Monday gossip

by David Clayton@dclayton_MCFC

Gabriel Jesus: Criticism made me a better player

Your daily round-up of news, gossip and opinion...

Surprisingly little in the way of transfer gossip this morning.
Still, there’s a first time for everything…

What we do have are some interesting words from Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez, plus concrete evidence of something City fans have known for many years.

First off, words from two of our players.
Player quotes:
Goal: Gabriel Jesus used criticism to spur him on
Jack McGraghan: “Manchester City and Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus has admitted that he could not read most of the criticism levelled at him by fans and pundits following the 2018 World Cup.
“The 22-year-old came under fire following his performances at the tournament in Russia, where he scored no goals in five games before Brazil were knocked out by Belgium in the quarter-finals.
‘As a supporter, I would not like a Brazil number nine to not score.
‘I did not have a good time at work, it happens to everyone.
‘I think even if we were eliminated, if I scored in the first or in the fifth game, it would change the whole view of my World Cup.

‘I confess that now I have not read much criticism that was written about me, because it was very heavy.
‘There are people who praise a person who has played a good game or two, saying that he is a star.
‘Others criticise a person who played one or two bad games, saying, 'Why do you play football?'"
‘Sometimes it seems they do not want to see the person evolving personally and professionally.’

Next up, Algerian national hero Mahrez on his magical display last night…

Goal: Mahrez thrilled at prospect of AFCON final
Sacha Pisani: “After his man-of-the-match performance against Nigeria, Mahrez said: ‘It was a very tough game today against a strong team.
‘We were one goal up and were in control before VAR's decision – they scored the penalty and in the last minute we converted our free-kick.
‘We are very happy because to be in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations is something unbelievable.

‘I think we have been very good in this tournament. We scored 12 goals and conceded two, that is the source of our confidence.
‘We are looking forward to the final against Senegal. We played them in the group stage, and we are expecting another tough game."

Finally, as alluded to earlier – scientific proof the Blues are on a different planet. Or at least an interesting study!
Opinion
Give Me Sport: City – best team in the land, in all the world?
James Stroud: “Using their own algorithm, FiveThirtyEight have been able to rank the best sides in the world.
“In their system, every team is given an offensive rating that represents the number of goals it would be expected to score against an average team on a neutral field, and a defensive rating that represents the number of goals it would be expected to concede.
“These are then combined together to give every side's SPI (Soccer Power Index) rating.

“Their rankings change every week based on every team's performances but, going into the 2019/20 season, Man City have been ranked as the best team in the world.
“Bayern Munich are ranked second, followed by Liverpool, Barcelona and Chelsea.
“Manchester United are ranked all the way down in 34th. Ouch.
“View the top 10 below:
1) Man City
2) Bayern Munich
3) Liverpool
4) Barcelona
5) Chelsea
6) PSG
7) Real Madrid
8) Atlético Madrid
9) Olympiacos
10) Ajax