Champions League Final | Post-Match Thread

[robbieh]

Careful what you wish for.

I don't care. Chelsea were shit and we lost.

 

[Tokyo32]

Your swearing doesn't make you right REMEMBER that ok. Because you don't play a CL final without a holding midfielder exposing your centerbacks to counter stacks then say oh it's the players fault, everyone who knows even a little about football can see it's pep's fault, but hey if you want to suck up to him then good luck.

Ferna starting or not doesn’t mean they would not be able to counter though. They were able to play balls to the channels that I am not sure how fernadinho would have stopped them.

I don’t think a single person was the problem yesterday though, think the overall system was the problem chelsea were able to win the ball and attack the space we left. We didn’t constantly trouble them but I think they defended well with numbers.

 

[Bluekiwi]

Touchel won because he simply played his best 11,in their best positions. That is all.

Had we done exactly the same tonight we would be Champions of Europe.

I'm with you on this

 

[coolcity]

Yep, if anything it was Walker being caught out of position that put the whole defence under pressure, just that Zinch was the guy on the end of it.

But why do people always call it a mistake? It winds me up when commentators do it. As an example, Kompany was out of position when he scored "that" goal. Had it dropped to one of their players they could have scored on the break. A lot of our goals are conceded that way, because it's how we play. I don't see it as a fault, it's either that or play more defensively and probably score less goals and win less matches.

 

[Bill Walker]

Pep has a huge ego that needs feeding.

He decided tonight he was going to make it all about him and his ego on the big Stage, instead of the collective good of City.

That is likely the real explanation for his bizarre team selection and tactics.Instead of playing the system that had served us so well all the way to Porto.

Only 3 times this Season has he started any game without a DM and tonight was one of them.

The role he says he wanted Gundogan to play,he has never actually played.

It comes off,everybody goes wow Pep is a genius he won A champions League Final with literally no midfield.and new system. He gets his ego fed.

He fucked up,and football pundits all over the Country now think he is a bit of a Tit.For starting such an important game with an unfamiliar system and out of form players,and players out of position because of his changes.

Touchel won because he simply played his best 11,in their best positions. That is all.

Had we done exactly the same tonight we would be Champions of Europe.

As long as I live i will never understand leaving Fern on the bench, no DM and starting with Sterling.
TT probably couldn't believe his luck when he saw out team sheet.

 

[Bluefen]

I don't care. Chelsea were shit and we lost.

How can you say Chelsea were shit ? They had 4 clear cut chances to score, we had one which was blocked well by Rudiger

hands up we were out-thought

 

[coolcity]

Well it was what it was , surprised at line up yep. However I wasn’t particularly worried as I thought perhaps. It was quite clever to get a quick couple and then bring Fernandinho on ( mainly to avoid cards/ being a man down etc) . Gamble err ok. But what I didn’t expect was was we got everyone seemed shit scared , overawed by the occasion or something. I even thought perhaps there’s been a bust up , a row something was “off”. Any way we still nearly got out of jail. Ah well I am much much calmer now than a couple of hours ago.
Our time will come , we are inevitable..
For those slagging Pep and individual players , especially those advocating sacking Pep.. why ? When ? & who would you replace him with and how many of our targets do you think would sign without him?

That makes an lot more sense than most of the assessments on here. Had the changes worked Pep would have been a hero now, it's just fine margins.

 

[robbieh]

Reaching the final of the CL cannot be fairly described as "shambolic", ffs.

We consider ourselves an elite club. Madrid sack managers who fail in Europe. Guardiola has fucked up on numerous occasions. I don't care how much Noel Gallagher loves him.
Tonight was a fukin disgrace.

 

[coolcity]

How can you say Chelsea were shit ? They had 4 clear cut chances to score, we had one which was blocked well by Rudiger

hands up we were out-thought

They also defended extremely well, which nobody seems to be giving them credit for.

 

[wythenshaweblue£££]

Just not good enough tonight City well played the rent boys they done a job on us. Either way a good season no doubt I’ll feel differently in the morning.

 

[balotellishaircut]

Fernandinho coming on didn't change the game. Chelsea were awesome, Peps lineup and tactics didn't lose this game, Chelsea won it.

If you wanna call 10 men behind the fucking ball awesome, I suggest you find another sport.

 

[Dr Dweeb]

Calm down lads, we got beat, a long hard season. Ready to go for the next,

 

[Chak19]

Pep has a huge ego that needs feeding.

He decided tonight he was going to make it all about him and his ego on the big Stage, instead of the collective good of City.

That is likely the real explanation for his bizarre team selection and tactics.Instead of playing the system that had served us so well all the way to Porto.

Only 3 times this Season has he started any game without a DM and tonight was one of them.

The role he says he wanted Gundogan to play,he has never actually played.

It comes off,everybody goes wow Pep is a genius he won A champions League Final with literally no midfield.and new system. He gets his ego fed.

He fucked up,and football pundits all over the Country now think he is a bit of a Tit.For starting such an important game with an unfamiliar system and out of form players,and players out of position because of his changes.

Touchel won because he simply played his best 11,in their best positions. That is all.

Had we done exactly the same tonight we would be Champions of Europe.

That's my theory his ego got the better of him, the only other reason I can think of is that he was afraid Lahoz would be after Fern and that we would be down to 10 men early on, but then why not just play Rodri ? why give the role to a guy who hasn't played that role all season ?

 

[Bill Walker]

How can you say Chelsea were shit ? They had 4 clear cut chances to score, we had one which was blocked well by Rudiger

hands up we were out-thought

Chelsea were the better team they could have been two up after 15 minutes.
We looked so difference when Fern came on, he should have been on from the start, fucking ridiculous team selection.
Why the fuck does Pep always do this ?
I mean why start Sterling who's been off form for months.?
And when KDB went off why not bring Fern on and put Gundo into Kevin's position instead of bringing Jesus on. ?

 

[coolcity]

Chelsea could have easily scored six , and with a decent striker would have , the first thirty minutes was all Chelsea they then scored a goal and played to their defensive strengths , we needed a DM to stop them in the first half which we have played with for 99% of the season and would appreciate not replying to my posts with comments like garbage , i respect other peoples opinions perhaps you should do the same.

On the contrary, you are totally entitled to your opinion and I respect that you are entitled to it. But if my opinion is that it's garbage, that's my opinion and I'm equally entitled to it.

If you thought Chelsea could have "easily scored six" I must have missed something. Stopping them scoring wouldn't have made any difference unless we'd scored one ourselves. The outcome would have been penalties, not our strong point of late.

 

[Windrush48]

As soon as I saw the team selection I was concerned. Play your players where they have played all season and won. Don’t make them play something new in the biggest game of the season

no Rodri or Fernandinho denying support to the back 4
Gundogan being asked to play CDM when he has played best football in another position
Play Foden on left or right where he has made hay all season - not in the centre
Do not play Raheem because he has been out of form for weeks.

I don’t mind losing - I just don’t like losing like this.

1 shot on target, no clear cut chances is just not good enough.

I’m devastated for all of us who had to watch it at home and In pubs and the academy stadium and all those fans running around getting PCR tests, waiting until 2 and 3am in the morning for flights home, paying fortunes for tickets to watch that feeble attempt. It was easy for Chelsea in the end. We gave them the initiative and they took it.

Can we shut it down now, Suze1103 has said everything that needs to be said. 1937/1968, 2012 etc. tonight we played in the European Cup Final for the first time ever. Please young people, remember that. I cried in 1981, I cried in 2012,but tonight i didn’t, I was thinking it’s fine margins & to be fair Chelsea deserved to win.

If I never see us win the big cup, at least I saw us get very very close, think of all the other fans who can’t say that.

 

[coolcity]

Why is NOONE taking about the fact that Rudiger did a Ramos in KDB.

It was 100% deliberate.

I don't undedrstand that either, both losing KDB and him staying on the park obviously could have affected the game in a way that wasn't to our advantage.

 

[Pam]

The team he played in the semi-final had wholesale changes. Are you trying to say that we lost the semifinal because of Fernandinho and Rodri? Hell most here were not upset we lost that considering the number of changes we made. Today it was clear to see that Pep fucked up with having just one DM, that too Gundogan. Maybe we might have lost with Dinho or Rodri but just pick the best 11 that got us in the final ffs.

Pep has a huge ego that needs feeding.

He decided tonight he was going to make it all about him and his ego on the big Stage, instead of the collective good of City.

That is likely the real explanation for his bizarre team selection and tactics.Instead of playing the system that had served us so well all the way to Porto.

Only 3 times this Season has he started any game without a DM and tonight was one of them.

The role he says he wanted Gundogan to play,he has never actually played.

It comes off,everybody goes wow Pep is a genius he won A champions League Final with literally no midfield.and new system. He gets his ego fed.

He fucked up,and football pundits all over the Country now think he is a bit of a Tit.For starting such an important game with an unfamiliar system and out of form players,and players out of position because of his changes.

Touchel won because he simply played his best 11,in their best positions. That is all.

Had we done exactly the same tonight we would be Champions of Europe.

I hope Pep stays for years to come. That said, I totally agree with your analysis about his occasional ego trips. I thought he was over it after last year's CL Q/F but clearly, I thought wrong.

 

[robbieh]

Chelsea were the better team they could have been two up after 15 minutes.

They were. But apart from Reece James and Mount who would you want in our team.
We essentially lost to an interior team who were better managed.

 

[Cambo]

Yep, if anything it was Walker being caught out of position that put the whole defence under pressure, just that Zinch was the guy on the end of it.

I acknowledge I have not seen it again, so may be talking out my arse.

The goal was a consequence of Peps formation. We were getting battered down our RHS all match until that point because Bernardo was coming inside to help Gundo who was not capable in the CDM role.

Silva coming inside meant he was no longer in the RHS slot of the midfield 3 and Mahrez did nothing defensively. So Walker was having to manage the entire RHS defensively. Meaning he was caught out a little to regularly and our centre halves were at times pushing out there to assist. For their goal this is what happened leaving the space for the pass/goal. So I don’t really blame any of our back 4 for the goal as they shifted up and out to try and protect the space that was afforded because Mahrez didn’t defend and Bernardo was coming inside to support Gundo centrally. Ederson probably needs to take a little responsibility for the goal too. As a keeper if you come you have to take the ball.

We will never know what might have been.

I said when I saw the team that I cannot fathom why Pep started the CL Final without Ferna (or Rodri). Those I watched the match with were questioning before the match what tinkering Pep might do and not one of us had Gundo playing CDM position and either Fern or Rodri missing.

Very disappointing end to the season, but need to acknowledge it has been a great season still with both the PL and League Cup and a few records set. As well as making the CL Final and FA Cup Semi.

It is hard though as I don’t think Chelsea were that good last night and most of our players (more so midfielders and attackers) did not perform.