City vs Barca - Post Match Thread

[Chris in London]

Much of the commentary on the game since has been very generic, full of tired old eulogies and hat tipping to a Barcelona team that really do not deserve it anymore. Barcelona looked very ordinary and quite beatable to me last night. The red card was a real shame, prior that we were on equal terms with them, they had the possession, we looked like the team more likely to score.

I give us decent odds in the return with Aguero and Nasri back.

I completely disagree with this. I don't think Barcelona looked ordinary at all last night, I thought they were absolutely fantastic. Their movement and footballing intelligence is just unequalled. They play well without the ball, even better with it and the speed and quality of their transition (from not having the ball to having it and vice versa) is absolutely first class.

So why is it that one of the best 2/3 teams in the world managed one shot on target in the first 45 minutes, and looked rather less likely to score when it was 11 v 11 than us?

because we were fantastic too. We knew they would have a lot of the ball, we just made sure they had it in areas they couldn't hurt us. for 50 minutes, that worked. We were organised and disciplined, we might have kept a cooler head from time to time but we also used our passion and our aggression to our advantage - until the ref gave a foul for them. We gave them far more scares in the first 50 minutes than they gave us.

The decisions have been done to death - in tight matches between two relatively evenly matched teams they are often the decisive factor, as it was last night. If we were playing Chelsea or Arsenal and went down to 10 with almost half the game left, you'd expect to get beaten more times than you wouldn't.

I'd say that Barca have a better squad and first XI than us FTTB but there isn't a lot in it - the gap is more like the gap between us and Chelsea than it is between us and say Swansea or Newcastle. We are certainly one of the best 10 teams in Europe, quite arguably the top 5. We are at the top table and we are here to stay.

We will reach the final of the Champions league within three years.

 

[der bomber28]

I thought we made a really good account of ourselves, bearing in mind we were playing, one of the best teams in the world. Add to the fact we were under strength, and also having to contend, with one of the worst refereeing performances I've ever seen. It seemed to me, the ref let them get away with 90% of everything they did. Whilst pulling city for even breathing near them. Thought we showed a lot of heart, in the face of all this, and being down to ten men. I think we'll have a real go at them over there, not saying we'll win. However I see a totally different approach. Onwards and upwards people, keep the faith.

 

[crmcfc]

Now the dust has settled on last night I think its fair to say we played OK. Pellegini let us down with team selection obviously MDM (A SELF INDULGENT CHOICE) and then Kolarov in midfield was a poor one, fair enough at left back but no not midfield against them.

Lescott is almost as bad as MDM but should have gone with him, cannot believe we did not bring a centre back in (in January) to partner Kompany, we did not need to spend £30 million there must have been somebody out there. Kompany is due another pull or strain at any moment so it beggars belief what we are left with Lescott, MDM and Nastasic.

On the plus side thought the team showed some pride and really battled last night if we carry on doing that we wont be far away from the remaining 3 competitions, we were never going to win CL this year, or next for that matter.

We have won 1 league title in 45 years so I hope we don't become obsessed with CL, need to do it at home first. Worry about CL once we have won the league a few times.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Absolutely ridiculous post.

More than ridiculous. Embarrassing. Likkle City syndrome in full view.

I hate how some of our fans are blind to how good our players really are. And then they throw "blue tinted specs" at those who aren't blind like them. It's like they think that they are being clever.

Not blind just objective.

Valdes
Alves Mascherano Pique Alba
Silva yAYA Busquets Iniesta
Messi Negredo

That would be a combined team from last night.

I know it is virtual a capital offence on here to criticize Kompany but his distribution is often pretty aimless. And so was MDM's last night which is strange for him. They both kept giving the ball back to Barca in the first half.

Utterly and totally laughable.

 

[barcafan6]

It was a good match and could have gone either way but please dont give the ref crap.We got a handball penalty and a goal disallowed by offside denied wrongly so please dont say we won due to refs error. And here you go

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

"City are almost at the same level - the only difference is that we scored twice. We lost control of the game for 10 minutes of the first half and we did the same for 10 minutes in the second half too. That was very risky because in that time City created two chances." When all the pundits have had their say, that is the opinion of snr. Martino, the manager of FC Barcelona. I think it's a little too harsh on City but it's more objective than the typical British press analysis which was written by 7.00pm on Tuesday evening. I, like many posters on here, was proud of my club and team. The two games against Chelsea showed that matches between evenly matched teams turn decisively on key incidents and that was the real story of last night's match, however we look at it. Fortune favoured Barca last night or we made the vital error, whichever you want, but as Martino said elsewhere, that could well have been the final.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Much of the commentary on the game since has been very generic, full of tired old eulogies and hat tipping to a Barcelona team that really do not deserve it anymore. Barcelona looked very ordinary and quite beatable to me last night. The red card was a real shame, prior that we were on equal terms with them, they had the possession, we looked like the team more likely to score.

I give us decent odds in the return with Aguero and Nasri back.

I completely disagree with this. I don't think Barcelona looked ordinary at all last night, I thought they were absolutely fantastic. Their movement and footballing intelligence is just unequalled. They play well without the ball, even better with it and the speed and quality of their transition (from not having the ball to having it and vice versa) is absolutely first class.

So why is it that one of the best 2/3 teams in the world managed one shot on target in the first 45 minutes, and looked rather less likely to score when it was 11 v 11 than us?

because we were fantastic too. We knew they would have a lot of the ball, we just made sure they had it in areas they couldn't hurt us. for 50 minutes, that worked. We were organised and disciplined, we might have kept a cooler head from time to time but we also used our passion and our aggression to our advantage - until the ref gave a foul for them. We gave them far more scares in the first 50 minutes than they gave us.

The decisions have been done to death - in tight matches between two relatively evenly matched teams they are often the decisive factor, as it was last night. If we were playing Chelsea or Arsenal and went down to 10 with almost half the game left, you'd expect to get beaten more times than you wouldn't.

I'd say that Barca have a better squad and first XI than us FTTB but there isn't a lot in it - the gap is more like the gap between us and Chelsea than it is between us and say Swansea or Newcastle. We are certainly one of the best 10 teams in Europe, quite arguably the top 5. We are at the top table and we are here to stay.

We will reach the final of the Champions league within three years.

Agree with every word here, Chris. Good assessment. Top 5 for me, and I'd say 2 years. A good summer window and it could be one,

 

[Damocles]

It was a good match and could have gone either way but please dont give the ref crap.We got a handball penalty and a goal disallowed by offside denied wrongly so please dont say we won due to refs error. And here you go

Does that look like he's holding him, genius?

And handballs have to be deliberate. Your goal was onside and that's it.

 

[pogrom92]

I think Pellegrini had the right line up. Had that been Aguero instead of Negredo things may have turned out different.
Demichelis played well. He's 33 years old so that's one of the positions we need to strengthen in the summer.
Whole team defended well, but in a tight tie like this it's one or two mistakes that make the difference. Barca is master at punishing mistakes, due to their skill but also experience.

We will get there eventually with some holistic work in the next few years.

 

[AliWaheed]

"City are almost at the same level - the only difference is that we scored twice. We lost control of the game for 10 minutes of the first half and we did the same for 10 minutes in the second half too. That was very risky because in that time City created two chances." When all the pundits have had their say, that is the opinion of snr. Martino, the manager of FC Barcelona. I think it's a little too harsh on City but it's more objective than the typical British press analysis which was written by 7.00pm on Tuesday evening. I, like many posters on here, was proud of my club and team. The two games against Chelsea showed that matches between evenly matched teams turn decisively on key incidents and that was the real story of last night's match, however we look at it. Fortune favoured Barca last night or we made the vital error, whichever you want, but as Martino said elsewhere, that could well have been the final.

He's being modest. Something a lot of the Scallys on here should try doing.