Napoli post-match thread

ancoats said:
perfection never wins medals/titles in October you sometimes need to dig in and in groups matches just get the job done and the 2nd goal was job done for me we even had aguero on the bench and at no time in the game did we need to turn to him and like i said pep held us back and we just kept the ball and did the job

man management is a key in champions league and now we have the group in our hands and only need a point from 3 games and have a home game vs feyenoord to win the group if need be so we could even play a weaken team with in the 2 games if we get a point at napoli and even losing to them would not be that bad really looking at the table
Click to expand...

I hope this post isn't representative (although it's very representative of what I heard City fans saying about the Group standings as I was coming out of the ground last night!) - but not only is it totally wrong about what we need to do to qualify, so is Pep when he says 3 more points will do it. No it won't, if the following happens:-

- Napoli win our return match, easily beat Feyenoord again and also win their return match against Shakhtar ie. gain 12 points in total; plus

- Shakhtar also beat Feyenoord again, lose to Napoli (as above) but beat City in the Ukraine ie. gain 12 points in total; plus

- City slaughter Feyenoord at home but lose their other two remaining matches (as above) ie. gain 12 points in total.

What would kick in then is that Article 17 of the Champions League regulations would be applied, to determine which two of the three teams qualified. What matters under that Article is results amongst the three only. In this scenario, they have scored 3 points apiece in matches against each other and so cannot be separated on that criterion. The next level down is goal difference amongst the three. This means that if City lost badly enough to Napoli and Shakhtar in the away matches still to come, then they could beat Feyenoord 10-0 at home but might still go out by finishing third on goal difference.

I am not saying it's at all likely that City will end up eliminated at this stage but I maintain that it's highly likely that Feyenoord will end up with no points at all, and therefore we should aim for at least a point from one of the remaining away matches.

If we have one of those unlucky UCL nights in Italy (player sent off early maybe) and lose by three or four goals, whilst Shakhtar are busy crushing Feyenoord at home, we would be left praying for Shakhtar to get a result in Naples, or at least lose badly too, whilst we disposed of Feyenoord again in Match 5. Everything would then depend on the outcome of our final Group match in the Ukraine.

Check it out, I think I'm right.
 
The quality of our play at the moment is as good as any football that has ever been played at any level, both domestically and internationally and I'd challenge any one who disagrees.

For half an hour last night we were mesmeric from one to eleven. Ederson was showing ability akin to a silky midfielder with his cool calm passing, the defence didn't allow Napoli to even get a sniff of an attack on the rare occasion the midfield and forwards pressing didn't disposse the opposition. Napoli looked scared to death and you could see it in their eyes, it was like shock and awe. We should have been four up and out of sight, but playing at that intensity isn't going to last ninety minutes unless you've got a team full of Steve Austin's. (Six million dollar man, not the red neck wrestler)

If we play a third of every game at that intensity and the remainder at 60 to 75 percent we will dismantle any team and I include the European big boys. Before long we will have a game where everything clicks, and whoever that is against is going to be on the end of a thrashing so big that they will be on group speaker phone to the Samaritans on their way home.

I really think this is the start of new chapter in our history, which will hopefully puycus right at the top of the tree.
 
I'm not too bothered about Sane's performance last night. He is a very gifted youngster who sometimes tries a bit too hard, and I think the wealth of talent around him exacerbates that. Just needs to find his groove and get confidence in his own ability.
 
Absorbing game.

Having been at match and had the chance to watch the TV coverage today, I think a lot of the comments on here have missed just how good we were. We weren't faultless by any means but although Napoli managed to make a much better fist of things after luckily escaping early annihilation, City did not fall off as much as some seem to think. Also, we defending really well on the whole, which was hugely encouraging because Napoli are a really good side and actually created almost nothing for themselves. Our major failing was conceding soft, unnecessary penalties.

Best summing up of the match is Pep in his presser but that is usually the case because he sees and understands more than anyone else.
 
OB1 said:
Absorbing game.

Having been at match and had the chance to watch the TV coverage today, I think a lot of the comments on here have missed just how good we were. We weren't faultless by any means but although Napoli managed to make a much better fist of things after luckily escaping early annihilation, City did not fall off as much as some seem to think. Also, we defending really well on the whole, which was hugely encouraging because Napoli are a really good side and actually created almost nothing for themselves. Our major failing was conceding soft, unnecessary penalties.

Best summing up of the match is Pep in his presser but that is usually the case because he sees and understands more than anyone else.
Click to expand...

As ever i agree completely with you.

We dropped from being phenomenal for 35 mins to very good for the rest of the game as we did what many had thought we wouldn't be able to do and that's defend against a high pressing, high paced side and penalties aside, they had minimal chances.
 
Not sure if already mentioned, but Spanish Dave did an excellent job as Captain yesterday. He led by example and stepped in when required. He certainly stopped Kev from a potential sending off on HT.
 
mjkismgs said:
I hope this post isn't representative (although it's very representative of what I heard City fans saying about the Group standings as I was coming out of the ground last night!) - but not only is it totally wrong about what we need to do to qualify, so is Pep when he says 3 more points will do it. No it won't, if the following happens:-

- Napoli win our return match, easily beat Feyenoord again and also win their return match against Shakhtar ie. gain 12 points in total; plus

- Shakhtar also beat Feyenoord again, lose to Napoli (as above) but beat City in the Ukraine ie. gain 12 points in total; plus

- City slaughter Feyenoord at home but lose their other two remaining matches (as above) ie. gain 12 points in total.

What would kick in then is that Article 17 of the Champions League regulations would be applied, to determine which two of the three teams qualified. What matters under that Article is results amongst the three only. In this scenario, they have scored 3 points apiece in matches against each other and so cannot be separated on that criterion. The next level down is goal difference amongst the three. This means that if City lost badly enough to Napoli and Shakhtar in the away matches still to come, then they could beat Feyenoord 10-0 at home but might still go out by finishing third on goal difference.

I am not saying it's at all likely that City will end up eliminated at this stage but I maintain that it's highly likely that Feyenoord will end up with no points at all, and therefore we should aim for at least a point from one of the remaining away matches.

If we have one of those unlucky UCL nights in Italy (player sent off early maybe) and lose by three or four goals, whilst Shakhtar are busy crushing Feyenoord at home, we would be left praying for Shakhtar to get a result in Naples, or at least lose badly too, whilst we disposed of Feyenoord again in Match 5. Everything would then depend on the outcome of our final Group match in the Ukraine.

Check it out, I think I'm right.
Click to expand...
Agreed. We have to go all out to beat Napoli, although from what we saw last night, will be a big ask. We want it all sorted before going to the Ukraine for our last game. We come back from there and play United, probably a lunch time kick off on the Saturday
 
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