Champions League Final | Post-Match Thread

[St.Pauli support]

I agree with this 100%. The players looked lost. The worst were the defense as they had to over compensate for Gundogan who looked a bit lost in CDM. The first goal could have been avoided if Ferna was there cause Stones and Dias were pulled out of position! Usually Stones and Dias are the last line of Defense and Ferna cleans everything infront of them. Gundogan wasn't able to do that!

When Ferna came on we controlled the midfield. But it was too late, everything had fallen apart already!

This one is on Pep! He is too stubborn to admit his mistake. He should have taken off Sterling and brought on Ferna and let the players bring on the PSG spirit. But he also didn't do that!

Sterling was a waste of space and I don't blame Sterling for that. He should not have started. Foden was brilliant on the left for all our CL games, then you take him away in the final and play him in a mid position! KDB was asking to drop deeper. Bernardo had to help Gundogan leaving Mahrez all alone! It was a mess

Chelsea setup was perfect for them and they clearly knew what they were doing. We were lucky this game did not end an embarrassing 3 or 4 nil as in the first half Chelsea could have scored more!

I am still angry of this missed opportunity! And its on Pep. I love him but this one is on him

Exactly how I feel.

I thought this time Pep wouldn't tinker again, but well...
My hope was - some might remember - Dias would take Pep aside pre match and tell him to chill and have an Espresso and let the team do the job. That's what Flick did so successfully at Bayern - trust the team! Pep often talks about that, but when it counts he doesn't.

Sadly, Tuchel gave his team an easy job to defend deep and wait for a chance upfront, as usual. Worst case penalties.

I'm glad and proud City under Pep has a beautiful way to play. But Pep didn't stick to his philosophy and his own doubts jumped over to his team. New system needs time. Nogo in a CL final. Pep learnt the lesson to strengthen our defence, now this one is next on his list.

Pep in contrast decided to give his team an additional challenge to play a system untried over a title winning season. No idea why.

As you said, he robbed us of Gundo's creativity, of Fern's steel, of Foden's power on left wing (as a real challenge for a brillant Reece James, who was very happy to cover Raheem). As a consequence, Kev was lost upfront making miles, CB's were exposed.

I still can't believe what Pep did. Any time that bloody match comes to mind I shake my head in disbelief. Hope Pep still kicks his own arse when he's alone. We will never hear open words from him about that fuckup, not even after his career.
Shame. Would be interesting.

 

[GortonBlue62]

I've got huge sympathy for how City fans are feeling atm, having gotten closer than ever but not quite made it. Chelsea fans have been there and felt that exact pain. Your time will come. City are now a huge club who will go again.

What I don't have sympathy for is the OTT criticism of one of the greatest managers of the modern era. A manager who has delivered three Prem titles in the last four years. A manager who could reasonably ask the English FA to rename the League Cup the Guardiola Cup.

Jeez lads. The sense of entitlement here is a bit embarrassing tbh. As a fan base it seems that some of you are becoming like Real Madrid fans, where their sense of entitlement has them waving little white hankies in the air if their team lose a game.

I've read some shocking stuff here in recent days. One post alluded that City players weren't trying their best ffs!

Don't lose your identity lads. Part of what should make City great, imho, is where you've come from. Years and years of having to endure the neighbours. Your journey should make you so much more humble than them.

‘I think it’s a little bit unfair sometimes when as soon as Manchester City don’t win then it’s tactics or maybe players on the pitch, but we needed to do more and it’s as simple as that. I don’t think we created enough in the game and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying that, I think everyone could tell on the pitch.’

Kyle Walker

What kind of a weirdo spends so much time on an opposition club's forum blowing smoke up their arse?

Just fuck off now.

 

[Blue Til Death]

We know he got it wrong, there are amoeba swimming in the oceans of the icy moons of Jupiter that would have called it after that team was picked, the team didnt know their arse from their elbow and it showed ...

I’ve moved on though, shit happens, we still won what I consider to the the premier trophy in world football.... No not the League Cup yer cunts :-)

 

[ASHCFC]

Wise people say that delusion is one of the roots of suffering. Many fans on here were generally delusional about Chelsea. They underestimated Chelsea for two reasons. First, because Chelsea limped over the line for top 4 losing vs Arsenal and Villa, and because they lost vs Leicester as well. But that was partly because Chelsea had difficult games vs Real and City, and weren't sufficiently fresh vs Leicester and Villa. Having 6 days to freshen things up before the CL final was always going to help them. Second, Tuchel's system works better when Chelsea are not favourites. They were favourites vs Arsenal, Leicester and Villa, but not against Real and especially City. It was perfect for them to be the underdogs in Porto.

Also, many were delusional about the quality of our performances vs PSG, especially at home. PSG were without Mbappe and still were the more dangerous team in the 1st half. Dias had to put in a fantastic performance. We were lucky to score with the first attack in the game, and won despite being quite average throughout the first half. We were lucky also with both goals in Paris. People managed to convince themselves that we had just to turn up in Porto with the same XI from the game vs PSG at the Etihad in order to win the trophy, forgetting that Chelsea play a completely different system compared to PSG and that they are on a completely different level defensively wise. Pep tried to factor in those circumstances. It didn't work out, but I think it had something to do also with our players not dealing well with the pressure of being in a CL final for the first time. Also, the first half in Porto wasn't worse than that in Paris or the first half vs PSG at the Etihad, the difference being that we failed to score first in Porto (Sterling and Foden could have done better with some chances...). Also, we lost KDB early in the 2nd half in Porto, which significantly reduced our ability to create chances against an excellent Chelsea defence.

Possibly the most insightful post I've read on any football forum.

Gary Lineker has just left his BT job so there's a vacancy Alex. Maybe you should apply :)

You are absolutely spot on regarding Chelsea's style and how that works against low block vs high press teams. We are far more effective against the high press, and can struggle to unlock the low block. As such, and regardless of City's formation/ team selection, we were always going to get some joy against a City team that play high, as has been seen over all three of our recent games against each other.

I particularly agree with your view regarding the human element. I've commented here previously that the pressure on the City players was, imho, far more than it was for our lot. Expectation can be a crushing weight.

 

[ASHCFC]

..I suspect Chelsea fans might take a different view if Tuchel had left Kante on the bench and played Mount in defensive midfield...and then lost the CL Final.

Haha! You are not wrong mate :)

A point well made.

 

[ASHCFC]

What kind of a weirdo spends so much time on an opposition club's forum blowing smoke up their arse?

Just fuck off now.

No smoke blowing here. Only a level of respect for fans of a club I feel my team have more in common with than any of the red clubs.

Sometimes it's helpful to have an outside perspective, as long as it's considered and respectful. For me personally I'd much rather make some friends here rather than participate in the collective euphoria among my own fans, which tbh is a bit boring given that all we actually did was win a single game of footy, albeit an important one for which I'm very grateful we edged.

I find the discussion and the fans here very interesting. Hopefully my presence isn't pissing too many people off, notwithstanding your good self of course. If the consensus sways towards your perspective I will indeed fuck off, I promise :)

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

Not been on here since the morning of the game.

Glad i have had a time to cool off etc as been a fair amount of ott negativity etc.

Anyways, onwards to the new season

 

[Berts Neck]

I've got huge sympathy for how City fans are feeling atm, having gotten closer than ever but not quite made it. Chelsea fans have been there and felt that exact pain. Your time will come. City are now a huge club who will go again.

What I don't have sympathy for is the OTT criticism of one of the greatest managers of the modern era. A manager who has delivered three Prem titles in the last four years. A manager who could reasonably ask the English FA to rename the League Cup the Guardiola Cup.

Jeez lads. The sense of entitlement here is a bit embarrassing tbh. As a fan base it seems that some of you are becoming like Real Madrid fans, where their sense of entitlement has them waving little white hankies in the air if their team lose a game.

I've read some shocking stuff here in recent days. One post alluded that City players weren't trying their best ffs!

Don't lose your identity lads. Part of what should make City great, imho, is where you've come from. Years and years of having to endure the neighbours. Your journey should make you so much more humble than them.

‘I think it’s a little bit unfair sometimes when as soon as Manchester City don’t win then it’s tactics or maybe players on the pitch, but we needed to do more and it’s as simple as that. I don’t think we created enough in the game and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn by saying that, I think everyone could tell on the pitch.’

Kyle Walker

So all your posts relate to feeling sorry for poor City and how we failed.. frankly fuck off with your posts which in effect are gloating and unwelcome in my eyes..If you lost, I have absolutely no doubt you would not welcome a City fan on your forum doing as you are doing.. and equally you would not be on this site pretending to be some kind guy giving us a pat on the back if you lost...just fuck off back to the Chav forum as I have no time for this bullshit.

 

[GortonBlue62]

No smoke blowing here. Only a level of respect for fans of a club I feel my team have more in common with than any of the red clubs.

Sometimes it's helpful to have an outside perspective, as long as it's considered and respectful. For me personally I'd much rather make some friends here rather than participate in the collective euphoria among my own fans, which tbh is a bit boring given that all we actually did was win a single game of footy, albeit an important one for which I'm very grateful we edged.

I find the discussion and the fans here very interesting. Hopefully my presence isn't pissing too many people off, notwithstanding your good self of course. If the consensus sways towards your perspective I will indeed fuck off, I promise :)

Just go.

 

[ASHCFC]

You're 100% wrong mate. I went to the Leicester forum and congratulated them after we lost the FA Cup Final. They were buzzing, and rightly so. You're also wrong about me welcoming a City fan to a Chelsea forum - I'd welcome it as it's pretty boring when the flavour of the discussions are one-sided.

There have been some gloating CFC twats here recently, and I hope they've been banned. For what it's worth, I berated said twats in no uncertain terms for what I saw as disgracing proper Chelsea fans.

If you've read my posts properly you'll see that I'm not about feeling sorry for City. Like many of your boys here, I'm just about cutting through the hype and hopefully sharing some intelligent football perspective.

If that's not for you then just walk by mate. No need to get stressy about it.

Anyway, that said, that's two salty fans in the last few posts now, so if there are mods reading this, please PM me and advise if you'd like me to jog on. I'll comply with the decision, only to return once City have slapped my lot again!