Champions League Final | Post-Match Thread

[lasereyes]

Cheers James.

In my opinion the Prem just gets more and more competitive each season. If Utd recruit well you have to say they can challenge, and City are the club everyone else has to fight with every sinew to get anywhere close to. Over 38 games it's very difficult to beat Pep.

So, what I hope for is that we make a fight for the title, and that the margins of victory, whoever prevails, will be tight. Wouldn't it be great to see the title decided on the last day?!

As for what I expect, boringly I'd say top 4 minimum. I'm a realist.

As for our players, it's an exciting time as we have so many good young players. Sadly I think Tammy will leave, and should leave in order to progress his career. Timo's contribution is already undervalued. When you look at his stats, his goal involvement and the team's win percentage when he plays, if he starts to score a few more he will be rightly acknowledged for the quality player he already is.

My suspicion is you will end up with a lot of draws as you will struggle to break down more defensive teams. Tuchel's style is perfect for City as we always play on the front foot

 

[CityTilWedie]

For me this was the worst thing all night, as you say it was clear after the first 20 minutes that the formation wasn't working. As hard as it may have been the decision to make the change should have happened then.

Pep's ego would have never allowed him to do that

 

[CityTilWedie]

I'm always shocked to see how many people rate his performances after games..

Perhaps it's because he's english

 

[BringBackSwales]

Can only just talk about the match but trying to take positives from it -

1. Nobody knows what KDB might have done in the last half hour had he not deliberately been taken out by crudiger

2. I want to win the CL, I don’t hate it, I hate uefa. However the PL comes first for me every year, and I reckon Pep gives us our best chance of winning this and the PL, and the CL, and I think he will see leaving City without a CL win as a failure, so for me until we win it I think it gives us a better chance of keeping the greatest manager in our history.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Can only just talk about the match but trying to take positives from it -

1. Nobody knows what KDB might have done in the last half hour had he not deliberately been taken out by crudiger

2. I want to win the CL, I don’t hate it, I hate uefa. However the PL comes first for me every year, and I reckon Pep gives us our best chance of winning this and the PL, and the CL, and I think he will see leaving City without a CL win as a failure, so for me until we win it I think it gives us a better chance of keeping the greatest manager in our history.

I agree with much of that, but personally I don't see us winning the CL with Pep at the helm.

{But don't get me wrong, I'd rather we kept Pep and didn't win the CL for the next 5 years, than swapped him for someone who did win it for us, but who made us go backwards in every other respect.)

But for me, for us to win the CL, the leopard needs to change its spots and that really never happens. Pep needs to stop tinkering and over-thinking and be prepared to be pragmatic and not dogmatic. Like making a substitution before half time when needed. Like realising that you cannot "control" the game 100% of the time, so how you set up to limit the damages when you do not have control, is actually rather important. Putting Gundo in on his own as our "holding" midfield player? FFS, it was utter madness.

Unfortunately this was not a one off. Look at his last 11 attempts at winning the CL when in each season he arguably had the best team and certainly a team capable of getting to the final.

I am certain we will one day win the CL, but I don't see Pep staying long enough to see that happen. But who knows, maybe we win it next year eh? I dunno.

 

[BringBackSwales]

I agree with much of that, but personally I don't see us winning the CL with Pep at the helm.

{But don't get me wrong, I'd rather we kept Pep and didn't win the CL for the next 5 years, than swapped him for someone who did win it for us, but who made us go backwards in every other respect.)

But for me, for us to win the CL, the leopard needs to change its spots and that really never happens. Pep needs to stop tinkering and over-thinking and be prepared to be pragmatic and not dogmatic. Like making a substitution before half time when needed. Like realising that you cannot "control" the game 100% of the time, so how you set up to limit the damages when you do not have control, is actually rather important. Putting Gundo in on his own as our "holding" midfield player? FFS, it was utter madness.

Unfortunately this was not a one off. Look at his last 11 attempts at winning the CL when in each season he arguably had the best team and certainly a team capable of getting to the final.

I am certain we will one day win the CL, but I don't see Pep staying long enough to see that happen. But who knows, maybe we win it next year eh? I dunno.

Cant disagree with what you are saying, but I hope you are wrong about the leopard!

 

[Odd socks]

First time I have looked at anything from the game last night on YouTube, in the disappointment I had forgotten how good the first half was and if Chelsea hadn't shut up shop it could have been a cracker.
Football is about small margins and believe me we weren't as bad or shit as my mind has been telling me all week.
"If only" applied to both sides, they got lucky, we didn't.

 

[ASHCFC]

Hi Ash, with all respect, thanks for your take. I hope using the word "issue" with that term didn't make it personal. Clearly not my intent and my only take was clearly about the term in and of itself. Which we do agree on.
These type of stats do my head in. The press like to glom on to these as it makes a good sound bite and builds hype. All these are is something that hasn't happened yet, and they can range from something that never will to
something to likely happen soon, however it suits the narrative of the day. Look at Phil's Major PGA win at 50. What is it now? No golfer 51 or over has won a major golf event? It never ends.
You can mine through mountains of statistics in any sport to come up with loads of haven't happened stats.
Savor your deserved win, from my perspective it must get sweeter every day. Cheers.

Cheers Mike. Absolutely no issue with anything you said or the terminology! I agree that these 'spooky stats' are often overused. City are clearly England's finest regardless of the CL outcome, and it's up to the rest to try to keep up with the sky blue juggernaut!

Thinking about it, winning the CL this year possibly means more to Chelsea than it might have for City. Don't get me wrong, it's a cup you lot very much covet to cement your position as England's and maybe Europe's top team. But regardless of that, you are Prem Champions (again), so don't really need to prove anything to anyone. For Chelsea winning the CL has turned a pretty average season into an amazing one. We are therefore very grateful, and this Chelsea fan remains humble, not believing for a second that such a win means more than it does in the grander scheme.

Top lads here. Respect!

 

[ASHCFC]

First time I have looked at anything from the game last night on YouTube, in the disappointment I had forgotten how good the first half was and if Chelsea hadn't shut up shop it could have been a cracker.
Football is about small margins and believe me we weren't as bad or shit as my mind has been telling me all week.
"If only" applied to both sides, they got lucky, we didn't.

Spot on. Our defence put in a performance throughout worthy of a CL Final. City played well and came close many times. It was fine margins in the end, and ultimately decided by top class defending and effective counter-attacking that kept City from applying overwhelming pressure.

I think most of us still believe that Pep made a mistake in not starting a DM, but when you look at how well City played it's a stretch to say that said mistake decided the final. It's not as if Chelsea were just running through the City midfield for fun.

 

[elbearos]

Spot on. Our defence put in a performance throughout worthy of a CL Final. City played well and came close many times. It was fine margins in the end, and ultimately decided by top class defending and effective counter-attacking that kept City from applying overwhelming pressure.

I think most of us still believe that Pep made a mistake in not starting a DM, but when you look at how well City played it's a stretch to say that said mistake decided the final. It's not as if Chelsea were just running through the City midfield for fun.

They barely got out of their half ,in the second period, one break away I think.