Leicester post match thread

[flb]

I agree that next season will still have a transitional element to it but if Pep is the guy I think he is, every season he is here will see some sort of transition in the team as he constantly tries to improve it and move towards his vision of how the game should be played (in the Premier League). With each passing season, we should be closer to the goal and therefore the transitional element will decline. I hope next season will be rather less of a transition than this one but I feel as though there might be one or two big changes to come in how we play and there ought to be several new players to bed in.

Transitional shouldn't mean we can't win things but it complicates things. I thought we would do better this season and I will always believe that if KDB had put us two up against Chelsea, we would at least have made more of a fight of it, as we would if Vinnie and Gundogan had been fit and available; although Gundogan's absence was ameliorated somewhat by Yaya's re-emergence.

I do concur that three years is not going to be a long enough tenure for Pep to do the job and I hope he signs an extension - soon.

Your last paragraph sums up totally what will happen to City on the pitch for the next ten years , 3 seasons is nowhere near enough for the guidance needed to turn us into anything like a club to be taken seriously in European football let alone the PL.Pep needs to state his intentions pretty quickly and put the uncertainty well and truly to bed. If he stays for just three seasons then you have to really question why the fuck did we wait all these years for him? Soriano saying that he only sees a managers term being only effective for 3/4 years worrys me- that's great at a club like Barca who employ from within after decades of success but we don't have that. Here's hoping Pep leaves a legacy at City like Cruyff did at Barca-it without doubt can't be implemented in three seasons.

 

[OB1]

True but experienced big game players like dave,vinny and yaya who really should have got the others organised

Easier said than done sometimes; especially when you are in the heat of the battle against a horrid team like Leicester. I do though think part of the issue, which Pep tried to deflect a question on, is mental strength. All in all, our players just are not tough enough but even the very best teams can get in a pickle when there is a lot hanging on a game. None of them are robots. There's a story about when Pep was at Bayern and he gave them very clear instructions on how to play the first part of the game at Arsenal, IIRC, where he did actually want them just to focus on calmly keeping possession to deter Arsenal from trying to press for the ball and the Bayern players just had a rush of blood to the head and didn't follow instructions. These things happen; they didn't deliberately ignore their manager...

 

[OB1]

Your last paragraph sums up totally what will happen to City on the pitch for the next ten years , 3 seasons is nowhere near enough for the guidance needed to turn us into anything like a club to be taken seriously in European football let alone the PL.Pep needs to state his intentions pretty quickly and put the uncertainty well and truly to bed. If he stays for just three seasons then you have to really question why the fuck did we wait all these years for him? Soriano saying that he only sees a managers term being only effective for 3/4 years worrys me- that's great at a club like Barca who employ from within after decades of success but we don't have that. Here's hoping Pep leaves a legacy at City like Cruyff did at Barca-it without doubt can't be implemented in three seasons.

I'm not worried that Soriano won't keep Pep for as long as he can. Pep does things with such intensity - although I think he is learning to control it - that he won't ever be in a job for a long, long time. If we can get Pep to do five seasons, I think we will be a long way towards that legacy situation. The groundwork in the CFA started before Pep arrived.

I reckon five years is enough for Pep to make City European and World Champions but the club will have to keep spending big. If you truly want to be at the top of the game, you have to be able to bring players through like Barca and buy like Real Madrid; the latter will make two or three big signings this summer and have an incredibly formidable team; stronger than one that this season may well win La Liga and be the first to retain the UCL - although I'm hoping Juve and Barca spoil their party big time.

 

[flb]

I'm not worried that Soriano won't keep Pep for as long as he can. Pep does things with such intensity - although I think he is learning to control it - that he won't ever be in a job for a long, long time. If we can get Pep to do five seasons, I think we will be a long way towards that legacy situation. The groundwork in the CFA started before Pep arrived.

I reckon five years is enough for Pep to make City European and World Champions but the club will have to keep spending big. If you truly want to be at the top of the game, you have to be able to bring players through like Barca and buy like Real Madrid; the latter will make two or three big signings this summer and have an incredibly formidable team; stronger than one that this season may well win La Liga and be the first to retain the UCL - although I'm hoping Juve and Barca spoil their party big time.

Agree with all of that but Pep needs to come out and extend his contract and show his intentions of being here for the five seasons , my worry is if he doesn't publically extend it's giving the wrong impression to the academy and set up in general- he's the guy to bring some youngsters through and I'm totally convinced of that.If he does three seasons then what does that do for the dreams of the youngsters at the club, there has to be a balance of course between players brought in and academy kids making it but it's this that will define City and give us a true identity.

 

[asahartford1]

I think Giroud was onside :-)

Ha ha. Clearly little knowledge of the BBC.

 

[uberblue]

we play without a right back, + none of our creative players can effectively close down. We wonder why every time a team has a go they look like scoring. Sums up the season -we're a bit better than an inform Leicester

 

[BlueAnorak]

One other thing - how the feck did Leicester get away with defenders doing star jumps to block crosses? Exactly when did deliberately holding your arm out not result in a penalty when the cross hits a defenders forearm or hand? It happened on 3 occasions yesterday. Madely was an arse ignoring those appeals.

 

[stan bowles]

The attack near the end with 97+ minutes played. Sane can take it right into the corner and kill the game. Most of the team are knackered and unable to support him making the chances of third goal slim. He takes the low percentage option and cuts inside and then could slip a pass to Aguero who is relatively free in their box. But no, he greedily opts to shoot and blasts it against a defender, we turnover possession and they start an attack. Yes I'd have loved him to score but the option to take everytime there is to kill the clock in the corner. This poor game management by the players will have to change next season. Learn quickly when to feign an injury when under the kosh to stop the game, when to take a yellow for the team to break up a swift counter. when to kill a game in the last 10 minutes when we have a one goal lead or leave with a draw. It can't be sexy football ALL the time.

 

[moon]

One other thing - how the feck did Leicester get away with defenders doing star jumps to block crosses? Exactly when did deliberately holding your arm out not result in a penalty when the cross hits a defenders forearm or hand? It happened on 3 occasions yesterday. Madely was an arse ignoring those appeals.

MOTD forgot to show any of these of course

 

[Neville Kneville]

There is a lot of exaggeration on here about what Pep inherited. He inherited a team that was good enough to finish in the top 4 albeit with aging f ullbacks. Who have had a lot of games to play this year but many of our poor results this year have not been just aging FBs.

We have gone from being the laziest ****s in the Prem, to one of the hardest working. That's the manager.

Last two years we didn't have one.