Arsenal - Post match thread

[Dribble]

By all means claim a regression from season 2014/15 but please stop with trying to claim a season in which we won a league and cup double was in any way regression from what we achieved the previous.

I'll say again as I said then. Our problems started with the very first kick of Pellegrini's very first match. What has manifested itself now, I and others saw the germination of it as far back as Manchester City v Newcastle United 2013.

Everything that has characterised Pellegrini's tenure was there for all to see if you dared to look closely enough. It just took a season for other teams to figure us out and lose that fear factor Mancini had built and it's been steadily downhill ever since as we all said it would be and I take no pleasure in saying this.

A piece of fruit doesn't turn rotten the very day it's picked from a tree. It still looks alive and well but essentially it's dead, it just takes time for it to overtly show its true condition which is how I saw our team under Manuel. What Pellegrini has managed to do to our team is a sad indictment of his time here. However much you personally love him, even you must be able to see it for what it is no matter how unpalatable you find it.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Good post mate.

Easy to look for a scapegoat.

The poor league campaign is the culmination of several things going wrong and mistakes from the manager, players, poor form, injuries, poor recruitment and the club hanging its hat on the Pep door for the last 3/4 years.

Strange coincidence how much better Fernando is starting to look, with Yaya Toure on the bench rather than jogging around next to him in an empty midfield. Imagine if we had found another player or two who could have joined them. Oh but we only use two. So no point. But at least he looks a player, without having to cover Yaya & Demichelis.

I wonder how many other players & academy players might have looked better, if the fans picked the team, this season.

I wonder what the result might have been, if the manager had spotted the fatigue Fernando & Fernandinho were starting to show, at the end of the first half, having to cover huge areas in his archaic tactical system, & been ready to throw an extra body in midfield, if & when City scored, as fans discussed at half time. As the game was important one off, win at all costs, not a style show.

I wonder if Sanchez would have run through a huge hole opening up in the middle of the pitch, if the manager had taken the action fans were discussing at half time. Changing the formation instantly if/when we scored & stopp8ng exactly tgat kind of thing from happening.

Arsenal's personnel changed drastically. Yet City's remained the same.

When Arsenal ran straight through & should have equalised, our answer was, to remain the same.

When Arsenal inevitably equalised. We changed. To the same formation. We then moved our star player from his most effective position within that formation, back out to an area where he is less effective, in order to keep that formation.

Last season we saw Yaya Toure employed as an opposite to Fellaini at the swamp. He was completely humilliaited. We line up v a Liverpool team with 6 midfield players in the team, with 2, one of which is...Yaya Toure.

When we concede v Arsenal, we take off arguably our best player & replace him with..Yaya Toure.

This is the only solution to the problem, a year later ? No other shape or personnel could be the answer ? Just a '2' with Yaya Toure in it.

And the players are supposed to find belief & committment to this, week in, week out, year in, year out. And if they dare to turn in an imcompetent or half arsed performance, the manager will.... play them again, in the same role.

One of the worst managers I've ever seen at City, in charge of possibly the best squad.

 

[Inter Me Nan]

For me the issue is that we have been so poor for so much of this season that we were left in a situation where we couldn't really afford that line up against Southampton. To massively prioritise the Real match made sense to some extent but with this squad, even with the injuries we have had, we should have at least had a decent cushion over the teams outside the top four to be able to rest players for a Champions League semi final. There are matches all over the place this season that you can point to in this mess. Strolling around with little urgency at Villa Park against the worst team the Prem has seen for many years and not managing a win springs to mind but there have been too many to mention.

Playing with no striker whilst we had one twiddling his thumbs on the bench was scandalous.

 

[blueincy]

Finishing position yes.
Results wise we're only third worst behind Leeds and Blackburn.

Was Kidd with them then also?

 

[Marvin]

I'll say again as I said then. Our problems started with the very first kick of Pellegrini's very first match. What has manifested itself now, I and others saw the germination of it as far back as Manchester City v Newcastle United 2013.

Everything that has characterised Pellegrini's tenure was there for all to see if you dared to look closely enough. It just took a season for other teams to figure us out and lose that fear factor Mancini had built and it's been steadily downhill ever since as we all said it would be and I take no pleasure in saying this.

A piece of fruit doesn't turn rotten the very day it's picked from a tree. It still looks alive and well but essentially it's dead, it just takes time for it to overtly show its true condition which is how I saw our team under Manuel. What Pellegrini has managed to do to our team is a sad indictment of his time here. However much you personally love him, even you must be able to see it for what it is no matter how unpalatable you find it.

I like the way you expressed that.

City have gone backwards but rotten is a bit too far as Sunday showed. Likewise PSG, Sevilla etc.

It is a bit uncomfortable watching pellegrini saying goodbye to a disinterested crowd, but if the fans are disconnected and unhappy with the way the team has performed then there must be good reason for that.

 

[blueinsa]

Strange coincidence how much better Fernando is starting to look, with Yaya Toure on the bench rather than jogging around next to him in an empty midfield. Imagine if we had found another player or two who could have joined them. Oh but we only use two. So no point. But at least he looks a player, without having to cover Yaya & Demichelis.

I wonder how many other players & academy players might have looked better, if the fans picked the team, this season.

I wonder what the result might have been, if the manager had spotted the fatigue Fernando & Fernandinho were starting to show, at the end of the first half, having to cover huge areas in his archaic tactical system, & been ready to throw an extra body in midfield, if & when City scored, as fans discussed at half time. As the game was important one off, win at all costs, not a style show.

I wonder if Sanchez would have run through a huge hole opening up in the middle of the pitch, if the manager had taken the action fans were discussing at half time. Changing the formation instantly if/when we scored & stopp8ng exactly tgat kind of thing from happening.

Arsenal's personnel changed drastically. Yet City's remained the same.

When Arsenal ran straight through & should have equalised, our answer was, to remain the same.

When Arsenal inevitably equalised. We changed. To the same formation. We then moved our star player from his most effective position within that formation, back out to an area where he is less effective, in order to keep that formation.

Last season we saw Yaya Toure employed as an opposite to Fellaini at the swamp. He was completely humilliaited. We line up v a Liverpool team with 6 midfield players in the team, with 2, one of which is...Yaya Toure.

When we concede v Arsenal, we take off arguably our best player & replace him with..Yaya Toure.

This is the only solution to the problem, a year later ? No other shape or personnel could be the answer ? Just a '2' with Yaya Toure in it.

And the players are supposed to find belief & committment to this, week in, week out, year in, year out. And if they dare to turn in an imcompetent or half arsed performance, the manager will.... play them again, in the same role.

One of the worst managers I've ever seen at City, in charge of possibly the best squad.

Yet for all that, a complete brain fart moment between Clichy and Hart followed by Mangala losing Giroud and Fernandinho just allowing Sanchez to run away from him cost us a much deserved victory in a game we dominated.

That hardly smacks of a completely wrong formation or tactical approach. The game I watched didn't have me thinking why is he playing these players in this way.

Such fine lines and had a couple of players done what they did for the majority, their jobs correctly we would have won the game.

Look im happy he is going, his time is up and I cant wait for Pep but the insistence that anything and everything that goes wrong on the pitch is Pellegrini's fault is both wrong and convenient and allows players to get away scot free form their responsibilities as well.

Should he be continually picking certain players who have made mistakes and played poorly? No he shouldn't and for that, he has let himself down and deserves criticism.

 

[mancity1]

Strange coincidence how much better Fernando is starting to look, with Yaya Toure on the bench rather than jogging around next to him in an empty midfield. Imagine if we had found another player or two who could have joined them. Oh but we only use two. So no point. But at least he looks a player, without having to cover Yaya & Demichelis.

I wonder how many other players & academy players might have looked better, if the fans picked the team, this season.

I wonder what the result might have been, if the manager had spotted the fatigue Fernando & Fernandinho were starting to show, at the end of the first half, having to cover huge areas in his archaic tactical system, & been ready to throw an extra body in midfield, if & when City scored, as fans discussed at half time. As the game was important one off, win at all costs, not a style show.

I wonder if Sanchez would have run through a huge hole opening up in the middle of the pitch, if the manager had taken the action fans were discussing at half time. Changing the formation instantly if/when we scored & stopp8ng exactly tgat kind of thing from happening.

Arsenal's personnel changed drastically. Yet City's remained the same.

When Arsenal ran straight through & should have equalised, our answer was, to remain the same.

When Arsenal inevitably equalised. We changed. To the same formation. We then moved our star player from his most effective position within that formation, back out to an area where he is less effective, in order to keep that formation.

Last season we saw Yaya Toure employed as an opposite to Fellaini at the swamp. He was completely humilliaited. We line up v a Liverpool team with 6 midfield players in the team, with 2, one of which is...Yaya Toure.

When we concede v Arsenal, we take off arguably our best player & replace him with..Yaya Toure.

This is the only solution to the problem, a year later ? No other shape or personnel could be the answer ? Just a '2' with Yaya Toure in it.

And the players are supposed to find belief & committment to this, week in, week out, year in, year out. And if they dare to turn in an imcompetent or half arsed performance, the manager will.... play them again, in the same role.

One of the worst managers I've ever seen at City, in charge of possibly the best squad.

He really has no idea how to manage in the premiership.

I really hope he gets a gig at another premiership club as its a nailed on 6 points at least for us next year.

 

[mancity1]

Yet for all that, a complete brain fart moment between Clichy and Hart followed by Mangala losing Giroud and Fernandinho just allowing Sanchez to run away from him cost us a much deserved victory in a game we dominated.

That hardly smacks of a completely wrong formation or tactical approach. The game I watched didn't have me thinking why is he playing these players in this way.

Such fine lines and had a couple of players done what they did for the majority, their jobs correctly we would have won the game.

Look im happy he is going, his time is up and I cant wait for Pep but the insistence that anything and everything that goes wrong on the pitch is Pellegrini's fault is both wrong and convenient and allows players to get away scot free form their responsibilities as well.

Should he be continually picking certain players who have made mistakes and played poorly? No he shouldn't and for that, he has let himself down and deserves criticism.

Good managers drill into players what is required on set pieces and again once we had the lead we should have packed the midfield and closed the game down.

The players are too seasoned and not that stupid not to know what is going on and how to win an important game of football.

Are our CB's that stupid or is it how they are trained as Mangala in particular is making more mistakes than he ever made at Porto.

Again it was good finishing and a great run from KVD that got our noses in front and nothing to do with a team ethic which we never had under MP.

Conceding stupid goals , unnecessary goals which became the norm for us under MP was as much his fault as the players involved.

His false ethos was I would rather lose playing attractive football scoring goals than using tactics that get you the wins required ensured we did neither under his guidance.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Yet for all that, a complete brain fart moment between Clichy and Hart followed by Mangala losing Giroud and Fernandinho just allowing Sanchez to run away from him cost us a much deserved victory in a game we dominated.

That hardly smacks of a completely wrong formation or tactical approach. The game I watched didn't have me thinking why is he playing these players in this way.

Such fine lines and had a couple of players done what they did for the majority, their jobs correctly we would have won the game.

Look im happy he is going, his time is up and I cant wait for Pep but the insistence that anything and everything that goes wrong on the pitch is Pellegrini's fault is both wrong and convenient and allows players to get away scot free form their responsibilities as well.

Should he be continually picking certain players who have made mistakes and played poorly? No he shouldn't and for that, he has let himself down and deserves criticism.

Players make mistakes & if they keep doing it they get fired & are usually very much disliked by fans.

This bloke keeps being defended, but if he was a player, he would be the most half arsed, uninspired, lazy, mistake ridden, incompetent twat we have had for years & everyone would hate him. He would be booed by many when brought on.

I just don't understand why people back him in anything.

 

[Dribble]

I like the way you expressed that.

City have gone backwards but rotten is a bit too far as Sunday showed. Likewise PSG, Sevilla etc.

It is a bit uncomfortable watching pellegrini saying goodbye to a disinterested crowd, but if the fans are disconnected and unhappy with the way the team has performed then there must be good reason for that.

Rotten was just an analogy, but I take your point and would say degradation would be a more accurate analogy.

I watched the after match shindig again last night and I truly felt/feel sorry for Manuel. In that moment I think it suddenly dawned on him that the fans saw his tenure completely different to how he did and proved this by mostly declining the invitation to say a final farewell to him. He's a good man and deserved better but he bought yesterday on himself as that match perfectly summarised the criticisms which have been levelled against him over the last 3 wasted years.

Some if his more fervent disciples were no such thing imo, their cult like support of Manuel was there to cloak their hatred for his predecessor and they completely missed the point that from the day Mancini was sacked someone had to become our new manager and Manuel was up there with the best available. What happened to him once he rocked up to the Etihad, fuck knows but he certainly didn't play this brand of reckless football whilst he was in Spain that's for sure.

What he said prior to our CL semi against Real perfectly sums up how tactically stunted he was at City 'Everyone talks about tactics, but big games are won by special players not tactics'. Really Manuel?

Perhaps this explains why everyone went home straight after the final whistle and left him to address an almost empty stadium.