City v Real Madrid post match

[cleavers]

Good 1st half performance , but we ran out of steam in the 2nd half and couldnt press

I've said earlier in the thread, but I don't think we ran out of steam, just went to different tactics. We certainly tired, but not till the last 15 minutes, and we didn't press as we had before half time, but I didn't feel it was because we couldn't, more that we went for allowing them the ball in none dangerous areas, across the back, and near the halfway line, in the hope we could snatch a breakaway goal. They went left to right, and right to left, in front of our midfield for long periods, only getting serious chances late on from set pieces, and we broke very dangerously on them a few times, unfortunately picking the wrong ball, or messing the right one up.

Game of chess for me, early on we went hard, then changed to a waiting game, to see if they might over commit, it nearly worked, but equally they almost got through with set pieces.

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

I've said earlier in the thread, but I don't think we ran out of steam, just went to different tactics. We certainly tired, but not till the last 15 minutes, and we didn't press as we had before half time, but I didn't feel it was because we couldn't, more that we went for allowing them the ball in none dangerous areas, across the back, and near the halfway line, in the hope we could snatch a breakaway goal. They went left to right, and right to left, in front of our midfield for long periods, only getting serious chances late on from set pieces, and we broke very dangerously on them a few times, unfortunately picking the wrong ball, or messing the right one up.

Game of chess for me, early on we went hard, then changed to a waiting game, to see if they might over commit, it nearly worked, but equally they almost got through with set pieces.

That's a pretty good assessment. I re watched the first half last night. We were easily a match for them after me initially thinking they were higher in individual quality but they also gave up possession and we looked evenly matched. I'm hopeful for Wednesday. City have nothing to fear.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

That's a pretty good assessment. I re watched the first half last night. We were easily a match for them after me initially thinking they were higher in individual quality but they also gave up possession and we looked evenly matched. I'm hopeful for Wednesday. City have nothing to fear.

But fear itself! I'm not a great follower of Spanish football but once upon a time most people could reel off most of a Real team. I'd never heard of most of 'em.

 

[Keepingthefaithsince1976]

But fear itself! I'm not a great follower of Spanish football but once upon a time most people could reel off most of a Real team. I'd never heard of most of 'em.

Yes indeed. Real will be a cauldron of hate & their fans are renowned for the hostile atmosphere but City have it in them to quieten them. The performances in Seville, Kiev & Paris are what we need next Wednesday. It could be time to unleash Sterling & Navas. I cant wait...wish it was tonight.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Yes indeed. Real will be a cauldron of hate & their fans are renowned for the hostile atmosphere but City have it in them to quieten them. The performances in Seville, Kiev & Paris are what we need next Wednesday. It could be time to unleash Sterling & Navas. I cant wait...wish it was tonight.

Ooooh, the old ticker ain't got back to an even beat yet. Need another few days to get back to normal!!

 

[robbieh]

The criticism in the media is ridiculous. That was Madrid´s 27th semi final. We are the equivalent of Leicester at that level and yet no slack being cut by anyone. Bollocks to em.

Tactically Pellegrini has in the last months of his tenure become what many of us were calling for ages ago. A pragmatist. And it has worked so far. If we work hard in the match next week who knows. Madrid haven´t beaten Atletico for ages in La Liga and it´s not because they don´t have the players. It´s down to Simeone´s organization and the player´s desire. We can do the same.

As far as last night´s game goes it again shows that Guardiola is not quite the messiah people are hoping for. While I would only give Pellegrini 7 out of 10 for his tenure at City, and that´s me feeling generous towards him at the moment, I wonder what Bayern fans will give Pep if they go out in the semi final again.

 

[shemnel]

I've said earlier in the thread, but I don't think we ran out of steam, just went to different tactics. We certainly tired, but not till the last 15 minutes, and we didn't press as we had before half time, but I didn't feel it was because we couldn't, more that we went for allowing them the ball in none dangerous areas, across the back, and near the halfway line, in the hope we could snatch a breakaway goal. They went left to right, and right to left, in front of our midfield for long periods, only getting serious chances late on from set pieces, and we broke very dangerously on them a few times, unfortunately picking the wrong ball, or messing the right one up.

Game of chess for me, early on we went hard, then changed to a waiting game, to see if they might over commit, it nearly worked, but equally they almost got through with set pieces.

yeah i agree that we tactically decided to allow them to come forward so we could counter better, which was so effective in previous rounds. i dont think it quite worked for us and we looked shaky on defending crosses but i think it was an intentional drop off.

 

[football pundit]

Who history tells us will win the
Champions League

On 28 May this season's UEFA Champions League victors will be crowned in Milan – but who will it be? We assessed the trends to whittle 16 teams down to one. Guess who ...

Top your group
Nine of the last ten champions finished at the summit of their groups – early momentum, it seems, is key. The exception came in 2010 with Internazionale Milano, who needed a
matchday six win against Rubin Kazan to beat the Russian side to the runners-up spot behind Barcelona before finding their groove in the
knockout stages.
Bad news for: Paris Saint-Germain, PSV
Eindhoven, Benfica, Juventus, Roma,
Arsenal, Dynamo Kyiv, Gent.
Avoid the top scorer ... unless it's Ronaldo Only six times in the UEFA Champions League's 23-year history has the top scorer after the
group stage lifted the trophy that season. Ordinarily that means bad news for Cristiano
Ronaldo, who became the first ever player to reach double figures this term. But the Portuguese is the exception to the rule: in two
of the four previous campaigns he was top scorer at this stage, his side triumphed.
Bad news for: well, nobody.
Get errors out of your system
The side with the best defensive record after the group stage has never won the competition since the current format was introduced in 2003. Ten teams bettered Barcelona's goals-against tally last season while
back in 2009 the Catalan giants' back line ranked 18th. It seems best to get defensive errors out of the system, but there is a limit: no team has won the competition after shipping more than eight in the group stage. Bad news for: Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal,
Roma
Matchday five and six in 100 seconds
Experience counts No club advancing from the group stage for the first time has ever reached the final under
the current format. Villarreal came closest in 2006 as Arsenal scraped a 1-0 semi-final win, Juan Riquelme having a late penalty saved by
Jens Lehmann that would have forced an additional 30 minutes.
Bad news for: Gent, Wolfsburg
No Prizes for second
None of the last four UEFA Champions League winners began those campaigns as domestic title holders, a relatively new phenomena but
previously champion champions were far more common so it has the makings of a trend.
Bad news for: Barcelona, Bayern, Benfica, Chelsea, Dynamo Kyiv, Gent, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven, Zenit
History lessons
Twenty-one different teams lifted the
European Cup over the course of its first 42 campaigns; 18 seasons on and the solitary name of Chelsea has been added. If you have not won it before, you are up against it.
Bad news for: Arsenal, Atlético Madrid,
Dynamo Kyiv, Gent, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma, Wolfsburg, Zenit. Also a first leg 0-0 win tends to favour the side who plays at home in the second leg in a semi final.So, according to this highly scientific survey,
the team that will lift the trophy in Milan on
28 May will be … Real Madrid. Maybe.
What do you reckon?
No11 for Real Madrid?
logc405.xiti.com/go.click?xts=534845&s2=61&p=podcast_xmlfeed::audio::Podcast%3a+Atl%c3%a9tico+beat+Bayern+%26+it's+all+square+in+Manchester&clic=N&type=click&url=http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Podcast/Podcast/Podcast/02/35/82/99/2358299_MP3.mp3

 

[OB1]

I've said earlier in the thread, but I don't think we ran out of steam, just went to different tactics. We certainly tired, but not till the last 15 minutes, and we didn't press as we had before half time, but I didn't feel it was because we couldn't, more that we went for allowing them the ball in none dangerous areas, across the back, and near the halfway line, in the hope we could snatch a breakaway goal. They went left to right, and right to left, in front of our midfield for long periods, only getting serious chances late on from set pieces, and we broke very dangerously on them a few times, unfortunately picking the wrong ball, or messing the right one up.

Game of chess for me, early on we went hard, then changed to a waiting game, to see if they might over commit, it nearly worked, but equally they almost got through with set pieces.

You might be right that we dropped off deliberately but if we did, it might just have been a recognition that we could not physically keep up the first half performance or it might have been to draw them out. Also, they may have deceided to be more progressive and imposed their quality on the game. Really don't know but l do think the old chess match analogy is fair.

I enjoyed the game, even when I watched it a second time and thought there was plenty to be happy about in City's performance. Now that they have got throught the first leg unscathed, I hope the players will relax a bit, but remain totally focused, and give an even better account of themselves in Spain.

 

[BillyShears]

That true on Ronaldo mate?

Yeah. Think it's been confirmed this morning he has a slight tear in his hamstring. He isn't going to play against us.