Madrid v City CL semi final 2nd leg

[hartshairgel]

I was amazed to see Toure on the pitch. Great servant over the years but now a serious liability. No attempt to close down or push up in support his lack of energy in midfield was stark in comparison to Modric and Kroos. Sterling offered more but Nacho was unlucky not to get the chance to play with/behind Aguero. Complete lack of discipline from Aguero who constantly drifted too deep and then left nothing up front.

 

[OneMan]

Ferdinand has a lot to say , ok he's been there but that's no excuse for his comments .

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

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.

I know. It could set us back a bit to be honest. At the moment though we need a rebuild. The signings we have made over the last 3 years are simply not good enough to take over the mantle from the aging players we have. Its been poor recruitment overall, poor planning ahead combined with a lack of bringing players through. How must those young players feel? dumped like lambs to the slaughter against Chelsea in the cup and not seen again. Its the worst part of his stay for me, his lack of faith in younger players.

The people at the top seem to have taken their eye off the ball with the Pep fixation. If he can turn this around quickly, he really is a miracle worker.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

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.

I agree with most of that. I thought the game plan was ok bar the last 20 minutes when I thought we were awful. They had quite a few "If" moments as well.

The only point I would disagree with is that we are one of the best teams in Europe. Generally the best teams in Europe compete in their own league year in year out and we are just not doing this currently. We have competed well in the CL but not domestically for a season and a half now.

 

[pennypennytannerbob]

Let's move on, our priority now is to not lose on Sunday and win the last game. Reaching the semis of the CL has been a huge psychological step forward for City; the benefits of which lie in the future. Winning last night would have been a problem because it would have masked the underlying issues that have dogged us in the PL these past couple of seasons... and where we are heading is one of the most difficult things to achieve for anyone, in any sport, and which can only be done in small increments at the highest level... dominating the PL and CL consistency; many try and fail.

 

[worsleyweb]

Sad to see that - our team needs breaking up. Looking forward to some fresh players next year.

 

[OB1]

I know. It could set us back a bit to be honest. At the moment though we need a rebuild. The signings we have made over the last 3 years are simply not good enough to take over the mantle from the aging players we have. Its been poor recruitment overall, poor planning ahead combined with a lack of bringing players through. How must those young players feel? dumped like lambs to the slaughter against Chelsea in the cup and not seen again. Its the worst part of his stay for me, his lack of faith in younger players.

The people at the top seem to have taken their eye off the ball with the Pep fixation. If he can turn this around quickly, he really is a miracle worker.

Not so concerned about the youth player situation - although I would like to have seen a bit more of them in the first team - but the recruitment has not been good enough since our first title win. I don't think we have bought disastrously, as some would have it, and I think we have had some impediments due to FFP plus the misfortune of injury and the effects of age hitting us in a not entirely predictable way. You don't always know when age etc will catch up but some of the problems could have been headed off. Txiki will really need to earn his corn this summer.

 

[SouthStand116]

The disappointing thing is the lack of effort from the players this was one of the highest calibre games most of these players have and will ever play in! Not one player should have been able to walk off that pitch last night. The first 60-70 mins of the home leg we pressed and harried Madrid and broke up any rythem, last night we didn't do that (possibly down to Toure coasting around without breaking a sweat). The other problem is pellegrini has ruined the style of football, what has happened to our quick passing football which brought us success under Bobby Manc? One thing we didn't seem to learn from the home tie was how to break them down. Defensively Madrid are poor Wolfsburg exploited that in the quarters! Aguero was completely isolated every time we attacked and has been most of the season he constantly has his back to the centre backs or drifts out wide to receive the ball and that is down to a lack of speed and movement when we break! Since pellegrini took over all we seem to do is get into the final third and then slow the ball down playing sideways and backwards, all that does is give opposition defence time to set and close space! Aguero thrives off running into space off the shoulder of a big centre back but we don't seem to have anyone that can pick that pass out if Silva/Nasri aren't playing or underperforming. We seem to have no movement when we go forward, nobody making runs into space to create space for another player. Problem is teams don't fear our wide players Navas all effort but no quality, sterling well I'm not actually sure what he brings to the team, de bruyne brilliant player but not got that electric pace to get in behind, silva/nasri when fit and playing out wide great at picking a pass but not quick enough to worry a decent fast fullback! So teams sit two banks of four that the further up the field we get drops deeper and deeper leaving no space for Kun to make his runs! You watch Leicester and Tottenham attack they attack with pace, players making runs dragging defenders out of position exposing space in behind the defence. We don't we are slow and pedestrian when we attack nobody running into space and when we do get forward we generally get wide and deliver a poor cross to a 5'9 striker who isn't gonna win a header against a 6'4 centre half! We don't play to our teams strengths and that has cost us this season unfortunately there is only 1 charming man to blame for that! Last night was disappointing we had nothing to lose, Southampton game was worse as now we have 2 must win games which unfortunately if we play like we have the last 2 weeks we don't stand a chance and all that does is set us back another season. The club messed up unveiling Pep it had a negative effect on the manager and players, if they wanted to announce it they should have brought in an interim manager who could've had a go and had on his cv he's managed one of the top teams in Europe. Luckily things can only get better next season freshen up the squad, get rid of some of the dead wood and a new style of football. Onwards and upwards I'll be glad when this season is over and that charming man leaves!

 

[kippax4ever]

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.

Completely disagree.my perspective off Keane & Dixon(he was spot on).
Playing the last 10/5 mins like were wining pas ba

I agree with most of that. I thought the game plan was ok bar the last 20 minutes when I thought we were awful. They had quite a few "If" moments as well.

The only point I would disagree with is that we are one of the best teams in Europe. Generally the best teams in Europe compete in their own league year in year out and we are just not doing this currently. We have competed well in the CL but not domestically for a season and a half now.

I know. It could set us back a bit to be honest. At the moment though we need a rebuild. The signings we have made over the last 3 years are simply not good enough to take over the mantle from the aging players we have. Its been poor recruitment overall, poor planning ahead combined with a lack of bringing players through. How must those young players feel? dumped like lambs to the slaughter against Chelsea in the cup and not seen again. Its the worst part of his stay for me, his lack of faith in younger players.

The people at the top seem to have taken their eye off the ball with the Pep fixation. If he can turn this around quickly, he really is a miracle worker.

Think many will agree with you,mate..

 

[Vienna_70]

Lost to a fucking own goal.

Disappointed, but proud of our achievement in reaching the semifinals and being the last English team left in the competition.

And the Blues there last night were loud throughout the whole evening. Well done to all of you.