Feyenoord (H) Post-Match Thread

Bit worried with over usage of debruyne in these games. We could have afforded to give him a rest and probably give foden or diaz a start. Anyhow win streak continues and thats what matters.
 
WallyA said:
Personal opinion here, but I think Pep got the personnel of the starting team messed up, which is why some players just looked out of place:

The Kevin-Gundogan midfield pair was imo a bad idea (I think he did this against Wolves too which was also not great imo), the reason David-Kevin works is because David plays a little higher and plays as the dribbler, short passer, or magician (more of a CAM, think Iniesta) if you will while Kevin plays a little deeper to orchestrate the play (more of a CM, think Xavi). This pairing is better than a David-David or Kevin-Kevin combo because they complement each others strengths and weaknesses. Gundogan is a similar player to Kevin, hence the midfield pairing was like Kevin-Kevin which wasn't perfectly balanced.

The solution is to rest Kevin (which he needs) and play Bernardo-Gundogan as the midfield pair which would mimic David-Kevin. This also puts Bernardo in a much better spot because as most ppl saw he was quite ineffective as a RW, but after substitutions he played centrally and was immediately better suited to the role.

I think Pep knows Bernardo is better centrally, but is playing him out wide because Sane-Sterling are the only options, while the midfield already has 3 players, Bernardo out wide means we have 3 wingers and 3 midfielders. I think Diaz should play out wide though, he's young enough that he isn't drilled to play purely LW or RW and can slot in as both, and he is far more comfortable beating his man than bernardo and has shown excellent finishing ability (which Bernardo hasn't). Diaz is the answer to Pep's winger problems, the sooner he realizes the better, I don't want to wait next season for him to figure this out, like alot of people said about Delph as a LB (or playing Sterling more centrally) last season, Pep, use Diaz as your winger, not Bernardo.
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+1

Would love to see gundogan and b silva pairing. You are spot on about kev Gundogan paring but who knows if they play more often together they might form a quality partnership because kev is well equiped to play number 10 role.
 
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We top a CL group in a convincing way for the first time. Hope Pep doesn't even make any of the starters in the derby travel to Ukraine.
 
a bit surprise to see KDB playing today. he deserve to rest.
Gundogan and Silva, plus Foden can play in his position.
a draw is a good result to top the group.
i don't care with current winning streak.
i'm more concern about busiest fixtures on December which is the crucial phase of the season.
i fear the worse - long term injury & fatigue.
these is the time City need a point as much as possible and widen the gap in the league.
 
rnblade said:
Knew this would be difficult after 5 mins, when they had no intention of pressing us. Winning ugly at the last minute!! They had no intention of coming here to play. They didn’t want to get mullered again. Silva, Danilo below average. Can see why they’re not first choice.
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you Didn't see the game if you thought they just sat back.
 
Bernardo are useless playing on the right in 4-3-3 formation.
he's not a winger or inside forward. he's playmaker. at Monaco he play as wide playmaker.
he used to have 2 striker to aim for through ball (Falcao & Mbappe), in 442 formation.
at City, when he cut inside, it's already pack with midfield in the middle.
ends up playing tippy tappy sideways.

with crossing ability with both feet - KDB should play on the left, while Sterling on the right.
let Yaya, Gundogan, Bernardo playing in the middle 3.
OR just playing with 442 diamond, every time Sane and Sterling in rest.
get a new young left wing back to do crossing from flank.
 
Solid game, didn’t give them too many sniffs, got time in players who need to bed in to the system in a real game, and managed to get Foden and Diaz on the field. Night to forget for Kun, although he never stopped working, and it is clear that while Yaya will probably die passing the ball, he just doesn’t have the speed of movement necessary to command a place in this team. He can do a job, if that job is 6 yard pass pivot, but he got his steam up on,y twice in the whole game and both times he had to rein it in because he was going nowhere and being caught.

Result didn’t do justice to the possession and effort, but 15/15 and top of the Group was the aim after last season, and here we sit.

United will probably be resting players for the Derby, as they lead their group, too, but to be able to not have them travel to Kiev is a gift worth fighting for. I wouldn’t take any of the starting line up for the United game, and I would have them indoors working on their movement and shape, in and out of possession, all week.

While I desperately want to win the derby, we only have to not lose it to harm them. Winning tonight made that ever more possible, especially if he does leave the starters at home! Hell, I might even have Pep stay home, too, just so he can work with the team! Let Arteta get his feet wet!
 
That went pretty much the way I predicted it. Bit like what we saw versus Wolves a few weeks back.
We won, didn't concede and finish top of the group. Huddersfield next.
 
Not best night of champions league football I've witnessed. The game was a slow pace, few players weren't at the races tonight.
Never less a win is a win.
 
Looking forward to see Foden and Brahim starting against Shakhtar, but I am very confident we will lose that game
 
Ederson
Walker
Mangala
Otamendi
Danilo
Gündogan
Bernardo
Silva
Foden
Sane
Aguero

This was the team i'd suggested in the pre-match thread, personally i feel if we'd left Yaya out and played Gundogan deeper with Foden in we'd have been a bit more fluid. For all of Yaya's undoubted ability on the ball he seriously slows us down now, think it took him until the 30 minute mark before he actually passed the ball forward with any purpose, not saying he was poor in any way but a little too defensive, showed how much we miss Fernandinho and how is replacement is going to be vital for us. Surprised KDB started but i think that bookings are carried into the last 16 before being wiped off so makes sense if that's the case, job done in that regard.
Mangala and Otamendi need to work on their communivation, couple of times they went for the same ball but overall did well.

Job done and now move on to Huddersfield, seriously think that a win here will make the others almost give up, rags 2 fixtures after this weekend will most likely mean they drop points and our home games could give us a huge advantage going into the Derby, could be 12 points or more clear.
 
this must be the dip in winter that the pundit were going on about
struggled against Leicester and Feyenoord
only scored 3 goals and think it was only 1 shot on target in 2 games.
bring on March and April so we can start smashing teams again.
 
OB1 said:
I was talking about what he can and can't do regarding tempo. The direction of his passes is not key to tempo: City go back and sideways for a reason and Yaya frequently plays the ball quickly in the direction he is facing. Short passes are what Guardiola wants! And wtf the #### is a slow trajectory?
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kicking the ball slow. The speed that the ball travels from player A to player B. All to do with tempo.
 
Not the best game, but not surprising in the circumstances. Great to see Foden and Diaz get some game time, hope both start in the Ukraine.

Lovely finish by Sterling, and 5 wins out 5 is an impressive achievement. No one will want to face us in the last 16.

Great support from the Feyenoord fans on the whole, but sad to see an elderly City fan with blood pouring from his head after being struck by a missile towards the end. The bellend next to me who was goading the Feyenoord fans all game didn't help though. Was a relief when he got kicked out, he was doing my head in.
 
Good result. We're naive if we think we can sustain great football and big margins every match all season. We dominated and ground out a win, and that's all that matters.

Only caveats for me were that I would have liked KDB to have a rest. And that is have preferred Gundogan playing deep instead of Yaya, with Foden starting. But Pep's priority was winning the group, and I can't really argue with that.
 
I felt sorry for Gundy, always plays with YaYa and that does not help in anyway this season. We need someone for the pivot so we can rest Fern
 
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