Oh deary me! The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!
Two TOP teams, with two WORLD CLASS coaches, who knew how to nullify each other's strengths created a game that was short on chances. SHOCKER!
It is clear there was a difference between the two teams...desire to get stuck in and attack the ball...but that still didn't negate the fact that City had 50% more possession, and almost complete control of the second half, but the problem of us breaking down a 10/11 man defence persists. What to do?
10 things:
Firstly, you start by lowering the age of the squad, which Pep is doing, because the game is passing older players by...and we know who they are, but so do other teams!
Secondly, you cultivate the talents of the wide players and you create a system that helps them play to their strengths.
Third, when you pull the opposing defence wide to cover the wingers, you create more space in the holes for the likes of Silva, KDB, Ferni, Yaya, Gundogan, and Aguero/Kelechi.
Fourth, anyone who thought this team, at this time, was going to roll over a Liverpool team in fine form, at Anfield, is naïve at best, deluded at worst.
Fifth, there was ALWAYS going to be six teams vying for four CL positions, and at least two or three of them were going to be fighting for the Champions position.
Sixth, it has taken BOTH Chelsea and Liverpool having their best starts to the Premier League EVER to create some daylight by year's end.
Seventh, City lost today to a team that had ZERO SHOTS ON GOAL....ZERO! They had ONE header on target and scored from it.
Eighth, City had TWO shots on goal, both weak, but created FAR MORE offensive threat over a longer period, even though it amounted to very little cutting edge goal mouth action.
Ninth, EVERY SINGLE FOOTBALL PERSON knows what City's weaknesses are, but today they were exposed for ONE chance that won the game.
Tenth, Pep/Txiki/Ferran will fix it. This is a process, notnthe finished article. We ALL knew this when Pep was hired, and he needs time to adjust, teach, and recruit the quality needed to play the way he wants. That is going to include speed, size (I hope!) and ball playing ability.
It never feels good to lose to a close rival, especially one that you hate and rarely beat, but reading some of the comments on here, anyone would think we were going down and United were going to win the League! FFS, have some context and moderation, otherwise when you do go off, at least it will be considered reasonable and warranted.
Seriously...hard to even bother reading most of the comments, because they are so unnecessarily hysterical.[/QUOTE
Bit of pragmatism there pal, not sure if it will be appreciated but I do understand your argument, hard to see now but calls for Pep's dismissal no matter how it's disguised is ludicrous. We need to give Pep time, he's no fool