City Vs Roma Post Match Thread

[warringtonblue]

What I have noticed throughout this season is the stunning lack of variation on corners and free kicks.

Lampard was the only one who took it upon himself to try and test the goalkeeper from distance.

Watch us now at throw-ins, it's absolutely criminal. We take an enternity to present an option to the thrower, who by then is usually riddled with indecision, which has allowed the opposition to mark up.

The fallout tends to be a pathetic one-yard throw to a Silva or Toure, who taps it back to the thrower.

All reasons why we keep being caught on the counter attack when we are attacking.

The time to bite the bullet on Yaya was this summer, we will pay a heavy price for it both financially and on the field.

Spot on with a lot of this. However, we do have to give the opposition some credit too in how they shape up or prepare. Suggesting we'll spank them by 3 or 4 (and not for the first time) suggests you're a little too dismissive of other teams at times when it's not warranted ;o)

Haha :)

There is no excuse for City not putting teams like Roma to the sword at home.

A team that was at least four players light of their best starting line-up, whereas we had only Fernando missing.

Roma will be far away from the mix when the business end of this competition ramps us.

Paris showed against Barca that reputations should count for very little when coupled with your own talented squad and a desire to get a result.

An Italian team who can defend and be comfortable on the ball, was hardly a hit for the senses.

What did for us was City, nobody else.

We are a far better team than Celtic but time and time again they have not only put teams like Roma away but on a few occasions, the real top dogs.
Passion and commitment go a long way in achieving such results

 

[mancity1]

What I have noticed throughout this season is the stunning lack of variation on corners and free kicks.

Lampard was the only one who took it upon himself to try and test the goalkeeper from distance.

Watch us now at throw-ins, it's absolutely criminal. We take an enternity to present an option to the thrower, who by then is usually riddled with indecision, which has allowed the opposition to mark up.

The fallout tends to be a pathetic one-yard throw to a Silva or Toure, who taps it back to the thrower.

All reasons why we keep being caught on the counter attack when we are attacking.

The time to bite the bullet on Yaya was this summer, we will pay a heavy price for it both financially and on the field.

Spot on with a lot of this. However, we do have to give the opposition some credit too in how they shape up or prepare. Suggesting we'll spank them by 3 or 4 (and not for the first time) suggests you're a little too dismissive of other teams at times when it's not warranted ;o)

Haha :)

There is no excuse for City not putting teams like Roma to the sword at home.

A team that was at least four players light of their best starting line-up, whereas we had only Fernando missing.

Roma will be far away from the mix when the business end of this competition ramps us.

Paris showed against Barca that reputations should count for very little when coupled with your own talented squad and a desire to get a result.

An Italian team who can defend and be comfortable on the ball, was hardly a hit for the senses.

What did for us was City, nobody else.

No excuses for the performance it was inept and we probably got a point we shouldn't have.

From tactics on and off the pitch to the lack of conviction and a lack of desire to press for the win it was below par and what you would expect of this team.

Any more of them in the Chumps League and the manager will cop the brunt of the fall out the players should share equally with him.

 

[birchvillablue]

Has been mentioned many times before but our set piece play last night was shocking, virtually every free kick was short and pointless, or lobbed and predictable, corners the same, it was like everyone knew where the ball was going and just waited for the obvious, it was bloody annoying.

 

[Latics Fan SJK]

I hesitate to say it, but I am not sure if Aguero is the same player he was before last season's injuries

I know the goals are still going in, but the quality of his performances and the pace don't see the same. Might just be that he had bad game, but I have thought this for a while

Dzeko was really good tonight. I wanted Jovetic to come on a lot earlier for Aguero who I thought was really quiet.

In hindsight, I would have played Kolarov ahead of Clichy. Clichy made some immense lung busting runs in the 2nd half, often as a diversion, but he doesn't have the quality on the ball that Kolarov has. Perhaps we were wary of Roma's pace on the break.

I can't really argue with the result, but I don't think we have much to fear from Roma from what I have seen. We are well capable of beating them or getting a point in Rome

I think we have a lot to fear from them Marvin. They were excellent for me.

As for your point on Aguero. I totally agree. he doesn't look anywhere near as dangerous as he did. Maybe he still isn't firing at 100% but Dzeko was miles ahead of him last night. I cant for the life of me understand that substitution because Dzeko was clearly better and by taking him off we also lose our height up front which when you need a goal seems an odd decision.

Clichy is an average left back for me and Kolorov isn't much better. It is an area that I think we have been weak in for some time and against the better teams it often shows.

Quick on the counter, but there was rarely an occasion when I thought wow or I saw some moment of great skill - it was the usual story of several City players playing below par, ad City being wasteful in possession. I thought by the end of the game we were well on top, but we need to be better.

Chelsea are better than Roma, indeed Arsenal are too and we deal with them in the Premiership. Must be mental.

It's not going to happen I know, but we need the fans to really turn up in force and get behind the team like they do at other CL venues. It's too nice a place to play

I'd fancy Roma to turn Arsenal over, personally.

I think you, and a few others in the pre-match thread, grossly underestimated Roma. There's still loads on Twitter who are claiming they're bang average now.

Then when you think they have De Sanctis, Leandro Castan, Strootman & De Rossi to bring back into the fold, their teams goes up another level.

What I do agree with you on though, is the mentality issue. That's the crux of it, IMO. Until you get over that, and until MP stops playing Yaya in a MF 2 against 3 man energetic, mobile midfields, it's not going to get any better.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

I genuinely believe a lot (and by no means all) of our issues this season are a total lack of fitness. We only came back from the states a day or two before the charity shield and I know from a business and commercial POV we need to do these tours abroad but it is currently detrimental to the team, we are behind most teams in fitness levels and as so can't dominate games like we have in the past as we are not only been out thought, we are being outplayed physically as nobody has any stamina and energy. It could cost us dearly and if we end up in the Europa league we can kiss goodbye to any sort of title defence imo.

Whilst you have a point, that does not legislate for four years of Champions League performances.

The lack of fitness is correct, but it goes back two or three seasons.

If we don't get three points in Moscow, we need to throw the rest of the group, as the Europa League will be the final nail in a team that already has fitness issues.

 

[Ray78]

I am going to get stick my neck out here and say the Europa League is a priority for this season if we don't qualify for the knockout stages. Of course it isn't the most glamorous of trophies and it has habit of mucking up the domestic campaign, but it is still a trophy and it does give us a little more experience in playing a European competition as a team.

 

[Citizen of Legoland]

I am going to get stick my neck out here and say the Europa League is a priority for this season if we don't qualify for the knockout stages. Of course it isn't the most glamorous of trophies and it has habit of mucking up the domestic campaign, but it is still a trophy and it does give us a little more experience in playing a European competition as a team.

And the coefficient points to keep us in pot 2.

 

[CityPar]

Spot on with a lot of this. However, we do have to give the opposition some credit too in how they shape up or prepare. Suggesting we'll spank them by 3 or 4 (and not for the first time) suggests you're a little too dismissive of other teams at times when it's not warranted ;o)

Haha :)

There is no excuse for City not putting teams like Roma to the sword at home.

A team that was at least four players light of their best starting line-up, whereas we had only Fernando missing.

Roma will be far away from the mix when the business end of this competition ramps us.

Paris showed against Barca that reputations should count for very little when coupled with your own talented squad and a desire to get a result.

An Italian team who can defend and be comfortable on the ball, was hardly a hit for the senses.

What did for us was City, nobody else.

We are a far better team than Celtic but time and time again they have not only put teams like Roma away but on a few occasions, the real top dogs.
Passion and commitment go a long way in achieving such results

True. But having a mad noisy 63,000 support behind you goes a long way to helping you over the line. The team do need to ramp it up when playing but the support on the night has it's part to play. Neither are covering themselves in glory at the moment.

 

[Kippaxblue5]

Pics and comments on the Roma game are now online at
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.rtfract.com/citsep14b.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.rtfract.com/citsep14b.htm</a>

 

[TonyBookEnd]

We are far too easy to play against. Domestically these problems are generally masked but against a smarter european side we are exposed time and again. Last night our midfield was consistantly by-passed due to their superior numbers. Same against Bayern. It's not a laziness or an ability issue, it's tactical and imo our manager has been found lacking again. We cannot play with 2 out and out strikers, it leaves us too light in the middle and Yaya and Ferna are having to do an excessive amount of work (which is clearly not Toures game). I cannot think of any top european sides who play with 2 strikers or in some cases 1 striker.
Clearly Toure is being accommodated in this team but I think Silva is as well. Ajax identified a few seasons ago that due to Silva drifting centrally we're consistently open to the counter on the left side. See Maicon last night and see the difference when Milner came on.
Defence and clean sheets wins the Champions league and we are not heeding the lessons.