Leicester City v City post match.

[rnblade]

Words fail me of how appalling that 'performance' was. What is Kolarov still doing in our team? He's not totally to blame, but pretty much all keystone cop style defending is done by him. These guys need to get their shit together as we are staring at 5th or 6th place rapidly. Just not good enough, for the talent we have at our club, turning out like that is an embarrassment to the badge. I really can't see how it's going to improve anytime soon.
We will just have to wait and see. IMO we will finish 5th. We aren't good enough or consistent to warrant top 4 place.

 

[Peggy's a blue]

Vardys saying in the daily mail that they "targeted Bravo" because they had been watching tapes of us, noting how be build from the back, and that if they pressed us they would cause mistakes. This was discussed on the pre match thread that they would do this type of thing, question is, if blumoon new it, vardy and co new it, why did our management and players not know it?

 

[inchy14]

Fuck me, Clichy & Sagna!! never want to see either of them in the first team again along with Kolarov and sadly Zab, they're all either too slow and useless on the ball, give Maffeo and Angelino a proper run of games and lets see what they've got with Stones & Otamendi along side.

Drop Gundogan for Garcia until Fern is back and line up like this.

Bravo/Willy.
Maffeo...Stones...Otamendi... Angelino.
.......Fernando.....Garcia............
Sterling........KDB........Sane.
...........Kelechi...............

I agree. We bang on about needing new fullbacks but we have 2 there that could do a job or not between now and the window but we need to know and they cannot be worse than what we have witnessed over the past few games

Not sure I agree with this. Throwing two kids into a defence that's already struggling could destroy their confidence. Always better to integrate youngsters into a winning side, although obviously we don't have that luxury at the moment.

I know where you're coming from Ric but these kids must be looking at the players in front of them and wondering what the hell they have to do to get a game. We lack pace throughout the back 4 and midfield especially with Fernandinho out, so lets give them a go.

Gundogan, Silva and all 4 fullbacks haven't been playing well enough to guarantee starts so i'd drop them and it's about time Pep became ruthless. Maffeo was superb at the swamp and whilst i could understand the reluctance to then play him at WBA a home game v Watford should be easier for him.
I'd rather see them make mistakes but learn than see the older players make them with fuck all to gain from it.

 

[Peggy's a blue]

Most depressing thing is that Kolarov was defensively a shambles yet was our biggest attacking threat in that game with his 1 goal and 1 assist. I also find it incredible that every single football fan in Europe saw how Leicester won the league last season with their direct counter attacking play. Yet our manager who we're told is the best thing since sliced bread was totally unaware and played a line as high as he did. I seriously hope he improves because after a great start we're going backwards week by week it seems. And i'm sick of the argument that he doesn't have the 'type of player' he needs, give him time. Such a cop out excuse. Surely if he's as good as we were told he would play to the strengths of the squad we currently have whilst eyeing up targets to play his way. Not hard is it. Instead we end up with this mess of players incapable of playing the way he wants to play, attempting to play it anyway and embarrasing themselves and the club.

Excellent point, in all management golden rule is " always make best use of the resources and facilities at your disposal" this was drummed into me when I first got into management, unfortunately this is not happening at City.

 

[adr2.8i]

i dont think i have ever watched a more wretched city performance than that first 30 mins or so.
why are we defending so high up the pitch with a massive gap then to bravo? during some stages i noticed every player exept bravo was in the Leicester half! i know we were pushing for a goal to get back into the game but you cant defend with no defenders! kamikaze defending.

im all for playing attractive football but its got to be built upon being strong at the back and we are far from that at the moment unfortunatley.

 

[shevtheblue]

I've backed Pep all the way this season, even when others have said he's been wrong. I can see what he's trying to do, but his analysis of Leicester should have shown that playing the way we did was wrong. Now everyone is saying we shouldn't be playing the ball out the back, that isn't the problem as shown by their first goal where Kolarov launches it aimlessly up to Kelechi who has no fucking chance of winning a header against their centre backs. The ball comes back and the goal is easy from there as it's one on one. IMO the 2 main things that are causing us to fail at the moment are lack of efficient press and ability to keep the ball in key areas. I'm sure Pep is trying to work on this, but i'm afraid it's not working and for the good of the season he might need to change us to a fast counter attacking team like we played against Barca, rather than a tempo controlling team like we have played the rest of the season. This was the first game i've truly been disappointed in Pep.

 

[nellyonthewing]

We are great at keeping the ball when the opposition don't want it.

 

[GortonBlue62]

We are great at keeping the ball when the opposition don't want it.

3 nil down, 78% possession - we used to call that 'showboating'.

 

[GortonBlue62]

I've backed Pep all the way this season, even when others have said he's been wrong. I can see what he's trying to do, but his analysis of Leicester should have shown that playing the way we did was wrong. Now everyone is saying we shouldn't be playing the ball out the back, that isn't the problem as shown by their first goal where Kolarov launches it aimlessly up to Kelechi who has no fucking chance of winning a header against their centre backs. The ball comes back and the goal is easy from there as it's one on one. IMO the 2 main things that are causing us to fail at the moment are lack of efficient press and ability to keep the ball in key areas. I'm sure Pep is trying to work on this, but i'm afraid it's not working and for the good of the season he might need to change us to a fast counter attacking team like we played against Barca, rather than a tempo controlling team like we have played the rest of the season. This was the first game i've truly been disappointed in Pep.

Pep's failing badly at the moment.

He needs to stop treating the Etihad as his laboratory, get his head out of his arse and start winning games.

He has continued the decline of a squad that once again started as favourites to win the Premier league.

Worse than that he's turning us into a laughing stock.

 

[Dax777]

And the fourth came from a back-pass....

I think the point is, balance is required. Whether that be attack/defense, clearing lines/plying out from the back, shooting/walking it into the the etc

This league, and especially this team, is no place for ideology. We need pragmatism, for now at least and I believe that the Leicester game will be a watershed moment

I disagree. I think in the long run you need Ideology. It's what differentiates the hood ones from the bad ones.

You need to drill your ideology until it's ingrained or you fail before it is so. The more I see us wilt under the media and fan pressure of clearing the lines, the sadder I get. Coz it means our players are not getting better at that which will eventually differtiate us from the others.

Becoming pragmatic will be our eventual downfall. Is rather fail now instilling a philosophy that will prosper long term, than switch it to satisfy some short-term gain.