Everton - Post match thread.

[Marvin]

Ridiculous notion that Sane can't play as a wingback, because he made a couple of mistakes defensively or didn't have a spectacular game going forward.

If a couple of mistakes means you are not able to play the position, then we have no strikers, central defenders or goalkeepers at the club & our mids aren't good enough because of their final ball. They all make at least two mistakes every single game.

I guarantee, that every single fault Sane showed, will be replicated on occasion by Mendy, or Danillo. Maybe even in the very next game.

This should absolutely not cause a goal against, nor an inability to score at the other end.

I agree. Sane struggled at LWB, but maybe it was just unfamiliarity with the role. He seemed to be far too deep for me. We looked much better in the 2nd half. I think we would have won the game were it not for the referee, but finishing still an issue.

I think we are going to have to get used to teams putting 10 men behind the ball. I would like to see City play with lace up front in B Silva, Sterling and Jesus with KDB driving from midfield and Silva orchestrating matters in the middle. Sterling, Jesus and BSilva can all beat a player one on one. That destroys a defence. I hope Guardiola knows what he is doing. He has the players now.

 

[waspish]

Pep again at fault for us not getting 3 points.

Everton had no real fight or ambition and other than the ball in behind did not look capable of doing anything.

Sane is not a fucking wing back. A wing back clears the ball and does not keep it in. He was obviously struggling and Pep did nothing to fix it. Danilo was on the bench and should have started. We would not have conceded if Sane had have been played in a position that suits him.

1 down and their usual gamesmanship comes into it. Never a sending off but why... why...do we only start playing with urgency, pace and dare I say it, passion, when we are losing or a player down?

Everton were so deep otamendi and kompany could walk right up to the penalty box and shoot. It was 3pts on a plate.

Jesus Aguero Silva and De Bruyne does not work. They occupy each others space and the final ball is poor because they do not know where the other is running to. One goes in behind one time or drops deep the next.

We were better with De Bruyne deep and Silva as a no10 because they didnt clash. We were better with Aguero on his own because Sterling found better pockets of space.

I do not like how Pep has made our players look to pass when theyre in good areas of the pitch. Pickfords clearance that ended up at de bruynes feet he should be shooting not playing a cute pass to walker. Aguero had some good link up play but his selfishness is why he scores so many. The team are not scoring more with him playing the hold the ball up role so he either comes out of the team or we play another formation. Jesus is better at the link play but Aguero scores more.

Positive problems because we have so much strength in depth but need to sort things quickly. De Bruyne or Silva with Bernardo is how I would play it. Bernardo looks class. And get Sane on as part of a front three not a wing back!

Think Pep wants us to give Tap inns for our strikers we just don't shoot when we should

 

[capiloton]

wish pep will play back his old 4-3-3 formation.
last season it didn't work because our old fullback and clueless GK.
Aguero alone are enough in the middle, but let Sane and Sterling playing in front 3.
Sane playing as a wing back is a stupid decision.

City to need to attack swiftly everytime we got the first ball.
we got pacy player everywhere, but it's total waste if we decide to pass sideways.
it's is not easy to break 10 players behind the ball.

 

[Phil1]

I see quite a few people coming round to my point of view about Aguero - less of a player as pace has gone. We need to use Jesus upfront.

Yet the manager decided to take Jesus off at half time and not Aguero.

 

[BobKowalski]

Feels like they all are sometimes...

As are we. Overthinking that is. Sterling scored by simply lashing the ball home whereas before we kept lashing it over the bar/on the post/at the GK whatever. Pep coaches them in the first two thirds of the pitch the final third it is up to the players. The Sane decision is down to Pep and it didn't work in part because he is in poor form and and in part I think because he has no confidence in playing a WB position. Pep (I think) wants 352 as a default formation because we do seem pretty solid even if it is not quite so fluid. Sane was an attempt to make it more aggressive going forward which was fine in principle just don't use Sane in poor form.

Three things from last night. For the love of God just put the fucking ball in the fucking net. Ref was beyond abysmal. How good we were with 10 men against Everton. Unbelievable Jeff.

 

[Father Paul]

Excellent summary. I agree with everything you have said. I was hoping Aguero would be good for one more season. He might be still. Jesus should be the man in penalty area. Would Sanchez be a solution? He is getting old and I think his pace is going.

The 352 was terrible 1st half. Why not change it after 20 mins? I think it might work if Sane and Walker pushed further on. They were too deep. A bit concerning that once again we totally dominate a game but don't take our chances.

Time for Pep to put some pressure on match officials.

Some outstanding 2nd half performances eg Sterling, Otamendi, KDB and briefly B Silva

Pep did put pressure on the 4th official just before the start of the second half

 

[Akiva]

Piss off with your judgemental sanctimonious "I'm a better blue than you" attitude, Mr 2016 joiner.

Piss off with your irrelevant ad hominem, Mr Continuous Negativity.

Can't see us ever winning the league under Guardiola to be honest.
We will drop too many points.

This is some savagely depressing flapper crystal ball stuff going on here.

To him possession is clearly more important than creating clear cut chances.

Bullshit. We had 19 (19!) shots on goal, of which 13 were clear cut chances created from open play alone.

This "Pep cares about possession more than winning" thing is unfounded and wrong.

He really hasn't yet got it yet how good and well drilled defences are in the Premier League.

What was so well drilled about Everton's defence that they let City have 19 shots on goal last night? City's finishing is abysmal, but that's not a credit to Everton.

Also, when the opposition is disorganised you need to go for it and take the chance of losing possession.

I saw a team that "went" for it last night, despite being a man down.

And don't get me started on his tinkering against anyone half decent. Yesterday it was Sane tomorrow it will be somthing else.

Mendy, the person we actually signed to be LWB, probably. Imagine that.

 

[The Doctor]

1. Is Pep contractually committed to doing a post match interview? Or can the club put up somebody else eg Kidd because Pep is most uncomfortable when being interviewed especially if he is going to have to discuss contentious issues like Walker sending off! He fidgets constantly pulling at his face and then becomes aggressive with the interviewer. Surely there is a coach somewhere at the club who can train him to react better than he does!
Admittedly the Sky interviewer's performance last night was no better than Pep's it was cringeworthy all round.
2. Have we followed tradition and bought another crock? Will we ever see Benjamin Mendy?
3. Why was Pep racing about on the final whistle to embrace Rooney? Brief handshake to Koeman than running off to find Rooney? What about his own players?

 

[Marvin]

Was more the fact that we battered them whilst being a man short that has given me hope

We only have 2 games to go off. I was proud of City in the 2nd half. We have the memory of last season's domination of possession at home with minimal attacking threat. Lacked penetration in 1st half. I think we just got system wrong. Too soon I think to draw conclusions. It's just a new squad. I do think Guardiola is at times to clever for his own good.

At least the defence in 2nd half looked totally dominant. That Everton team is going to struggle for goals this season

 

[Neville Kneville]

I agree. Sane struggled at LWB, but maybe it was just unfamiliarity with the role. He seemed to be far too deep for me. We looked much better in the 2nd half. I think we would have won the game were it not for the referee, but finishing still an issue.

I think we are going to have to get used to teams putting 10 men behind the ball. I would like to see City play with lace up front in B Silva, Sterling and Jesus with KDB driving from midfield and Silva orchestrating matters in the middle. Sterling, Jesus and BSilva can all beat a player one on one. That destroys a defence. I hope Guardiola knows what he is doing. He has the players now.

Of course Guardiola knows what he's doing. That doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work.

We missed chances to score, as a team, not just the strikers, we had some great positions where people passed the ball, (Messi or Iniesta would shoot first time), & we are far too easy to score against.

It is not the answer, to buy Sanchez & assume we score 2 or 3 goals every game. The answer is, to put more emphasis on the defence, particularly the central defence, not conceding easy goals. We are going to get situations like last night, in every game we play. The opposition should have to do something very clever, to get from having the ball, to it ending up in our net.

At the moment, it takes a lot of skill & effort, for City to break down a typical opposition defence, wheras pretty much any old shit attack, is enough to score v us.

We cannot win the title, until that improves. We are not going to score 3 or 4 v everybody, every game. Some will be one, only.

We need t be able to win one nil, with comfort.