City v Stoke Post Match Thread

[bluemoon27]

We were very very poor today no being able to break down a piss poor stoke side but shit happens it will make us stronger for the next game

 

[Juan King]

What we did wrong was have a collective off day. Tactically, we were generally fine - perhaps we could have started Navas, but we had width from Kolarov and Sagna, and pace is not of any great help if our passing is - as it was today - woefully sloppy and slow, allowing the other team to get organised and defend their final third. Seldom will you ever see Silva, Nasri and Yaya all so slack in possession.

Sorry mate, not looking to slate Sagna either, but he didn't give us any width or get forward at all like Zabba normally does.

I agree completely that he did not play especially well, and we certainly did miss Zaba. But he did give us width; in fact, I think part of the problem was that he simply stayed right out wide and did not make any of the runs that Zaba usually makes both beyond and inside the opposition fullback.

He gave width is so far as he stood out wide, what I meant was he didn't give us anything of use from being there,
so we are probably in agreement.

 

[Blumers Bloomers]

Slept on it and have woken up still pissed off! I'm hoping the players are equally annoyed

Credit to Stoke, they had a game plan and it worked a treat.

We HAVE to score first against teams that come and park the bus to stand any chance.........had that Yaya chance just before half time gone in instead of hitting the bar, we would have won by 2-3 goals.

Pelligrini s comments have intrigued me....................."patient" build up can easily be mistaken for playing in first gear..............

Anyway, we'll beat Arsenal away next game and all this will be forgotten

 

[Questy]

These are the games that City struggle with, trying to break down the 2 banks of 5 and start losing patience, now more than ever do we need work on the training ground to try master how we get around teams like Stoke.

Its only a minor blip albeit an annoying one but we have the exact same 6 points that we had after 3 games last season so no need to hit the panic button yet and the defeat may be a wake up call to the players that its not just the big teams we need to get up for.

 

[Mainegary63]

I've Managed to and will continue to avoid and not watch or record sunday supplement , goals on Sunday , MoTD, MoTD2 , super sunday as well any bbc, sky or itv sports reports ......day of odd jobs around the house, long afternoon walk and roast beef to end the day...fuck em

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

They played well. We were a touch off. Luckily football is like that. It's why we go. It's why we kept going when we were dreadful. I remember being the only team to beat Chelsea, being terrible and beating the rags one year (1 shot I seem to remember and baconface banging on about how many corners they had), going to second placed Villa and winning (whilst being in the bottom 3).
I think some people have an unhealthy sense of entitlement, thinking there's just a formula. Accept that sometimes a team executes a bit better than we do. Not very often but sometimes. I suspect we will never again be a 'throw it in the mixer' type of team ever again. We will play the way we do because it almost always works. Yesterday was only the 2nd time, since November 2010, we haven't scored in a home league game.
Finally, I would like to know why we struggle so much against red and white stripes! If we played Stoke and Sunderland every week we'd go down!!
Onwards and upwards. 3 points off top with 35 games left. Much better than the years we won it!!

 

[Thanks joe]

These are the games that City struggle with, trying to break down the 2 banks of 5 and start losing patience, now more than ever do we need work on the training ground to try master how we get around teams like Stoke.

Its only a minor blip albeit an annoying one but we have the exact same 6 points that we had after 3 games last season so no need to hit the panic button yet and the defeat may be a wake up call to the players that its not just the big teams we need to get up for.

I think some forget or don't realise how difficult it is to break down 2 banks of 5.. At times it was a flat back 11.. !!!
We usually find away.. But sometimes it just doesn't work out ..
I've seen us play no better then yesterday and win 3 or 4 nil.. and then of course were world beaters..
We have a great squad, no one can guarantee we will win anything this season.. But I'd put a bet on us giving it a good go..
I get the feeling some on here can't handle supporting one of the best team in the country..

 

[bernabias home shirt]

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.

All of that really
Not many players on song yesterday & the passing was fucking woeful

 

[bluegoal]

Just watched it back on MOTD and it was worse than i remembered from watching it live...

Sagna, Kolarov and Joe Hart gave awful level of performance and lost concentration at the vital moment.

Can Sagna even run he looks a right lazy player strolling forward and his crossing is woeful is he really a upgrade on Richards?

All in all a real bad day at the office and a real worry with the next 3 games Arsenal, Munich and Chelsea.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Missed a league game for the first time in about 4 years. Sounds like it was a good one to miss.

I am not much of a flapper (Ok, I am a bit). But it would be staggeringly surprising if Chelsea were not more fierce competition for the league title this year than last.

On that basis, and given were barely scraped home last season, we lost one of our very few lives yesterday. We don't get nine lives.

Still, I hope it's a wake up call. We must start with pace and tempo from the off, not after 60 minutes. And didn't we buy Navas to add width and more importantly pace, to break down these park the bus sides? If he isn't starting against Stoke, when should he start?