Spurs vs City post match

[Happy Feet]

Just checked the table and we are top, hope this crisis ends soon.

 

[kas_tippler]

Honeymoon is over, reality has well and truly bitten.

 

[Chippy_boy]

That series had to end at some point. There was never any way that we were going to go unbeaten, we've got serious weaknesses at the back, everybody knows that, even with Stones and Bravo now in.

I think we are pretty decent as far as centre halves go - Otamendi is decent, as is Stones, and hopefully Kompany will have a run at some point. But when you have Kolarov preening and standing around like a bookend and Zabba frankly all over the place, we were effectively playing with a back 2.

Unfortunately, barring transfers, I don't know how Pep is going to fix this. One immediate change he can make, is to play Clichy and Sagna, ALWAYS.

 

[BillyShears]

I hope so Billy cos it annoyed the fuck out of me.
There was a perfect opportunity at one point to take the ball and Wanyama when he was on the touchline but the crunching challenge never came. I expected a bit more of the Fern's. Silva did hid damnedest ( i love the little scrapper in him) and PabZab spent the last 20 showing true bottle but far too many of the others simply dangled their feet around or didn't bother at all.
Surprising really as i thought we showed some real fight away at Stoke earlier this season.

I thought the entire midfield and attack were utterly culpable in allowing Spurs to bully them. Silva, Dinho, and Fernando were appalling in the first 45 minutes. If you look at the collective experience and collective quality of those players, then for a midfield trio of Wanyama, Eriksen (!), and Alli to bully them with a little help from Lamela/Sissoko is piss poor.

You look to your best players to shine when the collective is underperforming. Our "best" players yesterday were our amongst our worst performers.

 

[mancity1]

I thought the entire midfield and attack were utterly culpable in allowing Spurs to bully them. Silva, Gundo, Dinho, and Fernando were appalling in the first 45 minutes. If you look at the collective experience and collective quality of those players, then for a midfield trio of Wanyama, Eriksen (!), and Alli to bully them with a little help from Lamela/Sissoko is piss poor.

You look to your best players to shine when the collective is underperforming. Our "best" players yesterday were our amongst our worst performers.

Our poor results against the better sides last year cost us big time.

As disappointing as yesterday was it would almost impossible for us to perform as poorly against these sides for two seasons on the spin.

No side including Spurs has indicated to anybody that they will take the league by the scruff of the neck this season.

 

[waspish]

Before yesterdays game I imagined us 2 points behind spurs then after the game look at the table we went above them top of the league brilliant weekend

 

[Dave S]

We lost a game FFS, its football, these things happen.

 

[adr2.8i]

I thought the entire midfield and attack were utterly culpable in allowing Spurs to bully them. Silva, Gundo, Dinho, and Fernando were appalling in the first 45 minutes. If you look at the collective experience and collective quality of those players, then for a midfield trio of Wanyama, Eriksen (!), and Alli to bully them with a little help from Lamela/Sissoko is piss poor.

You look to your best players to shine when the collective is underperforming. Our "best" players yesterday were our amongst our worst performers.

i do agree that our midfield was part of the reason why we lost, but Gundogan didnt even play the first half! i think we improved a bit when he came on just before the hour mark.

Not a great week for Kolorov and whatever level you play at, you cant afford to gift goals to teams.

I know its painful to be outplayed by the Spuds, but i think we are still ahead of where Pep and myself thought we would be. Cant wait for the next few transfer windows when hopefully Pep gets the squad he wants.

 

[fergal_oc]

After a sleep it's a little easier to analyse.

Like many have said the team sheet looked wrong from the start. Zab and kolarov were pretty dire in mid week and shouldn't have been anywhere near the team today.

Unfortunately they were and we did resort to type. Yesterday we needed to flood the midfield with quick, short passes making their press run around for minutes on end for little reward. Kolarov and Zabs needed to come in field and let navas and sterling stay out wide.

I really hope it's not the case but I can't help but feel that pep threw this game or at least positioned it to more than likely end in a loss. That might sound mad but in some lines of work you want to fail fast, knowing that it's coming anyway, so that you can learn from failing before too many habits bed in.

We were always going to end the weekend on top of the table and that's the most important part. If pep can spend the week with the boys, using the hurt from the weekend to inspire and motivate them then there's no reason we can't go another run of unbeaten games - as long as red cards and injuries give us the squad we need.

 

[Mr. Wednesday]

Hello.

Lurked on the forums for a while before finally signing up. Couldn't class myself as a City fan although I've always had a soft spot for the club and with Pep on board have a real interest in seeing how things go. Think my affinity for the club stems from having an inherent dislike for Man Utd, even at a very young age before I properly got into football. Can't really explain why but knew my instincts were right as I followed football more and became a season ticket holder at my local club.

As a supporter of a small, provincial team I for some reason always hoped City fans would be able to get one over a group of arrogant twats who had lorded it over them year upon year. And now it's happening.

Anyway, reading through the Spurs match day and post match threads I found some of the knicker wetting quite incredible. I don't imagine for a second that it was representative of the City support generally but it was a bit of an eye opener how folk can be on the verge of a meltdown after 10 wins, a draw and a loss.

Speaking slightly impartially, I felt at the start of the season City would probably win the league but a lot would depend on the initial couple of months and how long it took Guardiola and the players to get on the same wavelength. I'm pretty certain now you'll win the league, despite yesterday's game.

I think it's easy to forget how emotionally draining the match against Celtic was. Yes, the players are professional and have to deal with these situations but they are still human and we are talking about small percentages making all the difference at the highest level. Adding in the extra day recovery for Spurs and the fact they were playing at home had a big impact in Spurs starting the game with more intensity than City, there's no denying that. This put the team on the back foot and then Kolarov's error just helped give Spurs even more momentum and they played very well that first half.

Yes, there are some issues for the team, particularly full back areas and requirement for another CB, however it's hard to imagine Pep won't address those in the transfer market sooner rather than later. And for some to say that teams simply need to press high against City to get success is overly simplistic. Come on, this is Guardiola, one of the main proponents of playing a high pressing style, he more than anyone will know what his team needs to do against it. As the players train more with him and become more comfortable in the systems he plays, teams will have less and less success trying to pressure City that way, especially once he has all the players in place that he wants.

Despite having very good players, City did have an ageing squad that was in quite a bit of need of an overhaul. It's begun now but can't happen in just one summer. In the meantime, your first eleven is definitely good enough to win the Prem and you should just enjoy what's coming, it'll be brilliant.

And Danny Rose is an utter cockend.