Al Hilal (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

[ancoats]

They tried making the players go off after injury treatment. The refs got slaughtered for it. Same as they do for nearly every new directive. Only solution is to stop the clock. It won't stop the fake injuries but we won't lose game time.
They should be stopping clock for - injuries, VAR checks, goal celebrations and cooling breaks.

The only solution is... to fucking take our chances and kill the game

 

[Matt Diablo]

Just googled her, I don't blame the lad,I wouldn't leave the bedroom :)

I think she fukin would fella.

 

[ancoats]

I'm not going to have a gripe about last night, but we had 30 shots and got beat by a team that had 4 shots on target and they all went in.
I am however going to have a gripe at why we haven't brought in a new right back. Playing Nunes and Lewis there isn't going to work. They are midfield players and don't have the right attributes for that position. Why this position is being neglected I don't know. The left back position has been sorted now, But the right back seemed more urgent as Josko was already playing the left back position well.

Balance is needed, with speed of recovery

 

[dadnlad]

Just googled her, I don't blame the lad,I wouldn't leave the bedroom :)

ha ha she was on google box other week had flared trousers on sat on settee legs wide apart ( not that i noticed) as comments from girlfreind i replied very carefully lol

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

New rules are needed to combat these fake injuries. Maybe if the game is "stopped" for an injury and whether the medics come on or not, that player must leave the field for at least one minute. I'm sure you'll see some miraculous recoveries. It's one part of football that really needs a shake up. If the game isn't stopped then there's no problem. Head injuries maybe treat a bit different, but even then you see players rolling round holding their head when nothing has gone anywhere near their head.
The time attending to these fakers is never added on and maybe if the use of a stop start clock instead of letting the clock run and adding time at the end could change the fakers attitude.
Glad to see the new rule preventing keepers holding on to the ball too long. At last !

Arsenal aren't going to like those changes !

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Ok, just watched the highlights. Always a distortion of a game, and should always be taken with a large dose of salt.
But — Bounou did not play like a combination of prime Yashin/Banks/Casillas/Buffon, on the limited basis of those highlights. He apparently made some good saves, nothing absolutely out of this world.
Our misses — looking at Doku and Haaland particularly. How can you miss chances like that??!

Ed's keeping was nothing short of dire. It was fucking awful.

On the credit side — loads of possession, and a lot of chances created with it. Here, the stats don't lie: Al-Hilal, six shots on target, four goals. Pretty good return, eh? City, seventeen shots on target, three goals.
I was shouting at the screen in disbelief, whereas I'd already put the whole thing behind me very philosophically within half-an-hour of learning the result. Memo to self — do not watch highlights. Let it be.

 

[TShed]

You certainly can't have them both on.
To be fair to Bernie, Gundogan is the problem imo.

To be fair Silva has had a brilliant tournament but he can’t do another full season

 

[city5189]

I think she fukin would fella.

Not tied up she wouldn't ;)

 

[ancoats]

hang on pep's on phone

Pep has to see what we all can see ? DANGER at the back with one simple pass

 

[Norbert D]

Just watched the highlights/lowlights, take your pick. Keystone Cops defending is our undoing again. Started to feel positive after the Juve game but this has come as a proper reality check.
There’s no point digging out individual players, the manager signs the players and picks the team. I have no confidence next season will be any different to last season, seems like we are treading water until Pep leaves.

 

[dadnlad]

I'm not going to have a gripe about last night, but we had 30 shots and got beat by a team that had 4 shots on target and they all went in.
I am however going to have a gripe at why we haven't brought in a new right back. Playing Nunes and Lewis there isn't going to work. They are midfield players and don't have the right attributes for that position. Why this position is being neglected I don't know. The left back position has been sorted now, But the right back position seemed more urgent as Josko was already playing the left back position well.

but very rare they play as fullbacks more so when team sit very deep nunes was player making runs into box
lose posession the play into space after two passes were lucky if 2 cb are in position

 

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

To make matters worse, it's absolutely pissing it down this morning.

 

[Ghostofmerlin]

The defense needs speed if we are going to play that high, particularly with a questionable keeper. Prime Kyle bailed us out regularly with his speed. Khusanov needs minutes.

 

[Mcfc1.9.8.0]

New rules are needed to combat these fake injuries. Maybe if the game is "stopped" for an injury and whether the medics come on or not, that player must leave the field for at least one minute. I'm sure you'll see some miraculous recoveries. It's one part of football that really needs a shake up. If the game isn't stopped then there's no problem. Head injuries maybe treat a bit different, but even then you see players rolling round holding their head when nothing has gone anywhere near their head.
The time attending to these fakers is never added on and maybe if the use of a stop start clock instead of letting the clock run and adding time at the end could change the fakers attitude.
Glad to see the new rule preventing keepers holding on to the ball too long. At last !

If it’s a head injury and replays clearly show there would be no head injury a player should be punished in some show or form.

 

[eyalluvitt]

Although it isn't the be-all and end-all, i cant help but feel that its been a massive missed opportunity. We had Al-Ahli and Fluminense in our way to reach the Semi's. A team with the quality we have just shouldn't be struggling with that. Conceding 4 goals in a match like that is inexcusable. Same problems that blighted us all last season.

The USA is our biggest market these days and last night will be a huge embarrassment to the club.

 

[Paulmcfc2703]

It wasn't a false dawn but simply this is a team in the process of forming. The two goals conceded against Juventus were already something of a warning sign.

If anything this result today is an wake up call for many of us hoping for a rebuild.

The 2 players at fault for those 2 goals against Juve were once again part of the defensive shambles against Al Hilal and they along with the ridiculous high line will be here causing the same issues next season.

It doesn't matter who we sign if Pep picks Ederson, Akanji, Dias, Gundogan and Bernardo more often than not.

 

[Brightwell Bros.]

Counter is killing us and leading to mistakes when in possession for fear of losing the ball and conceding a goal which happens every game now.

Really not happy with the current level of defending. Pep said we would be better this season and so far we are just as bad if not worse. You can’t allow any player to run 1 v 1 into our pen area and not expect to concede. We make it so easy for teams who can low block and counter which any team can do if they can string 2/3 passes.

For all the new signings and for all the nice build up the defending is just as bad. The system is not working for us. More tweaks needed not soundbites. Really can’t see us coming out of this problem, conceding on nearly every counter is a huge issue.

I think it was something like every shot on target ended up in a goal in the 90 minutes.

That is a pattern now. It's not "oh, typical City, one shot, one goal" it's "we are good at defending until we are not, but when we are not we are gifting you a goal". And it happens 1-5 times a game.

 

[SamBlue]

The only other top team playing the similar way of ultra high line and having the similar issues is Bayern M. And guess who is their coach and guess where he picked his ideas from.
And if people think they can find CB fast enough to recover at 70 yards (or FB hugging the line even 80 yards) from his goal when the ball is turned over, I say good luck to you.
Pep always followed 5-5 principle until the consecutive teams became less and less adapted, or les and less good, to pass through "the bus", so more and more players from MF and CB have been sucked in forward in order to overload. And with Haaland how he's been told to play, we have a player with less lateral movement and ball involvement in the box than Atlantic lobster.
And with all his positional permutations and squad changes we completely lost cohesive structure, that is at leas how I see things unfolding.

 

[Mr HJ]

Really disappointing way to go out when there were some great signs in the Juve game. I just hope that this game will finally show Pep you cannot play at high intensity and win big games when you continue to play the same players in tandem in the most important moments.

To play Gundo, Bernie, Doku (who actually played well) & Savinho is not balanced and will not have the legs or defensive nous to stop aggressive pressing teams. Then to bring on Ake & Akanji as first changes ahead of a more mobile defensive minded player (Kusanov) was a mistake.

For me you need to utilise the new players more -Erling needs the creative passing of both Cherki and Tijjani - so please Pep don't repeat what went wrong last year. We lost possession and with the lack of pace in our defence we cannot afford to have Gundo and Bernie in the same side - Pick one only!

Our midfield & front players should be :

Rodri, Tijjani, Bernie, Cherki, Erling, Foden/Marmoush as first choice with Doku or either Foden/Marmoush as first change - If Rodri is to be rested play Nico. If you need to rest Bernie play Foden - horses for courses please - systems that are both solid and creative.

I also want to see Kushanov used for his recovery pace & maybe a right back will be more of a need than we thought - Nunes has done ok and is good passing forward but he was so static for their equaliser as he doesn't have the instinct for where danger may be. Ruben also needs to rediscover that "you will not pass" mentality or he shouldn't play - he was very quiet in this game when we needed a real leader back there. Eddy is a quiet keeper so we need a voice back there when things are getting tough - Ruben has done that before but looked a shadow of that last night.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

so its the keeper fault 2 defnders stood 2 yards inside their half of pitch while striker stood behind them on halfway line ok
it was great pass though

No I didn't say that and it's a bit silly to suggest otherwise

My point was that once through on goal, the striker is expected to score but invariably doesn't
That might depend on the ability and confidence of the striker, but equally the defensive nous and positioning of the goalkeeper