City v Napoli Post Match Discussion Thread

[Damocles]

Havent seen any press or read any posts yet so I'm probably repeating.

We did alright against a very dangerous Napoli. They came with a gameplan to defend in numbers and snatch a goal on the counter and it worked for them. They are a very hard team to beat at the best of times.

Thought Kolarov was poor, especially in the first half where he was constantly outwitted by the movement and technique of Hamsik. Yaya was frustrating as he was often caught dwelling on the ball, which stopped a lot of our momentum at times. For the third match this year, Kompany has made a mistake which cost us a goal which is worrying.

AJ was a change for the better but I can't help but feel that it came ten minutes too late. We ran out of ideas in the later parts until the subs came on.

The biggest thing to affect us was nerves. You could see it in the stadium which transferred to the players. It increased as the game became more frustrating. A point is alright and I still fancy us to win the group.

I had Kolarov down as one of City's best players. Silva and Nasri struggled to dictate the game in the way they usually do, but the game was full of quality, and played at a very high intensity.

I don't think all Champions League games are like that. We've just got a very tough group because we are a third seed.

AJ and Tevez could have perhaps come on 10 mins earlier - you could see Napoli getting more of the game in the 2nd half

Fair enough, I thought Kola was out of position a lot and didn't have the pace to catch up when Napoli were breaking, often leaving us outnumbered at the back. I also thought that Hamisk got the better of him quite regularly and he didn't really give anyone a hard time, his crossing was near non-existent.

Agree with Silva and NAsri, but essentially when their wingbacks dropped back, with their 3 CBs and 2 DMs, they were playing 7 at the back, which allowed them that sort of pressing without leaving too much gap.

 

[The game 161]

Too many wasted chances... Need some good results away now

 

[blueinsa]

Thought both full back choices were wrong in hindsight. Crying out for width at time and Richards and Clichy would have given us just that but as i say, easy in hindsight. Napoli did a job on Silva, especially second half and fair play to them for that.

Great first half and very even second half against an impressive Napoli side.

Impressed that we had the balls to come back strongly after going behind and that has answered a question for us all as we have had it all our own way so far this season. A good sign.

As many have said, we will learn from the experience and go from here and a point is not a disaster.

Bring on Bayern :-)

 

[SamTheGuru]

barry and lescott looked a bit out of their depth, all in all a good result because for the last 10-20 minuets it looked like they were playing 6-7 defenders.

this

both looked poor today. esp barry for loosing out in a crucial area. silly mistake.

but looking at the bench who is better?

we are missing de jong and milner.

Barry was brilliant tonight or was I watching a different match???

You were watching a different match. Barry gave the ball away time and time again. It was Barry attempting a ridiculous backheel in the middle of the park that led to their goal. On the other hand, Napoli were quite fantastic and defended brilliantly. The way they set up completely negated how we were playing. Richards and Clichy needed to play to offer us that width to get around them. Zab kept cutting inside and Kolarov simply does not have the pace. On saying that, we did have our chance to score and it wasn't taken. It seems like a knock on effect from 1st half of Wigan last week from not being clinical enough.

 

[Bluemoon_bosnia]

Well I was waiting for this match for weeks , MAN. CITY , i thought before the match that napoli isn't such strong as the say , what I saw yesterday evening really impressed me. They play fu.king good defensive game , and just looking for quick counter attack , even City need some more to get used to each other ( first season for nasri , dzeko , kun , yaya , silva together) even Barcelona wouldn' score a goal. They stopped our two best players Nasri and Silva , they knew withouth them Kun and Dzeko wouldnt have much chances and they had right. So i dont blame city players this is on of the strongest team in the CL , and it's gonna be hard to pass the group stage trust me... City must win against Bayern 2 matches and Villareal 2 matches , cause i think it's gonna be hard to win in Napoli..

Best Players: Kolarov ( the serbian machine , simply love him wtf. is Clichy?? :D )
Yaya and Kompany ( Without those two , i am sure that napoli would get all 3 points)

Worst Player: Barry ( Lost the ball for 0:1 and had a lot of mistakes)

The others:
Dzeko ( I can't expect more , he is not Messi to take te ball at the center and make 3 goals , he needs the support of Nasri and Silva)
Nasri and Silva ( the whole napoli tactic was to stop nasri and silva and they did it fuc.ing great)
Aguero ( Better then tevez for sure , but like for dzeko without those two he simply can't)
Tevez ( ask stoke for trading him for crouch :D )

But in the next game i expect a win, SIMPLY LOVE CITY!!!

 

[dave_blue12]

Thought both full back choices were wrong in hindsight. Crying out for width at time and Richards and Clichy would have given us just that but as i say, easy in hindsight. Napoli did a job on Silva, especially second half and fair play to them for that.

Great first half and very even second half against an impressive Napoli side.

Impressed that we had the balls to come back strongly after going behind and that has answered a question for us all as we have had it all our own way so far this season. A good sign.

As many have said, we will learn from the experience and go from here and a point is not a disaster.

Bring on Bayern :-)

Good post. Totally agree.

Roberto dropped a bollock with his choice of fullbacks both in terms of attack & defence. Richards & Clichy are way quicker which is important against Napoli who are very pacy

 

[Marvin]

Much talk of lots of mistakes but what struck me was the absence of mistakes.

The ball was rarely given away, but such was the quality of defending and the numbers in defence that attacks broke down time and time again. every attack was just a few inches away from success, but every one failed.

But never play the Stoke/bolton percentage game. I hope we never ever see hopeful play like that from City.<br /><br />-- Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:02 am --<br /><br />

Thought both full back choices were wrong in hindsight. Crying out for width at time and Richards and Clichy would have given us just that but as i say, easy in hindsight. Napoli did a job on Silva, especially second half and fair play to them for that.

Great first half and very even second half against an impressive Napoli side.

Impressed that we had the balls to come back strongly after going behind and that has answered a question for us all as we have had it all our own way so far this season. A good sign.

As many have said, we will learn from the experience and go from here and a point is not a disaster.

Bring on Bayern :-)

Good post. Totally agree.

Roberto dropped a bollock with his choice of fullbacks both in terms of attack & defence. Richards & Clichy are way quicker which is important against Napoli who are very pacy

Yet Kolarov scored and he came very close in the 1st half too.

We also had to defend very well against counter-attacks, and Kolarov is better defending than Clichy who in my view is really a left midfielder

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

Too true. Doesn't help that I dont have Sky, and have never really watched that much European football. That said, compared with what I have seen, they are a pretty handy side. Hope Villareall aren't much better!

Bayern should of scored 5 goals, i seen the highlights, Ribery was devastating

Villarreal is not that bad - it was their first loose in Europa League or Champions League for ages at home - at least in the last 6 or 7 years if ever somebody has won there before. They tried to play a little catenaccio style against us, trying to be good in defense and getting their attack with long balls. Their two attackers are pretty good and their defense line is good organisated so we ran in the offside a couple of times. Bayern should have played with more concentration and the game would have been done earlier.

Do not let anybody tell you that Bayern has won because Villarreal was such a bad team.

Take Rossi out of that team and they are mediocre - end of. They´ve got lucky down the years but this season will be tough for them

 

[The game 161]

So is bayern next then?

 

[mike channon´s windmill]

Richards should have played and AJ come on much earlier. Dzeko should also have stayed on till the end with hindsight. As a wise old sage once said "It´s not lack of foresight that´s the problem, it´s not having hindsight earlier!" :)
NDJ would have ensured a win but alas