can anyone stop Man City winning the EPL?

3 wins from their first 3 games, Mark Hughes has gone under the radar this summer and assembled a pretty nifty squad. With Joleon Lescott the last of the planned signings there is a nice balance and phenominal strength in depth. Even Shay "not to blame for any of the four goals" Given is looking like a Premiership player. They have a glut of midfield and striking options, with the ability to sign any emerging talent at the drop of a hat.

Are they the real deal? Or are they just a rich man's Sunderland?

Chelsea are more likely to win the league. They can and likely will stop them.

And then there is Man United who basically own the league, no matter how they perform.

You got to rate that side.

With Robinho-Adebayor-Tevez and Ireland just behind, they are a great side.

I'm hoping to see Vladimir Weiss too.

With Mark Hughes as their manager, they're bound to fail.

2 away wins so far though - bit improvement on las season.

It'd be great for this board if Man City & Spurs shoehorned Liverpool and Utd out of the top 4

Man City have made ideal start - ground out wins, while the new players gel.

Robinho doesn't really fit in with Hughes style right now

They've started really well unfortunately. I thought that if they had a bad start some of the more expensive acquisitions would lose interest, but that hasn't happened. If they maintain their momentum they will do well because they don't have any European distractions. I still wouldn't read too much into it because they've had a very easy start to the season and have been steady rather than spectacular. The next game against Arsenal will be interesting, particularly as they then go to Old Trafford in the following match.

Tweedle wrote:With Mark Hughes as their manager, they're bound to fail.

2 away wins so far though - bit improvement on las season.

Why don't you rate Hughes? hes done well with Wales and then Blackburn - probably took both those teams as far as they could go, now at City the clubs potential is huge, who's to say he can't be the person to make them realise their potential?

From what i've seen he set a good platform last season, particularly at home... has brought in some quality this summer which is winning them games this season.

Without the distraction of a european filled calender they can fully focus on the league this year, top 4 is not outside of their grasp IMO with the current squad and set up with Hughes there,

Football Genius wrote:

From what i've seen he set a good platform last season, particularly at home...

A good platform? They did worse than the previous season, having spend over £100m!

has brought in some quality this summer which is winning them games this season.

Yes, but that's not got anything to do with Hughes' abilities.

Without the distraction of a european filled calender they can fully focus on the league this year, top 4 is not outside of their grasp IMO with the current squad and set up with Hughes there

Top four, maybe. This thread is about winning the league though!

Stop diluting the argument Tweeds. You're just ripping everything out of context and making it meaningless.

They need to start winning convincingly before I'll even believe they can be a genuine threat for even 4th place. The early away win was a nice surprise but since then they've been slightly disappointing.

Well we'll get a better idea over the course of their next two games, Arsenal and then United.

I personally would still favour both the gooners and U*d to pick up the 3 points, so it will be interesting if City did go out and beat Arsenal in their next game.

[quote="Dwarf"]They need to start winning convincingly before I'll even believe they can be a genuine threat for even 4th place. The early away win was a nice surprise but since then they've been slightly disappointing.[/quote]

Yeah really dissapointing, we havnt conceeded in 4 games, and got a 100% record. We havnt reached top gear but have dominated each game and should have won by more against Wolves and Pompey.

I think I speak for every level-headed person here when i say they do have a genuine chance of a top-4 finish but the title is beyond them.

By the way is not getting 4th an 'epic fail' ?

If we finished 5th and won a cup for example id be happy with our progress.

Sgoater1 wrote:
Yeah really dissapointing, we havnt conceeded in 4 games, and got a 100% record. We havnt reached top gear but have dominated each game and should have won by more against Wolves and Pompey.

Of the expected top 6, the only side that has dropped points against a team whose expected to finish in the bottom half is Man Utd against Burnley. Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal have have scored 5 goals in a league game so far and both Liverpool and Chelsea have scored more than 2 goals in a league game twice. Your team's competiting with the best sides in the division and so you don't get easy praise for grinding out wins against weak opposition.

There's no reason why you can't improve and you'll get plenty of chances in your teams next two fixtures to prove you belong but for now I'll wait.

By the way is not getting 4th an 'epic fail' ?

Depends entirely on how many points you get, getting the same amont as Villa/Everton last year may as well be an 'epic fail' given how much you've spent.

voted for CL QF. Had a hunch feeling before this season finally some club would break the top 4 deadlock. Mainly because of all top clubs weaking (bar Chelski) & City & Spuds having underachieved for a while now. We'll see, So far so good Shaun

Dwarf wrote:

Sgoater1 wrote:
Yeah really dissapointing, we havnt conceeded in 4 games, and got a 100% record. We havnt reached top gear but have dominated each game and should have won by more against Wolves and Pompey.

Of the expected top 6, the only side that has dropped points against a team whose expected to finish in the bottom half is Man Utd against Burnley. Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal have have scored 5 goals in a league game so far and both Liverpool and Chelsea have scored more than 2 goals in a league game twice. Your team's competiting with the best sides in the division and so you don't get easy praise for grinding out wins against weak opposition.

There's no reason why you can't improve and you'll get plenty of chances in your teams next two fixtures to prove you belong but for now I'll wait.

By the way is not getting 4th an 'epic fail' ?

Depends entirely on how many points you get, getting the same amont as Villa/Everton last year may as well be an 'epic fail' given how much you've spent.

Yeah no shit, 90% of fans are looking to shoot us down and have a dig any chance they get.

Portsmouth are widely regarded as being the worst team in the EPL at the moment. Anything less than a win would have been a poor result, and by all accounts, Pompey could have got something out of this game today.

Man Citeh are still settling in though and we might not start to see their true potential for a couple of months.

The next two games will provide good litmus tests for this squads abilities though.

Pompey aren't the worst team in the division at all, they've become one of the bookies faves to go down because of the takeover mess and because they've made a very poor start.

I don't think anyone thought of their actual current team as worse than all of Hull, Burnley, Wolves, Birmingham, Wigan or Bolton before the season began.

I did. Hell i did at the end of last season but now it really is, not to mention they're barely a 'team' Burnley at least know each other and function pretty well can see them doing ok. Hull not to dissimilar and Wigan are fine.

Citeh get a big "F" so far. If I were them Arabs, I'd be miffed. Hughes hasn't done shite. Anyone could've won those games with them players against so shite opponents.

Hughes is in trouble. He ain't winning the games, the players are, but the team plays poorly. If I were them Arabs owners, I would've sacked Hughes after the piss poor display at home against, of all teams, WOLVERHAMPTON.

It's a matter of time before Hughes gets the sack. I've never seen so much talent together being FUCKING WASTED. Any competent coach would've been winning the games with scores of at least 4-1 instead of scraping 1-0 wins against piss poor teams. Just wait 'till the semi decent teams begin to show up in the schedule against Hughes.

Ooooooooh they beat Portsmouth 1-0, we might as well give them the trophy now.

Puro wrote:Citeh get a big "F" so far. If I were them Arabs, I'd be miffed. Hughes hasn't done shite. Anyone could've won those games with them players against so shite opponents.

Hughes is in trouble. He ain't winning the games, the players are, but the team plays poorly. If I were them Arabs owners, I would've sacked Hughes after the piss poor display at home against, of all teams, WOLVERHAMPTON.

It's a matter of time before Hughes gets the sack. I've never seen so much talent together being FUCKING WASTED. Any competent coach would've been winning the games with scores of at least 4-1 instead of scraping 1-0 wins against piss poor teams. Just wait 'till the semi decent teams begin to show up in the schedule against Hughes.

You really are the most pointless opinion on this board.

Puro wrote:Citeh get a big "F" so far. If I were them Arabs, I'd be miffed. Hughes hasn't done shite. Anyone could've won those games with them players against so shite opponents.

Hughes is in trouble. He ain't winning the games, the players are, but the team plays poorly. If I were them Arabs owners, I would've sacked Hughes after the piss poor display at home against, of all teams, WOLVERHAMPTON.

It's a matter of time before Hughes gets the sack. I've never seen so much talent together being FUCKING WASTED. Any competent coach would've been winning the games with scores of at least 4-1 instead of scraping 1-0 wins against piss poor teams. Just wait 'till the semi decent teams begin to show up in the schedule against Hughes.

ive never seen so much shit written in one post before, its not even worth me replying to point out how all of your ridiculous points are wrong.

Murray wrote:Ooooooooh they beat Portsmouth 1-0, we might as well give them the trophy now.

Who do you support Murray ?

Sgoater1 wrote:

Puro wrote:Citeh get a big "F" so far. If I were them Arabs, I'd be miffed. Hughes hasn't done shite. Anyone could've won those games with them players against so shite opponents.

Hughes is in trouble. He ain't winning the games, the players are, but the team plays poorly. If I were them Arabs owners, I would've sacked Hughes after the piss poor display at home against, of all teams, WOLVERHAMPTON.

It's a matter of time before Hughes gets the sack. I've never seen so much talent together being FUCKING WASTED. Any competent coach would've been winning the games with scores of at least 4-1 instead of scraping 1-0 wins against piss poor teams. Just wait 'till the semi decent teams begin to show up in the schedule against Hughes.

ive never seen so much shit written in one post before, its not even worth me replying to point out how all of your ridiculous points are wrong.

God forbid that Hughes has managed to take virtually a brand new side and win the first 4 games in a row. Sack him NOW, not , say, when he's actually lost a few games.

It's just a shame he's not Latino enough

For all of Puro's exaggeration, he does have a point, as does the Dwarf - Citeh were all over the place in the 1st half against Blackburn and very slack against Wolves. None of the sides they've beaten will finish in the top half, all will be concentrating on ensuring safety.

Not to big us up, but a Home win over Liverpool (Big 4 mainstay) & an away win at West Ham (local rivals, will be top 10 candidates as well) > what Citeh have done so far. Delighted for Adebayor though.

MadVillain wrote:For all of Puro's exaggeration, he does have a point, as does the Dwarf - Citeh were all over the place in the 1st half against Blackburn and very slack against Wolves. None of the sides they've beaten will finish in the top half, all will be concentrating on ensuring safety.

Not to big us up, but a Home win over Liverpool (Big 4 mainstay) & an away win at West Ham (local rivals, will be top 10 candidates as well) > what Citeh have done so far. Delighted for Adebayor though.

But come on TS,

it's like Puro criticising Defoe during the Hull game when he scored a fabulous hat trick -

it people are going to slate Mark Hughes, as least wait until Man City start losing games.

Right now, they have 12 points from 4 games,

there's a time and a place for criticism of Sparky (who I don't particularly rate either if I'm honest) Now isn't the time for it.

Spider Crouch wrote:

MadVillain wrote:For all of Puro's exaggeration, he does have a point, as does the Dwarf - Citeh were all over the place in the 1st half against Blackburn and very slack against Wolves. None of the sides they've beaten will finish in the top half, all will be concentrating on ensuring safety.

Not to big us up, but a Home win over Liverpool (Big 4 mainstay) & an away win at West Ham (local rivals, will be top 10 candidates as well) > what Citeh have done so far. Delighted for Adebayor though.

But come on TS,

it's like Puro criticising Defoe during the Hull game when he scored a fabulous hat trick -

it people are going to slate Mark Hughes, as least wait until Man City start losing games.

Right now, they have 12 points from 4 games,

there's a time and a place for criticism of Sparky (who I don't particularly rate either if I'm honest) Now isn't the time for it.

Right now, they have 9 points from 3 games.

Facts