Chris in London
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- 21 Sep 2009
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sgerlat said:Chris in London said:sgerlat said:We've seen a different match mate.
Under/overstimating here is not the point at issue, the tactics were so wrong from the start you can't really tell how good Roma's side is, stil the personality, attitude, we've shown troughout the game was impressive. We were a Team, just think to the action at the end where both Keita and Cole tackled the ball and helped each other to stand up, that's cohesivness right there, those are small details which shows that this team have the right approach.
In regard to the match I wouldn't say "you drew comfortably", you can't be serious saying that when the first and probably only shot on goal City took was at minute 67, kind of embarassing considering the quality you have.
The first 65 minutes were seriuosly good, those tight passing lines were just sweet. Do you reckon it is in any way standard that a team like Roma, which haven't played CL's games in ages ( 4years) and never won in England in their history, take the pitch and dominate outclassing CIty, I mean CITY, the way they did for an hour or so?
Taking everything into account from the wrong taticts to the players not being in top form, I don't think it is standard, still freaking impressive if you ask me, I wasn't expecting that at all. You have to admit we could have deservedly scored 3, at least, we had many opportunities.
Then of course, a combination of MP boosting the midfield and Roma knackered by the lack of rest of many of their starters, and you've got remaining 20-25 minutes, where however City, despite being constantly on top of us, haven't created a single clear occasion, the most dangerous was probably Lampard's last shot, that hasn't hit the target too, anyway.
Napoli hasn't carried a more dangerous scoring threat than Roma, they just had a world class striker in Cavani and that's it. All the rest, such as tecnhique, quality of the passing, setting up, offensive movements and creativity, are all on in favour of Roma, by far. We've actually come to play some football and we did unlike Napoli which had fast break as his first, second and third option. We did use fast break, like any other team, but was secondary in our game plan. We defended at the edn because we were dead tired not beacuse we wanted to. Then again City scored after 3 minutes and, I repeat my self, the composure, plus the fact they didn't rush a single play although the situation was critical, was right there, spot on, which is a symptom of great things to come, other than a rock solid mentality.
You could say Garcia was proud, he was genuinely interested and "scared" in seeing the fruits of his labour. The situation before his arrival was critic, a huge protest was taking place, Pjanic was probably the most criticized of all to make an example, he always had the talent though. After a bit more than a year look at the player he is now, not just him but all the others as well. Tuesday's match was the recognition of Garcia's work, of what he achieved so far, after all the effort he put into this team and the skepticism and criticism surrounding it, that was a statement, not too much for the competion but for him mostly, it really was.
Maybe you did see a different game.
You should have been down to 10 after 3 minutes. Possibly because the penalty was awarded, the referee seemed to give Roma the benefit of the doubt whenever he could - Yanga Mbiwa fouled Dzeko three times in three minutes and didn't get a card. After his fifth foul or so the referee gave him a warning, but that was after about 70 minutes.
Same is true of Nairgolan. He too was allowed to commit niggly little foul after niggly little foul and got away with it. When he was eventually booked after his 4th or 5th foul, it was for kicking the ball away, not for the foul itself. That's why when the ref got his card out it got such a huge ironic cheer.
Three or four times the could was about 35 yards from City's own goal when Roma had lost possession and City were launching a counter attack. Every single one of those should have been a booking, none of them were.
The thing is, if you are packing the midfield and the defence, and the referee takes fouling away from you as an option, you are forced to defend properly. You say that City came more into the game after about 70 minutes or so because you were tired. You could just as easily explain it on the basis that when the referee eventually gave a warning about a booking, you scarcely committed a foul after that, and that coincided exactly with the period in which City dominated the game. Funny, that.
I don't criticise Roma for fouling for as long and as often as they did - they were away from home, playing the English champions, had come for a point, and if the referee lets you get away with it, why wouldn't you? Roma are a very good team, were tremendously well organised and disciplined, and if I were a Roma fan I would be well pleased with their night's work. But the referee made it a lot easier for Roma to disrupt City's play than it should have been.
First shot on target by City after 67 minutes, what are we talking about?
I said our team was playing much better and deserved to win, considering the referee was having a bad night, the result look fair to me.
You just can't justify City's performance by saying that Yanga-Mbiwa and Nainggolan should have been booked way earlier or Maicon sent off, I agree of course that's the way it should have been, but still the referee didn't prevent your team to play football, to make a shot on target in 70 minutes, regardless of tactics and how Roma was playing. The fact that we were tired was quite manifest, we already knew it was going to be like this from the start. Nainggolan played every single game, 622 minutes in 7 games, just saying. Keita played a lot too replacing De Rossi but he's a smart man with exceptional positioning, hence all those minutes didn't really affect him.
P.s. By the way, "the last man" rule has to be changed when it comes to penalty. A red card and a penalty it's too much, a freaking nonsense, what's worst than a penalty against? A yellow card and the penalty is just fine, of course if the foul in itself is deserving of a red, so be it, but no way Maicon or anyone should be sent off for similar fouls, the rule it there but has to be changed as soon as possible, i think we can all agree with this.
P.p.s. I missed the part where City was counter attacking.
You would have done. As soon as City turned over possession and looked to counter attack there was a foul.
I agree completely that the rule should be different - a red card and a penalty is a double punishment, and arguably has not prevented a goal scoring opportunity because the penalty IS the goal scoring opportunity. But that is not the law of the game as it stands. The referee should have sent Maicon off under the current rules.
I also agree that the referee didn't stop City having a shot on target. Roma did that - but they got a lot of help from a referee who allowed 6 fouls on Dzeko alone without showing a card. The point is the same - you look to the referee to make sure that both teams play within the rules of the game, and if one doesn't you punish them with a free kick. And if they keep on doing the same thing you show a yellow card, and if they do it again you show a red card. That didn't happen.
You will have to forgive City fans a degree of unhappiness about the referees in the CL. The last home match we played, Demichelis brought down Messi OUTSIDE the area with no-one between him and the goal. The result, a penalty and a red card. On Tuesday Maicon brought down Aguero INSIDE the area with no one between him and the goal. The result, a penalty and a yellow card. We were denied a blatant penalty against Roma (the handball) and we were denied a blatant penalty in Munich ( a foul on Silva with 5 minutes to go when the score was 0-0). In Barcelona Zabaleta was given two yellow cards for tackles that in England would not even be fouls, and yet on Tuesday Roma committed foul after foul without a card being shown.
None of this is Roma's fault, of course, but City fans are getting a bit sick of the Champions League being one rule for whoever we are playing, another for us.