Barca v City Post Match Thread

[cleavers]

I'm hugely encouraged and excited by that performance. I know it sounds odd but I think we are right on their shoulders now. I think this team, with the defensive additions which will come over the next two windows, can and will win the Champions League. I'm sure many people have commented on the bad luck and errors, but I maintain my belief that nobody can live with our attacking players when they get going, and we showed that when it was 11v11 and 10v10.

I was also encouraged by a lot of what I saw, but I think you're being too positive, I said on Saturday that our defence isn't good enough, it's not, and it should have been sorted in the summer. When Everton have 3 attacks, score once and could have scored 2, you rightly worry about playing Neymar, Suarez, and Messi. The other concern is our finishing, and has been for 18 months, despite the goals we do get, it's not good enough for the very top level, as they showed last night.

 

[PistonBlue]

I'm hugely encouraged and excited by that performance. I know it sounds odd but I think we are right on their shoulders now. I think this team, with the defensive additions which will come over the next two windows, can and will win the Champions League. I'm sure many people have commented on the bad luck and errors, but I maintain my belief that nobody can live with our attacking players when they get going, and we showed that when it was 11v11 and 10v10.

Was just about to write a very similar post to this, so I'll just agree with you instead.
Only to add that after the game last I felt (and still do) the same as I did when we'd just been beaten at Old Trafford and Mike Summerbee said we we will go back there and tear them apart, to much sniggering in the studio. Not to say we'll tear Barca a new one to the tune of 6-1, but they know we're getting closer. They also know 4-0 flatters them immensely.

 

[stonerblue]

Fuck fuck fuck. What the fuck is the keeper doing ? Lots of fantastic work ruined by a sunday fucking morning balls up.

 

[blueinsa]

Whilst I agree with you, it's a simplistic view... we know that even though we did win those 10 games, the signs were there in the last couple that we were starting to struggle a little bit!
Losing to Barca is no disgrace as you say... but handing them the game on a plate is!
All that said, I have faith in the club and Pep that we will sort it out.

How is it simplistic in its view?

We won our first 10 competitive games, thats a fact and we sit at the top of arguably the hardest league in world football because of it, full of teams that have invested £Billions is some incredible talent.

Spurs aside which was a very poor performance, we have played really well and i include Celtic and last night in that assumption.

Individual errors are killing us right now but they happen and im sure work is under way to cut them out and that over the next few windows, we will bring in the type of player Pep requires.

Its been a magnificent start to the campaign and its simplistic to take a result like last night and the one really poor performance and say nothing has changed imo when its clear so much has.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

What annoyed me last night Silva,sterling,nolito and de bruyne all had easy chances after beating their man to pick out an unmarked team mate with a cut back and none of them could do it !
Even if they were glowing orange like a bloody bin man !

 

[feelymcfeel]

I actually thought we more than matched them for the majority of the game, the only difference really being was they capitalised on our fuck ups and we didn't on theirs. Obviously the red card made a huge difference but beyond that I don't think there was a lot in it.

 

[Craig]

Funny how this is the first game we have matched Barcelona yet is our heaviest defeat in the CL

Yeap funny old game but last night's performance certainly offers the most hope. Last time we went there we were shite but had a keeper inspired and then last night a keeping howler ruined the match. That's not wishing to start the Hart Bravo dispute on here that's just a comparison between the 2 games.

It'll take some doing to match last season's achievement of reaching the semi but this time if we do we'll actually believe we have a genuine chance rather than attempting to keep the score down

 

[Techno]

Last night's result was typical European football. We were punished by individual mistakes, fair enough but we didn't take our chances and gave them far too much respect.

We need to learn some lessons and fucking quick.

We need to 'play the game'. We will only get on if we adopt the same principals as the other big clubs in Europe - we need to roll around like we've been stabbed up the jacksie for the simplest of fouls for a start.

We also need to get new boots that are capable of allowing us to play on European turf because our versions are shite, it wasn't just Fernandiho that was on his arse yesterday.

And Messi... best player in the world... for fuck's sake, I could be the best player in the world if everybody was scared shitless of tackling me.

We played really well for most of last night, had we been given the pen for handball at the end of the first half, had a number of other decissions gone our way it could have been very different. But we are where we are. To be honest I hate Champions League football with a passion. Give me the FA Cup any day!

 

[Gray]

We were better than Barca for large parts of the first half, but they were strangely below par.

Even so we gifted them the first goal with a poor Kolorov tackle and Fernandinho falling over - then we proceeded to waste all our chances.

Second half Bravo decides to act like a Sunday league player and the team fell to pieces.

We need some mentally strong players to bolster this team like Kompany (if he stays fit) and another like Nigel de Jong in the midfield.

If we don't sort out our abysmal finishing and crappy defending there will be more results like last nights to come.

 

[mscenterh750]

We we're very good last night, especially Sterling. I really don't see the need for panic. Look beyond the score and you'll see a game in which we more than matched them, and for large parts were the better team.

Can't wait for the weekend.