City v Boro post match

[ChicagoBlue]

Six points lost, but I'll call it four after being gifted an own goal for a win earlier this season.

When you watch the best of the best, they are clinical in front of goal. Given the opportunities we create, we are wasteful. Given the talent we have, it is, at times, criminal.

We will improve, but for now, I'll take a misfiring team that is third a couple of points behind a couple of teams that are flying. Bodes well, if we can keep the main 16 man squad healthy.

 

[cibaman]

Six points lost, but I'll call it four after being gifted an own goal for a win earlier this season.

When you watch the best of the best, they are clinical in front of goal. Given the opportunities we create, we are wasteful. Given the talent we have, it is, at times, criminal.

We will improve, but for now, I'll take a misfiring team that is third a couple of points behind a couple of teams that are flying. Bodes well, if we can keep the main 16 man squad healthy.

They're flying in part because they don't have our CL commitments. Its a significant advantage for them, as it was for Leicester last year and Liverpool in 13/14.

 

[ancoats]

They're flying in part because they don't have our CL commitments. Its a significant advantage for them, as it was for Leicester last year and Liverpool in 13/14.

it is a big task to play champions league and having a 2nd pot seeding we have to play a big team and with barca home and away it was always going to be a hard group but we get to the winter break and a 8 week break and then its knockouts. so if we are only a couple of points of the top then i think its a good job done. we will start to get our 2nd wind and with a couple of new faces and getting fresh without midweek football i can see man city hitting it hard at christmas its the right time of the season to push on and city will be there right in the mix

also the more teams in the race the better chance city will have with each taking points of each other some big games coming for liverpool and arsenal and chelsea so we in my book have done a good job this season so far and remember its pep first season and needs time to change his squad and setup and having a late to non pre-season we had to fine a setup in the league i think we can really take off in the 2nd half of the season

 

[mayo31]

They're flying in part because they don't have our CL commitments. Its a significant advantage for them, as it was for Leicester last year and Liverpool in 13/14.

I forgot who won it on 13/14 ;)

 

[MillisleBlue]

Contender for the longest ever post match thread?

 

[Marvin]

it is a big task to play champions league and having a 2nd pot seeding we have to play a big team and with barca home and away it was always going to be a hard group but we get to the winter break and a 8 week break and then its knockouts. so if we are only a couple of points of the top then i think its a good job done. we will start to get our 2nd wind and with a couple of new faces and getting fresh without midweek football i can see man city hitting it hard at christmas its the right time of the season to push on and city will be there right in the mix

also the more teams in the race the better chance city will have with each taking points of each other some big games coming for liverpool and arsenal and chelsea so we in my book have done a good job this season so far and remember its pep first season and needs time to change his squad and setup and having a late to non pre-season we had to fine a setup in the league i think we can really take off in the 2nd half of the season

Chelsea and Liverpool are entirely focused on the Premier League and our group is very demanding. That is true.

But Champions League allows us to bring in top players, and if you are successful in it, it should raise the ability and self belief of players. It's not all negative relative to our league form. It's difficult to handle after midweek games. I certainly accept that. But we should still have soundly beaten Southampton and Boro. Boro were ecstatic at the point, but I thought their tactics were stupid. They were so defensive they had almost no attacking threat whatsoever, and we should have heavily beaten them with the amount of possession we had. The fact that we created so few clear chances (a recent trend) tells me there's more to it than fatigue.

The majority of our goals come from Aguero, Sterling, Nolito and KDB. Toure and Nasri are no longer available, therefore if you don't play Sterling and Nolito then we reduce our goal output. Silva and Navas are good players. They allow us to control possession but they don't score goals. I think we're also a bit complacent. It's not enough to control possession, you must score. I don't see that desperation in our game to score. We look like Arsenal.

I think we should start Kelechi more often. His pace is a real threat and something Aguero doesn't have.

 

[cibaman]

I forgot who won it on 13/14 ;)

Liverpool should never have gotten close to us in 13/14.

Chelsea and Liverpool are entirely focused on the Premier League and our group is very demanding. That is true.

But Champions League allows us to bring in top players, and if you are successful in it, it should raise the ability and self belief of players. It's not all negative relative to our league form. It's difficult to handle after midweek games. I certainly accept that. But we should still have soundly beaten Southampton and Boro. Boro were ecstatic at the point, but I thought their tactics were stupid. They were so defensive they had almost no attacking threat whatsoever, and we should have heavily beaten them with the amount of possession we had. The fact that we created so few clear chances (a recent trend) tells me there's more to it than fatigue.

The majority of our goals come from Aguero, Sterling, Nolito and KDB. Toure and Nasri are no longer available, therefore if you don't play Sterling and Nolito then we reduce our goal output. Silva and Navas are good players. They allow us to control possession but they don't score goals. I think we're also a bit complacent. It's not enough to control possession, you must score. I don't see that desperation in our game to score. We look like Arsenal.

I think we should start Kelechi more often. His pace is a real threat and something Aguero doesn't have.

I'm not sure if its best decribed as complacency or excessive patiency. It does seem that the mindset can be that as long as we're spending the game in or around their penalty area that the goals will come. Perhaps there's not always that determination to get in front of the defender. Or to be quite as precise as necessary with the final pass.

 

[SilverFox2]

Liverpool should never have gotten close to us in 13/14.


I'm not sure if its best decribed as complacency or excessive patiency. It does seem that the mindset can be that as long as we're spending the game in or around their penalty area that the goals will come. Perhaps there's not always that determination to get in front of the defender. Or to be quite as precise as necessary with the final pass.

I think the point is they seem to be able to pass a ball accurately most of the time when not shooting but simply are either not aware of where the goal space is situated or cannot use the same technique that allows control when shooting.

We see many goals by strikers these days between a goalkeepers legs, if they can do this accurately missing the goalie yet hitting the target should be a doddle.

 

[KDBestplayerintheworld]

First City match I missed this season, was at Stamford Bridge for Chelsea - Everton with a couple of mates. (Turned out not to be a bad choice by the way - I remember saying on this forum last year when Hazard was at his lowest that City should step in and snatch him now that he's cheap, because you just knew he'd return to greatness, form is temporary and class is permanent and all that crap ... got a lot of resistance then, but saw him play now and my word he's just from another planet sometimes) Anyway, I was saying that I missed the game. Was following the live score until 5 minutes or so before end and it was still 1-0. I assumed it was in the bag until post match at Stamford Bridge I heard some guy say Chelsea were top of the league now with City drawing to Boro. What was builiding up to be a fantastic night, got ruined right there and then. How on earth did this happen??

 

[Father Paul]

Christ almighty, my first post in pre Boro game was "Can the Blue Moon handle a upset" or words to that effect
Clearly NO
You have drew one game and its utter meltdown
Plastic mattress sales must be at a all time high in Manchester every weekend

Get a grip lads

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!!!