City Vs Seville Champions League Post Match Thread

Marvin said:
When we don't have the ball, you have to close the opponents down. And against good teams he is a liability and puts too much pressure on the team. I really hope the manager is big enough to drop him. He'll cost us in the Derby. I'd play the two Ferns or bring Kompany in, but if Toure plays we'll get overrun in the 2nd half and we'll have nothing on the bench to change it.

Still we got through against Sevilla with half the team out so just one more game

to go now and then we'll be back in
business
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Even the blind know Yaya that is less than decent defense-wise so i'll blame the tactics before I blame him and even if you blame him it wouldn't hurt to mention one or two things he did right which were massive in the outcome of the game imo, that's off course if you don't have any agenda against him.
 
BillyShears said:
I realise I didn't put an emoticon after my post, but I was genuinely kidding. A little irony considering our history both shared and otherwise on the forum!
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That's fair enough. Apologies for taking it the wrong way. Genuinely though, I know you really rate Pellegrini but doesn't it frustrate you to see us making the same errors at the back time and again and undermining so much of the decent work we do up front? It surely must dawn on him at some point that the constant playing of offside is too risky, even when we get it spot on we still regularly get stitched up by shite linesmen (eg Spurs away). With the speed of the game these days and the way the offside rule is now, I think it is a disaster waiting to happen especially when you have players like Yaya who aren't interested in pressing the ball when we step up. It just isn't a good defensive strategy.
 
BillyShears said:
The idea that Pep is a magic pill is nonsense and most of the people clamouring for Pellegrini to be fucked off so he can be brought in will be saying the same things about Pep in a year's time - too naive, no plan b, too attacking, not pragmatic enough.

It's a tired old debate and point but the owners have decided along with Ferran and Txiki the direction in which they want to go on the pitch. That direction means to some extent we will always be susceptible to being counter attacked and we will always have moments where the back four look all over the place.
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The problem is KDB, SIlva, Sterling, Kun or Yaya - don't press from the front - don't close down space quick enough which gives good teams a way to hit us and get through us.

I can't wait until Delph is back. He and Dinho will give us energy and hopefully protect the back 4 - for me Yaya is now starting to look his age - some good moments but we generally are vulnerable with him through the middle

I would start with the team that finished last night with Kompany in for Otamendi and KDB & Yaya up top against RAGs. Our midfield needs to be solid against them twats
 
Perhaps someone in the camp which allows no criticism of the manager, can explain what he was doing last night ?

Whatever, aside from the quite obvious Yaya issue, Zabaleta is currently the worst fullback in the Premier League. If he plays at weekend, we will probably get beat.

He was useless last season coming off the world cup & is even worse right now. Hopefully it's down to lack of match fitness, but for a whole season now, he has looked to me, exactly the same player as Gary Neville was, when he retired.
 
Lancet Fluke said:
That's fair enough. Apologies for taking it the wrong way. Genuinely though, I know you really rate Pellegrini but doesn't it frustrate you to see us making the same errors at the back time and again and undermining so much of the decent work we do up front? It surely must dawn on him at some point that the constant playing of offside is too risky, even when we get it spot on we still regularly get stitched up by shite linesmen (eg Spurs away). With the speed of the game these days and the way the offside rule is now, I think it is a disaster waiting to happen especially when you have players like Yaya who aren't interested in pressing the ball when we step up. It just isn't a good defensive strategy.
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No, I disagree VERY strongly. Firstly, I think our back 4 when settled are formidable. I think that our problem has been injuries leading to the constant chopping and changing of the back line. The actual set up is not a problem for me at all. But then, and this isn't a dig, I've always loved watching entertaining attacking teams, and most of them because of the nature of the way they attack are often wide open to the counter attack.
 
BillyShears said:
No, I disagree VERY strongly. Firstly, I think our back 4 when settled are formidable. I think that our problem has been injuries leading to the constant chopping and changing of the back line. The actual set up is not a problem for me at all. But then, and this isn't a dig, I've always loved watching entertaining attacking teams, and most of them because of the nature of the way they attack are often wide open to the counter attack.
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I like watching balanced teams. Defending properly doesn't have to mean a dull team. You'll never convince me that repeatedly stepping up rather than following runners is the way to go, those days have long gone. And I believe it is regardless of personnel because no matter who we have playing at the back it has seen us getting caught out time and again by teams who I firmly believe wouldn't have a sniff against defenders of the calibre of Kompany, Mangala and Otamendi if they were just doing the basics. Only my opinion though obviously.
 
Neville Kneville said:
Perhaps someone in the camp which allows no criticism of the manager, can explain what he was doing last night ?

Whatever, aside from the quite obvious Yaya issue, Zabaleta is currently the worst fullback in the Premier League. If he plays at weekend, we will probably get beat.

He was useless last season coming off the world cup & is even worse right now. Hopefully it's down to lack of match fitness, but for a whole season now, he has looked to me, exactly the same player as Gary Neville was, when he retired.
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Sadly, your comparison to Neville seems accurate.

He's clearly not fit but last night was the first time I started to think about all his other contributions in European games and they are not particularly bright.

A legend, for me, but it's not nice to watch him being exposed each week in terms of his positional sense.

We need new right and left backs next summer, although the candidates are few and far between?
 
Lancet Fluke said:
I like watching balanced teams. Defending properly doesn't have to mean a dull team. You'll never convince me that repeatedly stepping up rather than following runners is the way to go, those days have long gone. And I believe it is regardless of personnel because no matter who we have playing at the back it has seen us getting caught out time and again by teams who I firmly believe wouldn't have a sniff against defenders of the calibre of Kompany, Mangala and Otamendi if they were just doing the basics. Only my opinion though obviously.
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My issue with a lot of your posts on this subject is that i don't think they come close to reflecting the reality of the situation. We are nowhere near as bad a defensive side as you're making out. What we are is an attacking side in which there is more pressure on the centre halves than say a Mourinho or Benitez team. If anything I think that our offside trap, something which you seem to think is the root of our problems, is one of the strongest aspects of our defending generally. Wasn't great last night but I really do think that Zaba coming back in has upset the balance of the trap big time.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Sadly, your comparison to Neville seems accurate.

He's clearly not fit but last night was the first time I started to think about all his other contributions in European games and they are not particularly bright.

A legend, for me, but it's not nice to watch him being exposed each week in terms of his positional sense.

We need new right and left backs next summer, although the candidates are few and far between?
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I said to you in the summer we need minimum two new full backs - personally I'd replace all four.

Did you get my email ? Having technology issues!
 
Great win last night. I think people are judging us quite unfairly. We were missing Aguero, Silva and Kompany who normally would be the first 3 names on the team sheet. Added to that we were playing against a team that's won two Europa leagues on the trot and have obviously got great european pedigree - they know how to win big games.

The point is, we aren't going to dominate every game throughout the season, we are going to get injuries etc, we just have to stay competitive during these spells so when our reinforcements arrive we have that little bit more to push us on and win trophies.

It wasn't the prettiest performance, but we beat the most important team in our group whilst the leaders dropped points. Pressure is reduced in Spain now, if we win there we would have qualified!
 
BillyShears said:
My issue with a lot of your posts on this subject is that i don't think they come close to reflecting the reality of the situation. We are nowhere near as bad a defensive side as you're making out. What we are is an attacking side in which there is more pressure on the centre halves than say a Mourinho or Benitez team. If anything I think that our offside trap, something which you seem to think is the root of our problems, is one of the strongest aspects of our defending generally. Wasn't great last night but I really do think that Zaba coming back in has upset the balance of the trap big time.
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That's fair enough, I think we have, by and large, been terrible defensively since Pellegrini arrived particularly against the poorer teams in the Prem, relative to the personnel he has at his disposal. The football we get to watch a lot of the time is very exciting and I would definitely credit him for that but I don't think playing attacking football has to mean quite such a compromise of the defensive side of things. Ultimately when it comes to Europe we need to be much more solid in our defending because we are never going to score as many as we do domestically but we just aren't up to it anymore IMO because not paying enough attention to the defensive side of things has become the culture for us. As it is for much of the Premier League to be fair. It worries me that even when we are a couple of goals ahead, fairly ordinary teams seem to believe they are still in with a shout of getting back in to games against us. I think this is a reflection that opposition teams always feel they can get goals against us, that kind of situation is never going to see us go deep in the Champions League IMO. I do understand we will never agree on this though.
 
Neville Kneville said:
Perhaps someone in the camp which allows no criticism of the manager, can explain what he was doing last night ?

Whatever, aside from the quite obvious Yaya issue, Zabaleta is currently the worst fullback in the Premier League. If he plays at weekend, we will probably get beat.

He was useless last season coming off the world cup & is even worse right now. Hopefully it's down to lack of match fitness, but for a whole season now, he has looked to me, exactly the same player as Gary Neville was, when he retired.
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I'd be interested in what you think he should have done last night then?

No left back fit enough to play 90 minutes, and Zab still needing to get his sharpness back.

Not sure what other options he actually had to be honest.
 
BillyShears said:
We've been "far too open" since Pellegrini arrived. How many thumpings have we taken in that time?
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4-1 Spurs, 4-2 United, 3-1 Bayern. There's been plenty of others where the scores have been less but we've still been battered.

The problem is the lack of adaptability at the moment. We're trying to impose ourselves when we're missing the players to control the game. Coupled with an unbalanced side, at the moment individual quality has bailed us out.

Whilst I'm a big MP fan, I don't believe we set up to nullify the opposition, no matter who we try the same style, even if the opposition are better. Therein lies a problem.
 
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