Al Hilal (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

Earlyriser said:
I share your concerns about Gvardiol . When he was being played out of position as a full-back he had some excuse but much of the problems were about his inability to read the game and a lack of pace. Now he's playing in is natural position his lack of pace is still being exposed. I don't think the partnership with Dias is the way forward and maybe Dias is the problem
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High line defending is not for everyone, big van dyke would look like a complete diddy playing for us
 
Brightwell Bros. said:
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.
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That’s crazy and not good enough.

My expectations have been revised after getting too far ahead of myself.

Bernie mentioned transitions, pep mentions them all the time so we know it’s a problem but can’t find a solution or we would stop doing it.

I hope last night focused a few minds about what is needed to get the team back to winning. Soft as fook goals every game is not acceptable. Last year became a joke defending. I won’t be giving them the same injuries/fatigue get out this time around.

Still fuming, not at the loss but the manner we concede. Sick of it now.
 
Bluearmy said:
300 mil spent on 8 players in 6 months, and still got major issues to resolve,

GK (Ederson doesnt save enough and even when he does he pushes it out to an attacker, we need a new keeper)
RB (Nunes done ok but we are suppose to be a professional football club with no bonafide Right Back)
CB (Issues with Dias (form), Ake/Akanji (form & fitness), Stones (Finished). Plus looks like Pep doesn't fancy Khusanov
DM (with Rodri potentially injured again and Nico G hardly getting minutes)
CM/AM (Bernardo/Gundogan started there last night WTF)
LW (Doku not consistent enough to start, impact sub at best)
RW (Savinho nowhere near ready to be starting games for us)

Same old, started ok last night, missed multiple chances (Mostly because the players who started are just not a goal threat (Bernardo/Gundogan/Doku/Savinho). Get caught by a ball over the top (Ati Nouri poor, should have sensed danger much earlier), and as soon as we concede (from the first shot on target again), you could see what was coming a mile off.

Then we get to Pep, who seems to love the old guard and cant see that playing them and a high line is killing us.... Lets hope last night is the straw that breaks the camels back. But I'm far from convinced. This tournament should have been used to integrate the likes of Ati Nouri, Khusanov, Gonzales, Rudolf, Cherki, Marmoush to be important players and phase the old guard out. Instead we look to be making the same mistakes all over again. Worried...
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Otherwise ok?
 
Don't think Khaldoon and the board will be best pleased with that line up and performance after landing the easy side of the draw and clearly wanting to win this tournament. Yet another complete balls-up...
 
Time for Pep to swallow his pride. Did he bring Klopp's number 2 in to ACTUALLY listen to him or just to cosplay at being humble?

Praying he has self awareness and that his ego isn't the size of planet like Capello suggested it was.
 
Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
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.
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Because neither of them know how to head a ball
 
Reactions after a game tend to be guided by the bias that the outcome is logical and deserved.

But the outcome last night wasn't logical in that the better team lost. 14:6 shots on target, 18:4 corners, etc. It's not like our possession was sterile: we created many chances.

Just like PSG were the better team vs Botafogo and lost, so City were the better team last night and lost. We could/should have been 3 goals up before their first shot on target.

At the same time, there's little doubt we are not the best team in the tournament. We needed a lot of luck to win it.

There have been good things this tournament: the new signings, Rodri back, Foden scoring, Doku's form, etc. We'll improve next season. I'd be surprised if we didn't win 85+ pts in the league injuries permitting. Where that would get us is hard to tell. I think we will compete for the title.
 
baggy said:
Don't think Khaldoon and the board will be best pleased with that line up and performance after landing the easy side of the draw and clearly wanting to win this tournament. Yet another complete balls-up...
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think Khaldoon far to busy to be manager but you never know
 
tactical issues wont go away unless Pep makes changes. we dont run enough, we either need workhorses in midfield to make this type of highline to work and serious speed in fullback positions with a GK that will save something occasionally and t least one CB that can eliminate danger not panic even more...

its over that we defend by keeping the ball on opponents half and bore them to death with our passing. the moment we lose the ball and do it quite often it turn into a high xG shooting chance for even mediocre sides while top sides can murder us badly.
 
city5189 said:
What started out as a decent first half despite missing several good chances turned in to a disaster second half and extra time...Dias for me is a major worry,gone from being a world class defender his form in the last 10 months has been shockingly bad
Savinho I know he's young and can improve but he really needs to toughen up,shits out of challenges constantly, gives up running for the ball whenever in a foot race, should be third choice at best behind foden,cherki,Bobb.
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Agree with all that.

I just look back to that first half and think if only we could have been a bit more clinical and ruthless in front of goal. Gundo, Dias, Haaland, Sav felt like we had loads of chances to be at least 3 up by half time …
 
baggy said:
Don't think Khaldoon and the board will be best pleased with that line up and performance after landing the easy side of the draw and clearly wanting to win this tournament. Yet another complete balls-up...
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Honestly not upset by the lineup, more so pissed off that Pep complains all the time how the sport is killing the players, too many games etc….

Then he keeps Savinho, Haaland, and Jeremy all on for 90+ mintues in the Florida humidity, while Foden, Marmoush, and Cherki rot on the bench for the final 30 mintues of regulation time.

We needed new energy and willing runners against the low block, and he refused to make any changes in the attacking third for the final third of regulation time.

At this point I’ve given up that he is ever going to change his thought process on that.
 
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