Barca v City Post Match Thread

Talk about luck, errors, plucky performances, boots, etc all you like; we just don't have enough players, technically and mentally up to competing with the elites and even determined, quality oppositions ...... yet.
Last night and Tottenham serve as salient wake up calls to the task ahead. The good start has once again clouded a few judgments.
 
The only positive I can take from that is that it's given Pep loads of insight into where we are and what needs to be done. From the point of view of the match itself, I can find no positives. We bossed part of the game because they were terrible for the most part. That we lost 4-0 to a pretty dreadful Barca performance says it all really.

EDIT: Sterling did quite well.
 
Sorry but having had a sleep to digest it last night I think last night was poor from us in the end.
We started off very well but unforced errors again led to the first goal and then you could see a collective drop of heads after this.
After Pique and the other guy went off it's utterly unbelievable and that pep didn't bring Aguero on so we could test their makeshift defence out. Then the comical sending off (Hart should be recalled now) and other schoolboy errors for the other goals is really disappointing but entirely predictable. We have several players who need getting rid of asap as they are like rabbits in the headlights and don't fit into Peps systems.

This team is very mentally weak still when the going gets tough (a hangover from Mancini's days) and our recent record against top teams in the prem and Europe (ie Barca/Real etc) is terrible.
Surely given all the investment and top players we have we should be expecting a lot more now?, if we can never beat Barca/Real etc then we will get nowhere. Last night we had a great chance given the in match circumstances yet still conspired to lose 4 0 and Barca didn''t even play that well. I'm livid.
 
Marvin said:
Guardiola made a massive call in getting rid of Hart, but involving Bravo in the build ups to the extent that we are doing is too risky. It's incredibly stupid to risk the last man and a sending off by playing on the edge all the time. We deserved to concede that goal and lose that game for taking unnecessary risks. We need winning football, not a coach who wants to prove a point and show the world what a footballing genius he is.

And for the 2nd game running we had nothing in the box. De Bruyne and Sterling really were very very good and terrified barcelona, and yet we created nothing from some very good positions. Silva, Gundogan are they good enough. Silva may weave some pretty patterns, but when it comes to the penalty area his game is weak, and he hasn't improved. Aguero is never fit. Your 28. What are you doing? Likewise Kompany.

Need to improve. This is when it happens. You measure yourself against the best, and then take a look and respond.
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I agree would have been far better watching Hart concede procession to Barca by punting the ball long up the field for them to come back again. Pep isn't trying to prove a point for the sack of it, as you imply, he has a way of playing and it has made up successful and will in the future and he certainly isn't trying to prove he's a genius. Last night's game is the first time we have matched Barca and in fact were probably the better team despite the result.

Agreed that we are looking poor in the penalty area Aguero was fit Pep confirmed before the game but lets be honest he's not doing enough in general play and needs to improve
 
BLUEMATT23 said:
Sorry but having had a sleep to digest it last night I think last night was poor from us in the end.
We started off very well but unforced errors again led to the first goal and then you could see a collective drop of heads after this.
After Pique and the other guy went off it's utterly unbelievable and that pep didn't bring Aguero on so we could test their makeshift defence out. Then the comical sending off (Hart should be recalled now) and other schoolboy errors for the other goals is really disappointing but entirely predictable. We have several players who need getting rid of asap as they are like rabbits in the headlights and don't fit into Peps systems.

This team is very mentally weak still when the going gets tough (a hangover from Mancini's days) and our recent record against top teams in the prem and Europe (ie Barca/Real etc) is terrible.
Surely given all the investment and top players we have we should be expecting a lot more now?, if we can never beat Barca/Real etc then we will get nowhere. Last night we had a great chance given the in match circumstances yet still conspired to lose 4 0 and Barca didn''t even play that well. I'm livid.
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And Hart fits Pep's system?

Remember the major cock-ups by Hart last season when he rolled the ball out to players on the edge of the box iirc resulting in one he injured himself and the other MDM?
 
Having slept on it, im happy to say I feel exactly the same, we went to the Nou Camp played our own game and caused them numerous problems.

We cut out the defensive mistakes and we'll be dining at the very very top table in Europe, the personnel changing in coming transfer windows particularly in defensive areas will see to most of that, the best coach in world football will see to the rest.

Cant wait for the return game and to watch our team develop and progress over the next 3 seasons.

Keep smiling blues
 
Gordyola said:
And Hart fits Pep's system?

Remember the major cock-ups by Hart last season when he rolled the ball out to players on the edge of the box iirc resulting in one he injured himself and the other MDM?
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Probably not I agree but given the choice of Hart, Willey and Bravo Hart for me should be in. But it's not gonna happen but I don't rate Bravo in the slightest and that's 2 games he's nearly cost us now.
 
Benarbia said:
How is that nonsense

Celtic came at us we couldn't handle it
Tottenham the same
Everton parked then bus we couldn't find a way round
Barcelona - enough said
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We recovered 3 times v Celtic and should have gone on to win the game. Spurs played well its football> Everton on another day we would have won by 5, missed 2 pens which unless by eyes deceived me the manager didn't take. First time we have ever matched Barca and that is down to the manager individual mistakes costs us and that includes Stones not scoring just before HT which would have meant 1:1, even 2:1 if the handball had been given. Its wip after a few months not by any means the finished article if you cant see what Pep is bring to the club and the improvements then you need to open your eyes
 
I don't deny we are better than last season but against the better teams results haven't improved that's a fact
 
Think we played well for big parts of the game and can completely see why peo didnt play kun

But it does show us that wothout him we are toothless upfront...we dont have natural goal scorers that can be relied upon.
 
losing 1.0 or 4.0 we would have learnt a lesson stones needs more big game time the keeper is a clown and what on earth was the city players wearing on the feet slip after slip after slip in all i think city played well up to the sending off and should have scored and won a pen for handball
 
BLUEMATT23 said:
Probably not I agree but given the choice of Hart, Willey and Bravo Hart for me should be in. But it's not gonna happen but I don't rate Bravo in the slightest and that's 2 games he's nearly cost us now.
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Yes that the problem of a keeper making a mistake but he wasn't the only one as a team over the last few seasons we have been making too many unforced errors and Hart has been as complicit as anyone. I've been going on for years about keepers punting the ball up field its nearly always resulting in loosing procession, look at other teams now trying to play the ball out! If Hart can learn to do this, and I mean under pressure, then fair enough but I don't believe he can so for me Bravo any day who is just as good as Hart between the sticks
 
Gordyola said:
Yes that the problem of a keeper making a mistake but he wasn't the only one as a team over the last few seasons we have been making too many unforced errors and Hart has been as complicit as anyone. I've been going on for years about keepers punting the ball up field its nearly always resulting in loosing procession, look at other teams now trying to play the ball out! If Hart can learn to do this, and I mean under pressure, then fair enough but I don't believe he can so for me Bravo any day who is just as good as Hart between the sticks
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I just feel that Hart wasn't given the chance overall but that's football.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Talk about luck, errors, plucky performances, boots, etc all you like; we just don't have enough players, technically and mentally up to competing with the elites and even determined, quality oppositions ...... yet.
Last night and Tottenham serve as salient wake up calls to the task ahead. The good start has once again clouded a few judgments.
Click to expand...

I think our biggest problem is mental actually. Sure we have a couple of players in the squad who are not good enough and I don't mean to suggest otherwise. But that's not the main problem.

For some reason, we lack confidence and show a complete lack of composure unless we are facing a team we know are much worse than we are. So we can beat the bottom half teams for fun, and yet against tougher opposition, we are coming up short. It's been like this for more than a season now.

It's not about how the better sides play, either. Yes clearly they punish our mistakes more, but the big difference is not them, it's us. Last night was not unusual, it just highlighted it. But we are the same against Liverpool and Arsenal every time we play them away. Look at our record at Anfield and compare it to Chelsea's. We bottle it every season.

Fortunately, we have the best coach in the world and he will fix this, but it will take time and some new leadership in the side.
 
Overall, I thought we held our own up until Bravo's moment of madness.

We should have been on level terms before the break, and arguably were the better team 1st half.

Too many silly mistakes which cost us in this game.

Plenty of things to correct, but also some positives too.

Thought Sterling had a great game.
 
Benarbia said:
I don't deny we are better than last season but against the better teams results haven't improved that's a fact
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From a fact perspective no one can argue with you.

There are though 2 sides to any coin and the results have to be compared to your expectations. During the summer I'd consigned myself to a season in which we struggled. It's been difficult not to get excited at our start to the season, so expectations change but if I compare our recent results to my original expectations then they aren't far off. I believe that Pep will turn us in to a force in European football and it will take time. There's always bumps in a road.
 
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