City v Boro post match

I've been waiting for City to lead from the front in a title race, as we all have. The game against Boro was a chance to put down a marker and we'd have extended the gap to Spuds and Arsenal and continued to be at the top. Unfortunately, as has happened in previous seasons, we let the 3pts slip and find ourselves chasing.

The fact is this is yet again a City in transition. We're still in a strong position, we've a great win against Barca under our belt and though the efforts in that game cost us against Boro, that win will do us so much good in the CL moving forward as it's proof we can compete with anyone at the top level. I'd sacrifice a couple of points in the league for that.

The media in this country are extremists. If you win a couple of games you're champions elect, if you lose a couple you've lost it and might not even qualify for the CL. Jordan Henderson has already been asked whether this Liverpool side are better than the one that won the title in 13/14! You couldn't make it up. Yes they've started well and yes they've got some good results but there's a long way to go.

It's the same with Chelsea. They shuffled the pack against West Ham and lost. They're not in Europe. They started the season quite poorly. They're doing well at the moment. Let's see how those sides cope with a busy Christmas schedule. Pep has changed the side continually and changed tactics and formations. We struggled against Spuds but in the points dropped at home it's been poor finishing that's cost us, combined with a lack of concentration at the back. We can cope with the fixture pile up, because we've managed to do so with CL football.

More trust in Maffeo, a new left back and the arrival of Gabriel Jesus in Jan will help and with our win over Barca we've made a statement to top players of what they can achieve if they come to City. Now Yaya is likely to be back in the squad it will also help lesson the burden on our other midfielders.
 
Father Paul said:
I don't see that it is an "utter meltdown" while some as usual have gone overboard many people are just concerned at the recent poor home form in the league. In those 3 games we have dropped 2 more points that during the entire home season during Robbie Manc's league win. By any objective analysis that is a fairly poor form for a side with title aspirations. Last year I got some stick for saying we would struggle after the dippers roasted our arses but results and performances don't lie. Some fools were still entirely convinced we would still win the league after we lost those two games in a row against the Foxes and Spuds.
Can we win the league this season maybe but we will need a very big December. The competition this season looks like being fierce and as I have said previously we may need to view this campaign as transitional in nature and tone down expectations accordingly. In general terms at the moment we are not tight enough at the back and importantly we are not scoring enough goals at home to compensate for this. But our form is relatively good otherwise we would not have beaten Barca and with a few tweaks and a bit of luck we might stay in the race and put in a strong finish. I am fairly optimistic that barring serious injuries we can improve in the second have of the season. Maybe even enough to win something!!!
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This. ^^^

Some decent perspective
 
The Riot Club said:
I agree actually, this one is hardest to take for a number of reasons.
It shows we hadn't learnt from the Everton and Southampton results.
It's a real kick in the bollocks that the equaliser came so late.
Against Everton you can't really legislate for missing two penalties, and them and Southampton are fairly decent sides.
But to fail to beat a shit Middlesbrough brings back ghosts of 'typical City' and frustrating bogey teams. And it was the third time absolute piss poor finishing cost us, why isn't the world's best coach and players earning millions not able to heed lessons from two very recent games with the same result?
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Because football is not an exact science.
 
BillyShears said:
Haha. I see what you did there. ;)

On your previous post. I'm sure Pep will be learning plenty from these early months. I'm surprised how many people seem to be talking as if this performance is the destination with Pep as opposed to just an early part of the journey. Everything will get better. Attacking, defending, team cohesion, tactical changes. Even the most cynical of Blue must know that whatever has happened in the last few weeks is only the start of something much bigger/wider/deeper.
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Pep claims to learn more from defeat & setbacks than from victories.

Well,after home draws with Neverton & Soton,can anyone name just 3 things he learnt for the Boro game ?

Just askin like.
 
Bluwhit said:
You're right.. it clearly didn't work against the best team in the world.
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Interesting that you bring up that it worked against Barca, it did work, but it only worked after changes were made to the way we were playing, with KdB coming in to the middle, but this usually means that DS ends up becoming more isolated on the left, so I tend to agree that they don't always work well when playing together, and they can't both play centrally.

I'm not sure what the best solution to having both on the pitch is, but neither play particularly well wide for me, both seem at their best drifting across the pitch behind a striker, and I don't think we can afford them both doing that. I think our best way of playing comes from two wingers, but that can't really happen if both play either.
 
Father Paul said:
I don't see that it is an "utter meltdown" while some as usual have gone overboard many people are just concerned at the recent poor home form in the league. In those 3 games we have dropped 2 more points that during the entire home season during Robbie Manc's league win. By any objective analysis that is a fairly poor form for a side with title aspirations. Last year I got some stick for saying we would struggle after the dippers roasted our arses but results and performances don't lie. Some fools were still entirely convinced we would still win the league after we lost those two games in a row against the Foxes and Spuds.
Can we win the league this season maybe but we will need a very big December. The competition this season looks like being fierce and as I have said previously we may need to view this campaign as transitional in nature and tone down expectations accordingly. In general terms at the moment we are not tight enough at the back and importantly we are not scoring enough goals at home to compensate for this. But our form is relatively good otherwise we would not have beaten Barca and with a few tweaks and a bit of luck we might stay in the race and put in a strong finish. I am fairly optimistic that barring serious injuries we can improve in the second have of the season. Maybe even enough to win something!!!
Click to expand...

December is key. We will know where we are and how much of a chance we have on 1 Jan.

Weren't we about 7th under Pellegrini around that time and won it.

As long as we are within 5/6 points at 1 Jan then I will be fairly confident.
 
CrownPointBlue said:
Pep claims to learn more from defeat & setbacks than from victories.

Well,after home draws with Neverton & Soton,can anyone name just 3 things he learnt for the Boro game ?

Just askin like.
Click to expand...


In all of those, we had plenty of opportunities to put the games to bed. The fact our strikers are struggling at the moment is hardly pep's fault so not sure why your having a dig at him. Just sayin like
 
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