Brentford (H) | Post-Match Thread

paulchapo said:
On the packed tram home now. Fucking dreadful from start to finish. A few of us called a Brentford winner and sadly we were right Anti football but they deserved it and could have scored more. Ref atrocious as per normal. We're going to need a plan B for when they nullify Haaland.like today. Too many off the pace, last week we got away with it, this week not. It's going to be a fucking long six weeks now.
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Think it’s unfair to call them anti-football. They had a game plan which worked and they had some moments of proper quality in the game.

I’d argue that our boring, slow and sideways passing is more anti-football than what Brentford produced today.
 
Isn't it funny how the ref only saw the Brentford players allover us in the box when the corner wasn't taken, but as soon as they were he saw fuck all.

I'm sorry but the handball is clearly on the line, the if you aren't sure don't give it was bollocks. Clear pen.

After saying that, we were poor today, haaland wasn't fit either and Pep had a bad day. Their is along way to go though so let's see what happens in the new year.
 
Paul1970 said:
I agree with you about cancelo as he is never in this world a full back . Great on the ball going forward but we have enough of them and would much rather have someone who can defend .
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the problem is not having Walker at right back because the setup is so strange using 3 centre backs and cancelo
 
We needed a worldy of a free kick to beat Leicester. We needed a softish last minute penalty against Fulham (granted, we played with 10 men and worked so hard) to win and we just got beaten by Brentford at home. That score could have been so much worse if not for 3 top saves by Ederson. We’ve taken 6 points from a possible 9. Whilst we all would have thought that “on paper” we should have taken 9, on performance, probably ended up with more than we deserved.

The blueprint is there for all to see over the last 3 matches. Opposition teams Get mass numbers behind the ball, play two defensive lines with little space between them, keep the majority of the defensive players within the width of the penalty box so as to create even more congestion and limit the space for City to play into.

They then break fast when the inevitable happens and city turn the ball over having pushed everyone forward/inside the opposition half. The amount of times in these matches where the opposition has had as many if not more players than us when they’re on the counter attack is alarming. This is exacerbated by the fact that we have very little pace.

It’s a really disappointing result to head into the World Cup break with. We could (will likely) be 5-points behind at the restart. Lots of football still to be played and I certainly won’t write this team off just yet. Let’s hope they come back firing for the back two thirds of the season.
 
Tolmie scores said:
I agree whole heartedly...the pace of the game is soo different to when pep started with us let alone Barca..we will lose a few more like this...spurs for eg when Son is back...we have a system that can stifle teams IF we keep the ball. When we keep losing it like today we don't wear out their legs chasing the game. I think the WC could be a bridge too far for many of our squad as well...KDB is getting ready to be rinsed..only advan grealish might get some game time..
Don't see where the confidence comes from re coasting the league. Clearly we wont..i said b4 season 83 point league winners this year ..for someone. It could be us..or quite easily not us.
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Personally I think it’s pretty much evens between us and Arsenal this season, particularly if Arsenal can avoid injuries.

Arteta could easily blow up after a couple of losses, and it’s a fine line between looking ultra-committed on the touch line and looking like a bit of a dick. But you can’t deny that his team are playing for him and, critically, his team are having a proper go at the opposition, so they’re always going to score goals.

Since our sixth goal went in against United, we seem to have lost our impetus and aggression, and appear a bit lost. The goalless draws against dross like Dortmund and Copenhagen wouldn’t have happened in previous years.

I don’t want to put too much weight on one performance, given that we were playing just before a World Cup today, the early kick off etc. But a lot of our players look absolutely fucked, and I don’t see the squad depth that we’ve had in previous seasons. We desperately need a full back and a winger, but it’s unlikely we’ll get either of them in January.

We’ll lose more games this season so it’s just a question of how many Arsenal are going to lose.
 
Cambo said:
We needed a worldy of a free kick to beat Leicester. We needed a softish last minute penalty against Fulham (granted, we played with 10 men and worked so hard) to win and we just got beaten by Brentford at home. That score could have been so much worse if not for 3 top saves by Ederson. We’ve taken 6 points from a possible 9. Whilst we all would have thought that “on paper” we should have taken 9, on performance, probably ended up with more than we deserved.

The blueprint is there for all to see over the last 3 matches. Opposition teams Get mass numbers behind the ball, play two defensive lines with little space between them, keep the majority of the defensive players within the width of the penalty box so as to create even more congestion and limit the space for City to play into.

They then break fast when the inevitable happens and city turn the ball over having pushed everyone forward/inside the opposition half. The amount of times in these matches where the opposition has had as many if not more players than us when they’re on the counter attack is alarming. This is exacerbated by the fact that we have very little pace.

It’s a really disappointing result to head into the World Cup break with. We could (will likely) be 5-points behind at the restart. Lots of football still to be played and I certainly won’t write this team off just yet. Let’s hope they come back firing for the back two thirds of the season.
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Accurate post.
 
Not only did they deserve the win, it should have been a more flattering scoreline, Ederson kept us in it multiple times whilst we created next to nothing.

I've been saying for weeks we have just 3 match winners in our squad, kdb, Haaland and foden, it's not enough. Haaland can't do anything without the supply and we're heavily reliant on kdb for that, if he has a poor game like today, Where's the supply?

Alvarez coming on was the right call but it had to be for gundogan, its 1-1 not 1-2 you're putting the point at serious risk taking off a defender for a striker, if cancelo comes off it should have been for gomez. I don't blame pep today for not making more subs, none of them are match winners, we didn't need Grealish or Mahrez to come on and pass it backwards.

Were so naïve when it comes to defender counter attacks, I was pleading for somebody to make a foul in the build up to their winner. We had 2 opportunities to do so and both times we just stood off them and let them create the goal. Piss poor.

We've got 6 weeks to stew on that shitshow, couldn't have been worse and I'm fully expecting rivals to win today.

Were obviously not in a bad position but it is a little bit of a false position, we've played nobody but Liverpool at Anfield, we've got by far the most difficult set of fixtures after the world cup, dropping points to Brentford at home, villa and Newcastle away is probably already about as many points as you can afford to drop against none top 6 sides and that's only because Liverpool are off it.

Let's hope as many players as possible go out of thr world cup early because Pep needs a week on the training pitch with them, we have to improve our game, it's not been good for a while now but we've been getting away with it until today. we will not get away with it post world cup
 
Millwallawayveteran1988 said:
Absolute shit performance. What the fuck are those defenders doing all game. Akanji for that last goal. Tragic.

If De Bruyne has a bad game then we are pretty average and it’s been coming that.

Definate world tackle avoidance today.

Crap
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Gundog was watching Toney move past him on the last goal and claiming for offside when the cross that came in was from the guy 10 yards in front of them.
 
super_city_si said:
To be fair, hes been pretty dodgy lately. I would have thought akanji could handle the physical Toney but in hindsight it was a game for Dias.
a bit disappointed in akanji today. also, thought he was fast?
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The constant rotation of CBs will do none of them a favour. We have 3 top class CBs in Dias, Stones and Laporte. They have proven it time and time again. We’ve somehow now ended up with an additional 2 CBs and Pep clearly sees some form of obligation to give them game time. Ake has improved but he should have been sold in the summer. Akanji has started well but whether or not he can be as good as the other 3 is yet to be seen.

This side does not need 5 CBs and giving them all game time is now detrimental to team because not only are Ake and Akanji not as good as the others, the chopping and changing is impacting on the performance of the other 3… Dias has gone from the best CB in Europe to rotation with Nathan Ake. Ludicrous.
 
Hope the players enjoy the World Cup as it’s clearly much more important to them based on today. 5 points behind a younger, hungrier team that has had a more difficult set of fixtures! Merry fucking Christmas. Argh!!!
 
grant1977 said:
Half of them clearly had their heads in Qatar. Fair play to Brentford
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Hard not to come to that conclusion.

It's hardly a disaster at this point in the season and I know it's naïve to expect players to not have one eye on the world cup but it doesn't stop it being a bit galling given how much they are paid by the club for their services.

We'll just have to see how quickly they get back down to business for the second half of the season. A slow return to form after the world cup would make it very difficult but who knows how this weirdest of seasons is going to pan out. On the one hand we could have multiple players out by the time we recommence the season, on the other hand Arsenal may find the break completely kills their momentum. We'll have to wait and see.
 
blueinsa said:
Players were shit. No pace to our play at all and hardly any sort of movement we are used to seeing. Whose fault it that?

What players not out there today win us that game?

Can’t wait for the Mahrez and Grealish posts as most weeks, most want them hooked for not being good enough!

Brentford played well, we played shit, ref and VAR did what they needed.

Shit happens, we move on with the greatest manager in football thank fuck.
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He is fucking great but fans should also be permitted to criticise him when they see fit.
 
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