Which City game has annoyed you the most?

European Cup Final, Porto 2021. Pep plays 60 odd games - all season - with a holding midfielder and Fernandinho arguably the best in the world at the time.

For the most important game of the season - and arguably in the clubs history to that point - he ditches the system/team that got us to the Final, and crowbars Raheem Sterling into the team leaving a huge gaping Fernandinho sized hole in the middle. We lose 1-0 to a goal I will maintain to my dying day we dont concede if Ferna is playing. A mind numbingly insane team selection and defeat

Fernandinho was 36 at the time, he wasn't even the best DM at the club back then. A Fernandinho shaped hole in your memory explains your frustration.

Rodri was better that season, but he lost form in the final month or so. Made a mistake for one of Chelsea's goals in the league game at the Etihad. Fernandinho played in the FA Cup semi vs. Chelsea and was poor. No wonder Pep tried Gundogan there.
 
Fernandinho was 36 at the time, he wasn't even the best DM at the club back then. A Fernandinho shaped hole in your memory explains your frustration.

Rodri was better that season, but he lost form in the final month or so. Made a mistake for one of Chelsea's goals in the league game at the Etihad. Fernandinho played in the FA Cup semi vs. Chelsea and was poor. No wonder Pep tried Gundogan there.
You can make the above argument but after 20 minutes you can see the system is clearly not working. Change it and use the subs in the bench.

I forgive Pep for trying something different tactically especially with the previous 2 games v Chelsea in the weeks before the Final. But to not recognise it wasn’t working and doing fuck all about it was unforgivable.
 
You can make the above argument but after 20 minutes you can see the system is clearly not working. Change it and use the subs in the bench.

I forgive Pep for trying something different tactically especially with the previous 2 games v Chelsea in the weeks before the Final. But to not recognise it wasn’t working and doing fuck all about it was unforgivable.

Is that based on your career as a top manager? Every good manager changes tactics after 20 minutes if the performance doesn't match the expectations of the fans? That's silly.

Even Wigan have a chance to win a cup final, let alone Chelsea. It's football, even the best tactics don't guarantee a win or even a good performance. Nobody can be sure that if Ferna/Rodri had started, we'd have won. We might have lost by 3 goals. Given what Pep has achieved with City, it's small time to characterise his decisions as unforgivable.
 
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Well if he did try to change it tactically after 20 minutes it didn’t work. You don’t need a career in football management to see that.

The options of Rodri and Fernandinho were on the bench and he didn’t use Dinho until it was too late. How Sterling got on the pitch was unbelievable. He’d been terrible all season.

Not that he’ll care what I think but two unforgivable fuck ups from Pep in 9 years ain’t bad going.
 
The obvious ones have already been mentioned (the 2021 CL final, the Palace/Wigan/Rags Cup finals, the 2-3 in the Centurions season, Luton in '83, the Spurs CL game, the no show at Madrid under Pellegrini, etc etc). One I'll pull out of the hat. A home q/f in the cup against West Ham sometime in the mid 00s. I actually thought we had a slim chance to win the cup that year (I know, I know!), but we bent over and lubed up that evening. 2-0, IIRC (Ashton with both goals?). I was raging after that game.
Finished 2-1 didn't Musampa nick one? I believed too. Monday night when all QF were midweek iirc.
 
Fernandinho was 36 at the time, he wasn't even the best DM at the club back then. A Fernandinho shaped hole in your memory explains your frustration.

Rodri was better that season, but he lost form in the final month or so. Made a mistake for one of Chelsea's goals in the league game at the Etihad. Fernandinho played in the FA Cup semi vs. Chelsea and was poor. No wonder Pep tried Gundogan there.
On this we will disagree 100%.
 
I initially answered the cup final defeat v the rags but just recalled one game that really wound me up…….

City at home to Middllesboro last game of the season. Winner gets a place in the UEFA Cup. A draw and Boro qualify.
The crowd is all whipped up and ready to cheer the Blues on - and the team came out wearing next seasons away kit.
The club totally misread the room. Had the game been a meaningless affair then do that but not when it’s a game of that importance. The change drained the blues inside the ground and muted the atmosphere. Fowler missing an injury time penalty was the icing on the pissing us blues off cake.
 
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Crystal palace cup final . Their keep should have seen red . Everyone knows that , if it would have been other way round city’s keeper would have been off ..Palace keeper went on to be motm .
 
You can make the above argument but after 20 minutes you can see the system is clearly not working. Change it and use the subs in the bench.

I forgive Pep for trying something different tactically especially with the previous 2 games v Chelsea in the weeks before the Final. But to not recognise it wasn’t working and doing fuck all about it was unforgivable.

The thing is, Chelsea were hardly ripping us apart either. Some of Pep's tactics are about it being hardwork for a while and then the spaces come later on, so sometimes you need to stay patient. Possibly could have done better changes later on I guess.

The thing we all sometimes ignore though is that there 2 teams, 2 managers, 2 sets of tactics. And also that losing doesn't necessarily make the tactics poor - it could just be that on the day a few players didn't quite do what was asked of them, didnt follow the plan, or just plain played badly. Shit happens. Bloody annoying though.
 
Most of the ones I think of involved Spurs. On this occasion, the 4-2 home defeat in the FA Cup quarter final somewhere around 91. First proper chance of a cup final for years. Shite.
 
Losing 4-3 at the Swamp, that twat Owen
Stoke relegation to Div 2
Wigan final
Rags final
Palace final
Porto

In no particular order.
 
European Cup Final, Porto 2021. Pep plays 60 odd games - all season - with a holding midfielder and Fernandinho arguably the best in the world at the time.

For the most important game of the season - and arguably in the clubs history to that point - he ditches the system/team that got us to the Final, and crowbars Raheem Sterling into the team leaving a huge gaping Fernandinho sized hole in the middle. We lose 1-0 to a goal I will maintain to my dying day we dont concede if Ferna is playing. A mind numbingly insane team selection and defeat
It wasn't even the conceding, it was our inability to get the ball moving quickly from the defensive third without Rod/Fern. However as I have never watched one second of that game again I can't be sure.
 
I initially answered the cup final defeat v the rags but just recalled one game that really wound me up…….

City at home to Middllesboro last game of the season. Winner gets a place in the UEFA Cup. A draw and Boro qualify.
The crowd is all whipped up and ready to cheer the Blues on - and the team came out wearing next seasons away kit.
The club totally misread the room. Had the game been a meaningless affair then do that but not when it’s a game of that importance. The change drained the blues inside the ground and muted the atmosphere. Fowler missing an injury time penalty was the icing on the pissing us blues off cake.
personally looking back I feel that was a blessing in disguise missing out, feel Pearce would have taken us down following season, if I remember im sure we lost 9 of the final 10 games following season
 
The 3-3 derby 90/91 season still p*sses me off now. 3-1 up with 12 to go after a 5-1 the season before. White had hit the crossbar with a bit of a sitter on his hat trick IIRC.
Then gifting that duffer McClair two late goals. I was so gutted.

Also felt a bit of a sliding doors moment....
We were very good that season...do we get in Europe if we win that? Does the defeat hit united's confidence and they end up not winning the ECWC?

We'll obviously never know, but it played on my mind a lot until 2011!
 
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You can make the above argument but after 20 minutes you can see the system is clearly not working. Change it and use the subs in the bench.

I forgive Pep for trying something different tactically especially with the previous 2 games v Chelsea in the weeks before the Final. But to not recognise it wasn’t working and doing fuck all about it was unforgivable.
I’ve forgiven him. Nobody gets everything right so Pep’s 95% is probably about as near to perfect as anyone can ever be.
 
Is that based on your career as a top manager? Every good manager changes tactics after 20 minutes if the performance doesn't match the expectations of the fans? That's silly.

Even Wigan have a chance to win a cup final, let alone Chelsea. It's football, even the best tactics don't guarantee a win or even a good performance. Nobody can be sure that if Ferna/Rodri had started, we'd have won. We might have lost by 3 goals. Given what Pep has achieved with City, it's small time to characterise his decisions as unforgivable.
Probably just his opinion to the OP. The shite that folk come out with when someone has a negative about pep is bizarre. Pep makes selection mistakes often. He can be a proper weird **** about substitutions and his dress sense is fucking horrendous. Before you ask..no I’m not a manager of a club I’m just sharing my opinion on a football forum for sharing opinions.
 

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