In parts delightful!

As mentioned in my last post I still haven't sat in my new seat as this time I am away in Turkey and unable to figure out the new ticket exchange from my sun lounger the seat unfortunately lay empty! 

However my step brother in law, if there is such a thing!, managed to stream me a sky feed of the game which thankfully rarely buffered! So from my Turkish leather couch I watched with utter delight in the first half as to how we played football! Now that is entertainment! That's what I pay 700 quid a year for! Good on you Pep and it is equally as good to see the exciting mix of intelligence and passion from the man himself on the side line. This is what I have been banging on about for seasons never underestimate the bosses ability to infect the team with his personality and energy. With Mr 'fizzy water' being anything but a soda stream, rather leaving us flat and tasteless even though he was given most of the right ingredients for something tasty. I used to look at him on the sidelines and his demeanour and tactics made me want to cry with frustration at times!!! The power of one 'flat' 'fizzy water' to flatten 11 on the pitch and 50,000 in the stands was uncanny! Where as 'Pep' he has done exactly what his name says! that he's pepped me up and everyone else and not just in the 90 minutes on the pitch once or twice a week, rather: on my way to work, sat on this sun lounger, even whilst playing football myself! Good on you Spaniard and long may it continue!

Indeed his power is such that although the don't sell Joe Hart song is still sung it is followed by chorus after chorus of Pep's instant hit!!! I think it has already been sung more time's than Pellegrini's ever was and I am being quite literal with that statement! Creating a really fascinating dynamic at the club, one I like and highlighting no one is bigger than the manager! 

Whilst on the topic of things bigger than the club one thing I have as yet not touched on is Yaya, as it just hasn't been as important as it once was I think, for years bigger than the team, the club, his boots, and a frustration for all as he was our best weapon with his delightful touch, vision and shooting but just wouldn't work for the team. As I have stated in previous posts Pellegrini bottled it last year when King Kev should have always started in front of him and silva should never have been moved to accommodate him. Pep is in and he has done exactly that for he is no idiot limiting him to an appearance against that pub side last Wednesday when he did ok as a squad player. Firmly sending the message to all players of I'm the boss and if you want it you have to fight for it no matter who you are or were, and so it should be like that! This new mentality really excites me, and it is overshadowing things like Hart and Yaya which would have been huge catalysts for rifts in the past.

On the topic of forgotten men for me it was great to see Nasri come on and really contribute for I am firmly in camp Nasri. Yes he can be a petulant French prick at times!!! But can't they all!!! However a few seasons ago he was brilliant making us forget silva was injured, then he was injured and was seemingly eating a few too many croissants!! (Have you seen what goes into them!) but last season he came back and made you gutted he wasn't in the champions league squad! Keep him Pep he's worth it and alternating between him Nolito and Sterling through the season would be great, Navas a distant 4th for me at the moment.

Anyway the game! Sterling finishes really well after great build up (is he the same player from last year! Who had no composure in front of goal!). Next DeBruyne sends in a wonder cross, as always, and Fernandinhio I just love your dependability. What follows is tonnes of chances after great link up play and we paid the price a bit in the 2nd half for not finishing one of them! However some decisions didn't go our way for there left back should have seen red as Sterling took the piss out of him once more and Aguero was on side when he broke free. Yes the 2nd half wasn't as good and yes Slavan figured out how to make his team play some football again, but we now don't seem to panic or collapse and finally to see Sterling's new found composure was just delightful as a city fan and we could have had 2 or 3 more at the end thanks to the new found impetus Nasri brought with his introduction.

So job done, 3-1, we are growing as a football side, with a lot of positives in a transition period, and we are top of the league! Now I have been known to eat my words before, read back and see what I first thought of Pellegrini!, but this time I don't think it's too early to say I/we love you Pep! 

Finally I am going to do a media witch hunt update each post now! This week my observations are: 

1. Why as an ex-player is Quinn's commentary so negative towards us it's like he wanted us to collapse! Only 3 weeks in and sick of you already Niall!

2. Bitter Souness can get chucked in that boat for me as well after seeing them both before and after the Stoke game! We haven't got players anything like Barcelona players to play that kind of football? DeBruyne for me is absolutely outstanding and makes top 5 players in the world for me, who wouldn't want him? Silva still makes Top 10 with Aguero there-or-there-abouts with a lot of solid team players to back these superstars up who rank highly in the debates over their specific positions. Sick of you too Graham! If Liverpool had our team and manager bullshit would you be saying that, you would be all over the glory years being almost back!

Colin Bell Stand, Third tier.

The future!

I wanted to write this post today to let regulars know the blog isn't dead! The reason for the inactivity is as City had a quite pleasant summer mine was an utter nightmare involving being completely let down by family and their actions resulting in me getting shingles in my head and eye with a week in hospital in the MRI followed by over a month off work which for someone self employed is a bit of a disaster! The shingles apparently can be put down to stress, and there has been plenty of that! Thank God for my Mrs helping me through all this, she is a star and without her fuck knows where I would be!

Anyway it is a new season, new season tickets (still in third tier east stand, but a long way away at the other end!), and I have decided even a new name, highlighting further what kind of summer it was! So when coupled with Pep! A complete fresh start! A rebirth! So with that here is the first post of the new season 4 games in!

The reason for the delay, apart from all the above!, is I missed the first game due to a reunion of my colts rugby team the weekend we played Sunderland! So rather than sitting in my new seats checking out the new perspective I was at my old rugby club. At this point I was only 14 days out of a hospital bed and told my old mates I was there to catch up only and watch! However this didn't quite happen, as they were short of players to play against a 'present day' combined 2nd and 3rd's team, so being a complete idiot bloke I put my kit on and played the whole game! I even scored a try! At the time it was great fun if unbelievably stupid, and it did set my recovery back significantly! But fuck it hey! 

So I saw the Sunderland game on Match of the day on my phone in a pub, hence no report as I have little to add! My mate who moved seats with me said we were OK, got away with it a bit, at times good but as yet nothing special! One thing though that registered from mine and Jim's conversation was that he though Sterling played well. This statement shocked me a bit as I think Jim hated him more than me last season, so I guess it once again goes to show that the mind and it's happiness is still so important in sport and to be fair I would struggle to play for Pellegrini! Thank god that idiot has finally gone! So in that the first game is done!

Second game sat on the couch with the dodgy box and a chance to see our style of play for myself. First impression I liked it! I knew I would though for I love passing possession football, it's how I like to play, and it's so easy on the eye! I remember stating in a post years ago when Pep arrived with Munich and they quickly went down to ten men, but it looked like we had, that it was the most pleasing looking football I have seen live with my own eyes! I left that game inspired to support the man with the ball no matter what and give him an easy option. I think this one thing, along with get the ball back as quick as possible, is the most fundamental thing in football. When you think about your own play you should think about your biggest fear and try to think from that point! Mine is losing the ball and letting the team down, so you shouldn't want anyone else to feel that so do your damnedest to give them an easy option! In that game Munich always had two easy options with ten men, it was a footballing masterclass!

Another thing I have said before in posts is first and foremost I want to be entertained, followed swiftly by believing the players have given their all and left it all on the pitch, something Pellegrini rarely ever instigated on both counts! That fucker should have stuck to bottling fizzy water! Pep delivered on both these fronts from what I saw. However let's be fair they were utter dog shit, my Mrs could have got in that team! I couldn't believe the commentator mention that that defence represented the bulk of the Romanian national team! God help them! So really it tells us little apart from intent which I guess will do for now!

Soon I was on the couch again ready for Stoke away on the normal box! Now how many times I have heard this summer, usually from bitter reds or their United bias media!, it's all well and good Pep's ideas but it's the premiership now and let's see how well he does on a windy day away at Stoke! Well I'll tell you how he'll do 4-1! Yes it wasn't perfect, yes at some times we lost our way a bit, but it is 4-1 away at Stoke on a windy day so put that in your pipe and smoke it! When last year Mr fizzy water ballsed it right up! Game 3 done.

Game 4 and I am finally back at the ground! Thinking I will finally try out my new seats, then the text comes through and I'm whisked to the east stand to make the ground look fuller for the TV! With Jim away in Portugal giving his and his mrs' ticket to his mate I headed to the ground expecting to catch up with his mate. However I hadn't though because we are moved I got moved on my own! So I think for the first time ever I watched the footy on my own! I quite liked it you know for a change and like going to the cinema on your own I think it is something one should do at least once in their life! 

As for the game, it was pretty shite to be honest and not very entertaining, but I guess we were 5-0 up on aggregate and he gave a lot of youth/fringe players a game. Things of note Kolarov at centre back again (now Jim had mentioned this after the Sunderland game and I was intrigued to see it!) now you know what I liked it! Yes it was no real test with this opposition, but it suited him I think, Pep has seen these sort of things before, it could be like the sterling thing again with a different frame of mind, so we'll see! One thing is for sure it gives him more time to compose himself and he put his long ball to great distributional effect. You never know you know and although I think he has been dogshit for years at left back I have never hated his personality! So we eventually score job done time to go home! The only other thing of note being the whole Hart thing! Now those regulars who read my posts will know I'm one of the ones with Pep to be honest! I don't think he has been the same since he started appearing on every TV add known to man! But many others disagree and made their voices heard and fair enough! What made it mental was the song he has had for a couple of years was never so appropriate as it felt like it had been specifically written for this match! 

Anyway it's Sunday we play in a few hours and I am once again nowhere near my seat, sat on a beach in Turkey! One day this season will actually start for me as I head back to the villa to watch it on a stream! First real test hopefully we pass with flying colours! Until then, it has been emotional!

Colin Bell stand, Third Tier