Bodo/Glimt (A) | CL | Post Match Thread

feedmpenzaandhewillscore said:
The surface of that pitch looked a bit more like what you would play hockey on rather than some of the 3G ones you get with the black rubber balls underneath. Did anyone notice the creases in the pitch on the near side touchline and the near side corner flag to the right. Looked like a right death trap, bet there’s some sore ankles from turning on that pitch this morning.
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Yes saw that, no excuses but that is dangerous
 
franksinatra said:
It creates more space between our defence and midfield, but if sides revert to a low block on the edge of there area, and break it just leaves a bigger gap between our immobile midfield and our defensive line. It would only create more space if the opposition, when not in possession of the ball, decide to stay forward and match the position of our defenders.
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So we persist?
 
give it to gordon said:
On the amazon All or Nothing didnt the medical staff say it takes 3 days to recover from a match ?
Our players havent had proper recover time for over 2 seasons now.
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Exactly and we compound it by taking the Carabou Cup seriously if we hadn't the players would have had a week rest before the derby and the same happens again before the Liverpool game, and Im not saying this in hindsight. We are a heavy price for taking and respecting all competitions this could add an additional two games if we dont finish top 8 in UCL

Play a full second string in the CC even if that group got us to the final
There are too many competitions fed by the greed of the authorities we have to get more wise
 
We will be in deep shit if these performances continue.

Thankfully we’re still in with a shout for a lot but that can change very quickly, especially if this keeps going.

The issue I have is I can’t really see where or how it’s going to get better
 
BlueAnorak said:
Low block - Hit on the Counter. Good chance of a goal. Bottom Line - The City defence is useless at the monent. To cap it all it was Roddri's worst ever game as well - so many mistakes.

Also our attacking has gone to rat shit as well.
- Attacking has slowed to a crawl.
- Too many sideways balls.
- Fewer passes to players higher up the pitch.
- Zero fast break counter attacks (what we were doing really well at till the Sunderland game).
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First decent shot = goal instead of one more pass then one more pass until we get robbed = goal for opposition
 
Tim of the Oak said:
Bodo (both in their domestic League and European football) are well known for exploiting opponents hesitancy on the astroturf. They fly into challenges like they are playing on grass. We are one of many teams who haven’t been able to match Bodo in 50/50 challenges etc.

This was always going to be a tough game and we needed points in the bank before we went to Bodo. They have been getting closer to winning a CL tie and we won’t be their last victims.
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They have never before won a game in the 'champions league proper', their double goalscorer had scored ONE in his last 16 games, they lost at home to Monaco, lost at home to Juventus and drew with Spurs, whist Spurs beat them there last season. They really aren't a terrifying team. If you are going to lose to them, you lose by a single goal, their keeper has played really well and you have had a bit of an off night. You don't concede 3, look like you could concede 6, have your captain sent off and generally stink the place out.
Christ, you'll be saying Old Trafford is a difficult place to go and we got what was expected on Saturday...
 
Marvin. said:
With difficulty. We had a go. That was what we had in the squad. Alternatives might have been to use Marmoush but I have never seen him play well out wide.

I think the idea was for O'Reilly and RAN to supply some width because we had no wingers. Doku was on the bench but in the post-match press conference, Pep said we really missed the fast wingers so I am assuming he was not 100%.

I know we played a terrible game but we had a lot of players out. We did look in defensive disarray when they counter-attacked. Wolves fans will have looked on and smiled because RAN is known as an attacking full back who is frequently caught out of position. I think it was a mistake to use him like that but we were really struggling to put together a strategy for beating them with a lot of missing players.
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Why not play Rico Lewis right back, Ait
Nouri Left Back and Nico o'Reilly in midfield? It's really not rocket science. Shocking from Pep.
 
Gordyola said:
He also said "we are going to terrify Europe"
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Then got the players to throw flowers into the crowd before the away game kick off. Maybe Allison thought he was in a club in town looking for a leg over and ended up getting stuffed himself. Embarrassing. Flowers into the crowd in Istanbul, start of the madness over the next few years.
 
johnny crossan said:
would be highly unlikely and could well be ruled out completely by results tonight.
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The only one I see that could drop out of top 8 is the loser of Newcastle and PSG on the final day.
It would be a little ironic if 5 of the 6 English teams finished in the top 8 and we were the odd ones out.
 
I was in a meeting this morning with around half a dozen Spurs fans, it was a toss up who was more pissed off, me or them.

To a man they wanted to lose last night so that Frank would be sacked.

Strange bunch us football fans.
 
warringtonblue said:
How about playing the same tactics that need a prime KDB, Stones, Silva and Bernardo to implement, we’ve not got the players to carry that out.
Why play a high line that consistently gets breached, and this high line condenses all the players into a 30 yard area leaving no space for anyone
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Pep does have a habit of playing square pegs in round holes... If we don't have the players for a particular system then FFS change it

He did this when he first came... You can argue he's a genius but stubbornness is surely his Kryptonite
 
youngbob said:
Having slept on it, I don't think last night was the total catastrophe it seemed to be while watching it live. Both teams were pretty even in terms of big chances created (1.6xG vs 1.2xG, 4 big chances each), Bodo just put theirs in and we didn't. I also saw people saying "City were saved by the offside flag" on a couple of occasions, but ultimately the flag went up on those occasions because the defence had done its job and held the line.

We lost the game in two periods of 90 seconds - the first one was defined by two big defensive mistakes from Alleyne and the second one was defined by two big defensive mistakes from Rodri. At 0-0 we were absolutely fine. Stroking it around, probing, playing well, finding little spaces to create chances. Ait-Nouri, Cherki, Foden, Reijnders, and O'Reilly all looked busy. Alleyne missed a free header from five yards but the goal was coming. Then boom, two mistakes in 90 seconds from a kid and we're 2-0 down. Alright, it happens, pick yourselves up, get to half-time.

At the end of the first half and start of the second half we were dominating the ball and looking okay, but a mistake from Rodri to give the ball away leads to a world class solo goal and suddenly it's 3-0, maybe game over. Cherki slams one in straight away and you think "Okay, maybe". Bodo were tiring a little and we were having more of the ball, so you start to think we could pin them back. But then Rodri gets sent off and any chance of a comeback is extinguished. And that's the game. We actually controlled it better and created more chances with 10 men than 11, suggesting Bodo would have folded if we'd had everyone on the pitch.

I think last night was just made up of several 50/50 moments just going against us. Alleyne's header going wide, Alleyne miscontrolling the ball on the halfway line, Haaland's shot going wide, the ref not giving the penalty for the foul on Cherki, Rodri giving it away cheaply, O'Reilly's header at the end falling softly into the keeper's hands. The high line didn't help and I'm frustrated that Pep persists with it even after showing against Liverpool, Bournemouth, and Newcastle recently that playing slightly deeper can be just as successful, but I don't think he coached a disasterclass. He coached a 2-1 win, or even a 2-2 draw, but the players let him down in those 50/50 moments.

There's no way last night happens if even two out of Nunes, Gonzalez, Dias, Gvardiol, and Bernardo are out there. Ait-Nouri looked alright early on but playing a left wing-back at right-back eventually revealed itself to be a bad decision. Alleyne looked okay against Exeter and great against Newcastle but based on a bigger sample size it's clear to see why he was at Watford a month ago - thank god for Guehi. Lewis and Rodri were both very weak and big questions need to be asked about them both. Haaland and Foden need time out of the side as well - it doesn't matter if it's part of a planned period of rest or just because they're both woefully out of form, get them out.

But the thing is, we literally had no alternatives last night. Gvardiol, Kovacic, Stones, Dias, Bobb, Gonzalez, Savinho, and Nunes are all out. Semenyo and Guehi were ineligible. Bernardo was suspended. Ake, Doku, and Rodri are still recovering from injuries. Haaland is clearly playing through an injury. Ait-Nouri and Marmoush are only just back from Afcon. The only players we had over the age of 21 last night who were fit and ready (and not carrying something) are Donnarumma, Foden, Cherki, and Reijnders. That's it. Four senior players without baggage.

We won't catch Arsenal, but we were never going to catch Arsenal. I've said since the summer, the title is theirs. They're a few years into their cycle and are hitting the crest of a wave at the right time. Liverpool are still in the post-Klopp hangover, Villa won't be up for the challenge, and City are rebuilding. Well done to Arteta for getting it right at last. For City, this year was just about improving on last year (which we already have), getting the good vibes back, and trying to put something in place that we can build from. Those building blocks are only just being put into place, so we're going to have to suck up the bad days until those blocks are set.

I said last season that 24-25 reminded me of 15-16 under Pellegrini. Old players, a soft centre, a fragile mentality, the old spine (Hart, Kompany injured, Yaya old, Silva injured, Aguero) struggling a bit with injuries and age. New ideas and new blood were needed. It took us three transfer windows (summer 2016, January 2017, summer 2017) to sort that out. This season was always going to resemble the 16-17 season, when all the new ideas and new blood needed time to bed in and become habitual for all the faces we had coming in through the door. I'm willing to give Pep another 12 months, just to see what the team looks like once it's steady and stable and isn't changing every few weeks.

This season will probably click in March, like 16-17 did. We'll be too far away from Arsenal to catch them in the league but we'll likely finish 2nd on about 78-79 points. That's fine by me. We'll probably have reached yet another cup final (providing we don't lose 2-0 or more to Newcastle) and we'll hopefully still be in the FA Cup by then. With that in mind, this season still has the potential to be a great one. I don't know if people got a bit giddy about us being in a title race (we weren't) and are now disappointed, but all I wanted out of this season was clear improvement on last season and we have that. For that reason, I'm not too sad about the current state of affairs.

It's worth remembering right now that we finished 2025 top of the PL annual table (based on points per game, 2.16). We don't get a trophy for that, of course, but we should take a lot of heart from it. Despite the difficulties of last season and the injuries of this season, we still managed to be the best team in the country over a 12 month period. For a club on the way back to the top, that's something to hold onto and build from. We'll have weeks like this one again soon, it's just about riding the wave until we're back at the top - whether that's under Pep or somebody else. I'm kinda thinking it'll be Pep until 2027 and then Enrique. But let's see.
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Would you please stop explaining everything so concisely and with such clarity while some of us are trying to throw our toys out of the pram? You've made me feel a bit better about the situation at the very moment that I wanted to have a cry about things. Please think of others before selfishly clicking the "submit" button.

Fucking great post.
 
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