Chelsea (a) post-match thread

Tevez City said:
If I am going to blame anyone for the game, I will blame Pep first for :

1- Starting Rodri + Gundogan together even though their record together is clearly bad and not working
2- Not starting Jesus
3- Not using Sane
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Do you REALLY think it would've been a good idea to start our only fit striker when we've got a more important cup match in 3 days' time and then the Liverpool game 4 days after that? Really? The cup is the priority. And if he'd have started and helped us beat Chelsea, but was either rested or forced to play against Liverpool despite fatigue and we lost that game, everyone would be complaining that we let them win it at the Etihad... The circumstances are just shit, it is what it is. Gabby can't play every game, and in the grand scheme of things this game did not matter. Also Sane looked poor as fuck against Burnely, he's hardly kicked a ball in a year and you think he would've been up to par tonight???

Fair enough, the midfield selection was shit but there is no way in hell David could start 3 games in 8 days and Foden was injured so genuinely what else could he have done since the lack of forward options (Jesus/Sane for the reasons I just listed + Aguero injury) meant Bernardo couldn't play in midfield??? That leaves no one other than the 3 midfielders who started.
 
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What's this rebuilding people are talking about we just need a centre back and maybe sell Mendy and get a new left back everywhere else in my opinion is fine.
 
ws01 said:
If we fix the midfield, it'll fix the defence. That's something we should well know by now after our recent history.

You cannot place a glacier/s there and expect to not leak goals. Doesn't happen.
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Yup. People can harp about our defence but it's always been relatively poor. Otamendi, Zinchenko, Delph, Stones were regular defensive fixtures in a record setting side. Rodri is simply the wrong profile in terms of what he offers. His pressing game is aggressive but not in a productive manner; he often gets caught out whereas Fernandinho tends to jockey to buy time and leave us less exposed. Moreover, Rodri has zero recovery pace make him a complete liability when his wayward pressing style fails to win us the ball back. It's been a disaster of a signing and one that baffles me.
 
ChicagoBlue said:
I’m surprised by the level of animosity with the performance, tbh.

Thought we dominated the first half. Mendy brain fart gifts the goal. KDB’s free kick was magnificent. Fast break was absolutely ridiculous and, had Sterling shown some poise....or given the ball to Jesus wide open in his right...the game would have turned in its head. Instead, we miss yet another chance to score and the game turns against us.

Some Keystone Cops defending, but we all know we are not a team for defending, but I thought we played some wonderful football.

It is clearly time to refresh and renew the squad, with both quality coming in and Academy players stepping up, and I hope Pep commits to an extension, but fear he won’t.

PL season will peter out from here, with us only needing a few points to stay in the Top 4, so it should provide an excellent opportunity to rotate the playing XI, keep players fit and fresh for the FA Cup and, later, the CL. No reason we can’t finish on a high, and it would be the height of ragginess to whine about only being the second best team in the PL after winning it twice in the last two seasons.

I’m generally not a glass fall full guy, but with the football I have seen for the last few years, is winning 8 out of 9 domestic trophies during that period, while also playing some of the best football ever seen in England, my glass is far from half empty and, at times, runneth over.

Mendy has now played more games this season than in the previous two seasons COMBINED, so he is essentially a new player here. He needs to up his quality and understanding of the way we play. I have no idea why he didn’t leave the ball when Gundogan waved him off and his lame attempt to tackle with his wrong leg is EXACTLY how he did his knee the last time! WTF?!

Those of you blaming Gundogan are barking mad. He is a very good player and he did very well tonight in a modified midfield to allow us to have a false nine rotation while not losing control of the midfield. Maybe a few of you should take off the dark tinted glasses and realize he has been doing a better job than quite a few others.

I’ll leave it there, because it really doesn’t need too much analysis. We could have EASILY won the game while we were dominating, but didn’t...yet again. Therein lies a primary problem, with a soft center to our defence being the other. I trust these issues will be addressed, esp with our wage bill going down and our transfer kitty full.

The future is BLUE!
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I think I watched the same game as you did. Same story as most of the other points dropped this season I'm afraid.
 
Tb1981 said:
For a team that can’t defend we miss too many sitters
Too many players scared to do anything other than give the ball to kdb and let him do it for them
How often does a full back in our team score or assist
Never
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For a team set up with 11 players expected to both defend and attack we miss far too many clear cut chances but we are geared to defend by attacking not the other way around. Ironically Mendy put in 3 great low crosses tonight and no City player came within yards of them. Do you seriously think a team with our record would achieve what it has with players "scared to do anything other than give the ball to KDB", how many games has he missed in the past 3 seasons and how many titles have we won in the past 3 seasons.
 
It'll be a fine day when Fern isn't playing as CB anymore and when our best LB isn't a midfielder playing out of position by necessity and thus not to his full potential now 2 seasons straight.
Need to admit we need to finally sort CB and LB positions by bringing in first team talent at both positions. We are old man slow at the back besides Walker who was forced to cover our ass to prevent yet another goal today. Mendy is as agile as a three legged dog on ice skates... He simply is a defensive liability and we can't afford him anywhere near a game where we aren't heavily favored. Play him at LW if the only thing he can do is cross into the box... at least he wouldn't be a handicap to our defense.
 
Thank goodness for the return of games - this Forum is now more interesting to log onto, especially after a defeat in which two of our defensive muppets played the game "after you, no after you, no it is your turn to have a kick" "Oh shit the guy in blue wasn't suppose to do that".

I am studiously avoiding any media web site as the pundits and journos will be falling over each over to get their scouse stories out.

At least here in NZ the main football news is that the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023 will be played here and in Australia.
 
Bluekiwi said:
Thank goodness for the return of games - this Forum is now more interesting to log onto, especially after a defeat in which two of our defensive muppets played the game "after you, no after you, no it is your turn to have a kick" "Oh shit the guy in blue wasn't suppose to do that".

I am studiously avoiding any media web site as the pundits and journos will be falling over each over to get their scouse stories out.

At least here in NZ the main football news is that the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2023 will be played here and in Australia.
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Definately a move to remember or hopefully forget, I Watched it live and was screaming at the screen, one of the most awful defensive blunders I've seen in a while
 
As ever. some people way overreact when we lose a football game. It's not the end of the world, Liverpool were always going to pick up the title this season.

As for the game itself, City were the better team and Chelsea were very fortunate with their first goal, which changed the complexion of the game. We were actually growing in cofidence at that stage of the first half, started bright, lost a bit of composure after Chelsea started showing their countering threat, then we started getting control of the game again, and they were looking more and more penned in. That's how Mendy and Gundo ended up casually giving the ball away on the half way line. The mix up highlighted the lack of a consistent lineup and that Mendy isn't quite fully confident in himself yet. I for one can understand why considering his last 3 seasons, Gundo should have recognised this and taken charge. I know that seems as though Gundo is being made the scape goat but I do think KDB or Fernandinho would have spotted Mendy's body language straight away and done just that.

In the second half, we had to take it to Chelsea more and commit more to attack, which played into Chelsea's hands. We played our best football that half, which would have been enough against most teams but Chelsea had a lot to play for and have a better and larger squad than most teams(we were never going to just brush them aside). They were obviously fresher than City last night, since we've played more games, which played it's part in the last 20 mins or so. After KDBs goal, we needed Sterling to square that ball to Mahrez for an easy finish and that would have finished Chelsea off IMO. Their heads would have dropped at that point and we'd have just passed them to death for a bit but it wasn't to be. When Laporte came off, Abraham's fresh lanky legs really showed the lack of pace at the back, just a simple long ball over the top as we pushed for a a goal at the other end, was causing all sorts of problems... that ball wouldn't have been on had we gone ahead though.

I think the game at least showed us, we are not quite up to speed in defence and attack(to a lesser degree), plenty to work on for the games ahead that actually matter. Jesus not starting, is not some big mistake. Some people are just asking for an injury to our only available out and out striker. Thinking he can just come back and play every 3 days, after the biggest break from football most players have ever had, is a tad naive in my opinion.
 
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basokla said:
Yeah but what did we pay? He was our savior at that position. Jeez.
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I don't really care, it's not my money.
We always lose big time on player sales, Dzeko, Tevez, Robinho, Bony, Mangala, Adebayor etc etc.
Were the worst sellers ever haha
It used to bug me but I let that feeling go.
Mendy for me is not a good fit at City, get rid.
 
We lost to a defensive error and a penalty, conceded by yet another defensive error.

I think the clues are there on how we improve our points talky next season. Regardless of what the market does, we need to identify those players and bring them in if we want to improve ourselves.

Chelsea are supposedly a top four rival and yet, if we hadn't repeatedly shot ourselves in the foot, we'd have won at their place comfortably.

Plenty to take away from that, much of it positive. But if errors are dictating results rather than the way we play, then action needs taking.
 
Don't get the arrogance of Pep playing 35yr old Fernandinho at CB. Dinho has lost all his pace, only positive trait for him to play that role is his distribution which I think Stones does good too.
 
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