You sir, are so wrong!
This post is well worthy of that clapping gif!... Before the start of the season a lot of blues were hoping Pep would get us into the top four, a decent run in CL and maybe a cup. We are sitting pretty on all fronts yet so many moaners. A genuine question; is this from our new support? Sort of understand if this is the case?
Esteban de la Sexface
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 2 May 2008
- Messages
- 8,727
I found it hard to watch that game last night. Pep was shit scared of their pace on the counter. I think Fabian Johnson's pace caused him to play his midfield deeper than he usually would.
Our problems arise from having Gundogan, De Bruyne and Silva on the field. When we don't dominate possession we will always struggle to keep goals and chances out. Especially when Otamendi and Stones charge out of defense. For 15 minutes in the first half we defended like a pub team.
Our problems arise from having Gundogan, De Bruyne and Silva on the field. When we don't dominate possession we will always struggle to keep goals and chances out. Especially when Otamendi and Stones charge out of defense. For 15 minutes in the first half we defended like a pub team.
For a while we overloaded the right hand side. Sterling and Navas, our 2 fastest players were both on that side, yet we still were not passing inside their fullbacks, and we still did not have enough runners in the box. Then suddenly we got it right, KDB gets a pass inside the fullbacks on the byline, Silva and Aguerro are both running in the box and we score. We then seemed to slow it down again, WTF?
+1 thanks
Tugay One Cup
Well-Known Member
It will take time to gel. Adrenaline got us through the first ten games and once that dissipated you could see that the entire team has been struggling to come to grips with each other positionally. The flowing movements on some of our attacks are a joy to watch as players overlap but we're doing exactly the same thing in defence and that hasn't cost us as much as it could have. A few times last night Otamendi and Stones ended up marking the same player or occupying the same space whilst leaving huge gaps and that's not only amateurish but it's also extremely dangerous when 90% of the teams you're playing are content with parking the bus and relying entirely on fast counterattacks.
To me it just looks like they have no idea what their teammates are doing and where they are. That part will come with time as they build up an understanding but we are seriously lacking leadership at the back. At times Otamendi was screaming for Stones and Kolarov to push up and get in line with him but they evidently didn't listen and why should they? The rest of the time Otamendi was off sprinting into midfield and at their defence and leaving us vulnerable.
It's not as bad as some are making out as I think it's more a matter of building up their experience of playing together but there are certain phases of matches where we look absolutely attrocious defensively.
The attacking looked uninspired but (as other have said) our defence and midfield played fairly deeply to nullify their pace on the break and this left Aguero isolated for the majority of the game. The link up play for our goal was brilliant though.
As for the rest of the game, Rafinha could have been sent off three times. We've qualified for the knockout round with a game in hand despite officials costing us on the pitch. ****s.
We're through and we've still got plenty of room for improvement. I'll take that as a positive.
To me it just looks like they have no idea what their teammates are doing and where they are. That part will come with time as they build up an understanding but we are seriously lacking leadership at the back. At times Otamendi was screaming for Stones and Kolarov to push up and get in line with him but they evidently didn't listen and why should they? The rest of the time Otamendi was off sprinting into midfield and at their defence and leaving us vulnerable.
It's not as bad as some are making out as I think it's more a matter of building up their experience of playing together but there are certain phases of matches where we look absolutely attrocious defensively.
The attacking looked uninspired but (as other have said) our defence and midfield played fairly deeply to nullify their pace on the break and this left Aguero isolated for the majority of the game. The link up play for our goal was brilliant though.
As for the rest of the game, Rafinha could have been sent off three times. We've qualified for the knockout round with a game in hand despite officials costing us on the pitch. ****s.
We're through and we've still got plenty of room for improvement. I'll take that as a positive.
prestonibbo_mcfc
Well-Known Member
Or maybe he did. He needs a rest and what better game to miss ;-)
Chippy_boy
Well-Known Member
To be fair, they didn't get a kick because they didn't want the ball off us.
Brendan110_0
Well-Known Member
Looked to me like we were saving some energy for the Burnley game. 1st was out of reach, we kept them in check for the main part of the game to get the result we needed.