Prestwich_Blue
Well-Known Member
"Crikey a ****" is an anagram of the ref's name.
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Absolutely dire first half. Our defending was really poor and we have to do much better attacking wise. Really disappointed in some of the performances tonight. The full backs were abysmal. And I'm really surprised Aguero got 90 minutes. He was dreadful again and Kelechi should have had half an hour.
Aguero won't play against Celtic. That's for sure.
B
B
blueinsa
Guest
We have regressed from how we started the season. A draw at best against Burnley.
Pmsl.
OB1
Well-Known Member
peps got the right tactics, players are now showing more and more each game that they are not up to standard, particularly in getting in position off the ball to create space and a move. Some simple passes are made badly / first touch is not the best at times. Its obvious where we are weak at the back.
Aguero - bad game, not good touches, timing out
Sterling - played like he did last season at times.
KDB / Silva / Gundogan - thank god these are reliable still.
Our defence is left running back all the time which makes opposition attack dangerous. When we attacked BMG had 7 or 8 behind the ball, when they attacked us we where chasing back as we were all pressing up front.
This style of play is fantastic when you have the right players knowing where to be, but at the moment it has a few leaks so we are in a position where we hit a brick wall defence when we attack and then leave ourselves wide open for counter attack. It makes our two defenders look bad when really its what happens around them that lets us down.
Job done and we are through with a game to spare which in September we would have said lovely jubbly...
Burnley next and we know what tactics they play
That's a good observation about running back to defend and I am sure it is something Pep is working on. Naturally, when you play as high as City, you do risk having to defend like that if your opponents break successfully. What Pep is looking for is to snuff counter attacks out earlier and defend facing the ball in the opponents' half, which will take time for the team to get really proficient at; hopefully, last night was another step on the journey to utterly dominating teams, game after game.
That last 5 minutes was a pointless display of keep ball! Seriously though, we are back to a painfully slow pace, at Palace where we were lucky to win and tonight. I thought we'd be a high tempo pressing team under Pep. Qualification key though I guess- but that was a display that will not worry any potential teams in the later stages. Sad to see Sagna, Fernando, Navas and Kolarov still getting so much game time ahead of Sane, Nolito, Kelechi, Garcia and Maffeo.
I don't see the reason why Nolito is not being selected regularly. We always put in a good performance when he plays.
Didsbury Dave
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1 Feb 2007
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- 38,063
I'm absolutely sure that was the intention but we struggled to get going with that 3 at the back and the corresponding congestion in the playmakers' area. As soon as we reorganised we took control of the game. It was only really as we got into the last half hour that Pep clearly decided "Well they aren't going to score" and played it cautiously. As I said, I liked it. He has this reputation for playing one way, but he has loads of different styles and approaches and last night's was pragmatic and interesting and something we might see again at 2-0 up in a big game.I get what you mean with conserving energy and still getting your objective out of the match, but imo we should have killed the game in the first half and then just played it out in the second.
We hav'nt progressed at all, players played out of position, crazy formations, baffling systems...pas pass pass pass repeat repeat pass pass. Boring team to watch.
That was Van Gaal football in summary.
Jazzman
Well-Known Member
When did our South Americans return to Manchester after their international duties? Perhaps in the course of Thursday last week? That would have given them less then 48 hours before the Palace game, and yesterdays Gladbach game was the second within 6 days of returning from South America. I do not find it particularly strange that we were unable to play in the usual Pep-tempo with this in mind, and I think people who are disappointed in the teams performance should take this into account. On top of it the next away game in the PL kicks off around 60 hours after the Gladbach game ended. We needed just the draw, we obviously played for the draw and we got it. If we can take 3 points in Burnley in around 48 hours we will have done everything right after the international break.
If that is the case then don´t bother turning up for the Celtic game because our team will have an even more laid back attitude.
The EDS lads are usually fairly energetic