Brentford (H) - PL | Post Match Thread

OB1 said:
Why?
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Just a personal thing but I'd prefer the one captain/ vice captain system.
When I think of the top teams from a few years ago, they always seemed to have the one captain. I see no advantage to having Walker captain this week but maybe Dias next week.
 
Xhavenjoe said:
Just a personal thing but I'd prefer the one captain/ vice captain system.
When I think of the top teams from a few years ago, they always seemed to have the one captain. I see no advantage to having Walker captain this week but maybe Dias next week.
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With so much rotation, it’s more than possible for the captain and vice-captain not to be on the field so having a preordained order keeps things simple.

I think having a leadership group of players has a number of benefits. The great hing though is that City have so many players that could legitimately captain the side: that is a measure of the team’s personality. The current set of captains doesn’t even include the guy who hoisted the treble. Mad depth.
 
OB1 said:
Brentford as whole seem to raise their game against us.
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I'm not convinced as I think it's more a matter of our fifty passes backwards and sideways before we approach their area gives them time to man-mark all attacking players. We looked far more dangerous with a few quick breaks in the second half and of course Ederson to Haaland for the second goal summed it up.
They look good on the break but I doubt many teams will play such a high line against them. The keeper made some good saves, but those shots were quite close to him.
Their close marking meant the man on the ball often had no passing option and we lost possession a few times trying to make ambitious passes. We needed someone like Spanish Dave, Phil Foden or SWP who could wriggle out of tight situations and not lose the ball in the process.
They almost did a job on us, but I don't think they are particularly good.
 
East Level 2 said:
I'm not convinced as I think it's more a matter of our fifty passes backwards and sideways before we approach their area gives them time to man-mark all attacking players. We looked far more dangerous with a few quick breaks in the second half and of course Ederson to Haaland for the second goal summed it up.
They look good on the break but I doubt many teams will play such a high line against them. The keeper made some good saves, but those shots were quite close to him.
Their close marking meant the man on the ball often had no passing option and we lost possession a few times trying to make ambitious passes. We needed someone like Spanish Dave, Phil Foden or SWP who could wriggle out of tight situations and not lose the ball in the process.
They almost did a job on us, but I don't think they are particularly good.
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Well, maybe playing us suits them, but it’s usually a tough game and closer than one would hope given the gap in quality. So I still suspect an element of game raising but I don’t watch them regularly so there’s some speculation in there.
 
jma said:
I know this must have been expressed in the thread many times already, but Brentford were great today.

Really enjoyed some of the stuff they played.
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It was just like watching City!
 
Anyone looking at City+ for the full match replay? I'm just getting a post-match interview with Jack.
 
Just need to say that the defending, first on their goal, next on that cross that Ed blocked on the line, was true, true wank. Ed did well, but thank God it was more or less straight at his legs. Otherwise it's 2-0.
Long time since I've seen our defence making errors like that. In Europe, against the better teams, that would be 100% punished. Even in the league…
 
Just watching Frank on MOTD talking about a 'tactical' change with Rodri & Kova for Josko & Rico. I thought it was straight CDM/LB positional man for man but was there more to it - different system after half time?
 
Pep did feck the defence up tbf. Started with Rico on the wrong side, John and Kyle rusty as feck and Manu hasn't played that side for a while - plus no Ruben or Josko.
Surprised he did that against them, but he would have had a good reason.
 
oldius said:
Good win, tough game. Gvardiol was excellent when he arrived but they are a dangerous side for us - well coached too. Other than minutes in his legs, I was surprised we persevered with Kyle, but pace on one side and control on the other can create those overloads Pep loves.
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I kept a close eye on him when he came on and he was superb. A Rolls Royce of a player.
 
This was a great win given the international break disrupting rhythm, the changes to the team and conceding so quickly.

I dislike their 'pragmatic' style they usually adopt against us, but their build up play in the first 20/30 minutes was excellent. Our press was incorrect and overly aggressive - I assume we anticipated they would play a 532 and look to play long into the channels.

However, in possession they used 4 at the back and pushed Lewis-Potter onto Walker, created a deep box and then moved it quickly, with Mbuemo or Wissa dropping to become an extra man forward.

What hurt us was Brentford's willingness to play quickly into eachother, with a lot of one and two touch combinations.


We tried to press in a very aggressive 424, but with Lewis Potter pinning Walker and Mbuemo/Wissa the centre backs, the back four was disconnected and it gave them a big space play in. Plus Flekken became a spare man and had time to clip balls onto the wider defenders.


They pressed us man to man in the first half and Ederson/Haaland punished this with the second goal.


Second half we had a lot more control and should've killed the game - their legs were going from 60 mins onward. I expected the change to 433 from them at 70 minutes to kick on but we dealt with it fine.


The changes that got us control were -

- Changed press so Haaland squeezed Flekken to push play onto one side of the pitch
- Rodri for Kovacic - presume due to yellow but he's much better at timing presses and winning seconds etc
- Gvardiol for Rico, just a lot more physical



Our start has been impressive but we need to sharpen up defensively ahead of these next three games. Inter and Arsenal will dismantle a poor press. Both games will require a lot of patience too.
 
mcfcbill91 said:
This was a great win given the international break disrupting rhythm, the changes to the team and conceding so quickly.

I dislike their 'pragmatic' style they usually adopt against us, but their build up play in the first 20/30 minutes was excellent. Our press was incorrect and overly aggressive - I assume we anticipated they would play a 532 and look to play long into the channels.

However, in possession they used 4 at the back and pushed Lewis-Potter onto Walker, created a deep box and then moved it quickly, with Mbuemo or Wissa dropping to become an extra man forward.

What hurt us was Brentford's willingness to play quickly into eachother, with a lot of one and two touch combinations.


We tried to press in a very aggressive 424, but with Lewis Potter pinning Walker and Mbuemo/Wissa the centre backs, the back four was disconnected and it gave them a big space play in. Plus Flekken became a spare man and had time to clip balls onto the wider defenders.


They pressed us man to man in the first half and Ederson/Haaland punished this with the second goal.


Second half we had a lot more control and should've killed the game - their legs were going from 60 mins onward. I expected the change to 433 from them at 70 minutes to kick on but we dealt with it fine.


The changes that got us control were -

- Changed press so Haaland squeezed Flekken to push play onto one side of the pitch
- Rodri for Kovacic - presume due to yellow but he's much better at timing presses and winning seconds etc
- Gvardiol for Rico, just a lot more physical



Our start has been impressive but we need to sharpen up defensively ahead of these next three games. Inter and Arsenal will dismantle a poor press. Both games will require a lot of patience too.
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#24 simply played behind our midfield on our left, leaving Lewis damned if he did, damned if he didn’t…then he got yanked!

Gundo’s worst game in some time and I was very surprised he wasn’t yanked. Slow, turned into trouble, let his man get in behind him frequently. Kova getting the yellow saved Gundo!

Add to all that the fact that Pep felt like he was saving some legs for Weds nights first CL game, and we looked and felt very disjointed, even when Rodri came on, even though he settled things down a lot in the middle of the park.
 
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