Crystal Palace (H) - Post Match

[cookster]

That happened because KDB lost a tackle that was at least 80/20 in his favour & that allowed Palace to break. The number of tackles we lost that we should have won was criminal. There was one where Zara had 3 City players around him, all capable of winning the ball, but somehow came away with it unchallenged.

Having got into a winning position with minutes to go, yet again we didn't show the drive or desire to defend that lead. Soriano and Begiristain should be asking the same hard questions of Pep that Cook & Marwood asked of Hughes when his team went through a patch where we couldn't hold onto a lead. And if Pep can't answer those questions satisfactorily then he can have no complaints if he suffers the same fate.

I assume this post is after match anger. It can lead to unrational behaviour.

 

[wahablue]

Has Pep stopped the defence from tackling,we were pathetic when they broke,too many not turning up,Stones needs to grow a pair,weak,Gundog 90% of his passes are square or back,there is no pace to the man,the forwards were static till 75 mins,Sterling still off the boil,as was Kev.subs on to late.Still enough of our display,what got my goat was the wimp,gutless spineless man in the black.He must have told palace players to speed up in their play,then advances threateningly in the 89min,after the whole palace team had wasted time from the first min.City performance was poor to slow in the movement of the ball,to many needless passes ,not enough movement.

 

[balotellishaircut]

I wish Pep would become more pragmatic but I don't think that will happen. If he's serious about winning the champs league with City, he has to work on the team night n day about defending, drill it into them.

But I won't hold my breathe, I can see us getting beat 5-3 over two legs against RM, and Pep coming out with the same old excuses.

 

[Homar]

I couldn’t celebrate Sergio’s second because I had no confidence that we’d be able to withstand the pressure that Palace would put on us even for just a few minutes. At no point in the game did I believe that we’d win.

When I reflect on the season so far, I can really only put significant blame on the management hierarchy. Allowing Kompany to leave without replacement was a crippling blow to our chances, even before the season had begun.

The issues cannot be put down to underinvestment either. Whist we failed yet again to strengthen after a positive season, we have spent a staggering amount of money on defenders over the last decade. The problem is that, Laporte aside, the last decent defender was signed under the Hughes era. This is simply just not good enough a return on investment.

Scouting and player acquisition is to blame. It has become abundantly clear that we lack the ability to identify good defenders. Laporte aside, we need to rip out that entire back line and start again. Stones, Otamendi, Zinchenko, Mendy and Walker all need to go. All of these players have serious deficiencies. We shouldn’t be handing over the task of rebuilding the defence to the same people that have repeatedly failed in this area for much of the past decade.

I said after the Wolves game that I expect more disappointing games this season. The same is still true. Nothing will change until the defensive personnel change. Pep can’t coach these problems away. The task of the rebuilding over the next few seasons is enormous. To wait for the Summer would be another catastrophic error.

 

[wattle]

I seem to remember @tolmie's hairdoo being lambasted on here for the mere suggestion that we listen to Real Madrid’s offer of £125m for Sterling or whatever it was. Doesn’t seem so daft now although if they’ve been watching him of late I reckon they might re-evaluate the price tag

Fuckin hell. That’s pathetic. He’s off form that’s all. With friends like these..... fuckin hate SOME city fans sometimes.

 

[stan bowles]

Trying to be objective for a minute, I thought Palace just about deserved their point. Hodgson always makes it difficult for us and knows how to set his teams up against us. The game was up and down for us - we started brightly first 15 - nice quick tempo but ran out of steam and intensity for the rest of the first half and for much of the second. I couldn't see us scoring the way were playing - all too slow and too many sideways passes after they saw off our early threat. Jesus and Mahrez coming on seemed to inject some life into us and Kun's superb second looked like getting us all 3 points.

Funny isn't it ? When we score it's down to our skill but when we concede it's purely down to our shit defending. I don't blame Stones for the equalizer, it was down to collective poor defensive work. Why was Cancelo too high up the pitch at that time ? One on one with Zaha is not easy for any defender - showing him the line was the best of the options rather than letting him come inside for a shot or dangling a leg out for him to win a penalty. With hindsight, Pep should have brought Walker on for Cancelo to shore up the right side rather than bringing on Rodri but I understand Pep's thinking in that Rodri's extra height would be more useful if Palace started to pump high balls into our box as he probably expected them to. Zaha did well to get half a yard on Stones and fire it across which Fern then deflected into his net. Our defenders are much better with the ball than without - that's the way Pep plays. Some days, like today, it works against us. Overall, we didn't defend well enough as a team against a strong, committed and well organised Palace team. Our attacking play lacked bite and incision apart from the 80-87 minutes.

 

[SWPISHOME]

I wish Pep would become more pragmatic but I don't think that will happen. If he's serious about winning the champs league with City, he has to work on the team night n day about defending, drill it into them.

But I won't hold my breathe, I can see us getting beat 5-3 over two legs against RM, and Pep coming out with the same old excuses.

These two legs could be any score really, But with the way we defend its unlikely we will come out on top.
Real Madrid have the nasty side to them as well that we dont have, Play acting, Getting the opposition bookings, Running down the clock...We don't do these things in the Champions League either, If we were winning 4-3 with two minutes to go we would still go all out trying to get a 5th instead of time wasting.

 

[mccity]

I seem to remember @tolmie's hairdoo being lambasted on here for the mere suggestion that we listen to Real Madrid’s offer of £125m for Sterling or whatever it was. Doesn’t seem so daft now although if they’ve been watching him of late I reckon they might re-evaluate the price tag

Is trying to flog a player going through a bad patch not a bit of an overreaction? It's unlikely he'll be like this forever.

I am totally confused wrt the handball rule. When the ref gave it, I said to myself there is no way VAR can overturn it as it defo hit his hand and I was convinced we were all playing to the tune of "if it hits your hand in the box, even if unintentional" then a penalty ensues.

So, can anyone state what is the exact rule that VAR are working to (gen Q) and not looking for only applies for everyone else​

What really stings about that is that in other countries and the CL the rule is that if you put your hand out for whatever reason other than to support your body and it hits it in whatever way then it's a penalty. I saw one given by VAR in Italy just this past week.

 

[Phil1]

Fuckin hell. That’s pathetic. He’s off form that’s all. With friends like these..... fuckin hate SOME city fans sometimes.

Yep, can’t beat backing a player off form.
A player who’s been magnificent for nearly 2 years nonetheless.
Nah, having a sticky spell? Sell, sell, sell!

 

[Gray]

It not just about one position. The team are goosed, two years at full tilt has took it's toll finally, they've been running on empty a lot of the time, the team has had a dip, no use picking it apart and blaming one position.
We got a fight for second and the chance of winning 3 cups, still lots to play for.
We aren't winning it this season so we regroup and have another crack at it next year, no biggie.

You are spot on but we will be without David Silva and the likes of Walker, Fernandinho and Aguero will all be a year older. We need to replace these players wisely.