City v Stoke Post Match Thread

[BobKowalski]

A game like that, with a team parking the bus:

6 times out of ten we'll eventually break them down, get a goal, and sometimes three or four once they have to start opening up.
3 times out of ten we'll draw,
and once every so often they'll defend really well and hit us on the break like today.

Obviously I'm gutted we lost, but more often than not we get 3 points in these sorts of matches. This afternoon was the exception. Move on.

That's how I see it, more or less. Our creative players (silva, jovetic and yaya) all played poorly, nothing ran for us, we conceded a shocking goal in their only attack. It happens every now and again. Nothing to worry about.

Agree that days like that happen now and again. But don't agree there's nothing to worry about cos I doubt the team that wins the league this year can afford more than 1 of those days (and possibly none at all)

I suspect we can afford fewer of these days than last year because Chelsea and Mourinho will not let up this season. We all know it's between us and them for the title and the one that wants it most will win it. We still have the better squad but it's a lot closer than last year so collectively we need to be at it pretty much every game. If we ain't then we finish second. Pretty simple really.

 

[sam-caddick]

I think our need for pace up front could haunt us a bit this season, we need a Marco Reus is our team

If Tiki Taka style football is failing, pace usually gets you out of the mess and we don't have that apart from Navas.

 

[FantasyIreland]

We have a great squad so i'm not going to be overly critical,however,we have two areas which could be improved imo.......

1. The attacker as described.
2. Left back.

 

[Rammy Blue]

That's how I see it, more or less. Our creative players (silva, jovetic and yaya) all played poorly, nothing ran for us, we conceded a shocking goal in their only attack. It happens every now and again. Nothing to worry about.

Agree that days like that happen now and again. But don't agree there's nothing to worry about cos I doubt the team that wins the league this year can afford more than 1 of those days (and possibly none at all)

I suspect we can afford fewer of these days than last year because Chelsea and Mourinho will not let up this season. We all know it's between us and them for the title and the one that wants it most will win it. We still have the better squad but it's a lot closer than last year so collectively we need to be at it pretty much every game. If we ain't then we finish second. Pretty simple really.

We have to beat them at our place in a few weeks time now.

 

[BLUEMATT23]

Came away feeling frustrated and angry. Having got home am a little more sanguine since given our last 3 seasons goals and record at home something like this was bound to happen by the law of averages if nothing else.
However, it is worrying when Pellers says a number aren't fit given we've got 3 huge games coming up. Silva did not look sharp, nor Nasri nor YaYa or Dzeko. Kun tried but nothing really came off for him. The goal will no doubt be played over and over at Stoke but from our point of view it was a disaster.
Don't think it is panic time but if we repeat the first 3 performances against Arse, Chavs and Bayern I think we may be in a bit of trouble. I'm sure the boys will step up

Noone of them have looked fit since the start of the season.
It's like a never ending world cup hangover, Very worrying.

 

[sincity]

We were lacking directness and a cutting edge today,we played some decent possession stuff without ever really causing damage or giving their defence a hard time.Much credit has to go to Hughes and his boys though,although we helped them somewhat.....they did a number on us today.

Just a bad day at the office but i still think we're lacking a player in our squad.

We're lacking a dynamic, direct winger. Someone who will run at people and make things happen, like Hazard or Di Maria. Marco Reus should be our next priority.

what I'm thinking also. We need a player who can dribble against such opposition and draw fouls/penalties. I think this might be the only way when the opposition has 11 players defending in the box. Otherwise our passing must be inch-perfect if we're going to continue playing this way.

I thought the ref was unfair towards us regarding the foul calls. He seemed to blow his whistle at every slight touch our players made against Stoke, but the reverse did not happen often. A number of City players were protesting against the referee after the final whistle, probably about the two penalties we should have got (yes Stoke should have got one also, or a foul at the edge of the box).

Disappointing, but we will recover from this!

 

[Blueband Brother]

A bad day, where nothing went our way. Disappointing result and a very strange outcome and the weird negativity was in the air from the start.

This is just the start of the season but that does not deter from the fact that this should not be happening at home and it is three points wasted and a missed opportunity to go into the international break with momentum and positive aura.

I dont see the point of Sagna.

This disappointing result will be a wake up call for the players, although you would have thought that after all that has happened over the past few years, they would not need any wake up call.

Back to Sagna. This game more or less confirmed my view that Zabaleta is one of the most important attacking players in the squad. He is integral to the offense with his timely, intelligent and adequate runs and his link up play with the other attacking players. Sagna is good at that as well and a good crosser of the ball but my impression is that out attacking play was compromised somewhat with Sagna playing instead of Zabaleta. Sagna is a good player but he is at the other end of his career with little upsides. It is still early days but I don't see the point of Sagna if Zabaleta is available and even Clichy offers more.

Dzeko has to play always.

The season is long so there is no need to be too negative. Hopefully this disappointment will get the players more fired up for the three games coming next.

Back to Dzeko. This game tells me that like Negredo, Dzeko is a player whose role is invaluable to the team as at the moment he is the only target man. In such games like today against teams that defend, we need someone like Dzeko to give us a target and bypass the midfield instead of making short passes and trying to find that killer pass, which slows the game down. With Dzeko, we can be more direct not just through the middle but also out wide because we can put more crosses in the box without dily dalying and expect Dzeko is get in the end of it.
So I think Dzeko should start in most games, paired with Aguero or Jovetic. The Aguero and Jovetic partnership does not seem to be working at the moment anyway.

In conclusion a bad day but at least we've got one out of the way.

 

[middleton___blue]

Well tbh, I dont think it was a case of us playing terrible I think it was more of a case of Hughes sussing out how we play & his team defending with 11 men behind the goal.

We had countless chances, just none of them were taken! Stoke and a couple and they took theres, end of story!

You cant use it as an excuse but that did look like a foul on yaya but we can blame decisions going against us. Stoke deserved that today as much as it hurts to say. Oh well just lets look at the next game!

 

[Eccles Blue]

Zaba should have been on from the start.
The ref was worse than Clattenburg
Ya Ya, once again, went to sleep against a 'lesser' team!
Maybe we should have had Milner on as a sub
72% possession & we couldn't score! not good(!!)
It was a bad day at the office
BUT we are only 3 games in, there's time to get it right
In Mr Pellegrini I trust.

Bring 'em on. Just my random thoughts.

One thing that really annoyed me: When they brought the trainer on for Crouch & he ambled off the pitch wasting time as he got to the side he gave us a big grin!! He is a man without a father!!

 

[Blue Is the Opposite of Blue]

Surprising and frustrating in equal measure but nothing to worry about long-term. We know that we're going to be challenging for the title come the first week of May. We are stronger than last season because of our recent acquisitions and there's a new professionalism which, even if we don't win the title this season, will see us defend the Premier League with a much stronger resolve.

Every year we have a bizarre result at home which comes out of nowhere, only it's normally against another team who play in red & white stripes and at the other end of the season. Stoke came with a game plan and a belief that they could carry it out. Shawcross kept us at arm's length even if his methods weren't glamorous, but more than fair play to Stoke who played us like a street piano for 90 minutes.

We were poor today, but what use is it complaining about our performance when we know we'll produce the goods more often than not as the season goes on? It was disheartening to see us perform like that after looking so strong against Liverpool, and I think adding Sagna to the starting line-up reduced our potency going forward, but it was more down to how Stoke played us more than anything else. I think adding a left-sided forward currently looks like our next bit of major business.

My one big concern going forward is Joe Hart. I've defended him to the death these past 18 months but he keeps making me look foolish. There's a reason we bought Caballero for £6m when we could have had Kieran Westwood on a free. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Hart sat on the bench again very soon. I think today was Hart's final chance. We can't let sentimentality obscure our views on him anymore. He has to improve if we're to compete on the elite level for years to come.

So yeah, all in all it was a bad result. Losing at home is always terrible but to do it so unexpectedly will be a jolt to the system, but it will kick the players up the backside in time for a very difficult run in September. We know we can produce better and we will produce better. It did show that we're still not quite as fit as we'd like to be right at this moment, but we can't worry too much. Flapping never gets us anywhere.