Exactly my sentiments. For years we have been looking for that dream partner for Kompany. Lescott, Savic, Nastasic, Demichelis ect just to name a few. Laporte was his perfect partner. Now we're looking for the perfect Laporte partner and is going to be a huge ask but it's looking highly likely its Koulibaly. Whether he will fit the bill or not is another thing, Nothing guaranteed in football.Problem is he's come back and from day one he's been expected to be the main man whilst leading and controlling his partner in defense who, be it Stones, Otta.. whoever... is having serious issues of their own. Laporte should be being allowed to play his own game and gradually ease back into gear and up his game. Stating the obvious but if he'd come back into the team with Vinny next to him, it would have worked perfectly... we can all dream !!!
Unreal some our our so called fans. So mcfc spent a bucket full of money on clearing our good name to be in the champions league and you don’t care a jot. Oh well maybe a ban for 2 years would be more up your street when top class players don’t want to come here to us and would prefer Liverpool or United. Let’s go back to being a little fish feeding off the scrapsRags would have wiped the floor with us so may be a blessing in disguise.
I don't care about champions league so onto next season.
Before Arsenal are declared Europe's new giants:
Liverpool bottled it on Wednesday and we did the same tonight.
Arsenal was very very lucky we didn't use their defensive clowneries 1st half and they scored when Mendy, Kyle and Ed were not interested to defend properly.
It was clear from there it would be difficult as we've seen how deep Arteta defends when winning.
Breaking up deep sitting sides needs quick perfect combinations, which we were not able to deliver tonight obviously for missing confidence in basic skills.
From the start our passes were sloppy, you could smell the nerviness. KDB, Laporte, Mendy...
Like a virus it went from player to player and we made Arsenal strong. They said thanks.
And in front of goal we were in full panic, afraid to make a mistake. Raheem, awful.
Match stats are a sheer horror. Worse than Saints away, where we had better and more chances.
Pure psychology tonight. It's shocking to see such a team nearly collectively fail to play to their normal standards. But sadly this is not the first time I've seen such a City display.
Is Pep still not in the locker room pre-match, is that right? If true, big mistake.
It seems to me, this team either is being led by a very nervous coach pre big games
or Pep does everything right to get players out in full aggressive attitude - but on the pitch they suddenly collapse. This question has to be properly analyzed, but we will never get insight to that sensitive department...
Looking towards Real, I only have a small hope that we will have an easier mental setup against bigger names, and I also believe Arteta was in Pep's and players' heads tonight - and he did very loud and aggressive at the side line. He was sharp and focussed - like his team.
Very disappointing to see our lads that helpless, falling back into old patterns.
In a recent video Delph had some words to the team in the locker room insisting when things go wrong, go back to basics of football. We didn't do that tonight. No team, no fight.
he was shite, agreed. But he stayed on because he’s capable of a moment of magic and nobody else is
Agree 100%We also have wingers who always cut inside, that has a massive impact on the style you're talking about. When we had Sterling on the right and Sane on the left we were much harder to stop.
spot on but what’s this about pep not in the dressing room ? Surely he’s in there rallying them
Pep and the players didn't look arsed today which isn't good enough, lacklustre all round which in turn resulted in such a shit performance. I really hope a lot of this lot today don't start on Wednesday against Watford, I want to see what Doyle, Harwood-Bellis, Braaf, Palmer etc can do. No point in playing the majority of this lot today because if they're not up for a semi final against Arsenal they're certainly not up for a meaningless game at Watford.Should’ve been changed at half time.
Team and tactics weren’t working & Arse were becoming more settled & confident.
Pep didn’t do enough to change what clearly wasn’t working or to introduce flexibility or variety.
Gundogan for Foden. Dave & Kev to play as deep lying inside forwards. Foden to play wide left.
Sterling to play along side Jesus. Walker to get beyond Mahrez.
More movement, more support, more variation and purpose.......not more of the same.
There was no variety to our play. Jesus was isolated twixt two big,physical centre backs all game. Our wide left man kept banging balls hopefully across the box or cutting it back to I’m Eric. Our wide right man only cut inside once to shoot with his right foot and never went outside to use his left.
Pep didnt swop his wide players positions once in 65 minutes !!
We can be brilliant when asking all the questions or get the first goal but quite ordinary when the opponent does.
It had shades of Wolves at home, rags at home in the cup and away in the PL, Spuds away and even Bournemouth at home.
What a bloody disappointing way to concede the cup.....again.
This one is down to Pep.
Are you on drugs?
Unreal some our our so called fans. So mcfc spent a bucket full of money on clearing our good name to be in the champions league and you don’t care a jot. Oh well maybe a ban for 2 years would be more up your street when top class players don’t want to come here to us and would prefer Liverpool or United. Let’s go back to being a little fish feeding off the scraps
He's mustard.Who the fuck is John Coleman?
No, seriously, who is he?
I don’t think Torres is a good example of this, because he really is extremely highly rated, but you’re right in the sense that the transfer policy recently seems to eliminate any player who doesn’t have a buyout, a contract situation like Torres, or has any competition for his signature. We hold onto mediocre players too long because the stars have to align for us to actually fucking sign anyone.I think the reason I worry one window is not enough is that it encourages us to be too conservative in our targets. I worry that Ferran Torres is an example of that but could be doing him a disservice. Are we going for Ferran due to his contract situation and to save money for elsewhere due to the huge overhaul needed, or is he truly the right man? If it results in us not getting Havertz for example, would we not be better off playing a slightly longer game and splitting it over two summers and getting the big hitters? Maybe Torres is amazing and I’m being unfair on him, but when I see us looking at players with contract situations going on, I wonder if it’s because we’re trying to do too much in one go and are spreading this year’s budget too thin. Again, maybe Torres is incredible and it’s just too good a deal to turn down. You’ll have to let me know on that as I’m really not sure. I just know that I want Havertz!
Dijon Dublin?He's mustard.
Given he's only started in 20 or so Prem games, we've dropped points in half the games he's started, most of those being losses. He'd be pretty much on his own with that ratio. We dont play well when he starts in the middle, he's too slow and too soft. Maybe it's a combination of he and Rodri both being slow, but either way every time he's named it hasnt gone well for us.For the interest of fairness, what's the tally for the other players in the team?
Ok, so in the interest of fairness, what's the ratios for the other players in the team? I suspect Gundogan does poorly here but I would guess Sterling is similarly poor on this front (although obviously I could be wrong), and I'd not say Sterling is the problem.Given he's only started in 20 or so Prem games, we've dropped points in half the games he's started, most of those being losses. He'd be pretty much on his own with that ratio. We dont play well when he starts in the middle, he's too slow and too soft. Maybe it's a combination of he and Rodri both being slow, but either way every time he's named it hasnt gone well for us.