Blue Moon Podcast - A Manchester City Show

After the news that Pep Guardiola is going to extend his contract at Manchester City, David Mooney is joined by fans Richard Burns and Rachel Herdson to discuss what a boost it will be. The Athletic's Sam Lee, who broke the story, explains what's happening and what should happen later this week.

Jack from Rule the Roost speaks to the show to give us insight into what's happening with Tottenham at the moment, while Luuk from the Kein Geloel podcast explains what to expect from Feyenoord.

On Sunday, Taylor Harwood-Bellis became the 19th player to score for their country after graduating from the City academy, when he found the net for England against the Republic of Ireland. We've put Dan Burke to task to take a look at the previous 18.

We're also discussing our favourite 'non-obvious' pre- and post-takeover games and goals.

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Manchester City made it an unwanted four-in-a-row with defeat at Brighton... David Mooney is joined by Adam Carter from StatCity.co.uk and by City fan Joe Butterfield to assess the damage and deal with the fallout from the disappointment (that a lot of people saw coming!).

How badly are Pep Guardiola's hands tied at the moment with all the injuries? And how much is this autumn blip like previous autumn blips? The Athletic's noticer-in-chief, Jon Mackenzie, joins the show to analyse the issues City have right now, beyond all the injuries.

City ruined another one of David's birthdays this week (and, coincidentally Adam and Joe's birthdays, too) - so we hear from some of the podcast regulars about times when City have made birthday celebrations uncomfortable viewing.

Plus some discussion on player of the season so far, City-leaning TV pundits, and players we had been really excited about but who never lived up to expectation.

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It's probably fair to say that Manchester City have had better weeks... David Mooney is joined by City fan KC and the Daily Mail's Jack Gaughan to try and work out what went wrong at both Bournemouth and Sporting.

Why have transitions become such a problem, even more than they were earlier in the season? Do City need to be better creating chances and do others need to help Erling Haaland with the goals? Why are they losing control of games in crucial spells? All of that in the show.

In losing to Bournemouth, City's longest Premier League unbeaten record came to an end - so which teams are left that have never won against City in the Premier League and which teams did City take the longest to get the better of in the division? Adam Carter from StatCity.co.uk provides the answers.

With Brighton on the horizon, The Athletic's Brighton correspondent, Andy Naylor, speaks to the show to tell us about their start to the season. And with the US election dominating the news, Joey and Mulv from the Noisy Neighbours podcast join the show for a chat about American presidents and City links.

Plus, do City need a decision on Guardiola's future soon?

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Following the Carabao Cup exit to Spurs, David Mooney is joined by City fan Chris Higginbottom and, from Sporting News, Dom Farrell. They look at a crazy week that started with a forgettable (but important) victory over Southampton and ended with a positive (if fruitless) showing from the youngsters at Tottenham... taking in some Ballon D'Or madness in the middle.

There's a bit of an injury crisis going on for Pep Guardiola's side, too. Manuel Akanji and Savinho were added to the list of the stricken in midweek, which could make an already-trick trip to Bournemouth even trickier. We hear from Bournemouth fan and writer, Rob Santonna, to find out more about the Cherries.

Plus, this week, Manchester United have sacked another manager... Are they beginning to look a little like City from the 1990s and how could all of that play out?

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After the last-gasp win at Wolves and the comprehensive victory over Sparta Prague, David Mooney is joined by One Football's Dan Burke and Manchester World's Michael Plant to discuss the events of both games.

City have had some issues breaking down a back five recently - and Guardiola has launched a new tactic this week: Do nothing. Literally. So we'll look into that and how effective that could be in the future, plus the former City defender Nedum Onuoha gives his thoughts on how to attack when a team is trying to limit the available space so much.

We're taking a bigger-picture view of City this week, too. We hear from the MEN's Simon Bajkowski, whose new book 'The Blueprint' looks at how City got themselves into a position to thrive under Pep Guardiola and how the club have put plans in place across the board to become the best in the world. (Plus, you could win a copy of the book - details in the show)

On top of all of that, we look ahead to the games with Southampton and Tottenham - and we look at Rodri's chances of winning the Ballon D'Or at the ceremony on Monday.

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As the domestic and European football returns, David Mooney is joined by City fan Richard Burns and the presenter with FourFourTwo and City fan Adam Monk to preview the games with Wolves and Sparta Prague.

Dave Azzopardi from Talking Wolves discusses how things are going at Molineux after a less-than-ideal start to the season, while Mike Samir from the Vládci Prahy podcast gives us insight into what to expect from Sparta Prague.

We also speak to film-maker Gemma Jordan - she's the daughter of the former City defender Dave Watson and she's raising money to complete a documentary about her dad's life, his career and his battle with dementia. If you'd like to donate to the film, you can do that here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dave-watson-documentary

And, with Thomas Tuchel announced as the new England coach following speculation that Pep Guardiola might be the FA's target, what does that mean for the manager's future at City?

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A big week of news for an international break! David Mooney is joined by Adam Carter from StatCity.co.uk and by City fan Paul Atherton to look back over the game with Fulham and the performance in what turned out to be a bit of a nervy afternoon. Are Fulham just good in transition or should City be able to do better to control those sorts of games? We get into that.

Earlier this week, we had the full judgement in the case between City and the Premier League over Associated Party Transactions. What does it all mean? Football finance expert Kieran Maguire speaks to the show to explain what's happened and what might happen next.

The former City goalkeeper David Seaman speaks to the show about his time at Eastlands and working with Kevin Keegan. What did he enjoy? What did he find difficult after a long and distinguished career at Arsenal?

It also looks like the Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, will be leaving the club at the end of the season, so we also look at the potential impacts and ramifications of that change.

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After the 1-1 draw with Newcastle and the 4-0 win over Slovan Bratislava, David Mooney is joined by City fans KC and Bob Toole to discuss Manchester City's approach and performances across the too games. Was Pep Guardiola too cautious at St James's Park? Were the team too wasteful in Slovakia?

The new Champions League group format has given rise to one-off fixtures against various teams, so Adam Carter from StatCity.co.uk has been running the numbers and looks at the 11 sides that City have played once (and ONLY once) in competition.

With Fulham on the horizon, we take a look ahead to that game - with the help of Sammy James from the Fulhamish podcast - and look at how the manager might approach another side that likes to play in transition. What can Guardiola do to plug the Rodri-shaped hole in the middle?

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It's been an eventful week... David Mooney is joined by City fan Chris Higginbottom and, from Sporting News, Dom Farrell to try and sort out everything that's happened in the aftermath of the 2-2 draw with Arsenal and the 2-1 win over Watford.

Dan Burke runs through everything that's been said from both camps after the Arsenal match, while we take a look at the 'dark arts', following the tetchy end to the match. Then there's Rodri's injury - did we get any clues how that issue can be covered over the last two fixtures?

The Athletic's data maestro, Duncan Alexander, speaks to the show about the ridiculous record that Erling Haaland has since he arrived at City, while we also hear from Pod on the Tyne panelist and Athletic journalist Chris Waugh about Newcastle's start to the new season.

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Two tough games for Manchester City this week, following the 2-1 turnaround win over Brentford and the 0-0 draw with Inter Milan. David Mooney is joined by City fan and presenter with FourFourTwo, Adam Monk, and by The Athletic's Mark Critchley to discuss the performances in those two matches.

City faced Inter while wearing change colours at home... That's not as unusual as you might think. We speak to the football historian, Dr Gary James, to hear more about the times it has happened in the past.

With a tricky tie with Arsenal coming up on Sunday, Gunners fan Michael Keshani joins the show to look at what they might do with Martin Ødegaard unavailable and in light of how both teams approached these fixtures last season. 

Plus, with a tight turnaround between that game at the Carabao Cup tie with Watford, Ciaran Murray's been taking a look at the issues around the schedule. 

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