The Squad

The funny thing is RS that a lot of United fans think that City fans will die a little inside if we don't win the title this season.

The reason why that's ridiculous - a reason which is so obvious - is completely lost on them

Cityblueloz - you're absolutely spot on in my opinion. United are more driven because the team above them is ourselves. Credit to United for that. No credit to United fans for not realising it.

Cityblueloz

I'd say we are more driven simply because there IS a team above us. Obviously we don't particularly want City to get their hands on the league title, but the fact that the standard has been raised from last year has given us extra drive and motivation to get results.
If no one had improved significantly over last year and 2 points/game was going to be enough to win the title then we probably wouldn't have as big a points total.
But whether it was City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool or Tottenham who had raised the bar, we would have had the ambition to match them.

I doubt many City fans would "die a little inside" if you didn't win the title - you are going the right way after all. What I will say, though, is that the better you get, the harder it is to improve. It's fairly likely that both Manchester clubs will exceed 90 points this season, but even with a few signings it doesn't mean you will gain any more next season.

I would be very surprised if Man City don't win the league in the next 3 or 4 seasons even if it isn't this season so its not doom and gloom even if they don't. They may even win the Europa this season which would be beyond the dreams of City fans just five years ago.
Hats off to Fergie and United if they pull off a league win this season with relatively restricted spending and a horrendous injury list.

There's always room for improvement Rusty, even if you want to put it into such crude parameters such as points totals.

Fair point about United striving to overtake the team above them, but then even if the mere fact of United being 2nd is enough to drive them on to better themselves (a quality that has to be applauded), only a fool would argue that such a desire wouldn't be enhanced because of who the team above them was. If it was Liverpool in first place, the impetus for United to succeed would obviously be greater than if it was, say, Everton. In fact, if it was Liverpool who United had to overcome, an argument can be made that the desire to overcome them would be greater than if it was City.

To even suggest that the fact that it is City who are the team above United doesn't play a factor in United's drive to win the PL this season is naive at best.

I think what City have done is raised the bar. If it wasn't for City, there wouldn't be any team above United and the league would be all but won. I am still amazed that United have got the results they have this season. And now they don't have any team left in the top seven to play other than City.

My point is that even a squad was assembled of the 25 best players in the world, who worked well as a team, they would still drop points along the way. I suppose it is the experience that will benefit you rather than and improvements to your squad. In my opinion your squad is a fair bit better than ours on paper and doesn't need any tinkering.

And I'm not saying that you being there isn't a factor in motivating us. The fact that you are challenging us definitely makes me want to win the league more, and makes the run in much more exciting than the last couple of seasons, but I doubt it makes too much difference to the players' performances.

While we the fans can afford to think that we might not win the title even though we are top and have been for a while, I just hope the players don't have this same attitude.

Oh and last year, they tried so hard to stop us from winning the FA cup but we all know how it ended.

but I doubt it makes too much difference to the players' performances.

------------------

I disagree. I think it makes all the difference. Motivation (and maintaining motivation) is a key factor in any competitive environment. The players will feel that and I am in no doubt that your manager will also. For him to beat the "new kids" will be impetus for him no doubt - he's done it before after all when Chelsea emerged as contenders. For those "new kids" to be the noisy neighbours from down the road however...

"Not in my lifetime" - that's the crux of it in my opinion.

Anyway about the Bolton game, I actually forgot Adam Johnson was on the pitch until he provided that assist, be suprised if he is still a City player next season.