Monaco - Post Match thread.

[onceabluealways]

This wasn't just the managers fault, the first half was absolutely shocking. At least 8 players looked frightened to death just panicking and giving the ball away to easily.

I think KDB should have been dropped for this game and the extra midfielder in Yaya played, just my opinion.

I don't think we can really judge Pep until he has signed fullbacks as each and every one we have now is woeful, Zaba still a legend though

 

[Bill]

If we were that wide open they'd have scored more. Your argument is that Yaya should have played, fair enough, but Dinho is quite capable of doing the job just as well but was completely off kilter. Ditto KDB, ditto Silva, ditto Sterling and our defence are shocking regardless.



Four or five players underperformed, who the fuck do you take them off for? Delph?



Yeah, you're right, after all the shit you gave him about not playing Silva and Sterling, but playing Yaya instead, against Stoke, that he'd come out and do the same thing again the next week is shocking. The arrogance of the man.

Don't confuse the prem with champion league. Totally irrelevant .
Being 2 goals up we had something to protect and protect we should have done..
We didn't need Silva and kev we needed Yaya and nando. If then we happen to need a goal you bring on a fresh kev and David. It's basically football tactics. Our manager got it more wrong last night than could have been deemed possible.

Funny that picking up your stoke point he got that the wrong way round too.

Very odd.

 

[mrbelfry]

Yaya and Zabba of 3 years ago

Yaya and Zabba would not have been able to live with the pace of Monaco. You must know that. Granted Yaya would probably have used the ball better than KDB and Silva in the 1st half, but we had no way of knowing that KDB and SIlva would play so poorly in the 1st half. We couldn't pass the ball. That's rare. Unfortunately Zab and Toure no longer have the legs for these games which are much much more intense that the usual games we play

I hear you Marvin. But first half we were desperate for some physicality in midfield. The Monaco players would have bounced off him rather than going through him like they were our 3 all half. We needed him to get our attacks going. YaYa is our only player who can do that i think.

 

[Marvin]

A lot of over reaction on here. We've played fantastically the last 10 games barring Stoke and last night.

I do think that Clichy and Sagna will definitely be off in the summer with a new left back, right back and centre back coming in. We aren't that far off, we've just been undone all season by incompetent defending.

Aguero needs 4 chances to score, and yes we can't defend. We've a new striker, and I believe that's sorted, but defeneively we have to add a defensive midfielder a central defender and 2 full backs and maybe a keeper too. That's a big job

 

[sandbachblue]

We looked scared of them in the first half.

 

[HelloCity]

Woke up really depressed this morning. This is THE competition we are supposed to be prioritising above all others and then we put in a performance like that. I am too depressed to be angry. I honestly can't remember being this flat for years. At least under Pearce and before, we knew we were shit so it kind of didn't matter.

But now with the entire set up we have, to throw a 2-0 lead in the one competition we have been working for, for years, with a performance like that. Dear God.

Perhaps for me the most depressing thing is how utterly useless our manager was. Tactical genius my arse.

I can barely be bothered to watch us against Liverpool, but I suppose I will.

Haha

You mard arse!

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

Don't confuse the prem with champion league. Totally irrelevant .
Being 2 goals up we had something to protect and protect we should have done..
We didn't need Silva and kev we needed Yaya and nando. If then we happen to need a goal you bring on a fresh kev and David. It's basically football tactics. Our manager got it more wrong last night than could have been deemed possible.

Funny that picking up your stoke point he got that the wrong way round too.

Very odd.

am with you Bill.

 

[Stretford Born Blue]

Poor team selection.
Poor tactics.
Poor pressing.
Poor possession.
Poor movement.
Poor mentality.

You forgot utter poor finishing................, again!

 

[robbieh]

Lot of people talking about buying defensive reinforcements but even with Bonucci and Bellerin et al we will struggle against top sides if we set up with only one midfielder supplemented by two wingers, two powder puff attacking midfielders and a striker who doesn't put himself about much.

For me the back four was as good as we could do on the night and that given we all know their limitations a bit of protection was in order, especially given that if we had restricted Monaco to less than 2 goals we were through.

Dinho, Yaya, Nando
Silva, Kun and Leroy

For me that allows Silva more freedom and Yaya offers more control.

May well have got the job done, we will never know.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Haha

You mard arse!

Preferred it when you called me a mare arse. I was going to reply, nay lad.

 

[city2]

Ok so we got knocked out, did anyone actually believe we could win this trophy with that defence, you need at least ten years to win it and lots of luck, let's not get all arrogant like the red shite, our time will come once we get the players to fit peps plans.

 

[CrownPointBlue]

Look at the positioning for their free kick.

Our wall was 3/4 yards too high for an in swinger.

It screamed trouble from the moment we lined up.......and then we let a 6'3 defender run free for a free header.

Wtf is all that about ?

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Agree with all that but why, why were we so abject in the first half? Why did we do the opposite of what pep said we needed - intensity, fight, energy, wanting it more? Thats the bit I really really struggle with. Twice this season, I really thought we had turned the corner and were consistently getting better under Pep. Now I don't know. Sunday is a huge test for our mentality - we may win lose or draw but whichever I want to see a mentally strong team.

Spot on - sums it up for me too.
Just over a week ago we were back on track - playing well, some consistency, about to put a points buffer between us and 5th, and odds on for Champs league qtr - Pep looked like he'd learnt lessons - then needlessly relinquishing momentum against Stoke and last night's debacle - both down to selection. Shooting ourselves in the foot as usual.
I trust him to get it right but surprised/dismayed at his recent decisions.
Strongest team from here on in - If tiredness really is an issue - don't train them.

 

[Chippy_boy]

am with you Bill.

Me too.

 

[Akiva]

Agree with all that but why, why were we so abject in the first half? Why did we do the opposite of what pep said we needed - intensity, fight, energy, wanting it more? Thats the bit I really really struggle with. Twice this season, I really thought we had turned the corner and were consistently getting better under Pep. Now I don't know. Sunday is a huge test for our mentality - we may win lose or draw but whichever I want to see a mentally strong team.

You can see individual players improving under Pep, but this is a horribly lop-sided squad that has too much deadweight at the back and isn't sharp enough up front. It is what it is, but Aguero missing sitters is pretty unfathomable and ultimately is the reason we won't be achieving what we could this season.

My facts? We bought him in January. Fact. I'm happy to refer you to he official club statement.

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It was done in the summer. It may have been announced in an official statement in January, but things were settled long before that.

Being 2 goals up we had something to protect and protect we should have done..

I don't see how you feel it would have been possible to "protect" a two goal lead against the highest scoring team in the sport, over 90 minutes, with the back five we have. Further, Pep said all along we would be going out to score, he made no secret of it and he was right. We needed to score, but we didn't.

We didn't need Silva and kev we needed Yaya and nando.

And have our possession game completely undone? It's not Pep's fault Silva and Kev had shockers.

Further, Nando is actually not a CL quality player and bringing him up is, frankly, bizarre.

If then we happen to need a goal you bring on a fresh kev and David. It's basically football tactics.

This isn't FIFA, you honestly think sitting back and letting Monaco play their game when we have one of the worst defences in Europe wouldn't backfire spectacularly? The only reason we kept the score at 2-0 in the first half was we had much more possession, which is down to Silva and KDB despite how poor they looked.

Our manager got it more wrong last night than could have been deemed possible.

You're just looking for an excuse, it's the same shit just a whole new week.

Aguero converts even one of his chances and you wouldn't be flapping here, you'd be waiting for the next chance to present itself to have a go at Pep.

 

[shemnel]

spineless 1st half. move on.

 

[Bones]

Couldn't string two passes together in the first half, was bullied off the ball and second to everything. Huge improvement in second half but still not good enough, and Monaco deservedly go through. Would have liked to have seen Toure come on.

 

[@BluePhil8]

Ok so we got knocked out, did anyone actually believe we could win this trophy with that defence, you need at least ten years to win it and lots of luck, let's not get all arrogant like the red shite, our time will come once we get the players to fit peps plans.

I know, we would have been murdered by Bayern or Barca.

I'm just happy that we are going to Wembley and fingers crossed we can win the FA Cup. This season has been a bit of a write off from minute one with Pep needing to find out a lot about himself and the shambolic defensive recruitment of the past 4 years coming back to bite us big time.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

That fucking hurts.
What's really, really difficult to understand is that we played the way we played in the first half, when you look at the way we played in the second. At half time, the Monaco players must have strolled into their dressing room with their hands in their pockets, saying “This is a breeze. Those people out there are terrified”. By full time, believe it, they knew they'd been in a game. And if anyone doubts that, just look at the way they celebrated, the players, the crowd, everyone, at the final whistle.
Personally, I don't want to pick out players, or team selection. As far as I'm concerned, that was our best available team. It didn't deliver – at all – for forty-five minutes.
We played in the first half like little terrified boys. It was horribly reminiscent of the Bernabeu match last season.
Monaco are a good team, and I wish them the best. It would a breath of fresh air if they won it, over the usual suspects.

 

[Stretford Born Blue]

Where was the leader on the pitch?
In actual fact, he wasn't on it, was he?
What is the point of Sagna and Clichy, every fookin time they get the ball, the first thing they do is turn around and look backwards, neither can put a telling cross in the box, these are the first 2 to go in the summer.
Our finishing to chances created ratio has got to be the worst in the World, generally. It's so inconsistent. If Costa, or dare I say I,t Kane or Ibrahimacheat was playing for us, we'd have 30 more goals a season. Need to break the bank for another high energy, bullish top finisher, and somebody who can rattle and piss off defenders.
Sterling, fuck me, a thick country vegetable who prances around like a girl. I'm sorry but he's too ineffective, too often, and he doesn't have a football brain. He's a fookin girls blouse. He often can't cross his legs.
Where does the quality go when it's needed. KDB free kicks near the end were simply not good enough, and who for Christ sake was going to win the header, we don't have a Ramos, do we...?!
Loose passes, how many tonight, lost count.
Pressing, we didn't, that's Peps game...!
Intensity, don't make me laugh..!
When any team comes at us, playing our own, or similar game, we go to pot, Liverpool will dick us on Sunday if they watch that game. Chelsea will dick us at the bridge.
Why is it, you can see within 5 minutes of kicking off that we are not at it. Utter bobbins first half last night, and the second half showed our inability to protect a lead, no, in fact the whole game did. Our usual inability to finish a chance was at it's best last night.
Pep, you fucked up and underestimated Monaco, and overestimated a lot of our players ability to deliver you plan of attack. Get your wallet out...!
The likes of Bayern, Real , Atletico, Barca are streets ahead of us still, we were never going to win it this year, maybe not even next year, just as we are playing catch up in the Premiership.
Will we win the FA Cup, possibly, but we played almost as bad in the Semi second leg last year, why are we still doing that, it's because we haven't sorted the defence out and acquired a Ramos type player ffs...?!