havanatopia

3-2 anyone?

Indeed he did. Ribeiro i think. Thanks. He is doing a good job... Wow... Wall 2 Derby 0... Baptism of fire for Lampards.

Who is the co commentator? Chris someone?

Maybe because it is? Siquijor ... Stunning island btw. Oh there goes the sig

Folks, i did request a stand in today, namely Pegs and then Wendy, both having stepped in before as we know. Not a dickie bird of a reply. I suppose its lie in day after another hard slog beating off the other traffic, fighting for a multi storey car parking slot and dealing with the utter male moron at work or over the phone. I am incapacitated out in the boondocks unfortunately and my pen and paper did not make it into the rather slimsified shoulder or sling over bag; not even Lee would fit inside. Incapacitated only in as much as the signal, here in Siquijor, is sporadic ooh there back again. So I give the floor to everyone which makes it far more entertaining than my often diatribical windass effort. That sort of goal would do me today with Flint ever so slightly moving his sedere to allow the ball through unsighted.. A thing of beauty. Good day all.

Bizarre indeed; I listened to the match and the summary I would take away is this:- 1. Overall City dominated and tried to play decent football which many times they succeeded in doing. 2. They switched off for 2 quick fire goals; cannot remember who we can point the finger at but perhaps just two moments of brilliance from an otherwise dour Bolton. 3. Pato had one flash of brilliance and for the rest of the 90 minutes did not contribute enough to warrant a starting place. 4. We missed a strong presence in the box for set pieces; Flint. 5. We missed additional strength up front; Fammy. 6. Did we miss Bobby or Bryan - hard to tell over the radio. I suspect having Bobby would have been a bonus but seems like Kelly did enough to neutralise any loss of Bryan as a lot of us suspected. 4. Baker was hot and cold, as usual... Sounded like that to me too. He came with a lot of fanfare did he not; major coup from Villa and all that. Why has he flattered to deceive?

No no leave him on...yeahhhhhhh get in me babbers.

Thats 1 back

Oh dear.

Not quite but you got me thinking Noggers. Quite right sir... just done the dinner and movie routine.. MEG ? ... not very good and the popcorn was about the size of a sack. Bobby to be top scorer and Cardiff to be relegated; the dream scenario. Gas losing already... what is it with those early conceding's.. so bizarre!

I do not see any consensus unless you mean a consensus of 1. And i did say on paper we should win... Why we rarely seem to at Bolton remains a mystery. Style is currently in formulation liquidizer! Well remembered squire... Per above its still in the melting pot!

Its nearly always around Stoke; suppose everyone needs to get out of the Potteries at the weekend for their sanity.

Over recent seasons there have been very barren pickings indeed for City from the newly named University of Bolton Stadium. Dean Holden interestingly and forthrightly saying he felt they had every chance of winning the match. Bolton Wanderers were actually Holden's very first club. The left or centre back journeyman had no fewer than 10 clubs including a short loan stint at Valur of Iceland while still at Bolton; I did not see him participating in the Icelandic clap while Magnússon was at the club; clearly such 'trends' came much later. Dean Holden's time at Bolton was relatively short and he left 16 years ago to join Oldham Athletic. Nevertheless he may have a tinge of nostalgia when going back. I have said it before and no doubt I will say it again that Bolton are the second most recognisable example, for me, of a club that 'hit a ceiling' in the Premier League then bottled it. The now infamous discussions Sam Allardyce had with the then Chairman Phil Gartside. Of course Sam was perhaps not party to the building debts underwritten by then owner Eddie Davies so it was a scenario destined to force Gartside's hand in not agreeing to the purchase of players Sam wanted to guide the club into a regular top 6 team. He left and within a season they were down and, so far, have not returned. The club were £172 million in debt at one time. Hard to fathom but true. That Bolton remained in the top flight for 11 seasons is remarkable testament to both chairman and manager although they may have got their sums disastrously wrong along the way and Davies seemed asleep at the wheel and unable to prevent it. Today City should, at least on paper, have enough but we often lose matches when we underestimate the opposing team; that happened in the same venue last season as I recall. It will, therefore, be very satisfying to win today. Good day all.

Oooohhh. Shocking back pass from Flint and Wall go 2 up.

I am sure she will. ?

Is that Pato amd Weimann up front? Otherwise its a crowded midfield.. 4-5-1 or maybe 4-4-1-1

Actually both I suppose you could say!! I am told Filipinas make decent wives; she is at least a City fan, good start, and brother who flew out brought her a shirt, albeit the collared one from 3 years ago but she was grateful none the less.. showing class already. narhhhh.. had a few near misses so it was definitely time. I'll try to keep it up.. on second thoughts..! Cheers tho, much obliged. She has obliged this evening by departing for her family home overnight so i can have an unadulterated football night win or lose. She actually cannot wait to attend her first match hopefully Stoke away... best get her wrapped up for that one. Thanks a lot and equally to everyone else for their wishes. Funny, met her days after Dad died in Oct 2016; romantically she says he sent her to keep me from being downhearted. I am buying that one on this occasion. 90 minutes to kick off... life is good again!!

All aboard for another rollercoaster marathon season. Since I have just attended my own marriage, my first I hasten to add, i am excusing myself a long winded thread opening; many historical facts have been written of todays opponents and pretty much all other teams in this league so it is time to reflect on other equally interesting subject matters that should become apparent soon, perhaps by match day 2. A tough opener but as my new wife says, its 'all about the ball' which i guess means the same as 'its 11 v 11'. So come on City, a home win if you please.

That is madness to be sure.

Haven't the city been talking about such schemes for just as long?!!

Thanks Lympsham Red. Now, need to find quality time to read it all, which I will.

No sooner did that crystal ball appear it was snatched from under us.

Hey, since you do and if the game allows, would you mind running a simulated season using half of City's development squad as regular first teamers? Major (I think it was Major anyway) was suggesting this was likely to happen next season.. we all would like to look in to the crystal ball and see if we are headed for the drop. Might help a few people decide if a season ticket is for them or not!

Well, there is a growing argument around his overuse of theory, stats and grass lengths. Perhaps he does need to go and see Warnock who will promptly tell him to tell his players to get the f--k stuck in and take no prisoners and put players where they do best. I guess that is way too simple for LJ. I did hear the giggle bit !!

I must have missed that bit; did he for real? Wow. So he brings in 30+ players and now he is ready to trim his own fat. I have heard it all now. Your second point sounds ominously like a plan for League 1.