You have ignored the inconvenient shots on goal again. Those saves you reduce it all to I very deliberately called 'minor'.
Let's just say we saw the game differently and leave it at that.
Champions League gameweek 3
- Thread starter Sarni
- Start date
Let's just say we saw the game differently and leave it at that.
Absolutely true on the tactics, not so much on City closer to equalizing than Barcelona snaring a 2nd - Bravo's acrobatics also kept them in it before the brainfart. It was very even for long stretches, truth is that Lucho was being outclassed in terms of tactics (No surprises, of course). I thought until Sterling switched flanks away from Digne/Alba, he was a nonfactor in attack. In the return leg perhaps Sterling will play out left & let Sane play wide right with KDB in the hole behind Kun
How does that make sense?
It happened against 10 men though. I do feel that vs 11 it would have stayed closer. People are ignoring the impact of numbers advantage. Plus all Barca's goals game from brain farts as opposed to quality.
Leverkusen is known for bottling it but City don't. They are a much stronger team.
The tactics were great from Pep and it starved MSN of possession. The first chance they had in the scoring third and Barcelona scored, other than that they hardly were involved in the match until that point. As for City nearly equalizing, you forget that Suarez very nearly doubled the lead were it not for the incredible save of Bravo. So yes, they had a 1-0 lead but otherwise it was a very even match - had Stones converted the header or Nolito/Ilkay beaten Mats, it could've been 1-1 but Rakitic missed a header too.
I thought the referee was pretty poor - it wasn't until later that I learned he was voted the worst referee of WC2014. Zabaleta, not sure how he escaped any booking let alone a sending off in that 1st half. Silva only got a booking after injuring Pique when it seemed like he was complaining to the referee. Sterling only got a late booking but could've just as easily been sent off for an earlier shirt tug - It was a poor & inconsistent performance from the refereeing crew
So the tactics from pep were great but barca had more chances of getting a second than city of equalizing? So his great tactics would have resulted in losing 2-0? While the coach who would have won was being outclassed?
How does any of that makes sense?
I didn't say more chances, I said had as many chances to double the lead as City did to level - so, yes, even.
And yes, the tactics were great from Pep but you've overlooked MSN
And of course it's Leverkusen who are the odd one out... pf.
Kidding, they played well
They didn't create anything until 2 of your back 4 were injured. Gundogan only turned Pique because of this.
The Rakitic header, Suarez forcing Bravo into a double save, the Suarez chance when Messi played him through to the near post, Suarez getting through 1 on 1 only for an incorrect offside call..
These are very good/ excellent chances that Barca created. Another day it's 3 or 4 goals.
FcBarca caught between a rock and a hard place. Has to stay loyal to both Pep and Barcelona. Leave the guy alone.He also said Liverpool deserved to win on monday based on the first half. He loves Pep and hates Mourinho. Must be hard when your team plays your second team.
Sorry for deraling the thread.
City actually started really well and even when 3 of the back 4 were on there was lots of good defending right on the cusp from Barca, nothing really changed with the back 4, it effected Barca more going forward than back. Suarez was offside and replays showed it fairly clearly, he was just ahead of Kolorov.
We had lots of chances for a team away at the Nou Camp, Stones missed a couple of nice headers, Gundogan, KDB twice and Nolito. On another day thats 3 or 4 goals too.
No doubting Barca are the better team but to say the game was anything other than tit for tat till Bravo went full idiot is untrue and pre United tinted glasses, even Barca fans are calling it the same everyone said it was an even enough game with MSN likely to provide the difference.
In the end Bravo handed the game to MSN and once we didn't have the numbers in midfield the match was over and the inevitable happened.
After an hour of that game City had 11 shots at goal to Barca's 8 and possesion was failry even.
Or Barca simply had the better players and yes were just as if not more likely to score the second. More because MSN are so good than any tactics Lucho got right to outthink Pep. Unless of course saying I'm gonna play the 3 best players in the world is a great tactical decision which one could argue it is.
Until the red card City completely nullified the Barca trio of Sergio, Iniesta and Rakitic with the extra man in the middle and Barca were forced to get the ball to MSN early as possible, more direct than their usual game.
But Rakitic missed and Bravo saved that Suárez shot. You treat all Barca chances as if they were kind of goals, while discounting all City chances as somehow irrelevant.
The Nolito chance, the Stones header, the Digne handball that should have been a penalty. Those chances could very well have been goals too (and Gündogan's was the best of course). It would be nice if we could include all facts instead of trying to systematically talk down one side.
Yes, Barca were still superior 11 vs. 11 (no surprise), City could of course have lost anyway, but the idea that they had absolutely no chance is just bullshit.
Aye, I think I saw a team lose a game 4-0 in large part due to their tactics but it's ok those straws need to be clutched at, and to be fair though they did have some shots, maybe this can be put alongside city's heroic 2-3 Fa cup loss to united in 2012.
Oh, you have seen those shots on goal now, too? Congratulations, that's a start.
But most of those chances were shots from acute angles. They were chances by name only. Nolito for example was a nothing shot, he was never going to score and was more of a crossing position than a shooting chance.
I was arguing against Pep's tactics involved troubling Barca's backline when it took 2 injuries to give them a look in. He's not psychic.
Certain rules have to be observed. Like Leverkusen not winning important games. Okay, it was only semi-important, so a win wouldn't have damaged the time-space-fabric.
Wasting your breath, he refused to aknowledge the impact Barcelona having to reshuffle their back line helped City when I mentioned in previous page. Not to mention his classing crosses smothered by Stegen as "saves". It's clutching at straws at a level I've never seen before.
Yeah, I agree about Nolito. But Gündogan, Stones, De Bruyne (2nd half) and that handball were clear cut.
In the end it's a lot of guessing. What would have happened if Barca didn't have to sub Alba & Piqué? What if the ref hadn't called that Suárez offside or had given that penalty on Digne? What if Bravo hadn't made the worst possible play in the 57th minute? (He did have enough good options.) And so on.
I can very well accept people having different views on the game and its tactical composition, as long as there is no attempt to distort the facts to somehow win a mighty internet battle.
@Leroy The Red Yeah, go on, there's a medal waiting for you somewhere. Jeez.
I know who I want to win when they face one another though. Anyone else notice how Lucho & Pep clearly planned to wear the same outfits on the night? A lot of fair play ahead of the match too, from team photo of both squads mixed together and this:
It would have been 2-0 before the 'brainfart'. That Suarez chip was on the way to the net when the 'brainfart' happened. That's 2-0 before City went one man less. Do you need a more emphatic evidence of ' teams not on a par'?
The biggest brainfart was Bravo's "pass" to Suarez before the lob, surely...
Yeah city have some weird obsession with you lot. They're very keen on being the next Barcelona. On the face of it nothing wrong with that but get your own identity ffs.
It wasn't a brainfart? I thought he just miss hit the pass? The brainfart imo was the handball that followed afterwards to get sent off. The team still has a chance at 2-0 11vs11.
Well, come on, it's the Pep factor & Txiki/Sorriano coupled with several Primera liga players. Not to mention former Barcelona players as well
And as it is, City don't really have a footballing identity, do they? Certainly not a style of play nor presence in European competitions - they need to develop it and Barcelona is not a bad model to adopt
Barca were better, even before the brainfart. City played well, but ultimately sloppy. i thought it was hard for them to create chances. Stones had the biggest one after a FK. Gündogan with his solo too, but utlimately hard to score from there. Other than that, it was all not really dangerous. The Nolito shot, KDB from a tight angle. While Barca werent running riot, they still had the better chances and really just played better through the middle and opened City up with ease at times. City were done after the 70th min due to their first half pressing, while Barca still had massive reserves, what they showed in the end. People expect Barca to create chances on a minute to minute basis, which is hard when you play 6 midfielders and press all the time.
In the end, I think what Pep was most intent on doing (The closest you will see to him dialing it back a little) from the outset was denying MSN as much service as possible. Guardiola likes to be courageous in his approach yet coupled it with being mindful to avoid at all costs to let those 3 get any sort of rhythm. And, tbh, it worked for long stretches - I had a great seat for the match and you could see just how tight the passing lanes were for both sides. In that first half, I suspect City got behind Barcelona's defense more than the other way around - that's no easy feat
their english twitter account is fantastic.
I'm assuming his heart is the rock and it says Barca, and the hard place in his trousers says Pep.
This 'a german team' thing is really making the rounds ^^
I am always surprised that he wasn’t banned yet. He is just like Madwinger (wasn’t he this crazy kagawa fan?) in the past. Obsessed with one person.
This is the best one
People are just being biased. If United played like that, we would've been please up until the sending off. Remember the 2 finals? we never so much as got a sniff. I thought that City would play well and eventually the quality of MSN would shine through. Turns out, City worship the MSN gods so much so that they gave them gifts. I didn't even think MSN played well. They were handed gifts which was the downfall. I guess that is still a reflection of an idiotic team. The type of thing Arsenal players would do back in the day when bottling it vs top sides
Ramsey will struggle to get back in the side, and I'm not sure where he would play TBH. Probably at CM alongside Xhaka. Possibly out on the right wing too interchanging with Iwobi and Ozil, but credit to Walcott he has looks like a new man and has made that position his own.
At least we now have some great options for CM so we can vary our line-up with our main three being Coquelin, Cazorla and Xhaka. El Neny and Ramsey to get rotation minutes too.
Iwobi deserves to start on the left based on his form so far, he's on the same wavelength as Ozil, Sanchez and Cazorla. With him in the side and Sanchez up top it's helped ease the playmaking burden on Ozil and as we can see he's been able to get forward much more and push into really dangerous areas whilst the defense is too busy watching Sanchez.
Mustafi has been a godsend. I never knew he was this good. He also seems like a really good character/bloke to have in and around the squad, he's fit in on and off the pitch seemlessly.
Just saw the first goal Messi scored - why the hell did Fernandinho not get up straight away, thay was try pathetic. No offort or desire shown.
This is the best one
That's how it all started, see further back in this thread right before the game started.
How have I missed this before? Have they long done this account?
It's genius, I love it
It's genius, I love it