Chelsea post match thread

[Matty]

Today is a strange one. We've just been battered 5-1, thoroughly bounced out of the FA Cup, and witnessed some truly awful displays from certain players. We've suffered our heaviest defeat of the ADUG era, our biggest loss since the debacle of that 8-1 at Middlesbrough, yet I'm more positive than I have been after draws, and even some narrow wins! The decision to field 6 teenagers in the starting 11 yesterday, brought about by the FA and BBC deciding to screw City over in the scheduling, meant that before a ball was kicked we were destined for defeat, and most likely fairly heavily. I think because I'd accepted this pre kickoff, and blamed the FA and BBC for it, meant I wasn't as upset/angry when it actually happened. I think the performances of some of the youth players were quite surprising, I honestly feel if we'd been up against a lesser side than Chelsea, who played pretty well yesterday, we'd have more than held our own. Adarabioyo looks like he could well have a future, he's a big lad, looked very good at blocking shots and, wit a little more composure, looks like he's not bad with the ball at his feet, something Guardiola will be looking for. The two Garcia's really shone in central midfield, nice passing and moving, hard work and confident. Faupala played well before tiring, although I still think he'll probably not quite make it. Celina was disappointing, never really got involved. He wasn't in his natural position though so there were mitigating circumstances. Overall it's never good to go out of a competition, and certainly not so heavily, but we can definitely take some positives from the game. One thing we also learned, if we didn't know it already, is that Caballero, Demichelis and Kolarov must surely have no future at City once Guardiola gets here, their performances yesterday were seriously lacking in most areas.

 

[Peter Doherty]

The most striking thing about playing the kids yesterday was how much our work-rate as a team improved.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

BBC moves the fixture to Sunday
City say no
BBC own the rights
City have to play it and field weakened team
BBC flex their media muscle to criticise City

I think that team we saw yesterday was a response to the BBC, we could have fielded a semi decent team but that selection was a C team, not even a B team. I have never seen us do that. City turned a high pressure game into a nothing game, which is what the FA cup should be compared to the CL.

 

[fathellensbellend]

as bravely and as well as the kids did, if i had known the team selection for yesterday, i wouldnt have bothered with norwich/villa or yesterday, i dont care about co-effiecients, and nor do i care about prize money. Pointless moaning about an eventuallity that had every chance of occuring, may as well have played that team yesterday at norwich and had the big guns fresher for leicester and spurs.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I generally like your posts on here, well thought out and very informative, particularly on the aspects of FFP etc. However this is one of the most depressing things I have read. The day I care more about this than my club winning a trophy is the day I start watching another sport.

Appreciate that but would even a full team have beaten Chelsea yesterday, they way we and they are playing at the moment? And what you've said is the difference between what you and I might want and what the club might want. Sad I know but that's modern football.

 

[Chippy_boy]

The most striking thing about playing the kids yesterday was how much our work-rate as a team improved.

Yeah I agree with that. In certain respects the team yesterday was better than our A team and effort and work-rate was definitely a step up.

 

[trevorriley]

Good to see the young players, they done great.. First half was i smiling and thinking im enjoying this.. Second half was a bit embarrassing for the club, I cant blame the young guys as chelsea where on song, but not good that we had to play so many young players, a club this size should have a big enough squad to be able to stop a thrashing like this.. Some bad buying over the last 2 years has given us a limited squad.

I hope that in 2 years if we play chelsea away in the cup we have a strong enough squad to put out a quality team with a couple of young players thrown in that could take the game on.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Appreciate that but would even a full team have beaten Chelsea yesterdayy?

They'd have had about the same chance of beating Chelsea as beating Dynamo Kiev away in Russia, I would reckon.

 

[YaYa's Left Peg]

What's worst playing a full strength side go through to the next round and possibly getting injuries to a key player which will impact on the rest of the season.

He didn't need to play a full strength side though did he? He could have played a much more balanced team of senior and youth, rather than throw our young lads to the wolves. We should have gone out there to win and send a message to the bastards that they can't grind us down. Instead we do the opposite and go out with a whimper.

We had a realistic chance of winning the FA Cup. Given that we haven't exactly got a trophy laden history, I'm not sure we have the luxury of picking and choosing which competitions we want to win!!

 

[Dribble]

Not in the circumstances mate no.

It's exactly what I have been saying about this bloke being proven true.

Some said he was 'protecting' the kids by not using them previously. I said that had already been proven not to be the case, by his use of Pozo last season, suddenly thrown into the team, playing out of position against top level, big, strong, players. The manager doesn't care, these kids are just pawns, to be used as he sees fit. Yesterday he was happy to chuck a whole bunch in, away from home vs the Champions. He hung them out to dry when it suited him, exactly as I said he would.

Some have argued previously, that the reason most of these have barely had 5 mins between them, is because it was 'too big a risk' to use any. I have argued that there is no risk at all. Yesterday a side containing mostly kids, held Chelsea until half time, despite being constanly let down by utterly shit 'experienced' players. The idea that one or two of these coming off the bench, over the past year or so, would have mortally wounded the first team, has been completely shattered & exposed for the utter nonsense many of us have always known it to be.

Then we compare these lads at their stage of development & think of all the kids who 'could' have played over the recent years, who were physically more suited to the task & have been discarded without even a trial run. Some written off as 'no hopers' because they allowed their standards & effort to slip during periods in the wilderness.

Then we consider the players picked, shoehorned into a 442 in order to suit his pathetic lack of tactical organisational skills, & as unbalanced in makeup, as many of his senior teams. It cried out for Kean Bryan to protect the awful, disgraceful Demichelis & Kolarov, but he picked a group of midfield kids who have barely made a decent tackle between them in their careers, to play against Hazard, Fabregas, Willian & Pedro & a totally inexperienced cb to play vs Diego Costa, next to two fucking clowns, in front of a shite goalkeeper.

The kids, I think, did themselves proud & nothing but positive can come of this from their perspective. This is not due to planning. It is due to their talent, & sheer luck that nothing happened to mentally scar them, as in the case of Boyata, when Mancini threw him into teams with similar disregard to his development & basically destroyed him.

Tosin was clearly shitting his pants & could barely kick the ball straight, but arguably defended better than the other 3. Well done lad. Barker was clearly nervous as fuck but still managed to skin a top fullback alive when given a decent pass. Those two will benefit from just getting on the pitch I think. Celina however, stuck out in no mans' land, didn't benefit. The two Spanish kids were getting used to it & particularly A Garcia looked like he's got a decent hour in him & was excellent at recovering the ball, very very promising.

Tbf to Pellegrini, he is probably the only person in the world who would have picked Faupala, who thouroughly doesn't deserve to be there on merit & totally unbalanced the team, but he put in a game effort. I suspect that will turn out to be his 'Macheda' moment, but well played to the lad & I hope I'm wrong. It is early days for him, tbf.

Fantastic that the kids have finally got started. I'm truly delighted for them, & we have a load more who could have done just as well or better.

Meanwhile, I'm counting the days for this con artist of a manager to leave & wish he had gone two seasons ago. He is completely unfit for the job & the luckiest man alive.

Top post, albeit I don't see Manuel as a 'con artist of a manager', I see him as a romantic dreamer who thinks if his system is played to the letter irrespective of which personnel he picks or who we play, that we'll get a result.

It staggered belief that he thought a team full of kids, with the slowest defence we could pick with Willy in nets and Fernando as our midfield lynchpin could go away to a full strength Chelsea, play 442 and not get smashed. It was to our kid's credit that they didn't record a double-digit loss. I just hope the kids concentrate on our future and not the present.......

 

[bellsouth]

Good to see the young players, they done great.. First half was i smiling and thinking im enjoying this.. Second half was a bit embarrassing for the club, I cant blame the young guys as chelsea where on song, but not good that we had to play so many young players, a club this size should have a big enough squad to be able to stop a thrashing like this.. Some bad buying over the last 2 years has given us a limited squad.

I hope that in 2 years if we play chelsea away in the cup we have a strong enough squad to put out a quality team with a couple of young players thrown in that could take the game on.

I agree with this. Was good to see them and for them a day they'll never forget. I thought though that after working hard for the first 45, they would have benefited from some experienced legs coming on at half time, they are not used to playing at this intensity and though it probably wouldn't have affected the result, the scoreline would have been closer and they would have learnt more. Sterling should have come on at HT in my view and probably Vinnie as well (don't see how 45 mins would have hurt his match fitness). This would have made us more solid and you could have moved Demichelis to the holding midfield position he eventually filled thus giving one of the strikers time off. The kids were hung out to dry in that second half I think.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

Appreciate that but would even a full team have beaten Chelsea yesterday, they way we and they are playing at the moment? And what you've said is the difference between what you and I might want and what the club might want. Sad I know but that's modern football.

The way we have been playing there was a very good chance that our best team would have been beaten yesterday. I have no problem with Pellegrini playing an under-strength team because he believes we should focus on another competition. Clearly the Champions League is more prestigious than the FA Cup. My problem lies with his (and some fans) stance that his move is justified by winning a last 16 match in the CL. I just don't believe that reaching the last 8 of the CL>Winning the FA Cup. If he wins the CL then I will happily hold my hands up and say he was right all along, I believe this scenario to be highly unlikely. When people take a look at the history books in 10 years time, everyone will know who won the 2015/16 FA Cup, nobody will remember, nor will they give a toss that City reached the last 8 of the CL, were knocked out by the 1st decent team they faced but gained some extra prize money.

 

[xenon_]

I love this notion that 'we can win the FA Cup so we should go for that instead.' So warrior-like haha.

And anyway... full strength Chelsea side is better than full strength Man City right now. Not to mention, their home records is good and our away record is tragic. Really not sure how anyone could see us winning this anyway. It's not that I'm using this fact as my reasoning to promote my side of the argument, I'm just using it to show how utterly misguided the other side of the argument is.

So we should risk our season by playing a strong team in the FA Cup, where the likelihood is that we will be beat, and this is because we have a chance at winning the FA Cup? So glad we have a manager that isn't a complete and utter fan-boy.

FA Cup is better than Chimps League all day, but Manchester City Football is Club is better still. What's best for the club is paramount.The weaker side had to be in the FA cup. If you try to play semi-strong sides in both, you're basically throwing everything in the bin, because our injury list would not allow for such a balanced approach.

 

[bondsman]

Superb post that mate, he's shown himself up for what he is with the team he picked yesterday, a man having his last throw of the dice at winning the CL, he doesn't give a fuck about the EDS lads and is just paying them lip service, he chose to play 6 of them together yesterday but hasn't the fucking bollocks to blood them when winning at home 4 or 5 nil against footballing leviathans like Bournemouth at home or any of the other teams given a good fucking hiding by us earlier this season or for the past two seasons for that matter.

Its a good job Pep is rolling up for next season as the younger lads would be leaving in there droves if we had another season of this birk in charge.

He somehow thinks he gained the moral high ground yesterday when in fact he made himself look a fucking fool, that game yesterday could have been even more of a pasting than it was, but heh he's got a ready made excuse right?

A good man manager by the way would make sure that buffoon in net never pulls on a blue shirt again, but he will be in goal on Sunday mark my words.

Two top posts in my opinion by yourself and neville. I hope your wrong about Sunday but I fear you will be correct and I fear NN will be correct in his prediction re: team for Kiev.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

The way we have been playing there was a very good chance that our best team would have been beaten yesterday. I have no problem with Pellegrini playing an under-strength team because he believes we should focus on another competition. Clearly the Champions League is more prestigious than the FA Cup. My problem lies with his (and some fans) stance that his move is justified by winning a last 16 match in the CL. I just don't believe that reaching the last 8 of the CL>Winning the FA Cup. If he wins the CL then I will happily hold my hands up and say he was right all along, I believe this scenario to be highly unlikely. When people take a look at the history books in 10 years time, everyone will know who won the 2015/16 FA Cup, nobody will remember, nor will they give a toss that City reached the last 8 of the CL, were knocked out by the 1st decent team they faced but gained some extra prize money.

Well he now has to win that tie. And we've never reached the last 8 of the CL, which is the least we should expect.

I'm coming round to the view that he could have changed things at half-time, particularly as we were still very much in the tie. But I'm also convinced that the set-up yesterday was very much about making a point to the FA/BBC. And judging by the BBC's slapped-arse reaction, the point has been well and truly made.

 

[xenon_]

The way we have been playing there was a very good chance that our best team would have been beaten yesterday. I have no problem with Pellegrini playing an under-strength team because he believes we should focus on another competition. Clearly the Champions League is more prestigious than the FA Cup. My problem lies with his (and some fans) stance that his move is justified by winning a last 16 match in the CL. I just don't believe that reaching the last 8 of the CL>Winning the FA Cup. If he wins the CL then I will happily hold my hands up and say he was right all along, I believe this scenario to be highly unlikely. When people take a look at the history books in 10 years time, everyone will know who won the 2015/16 FA Cup, nobody will remember, nor will they give a toss that City reached the last 8 of the CL, were knocked out by the 1st decent team they faced but gained some extra prize money.

His decision is already justified. But if we go through after Dynamo Kiev then it does vindicate him. and not because a quarter final in Europe is worth more than an FA Cup title. Don't be ridiculous. It's not ust FA Cup title versus Chimps League QF. this is injury and fatigue versus success. This is League Cup final versus, FA Cup round versus Premier League title versus Champs League Qf. It's not a simple gamble. One must consider all angles, all eventualities and even then... NOTHING IS GUARANTEED. THERE IS NO SWAPPING VICTORIES AROUND. So please stop this drivel about FA Cup title versus CHimps League QF. Argue something that someone is actually saying

 

[waspish]

Did losing yesterday not impact the rest of our season?

Now if he'd wanted to rest Aguero for Wednesday, or maybe Silva. Or perhaps Silva and Aguero, then OK I could understand and tolerate that. But to put out a side like we fielded yesterday, I think it was a bloody disgrace to be honest. Maybe it's because Pellegrini is not English or even European that he doesn't understand the significance of the FA Cup, but it is the 2nd highest honour in the the UK and part of the game's rich history.

Can see your point and we could play a strong side still get beat but when you have 2 important games plus the injuries we have you have to Priorities.

 

[Rolee]

Top post, albeit I don't see Manuel as a 'con artist of a manager', I see him as a romantic dreamer who thinks if his system is played to the letter irrespective of which personnel he picks or who we play, that we'll get a result.

It staggered belief that he thought a team full of kids, with the slowest defence we could pick with Willy in nets and Fernando as our midfield lynchpin could go away to a full strength Chelsea, play 442 and not get smashed. It was to our kid's credit that they didn't record a double-digit loss. I just hope the kids concentrate on our future and not the present.......

Did he think we would not get smashed? When did he say this?

 

[BobKowalski]

Well he now has to win that tie. And we've never reached the last 8 of the CL, which is the least we should expect.

I'm coming round to the view that he could have changed things at half-time, particularly as we were still very much in the tie. But I'm also convinced that the set-up yesterday was very much about making a point to the FA/BBC. And judging by the BBC's slapped-arse reaction, the point has been well and truly made.

Playing the kids yesterday was definitely more about delivering a 'fuck you' message to the BBC/FA etc than integrating the academy into the first team. Pellers has shown little to no interest in the academy prior to yesterday and then he dumps them in the 1st team wholesale. Holistic? Hardly.

On the flip side I had no problem with Pellers giving the V sign to all and sundry and at least the kids did get a taste of 1st team action and on national telly so whilst Pellers may have less than laudable motives for what he did I had no problem with the outcome.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

His decision is already justified. But if we go through after Dynamo Kiev then it does vindicate him. and not because a quarter final in Europe is worth more than an FA Cup title. Don't be ridiculous. It's not ust FA Cup title versus Chimps League QF. this is injury and fatigue versus success. This is League Cup final versus, FA Cup round versus Premier League title versus Champs League Qf. It's not a simple gamble. One must consider all angles, all eventualities and even then... NOTHING IS GUARANTEED. THERE IS NO SWAPPING VICTORIES AROUND. So please stop this drivel about FA Cup title versus CHimps League QF. Argue something that someone is actually saying

What are you saying?