Brentford (A) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Mon Autre]

He is dragging us kicking and screaming to results at the moment. We look devoid of anything crestively if he isn't involved. Which is absurd since he is a 20 year old dropped into a team that have won 4 titles in a row

I think he looks great and any gripes I have around him could be settled with age and experience. He's our best creative outlet at the moment. But I think it's also fair to say that his shooting is sub par and (not for the first time) he took on shots last night when there was a pass on. One of those happened at 2-1. I can forgive that a bit more if it's a player like Doku who can actually find the target from time to time, but this seemed a bit desperate and greedy and possibly cost us.

At the end of the day, if you're 2-0 up with 5 mins to go, it's not the attackers' job to go and score another 1 or 2 to spare the blushes of a non existent midfield. The rest of the team should be trusted to not throw that lead away. But it's also fair to look back on pivotal moments in a game where a different decision might have produced a different outcome. He needs to get better at shooting and until then, he needs to look up and pass it.

 

[TheGhost]

Shocking that Bernie has become a complete liability, his legs have gone as badly as Gundo’s, Pep’s over reliance on his favourites is costing us time and time again.

Rubbish. He’s been run into the ground. apart from Salford he’s played pretty much every minute of every game for about 4 months.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

The morning after the night before……

Frustrating of course to only draw after being 2-0 up but looking back it could easily have been 4-4 or whatever ! Both teams missed a bucket load of chances. Don’t forget the Ake clearances, the block by Josko and a couple of smart saves by Ortega.

We would have lost this game if it had been played 5 or 6 weeks ago and I’d have snapped your hand off for a point.

5 games unbeaten now and signs of improvement with several new players on their way.

Things are slowly but surely improving. I’ll settle for a top 4 finish, and winning both the CL and FA Cup…. :-)

Nurse!

 

[Goater101]

We look so much better going forwards just have to be clinical. OOP wise, nothing will change until new signings are here.

 

[Roachy]

Can't keep carrying these players that have hit the brick wall

Can carry a De Bruyne, as he still works hard and is capable of creating a winning moment

But can't keep carrying a Nunes, a Kovacic, a Bernardo, a Gundogan on top of having clear issues with the 1st choice keeper

Don't think we did enough to win tonight, but it's so clear that there's 4 or 5 first team regulars, who look like they're at the end of the road, and unfortunately, they're still being relied on as that's all we have

Fingers crossed this Marmoush comes in and sparks us in the final 3rd, as Haaland is crying out for some link up, and then hopefully we can bring in something in midfield

Absolutely. 4 or 5 are clearly coming to the end of their time with us, that's the nature of the game. The replacements need to be spot on though or it could well be more of the same next season.

 

[Asa's left peg]

At least one of the new guys needs to come into defence, immediately. Poor Gvardiol doesn't know whether to stick or twist as he shuttles between attacking fullback, orthodox full back and third centre half. Manu going up for the header, for their last goal, and not actually competing was a sign of something else. Erl should have had two, but is playing like it's the end of the season.
I do wonder if the players doubt him now. He's giving them bollockings for not doing their jobs when they can see now that we haven't the players to play the way he wants.

Having said all that, a little context is needed. Livarpool drew last night and their result is (as expected ) being portrayed differently from us drawing with a team with the best home record (joint) in the division. Livarpool had their own meltdown a couple of seasons ago as they wilted under the pressure of trying to go, again and again, against our winning machine. We are still easily capable of making top four and CL, well lets see.

 

[willipp]

We look so much better going forwards just have to be clinical. OOP wise, nothing will change until new signings are here.

Hopefully we sign Marmoush as he seems to know where the net is. Not only will he give us real goal threat, might give Haaland the kick up the ass he needs as he has to be scoring some of those chances last night.

 

[mattcity5]

Some over the top reaction, but I get that to some extent.

What isaw though was an entertaining game with two sides trying to win and giving their all.

First 20 mins we played typical City football and passed the ball outside their area, while they say in, broke and created chances. We changed our approach to go for it on transitions more, breaking quicker and creating chances. Chances came at both ends, but I don't think anyone can criticise the effort.

The amount of chances that happened, I think they could have scored at other times, it just seems more annoying the goals coming when they did.

One thing I think we don't have and could have done with yesterday, is a keeper who will come and claim loads of crosses. They had an advantage in the air, so if we had a keeper doing that then maybe a lot of the late problems would have gone away. Not really a criticism of Ortega - I don't think Ederson really comes for crosses as much as he could either - but if we could find a keeper great with his feet who is more dominant on crosses too, well I guess that would be perfect.

 

[shevtheblue]

Thought we played quite decent last night, the hunger and desire was back as seen with Gvardiol sprinting back for the block and the many blocks by Ake as well. I just think the season-long problem is still there with lack of concentration, something that Rodri is big with and demands from those around him. But we can't forget that Brentford is a tough place to go for anyone, we had a lot of chances and just didn't take them and then switched off when it mattered most. Take the positives and move on, hopefully some players coming in and coming back can reinforce us.

 

[supercity88]

Ha, I’ve used the insanity line a few times on here over the last couple of months, it’s mental, literally.

There’s so much wrong with us currently it’s hard to know where to even start, the post would be too long.

Awful defending, no proper full backs, geriatric midfield, slow players up front with Erling, players not tracking back as too lazy or too slow, no pressing from the front guys.

I mean, it can be summed up with Phil, yes he scores 2 goals but his general play and laziness was unbelievable.

The amount of times Brentford broke on us and our players were wither unable or couldn’t be arsed getting back to help was an absolute disgrace.

The difference in our performance levels is staggering. Brentford have definitely improved from last season, but when we beat them 3-1 last season we had 72% possession with a 90% pass accuracy. We had 25 shots to 9 and 15 on target to 3.

This time around it was 56% possession at 86% accuracy with 21 shots to 18 and 8 on target to 6.

In the first half there were times we looked like we were getting back to our typical style. Lots of passing and moving and patience. But as soon as we lost the ball we completely lost our heads and ended up playing equally as frantically as they do - which suited them more.

When we got to 2-0 we were still playing as if we needed to score, rather than regaining control and composure. But as you say....it's nothing new.

 

[come-on-barney]

Looking at Brentford's second goal again Ortega should have saved it. A bizarre attempt it looked easier to palm it away than palm it into the net.

We’ve got bigger problems than Ortega right now. However, if he is number one next season we have problems. Need to go out and buy a new keeper in the Summer.

 

[Le Havre Oswald]

I don't think it was a coincidence the lack of Kyle and Gundog and we started looking a bit more solid.

Would Gundog accept being a number 2 To pep now so his legacy isn't further damaged?

captain of our treble side and 1st city captain to lift the champions league. He’s clearly not the same player he was 2 years ago but legacy FURTHER damaged? Why because he’s not as good as he was? He could be even shiter for us but that wouldn’t affect his legacy one tiny bit let alone further.

 

[Longdarnit Blue]

As has been posted many times, we would have lost that game a couple of weeks ago. We are slowly improving and will get even better. Despite our average (for us) position in the table so far, wherever we end up we will still have made the greatest defence of a 4 in a row title winning season ever.

 

[Matt Diablo]

Tonight showed why we are bringing in 2 centre backs this window - Johnny is too injury prone, Ruben from being a beast physically is struggling now. Manu has been unbelievable value at 15m and is a decent player but this year he has lost all dominance in challenges. Maybe injuries? so big credit to him for playing through them same with Ake. He looks like a player Dortmund were ok to let go whereas last year he looked like a 50m player.

At least we didn't lose but when Erling struggles to score we are a team that needs twice as many chances to score a goal.
Onward and upward hopefully with 3 young players coming in this week.

If you look at all the games we have started over last couple of years (not just this season) with Ake and Akanji as our 2 C/Bs, we struggle defensively. Fantastic servants but together WITHOUT Ruben or Stonesy they are simply too "nice", too passive, not dominant enough and simply too fukin weak in the air, as almost all the team are!

Still pissed off about that throw away last night but as some say we are lucky to have got a point. Peps subbing has been shit no more so than yesterday.

 

[CΛL]

All defenders look crap when the system is failing.

We’ve largely won and defended well by keeping the ball and being able to avoid counter attacks over the years, with an array of defenders including average players like Zinchenko.

It’s not that our defenders are shit, it’s that our midfield and forward line is slow and can’t halt counter attacks, or even tackle or press well.

There’s no pace or legs in the side anywhere.

So our defenders aren’t suddenly shit and tbf neither are some of the midfield and forward players, if they had legs around them, I’m sure the likes of Gundo, KDB, Foden, Bernardo would be playing a lot better too.

I can understand buying a centre half due to injuries but we cannot go this month without midfielders.

 

[blue wang]

The difference in our performance levels is staggering. Brentford have definitely improved from last season, but when we beat them 3-1 last season we had 72% possession with a 90% pass accuracy. We had 25 shots to 9 and 15 on target to 3.

This time around it was 56% possession at 86% accuracy with 21 shots to 18 and 8 on target to 6.

In the first half there were times we looked like we were getting back to our typical style. Lots of passing and moving and patience. But as soon as we lost the ball we completely lost our heads and ended up playing equally as frantically as they do - which suited them more.

When we got to 2-0 we were still playing as if we needed to score, rather than regaining control and composure. But as you say....it's nothing new.

Towards the end, they were gassed.
Pep didn't help by not bringing on Fresh legs.
Instead he bought on a dead Weight in Gundo. Wen you gassed like that you can't think let alone move. Thus the concentration and running wasn't there to hold the ball Towards the end. We should have been holding the ball in the corner as soon as we were 2 up. Like we used to.
Slow the game down. Grealish and Orielly/ Lewis should have come on to Shore up the Midfield.

 

[Matt Diablo]

All defenders look crap when the system is failing.

We’ve largely won and defended well by keeping the ball and being able to avoid counter attacks over the years, with an array of defenders including average players like Zinchenko.

It’s not that our defenders are shit, it’s that our midfield and forward line is slow and can’t halt counter attacks, or even tackle or press well.

There’s no pace or legs in the side anywhere.

So our defenders aren’t suddenly shit and tbf neither are some of the midfield and forward players, if they had legs around them, I’m sure the likes of Gundo, KDB, Foden, Bernardo would be playing a lot better too.

I can understand buying a centre half due to injuries but we cannot go this month without midfielders.

I reckon Reiss will slot in centre mid when Rodders is out. We really aren't going to convince a specialist no 6 to come and be best player in Europe's understudy

 

[alexmcity]

Had Rodri played last night, we'd have probably won comfortably. Last season, his exceptional quality papered over the cracks.

Marmoush would be nice, for both KDB and Foden don't participate enough in the defensive phase and need more competition. Plus, his numbers are genuinely mind-boggling this season. The young defenders will help us cope without Stones and Ake whose injuries let the team down, and led to injuries of Dias and Akanji due to too many minutes in their legs and absence of proper recovery.

 

[Jocks Y-Fronts]

When most teams go 2 up with not long to go, they defend with ten men.

Why do we only defend with four or five men ??

Saw that. Around the 90 minute mark, Akanji was playing pass around with Nunes near their penalty area. Madness to have a defender so far forward that late in the game, especially when none of them have recovery pace.

 

[Wretched Vengeance]

I thought De bruyne was brilliant despite being off with one or two of the things he attempted. His work rate was exemplary and one or two others should take note of that.