Brentford (H) - PL | Post Match Thread

HarrytheBlue said:
Brentford were excellent - came with the attitude of having a go and taking risks rather than parking the bus, inviting pressure and almost certainly losing. They have decent players. As for us, this is our best start for many years - we're closer to our capacity than we normally are at this stage. Yes, some defensive rough edges to iron out, but I'm enjoying this start. Erling becoming unplayable - you can see the improvement on what was already stellar.
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Savinho - a younger Mahrez with a lot more pace. Mahrez is a genius though.
 
OB1 said:
That Brentford gave such a good account of themselves but could have ended up being battered by City shows how up for it City were.
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Mate your trying to defend city against a fellow blue.

Alls I'm saying is we were well bellow par and our quality shined through.

Brentford could of been out of site first half.

They played well.
We didn't by our standard's.
 
MMA said:
Alls I'm saying is we were well bellow par and our quality shined through.

Brentford could of been out of site first half.

They played well.
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For about 20 minutes.

They pressed us well early doors, and caused problems, but from about 20 minutes to 80 minutes they didn't do a great deal for me.

They were able to have a bit more of a go at the end, with the subs, and it still only being 2-1, but not sure they actually created very much really.

MMA said:
We didn't by our standard's.
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I'd agree there.
 
cleavers said:
I thought they were very good for about 20 minutes, whilst we were an absolute comedy show in defence.

After that I thought they were like virtually everyone else at the Etihad, defensive and pretty fortunate, their keeper (and a post) kept it at 2-1, it probably should have been 4 or 5-1 in the end.

I thought they largely gave up attacking in the second half until the final 10 minutes, but that was because we'd not killed it off as we should have.

It's another win, that's ultimately all that matters.

Wasn't an easy watch because we couldn't kill the game off.
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They didn't just give up attacking, why would they just stop attacking when they could have been 2/3 up in the first half? pep changed it, making 2 halftime subs and with that change we stopped them being able to do what they were doing so effectively in the first half, gained back control and forced them into a defensive stance as we do with most opponents.

The idea teams just willingly sit back and defend against us is a nonsensical myth that doesn't credit the tactical approach from us or more accurately pep that forces the opponents into it.
 
ninjamonkey said:
They didn't just give up attacking, why would they just stop attacking when they could have been 2/3 up in the first half? pep changed it, making 2 halftime subs and with that change we stopped them being able to do what they were doing so effectively in the first half, gained back control and forced them into a defensive stance as we do with most opponents.
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It stopped long before the subs though, it lasted at best for about 20 minutes, we still didn't defend very well for the rest of the first half, but we'd gained control of the game largely, and had cut out the brainfarts we'd produced before that, but we'd also gained a 2-1 lead by then.

We (for me anyway) weren't very good, but they weren't as good as some are making out, most of it was down to some of our poor play for me, yet we dominated about 70 minutes of the game, and should have won more comfortably.

We won, that's all that really matters, it won't be a game that lives long in the memory.
 
They came out of the blocks on the front foot and, due to some poor (Kyle) and Keystone Kops (Stonesy) defending, were ahead before about 8 of our players even touched the ball. From there, they proceeded to pin us back and could have been 3-0 up before we woke up!

Both of Haaland’s goals were well-taken and he was robbed of a hat trick by the width of the post, the chest of a defender and the fingertips of the keeper. Savinho was also kept off the score sheet by the keepers foot and Jack was also kept off the score sheet by the keeper’s fingertips and his own inability to be ruthless in front of goal and trying to make the perfect last pass!

That said, they know how to play against us and with #24 floating behind Gundo & Kova in the first half, always had a spare man for their attack. Today, both pkayera showed their age and lack of pace.

Ederson - Outstanding, and would have saved the goal has Stones not fluffed it into the air for Wissa!

Walker - Made some decent runs and got into some good positions on attack, but apart from one shot onto the roof of the net, stood out most for falling asleep on the back post and having zero clue he had a man behind him on their goal. Looked like a rusty rookie. Feels like his trajectory is top left, bottom right.

Stones - Already mentioned his flub. Other than that, had a decent game, esp coming forward or breaking out of defence. Struggled to show his best.

Akanji - Solid, esp when last ditch defending was required.

Lewis - Was being targeted by Frank in the first half, and being overrun by the extra man…either inside or outside; whichever place he was not!

Gundo - Wirst game I’ve seen from him in some time. Ponderous on the ball inside a midfield that was under pressure throughout.

Kova - Tackle spoiled his game, but was emblematic of how it was going. DeswrvedGT sub, esp after the yellow card.

KDB - Worked his socks off as second striker on the press, but withdrew into his midfield role when under the kosh. Played a beautiful ball in for Haaland’s perfect hat trick (Right, Left, Header), but it was stolen off Haaland’s head at the last second.

Grealish - Solid, if unspectacular. Should have taken the shot with his left instead of looking into the box for the pass.

Savinho - Clearly a huge talent that, once fully integrated, is going to tear up full-backs and terrorize keepers. Should have cherried his cake with a goal, but he chose not to lift it slightly and paid the price.

Haaland - Is. Was. Will always be. Dominant. Opportunistic. Unlucky not to get his10th goal of the season, his 100th goal for City, and become the first player ever to score a hat trick in 3 consecutive PL games!

Subs:

Rodri - Took control of the midfield in the second half.

Gvardiol - Solid and was unfortunate on his breakaway.

Bernardo - Cameo of hard work, but little substance.

Dias - Not sure he did much. Struggling to think anything he did do.

Nunes - Hopefully, he’s on an appearance bonus in his contract!

Pep - Decisive HT subs, followed by indecisive, late second half subs. Stemmed the tide and sorted out the midfield tweaks needed to control 35 of the 45 mins in the second half.
 
we deserved to win because of the clear cut chances we made.
Put that aside and there was a great deal to admire in that Brentford performance.
They were one of two clubs to come to the Etihad and play football against us.
They weren’t dirty bastards and there was little of the shinanigans we see every week wrestling Erling.
Their play from the back was like watching us
Their goalie was as close to an Eddie distribution wise as I’ve seen in a while
Their press was consistent and effective
Their transition were quick and accurate.

It was a very good game of football.
 
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Really impressed with Flekken from Brentford. Would make a great #2 in the future.

Haaland, Gvardiol and Rodri were a step above everyone.
 
MMA said:
Mate your trying to defend city against a fellow blue.

Alls I'm saying is we were well bellow par and our quality shined through.

Brentford could of been out of site first half.

They played well.
We didn't by our standard's.
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We were trying to get game time into the legs of the players who`ve hardly played or not played.
 
With a bit of luck, Brentford could have been 4 up after 14 minutes.
Of note:
- Brentfords Set pieces.
- Mathias Jensen
- Mark Flekken
Brenford's set pieces are the best in the league by mlies. Every one of them gave me palpitations with left-footed Bryan Mbeumo (19) and right-footed Mathias Jensen (8) taking and varying the corners. They land them on a sixpence and are delivering them with wicked trajectories that are so difficult to defend against. Keith Andrews (their specialist set-piece coach) is doing an amazing job and I'd be deeply worried if any of our main rivals employed him.
Mathias Jensen's through balls also ripped us a new arsehole till Pep made changes and gradually nullified his excellent play. His always looking for runners and delivering dangerous through balls had us in real trouble for 13 mins. Pep gradually tweaked things to nullify this tactic - but it was a wake up call for sure.
Mark Flakken was amazing between the sticks for Brentford - single handedly denying Haaland the 3 consecutive league hat tricks prize on 3 occasions ( not counting the post shot here).
Fortunately Pep made adjustments and we ran out tge game as the better team - though Brentford always had a chance of snatching another.
 
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Just listened to MotD and the commentator was right for once - Wissa can't believe his luck!

And the yellow card for Kovvers! Fuckin' rubbish! He got a foot to the ball before he contacted the player. In the time available VAR should be checking over those, but it seems to me that the arbitrators don't give a fuck, and have built into the rules 'no appeals for a yellow card', unless the ref had booked one on the bench for the tackle.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
we deserved to win because of the clear cut chances we made.
Put that aside and there was a great deal to admire in that Brentford performance.
They were one of two clubs to come to the Etihad and play football against us.
They weren’t dirty bastards and there was little of the shinanigans we see every week wrestling Erling.
There play from the back was like watching us
Their goalie was as close to an Eddie distribution wise as I’ve seen in a while
Their press was consistent and effective
Their transition were quick and accurate.

It was a very good game of football.
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There was a point in the first half when this very thought crossed my mind as well.
 
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