City v Arsenal post match thread

[Neville Kneville]

Did anyone notice, or remember whilst busy flapping & whining, that after the start when, as Pep said, all of Arsenal's openings came from our errors on the ball, City actually took over the game for the rest of the half, even with Kolarov & Fernando at cb & our 'shit' centre mids (who played pretty well) & Wenger was actually the one doing major flapping, along with Kevin Campbell, at half time ?

What happened then ? He brought on fresh legs including Theo Walcott. We didn't bother doing anything special to counter that & just continued with our own plan. As it's pre season.

 

[bert38]

Did anyone notice, or remember whilst busy flapping & whining, that after the start when, as Pep said, all of Arsenal's openings came from our errors on the ball, City actually took over the game for the rest of the half, even with Kolarov & Fernando at cb & our 'shit' centre mids (who played pretty well) & Wenger was actually the one doing major flapping, along with Kevin Campbell, at half time ?

What happened then ? He brought on fresh legs including Theo Walcott. We didn't bother doing anything special to counter that & just continued with our own plan. As it's pre season.

There was a 20 minute spell in the first half when we looked simply superb in all aspects of our play. I am confident that will be more indicative of how we play this season rather than a disjointed, leggy second half.

 

[Burtonblue]

Hart's a gonner.
Looked uncomfortable and conceded again to his left. Great stop on his right v Walcott as opposed to going down in instalments for their first.
Don't understand why we started without any recognised CDs and never gave Denayer a run out.
Sagna looked much more assured than Zabba who appears to have completely lost any defensive capacities.
Zivchenko and Garcia looked decent and so did Tosin until that pass. He will learn from that.
Kolarov is not a CD. Hope yesterday cemented that in Pep's mind.
Other than that I thought we looked decent for 20 min or so.
Going to be a slow start.....

 

[adrianr]

We look seriously under cooked, I'm worried about the lack of pre season games and obviously the euros/Copa having a big effect with players coming back late.

We should have fucked the tours off this year and just stayed at home to really prep for the season. I know why due to new commercial commitments in China that likely wasn't possible, but its grating to see the business prioritized over the football, considering we're still a football club..

Aside to that, anyone who genuinely though we would rule the league from day one was always setting themselves up for disappointment. As were those who thought Pep would come in and make every player world class. There will be adjustments and casualties. Just try not to flap your heads off before we get into our groove.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Hart's a gonner.
Looked uncomfortable and conceded again to his left. Great stop on his right v Walcott which as opposed to going down in instalments for their first.
Don't understand why we started without any recognised CDs and never gave Denayer a run out.
Sagna looked much more assured than Zabba who appears to have completely lost any defensive capacities.
Zivchenko and Garcia looked decent and so did Tosin until that pass. He will learn from that.
Kolarov is not a CD. Hope yesterday cemented that in Pep's mind.
Other than that I thought we looked decent for 20 min or so.
Going to be a slow start.....

The thing is, Pep knows that Kolarov isn't a cb, but he's up to something. There are a whole bunch of players who could have played there instead of Kolarov, even with the current injuries etc, who would be better at cb.

There is a reason Guardiola has been using Kolarov. Whether it's because he's teaching him something & sees more to him than we do, or he's teaching the others something or if it's just to keep the team under pressure to teach them to cover, it's not because Pep is either a fucking idiot, or has no other choice, as seems to be the suggestion by at least half the flappers on here.

He didn't have to use Kolarov & Fernando at cb, he is experimenting with something. I can't fucking stand Kolarov, but I know Pep Guardiola knows his fucking stuff, so if he wants to try something with Kolarov, he can jolly well do so.

 

[Pam]

I never argue with people about pre-season. They are designed to bring the players back to the requisite fitness levels. Results are meaningless and performance isnt even the point, really. However, one we get started. I hope our players can adjust to the new style without the stupid bitching and moaning that went on in Bobby's last season.

I don't expect a flying start. We had one of those last season and we all know what happened after that. Be calm and be adults about this because it is going to take time.

 

[twosips]

The thing is, Pep knows that Kolarov isn't a cb, but he's up to something. There are a whole bunch of players who could have played there instead of Kolarov, even with the current injuries etc, who would be better at cb.

There is a reason Guardiola has been using Kolarov. Whether it's because he's teaching him something & sees more to him than we do, or he's teaching the others something or if it's just to keep the team under pressure to teach them to cover, it's not because Pep is either a fucking idiot, or has no other choice, as seems to be the suggestion by at least half the flappers on here.

He didn't have to use Kolarov & Fernando at cb, he is experimenting with something. I can't fucking stand Kolarov, but I know Pep Guardiola knows his fucking stuff, so if he wants to try something with Kolarov, he can jolly well do so.

God damnit, Nev, stop talking sense.

 

[Mike N]

'Under cooked' lol. Never heard this expression relating to football before last year.

 

[BertTrautmann'sParachute]

"I didn't hang about for the after match pearls of wisdom. What was said?"

Something about Pep making the players go over to the City fans to applaud them, and Hamman thought the body language between Pep and Hart wasn't great. No footage/pics though just Hammans observations.

I saw it. You could see a problem if you wanted to or not if you didn't.

 

[domalino]

The thing is, Pep knows that Kolarov isn't a cb, but he's up to something. There are a whole bunch of players who could have played there instead of Kolarov, even with the current injuries etc, who would be better at cb.

There is a reason Guardiola has been using Kolarov. Whether it's because he's teaching him something & sees more to him than we do, or he's teaching the others something or if it's just to keep the team under pressure to teach them to cover, it's not because Pep is either a fucking idiot, or has no other choice, as seems to be the suggestion by at least half the flappers on here.

He didn't have to use Kolarov & Fernando at cb, he is experimenting with something. I can't fucking stand Kolarov, but I know Pep Guardiola knows his fucking stuff, so if he wants to try something with Kolarov, he can jolly well do so.

I'm just assuming he is seeing if Kolarov can play there because there's a chance we might not be able to offload him this summer and he might have to find a use for him.