Al Hilal (N) | CWC | Post Match Thread

[noseve]

This is effectively two very different threads in one:

Those who are focusing on going out of the tournament; those who are concerned with an eye on the upcoming season(s).

I was really caught up by this CWC - despite myself - and am disappointed to go out, largely because it was a great chance to blood newbies in a competitive environment, even if we didn't fully exploit this opportunity.

Nevertheless, it's gone, so we move on - but the game highlighted issues that hint at the club's attitude going forward, and that's what concerns many on here. I love the optimism that coaching will teach 'defenders' with zero positional instincts how to defend, but if it does that'll be the first time that I've ever seen it and I've been watching football since the 1960s. Defending is a natural mindset that a player either has, or he doesn't.

Ait-Nouri is a terrific player - I love watching him going forward - but he is NO defender. He will be caught out of position time and time again. He allows attackers to run behind, unchecked, while he's caught ball-watching.

This is not a go at RAN himself, but the fact that we have just - seemingly having learned nothing from last season - bought him as a full-back suggests that nobody at the club has really appreciated the depth of our defensive issues.

So posts on here voicing genuine concerns about what's to come are not just 'feeling sorry for themselves because we didn't win another trophy' as some on here misinterpret. They've forgotten about the CWC already and are looking ahead.

 

[Eaststander1]

The space he gave the Juve striker for their 2nd goal in the last game was criminal

For some reason Akanji stopped running with Vlahovic there, and just turned and faced the guy with the ball ..... however that still shouldn't have stopped O'Reilly making more of an effort to stop Vlahovic, or cut the pass out, he was the only City player left at that point, ( aside from Ederson), but he was too slow in reacting to it .... i've said it time and time again, City players HAVE to remain alert, and cover for each other!!!!

 

[Coljj]

 

[vicblueman]

Apparently Rodri had been complaining of niggles for a week leading up to the Al Hilal game .
Why did Guardiola bring him on ?
Maybe he should of told him i'm going to leave you out of this game to give your body a rest just in case & see how you are in a few days time .

 

[Gordyola]

Thanks. I watched 5 minutes and saw it land at Bay 62. I don't know much about planes, but that was huge! No wonder they don't land very often at Manchester.

I'm now thinking who sat in 1st and who was in economy!!

747 is quite rare now only a few cargo operators in Europe hence why they arent seen often the spotters get very excited whenone is due normally for club charters
Mancheter has 3 x A380s every day bigger than a 747 also plenty of heavies such as 777 and A350s B787 as well

 

[Gordyola]

Apparently Rodri had been complaining of niggles for a week leading up to the Al Hilal game .
Why did Guardiola bring him on ?
Maybe he should of told him i'm going to leave you out of this game to give your body a rest just in case & see how you are in a few days time .

He has to play to find the niggles they wont take risks with him the doctor / physio and sports science team will maange his minutes Watch the Bobb documentary on CityTv to gain an insight Bobb had a dedicated physio who worked withn him every day

 

[69FACUPfinal]

747 is quite rare now only a few cargo operators in Europe hence why they arent seen often the spotters get very excited whenone is due normally for club charters
Mancheter has 3 x A380s every day bigger than a 747 also plenty of heavies such as 777 and A350s B787 as well

Thanks mate. All of that may as well be double Dutch for me such is my lack of knowledge of planes ( more knowledgeable about trains because of my once little folk), but am I to assume Manchester can take big planes.

Genuine question, when folk go to Mexico and some parts of the US, why do they have to schlepp to Heathrow? Is it lack of routes/ providers from Manc?

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Apparently Rodri had been complaining of niggles for a week leading up to the Al Hilal game .
Why did Guardiola bring him on ?
Maybe he should of told him i'm going to leave you out of this game to give your body a rest just in case & see how you are in a few days time .

To ease him back into to playing at the top level. It's quite standard approach with players returning I think.

 

[noseve]

Savio will should be lucky to make the bench if we can't get the squad numbers down

Slagged both of them all last season, but Doku maybe looks different this year, early days at least. If we can offer a threat on the other side so that they can't afford to double/triple team him as Al-hilal did, he definitely looks to have something about him.

The above applies to Nunes too, I think.

I'n wondering whether one of the new backroom team has been able to boost their confidence, Nunes in particular seems more comfortable so far (but will never be a full-back :-) )

 

[Marvin.]

Slagged both of them all last season, but Doku maybe looks different this year, early days at least. If we can offer a threat on the other side so that they can't afford to double/triple team him as Al-hilal did, he definitely looks to have something about him.

The above applies to Nunes too, I think.

I'n wondering whether one of the new backroom team has been able to boost their confidence, Nunes in particular seems more comfortable so far (but will never be a full-back :-) )

I had given up on Nunes but at the end of last season he really came on strong. I am so happy for him, and so impressed with his mental fortitude, that I am not going to say that he can never be a full-back.

 

[Father Paul]

There are stupid people or flawed characters who are unbearable when the team loses and goes through difficult periods (e.g., December 2018 - 3 losses in 4 league games, or December 2020 when we weren't even in the top 5 after the home draw vs WBA; btw, in both cases we won the title...).

They can't wait to scapegoat players (Gundogan, Rodri, Dias, Akanji, Savinho...) and shit on the manager, pretending to know better what the problems are (high line, slow midfielders, dated tactics, etc.).

Reading their posts and replying to them is a waste of time.

Well maybe we should say nothing at all. All of us silent. Or perhaps gushing praise endlessly. Reading your post Alex is far from inspiring but I would not go as far as to call it a waste of time. Everybody is within reason entitled to their view even people you don't agree with.

 

[Eaststander1]

This is effectively two very different threads in one:

Those who are focusing on going out of the tournament; those who are concerned with an eye on the upcoming season(s).

I was really caught up by this CWC - despite myself - and am disappointed to go out, largely because it was a great chance to blood newbies in a competitive environment, even if we didn't fully exploit this opportunity.

Nevertheless, it's gone, so we move on - but the game highlighted issues that hint at the club's attitude going forward, and that's what concerns many on here. I love the optimism that coaching will teach 'defenders' with zero positional instincts how to defend, but if it does that'll be the first time that I've ever seen it and I've been watching football since the 1960s. Defending is a natural mindset that a player either has, or he doesn't.

Ait-Nouri is a terrific player - I love watching him going forward - but he is NO defender. He will be caught out of position time and time again. He allows attackers to run behind, unchecked, while he's caught ball-watching.

This is not a go at RAN himself, but the fact that we have just - seemingly having learned nothing from last season - bought him as a full-back suggests that nobody at the club has really appreciated the depth of our defensive issues.

So posts on here voicing genuine concerns about what's to come are not just 'feeling sorry for themselves because we didn't win another trophy' as some on here misinterpret. They've forgotten about the CWC already and are looking ahead.

I said exactly the same thing on here about Ait Nouri 4-5 weeks ago, before he put pen to paper and signed for us ...... I spoke to a number of Wolves fans asking what they thought of him.

Not the greatest player defensively, looks great when he charges forward, but leaves gaps behind him that the opposition can exploit, he had cost Wolves a few goals ..... the Wolves fans all said the same thing .... and they also told me we'd got him far too cheaply!

And we haven't got defenders who are alert or pacey enough to cover for him ....

 

[alexmcity]

Well maybe we should say nothing at all. All of us silent. Or perhaps gushing praise endlessly. Reading your post Alex is far from inspiring but I would not go as far as to call it a waste of time. Everybody is within reason entitled to their view even people you don't agree with.

There's reasonable criticism of players and tactics, and there's criticism that is over the top. Sometimes, especially after losses, it's hard to be balanced but scapegoating players and writing the manager off is not something that I find inspiring.

It's normal to have difficult periods and bad seasons. Ferguson had plenty at United. Their fans wanted him gone just before he created arguably their best team 06-09 (imo, the 99 team was a bit lucky).

 

[Blue2202]

Piss poor from a team that are going to struggle again next season in my view.

Nothing will change from last season until the manager stops his insistence of picking players who simply can’t do what what he asks of them anymore… gundogan, silva, akanji, dias, ake and ederson are all performing way below what we have previously seen from them and at their ages have probably all peaked.

Combined with the likes of Lewis, mcatee savinho and nunes who in my view just simply aren’t good enough means our overall quality has massively dropped and won’t improve until pep at least tries to utilise all the new signings.

It needs to be taken out of pep’s hands and the old guard need moving on, we can’t have another season of the previously mentioned players stinking it out every week. At a minimum gundogan, akanji, mcatee, savinho and nunes need moving on for me along with the bomb squad and we still desperately need a pacy right back.

 

[ancoats]

He has to play to find the niggles they wont take risks with him the doctor / physio and sports science team will maange his minutes Watch the Bobb documentary on CityTv to gain an insight Bobb had a dedicated physio who worked withn him every day

Rodri will benefit from this playing time, the little problems will flag up for another 6 months, it's part of the recovery program and getting over the pains and muscle injuries.

I will say the next 6 weeks are going to be the hardest because he doesn't need rest or a break, he needs training and physio and muscle massages

 

[abellwillring]

The amount of times Akanji left their winger unmarked last night was unreal. The same guy that crossed the ball on for their winning goal, could so easily have been avoided

Was nowhere to be found for the moment that lead to their corner as well. Savio was back helping Ruben. The 4 CBs had a moment in time where it worked, but we cannot rely on Akanji at RB. Offers nothing going forward and he's not Kyle Walker -- gets out of position and doesn't have the ability to make up for it.

 

[noseve]

That's a brilliant sequence - you couldn't ask for more from your defence than that

 

[eyalluvitt]

Some very talented signings, but none of them can tackle.

So frustrating these days that every tackle is a free kick. Maybe Pep thinks no tackles no giving away free kicks

 

[eyalluvitt]

Thanks mate. All of that may as well be double Dutch for me such is my lack of knowledge of planes ( more knowledgeable about trains because of my once little folk), but am I to assume Manchester can take big planes.

Genuine question, when folk go to Mexico and some parts of the US, why do they have to schlepp to Heathrow? Is it lack of routes/ providers from Manc?

Hardly any transatlantic flights to Manchester these days, Edinburgh is the new 2nd airport of the empire after Thiefrow

 

[Gordyola]

The amount of times Akanji left their winger unmarked last night was unreal. The same guy that crossed the ball on for their winning goal, could so easily have been avoided

Exactly and he seems to be beyond critism, for me since he got fit and Pep has played him the defence has got weaker was culpable for the goal in FAC final He offers nothing going forward Was fantastic for us in his first two seasons and a bargin buy and I gave him a pass as he was playing with an injury for first half of last season