Oaencha
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- Jan 23, 2014
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Malkovich Malkovich...?
To think some people once thought he was better than Ferguson
I think that unfair for Saturday, Pep can't be blamed because Sterling shit himself thrice on Saturday. In reality he can't sub himself on and take shots when Sterling is 1 on 1 with the keeper from 12-15 yards. We paid the price for our rather inexperienced front 3 shitting the bed for lack of a better word in the last 3 games. If we're 4-0 up vs United, no way they comeback like they did. If we gotta outta Anfield with a goal, no way would we buckle like second half today.
In the two legs vs Liverpool we had 31 shots at their goal of which we got 3 on target (2 of them shitty ones from KDB), in the derby we had 20 shots or which 6 were on target. We hit the post twice through Gundogan and Bernardo.
That means we've had 9 of our last 51 shots on target and scored 3 goals. We need 17 shots to a goal at the minute.
Had the front 3's been swapped for the Liverpool tie we'd probably have hammered them, but ours (who are excellent, just young and inexperienced) shit themselves when it counted.
Atm, Aguero is literally our only real goal threat and its last season all over again, bossing games, creating chances, fluffing our lines and getting punished. The first game at Anfield was the only one where we shouldn't have been out of sight at half time and we've paid the price for it along with having some horrendous bad luck (post twice, goal disallowed tonight, Young's potential pen in the derby, Salah offside for Liverpools first, Sane possibly on for the disallowed goal in the 1st leg).
Every single thing was falling our way early in the season, a ball breaks in the box, always landed at our feet (see the OT derby), right now the opposite is happening, ball missing players by a yard, bouncing balls bouncing to defenders. Cutbacks that we were always on the end of early in the season now missing the target. We got more than our fair share of things going our way early on and right now, we're getting less than our fair share. It's football.
No real excuses but its hard to blame the manager when his team hit the target with 1/10th of their efforts on goal. Sterling and Sane have imploded at the worst possible time.
The thing I would worry about if I were a City fan is, how do we improve? The team has such class in all positions, yes they had a few injuries along the way like with Mendy. But for the most part they were a full strength team and looked a finished article. Who do they buy or what do they tweak to actually improve this team. They are good and have been excellent but this week as washed away some of their shine and just like with Chelsea 16-17 people stop being afraid of you and start figuring out how to play you.
Or, maybe I'm being hasty......
Sanchez would have made a difference today and last week
I think that unfair for Saturday, Pep can't be blamed because Sterling shit himself thrice on Saturday. In reality he can't sub himself on and take shots when Sterling is 1 on 1 with the keeper from 12-15 yards. We paid the price for our rather inexperienced front 3 shitting the bed for lack of a better word in the last 3 games. If we're 4-0 up vs United, no way they comeback like they did. If we gotta outta Anfield with a goal, no way would we buckle like second half today.
In the two legs vs Liverpool we had 31 shots at their goal of which we got 3 on target (2 of them shitty ones from KDB), in the derby we had 20 shots or which 6 were on target. We hit the post twice through Gundogan and Bernardo.
That means we've had 9 of our last 51 shots on target and scored 3 goals. We need 17 shots to a goal at the minute.
Had the front 3's been swapped for the Liverpool tie we'd probably have hammered them, but ours (who are excellent, just young and inexperienced) shit themselves when it counted.
Atm, Aguero is literally our only real goal threat and its last season all over again, bossing games, creating chances, fluffing our lines and getting punished. The first game at Anfield was the only one where we shouldn't have been out of sight at half time and we've paid the price for it along with having some horrendous bad luck (post twice, goal disallowed tonight, Young's potential pen in the derby, Salah offside for Liverpools first, Sane possibly on for the disallowed goal in the 1st leg).
Every single thing was falling our way early in the season, a ball breaks in the box, always landed at our feet (see the OT derby), right now the opposite is happening, ball missing players by a yard, bouncing balls bouncing to defenders. Cutbacks that we were always on the end of early in the season now missing the target. We got more than our fair share of things going our way early on and right now, we're getting less than our fair share. It's football.
No real excuses but its hard to blame the manager when his team hit the target with 1/10th of their efforts on goal. Sterling and Sane have imploded at the worst possible time.
All well and good moaning at the ref but they played terribly. Everything was being done in a panic and the decision making that they're usually so good at was non existent.
De Bruyne must have had about 30 shots and not one from a position where it was the correct choice to take one on. Sane spent the whole game either being offside or panicking with the ball. Jesus I'm pretty sure didn't touch the ball between scoring and in about the 75th minute when he ran with it a bit then fell over.
I think what the last week or so has shown is this team isn't all it's cracked up to be. They've been led to believe they're the greatest team on the planet and then the second that's been challenged they've not been able to handle it at all. Don't think it was even particularly close over the two legs...and I don't think Liverpool even played particularly brilliantly for three quarters of the tie. Just like United weren't particularly briiliant for at least half the game on Saturday.
For all the flack Jose's taken for his CL results after Inter(and I've criticized him too tbf).
Pep has notoriously failed in the CL since his 2011 triumph. Albeit to a lesser level, but still a failure nonetheless.
Is it to a lesser level though? I mean he usually gets trashed, 5-1 aggregate is a spanking
To be honest I thought b.Silva looked quality last night.For a great attacking side they are lacking great attackers. Sterling, Jesus and B.Silva really aren't much to write home about. Outside of their normal attacking pattern you wont see Sterling and Jesus doing anything useful while B.Silva lacks the effectiveness for the highest level of club football. I know, i know, someone will tell me they are all young and are to develop but i don't really see them as players with huge upside, unlike Sane who if he isn't a great player, it's almost guaranteed that one day he will be one. I'd package them in a deal and send them away if i were them.
Well they conceived 6 timesAt least the rubber wasn’t torn.
puhlease. They played their strongest possible XI for the game last night for the formation the used in first half. There us no way in hell they took the derby as seriously as last nights tie. And the Liverpool tie was a dead rubber too. That's why they held back players for the Spurs match. Makes a lot of sense. I guess plastic is a kind of dead rubber.
Yes. Only Klopp and possibly Mourinho have the know how to combat City. The rest of the league cant and next year it will get worse. City simply need to keep replacing old squad members and signing quality back up for squad members without any. Experience will just make them continue to improveThe thing I would worry about if I were a City fan is, how do we improve? The team has such class in all positions, yes they had a few injuries along the way like with Mendy. But for the most part they were a full strength team and looked a finished article. Who do they buy or what do they tweak to actually improve this team. They are good and have been excellent but this week as washed away some of their shine and just like with Chelsea 16-17 people stop being afraid of you and start figuring out how to play you.
Or, maybe I'm being hasty......
puhlease. They played their strongest possible XI for the game last night for the formation the used in first half. There us no way in hell they took the derby as seriously as last nights tie
Was it before or after they were going to win the quadruple?Who remembers when city were going to go the whole season undefeated?
They have had a good season, they will break records, but it is still only a league title. Other managers have won that for them. Pep was brought in to win the CL, end of and again he has failed. Goodness knows how much money they will spend in the summer again and that surely will start undermining the rest of his squad. Somebody is going to be shoved out of that team.This. Nobody said it's an underachievement.
It's a good season but that's it, all those millions and no CL and out of FA cup too.
Who remembers when city were going to go the whole season undefeated?
Jose is a genius.Sanchez would have made a difference today and last week
I could see them going for Messi or Neymar. Really that's the only kind of player that will improve them.If you look at their squad now how would They improve? They look like a finished product. Spending few hundred millions while selling some of their existing players could make them worse, you can hardly say the same with any other PL team.
I'm wondering what the reaction would be if the United manager got thumped at Anfield and then also lost at home?
Would he get excuses like bad officiating or being unlucky?
If you look at their squad now how would They improve? They look like a finished product. Spending few hundred millions while selling some of their existing players can make them worse, it's a big gamble. You can hardly say the same with any other PL team.
I didn't expect them to win anything this season and predicted so in one of the locked Guardiola threads ("At what point...") after their win at Chelsea. Because their squad is relatively small, albeit they have several high-quality players on the bench. They overperformed in the league but their small squad meant that they would be gassed come the business end of the season. They visibly got tired in the second half of last two games. They are quite ambitious though and will have a better squad next season.
Both they and Barca are walking the best leagues in the world but have crashed out of the CL. Because there isn't enough energy in the tank. E.g., Otamendi went from one of the best CBs in the league to a clown within weeks. If they had difficult league fixtures, they would fear for the title.
Eh.. hate to break the news but draws are perfectly fine, United 6 wins, 89 points, City 6 draws 90 points.
6 draws would be perfectly fine, infact 5 will get the job done, unless you guys score 100000000000000 goals (may not be the legitimate number of goals you need to score.).
Can’t buy passion hahah
A Striker and a back up for Fernandinho. Or a real back up left back, our only left back has been injured all season, its been surprising to everyone how well Delph has done but he does take away from the attack on that side.
Was it before or after they were going to win the quadruple?
Or when Real fecking Madrid were going to chase shadows without touching the ball vs them?
I'm not even making it up, some crazy guy actually said this.
They put both their main strikers, one of the starting center backs, started Gundogan instead of KDB on midfield and played B. Silva upfront. You seriously cant deny this points to them having bigger fish to fry. It was pretty much a dead rubber to them. The likes of KDB and Aguero were turned to just to salvage derby pride and their unbeaten home record. But their real focus was last night. And Spurs will feel the full fury of the pain of last night's exit. I'm close to certain about thatThey didn't take as seriously but they took it very seriously.
They played Otamendi, Fernandinho, D.Silva, B.Silva, Sane, Sterling, Ederson that's 7 players who played in both games.
Then around 70 min mark the brought on Aguero, Jesus, KdB who all played against Liverpool too. They also brought on Gundogon on 70 min mark.
The players who played against us but didn't play vs Liverpool: Kompany, Delph, Danilo. You can make a very good argument that Kompany and Delph are first choice players. Delph didn't play as they wanted to overload with attacking players and maybe Kompany because his fitness record is questionable.
Guardiola's biggest blunder was Gundogan for Sterling/Bernardo in the first leg with Liverpool. It's partly due to his fondness of Gundogan and desire to give him the platform to impress in big games. It was a wrong formation to start such a game at Anfield because Gundogan is slow and cannot offer much against firece pressing. The worst part is that City played a similar formation in the first half vs Arsenal in the cup final and looked poor. That was stupid form Guardiola.
Another thing is that some of the key players were overpayed and lost form, especially Otamendi and KDB. He has some excuses for it because Kompany and Stones missed too many games due to injuries and David Silva wasn't available for 8-10 games.
There were also things out of his control like referee decisions, Aguero's injury, and the inexperience of the front three. It's still amaizing that they can break the record for most PL goals given that the average age of Sane, Sterling, Jesus and Bernardo over the course of the season is 22 y.o. The average age of Liverpool's attacking trio is 26 y.o. In hindsight, City missed Aguero in these 3 games a lot.
Danilo was bought as a back up full back?
@Treble i think Jose has a much smaller squad to choose from.
Carrick, Zlatan, Herrera, Rojo, Shaw, Blind, Darmain, Fellaini have all been passengers to a different degree or another this season (different reasons). So Jose’s squad has been depleted yet Pep can afford the luxury of having a £50m player not even stripped when fit? I have no sympathy for Pep his spending is unprecedented in world football. He has won the league with over 15 points with 6 games to go, maybe he should have rotated better during the season and been only 10 points clear but his main men like KDB and D Silva fitter and fresher. (All part of management for me).