Yesterday turned out to be a disaster. The same problems that has affected the team surfaced once again- too wasteful and nonchalant in the final third. The tactics once again was spot on, with Sane and man of the match from our side Navas nullifying Moses and Alonso for most of the game and exposing their back three. We were the better team throughout the game but unlike Chelsea, we were not playing with the same mind and so could not capitalize on the chances despite getting into good positions numerous times. Individuals in the team should also be called out like Otamendi, who has shown that he is not as good as some people may think, that ball hung in the air for such a long time but he could not deal with it and when Costa brought it down, he brushed Otamendi aside like a nobody and this should not be happening. He was also at fault for the second goal when he committed to a tackle despite not having a chance to win the ball. The worrying thing is that the attention seems to be given to Stones when Otamendi and Kolarov are much bigger problems.
But as I said, all this would not have mattered much if we took the chances with Aguero and De Bruyne in particular. And as it is with football you can get punished and typically that is what happened in the game. They were honest and clinical with their chances and because of that the team became frustrated and this built up until it all blew up at the end of the match. Aguero's tackle was shocking and profoundly bad as he surely knew the consequences and everything else afterwards occurred as a result of that tackle with the ref characteristically punishing our players and not theirs.
Speaking of the ref, the fact that the premier league had the audacity to appoint someone like that shows that it is no longer hidden anymore and they can get away with it because there are very few, if any, people in the media and the public sphere who is fighting or in our corner to call them out. It is a horrible form of reverse psychology, almost criminal to put a ref in the situation where he has to prove that he is not biased against Chelsea because he is from Manchester and therefore loath to give any 50-50 calls or in this game fairly clear calls to us.It is criminal and a deplorable move by the premier league and a deplorable performance from the ref but as I said, no one in the media will call it out because it seems that the bias and the palpable hatred towards City from the media and the public sphere is getting even worse.
So a horrible result both with the scoreline and the red cards and Guardiola has a lot of work to do in the next month or so to make the most of the situation. In comparison with Conte in the match, I think Guardiola won the battle in terms of tactics and starting line up but Conte won in terms of in-game decisions and adjustments. Taking off Sane for Clichy was not the right decision. But the bottom line is that we have to play with the same mind, as a single unit that passes at the right time, shoots at the right time and take chances and this is why we are not at the top despite being the best team whereas Chelsea looked like a well drilled team that have to be favorites now for the premiere league. We have to find a way to overcome the misfortune that seems to plague the team.
