City V Fulham: Player Ratings

So long International break and hello real, meaningful football. The Premier League continued this weekend, with Manchester City hosting newly promoted Fulham. In the preview I had spoken about the potential for a return to the starting lineup for both Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling. And so it proved to be, with it not taking long for each to make a mark. I will talk more about the interesting take aways I got from the game in a later article, for now though I only wish to focus on the player ratings from the game.

Predicted Lineup To Face Fulham

The Premier League restarts on Saturday with Manchester City looking to close the gap on the three teams above. Heading into the International break in fourth position, the undefeated statistic was sidelined for the struggling performances.

A draw away to Wolves, at least on the home sides performance, might not be such a bad result in the long run. More concerns for me actually came against Newcastle when, at home, we took the lead but failed to close the game out. Yes we got the result, but it was so much more difficult than it had to be and, unlike Wolves, I don't think it was much to do with a tough opposition!

Cityzens Host Cottagers As EPL Restarts

The Premier League restarts this weekend, and not a moment too soon. I am not really into the International scene, World Cups are fine, but I really don't look forward to games taking place at the expense of the good old EPL!

Manchester City welcome Fulham to the Etihad for the 3pm (BST) kick off, and a chance for City to kick on in the defence of their title. Fulham, recently returning to the Premier League after their relegation in 2014. So far it hasn't been too bad, defeated away to Spurs as you might expect, but picking up a decent win against Burnley.

Manchester City v Lyon: Foe Remembered

International breaks, especially this early in the season, are never a welcomed thing for fans. The Premier League is only four games old, clubs are just starting to get their legs, and it all stops. Fortunately the Premier League will restart again this weekend as Manchester City welcome newly promoted Fulham on Saturday.

For now though, and not something I really enjoy doing, I wish to look beyond that and to the first Champions League game against Lyon. The beginning of the top European club competition is always an exciting time, with the owners making no secret of their desire to lift the trophy. This first game though allows both sides, and both sets of fans a unique opportunity.

Manchester City Champions League Group

Manchester City fans will surely be quite pleased with the Champions League draw which recently took place in Monaco. With Manchester City in Pot One, they were already certain to miss the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and PSG.

While certainly there is no suggestion that this is an easy group for the Blues, I would argue it could have been tougher. From Pot B we found ourselves going head to head with Shakhtar Donetsk, our foes from our last group stage. Avoiding the likes of Roma, and a reunion with Edin Dzeko and Aleks Kolarov, along with Borussia Dortmund.

Manchester City Tame Tough Toon

After four games of our record breaking season last season, Manchester City had ten points scored ten goals and conceded two. It was said, as Kompany raised the Premier League trophy, that it was something Manchester City would struggle to repeat.

Four games in this season though and we have those same ten points. Undefeated as we were last season, Manchester City have scored eleven and conceded three. That means, heading into the International break, 2018/19 Manchester City would be above 2017/18 Manchester City, if only on goals scored.

Yet it seems, with a draw against Wolves last weekend and struggling against Newcastle this, there is starting to be some unrest among City fans. Criticism I think is unfair and certainly, from a fan who witnessed the third tier of English football, a little weird to hear.

I think it is part of a new set of fans, brought up not knowing life in the bottom half of the League, never mind another division! It is something I think we are going to have to accept but for me, even yesterday’s game, as frustrating as it was at times, had many positives.

City v Newcastle: Player Ratings

Manchester City returned to winning ways in the late game on Saturday, although Newcastle made it tough for the Blues. Initially, after a bright start and a Raheem strike, it looked as if it would be an easy day for Pep Guardiola’s men.

Just before half time though, Newcastle pulled level with what was their only shot of the whole first 45. Manchester City came out in the second half determined to get the three points, which they eventually did. Now they can go into the International break in the top four. But how did the players do?