Match Thread | Man City vs Crystal Palace (18/01/20)

[christened at st marks]

Palace deserve it for trying so hard, with so many injuries.

 

[blueabdi]

i hope we will win.
But what does Mahrez need to do to convince pep for starting the match when he is on fire? I think sterling is not playing well at this match and bernando should play the center

 

[hateutd]

hope a much better second half....If not ,then ... :(

 

[Clercqs]

Thought we actually started the game at great pace and played really well. Poor last 20 minutes though.

 

[razman]

Again I repeat this time and time again. The intensity of our press informs and ignites our attack. When certain players are not playing, the press isn't as ferocious. And by extension, our passing becomes labored and conservative.

Of course pep knows best ! But despite this - he rotates heavily

 

[SWP's back]

Palace's first goal from a corner this season too.

How bloody perfect.

 

[bert38]

Absolutely zero tempo last 20 mins. I'm afraid Raheem is in terrible form.

 

[Chi-town blues]

Kevin should have pushed out

True . Stones , kdb and gundog all shit at defending

 

[MeatHunterrr]

i hope we will win.
But what does Mahrez need to do to convince pep for starting the match when he is on fire? I think sterling is not playing well at this match and bernando should play the center

hes trying to keep everyone happy, thats the reason for this constant rotation

 

[Homar]

This was always going to be a difficult game. Palace are ruthless in exploiting our very obvious weaknesses. They have the sense to make the game scrappy. To close space down the middle. To wait for their opportunities, because our defence is sure to give them up freely.

It’s very difficult to win games like this unless you can defend well. You’re left relying on moments of individual brilliance to pull you out of the hole. How have we gotten ourselves into a situation where we have one competent, but injured, centre-half? A 20 percentage point win rate difference when he is playing to when he is not.

This is a failure of management. We’ve spent hundreds of millions on defenders over the last decade to be left with this! To allow Kompany to leave without replacement was a brutally fatal blow to our hopes this season.

The defensive “anchor” of Stones, Fernandinho (at centre-half) and Gundogan is catastrophic. I wouldn’t be confident of our chances against anyone in the top two divisions with that combination of players.