Weekend Preview: City vs. Bayern Aftermath

The City-Bayern game was painful to watch. Not just because we lost, but the fact that the referees didn't give two clear penalties and missed Gomez being offside for Bayern's second. Mancini's substitutions were also bizarre. I understood the reasoning for bringing on De Jong, we were far too open at the back. What I don't understand was not playing him in the first half and taking him off in the second to add more to the attack. This was Mancini's modus operandi all of last season and I have no idea why he abandoned it in our biggest game so far this year.

Then there's the Tevez situation. I said before the season that if we acquired Aguero, we needed to get rid of Tevez. We didn't and now we are reaping the consequences. The thing is that if Tevez had no suitors in the summer, how are we going to offload him in the short window? And that's without considering that teams may be afraid to sign him because of dressing room issues now. A real mess without an easy answer.

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Bullets

• Last week I picked Stoke to beat Man U. Unfortunately, they only drew. However, I think my point about United being weaker than they seem was somewhat vindicated. I think the Basel game showed why I was concerned about their defense as well.
• Gambling Picks: Everton (19/10) over Liverpool and Newcastle (19/10) over Wolves. Liverpool haven't played well lately and I like Everton to win at home. Wolves just suck and Newcastle are actually pretty good. Just goes to show if you have a striker you can get 35+ million pounds for, SELL HIM.