Al Hilal (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

We look a million miles away from a team ready to win.

Miss far too many chances and defend like amateurs.

Once teams get us camped out and set in a pass pass pass to nowhere routine then it’s only a matter of time before we clown about when they break.

Whats the solution? Last match we used fb runners into the box with some crisp passing. Once that option is taken away we play around until caught.

Play fast defenders who can go 1 v 1.

Eddie? Delighted he was staying but fuck ne he can’t save a shot. Bono kept his team in it, our didn’t bother.
 
paulsimpson said:
I agree mostly but Khusanov covers that ground easily. But why play a very high line? It congests the playing area which is good if we can penetrate through it which we couldn't in the Secondary Half but gives the opponent an opportunity upon regaining possession to exploit our relatively slow back line.
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All on Pep, playing such a high line against extremely fast forwards was kamikaze stuff, watching one ball rip us apart time and again was embarrassing
 
wolviedinho said:
We look a million miles away from a team ready to win.

Miss far too many chances and defend like amateurs.

Once teams get us camped out and set in a pass pass pass to nowhere routine then it’s only a matter of time before we clown about when they break.

Whats the solution? Last match we used fb runners into the box with some crisp passing. Once that option is taken away we play around until caught.

Play fast defenders who can go 1 v 1.

Eddie? Delighted he was staying but fuck ne he can’t save a shot. That other goalkeeper kept his team in it.
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Unfortunately our defenders have aged another year and seem to be just as error prone as before. I think people miss the gravity of us shipping 4 goals against Al Hilal, who are not PSG or Liverpool. Our defenders seem to have weak mentality with the absence of Stones.
 
SWPISHOME said:
The defending is absolutely atrocious and that's being kind.

We really really miss a serious leader to play at centre back, All of our centre backs are far too nice! I wouldn't say any of them would put their body on the line.

That's why Khusanov should be playing in this team, At least he's aggressive in everything he does he loves the physical side of the game. That can't be said for Dias or Akanji.
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Our old men at the back don’t trust themselves in the box anymore due to how slow they are as most attempts at tackles end up as penalty’s and if pep insists on playing a high line with that back four well
We know how it’s going to end up.
Don’t want to knee jerk after last night but
It’s worrying we still don’t have a plan b with low blocks and if pep’s thinking about just out scoring the opposition then he needs to coach out front players into not kicking the ball straight at the keeper.
We could have scored 6 or 7 in this game.
 
coolcity said:
I don't even know why half of you bother watching City, or following football at all. You're trying to psycho-analyse every result and every aspect of it and not you've decided we need to get rid of a while host of players including Echeverri who I don't think has even had the chance to play a full 90 minutes for us so far.

No mention whatsoever of the fact that we played in excessive heat and humidity for 2 hours against a team that plays in those sort of conditions most of the time, at the end of a long tough season with players who only arrived a week or two ago yet still managed 30 shots on goal which is enough to win 9 out of 10 matches. Great analysis, ever wondered why you're not a world class football coach?
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Given Ive been a season ticket holder since 1977, and gave up 3 hours sleep in the middle of the night, I think Im allowed an opinion on what I watched and where the team is given in my time Ive seen just about everything a club can go through.

If we are only permitted comment thats of the happy clappy variety then you are barking up the wrong tree of a football fanbase. Id suggest what weve watched at City over the past 2 seasons - effectively a self-managed decline of the quality of the squad, sleepwalking at the wheel from boardroom downwards - is concerning and last night again saw the same old problems; a team sits in a low block and hits us on the break with pace, and once again we get done by it.

Pointing out the bleeding obvious doesnt touch the sides of psycho-analysis - the reason its mentioned is because a very large percentage of our match going fanbase can see the bleeding obvious, and the same deficiencies and repeated errors that need addressing if we want to get back amongst the winners circle.
 
ysmsa said:
Doku, are you serious. Created loads in this tournament, not his fault no one is reacting.

Today was about chances missed as usual and a vulnerable defence, should've been 8 - 4!
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Doku offers something going forward but neither offer anything defensively
 
ysmsa said:
Today was about chances missed as usual and a vulnerable defence, should've been 8 - 4!
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Agreed - and this is what is such a concern.

We are unlikely to create so many openings against every team, whereas we can pretty much count on offering up just as many chances to 90% of PL sides.

We were doing similarly toward the end of last season - even though the results were great, it was obvious to all that we were riding our luck, wasn't it?
 
When all said and done, we conceded 4 goals. Pedestrian midfielders are not fit for opponents counter attacking us!! Gundogan and Bernardo are a risk.
 
Weird that we thrashed Juventus and most were saying we re beginning to look like the team we were until last autumn, and now most are saying we are beginning to look like the team we were last autumn. Apart from the financial aspect, I for one am pleased the lads will get a decent break before the new season, although I suspect there will be a couple of friendlies arranged before mid August. A lot of squad juggling in the meantime, and a leaky north stand roof to fix
 
The only positive from been knocked out besides rest is now the clear out cam finally begin
 
At least Akanki will be happy...

Manuel Akanji just before the Club World Cup: “I have been a of this competition for some time now. We players would love to have some holidays, and some time for our bodies to rest.” “My teammates are exactly overjoyed about the tournament either.”
 
Another thing not mentioned is that weak mentality from parts of last season returned. We saw time and again last year when one went in against us, another followed quickly. What the hell is going on that they can’t get together and stay fully focussed immediately after conceding - poor
 
Lee the Blue said:
So glad I got up at 2am to watch that shambles. A few points to make after watching us conceded 4 goals to Al Hilal - when you do that you simply dont deserve to win

- I thought we'd realised fielding old men in central midfield doesnt work? Yet here we were again with Bernardo and Gundo deployed centrally and we waited until we were 2-1 down before making a change. STOP WITH THE OLD MAN MIDFIELD FFS

- Nunes isnt up to it, never has been and never will be. Pep had to withdraw him last night before he may have got himself sent off. Akanji comes on and though solid defensively he offers nothing in the oppositions half of the field, so this greatly reduces our effect as an attacking force. Priority 1 and 1A has to be to find a right back who fits Peps system and is up to the standard

- The goalkeeper; does he ever make a save these days? The "ole" wave at the 3rd goal as though diving is beneath him was annoying. The opposition keeper makes umpteen saves - every shot at our goal goes in. Ederson is injured too often these days and seems to be a man running his contract down to bugger off for high wages next summer. I cant be the only one who thinks we need a better keeper?

- 3 Centre halves on the pitch and we cant defend a crossed ball, for either the 3rd or 4th goal. Garbage

- Standard stuff from Savinho and to a lesser extent Doku - who was double marked most of the night. After great games they dont affect another one the same way for weeks. Their next games like the one vs Juve will be in November on what theyve shown so far

- No idea why Nico Gonzalez isnt seeing the field much at all and seems the final option in midfield. Always looks half decent to me when he plays but Pep clearly doesnt rate the lad at all. Khusanov too appears to have dropped into this envelope - the lad looked really promising but has since disappeared and Nunes, Rico,Ake and Akanji are clearly preferred to him - Im not sure why?

- Plus point is we should give them all the squad the month of July off to recharge, rest and clear their heads. Hopefully in that time we can use it to locate and acquire a right back and hopefully a goalkeeper who can make the odd save and looks like he wants to be here. Also time to remove all the dead wood in the squad - 8/9 need to go elsehwere, at a guess Ortega, Nunes, Stones (cant stay fit), McAtee, Reis (loan), Echeverri (loan), Grealish, Phillips, Walker for starters.
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Agree with all that plus I’d add Bernardo
To the list of dead wood he’s been fantastic
But offers us nothing now and can barely run.
 
No idea what to make of that.

First half was great but should have scored more, but if you concede four goals against any opposition then you're not going to win football games at any level. There's a long list of teams over the last twelve months who have done that to us.

We need another wingback. We looked flat when Nunes went off.

Not sure after that. Deflating after the Juventus game. There's a decent team in that mix of players somewhere but we can't be that easy to counterattack, we just can't be.
 
Only seen the highlights, but it seems managing the transitions is still a major problem and an issue that Pep needs to resolve. A fit Rodrl will obviously help ln this area but we are going to have to be careful with his game time certainly in the first half of the season until he is fully right. Whilst we were wasteful in front of goal we still have the players to create and score goals.
 
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