City v Chelsea Post Match Thread

[waspish]

Stop Yaya turning and running with the ball - City lose.

Stop Zabaleta on the overlap - City lose.

Stop Kolarov on the overlap - City lose.

Fernandinho not playing - City lose.

Aguero and Nasri not playing - again, good chance City will lose against that calibre of opponent.

Our lack of squad depth in key areas was ruthlessly exposed and we played without intelligence and chased the game far too quickly.

Time for an extra man in the middle while we get some of our big game players back?

Can you honestly think Pellegrini will play an extra man in midfield?! He payed 2 up top last night with a half injured Negrado!! Utter utter madness

Well he did at Stamford Bridge and there was nothing wrong with that thinking.

We were at home and right to play two up top and there would have been plenty of groaning if Negredo had been left out again.

Rodwell and Milner would have been more exposed than Demichelis, as they simply don't have the technique and aren't properly fit, either.

We can all be wise after the event but I agree the time has come for Pellegrini to choose his battles a little more wisely with the personnel at his current disposal.

Fair enough.. Pellegrini hand was tied in some way but a half fit Negrado shouldn't of started for me he was pretty ineffective. Like you say it's being wise after the event but we could of played Lescot pushing Nastic in midfield with Demchellis would been an option..

Bottom line Chelsea got very lucky with the amount of injuries we have and with then having there strongest team out.

 

[i8rags]

Stop Yaya turning and running with the ball - City lose.

Stop Zabaleta on the overlap - City lose.

Stop Kolarov on the overlap - City lose.

Fernandinho not playing - City lose.

Aguero and Nasri not playing - again, good chance City will lose against that calibre of opponent.

Our lack of squad depth in key areas was ruthlessly exposed and we played without intelligence and chased the game far too quickly.

Time for an extra man in the middle while we get some of our big game players back?

Stop silva city lose....

Silva should off scored twice,

 

[Chippy_boy]

Stop Yaya turning and running with the ball - City lose.

Stop Zabaleta on the overlap - City lose.

Stop Kolarov on the overlap - City lose.

Fernandinho not playing - City lose.

Aguero and Nasri not playing - again, good chance City will lose against that calibre of opponent.

Our lack of squad depth in key areas was ruthlessly exposed and we played without intelligence and chased the game far too quickly.

Time for an extra man in the middle while we get some of our big game players back?

Can you honestly think Pellegrini will play an extra man in midfield?! He payed 2 up top last night with a half injured Negrado!! Utter utter madness

Well he did at Stamford Bridge and there was nothing wrong with that thinking.

We were at home and right to play two up top and there would have been plenty of groaning if Negredo had been left out again.

Rodwell and Milner would have been more exposed than Demichelis, as they simply don't have the technique and aren't properly fit, either.

We can all be wise after the event but I agree the time has come for Pellegrini to choose his battles a little more wisely with the personnel at his current disposal.

I actually thought the starting line up was OK and I thought MDM did OK too for most of the game. Milner in a holding position with Yaya would have been a disaster and Rodwell/Yaya not a lot better. But why didn't he switch to 4-2-3-1?

---------------Dzeko (or Negredo)---------------
Silva ------------------Yaya------------------Navas
-------------Rodwell-------MDM-------------------
Kolarov------Nasty----Komps-------Zabaleta
-----------------------Hart-----------------------------

Or Milner instead of Rodwell? Just for 10 minutes at the end? I am concerned that Pellegrini obviously thought our best chance of success was to carry on as we were, when it was so clearly not working.

 

[willipp]

Re: So poor

I dont think I can ever remember us playing so badly at home for such a long long time. A lot of players last night should be ashamed of how they played. The midfield duo of Yaya and Demicheles what the fuck was that all about. Yaya is great going forward but needed to track back and help out much more yesterday. He was too lazy to even try and get a block on the goal that won the game. Demicheles was shocking in midfield passing at times so poor no legs for the position.

The tatics from Pelligreni too was a bit confusing. Not to start Milner was strange a proper midfielder in there in place of Demicheles would of helped some bit. Taking off Negredo instead of Dzeko was another strange decision. You would of left Negredo on instead of Dzeko who missed some half chances. Mourhino got under Pelli's skin and won the mind games both times and took 6 points from the 2 games we played. Are we still favourites to win the title after last night I am not too sure. Will we be able to put this behind us and kick on again and show it was just blip I hope so. I think its a lession learned for Pelli and hopefully we dont see that sort again this season. Chelsea deserved the win.

I dont think we were poor at all. We certainly weren't our best, but when you look at it we have missed 4 or 5 great chances, ones we have been sticking away all season. As for taking Dzeko of and not Negredo, the beast was clearly not fit. As frustrating as Dzeko is and missed some good chances, Negredo was having zero influence on the game. Also, give Chelsea credit, its not always just the case of saying we were poor. They completely cut out the spaces in midfield we usually thrive on and Matic, Willian and Luiz had excellent games.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Stop Yaya turning and running with the ball - City lose.

Stop Zabaleta on the overlap - City lose.

Stop Kolarov on the overlap - City lose.

Fernandinho not playing - City lose.

Aguero and Nasri not playing - again, good chance City will lose against that calibre of opponent.

Our lack of squad depth in key areas was ruthlessly exposed and we played without intelligence and chased the game far too quickly.

Time for an extra man in the middle while we get some of our big game players back?

Stop silva city lose....

Silva should off scored twice,

Twas ever thus. Has the composure in front of goal of Steven Ireland.

 

[bluemooninho]

Re: So poor

I dont think I can ever remember us playing so badly at home for such a long long time. A lot of players last night should be ashamed of how they played. The midfield duo of Yaya and Demicheles what the fuck was that all about. Yaya is great going forward but needed to track back and help out much more yesterday. He was too lazy to even try and get a block on the goal that won the game. Demicheles was shocking in midfield passing at times so poor no legs for the position.

The tatics from Pelligreni too was a bit confusing. Not to start Milner was strange a proper midfielder in there in place of Demicheles would of helped some bit. Taking off Negredo instead of Dzeko was another strange decision. You would of left Negredo on instead of Dzeko who missed some half chances. Mourhino got under Pelli's skin and won the mind games both times and took 6 points from the 2 games we played. Are we still favourites to win the title after last night I am not too sure. Will we be able to put this behind us and kick on again and show it was just blip I hope so. I think its a lession learned for Pelli and hopefully we dont see that sort again this season. Chelsea deserved the win.

Mindless drivel. It usually confuses me how people react after a loss. But this just amazes me. It is our only loss in over 20 games.

Why should the players be ashamed? It was not a case of playing badly. Our heavily weakened team were just stopped from playing well by a very well-drilled team.

I agree with only one thing you say. I think putting Demichelis in the middle was a mistake. Keeping him on for 90 minutes was another one!

Negredo did need to come off. He was very ineffective yesterday. No biggie though as he has been out for a couple of weeks and has had so many top class performances, you can forgive the odd off game.

In my eyes, we are still favourites. Look at our form... even after the defeat.

The biggest worry for us at the moment is our injury list.

 

[Bluebee2]

Can you honestly think Pellegrini will play an extra man in midfield?! He payed 2 up top last night with a half injured Negrado!! Utter utter madness

Well he did at Stamford Bridge and there was nothing wrong with that thinking.

We were at home and right to play two up top and there would have been plenty of groaning if Negredo had been left out again.

Rodwell and Milner would have been more exposed than Demichelis, as they simply don't have the technique and aren't properly fit, either.

We can all be wise after the event but I agree the time has come for Pellegrini to choose his battles a little more wisely with the personnel at his current disposal.

I actually thought the starting line up was OK and I thought MDM did OK too for most of the game. Milner in a holding position with Yaya would have been a disaster and Rodwell/Yaya not a lot better. But why didn't he switch to 4-2-3-1?

---------------Dzeko (or Negredo)---------------
Silva ------------------Yaya------------------Navas
-------------Rodwell-------MDM-------------------
Kolarov------Nasty----Komps-------Zabaleta
-----------------------Hart-----------------------------

Or Milner instead of Rodwell? Just for 10 minutes at the end? I am concerned that Pellegrini obviously thought our best chance of success was to carry on as we were, when it was so clearly not working.

He should of put Milner in the centre with 15/10 to go, took Dzeko off and pushed Yaya forward.

 

[TueartsOHK]

Apologies if some of this has already been said (i'm sure I'm not alone in this opinion)...

From the time they announced the team sheet I predicted that a draw was the best the we were going to achieve. For me Pelles got it wrong last night - we are missing our key midfield man so we not only replace him with a centre back who cannot deal with a Chelsea side who will play on the break , but he compounds this error by playing a 4-4-2. Why don't we play our fit midfielders in midfield? Even 50 minutes in Chelsea were still controlling the game and Pelles answer was to replace a forward. Why did we pay the respect to Liverpool of playing a 5 man midfield but not Chelsea who are a better team?

The result could have been a lot worse if Chelsea had a decent striker but our forward play was wasteful to say the least. Silva (though unlucky with the free kick) missed a couple, Dzeko was his usual unreliable self and Negredo didn't look himself at all (was he fit?) I thought according to some of the players interviews leading up to the game that "patience was the key to winning the game" so why were we pushing up from the start leaving ourselves open to being caught on the break.

I know we had key players out but for me that was an even better reason not to play the 4-4-2 last night, shore up the midfield and play with some patience. I love our football at the moment but I do feel we are lacking a plan B and hope Pelles has learned something from the game. The result isn't the end of the world but I keep thinking back to us beating the rags twice in our title winning season and how crucial that was.

PS: Request for the Mods -I know were not RAWK but why are we putting up with Chelsea fans coming on to the post match forum with the clear intention of winding people up? I don't mind Chelsea fans coming on to have a reasonable debate on the game but on this occasion this twat Zola is clearly trying to hijack the thread for his own self gratification

 

[carefree]

Unlucky guys! we were the better team and deserved the win! i did say exactly how we would beat you! At least the title race will be very interesting now.

 

[pavelsrnicek]

Stop Yaya turning and running with the ball - City lose.

Stop Zabaleta on the overlap - City lose.

Stop Kolarov on the overlap - City lose.

Fernandinho not playing - City lose.

Aguero and Nasri not playing - again, good chance City will lose against that calibre of opponent.

Our lack of squad depth in key areas was ruthlessly exposed and we played without intelligence and chased the game far too quickly.

Time for an extra man in the middle while we get some of our big game players back?

Can you honestly think Pellegrini will play an extra man in midfield?! He payed 2 up top last night with a half injured Negrado!! Utter utter madness

Well he did at Stamford Bridge and there was nothing wrong with that thinking.

We were at home and right to play two up top and there would have been plenty of groaning if Negredo had been left out again.

Rodwell and Milner would have been more exposed than Demichelis, as they simply don't have the technique and aren't properly fit, either.

We can all be wise after the event but I agree the time has come for Pellegrini to choose his battles a little more wisely with the personnel at his current disposal.

I agree with your last point but I would say that in this case he had very few other options due to the injuries in the squad. If he had another fit midfielder then he may have been able to change things but the cupboard was bare.

We saved £12m apparently by not signing Fernando but how much will it cost us not having an extra midfielder? Chelsea spent £21m on Matic and he made a huge difference to them yesterday.

For all Mourinho's BS on City and FFP, Chelsea still splash the cash when they need to and don't mess around on agents' fees, i.e. Hazard.

We seem to have walked away from a few deals but they seem to be more costly in the long run.