City v Everton post match

[Phil1]

True. And you have a sense of humour!

:-)

 

[YaYa's Left Peg]

Hehe, i fully agree, Koeman is the grandfather of the modern definition of a defender at the very top. He played the ball rather a lot and took a few free kicks for Barca if memory serves. They may have got lucky, hey it happens, but they were also very solid at the back under extreme pressure. Everton will end the season with fewest goals against if they play half as well in a defensive sense for the rest of the season. We played 'pretty good' and still had them under the hammer all match.

There is no better time than right now in my opinion as a fan given our dynamics (of any club), espesh if you are 15+yo.

Everton's defence won't play as well or get as lucky as they did yesterday.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Everton's defence won't play as well or get as lucky as they did yesterday.

We need them to.

However the reality is Spuds, the Gooners, and all will beat them easily at home.

This happened to us last season when managed a 0-0 draw away at the mighty Villa. Everyone else went there and smashed them.

Two points dropped I'm afraid, but we are still top of the League and hopefully Pep will have gained more experience of the Premier League.

 

[lasereyes]

We need them to.

However the reality is Spuds, the Gooners, and all will beat them easily at home.

This happened to us last season when managed a 0-0 draw away at the mighty Villa. Everyone else went there and smashed them.

Two points dropped I'm afraid, but we are still top of the League and hopefully Pep will have gained more experience of the Premier League.

Swings and roundabouts bud. Spurs scraped a draw at the Hawthorns, where we routinely win in canter. The real deciders will be against other contenders. Last season we were abysmal and lost the league right there. In MP's first year, we beat all others at home with the exception of Chelsea, who fortunately gave it back by losing at places like Villa (thank you Fabian Delph!) and Palace.

 

[Dax777]

I don't think he watched it,too busy watching every single player on the planet playing

Yes. This clearly is you drawing s line under it :)

 

[Dax777]

well done Dax biggest load of bollocks ive seen posted on here for a while.

I guess it depends on what you consider a good performance. Did I like some of the play? Sure. Was particularly impressed by Sane's performance early. Liked Gundogan in the middle. He looks to be making great strides as his fitness catches up. But like I pointed out in my original post our play in the final third was poor. And that is where the difference of a good game vs a poor game lies for me.

By the way, I notice most share this opinion. Including Pep. Again I repeat, until Nolito's introduction, we labored in the final third, and our movement was sluggish.

On 3 occasions Kevin cut between the either the 2 CBs or the CB and the RB in one occasion, he was onside and had the player on the ball read his run he'd have had a clear line to their goal. Dihno, Silva and Gundogan all missed this opportunity. On other occasions, no one was making runs or dragging defenders out of position to create those creases needed to exploit their defense.

In terms of possesion we were dominant. But this was expected as Everton chose the option of bus packing as opposed to pressing.

So while our passing on defense and in midfield were 'sublime' as many chose to point out. I didn't find it uniquely impressive, coz it came with minimal pressure early.

I know getting in line is popular here, but I don't share the 'we were fantastic' claim. Yes, we should have won, having 3 penalties, 2 missed and one not called. And also coz we killed their leftback constantly and should have created chances from the right. But in terms of the type of football that creates chances from intelligent movement and incisive passing in the final third, these were few and far between. For that reason this was for me a poor performance.

But it seems many disagree. That's fine and not unusual :)

 

[Dax777]

It's unbelievable mate

Oh shit it!

 

[Dax777]

You normally have a good platform for performances from seeing it first hand, I know you weren't at the game and yes it does matter...

What did you think about our movement in the final third?

 

[inbetween]

Give Everton one chance and they score, give ourselves 3 and we only score 1, unfortunately that is the sole reason we haven't won since before the Celtic game.

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

Certainly, dropping two points at home, and above all, missing two penalties (and a third, which we should have been given on Sané) is no grounds for complacency.
But from where I was sat, I saw several positives to be taken from this match. Some exquisite approach work, especially in the first half. Free flowing passing, between two, three, four players, which suddenly found us in the last third. That was where we didn't perform, in truth, and only there. There is a terrific understanding developing in the midfield. Promising stuff from both our new boys, Sané and Gundogan, although they're obviously only performing at about 70% of their capacity. As did the team, overall – about 70% decent. Silva getting close to his imperious best. Sergio's developing a mind problem. He will get over that, but it had better be sooner rather than later.
We are top, and this team is still developing. We will play better as the season goes on. Of that, I'm absolutely certain. We must take the three points against Southampton, we now have no choice. Not satisfied with Saturday, obviously, especially gutted about the penalties, but still confident that the team's going in the right direction.
Funnily enough, most of the comments I could hear around me as I came out of the stadium were more balanced than some that are being made on here…

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

What did you think about our movement in the final third?

Against 11 men behind the ball, to create chances like we did, in the way that we did, was excellent... It showed that we will cope quite easily with the tactic in the future, as there won't be many teams as good as Koemans at defending there six yard box. Also, we won't have may days where the keeper makes world class save after save......

The poles in opinion stem from those able to see the whole pitch as they were there, the movement was excellent as we were invariably in positions 9/10 times to cause a threat (against a parked bus), to suggest otherwise is shortsighted, not because the minority are 'clueless' but the camera doesn't tell the whole story!!

 

[kas_tippler]

There's a concerning pattern emerging that we're turning into somewhat of a flat track bully team.

 

[jonmcity]

We will come up against many parked busses this season. We need to be able to cross and take corners, and we need players that can shoot from distance.

 

[Mike N]

There's a concerning pattern emerging that we're turning into somewhat of a flat track bully team.

Bit early to say IMO.

 

[TRUE BLUE NO1]

What did you miss from the first analysis?? Genuine question

Bad stream!;) ...difficult to even make out where the ball was half the time!;)

 

[Thaksinssoldier]

I had you down as more knowledgeable than this... What's wrong with team then?

The balance in the middle looks off with Gundogan in there right now. Which is odd, because when he's on the ball he looks very good. But something isnt clicking movement wise with him in there.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

The balance in the middle looks off with Gundogan in there right now. Which is odd, because when he's on the ball he looks very good. But something isnt clicking movement wise with him in there.

I think it was his 5th game back, may be wrong, however, he was integral to how silva and KDB played on Saturday: people who are asking where silvas form goes need look at how he plays without Kev, he isn't half the player when he's missing... I'd feel comfortable in that Gun is probably about 80% at the moment, as is sane and unbelievably KDB, and if it looks disjointed on Saturdays performance, fuck me we'll have some side when it does click!!

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Wonderful performance. Magnificent football. Just one of those games which 19 times out of 20 would be a comfortable win.

Sane looks a magnifcent player, ten times better than Navas. We will win this league easily and I wouldn't be that surprised to beat Barca at least once.

All these final balls are going to start coming off, and we are going to issue some serious drubbings to some teams.

 

[Manc Born & Bred]

Funny how the likes of Klopp, PEG etc need time to build a team yet everyone expects Pep to sort it straight away. Last time I looked if the league were to finish today we would be champions. Tweaks need to be made but on another day we would have scored half a dozen and that is against a team who have hardly conceded this season. Time after time we ripped them apart and we played the best football I have seen us play for a long time.

 

[Phil1]

I think it was his 5th game back, may be wrong, however, he was integral to how silva and KDB played on Saturday: people who are asking where silvas form goes need look at how he plays without Kev, he isn't half the player when he's missing... I'd feel comfortable in that Gun is probably about 80% at the moment, as is sane and unbelievably KDB, and if it looks disjointed on Saturdays performance, fuck me we'll have some side when it does click!!

Yeah, I thought Saturday was a strange example to use for us not clicking. I think the three players mentioned had a great understanding which considering the little time they've been on the pitch together was impressive.
They, and the team in general can and will get better.