Aguero??

[supercity88]

You make some good points. However, to suggest that it's Pellegrini's fault that players weren't moving, and he should have been screaming for them to move is a bit lame. Why do Professional footballers playing in a CL semi need to be shouted at to move? Unless of course they have had movement "coached out of them" by Pellers?

They shouldn't have to be coached to move. But as they weren't the boss has to bollock them doesn't he?! We ran out of ideas before the game kicked off. There were no options to pass to other than centre back to full back, full back to winger, winger back to full back and so on. With the occasional use of Yaya Toure. It was so easy for Real to mark us because no one was even attempting to find space. This was the case right up to 90 minutes and despite Sterling making a few good attempts to create something, we still lacked the passion and hunger to try and do anything with the ball. In the first leg I thought it was a gameplan Pellegrini had implemented to ensure we didn't over commit players and get caught out.

In the second leg it was clear the team was just bereft of ideas. Of course the players should know to keep moving and try to find space, the manager shouldn't have to do that. But at half time Pellegrini needed to be absolutely bollocking the team because of it. He should have said "guys you are one goal away from a final in the CL, a final we can win, get out there and fight for the ball, hunt it down and when we win it move into space". Instead, clearly he thought it was a good performance and we were unlucky!!! Some might suggest he only said that to make sure the players didn't feel even lower, but I genuinely think he believed we played well!

You can rest assured, Guardiola will not sit and watch his City side play with that lack of movement for 90 minutes. He'll be up in his technical area screaming instructions, he'll be pulling players over to tell them his instructions and he'll haul players off if they don't perform whether they're a kid from the academy or a £30m striker underperforming.

 

[willipp]

He'll be up in his technical area screaming instructions, he'll be pulling players over to tell them his instructions and he'll haul players off if they don't perform whether they're a kid from the academy or a £30m striker underperforming.

And won't that be refreshing to see, a manager who shows some passion.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

He's half-fit, he's knackered and he's shit scared of getting injured again.
We don't play to his strengths, we don't offer him any service or support and he has to make most of his chances out of nothing.

Ronaldo, Bale and Benzema would have looked shit playing up front for us last night. He got nothing, players like KDB, Navas and Yaya who should be putting it on a plate for him provided him with 0 chances in 2 legs. With over £150m's worth of talent behind him at various stages of the last 2 legs and he wasn't provided with 1 single chance in 180 minutes.

He needs a break, he deserves a break and he deserves some proper footballers behind him putting a proper shift in and actually creating chances for him.

 

[Phil1]

Really felt for him last night. He was getting more and more frustrated as the game wore on and his game suffered for it. Hope he can get himself a decent break in the Summer because he's one of the very few truly WC players we have at the club.

 

[Hypothesis101]

Knowing and having seen what he CAN do - I am bitterly disappointed with his performance over the two legs against Real Madrid - just not good enough and it is frustrating.

Another disappointing factor, is the whole team failing to score a single goal over the two legs 180 mins against a Madrid defence that isn't the strongest.

 

[supercity88]

And won't that be refreshing to see, a manager who shows some passion.

It will be refreshing. Pellegrini was exactly what the doctor ordered post Mancini. Our football was outstanding and we had a clear gameplan - he didn't need to be stood screaming from the sidelines. The trouble is, he hasn't sorted out clear weaknesses all season and though much of it is out of his hands because it relates to transfers, I'm surprised he hasn't tried to bring through someone like Manu Garcia for some midfield creativity considering Yaya and Delph have been injured and quite poor when they've played in any case.

If we qualify for the CL we can be happy in that we've won the league and two league cups under Pellegrini and fully established ourselves in Europe with that semi final. In the summer if we do overhaul our squad, it's a fresh start and we can look forward to hopefully winning the league and challenging to win the CL again. On paper there are glaring weaknesses throughout our squad but we've got a manager that can hopefully bring the best out of what we have and take us to another level. It would be nice to find some consistency.

 

[SouthStand116]

Knowing and having seen what he CAN do - I am bitterly disappointed with his performance over the two legs against Real Madrid - just not good enough and it is frustrating.

Another disappointing factor, is the whole team failing to score a single goal over the two legs 180 mins against a Madrid defence that isn't the strongest.

The problem is we don't play to his strengths, he isn't a messi/ronaldo type player that will skin a man and smash one in the top corner. He plays on the shoulder of a centre half and uses his pace over 5 yards to get in behind. We don't play that style of football under pellegrini. We are slow and pedestrian we break get into the final third and go backwards and sideways! All that does is allow teams to set and drop deeper which closes any space behind. So all aguero does then is drops deeper or wider to receive the ball. We need movement and speed going forward people making runs dragging defenders out of position to create space for him. Unfortunately due to our lack of tactics he finds himself surrounded with nowhere to go!

 

[bondsman]

You make some good points. However, to suggest that it's Pellegrini's fault that players weren't moving, and he should have been screaming for them to move is a bit lame. Why do Professional footballers playing in a CL semi need to be shouted at to move? Unless of course they have had movement "coached out of them" by Pellers?

Zidane, pep and simeone all seem to do it?

 

[willipp]

It will be refreshing. Pellegrini was exactly what the doctor ordered post Mancini. Our football was outstanding and we had a clear gameplan - he didn't need to be stood screaming from the sidelines. The trouble is, he hasn't sorted out clear weaknesses all season and though much of it is out of his hands because it relates to transfers, I'm surprised he hasn't tried to bring through someone like Manu Garcia for some midfield creativity considering Yaya and Delph have been injured and quite poor when they've played in any case.

If we qualify for the CL we can be happy in that we've won the league and two league cups under Pellegrini and fully established ourselves in Europe with that semi final. In the summer if we do overhaul our squad, it's a fresh start and we can look forward to hopefully winning the league and challenging to win the CL again. On paper there are glaring weaknesses throughout our squad but we've got a manager that can hopefully bring the best out of what we have and take us to another level. It would be nice to find some consistency.

I think we still have the core of a very good squad and in the summer we need to add 4 top class players. We definitely have some youngsters I think are ready to step up and be genuine squad players now as well. For me I really want to see the midfield addressed. Last night was depressing to see players like Isco and modric totally over run us. They were energetic, creative and their movement was awesome, we looked the complete polar opposite. I love dinho and think he has a big part to play, but yaya, nando, delph all need replacing. We have no one in mf who seems to be able to influence the game in the final 3rd and that needs addressing.

 

[Hypothesis101]

The problem is we don't play to his strengths, he isn't a messi/ronaldo type player that will skin a man and smash one in the top corner. He plays on the shoulder of a centre half and uses his pace over 5 yards to get in behind. We don't play that style of football under pellegrini. We are slow and pedestrian we break get into the final third and go backwards and sideways! All that does is allow teams to set and drop deeper which closes any space behind. So all aguero does then is drops deeper or wider to receive the ball. We need movement and speed going forward people making runs dragging defenders out of position to create space for him. Unfortunately due to our lack of tactics he finds himself surrounded with nowhere to go!

Fair point and there is truth in what you say, but nevertheless, I think we all expected more, and he can produce moments of magic himself and make it happen on his own accord - we have seen that in the past, even against the better sides. For instance, scoring against Chelsea (two seasons back) from well outside the box beating Peter Cech, out of nothing really, smashed it in the top corner. That's the kind of Aguero we needed to turn up last night - and also the likes of Toure, KDB could have improvised more.