Man City vs Blues - Match Report and Man of the Match Poll...

[Groucho]

Could you not merge the other thread @Groucho

Now I can't reply when I was about to reply to a post in there.

I think we've swapped threads, with this one being the one to discuss post match and that.

 

[evertony]

Agree. Me and you could be a success where he's been.

To be fair Groucho my usual fantasy leagues say otherwise!

 

[Groucho]

To be fair Groucho my usual fantasy leagues say otherwise!

I won one once!

1996. Lee Dixon was my star player.

 

[evertony]

I won one once!

1996. Lee Dixon was my star player.

I won our league at home 5 times out of 6, but to be fair it was against my mum, my missus, my three daughters and the two cats (most of whims teams I picked for them on purpose and mysteriously lost the log in password so they couldn't make transfers). Several of them had the shytes Traore as captain

 

[Pienaar's gloves]

I was bemused whenever we cleared the ball and the Everton end were shouting 'get out' and were generally moaning about us being slow to come out and close City down.

That was clearly the plan. City have been murdering teams on the counter, so let them have all the space they want up until about 25 yards from goal, and then be so tight to them that they can't make chances.

Should have been more obvious, that's how some teams set up against us under Martinez.

 

[davek]

Hindsight and all that, plus the nerve of me telling the great Pep what too do. But perhaps pinning us back and in effect 'forcing us' to do just what Koeman obviously had us down to do, was a bit counter productive.

Maybe he should've backed himself a bit more by giving us a bit more space to play in, thus giving himself a bit more space to play in. Seems to me Koeman was quite happy to play 1:5:5. - and a very good job we did of it too.

After 2 Penalty saves ( they were a bit average pens though ) there is no other MotM but in the 'Least man of the Match' Jagielka, made an outstanding case, was it just a one off or is he reaching that Distin-esque past his use by date stage.

Koeman/Walsh seem to rate Kone from Sunderland who is still making 'come and get me noises'
just sayin like.

I disagree with the belief Guardiola got it wrong. He got it 100% correct. He cant run on the pitch and put the ball in the net for his players.

He'd only have not gotten it right if the way he set up produced hardly any chances. That clearly was not the case. They had two pens and a handful of efforts that only a GK playing his best ever match could repel. If you're City you just have to say "it was one of those days when apart from the Nolito goal the Everton goal led a charmed existence". Sometimes a team does overload and gets snuffed out, and the manager has to think again by enticing the opposition out of the last third of the pitch to create space. Our defence didn't do that to City, they let them get 19 shots on goal off....10 I think on target.

No, Guardiola was spot on yesterday and it was just one of those days for his players.

 

[Furey1878]

Just a shame that the goal we did concede was pretty crap. Honestly think if we'd have just seen out that 10 mins we'd have won.

All in all it was a very similar performance to City away last season, albeit against an arguably more dangerous City.

 

[ianefc]

Just a shame that the goal we did concede was pretty crap. Honestly think if we'd have just seen out that 10 mins we'd have won.

All in all it was a very similar performance to City away last season, albeit against an arguably more dangerous City.

No arguably about it, massively superior to last season on and off the pitch, but being honest so are we.

 

[Blue Cheese]

Why won't people just say what they saw and that was man City attacking for 90 mins. A world class performance from our keeper and defence and a worldie from Rom. We weren't great, good or anything of the sort. We got pummelled and LUCKILY took a welcome point.

I cba watching that performance everytime we play one of the big boys, it's boring as f and utterly embarrassing to watch.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Why won't people just say what they saw and that was man City attacking for 90 mins. A world class performance from our keeper and defence and a worldie from Rom. We weren't great, good or anything of the sort. We got pummelled and LUCKILY took a welcome point.

I cba watching that performance everytime we play one of the big boys, it's boring as f and utterly embarrassing to watch.

This is the way 9 out of 10 teams will set up against City this season, because it's the achievable way of beating a Pep team.

The other one is to have loads of star players/money yourself and go toe to toe, but neither we, nor anyone in this league really, can do that this season effectively.

I mean, perhaps we couldn've done better, yeah. Perhaps we could've had other players on the pitch and not Deulofeu who forgot how to play, Cleverley who never knew how to play and Bolasie who is either boss or absolute trash with no inbetween, and maybe if it wasn't them our counters would be more effective and we could've scored more, but options are limited.

 

[Tel001]

Would didn't vote for stek? Bet it was Dave

 

[ianefc]

Why won't people just say what they saw and that was man City attacking for 90 mins. A world class performance from our keeper and defence and a worldie from Rom. We weren't great, good or anything of the sort. We got pummelled and LUCKILY took a welcome point.

I cba watching that performance everytime we play one of the big boys, it's boring as f and utterly embarrassing to watch.

You'd not mentioned that.

 

[Blue Cheese]

You'd not mentioned that.

I know, I'm beating on about it, just frustrated the hell out of me watching that back to the walls stuff. I'm pleased with the point, I'll leave it there.

 

[Barnfred 55]

I disagree with the belief Guardiola got it wrong. He got it 100% correct. He cant run on the pitch and put the ball in the net for his players.

He'd only have not gotten it right if the way he set up produced hardly any chances. That clearly was not the case. They had two pens and a handful of efforts that only a GK playing his best ever match could repel. If you're City you just have to say "it was one of those days when apart from the Nolito goal the Everton goal led a charmed existence". Sometimes a team does overload and gets snuffed out, and the manager has to think again by enticing the opposition out of the last third of the pitch to create space. Our defence didn't do that to City, they let them get 19 shots on goal off....10 I think on target.

No, Guardiola was spot on yesterday and it was just one of those days for his players.

Agree with most of this Dave but think it's unfair to say our goal led a charmed existence. The defence put their bodies on the line and Stek was outstanding when called upon. That IS what he's paid for after all and it makes a change to see one of our goallies doing it rather than having it done to us. Lost count of the number of times GKs have had worldies against us over the last couple of years. De Gea alone has done it 2 or 3 times.

City are an outstanding footballing side and very few teams will stand up to them this season, especially at home. We don't have the players to press them high up the pitch like Spurs did, and the likes of Liverpool and Barca will do too. So Koeman I think chose the next best option. However the balance wasn't these as there was no link with the front 3. It doesn't help that 4 of our 5 main attacking players are seriously struggling for form. I've said before I'd have got one of our front 3 to drop back slightly and play a narrower front 2 which would have upset their back 3 formation. And would have brought Barkley on when Del was substituted.

Gotta be happy with the result though mate, if not with the performance?

 

[davek]

Agree with most of this Dave but think it's unfair to say our goal led a charmed existence. The defence put their bodies on the line and Stek was outstanding when called upon. That IS what he's paid for after all and it makes a change to see one of our goallies doing it rather than having it done to us. Lost count of the number of times GKs have had worldies against us over the last couple of years. De Gea alone has done it 2 or 3 times.

City are an outstanding footballing side and very few teams will stand up to them this season, especially at home. We don't have the players to press them high up the pitch like Spurs did, and the likes of Liverpool and Barca will do too. So Koeman I think chose the next best option. However the balance wasn't these as there was no link with the front 3. It doesn't help that 4 of our 5 main attacking players are seriously struggling for form. I've said before I'd have got one of our front 3 to drop back slightly and play a narrower front 2 which would have upset their back 3 formation. And would have brought Barkley on when Del was substituted.

Gotta be happy with the result though mate, if not with the performance?

The point was good, the performances of certain individuals was outstanding (GK and Williams in particular). To me though I look at that game and see only one manager who could have done nothing more than he could have done...and it isn't Koeman. City stretched us and when the pressure was too great we gave away a couple of pens that should have been dispatched. Shots outside the area are a sign that the defence have been solid enough, yes. But they did find space in and around our box, got their goal and we rode our luck big time.

I just dont go with the flow on sitting ten back behind the ball and being happy because we eked out a draw. The only time we worked any quality going forward was when we scored, so that shows how much of a missed opportunity it was to come out and play. Holding off a siege never impressed me under Moyes and I'm not going to be inconsistent on that now under Koeman. The game plan was like something Sunderland or Boro could have been forgiven for adopting.

We got away with that, just, yesterday. But the last four games on the bounce have shown almost zero in the way of creative attacking play.