Super post.View attachment 146438
Architects of our own downfall...
Fuckin gutted! It's the first time in months I've seen something approaching the real Manchester City. We had a rocky first 15 minutes where Real could've been two up, but we weathered the storm to take control of a compelling match up.
However, I never lost the sense that Real had it in their locker to score, so this match was always gonna rest on our defensive performance. Grealish looked up for the match, & I've never seen the Striking Viking run as much as he did tonight. And so it was that Grealish & Haaland combined with Gvardiol to open up Madrid to give us a just about deserved lead.
Grealish's chip is something we've been crying out for more of from him, & he found an on-rushing Gvardiol who chested the ball to Erling who sidefooted the ball past Courtois for the opener. 1-0 City going into the break on top.
View attachment 146441
After the break we continued where we left off & put Real under more intense pressure, but after losing Grealish in the first half, & Akanji at half time, Real began to take a foothold in the game around the 65 minute mark, with City playing on the counter.
We were relatively comfortable, but with Lewis replacing Akanji, Real shifted Mbappé to their left to form a deadly double against Rico. I could see it coming, & Real got a lucky equaliser that their efforts deserved.
Afyer that, the game became really open & turned when Ceballos fouled Foden just inside the box for a penalty. Haaland stepped up & side-footed a clinical 2nd for himself & City to make it 49 goals in 49 CL matches for him.
We just needed to keep our composure & concentration, but I sensed tiredness creeping in to our returning players, & so it was when with 10 minutes to go, Ederson under no pressure kicked the ball to Real in our midfield. Madrid couldn't believe their luck!
They moved the ball to the right, fired in a shot which was well saved by Ederson, but it eventually fell to the returning Diaz to equalise for the visitors again. I thought the game would end up 2-2 before the kick-off, so I'd have been comfortable with kicking off the second leg on level terms.
Looking more & more fatigued (which was understandable), we again gave the ball away again & succumbed to a late winner by Bellingham. We just didn't have the energy to keep the ball away from our danger areas & exhaustion contributed to several lapses of concentration.
We're down but definitely not out. On a positive note, there were signs that the City everyone knows & fears was in that performance somewhere. The real gutting thing was the groin injuries to Akanji & Grealish, as both were looking good up to the point they were substituted.
We can only hope neither injury is too serious, & that we take heart from the positives that were on show. Real's last two goals were our fault, which shows if we can cut out the individual errors, get more injured players back & match fit, regardless of what happens at the Bernabeu, we could have a strong finish to a dreadful season by City's standards.
View attachment 146442
My MoTM was Johnny Boulders. He was brilliant filling in for Rodri & excellent when dropping back into central defence. We've got a series of serious tough & crucial matches ahead of us, which will determine how our season will end up, so now it's squeakybum time for City.
Roll on the return in Madrid. CTID...
It's long shot based on what we have seen so far but stranger things have happened, especially in this competition . A man sent off, an off day for Madrid, a couple of big champions league debuts from our new signings, who knows. However even if we went 2 nil up, which is entirely possible with the quality we have who's going to be confident we will not throw it away.Madrid were more pish at the back than us.
If we can score first at the Bernabeu then anything can happen.
Yes he could have . Then we have ten men behind the ball and they must create something which isn't as easy as receiving the ball in our final third after a mistake and then punishing us easily.Weird that, he could've put the ball at their corner flag!
Nothing lasts forever, hopefully this season will prove to be a blip. Failing that we can seek glory elsewhere....
I'm not focusing on Lewis. My beef is with Pep. If he trusts Lewis at right back against Vinicius then he has lost the plot. And if he rates Lewis as a better right back then Kushanov, then why the fuck have we signed him????It was either Lewis or Kushanov who had to come on for Akanji. Both were risks. Pep went with what he knew. There's no saying Kushanov would have been any better based on the evidence of Chelsea and Leyton Orient. We've got holes and errors all over the team so stop focusing on Lewis so much.
& PlymouthWe have to beat Newcastle first, if we lose that then I really fear for us in Madrid
Absolutely baffling. He must see the same players making the same mistakes every fucking week.Again I'll say it . We have been embarrassing all year . We drop 140 mil on them and Pep still prefers players who literally can't run or put one foot in front of the other .
We should have brought our young centre half on. He has desire, physicality and speed. Everything that Lewis doesn't. Also Eddie's mistake at that stage of the game was unforgivable.
Not just you, some guys here said „we played well“ and some „the best of the season“.Bellingham’s first touch of the game was to tap in with the last kick. What a fraud.
Pep’s subs were fucking bizarre, Stones was running the show in the middle. As soon as he dropped back we were inviting them on.
Despite that we played well there. It’s the tale of our season we could be 3-0 up going into the last 2 mins of a game and we will all be shitting ourselves for the rest of this season.
We had all our so called best defenders on the field and still conded lots of chances.Time to bring in some full backs and i think only dias and gvardiol are good enough to stay.Don't get the optimism on here. Did I watch a different game? Should have ended about 7-2 to Madrid on chances and Madrid were awful.
Not bothered really. Went as expected in the end. 2-1 flattered us immensely when Haaland put the penalty in. Madrid should have already been a couple of goals up by the time Foden got fouled. I put £50 on Madrid to win this afternoon and have pocketed a nice £170 (incl. returns). Might as well make as much cash as I can out of this season.
We know we're not up to winning the European Cup this year, so going any further than the play-offs would only knacker us out more when there are far more important things to fight for as it pertains to our immediate future (finishing top 4/5). This team could do very well only playing once a week - twice is clearly killing us. A bit annoyed we have to go to the Bernabeau in eight days.
As for the game - same old issues rearing their heads. Mainly that we have a lot of old and tired legs in the engine room, which means we don't have much of an engine at all. We've won everything under Pep by overwhelming the opposition and exploiting the gaps they leave when they get tired, but we can't get the intensity going anymore so the other team just bides their time and waits until we're done in.
This is just what happens when a team gives everything to win four Premier Leagues on the trot. We're experiencing massive burnout with a squad that needs regenerating - we know this. One high intensity game against the current European champions and three of our lads go off with injuries while Akanji, Kovacic, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Gundogan, and Foden struggle to keep pace with the game.
Don't think it's a coincidence that Savinho has looked like our best player since November/December - he's a young lad who's got pace and skill to burn and wants to learn new things. The aforementioned players are just a bit worn out (all for different reasons). Time to let Khusanov, Reis, Gonzalez, and Marmoush step in for the rest of the season and start planning for the future. The target is 4th/5th and we'll go again next year.
Not gonna come for Ederson. He made a couple of mistakes at the end but he kept it from being 2-1 3-1 4-1 to Madrid on a few occasions. He also produced his best ever game in a City shirt to win us the bloody thing in Istanbul two years ago. He needs to do better, and I think we need to move him on personally, but I don't get the anger. Same goes for Lewis who's got limitations we're all aware of and needs to be played further forward.
Teams have burnout seasons. It happens. Ours is particularly severe but we're still doing alright - we're just not good enough to win the European Cup this year. Big whoop. We'll be back next season.
Correct. Micah Richards was a poor defender in some ways but his physicality got him out of jail. Rico just hasn’t got that in his locker.Lovely lad..great work rate...just nit defence savvy and too small not to be