City v Wigan Post Match Thread (FA Cup)

[Marvin]

Not posted until now because I was spitting feathers yesteday. Poor show all round from the Manager to the players in the main. One or two exceptions.( Silva, Milner, Nasri)
I've read the thread and could go on at length about our shortcomings but to be honest it's all been covered. Two incidents in the game summed it all up for me.
Wigan's second goal. Clichy in a position to clear is beaten to the ball by a player who wants it more.
Other end. Edin Dzeko is in a position to tap ther ball into the empty net but somehow a defender who wants it more gets a foot to the ball and deflects it wide.
What I cannot get my head around is why?
Having just won a cup the platform was there to build upon. Beat Wigan and go to Barca with all guns blazing and a sense of confidence. We may still beat Barca but I can't help thinking it won't be a happy training ground this morning. Wigan wanted it more. Why?
Our 25 minute onslaught of the Wigan goal told me that they were there for a hammering had we applied ourselves from the Kick Off. So again why didn't we? Since we hammered Spurs at WHL the momentum has begun to falter. Injuries to Aguero and Fernandinho cost us v Chelsea and possibly Barca at home and FA Cup win over Chelsea aside ( kinda pointless now given yesterdays slip up), we have not hit those heights again consistently.
Very important run in now facing us and I don't get the sense we are anywhere close to our best. The great thing about this game is it can all change in an instant. Beat Barca and qualify and momentum may return. Fingers crossed.

Clichy made a mistake. He doesn't make many

And his attitude at the end of the title-winning season when most had give up was inspiring.

The four over-riding issues were

1) the complacency we showed until 2-0,
2) yet more defensive errors,
3) team selection in central defence, and
4) the lack of form of our forwards due to injury. The injury to Negredo when 9-0 up was the manager's fault

Some fans are claiming teams have worked us out. I don't think that's a factor.

Pellegrini has to raise his game. His errors are costing us. It's rare that you can clearly pinpoint managerial decisions for poor results. Usually it's arguable, and down to subjective opinion. At the moment there is only one "Demwit".

Let me expand on point 1). Yaya was just not interested and that cost us. He had no need to keep coming deep as Garcia was there.
Secondly, this wasn't Pelle's fault! Any team he puts out should be able to beat Wigan FFS! We should've had 2 pens in the second half but didn't get them. Deme made a mistake but overall i thought he had a decent game. Pelle is going to keep playing him so fans getting on his back is going to get us nowhere.

Appreciate you responding to the points.

I wouldn't criticise him at the game. The exact opposite

We can't keep saying Demichelis is good at this and good at that if he keeps making catastrophic errors. Giving Wigan something to hold onto was a huge moment in the game. It wasn't just one of a series of small details. Demichelis lacks pace. Lescott is not the player who can cover that. He was always likely to make a mistake and he gives opponents hope. They target him by deliberately picking quick forwards. Sunderland tried to repeatedly release Borini with quick early balls and one of them worked. Luckily on the 2nd occasion he got free it was Kompany who was back there to make the tackle. Demichelis just can't do that. It's really ridiculous that a team with players like Silva and Yaya etc in their team has him in defence.

Yaya had a quiet game. I agree. Maybe a reaction to Wembley. But our forward players would have been good enough to win the game had we not once again given a team a goal start. Maybe the players contributed to the defeat by their own complacency, but that's part of the manager's job.

 

[herrock]

Yeah it all had a picnic feeling before the game. Pelle in his hoodie, players laughing with their kids on our half, Wigan players standing in a circle firing each other up.

Mentality is key in cup games, especially in close games. No matter how weak your squad is with the right mentality you can do wonders if the opponent mentality is shit no matter their starting team cost only 150m and not the usual 200-250m.

Unfortunately no guarantees Pelle will learn from it. Watford, Blackburn games were signs to take it extremely seriously and mabye only if we are up 2-0 or 3-0, we can take the foot off the gas and "relax" a bit. We didnt learn from those, dont know it will be different after the Wigan loss.

Huge week coming up, minimum expectation is 3 points at Hull and a result in Barcelona what we can be proud of at least. Basically a draw or win. Or a very small loss only if Barca plays really well and not because our defence gives them what they want.

I have been thinking about our attitude to the game today and we did get it badly wrong. The team bus seemed a little later than usual arriving, Kompany did not look happy when he got off the bus and it was obvious he was only a sub. The players didn't warm up in their usual way and for a good part were just passing to each other like local park teams do. I don't think all the subs came out and warmed up, add to that Garcia having his baby on the pitch and the players laughing and joking, I don't think we had the right mindset at all.

 

[therealsvenn]

I think we've lost the ability to move the ball forward quickly. It's what Liverpool are doing well at the moment. Negredo and Dzeko and Aguero need the ball quickly! If teams park the bus, then fall down like Gerard and kick a few dead balls into their box. Its not rocket science.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I posted something like this elsewhere (and said the same months ago), but basically this:

Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Fern, Silva, Nasri and Aguero are all brilliant. Then we have some good players, some fair ones and some crap. So long as we play the first 7, we win. Play 6 of them, we probably win. Play 5 and it's iffy. Play 4 and we lose. The fair to average players cannot hack it when too many of the A team are missing.

Yesterday, when we started with Hart, Kompany, Silva and Fern not playing, I thought here we go this should be interesting! How fucking right I was. It was a train wreck waiting to happen.

 

[Marvin]

Yeah it all had a picnic feeling before the game. Pelle in his hoodie, players laughing with their kids on our half, Wigan players standing in a circle firing each other up.

Mentality is key in cup games, especially in close games. No matter how weak your squad is with the right mentality you can do wonders if the opponent mentality is shit no matter their starting team cost only 150m and not the usual 200-250m.

Unfortunately no guarantees Pelle will learn from it. Watford, Blackburn games were signs to take it extremely seriously and mabye only if we are up 2-0 or 3-0, we can take the foot off the gas and "relax" a bit. We didnt learn from those, dont know it will be different after the Wigan loss.

Huge week coming up, minimum expectation is 3 points at Hull and a result in Barcelona what we can be proud of at least. Basically a draw or win. Or a very small loss only if Barca plays really well and not because our defence gives them what they want.

I have been thinking about our attitude to the game today and we did get it badly wrong. The team bus seemed a little later than usual arriving, Kompany did not look happy when he got off the bus and it was obvious he was only a sub. The players didn't warm up in their usual way and for a good part were just passing to each other like local park teams do. I don't think all the subs came out and warmed up, add to that Garcia having his baby on the pitch and the players laughing and joking, I don't think we had the right mindset at all.

Two issues stood out. Complacency and bad defending

Had the strikers made more of an effort in the final third I think we'd have been ahead in the 1st half.

Again this is a FA Cup Q/F. The club was on the verge of doing something historic and the players just weren't up for it. The manager should have been on at them all week. There are so many and varied ways to get the importance of the game into the players heads. Mourinho uses the media all the time. We don't. Ferguson did it as well.

 

[aidyblu76]

I posted something like this elsewhere (and said the same months ago), but basically this:

Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Fern, Silva, Nasri and Aguero are all brilliant. Then we have some good players, some fair ones and some crap. So long as we play the first 7, we win. Play 6 of them, we probably win. Play 5 and it's iffy. Play 4 and we lose. The fair to average players cannot hack it when too many of the A team are missing.

Yesterday, when we started with Hart, Kompany, Silva and Fern not playing, I thought here we go this should be interesting! How fucking right I was. It was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Couldn't agree more, although against lower league opposition we should be able to drop 2 or 3 as our 'good' and 'fare' players should have been plenty good enough to win the game. That said it was a quarter final, one very winnable game away from another Wembley appearance. And on top of that, against a team we owed big time for last year's final, so they should have been up for it even more so, therefore we should have started with a strong team to make sure of the result, then if and when we are comfortable, rest the better players and give the others a decent half

I still think our starting 11 should have been good enough to win though

 

[gmckennasell]

MP underestimated the opposition , we had at least 7 players absent , who would normally start , 1st season in english football for our manager and he will realise their are no gimmes , a steep learning curve for MP and a disappointment to over 40,000 blues on sunday , Not the end of the world , but the Hull game on saturday becomes make or break for our season now.

 

[citymad]

I posted something like this elsewhere (and said the same months ago), but basically this:

Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Fern, Silva, Nasri and Aguero are all brilliant. Then we have some good players, some fair ones and some crap. So long as we play the first 7, we win. Play 6 of them, we probably win. Play 5 and it's iffy. Play 4 and we lose. The fair to average players cannot hack it when too many of the A team are missing.

Yesterday, when we started with Hart, Kompany, Silva and Fern not playing, I thought here we go this should be interesting! How fucking right I was. It was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Couldn't agree more, although against lower league opposition we should be able to drop 2 or 3 as our 'good' and 'fare' players should have been plenty good enough to win the game. That said it was a quarter final, one very winnable game away from another Wembley appearance. And on top of that, against a team we owed big time for last year's final, so they should have been up for it even more so, therefore we should have started with a strong team to make sure of the result, then if and when we are comfortable, rest the better players and give the others a decent half

I still think our starting 11 should have been good enough to win though

I think its now proof we cant afford to leave Vinny out at all. It must've given Rosler and the Wigan players a huge lift to see Lescott, Richards, Clichy and DMD as our back four. It gave them belief they could win this.

 

[Blue Beard]

I remember Richards playing for England

He was outstanding! But like a lot of English players he seems to have settled and now looks mediocre at best !

Richards has become a week link. Needs to sort himself out. And Zab would surley have stopped both moves that lead to goals v Wigan.
Surely he is still young enough to look at Zab and learn from him ? Time to step up Micah!

 

[Bill]

I posted something like this elsewhere (and said the same months ago), but basically this:

Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Fern, Silva, Nasri and Aguero are all brilliant. Then we have some good players, some fair ones and some crap. So long as we play the first 7, we win. Play 6 of them, we probably win. Play 5 and it's iffy. Play 4 and we lose. The fair to average players cannot hack it when too many of the A team are missing.

Yesterday, when we started with Hart, Kompany, Silva and Fern not playing, I thought here we go this should be interesting! How fucking right I was. It was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Couldn't agree more, although against lower league opposition we should be able to drop 2 or 3 as our 'good' and 'fare' players should have been plenty good enough to win the game. That said it was a quarter final, one very winnable game away from another Wembley appearance. And on top of that, against a team we owed big time for last year's final, so they should have been up for it even more so, therefore we should have started with a strong team to make sure of the result, then if and when we are comfortable, rest the better players and give the others a decent half

I still think our starting 11 should have been good enough to win though

I think its now proof we cant afford to leave Vinny out at all. It must've given Rosler and the Wigan players a huge lift to see Lescott, Richards, Clichy and DMD as our back four. It gave them belief they could win this.

exactly.