Madrid v City CL semi final 2nd leg

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

Last night I even put up with Ferdinand and Mcmanaman before and after the match and I've even read some of the match reports this morning in the papers and what a depressing experience it has been. Rok Keane has again put his oar in yet again just to show, it seems, that his hatred of City goes way beyond simply ending the career of one of our players.

I thought City did a lot that was right last night, not least in that they kept "the goal machine", Ronaldo, quiet and he didn't add to his 16 goals in this year's tournament. That's no mean feat. We lost our captain after 10 minutes but the much maligned Mangala and Otamendi played very well. The side which had scored 18 goals in 5 home matches never looked like keeping up that strike rate. But then there's the Real defence, which we were assured "would give City chances" and their midfield, which couldn't defend. This was never convincing since only two teams have actually scored against Real in the CL this season and no-one has scored at the Bernabeu. That meant we had some task and no-one pointed out that Real are in the best form of the season.

What we saw was a Madrid team packed full of top quality players whose possession game was excellent as was their support play. Their midfield was smooth and fluent in possession and they pressed, hustled and harried when not. I have to admit that they are simply a better side than we are at the moment. In most positions they have better players (and more expensive ones on the whole). They deserved to win, but it was close and certainly never comfortable. If Ferna's shot had been 3 inches to the right ... if Fernando's defletion had been 3 inches finer... if Kun's shot had just dipped a little more... But ifs never win matches.

What I object to, though, more than anything - and it was all over the TV last night and the papers this morning - is the belief that there is a simple recipe to follow which will win evry and any match. City should have been more intense, City should not have been so timid, City should have put pressure on their midfield, City should have got more men forward, City should have kept more men back... And so on until you're dizzy with it. We are talking about playing against the likes of Ronaldo, Modric, Kroos, Bale etc etc in a game they want to win as much as we did. All I will say is that we lost 1-0 over two legs to a club playing its 6th successive semi final. They won it in 2014 and for the last 3 years have been the most successful team in the competition. I'm disappointed but we clearly proved we are one of the best teams in Europe.

 

[OB1]

We cant change 4 fullbacks so I suspect Clichy and Sagna will stay and Zabaleta and Kolorov will leave (If anyone is daft enough to take him)

I can see the whole central midfield being changed but one or two will stay as back up.

I think we will sign 5/6 players and so at least that many have to go.

We need 2 full backs, a CB, at least 2 midfield players, if not 3, and a forward.

By the end of Pep's stay, I expect there will only be 2/3 players left from this side.

Sounds about right but getting rid of players quickly enough could be a problem and failure to qualify for the UCL would not make recruitment any easier.

 

[tonea2003]

Sergio did nothing wrong.

What are people expecting, he's just banging his head against a brick wall, isolated at every turn, because we had no possession or link play up to him, hence him trying to drop 30 yards back.

The tie swung in Madrid's favour when Silva got injured.

spot on on sergio, what else was he supposed to do

 

[blueinsa]

Slept on it but feeling no better.

I've seen us lose to Bury, lose to Stockport, relegated to the old division 3 and I've honestly never been as disappointed in a City performance as I was last night.

100% effort was all that anybody wanted last night from the manager and the players and we could have got stuffed 5-0, I wouldn't have given a shit but to bow out in the manner we did for is is unforgivable.

Right now, I couldn't care less who we sold this summer, Kelechi aside and whilst I know that's the disappointment talking, the rest on show last night, especially our so called creative forward players where a disgrace as far as I'm concerned.

 

[bobmcfc]

A lot is now being written around who should have and should not have started, all very easy with hindsight. Most people on here were happy with that team selection when it was announced and now the team selection is getting hammered. For me, our forward 4 yesterday were all culpable, all in their own ways were terrible. Aguero played like his mind was somewhere else, KDB's worst game in a city shirt, Navas his usual self with zero end product, Yaya clearly past it. None of them turned up and looked disinterested and tired.

For me what was disappointing was the lack of movement on the pitch, it was so noticeable that whenever Madrid had the ball their movement was excellent. Isco ran us ragged, Modric always finding pockets of space, full backs always supporting. Whenever we had the ball it was walking pace with literally every player just walking around until we lost the ball, usually with a long ball towards Aguero which was food and drink to Madrid. Defensively we were very good I thought, we restricted Madrid to a deflected goal and a limited number of half chances.

I think we missed Nasri big time as he seems to link the play to Aguero superbly and we just didn't have that last night, but other than him we didn't have too many options player wise. For me it was the attitude and that all points back to one person. We weren't motivated, we lacked a game plan of how to break Madrid down and more than anything, we showed nothing when all we needed was 1 goal in the last 15 minutes to reach a champions league final. Pelligrini has sealed his fate as a total failure with that performance and so have quite a few of the players.

It's not all doom and gloom though, we have the right man coming in next season to take us to another level. 4 or 5 players like Pogba, Gundogan, Almyeric etc will rejuvenate the squad and we have players from the academy starting to come through like Iheanacho, Diaz and Garcia that hopefully will bring a hunger back we so sorely miss. Roll on June and the euro's, the Olympics and watching Pep turn us into European champions.

There is no Hindsight Everyone knew what was going to happen and said as much before hand.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

1. Sterling doesn't deserve to start, but we needed width. Toure could have been a great impact sub in the second half. Him starting was especially questionable since he was fresh off of an injury. Personally I would have tried Iheanacho on the wing but its not like we have options at the moment.

2. Fernando too is out of his depth, but Delph is much more creative and they are on a similar level.

3. Bony is the only only target man we have. It was him or no one. None of the changes Pelle made impacted the game. Bony could have been a hit or a miss, but it would have been something different. Neither Aguero nor Iheanacho can do what he can. We need to play to strengths, not focus on weaknesses. With Bony in the box at least there would have been someone to shoot long balls at.

Basically with Bony up top, Navas and Sterling on the wings and Iheanacho or Aguero roaming the area, it would be great to swing in crosses, deliver long balls and at least try to cause some chaos. Instead we side passed the last 10 minutes.

Wouldn't work anyway mate already used the 3 sub's !

 

[willipp]

There is no Hindsight Everyone knew what was going to happen and said as much before hand.

Everyone didn't say that though, pre match thread was full of people saying it was the correct team, Yaya turns up in the big games blah blah blah. Personally id of played KDB behind Aguero, but based on what he did last night that wouldn'tof changed much.

 

[uwe rosler 28]

The players never thought they could beat Madrid! It was evident in the first leg and even more so last night! The main difference was midfield 3 to our midfield 3 there's could run, tackle pass and move ours was just static and couldn't pass that's the major issue to address in the summer!

 

[Vic]

Just a diversion - sat till final whistle with finger hovering over flight to Venice (2 for 1 train deal to Milan at weekends), what other exotic routes were planned? And how many hotel reservations did you cancel? (3 here: one in Venice, one near Bergamo, one just outside Milan....)

 

[Shirley]

Last night I even put up with Ferdinand and Mcmanaman before and after the match and I've even read some of the match reports this morning in the papers and what a depressing experience it has been. Rok Keane has again put his oar in yet again just to show, it seems, that his hatred of City goes way beyond simply ending the career of one of our players.

I thought City did a lot that was right last night, not least in that they kept "the goal machine", Ronaldo, quiet and he didn't add to his 16 goals in this year's tournament. That's no mean feat. We lost our captain after 10 minutes but the much maligned Mangala and Otamendi played very well. The side which had scored 18 goals in 5 home matches never looked like keeping up that strike rate. But then there's the Real defence, which we were assured "would give City chances" and their midfield, which couldn't defend. This was never convincing since only two teams have actually scored against Real in the CL this season and no-one has scored at the Bernabeu. That meant we had some task and no-one pointed out that Real are in the best form of the season.

What we saw was a Madrid team packed full of top quality players whose possession game was excellent as was their support play. Their midfield was smooth and fluent in possession and they pressed, hustled and harried when not. I have to admit that they are simply a better side than we are at the moment. In most positions they have better players (and more expensive ones on the whole). They deserved to win, but it was close and certainly never comfortable. If Ferna's shot had been 3 inches to the right ... if Fernando's defletion had been 3 inches finer... if Kun's shot had just dipped a little more... But ifs never win matches.

What I object to, though, more than anything - and it was all over the TV last night and the papers this morning - is the belief that there is a simple recipe to follow which will win evry and any match. City should have been more intense, City should not have been so timid, City should have put pressure on their midfield, City should have got more men forward, City should have kept more men back... And so on until you're dizzy with it. We are talking about playing against the likes of Ronaldo, Modric, Kroos, Bale etc etc in a game they want to win as much as we did. All I will say is that we lost 1-0 over two legs to a club playing its 6th successive semi final. They won it in 2014 and for the last 3 years have been the most successful team in the competition. I'm disappointed but we clearly proved we are one of the best teams in Europe.

A reasoned and intelligent post, you put many posters on here to shame.