This thread was triggered by me opening up the upcoming fixture list, seeing that Man City were playing against Aris Saloniki and thinking "gosh I don't envy them one bit".
In the immediate aftermath of being knocked out of the EL and Coppa Italia, our results were nonetheless poor and everyone was mocking those who said that they hoped we'd get knocked out so we could concentrate on Serie A.
But it's been a while since we got knocked out of the cups, and apart from the humiliation and initial anger, if I were given the choice I'd choose elimination again.
It makes no sense to be tiring out our players and risking injuries in three competitions, when we won't benefit greatly even if we do go all the way. Sure, there's a degree restoration of our reputation and some bragging rights involved, but our ultimate aims are Champions League qualification and returning to dominance in Serie A, and for me it seems short-sighted to be aiming for meaningless 'success' without significant financial gain or something like automatic qualification to the CL.
What do you think?
In the immediate aftermath of being knocked out of the EL and Coppa Italia, our results were nonetheless poor and everyone was mocking those who said that they hoped we'd get knocked out so we could concentrate on Serie A.
But it's been a while since we got knocked out of the cups, and apart from the humiliation and initial anger, if I were given the choice I'd choose elimination again.
It makes no sense to be tiring out our players and risking injuries in three competitions, when we won't benefit greatly even if we do go all the way. Sure, there's a degree restoration of our reputation and some bragging rights involved, but our ultimate aims are Champions League qualification and returning to dominance in Serie A, and for me it seems short-sighted to be aiming for meaningless 'success' without significant financial gain or something like automatic qualification to the CL.
What do you think?
