Self explanatory really , two old boys innit not your run of the mill gobshitesTravelled 'Darn Sarf' yesterday to spend the weekend with Daughter No.2's family and, with the distaff side, take the train in from Beaconsfield for the semi-final tomorrow to meet up with our family/friends group.
Just got back from the local garden centre at Bourne End where I queued at the cafe for drinks and food while piking into the conversation of two old boys immediately behind me, one an Arsenal supporter, the other favouring Chelsea.
Neither goes to games but they clearly watch a lot of footy on tv and not just their own clubs. They were pretty disparaging about their respective clubs and how they are being run (especially the Chelsea supporter when calling Boehly a 'wide boy')
We were mentioned copiously, what with our separate rivalries for the League and the Cup, along with the old boys' analysis of our game versus Real. There was an element of 'City Bingo' in their chat but it was limited and they were surprisingly positive about City, namely stuff like:
- 'They're the best team on the planet'
- 'They outplayed Real.. the stats tell you'
- 'They play football like I've never seen'
- 'At least they don't cheat like Madrid did'
- 'They attack, at least they have a go'
- 'Wish we'd bought..(Rodri, Haaland etc)
- 'Wish we'd kept De Bruyne.'
I'm always ready to stand up to any media johnny or opposition supporting WUM when it comes to defending attacks on City. But there are occasions like today when you get a surprise regarding how other supporters might see us.
It made a welcome change for once!
Yes, we drew. Remember when the shoe was on the other foot after we beat Wolves on penalties? The media screamed that our record 21 winning streak wasn’t correct as we ‘drew’ with Wolves. We did claim the record a couple of seasons later.Do City still keep their unbeaten run despite going out on pens?
Do City still keep their unbeaten run despite going out on pens?
Yeah,thank fuck KDB didn't score. Still haunted by that decisionFlashbacks to the CL Raz ‘winner’ v Spuds, devastating
I had this happen to me at a CL match when some geezer was sat in my seat which I’ve had for donkeys years, he kept asking me all the same crap as you got, I just made it clear that I wasn’t answering his questions and he was going to look a right twat when he checked his ticket and found he was in the wrong row. Proper piss me off balloons like that, even got it at Wembley off a complete stranger who wanted me to “back him up” to get involved in a blue on blue ruck. So don’t worry about it mate, you’re not the only one.I WAS ACCUSED OF BEING A MADRID FAN BY FELLOW CITY FAN - thoughts.
I am mixed-race, and I live down south with my mum (but I moved to Manchester for uni) and my dad/granddad are blues so I of course follow them.
At the game, the guy next to me asked if “I was a city or Madrid fan” which I said silly question. He then asked me where I live and I said fallowfield. This p*ssed me off.
BUT 5 minutes later after telling him I’m a blue he has the cheek to ask how much I paid for the ticket…I got it through the 5-ucl game rule from the club fair and square and I didn’t get it through for resellers..never have.
I know the tourist stuff is a mess but is he bang out of order for making me feel like a fake fan? I know I don’t look like a local but I’ve supported this club all my life (21 years)!!
Why wouldn’t you look local? Manchester has always been multicultural, and City have always had a good proportion of non-white supporters. Just one thing that’s always made us the people’s clubI WAS ACCUSED OF BEING A MADRID FAN BY FELLOW CITY FAN - thoughts.
I am mixed-race, and I live down south with my mum (but I moved to Manchester for uni) and my dad/granddad are blues so I of course follow them.
At the game, the guy next to me asked if “I was a city or Madrid fan” which I said silly question. He then asked me where I live and I said fallowfield. This p*ssed me off.
BUT 5 minutes later after telling him I’m a blue he has the cheek to ask how much I paid for the ticket…I got it through the 5-ucl game rule from the club fair and square and I didn’t get it through for resellers..never have.
I know the tourist stuff is a mess but is he bang out of order for making me feel like a fake fan? I know I don’t look like a local but I’ve supported this club all my life (21 years)!!
The problem is Madrid have got the better of us twice now without being the better team. They are Kings of this competition for a reason perhaps. They seem to be able to find ways to win whereas we find ways to lose. That said the demolition of them at our place last season was probably worth watching the collapse in Madrid and that ridiculous penalty from Bernardo. Most likely we will cross swords again in the future and maybe it will be our turn to get lucky.All the tactical analysis in the world cannot get round the facts that Real scored 4 goals in the tie, of which two were cruel deflections and one was a shinned finish which came straight back to the eventual scorer. Their other was a worldie but it only ranks with the three great goals we scored at their place. Our domination at the Etihad was such that Madrid were saved bt the woodwork and a shot over the bar from a chance that KdB would bury 99 times out of100. And that's only two of the 33 shots we had in Wednesday's game. I'm not arguing with the result or denying that RM go through, but what I am saying is that on any other occasion one of the 32 attempts would have gone in as well the one KdB scored from. Lady Luck was on RM's side on Wednesday for 120 minutes and that's all there is to it. They were resolute and determined but they had the rub of the green from start to finish.
The penalty shoot out was different. It was not a lottery because it does test real skills and abilities, such as being able to perform under pressure, but everyone who takes a penalty knows that one day they will miss and they hope it will never be the one they are just about to take. For Kovacic his penalty was too near the keeper: for Bernado he made his mind up, took the kick and for once the goalkeeper didn't move. Ice cool from Bernado but...
So, there's no magic in the Real badge, no inheritance of football genius that transmits to all Real players and no success built into their badge - simply that on Wednesday they got away with it and eliminated a much better team, the best team in Europe and all the world.
The problem with the view that RM are "Kings of this competition for a reason perhaps" is that no-one can say what that reason is! They have won the competition 5 times in the last 10/11 years and 14 times in all, going back to 1955. Even if we confine ourselves to the years since 2014 and their 6 wins, they have had a series of different managers and a host of different managers. This raises the question of what exactly the reason for their success is! We have never been treated to an explanation which is in any way convincing, and increasingly we are thrown back on the kind of lunatic explanations of the rags' success in the nineties and noughties: "winning is in their genes", "it's part of their DNA" or "there's success built into the badge" and of course "they always find a way". But, of course, they've lost their way now! And RM did not win it between 1960 and 1998. Then it was the galacticos and 3 wins, then another "fallow" period until 2914. So, they don't ALWAYS find a way to win and we don't always find a way to lose. RM certainly didn't in 2020! It's fair to point out that in 10 CL matches against them since 2016 Madrid have won 1 in 90 minutes and 2 if extra time is included. They have never found a way to win at the Etihad. And if we think back two years part of their strategy was for City to miss a string of chances at the Bernabeu culminating in a prone Courtois scraping one off the line with his studs with the score at 1-0 to City. That is before RM's "way" to win in the final was for the goalkeeper to be man of the match ... On Wednesday RM certainly didn't plan to have 30% possession, let Haaland hit the bar and the rebound go fractionally wide, KdB to put a golden chance over the bar... We can criticise City's finishing, but we have to say that RM seem to have the rub of the green and the run of the ball at some very important times.The problem is Madrid have got the better of us twice now without being the better team. They are Kings of this competition for a reason perhaps. They seem to be able to find ways to win whereas we find ways to lose. That said the demolition of them at our place last season was probably worth watching the collapse in Madrid and that ridiculous penalty from Bernardo. Most likely we will cross swords again in the future and maybe it will be our turn to get lucky.
I think the honest answer is they're a billion pound football squad set up precisely to be an excellent cup team, back themselves in big games, have been willing to sacrifice other competitions at the expense of Europe when needee, and that have had a bit of luck along the way.The problem with the view that RM are "Kings of this competition for a reason perhaps" is that no-one can say what that reason is! They have won the competition 5 times in the last 10/11 years and 14 times in all, going back to 1955. Even if we confine ourselves to the years since 2014 and their 6 wins, they have had a series of different managers and a host of different managers. This raises the question of what exactly the reason for their success is! We have never been treated to an explanation which is in any way convincing, and increasingly we are thrown back on the kind of lunatic explanations of the rags' success in the nineties and noughties: "winning is in their genes", "it's part of their DNA" or "there's success built into the badge" and of course "they always find a way". But, of course, they've lost their way now! And RM did not win it between 1960 and 1998. Then it was the galacticos and 3 wins, then another "fallow" period until 2914. So, they don't ALWAYS find a way to win and we don't always find a way to lose. RM certainly didn't in 2020! It's fair to point out that in 10 CL matches against them since 2016 Madrid have won 1 in 90 minutes and 2 if extra time is included. They have never found a way to win at the Etihad. And if we think back two years part of their strategy was for City to miss a string of chances at the Bernabeu culminating in a prone Courtois scraping one off the line with his studs with the score at 1-0 to City. That is before RM's "way" to win in the final was for the goalkeeper to be man of the match ... On Wednesday RM certainly didn't plan to have 30% possession, let Haaland hit the bar and the rebound go fractionally wide, KdB to put a golden chance over the bar... We can criticise City's finishing, but we have to say that RM seem to have the rub of the green and the run of the ball at some very important times.
I think all this is true - I notice that Ancelotti, for example, has a much better record in the CL than he does in the domestic league which doe indeed suggest his team and his own talents lie very much in planning the "one off" big game. It's clear that a team has to be an excellent football team, have a resilient attitude and never give up to win competitions like the CL. BUT you also need the rub of the green, over which you have little or no control, and if we look at Wednesday night we can see many, many moments when fortune smiled on Madrid and turned its back on City. Last season Tony Kroos thumped on against the bar when Madrid were one down at the Etihad and had that gone in it COULD have changed the game. The year before Madrid could have been dead and buried but for Courtois' studs before they "found a way"?! So whatever sacrifices RM have made they've certainly not kissed Lady luck goodbye against City. But I know that in the long run luck as a decisive factor may well even itself out. As Pep says, yu compete and do your best at all times but sometimes you lose football matches.I think the honest answer is they're a billion pound football squad set up precisely to be an excellent cup team, back themselves in big games, have been willing to sacrifice other competitions at the expense of Europe when needee, and that have had a bit of luck along the way.
I think the problem with Madrid it never really does balance out. This is why we end up talking in cliches about them. That run in 2022 with PSG, Chelsea, us and Liverpool was one of the most blessed runs in a sport I've ever seen.I think all this is true - I notice that Ancelotti, for example, has a much better record in the CL than he does in the domestic league which doe indeed suggest his team and his own talents lie very much in planning the "one off" big game. It's clear that a team has to be an excellent football team, have a resilient attitude and never give up to win competitions like the CL. BUT you also need the rub of the green, over which you have little or no control, and if we look at Wednesday night we can see many, many moments when fortune smiled on Madrid and turned its back on City. Last season Tony Kroos thumped on against the bar when Madrid were one down at the Etihad and had that gone in it COULD have changed the game. The year before Madrid could have been dead and buried but for Courtois' studs before they "found a way"?! So whatever sacrifices RM have made they've certainly not kissed Lady luck goodbye against City. But I know that in the long run luck as a decisive factor may well even itself out. As Pep says, yu compete and do your best at all times but sometimes you lose football matches.
I certainly agree 100% with that.I think the problem with Madrid it never really does balance out. This is why we end up talking in cliches about them. That run in 2022 with PSG, Chelsea, us and Liverpool was one of the most blessed runs in a sport I've ever seen.