City 3 - 1 Barcelona - Post match thread :-)

[blue by birth]

Last night was a wake up to the big European teams that we aren't in awe of them anymore.
We look like we truly belong on the same pitch as Barca etc and it showed in the performance.
Throat still sore from last night and I thought the fans got right behind the team and believed we could beat them.
Sterling was outstanding as were all the players but got to say Kolarov, Stones and Zabba were fantastic and Ota was close behind them.
My motm was Gundogan and not just because he scored twice but because he showed why Pep was so adamant that we needed him.
We went toe to toe with them and deservedly beat them.
Oh what a night.

 

[Paul Lake's Left Knee]

We'd know for sure if the glass tunnel had been completed!

Sack the board!!

 

[Terra Passenger]

Last night was a wake up to the big European teams that we aren't in awe of them anymore.
We look like we truly belong on the same pitch as Barca etc and it showed in the performance.
Throat still sore from last night and I thought the fans got right behind the team and believed we could beat them.
Sterling was outstanding as were all the players but got to say Kolarov, Stones and Zabba were fantastic and Ota was close behind them.
My motm was Gundogan and not just because he scored twice but because he showed why Pep was so adamant that we needed him.
We went toe to toe with them and deservedly beat them.
Oh what a night.

Agree :-) A great performance by our side.

For me, Sterling seems to lack confidence in his finishing. Just shoot if you've got a clear shot - no need to pass!

Rahim has grown leaps and bounds under Pep - if Pep can get his shooting confidence up, Sterling could well develop into another Robben.

 

[domalino]

what a great but strange game.

both teams looked at their most dangerous when the other team had the ball,pep changed our style in the second half and went longer earlier and it worked a treat,no short passes out of the back longer and quicker ,sort of giving the ball to barca who then couldn't handle our press giving us loads of opportunities to counter.
he really is a fucking amazing coach and tactician,and this is just the start.

crowd sounded brilliant on telly, all the team played brilliantly and pep got it spot on.

big shout out to Raheem last night, that ball into gund was world class, should of got a penalty what the fuck the ref saw I don't know, for those who didn't watch on the telly the commentator said "maybe it was too early to give a penalty and maybe the ref didn't want to upset the balance of the game WTF.

STILL THINK WE CAN BE BETTER WHEN BREAKING,BARCA SHOWED US WITH THEIR GOAL WHAT (oops) what a counter attack will look like when pep has been here a few more months.

chuffed to bits with last night, get our feet back on the ground and go again against boro.

ps how many fouls did busquets commit,as for the left back before raheem got booked for "diving" their lb should of been booked twice, ref was fucking dreadful.

Our counterattack has the potential to be the best in world football.

We probably have the best counterattacking player in the world in De Bruyne, Aguero is as good a support runner and clinical finisher as you could ask for, Sterling has so much pace and is so good at making intelligent runs, and Gundogan's ablity to time his runs into the box means that there's a second wave of attack even if the defenders recover.

There's some room for improvement - I think Sterling's finishing will get better, and Aguero's decision making is improving rapidly - knowing when he should pass and when he should go alone.

And Sterling, Silva, De Bruyne are absolutely brilliant at winning the ball back in advanced areas which is the key to Klopp-style counters where you're only covering 50m instead of going from your own box.

The great shame is that we won't be able to use it all the time because some teams will just refuse to go forward enough to be vulnerable to it.

 

[shemnel]

just finished re-watching the 2nd half. we fucking destroyed them. i mean, being hyper-critical, we should have scored 6 and fucking buried them.

 

[CitizenTID]

just finished re-watching the 2nd half. we fucking destroyed them. i mean, being hyper-critical, we should have scored 6 and fucking buried them.

I was thinking last night, imagine if we'd have won 6-1. A whole other meaning to sick swan. We very easily could have had 6 (fair enough they could have had at least one other).

 

[CitizenTID]

Redcafe site is well worth a visit. There's a lot of angst on there. http://www.redcafe.net/threads/hats-off-to-city-post-barca-win.423283/

My favourite post: 'It's clear to see City are streets ahead of us as a club, a business, as fans and as human beings.'
Is that a blue impostor? No? Someone has seen the light.

I'm sure that will have gone down well ha!

Nothing to take away from our victory (apart from Alba, Pique, Iniesta being there would have made it harder - though we still outplayed them at their place with them besides the time period around the mistakes and this is the first time we've played a full strength 11 against them), I do think Barca are on the down from here on out. They're due another rebuilding job soon with key players ageing. Pique, Biscuits, Messi, DivingBiter and Neymar have time left in them for a bit yet but they haven't got the quality of academy players coming through. They'll always attract players because of who they are, but there aren't many world class players on the market that've revealed themselves yet either. They'll still be a great team, but not the beast we've feared in the past. I think the gap between us and the top 3 is levelling out, we'll be in a top European 4 in the not too distant future I reckon.

 

[Bluemanc100]

Redcafe site is well worth a visit. There's a lot of angst on there. http://www.redcafe.net/threads/hats-off-to-city-post-barca-win.423283/

My favourite post: 'It's clear to see City are streets ahead of us as a club, a business, as fans and as human beings.'
Is that a blue impostor? No? Someone has seen the light.

My personal favourite:

 

[blue ranger]

Sat in the stands watching the game last night, in the first half it looked like the players didn't believe they could win the game after Barca scored. But the transformation after our goal just before half time totally changed the mindset of the team.

The performance of the team in the second half was phenomenal. In all
honesty Willy had very little to do while we could have scored 6 or 7. Don't like saying it but we needed one of those great champions league nights like the scum had in their past. I think the mentality and attitude of both the fans and the team will change now.

 

[dannyboy29]

theres a few belters on there.

"this time next year KDB will be at Madrid"

"Gundogan is on par with Hererra"