Champions League Final | Post-Match Thread

[supercity88]

So it's Monday and I'm still as baffled and pissed off as I was on Saturday, I think this was our moment to win it, I don't think the stars will align as well as they did again as far as the Champs League goes and that might be our one and only final for a a while.

It wasn't our moment because we didn't win it and the stars didn't align. Mistakes were made and it cost us but credit to Chelsea, they played very well. Pep overanalysed and it is a real shame.

But don't lose hope. Chelsea lost in 2008 and have since won it twice. We are the 8th team in a row to lose our first final. It happens. Poor Atletico have lost three or four finals now and never won it... it is one of those things.

I never thought City would win anything but they've won all but this one. A big summer and that experience will only drive them on. Liverpool overcame a real humiliation against Real to win it the next year and there's no reason we can't do the same. They key is to stick to our guns.

Pep seemed to have realised that but yet again decided at the final hurdle to make a bold change. He needs to realise that in the CL you have to play your own football, not look to change approach because of the opposition. Gutted he did that, but it happened and we didn't play well enough even when changes were made unfortunately.

There will be another time for us. It might not be with Pep. It might be a season we are shite but things fall into place.

 

[Roachy]

I think ur right this was our chance. Some teams never get a second chance. Playing Bayern or PSG or another heavyweight I would
not have that confidence again. After winning the league this is the only game we had to prepare for and we didn’t. Given how much this meant to the owners and having lost twice to them how could we underprepare? That Everton result was the worst thing that happened. Made us think we were invincible. Many neutrals said that they thought Chelsea may sneak it. We should have been ready. I feel and will remain angry for the foreseeable future as this game like the Spurs Chumps league games are two opportunities we let go unnecessarily. Some things u never got over and are missed opportunities in life. This was yet another.

It was a bewildering performance. I honestly feel like I've been kicked in the bollocks by a cast iron clog.

 

[mixer]

As soon as the team sheet came out I turned round to my mate and said ‘he’s fucked it, we’re losing this 1-0’.

Wish I’d put money on it tbh

100% when i heard Natalie Pike call the team out

 

[The perfect fumble]

Tough picture to take....

 

[wolviedinho]

Few names being mentioned today as wanting out Sterling, Rodri,Jesus,LaPorte,Cancelo,even Bernado.

Not posting links,it is all over Twitter if interested in this bollocks.

Bastards in MSM have wasted no time.

To be honest there is only Bernado i would lose sleep over.

Jesus i love the lads work ethic, he is not a natural finisher though.

Wonder who will be the first player to call Pep out on the shit show in Porto ?

There was more going on out there than meets the Eye. None performances of big players.

The players have no right to call Pep out. Easy to blame the manager when most of the starting 11 did not turn up. I hope the same players also called him out when he won us the league...I will hold me breath in anticipation.

 

[northstandgiveusasong]

It was a bewildering performance. I honestly feel like I've been kicked in the bollocks by a cast iron clog.

If only things were that simple...

 

[Blue Maverick]

It's frustrating at times that it works against us but if City stick to their principles, I believe true greatness will be achieved.

We’ve already achieved greatness just not in the eyes of people who buy into this champions league bollocks, the records and league titles and cups speak for themselves. On our day there is no team I the world touching us, Saturday was just our day.

 

[StillBluessinceHydeRoad]

We dominated when Fernandinho came on apart from maybe two chances they were pinned on their half and box, the resin the defenders were nervous us because they had no cover in front of them, the flair players couldn’t get into it because I genuinely think they didn’t know who to pick up as they got pulled all over the place. We got into their box numerous times Walker I’m particular but the final ball didn’t come. It would’ve been a more relaxed City team had we started with Fernandinho and allowed the others to play. Pep fucked up AGAIN. I’ll guarantee Laporte if he leaves will say as much because he tend to speak his mind.

This is a theory and a belief but it's being stated as though it's stone cold, incontrovertible fact. That you put our strongest eleven on the field, there's only one way they play and, of course, we win. There are numerous weaknesses in the theory, the most notable of which is that Pep shares everybody's view on what the best 11 is and there's some disturbing evidence that he doesn't. What everybody ignores is that this strongest eleven hasn't played together very often at all, and even in the CL QF and SF he seemed uncertain as to whether Cancelao or Zinchenko suited best or if Rodri should play in place of Ferna. Then there was the question of whether we should play a false 9 or not. His experiment with Torres as number 9 worked well at Newcastle but the final trial at Brighton was ruined by the worst referee in England. Then there was the problem of Chelsea's well organised lines of 4/5/6/7 and where Vity really needed the numbers. So selection was by no means as simple and straightforward as many think and the idea that there is one "strongest line up" for all occasions and that Pep overthinks borders on nonsense. The second weakness in the argument is that City played badly because they were playing in a formation they didn't understand and weren't familiar with. I reject this because what City did badly were the basics of control and passing. I think the evidence is clear that the occasion overwhelmed City, not the system. It is not the Pep way to throw players in without preparation, unable to say how they were to deal with something as obvious as a through ball. Our back four simply never played and this chaos was reflected up front where the final ball "didn't come", more often than not because there was no-one to receive it. No number 9 in the team and passing too cumbersome to get a false 9 in there with any support. Ferna came om eventually and made little or no difference and your assertion that had he started City would have been more relaxed and allowed the others to play really does require a leap of faith to believe. We conceded one goal and never looked like scoring one ourselves. We were beaten, we were well beaten and on Saturday night it was hard to see what would have changed that. But if you want to believe it was all because "Pep fucked up again" you cling to your illusions.

 

[SidJames]

Tough picture to take....

I still think Aguero has a good couple of years left in him.

Gutted he is going tbh, record goal scorer ,and Club legend literally told he has no future at a Club he has delivered so much for.

I am sure Aguero knows not one Blue wants this.

This is 100% on Pep.

Ironically not good enough for Pep, but still good enough for Pep true love Barcelona.

 

[wolviedinho]

Mate, very much like Pep, you're over-complicating a straightforward scenario. I'll spell it out for you.

Ederson, Walker, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko, Fernandinho/Rodri, Gundog, Silva, Mahrez, KDB & Foden. 4-3-3.

This is essentially the team which proved itself toward the final. The team which neutered Haaland, Mbappé & Neymar. The team almost every City fan wanted, & the team almost everyone expected to start.

Like I said, you can split hairs all you like micro analysing our performance down to the minutiae of who's not as good as Vinny, what Chilwell did from what he didn't do. The plain fact is this team did something no other City team in history has achieved; they got us to the final of Europe's premier football final & deserved the opportunity to complete the job.

We did so as joint top scorers, & with the joint best defence. The team was modified throughout the season based on rotation, form & injury, but come the quarter final, it was becoming clear which players were performing best, & which formation was working best for us. It seems the whole world could see this for the final bar Guardiola & yourself.

And yes, I'm taking my frustration out on our great manager, as he picked the team for the final, as everyone held their breath wondering if he'd have another brain fart at this crucial moment. He did & as many of us feared it cost us a potential victory.

Why not start with the team & formation most expected, & make changes if & when necessary? That would have been the smart thing to do in my opinion, but what do I, or the hundreds of thousands of City fans, opposition fans, pundits & media watchers know. In your world no one can question Pep, well hey, allow me to be the first...

Pep approached a CL Final without either one of our preferred CDM's. It's the first time all season he's played a match without one or the other, & he chose the most prestigious match in European football to try it out. Pep got it wrong. We lost. :-|

Some very good points and pep did get it wrong but he is not the only reason we lost the final. Far too much blame is placed at his feet. He can’t influence the game once the players cross the line. If peps mistake were so obvious why did none of the players stand up and be counted? Why did they not win more 50/50 tackles. Chelsea looked fitter and hungrier. It was men against boys and the players shrunk into their shells. The chavs did to us what we did to PSG.