This team is better when it comes to technical ability, but I doubt it would have been as successful, if we had played open flowing football back then.
Times have changed and its good to watch most championship sides trying to play decent football.

MON's team didn't always soak up pressure and hit teams on the break for a 1 nil.

There were some superb performances during his tenure - the 5-2 against Sunderland, the 4-0 after 15 mins against Derby, the 4-3 loss away at Blackburn, the 2-0 at Anfield when there were officially no City fans there due to the Anfield Rd stand being done up (but there was in fact hundreds of us dotted around the stadium that night!!)

Yes, we could grind out results in those days but we were also capable of playing teams off the park as well. Very similar to NP's side of today.

Fox 14 but we are creating far more chances. But the 5-2 against Sunderland was the best and most complete performance in my 45 odd years of supporting city. Although the Derby game now comes a close second.RememberThat was at the very end of the MON era. Teams defend better now we would not be able to put Walsh and Elliot up front and them to get the goals they did.

No chance Nev. Everything about that team was superior.

Schemiechs in comparison to Flowers?

You think our current defenders are better than Elliott or Walshy?

Current midfield a patch on Lennon or Izzet?

Strikers as good as Heskey, Claridge or Cottee?

O'Neills team, as well as being far superior, would have bullied this team. Not to mention they got to 3 cup finals and won at Old Trafford during Fergies golden years. No contest.

Yes

Absolute nonsense!!

Schmeichel is a pretty good goalkeeper, but so were Keller and Flowers. They were both internationals of some pedigree.

Defensively we were very strong and people underestimate (or forget) how good the likes of Elliott and Walsh were with the ball at their feet. Elliott was quite good on the ball and Walsh filled in up front every now and again. Elliott, Walsh and Taggart were also much more capable of scoring goals than our current lot. Morgan is powerful and Moore is learning fast, but they’re miles behind at present.

Guppy was another underrated player at wing back. There was a time when his crossing of the ball was second only to Beckham in the Premier League. Do we get that sort of quality from Dyer or Konch?

Lennon and Izzett were two of the best midfielders this club has ever had. At one point it was only players at very big clubs that were ahead of them. Savage, on his day, was a brilliant box to box midfielder and his high energy made up for any shortage in quality. Drinkwater and James are very promising youngsters at present.

Heskey and Cottee played for England and have 68 more caps between them than Nugent and Vardy.

As a team we were never out of the top 10 in the Premier League until Peter Taylor came in and ripped it all to pieces. Our current team have never played in the Premier League.



This is just another silly example of us getting ahead of ourselves. We’re doing well, but this team has done nothing to prove itself yet and certainly doesn’t warrant any comparison with what MON’s teams achieved.

Cdubya, I don't think Nev is comparing player to player but more as an overall team.... A big difference.
Of course it's open to debate and ones of those questions we will never know. Let's say it would finish in a draw and move on lol

In terms of the question of whether the current team would beat O’Neills. Well it might every so often.

I would say that MONs team would win, on average, 6 or 7 times out of 10 with maybe 2 draws and this team winning the other 1 or 2.

But by default Miami if every player is better...

Anyway im not knocking the current team. Its just hard to take seriously a comparison between a second division team and a multiple cup winning mid table top division side.

Steady on Joby its a matter of opinion, this is a young team and going forward will be better if we can keep them together
Elliott and Walsh better than morgan and Moore with the ball at their feet no way.
Guppy our only winger best crosser of the ball i agree but cut out that supply and we had nothing.
Dyer Knockart,De laet vardy every one faster than anyone in MoMs teams and get goals.
As for the strikers would you say Walsh or Elliot up front are better than Vardy and Nug?

Its a bit of fun we have a TEAM which in my opinion is as good IMO as Mons' and hopefully will go on to be better don't forget how young are boys are KP excepted!!!!

It's harsh on O'Neill's team Nev, and I think you're falling into caricature when you describe them as simply boring the opposition into submission. They were a bit that way, but nowhere near the levels of Bolton under Allardyce or Stoke under Pulis, successful as those teams were.

One thing you do mention, howeve, is this team's keenness to win. One thing that I observed last year was that Pearson, probably conerned that the number of matches we were losing could eventually cost us in a tight race, tried to get us to convert more losses into draws. Unfortunately, this seemed to play a part in affecting the mentality of the squad, making everyone lose confidence and aiding the collapse. This year he seems more content to let them continue to go out and try to win games regardless - something that he's said himself seems to suit our squad - and the result is a 9-match winning streak.

I'm with Joby on this one.

MON's team would beat NP's team 8 or 9 times out of 10.

However, I do agree with Nev that the current team are playing some of the best football I've ever seen a City team produce.

If we go up and produce four top-ten finishes on the trot then we can start to talk about this team being as good as MON's.

Still, NP is doing a great job and, like everyone else at the moment, I'm enjoying the ride.

You could maybe get away with comparing this team ( if we get promoted) to the team that got promoted under MON.

In this case I would agree this team plays far more attractive and better football than MON's promotion team!

True Blue - but remember the state of the pitch at Filbo toward the end of that season - is was an absolute pit!

There's no way this current team would be able to play the kind of passing football that they do now on that pitch at the time!

Knockaert would be spending 90 mins with his hands on his hips looking at the ball flying over his head!!

Guys from your collective memories, who did sign once MONS team got promoted? I mean in the immediate summer or first season?

I was a teenager and don't remember which players we had and which we signed later

I do however remember the legend that was Ian Ormondroyd!! Before MONS time though...

BlackStarr - the summer signings after the play off final were.....Kasey Kelley and Spencer Prior.

And they were both signed right at the death as well.

It's fair to say that the fans were going fairly mental and calling into question everything about MON at the time!!

But look how the next season panned out - finished 9th and won the League Cup!

....to be fair though, the supporters were probably drawing comparisons with when Brian Little got us promoted, and the only summer signings then were Mark Draper and Nicky Mohan.

And that season didn't pan out too well in the end....

We signed Izzet on a permanent deal as well, I'm sure he was only a loanee in the 2nd tier.

Ah yes, well remembered. I think Glen Hoddle was playing hard ball at the time and the deal seemed to take ages to go through to get Muzzy permanently.

Mark Draper - I remember getting excited by that signing! Wasn't he our record transfer fee at the time?

Nev,

If you’d asked whether this young team has the potential to get promoted and emulate some of the achievements of MONs team then the response might have been different. That was not your supposition.

In terms of entertainment then, for me, winning football comes first: winning two League Cups, beating Man United at Old Trafford, consistently finishing in the top ten teams in this country. Our current team are on a magnificent run and deserve all the accolades they are getting, but you have to put it into the context of a second tier side who haven’t won anything yet.

Do we play prettier football with this current team? That’s fairly subjective. Some of the midfield play of Izzett and Lennon was quite sublime, but this was aligned to the steely grit of the likes of Taggart and Walsh. MONs side scored a lot of goals from set plays whereas our current side scores most of its goals from open play. You could make an argument for the current lot being prettier in style, but that would be in the eye of the beholder.

Didn’t we sign Julian Watts at about the same time as Spencer Prior?

I remember watching Football Focus and Mark Lawrenson saying that our signings looked like tier 2 players and basically writing off our chances of survival.

We finished 9th and won the League Cup.

I've just played this out in my mind and O'Neil's team won 3-2.

Pearson's men were 2-1 up but Elliot and Walsh scored in injury time.

Conclusive proof that O'Neil's team were just slightly better, or at least better at getting goals at the death.

Good game though, you should have seen it.

comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 2 minutes ago
I've just played this out in my mind and O'Neil's team won 3-2.

Pearson's men were 2-1 up but Elliot and Walsh scored in injury time.

Conclusive proof that O'Neil's team were just slightly better, or at least better at getting goals at the death.

Good game though, you should have seen it.
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Joby i was a full home and away supporter during that time and the football was all about winning and it was great to win but not playing the footbal of Bloomfield etc. The difference now is we are winning by playing one touch football not by playing a back five and three in midfield soaking up pressure and using our better fitness to overcome.

My final point did MoNs team ever win 9 games in a row?