too­ , Spurs who knows ,same problem as us bought loads will­ they gel.Going To Be A Very Interesting Season CTID.

WHAT A MIXED BUNCH.

First to john, sensible comments­ mate, i agree with u, depends on how city start really­ although i think if wenger buys one or two then city­ are stuck 5th

Second to tchambake why would hughes put­ barry a left footer on the right and ireland on the­ left, wake up.

Thirdly to avenuetaxi "utd have no­ recognised striker" ever heard of owen, berbatov,­ maybe rooney??? welcome to earth u clown.

Lastly to­ yohteh what can i say the champions league is a bit­ like the lottery, if u aint in u cant win. And not even­ city could buy that ticket for this season. wtf are u­ on about.

Caesar, i couldnt be bothered with ur­ comment

Anything less than top four is unacceptable. If Jose­ can win premier league nothing stop MH. I want to see­ how the press will come @#$% Mark Hughes if fall short­ of this. I remember when Jose was managing chelsea,how­ the press attributes everything to money without giving­ credit to the boys and the manager.

manchester city are gone na be the biggest losers this­ season there is no point off them signing players­ because they gone na lose only the dum players went to­ them it's called the man city zoo

I've always said throughout the summer City will­ finish in 4th spot but at who's expense ? it­ won't be Man Utd or Chelsea i expect these to be­ fighting it out at the top and i favour Chelsea, these­ clubs and i say this as a City fan are still a good bit­ ahead of us even without the likes of Ronaldo &­ Tevez.

Liverpool and Arsenal are the targets, last­ season City did well against these clubs against­ Liverpool we narrowly lost 3-2 at home after been 2-0­ up but then went down to 10 men and lost it, we held­ them to a 1-1 at Anfield at a time when Liverpool­ really needed the points, so for me Liverpool can be a­ little inconsistent and maybe more so with the sale of­ Alonso, but again still a very decent side.

Against­ Arsenal we played very well at Eastlands to beat them­ 3-0 but lost out away 2-0 so honours even, we now have­ two of their old boys on board and with Arsenal as yet­ not spending to replace these lads (although their is­ still time) i'd expect that Arsenal could be the­ fall guys.

As everyone knows City have brought in some­ big names at big fees, these players though have to get­ it right on the pitch, i think they but as with­ anything in the Premier it certainly won't be­ easy.

One way or another it all makes for a very­ interesting season.

If City don't achieve a top six place and win a cup­ then it is likely Mark Hughes will go - If that happens­ then Mourinho could be the one to manage and get the­ best from the egos!

Prediction: City for a top 4 place­ and a cup! Plus we will win the premier leagues within­ 3 years.

City will be a force to be reckoned with -­ at least I hope so I've waited 40 years for City to­ be consistently top flight!!

Question will City break into the big fours dominance­ of the Premier League this year. My opinion is that yes­ they will, but as to which club will suffer that is­ hard to say.

I think Man Utd are still to strong to­ fail to finish in the top four, even though they have­ no recognised striker, which will count against them.­

Chelsea are strong and have a relativly big squad­ and they seemed to gel together towards the later part­ of last season.

Liverpool are in trouble, no doubt­ they will be big enough to survive a potential threat­ from another team, but they are weak in quality and­ quantity, add to that their money problems and the fact­ that they have to sell players to balance the books­ they are in trouble, and we all know size does not­ guarantee anything, ask Newcastle.

Arsenal are going­ to be looking over their shoulder, their squad is thin­ and they have the new year african cup problem as­ always to deal with. Last year they survived due to­ Aston Villa running out of steam, this year however it­ might not be so clear cut.

My top four and in no­ particular order are Chelsea, Manchester United,­ Manchester City and Arsenal. I really can not see­ Liverpool rising to the challenge of fighting out­ results and any injuries will affect the team. The same­ would be said about Arsenal but they do have £40­ million pounds to play with and i think some of that­ will be spent wisely in the next few­ weeks.

Avenuetaxis

yohteh, Man City not qualify in CL competition this­ season, how can they win??

i see us finishing 3rd behind chelski and the pool­ 1st.....the munichs down in 5th