Everton (H) | PL | Post Match Thread

[madloaf]

Best performance for a while, but I missed the last twenty minutes. Did they take Ake off for another injury or to nurse his hamstring? He seemed to be the only defender with his head on in the first half. Shameful mind games from Everton for the penalty, Haaland needs to get over this kind of childish nonsense from defenders, it ruins the game. We just need to be more clinical and try to get at least half of our 8 or 9 injured players back. Did you see the bench?

You did not miss anything the last 20 minutes other than a 4 on 2 Everton counter that should have resulted in another defeat for us.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I'm at the point where I'm quite surprised when we score but not surprised when we concede. It's either a turning point, a miracle or shit EFC finishing when they burst through on 90+ with four on two and miss.

 

[jim tolmies perm]

Was at the Etihad, grim day in Manchester but didn't feel City played too bad at all. Could have and should have won, something I'd struggle to say for many of our other games lately - in a way that just makes it more disappointing we didn't. It wasn't the win we needed, but there were encouraging signs to build off there.

No genuine City fan is actually calling for Pep out, just a bunch of faceless WUMs on here who would be only too happy for City to lose the best manager in the history of the club.

That's a fair assessment but why have we just fallen off a cliff in such spectacular style? It really doesn't make sense

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I have absolutely no idea how to answer that, apart from to say Pep has always shown a propensity to over-complicate matters, when the logic of Occam's Razor should be applied... The simplest explanation is usually the one closest to the truth. Why would Pep revert to inverted FB's, when his famed 4-3-3 was working so well? It had to be on his instruction, & if it was, it makes the mind boggle as to why...

We've seen this when Guardiola has reserved the most curious of selections & tactics for our biggest matches, leading to shock defeats, like the CL Final against Chelsea. He inexplicably changed what had worked so well for us that season & fucked us for that final.

However, I recall Pep's penultimate pre-match CL Final interview as we prepared to face Inter, where he told the world's media "Don't worry guys, I won't over-think this final". The only shock he delivered was dropping an in-form Walker for Akanji, but luckily it didn't affect us too much & we went on to complete the treble.

It's during that summer that we needed to start our succession planning, which we failed to do. We had the funds, & fans were crying out for us to go big, but our big purchase was a 21 year old Gvardiol. We were also not forceful enough in moving Kalvin Philips on, especially after Rodri's warning that he was close to burnout & feared for his health... A warning we failed to heed with devastating consequences!

As Rat Boy said during the match against the Dippers, the problem isn't having 30+ year olds playing in your team, it's when half your team are 30+ year olds it becomes an issue. We've got a lot of rebuilding to do, but our rivals & the clubs who possess our transfer targets know this too which weakens our negotiating position in the transfer market.

This is all on City. We've allowed this situation to develop for the last two years & now our usual squad evolution has now become a critical squad revolution. We need younger replacements for our ageing Superstars, as we can't afford time for the promising youngsters to develop as we did with Foden.

Could have written that myself, and we actually said some of that during the game. Stick to what worked so well - the 4-3-3 - and don't piss about.

And I've said on here before that we should have been ruthless after the CL final, when we knew that some of our players would be coming to the end of their top-level careers in a couple of years. That failure, and Pep's loyalty to a small, ageing squad, has killed us.

 

[Norbert D]

Best performance for a while, but I missed the last twenty minutes. Did they take Ake off for another injury or to nurse his hamstring? He seemed to be the only defender with his head on in the first half. Shameful mind games from Everton for the penalty, Haaland needs to get over this kind of childish nonsense from defenders, it ruins the game. We just need to be more clinical and try to get at least half of our 8 or 9 injured players back. Did you see the bench?

Haaland is a confidence player and at the moment it’s at rock bottom. Really didn’t expect him to score, he body language was that he didn’t expect to score.

 

[Bluesince1979]

Fair enough mate. The players haven't just suddenly lost all footballing ability though, look at our results pre-October international break we were unbeaten. Its now up to Pep to motivate them to get back the results, at the moment that's not happening and it cant all just be stuck on the players.

Unbeaten but shit

 

[Gone for a Burton]

Was at the Etihad, grim day in Manchester but didn't feel City played too bad at all. Could have and should have won, something I'd struggle to say for many of our other games lately - in a way that just makes it more disappointing we didn't. It wasn't the win we needed, but there were encouraging signs to build off there.

No genuine City fan is actually calling for Pep out, just a bunch of faceless WUMs on here who would be only too happy for City to lose the best manager in the history of the club.

Should've been deservedly 2 up....
their first shot after FOUR defensive errors.... 1 all !!

Substitutions 15 minutes too late AGAIN !!

Game Management ??????

 

[David White]

We showed a bit of intent early doors today and looked dangerous.

Then there must have been a call to slow it down, and retain the ball at all costs and it fucked us. We shoot too late, we don’t get the ball in the box fast enough, we don’t tackle, we shit out of every single 50/50 ball and we defend apologetically.

We have some players that have been phenomenal servants to the club but age has caught up with them, we have some that are playing with niggles and injuries and we have some that simply are not good enough for a side that wants to challenge for titles.

Pep needs to back down here and let them play, like we did in the first few minutes. When we should be chasing a game we’re stroking the ball around like we’re 4 nil up with 2 minutes to go. There is no urgency and little commitment. Mistakes don’t happen as often and aren’t as costly when you’ve already scored a couple and the opposition fear a hiding.

Sadly, our greatest ever manager, which he undoubtedly is, seems to have absolutely no idea how to fix this until he can bring in a few players which is really concerning me.

 

[Grassland Blue]

Did we get 3pts?

No.
2 mistakes by the unfortunate Nunes for the first and a feeble attempt to clear the ball for the 2nd
Of course, you already knew that.

 

[J.G.Blue.]

That wasnt what was said

No but thats what i just said.

 

[bearcityblu]

On the positive side, we didn't lose. Now just 12 points needed for safety target of 40 points !

 

[Lavinda Past]

And that's why we have 70% possesion, they let us......

We can't hurt them when we've got the ball, we're too busy preparing for the next rotation.

Rinse and repeat.

 

[Bluewars II]

It has to be one of the worst decisions this club ever made not letting him go to Saudi.

He wanted it, and we "demanded 100M" WTF, they probably would have been happy to pay half, so 8 years service and titles galore would have cost us zero.

Walker 30m rejected, Ederson 40m rejected, Silva 40m rejected.

Shocking decision making, Khaldoon, you should be kicking arse big time.

I don't understand the Kev hate personally, he helped us win the title last season.

I think he deserve a bit more patience to get back into form, I think he looked more energetic and direct than Foden. I can't see much difference to how Kev normally plays, he always had high turnovers and Pep always said he expected kev to play further forward towards the end of his career.

 

[Akiva]

That's a fair assessment but why have we just fallen off a cliff in such spectacular style? It really doesn't make sense

There's been plenty of time wasted trying to dissect City's woes this season, but I suspect the answer is a combination of injuries, a failure to upgrade over the summer and a few key players having a particularly bad collective season.

I thought City looked good today. One shot, one goal for the opposition while we toil at the other end has been a meme for us for years and today was no different. Haaland scores the pen, or even leaves the rebound to an onside Foden tap in, and we'd be having a different conversation. It was a decent game that alas doesn't exist in a vacuum from our other less than decent games of late.

 

[GoatersLeftShin]

It was another dreadful, pedestrian, passionless display from a team who have completely run out of ideas and cannot do the basics. It was fucking boring that.

Quite honestly, if we didn't have some points on the board, this team looks like relegation candidates. I can't understand how Pep, a manager reknown for his love of midfielders, has ended up with a collection who can't defend or attack. I just can't see us winning another game at the moment.

It goes without saying that NDiayes goal was pretty much their only shot they'd had and yet towards the end of the game,they ended up with a scandalous 4 on 2. We made Doucore look like Yaya at times the way he rampaged with the ball.

Pep has brought so much to English football and every manager now plays his style. Every keeper plays with their feet and our rivals play inverted fullbacks and without strikers. I think he knows needs to learn from them now and get back to basics. Defend, don't concede and you have a chance. Play balls early and into space etc. unless we put players behind the ball then any team in the PL will pick us off.

I think the most worrying thing for me is we keep losing the same way. We just didn't look like scoring today did we? Haaland looks bored, Kovacic, Gundogan offer absolutely nothing. Lewis can't play in midfield. Only Savinho offered any kind of threat.

I'm also worried that any new players will come in and slot in with the boring sidewards passes.

I've given up on anything this season.

 

[red 2 hats]

No Rodri
No Ederson
No Stones
No Diaz
No Bobb
No Walker
No Grealish
No Nunez

No bench
No depth
No leadership
No hope

 

[IrishBloodEnglishHeart]

I don't understand the Kev hate personally, he helped us win the title last season.

I think he deserve a bit more patience to get back into form, I think he looked more energetic and direct than Foden. I can't see much difference to how Kev normally plays, he always had high turnovers and Pep always said he expected kev to play further forward towards the end of his career.

Wasn’t Kev injured for 3 months? It was Foden that won us the title last season, stepping up. His fall off this season is dramatic

 

[blue whippet]

I'm at the point where I'm quite surprised when we score but not surprised when we concede. It's either a turning point, a miracle or shit EFC finishing when they burst through on 90+ with four on two and miss.

I will hold my hands up and admit I wasn't in the least bit surprised that Earling didn't score his penalty.

 

[Lavinda Past]

That penalty goes in we start getting our swagger back.

The saga now continues,

Good bits of play today, improved performance. Yet still below our usual standards. Midfield wasn't over run.
Hopefully we can build from this.

We were playing Everton. Our midfield was never going to get overrun, just bypassed.

 

[lawton mellor]

Haaland is a confidence player and at the moment it’s at rock bottom. Really didn’t expect him to score, he body language was that he didn’t expect to score.

Is Haalands dip in form since the death of a family friend?