City vs Bayern Post Match Thread

[Lucky Toma]

If the pen hadn't been given...

Finally for once we get a fair and decent ref.

But if he hadn't given that pen - after all the dubious officiating we've had to endure in Europe - I honestly think I'd have been done and dusted with Champions League full stop.

Im sure Im not alone and its scary to think how much hinged on one man's interpretation of a single incident and how far things have gone for it to come to that.

 

[lastmanback]

the difference between city and any of the top
champions league teams is pure and simple,
intensity. we don't press as a team or defend as a unit.
until we get that we will never win champions league.
we will always depend on individual piece's of brilliance.
tonight was classic example.
Bayern were already qualified and didn't need to make
so much of an effort but still done the basics and gave us
the runaround with 10 men.
we have the players but not the intensity ?

 

[mad zab]

Hart 5
Sagna 7 ( Zaba 7)
Clichy 8
Kompany 8
Mangala 6
Fernando 7
Navas 7
Lampard 7
Milner 6 (Jovetic 8)
Nasri 7
Aguero 11 (Demi ?)

Sagna was about a 5
Mangala 8 ( tell me a tackle he lost?)
Fernando 6
Milner 5
Nasri 5

Apart from that I agree with you

If you think Nasri was a 5 tonight, you're an idiot. I simply don't understand people like you. I agree on Milner & Mangala though.

He did nothing! Just tell me what he did going forward?

 

[west didsblue]

Hart 5
Sagna 7 ( Zaba 7)
Clichy 8
Kompany 8
Mangala 6
Fernando 7
Navas 7
Lampard 7
Milner 6 (Jovetic 8)
Nasri 7
Aguero 11 (Demi ?)

He gave the ball away in a dangerous position early on and I thought he didn't look that good for the first 20 mins or so but he improved for the rest of the game. Perhaps 6 is a bit harsh.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Re: If the pen hadn't been given...

It looked for a few seconds that we were gonna be shafted again by a duff ref, but the letter of the Laws of the Game were applied and we get the pen and the red! Pity we didn't have this ref for every game of the CL campaign. We wouldn't be in a position of having to go to Roma and do summat!

Listened to that tit Andy Townsend trying to make out that Benatia 'brushed' Sergio! Pillock! Took him out!

 

[supercrystal7]

We did what has been done to us so many times - ruthlessly exploited mistakes and took our precious chances. Fantastic. First time City have really looked like an elite CL unit. Obviously Bayern are still a better team I think, the result doesn't change that (especially as they played with 10), but it could be a serious moment for us in Europe if we follow it up in Rome.

Have to say LC I don't agree - Don't think there was anything elite looking about us bar Sergio. We went 2-1 down to 10 men, in the CL especially with our previous record that's as ridiculous as it is unforgivable. Like Rammy says above, not a single man in our midfield today would get into Bayerns side, I still think we're a long way off and Aguero is a god among men. The whole team should be giving him at least a weeks wages. We were 120 seconds away from this site disappearing into a black hole.

The difference is the manager.

Bayern won the CL before Guardiola joined them. However, they never dominated the possession like they do now. As with Barcelona Pep gets his team to play this wonderful possession game because he doesn't pander to fools and ensures his team practice the high pressing passing game.

Pep is the best manager in the world and if he was our manager we would be qualifying with ease. Also he would have better defenders than he has at Bayern. Their achilles heel is defending against pace. This was obvious tonight. Just think what he would do with defenders like Kompany and Mangala in his team.

Mourinho is the best and Pep has always inherited the best teams in the world so far and over time has only managed to weaken them. Bayern always dominated possession going back to the Van Gaal days (hell a big criticism of them then was they dominated possession and did nothing with it). Not to this extent, but they were still only 2nd to Barca. Pep has increased the possession stats, but completely thrown away their defensive stability and like Pellegrini he also cannot teach a team to score from corners.

Bayern have the best back 5 in the world easily. Boateng made the mistake today, but he is as good as any defender in the world not named Thiago Silva. It's the tactics that make them susceptible to pace, because like today he made them stand on the half way line against Aguero. It was a suicidal tactic. If Bayern had dropped deeper, they would have negated Aguero's great strength and forced City to try and create without their two most creative players. Of course they would have had less possession, but they would have been more solid.

If he fails to win the CL then his time at Bayern will have been a complete failure. I look at this Chelsea team with inferior players in every position with the exceptionarguably Hazard and arguably Costa have perfect balance.

 

[adrianr]

We did what has been done to us so many times - ruthlessly exploited mistakes and took our precious chances. Fantastic. First time City have really looked like an elite CL unit. Obviously Bayern are still a better team I think, the result doesn't change that (especially as they played with 10), but it could be a serious moment for us in Europe if we follow it up in Rome.

Have to say LC I don't agree - Don't think there was anything elite looking about us bar Sergio. We went 2-1 down to 10 men, in the CL especially with our previous record that's as ridiculous as it is unforgivable. Like Rammy says above, not a single man in our midfield today would get into Bayerns side, I still think we're a long way off and Aguero is a god among men. The whole team should be giving him at least a weeks wages. We were 120 seconds away from this site disappearing into a black hole.

To be fair, that wouldn't have been the first time this site has been minutes away from a meltdown with a couple of minutes to go.
Whilst I agree we weren't great, why would we be? Not been playing brilliantly and playing against one of the best three sides in Europe.
That's played 6 against Bayern, won 3 and lost 3.

All 3 won games came after Bayern had already qualified, if I'm not mistaken?

Regardless, I'm not saying we *should* have been great, I'm saying we weren't great. Sergio Aguero being an absolute hero doesn't change the fact that we were leading against 10 men, somehow contrived to go behind, then let a 10 man side play the ball around like we were the team with the man down. Some may forget but we're also supposed to be one of the best teams in Europe, yet we frequently just look nothing like it. Certainly a far cry from 'elite' to my eyes.

Anyhow, no need to moan after that result. Just no need to rewrite history and say we were great either.

Edit to change 'good' to 'great', because there were certainly lots of good to very good things about our performance. Just too many mistakes for it to be great, IMO.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! And the rest of the team weren't bad either!

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Sagna was about a 5
Mangala 8 ( tell me a tackle he lost?)
Fernando 6
Milner 5
Nasri 5

Apart from that I agree with you

If you think Nasri was a 5 tonight, you're an idiot. I simply don't understand people like you. I agree on Milner & Mangala though.

He did nothing! Just tell me what he did going forward?

Nasri a 5??
Jeez say goodnight to the folks Gracie.
I think some people need to up the skill level on their FIFA if you think you just nutmeg and skip round teams like Bayern. They were mesmerisingly good tonight - the complete package. Would do some on here a lot of good to appreciate how good the opposition are sometimes.

 

[OB1]

We did what has been done to us so many times - ruthlessly exploited mistakes and took our precious chances. Fantastic. First time City have really looked like an elite CL unit. Obviously Bayern are still a better team I think, the result doesn't change that (especially as they played with 10), but it could be a serious moment for us in Europe if we follow it up in Rome.

Have to say LC I don't agree - Don't think there was anything elite looking about us bar Sergio. We went 2-1 down to 10 men, in the CL especially with our previous record that's as ridiculous as it is unforgivable. Like Rammy says above, not a single man in our midfield today would get into Bayerns side, I still think we're a long way off and Aguero is a god among men. The whole team should be giving him at least a weeks wages. We were 120 seconds away from this site disappearing into a black hole.

It's a weird place, this forum. The euphoria of Sergio's magic makes people look back on the game with serious blue tinted glasses on.

I'm over the moon at the result but can't escape the fact that a 10 man Bayern side made keeping the ball look so bloody easy, they strolled past us the majority of the time. I spent the time between 40 and 85 mins going mental at how badly we were playing and giving the ball away, choosing wrong options time after time.

As you say, this place would have imploded bar the last 5 mins from the maestro.

Bayern's pass completion was about one percentage point better than ours!