Leverkusen (H) | CL | Post Match Thread

[ancoats]

You play a side with 10 changes on it when you have qualified for the next stage.
To back Pep up on last night's selection is just wrong.
A win last night gave us a wee bit room for error.Now there is none with Madrid coming up next.

The Question is why so many changes will have to come when the final game is played, plus what place City finishes in the table is the key to the answer. 1st to 8th or a play-off place,

 

[Fordyboy46]

The thing that pissed me off last night was the fuck it attitude from Pep in the post match interview. Seems like nobody apart from the fans was arsed about last night's performance

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Aggressive little fucker aren't you? I thought you lot were all chilled in that state.

No, we dislike thoughtless posts just as much as everyone else here who’s responded to you do.

 

[chaddblue]

I just don't get why we didn't do three or four changes last night, three or four against Leeds. Unless he was furious about the Newcastle performance, but I can't see why that would be the case. We need to manage the squad but ten changes is insane.

If the criticism is bad now... it will be ten-fold if last nights result ends up dropping us into the play-offs

Can't imagine the club bosses would be too impressed either

 

[half & half derby scarf]

This thread is far more entertaining than last night's match. Maybe we could learn something from Everton and the brawl to the death between Keane and Gueye. The players look distinctly lethargic this season. I think we've lost some backbone.

 

[paulchapo]

Absolutely mate, zero confidence we'll go all guns blazing on Saturday. I imagine it will be all pedestrian again and will be very hard work

I've watched Leeds play a few times this season and in spite of not always getting the results they've impressed me. Hard working, a good system and pace going forward. They lack some finishing upfront but they are a decent outfit. Like Leverkusen we underestimate them at our peril.

 

[Cellarite]

No, we dislike thoughtless posts just as much as everyone else here who’s responded to you do.

Yes, but they’re having a reasoned debate, unlike you, you nasty little twat.

Have you lost sight, in your angry little hour, that I am one of the people who travels to watch City? I’m proud of the effort me and my boys make to get there but when we lose, I don’t complain about the hours on the motorway because we support City win, lose or draw. You see, it was my choice to move away.

 

[ancoats]

I've watched Leeds play a few times this season and in spite of not always getting the results they've impressed me. Hard working, a good system and pace going forward. They lack some finishing upfront but they are a decent outfit. Like Leverkusen we underestimate them at our peril.

Leeds is A Very Big Game Now

3 points are a must, a good display is a must. Fans have to go away from the game with something to cheer and look forward to the next game

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Have I hit a nerve? At no point have I said that people shouldn't support a team from somewhere else, nor have I said that Mancunians shouldn't move away from Manchester. I did it myself 26 years ago. The only point I've made is that when discussing the match, the team picked or the result, where a person travelled from is fuck all to do with anything. If you don't like the risk of travelling to see a weaker team named or a defeat, don't bother going. Is that ok with you, you, you?

There is no entitlement from me, even though I travelled a fair way and spent quite a bit of cash, and I certainly don’t think I’m anymore pissed off than I would be if I lived over the road.
However, given Pep’s enthusiasm for the CL, given that he’s never made 10 changes like that before, given that we’ve already drawn one game in the CL, given that we’ve got Madrid next and, given how much he moaned about a play off last season, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have expected him to not put out a domestic Cup team in a game that would have almost ensured qualification for the knockout stages.
And you’re absolutely right about the risks of watching a second XI which, incidentally, wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest for the Galatasary game, had we already been assured of the top 8.
So, as you said, it is my choice and sacking off the CL for next season is the most likely outcome.
If Pep can’t be arsed, why should the rest of us?

 

[pennypennytannerbob]

Maybe he was sussing what he needs to do in January, as if it isn't already obvious.

 

[ancoats]

Yes, but they’re having a reasoned debate, unlike you, you nasty little twat.

Have you lost sight, in your angry little hour, that I am one of the people who travels to watch City? I’m proud of the effort me and my boys make to get there but when we lose, I don’t complain about the hours on the motorway because we support City win, lose or draw. You see, it was my choice to move away.

NOBODY has a divine right to question the commitment of our fans
Manchester City fans stick together as one home and away and should never question loyalty or commitment
1 game or 1000s, you're a Manchester City paying supporter that the club welcomes

Well said matey

 

[Cellarite]

There is no entitlement from me, even though I travelled a fair way and spent quite a bit of cash, and I certainly don’t think I’m anymore pissed off than I would be if I lived over the road.
However, given Pep’s enthusiasm for the CL, given that he’s never made 10 changes like that before, given that we’ve already drawn one game in the CL, given that we’ve got Madrid next and, given how much he moaned about a play off last season, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have expected him to not put out a domestic Cup team in a game that would have almost ensured qualification for the knockout stages.
And you’re absolutely right about the risks of watching a second XI which, incidentally, wouldn’t have bothered me in the slightest for the Galatasary game, had we already been assured of the top 8.
So, as you said, it is my choice and sacking off the CL for next season is the most likely outcome.
If Pep can’t be arsed, why should the rest of us?

Agree with every word mate.

 

[ancoats]

Maybe he was sussing what he needs to do in January, as if it isn't already obvious.

The plan to rest 10 players was strange for Pep in a Champions League game
The method in his plan may have been to see a reaction from the squad players and a take note performances of key players fell well short, Ake Stones Khusanov Marmoush Aït-Nouri Lewis all looked well off the pace and slow and leggy

I don't think anyone could say they should be playing week in week out over the starting 11 at Newcastle

 

[Roachy]

NOBODY has a divine right to question the commitment of our fans
Manchester City fans stick together as one home and away and should never question loyalty or commitment
1 game or 1000s, you're a Manchester City paying supporter that the club welcomes

Well said matey

To be fair mate, no one is actually questioning the commitment of anyone who supports the club.

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

I've watched Leeds play a few times this season and in spite of not always getting the results they've impressed me. Hard working, a good system and pace going forward. They lack some finishing upfront but they are a decent outfit. Like Leverkusen we underestimate them at our peril.

Agree and ditto for Fulham and Sunderland

 

[AndyP68]

A number of posters in this thread feeling sorry for themselves because they travelled or paid money for hotels and trains. The simple solution is to not support a team who play in a different city or if you're from Manchester, don't move away. They deserve no more credit for attending last night than the lad who can see Mary D's from his kitchen window.

I think if you’ve shelled out £300 rather than £40, and spent six hours getting to the game and not two, then you are likely to be more pissed off when you witness that shambles.

 

[Pingu the Penguin]

Momentum is a big thing in football. We’ve shown that by the crazy runs we have gone on. We were building some recently. Part of that was through consistent selections in key areas allowing partnerships to build and develop. We’ve lost that momentum in the past 2 games so time to try and build it up again

 

[paulchapo]

The thing that pissed me off last night was the fuck it attitude from Pep in the post match interview. Seems like nobody apart from the fans was arsed about last night's performance

I'm not sure that was the case, he looked genuinely shocked and embarrassed. I know nothing about Leverkusen but they're third in their league so they must be half decent. I believe they had a load of injuries and if that was the case Pep probably thought he could make the changes and get away with it, as he had the big guns on the bench to fetch on if it wasn't working. Unfortunately it backfired badly. Although it was stupid to throw ten players together who have hardly played at all lately never mind together, given the quality he obviously expected more from them as we all did. I think some have marked their cards for a move out of the door and rightly so.

 

[Palerider]

Top 8 last year was attained with 16 points. It would have made much, much more sense to have gone flat out to try and beat Leverkusen, Bodo Glimt and Galatasaray and play a weakened side away to Real Madrid. We are now, probably, going to play a full strength side away to Real, a match we could quite easily lose. An absolute brain fart from Pep.

 

[IronsideKozuch]

At Newcastle, I thought we played well until the final action when we made a poor final pass / shot when I thought we were about to score.

My feeling was its been exactly a poor finishing, not a poor pass, because final passes been mostly great: Doku to Haaland who find himself 1vs1 and would finish it 9/10; Cherki to Foden who got absolute sitter; O'Reilly to Haaland who again finishes like 9 out of 10 situations like this etc.

I understand the point you make about being fair to people at the football club but making 10 changes doesn't give people a fair chance and Pep should have known that. I think that Marmoush and Khusanov will become big players for City in time but in spite of games like yesterday, not because of it.

its not about being fair, its about having 20 in form players in the squad, it’s about squad management — keeping the whole group motivated and making everyone feel they play an important role. You cant win shit with 11 players or 15 players + you don’t want a bad apple that poisons everyone around them, so Pep didn’t want to give chances only to a chosen few bench players but pretty much all of them.
He probably went a bit overboard with a few positions by his own admission, but again – the players had their chance and failed to take it. Maybe someone like Rico Lewis or Omar will get the perfect motivation to improve from this.
On top of that, the whole XI are more or less top players. It’s not like Leverkusen were just doing whatever they wanted against us – we were also a bit unlucky. Even in the first half we created a few very good chances, e.g. Ake, Bobb, Reijnders.

There were very few positives to that defeat. I could pick out Stones and O'Reilly perhaps as players who performed well. The reasons for the loss are clear to me too. Too many changes.

Would be my picks as well plus few were decent I thought like Bobb or Cherki. Yeah its a shit loss, but my point been not to dismiss the positives of the rebuilding process that we’ve seen in recent months because of the rather unlucky combination of two defeats in a row