Man City vs Real Madrid | Post Match Thread

[Hungarian blue]

Zuculini has looked ok again preseason,i certainly wouldn't have any hesitation in playing him ahead of Fernando.....not because i'm a Fernando hater but simply because Zuculini provides far more energy and mobility.

Thing is, Zuculini is now 22 and will be counted as a foreigner in our squad. Thus, if we sell Dzeko and Jovetic, and only bring in, let's say KDB, then we will have only 1 quota for another non-HG player. And I guess we are not gonna exclude Fernando from our squad. :)

 

[Cooper_mcfc]

Any news on Delph?

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Yes. But you can practice all you like. But if Kolarov is going to keep dropping inexperienced defenders in shit,
there is not a lot you can do. Especially when facing a team as good as Real Madrid.
Saying that, i'm not too bothered about the result. As most say, it's about fitness and game time.

It is, but I don't think Kolarov was wholly responsible for the number of times or the ease with which we got opened up yesterday. Like Hinchcliffe said on the telly, the dynamic changed completely after Delph went off. Kolarov then had the Invisible Man (Nasri) plonked in front of him, with Navas brought on to hug the right touch line, leaving oceans of space for the world's best counterattacking team to do just that in. And the 3rd and 4th goals stemmed from long standing problem areas, ie shambolic marking at set pieces and failure to stop the opposition crossing the ball.
I'm not going to pitch into the manager based on a pre-season friendly with players missing, but let's say I'm hoping for more away performances and pragmatism like we saw at Spurs at the end of last season, rather than line-ups and formations that are overly attacking and leave us exposed. Personally I think we need greater physical presence in the engine room as well (oh that Matic were for sale), cos we got knocked off the ball a lot yesterday by a taller, more athletic, more powerful side. That Pogba chap would be nice......

 

[stan bowles]

I know the circumstances weren't the best but how was Patrick Roberts cameo?

Looked eager and showed a few nice touches.

 

[kaz7]

Any news on Delph?

Back in Manchester

 

[Dribble]

By the way I read reports of the match I was expecting complete carnage. I wasn't going to watch the recording based on that, but decided to watch the first 20 because loads on here said we were decent during that period.

I saw enough in that first 20 minutes to confirm that Delph will be an asset for us. I think Fernando should be jettisoned along with Dzeko and Kolarov but to be fair to Fernando I thought yesterday's game was a better one for him. I think the big error that was made was when Delph went off, he was replaced by Navas and not like-for-like (ish) which upset our rhythm. Zucilini was on the bench and available and I think he would have been a better replacement for Delph.

I wouldn't have started with Sterling up front either, as that is reminiscent of the square pegs in round holes issues that plagued us last season. We should have played the best player available for every position available, because if Dzeko was going to be risked at all we may as well played him from the start or better still played Kelechi who actually has a future with us. Whilst it was good to see Humphries get a run out, Mangala was sat on the bench and considering how short the time left is before the new season kicks off, surely we'd have been better with him starting with Denayer which would be closer to what we'll have available for the first team.

Real hit us with some quality incisive moves, but considering we were all but playing their starting 11 with some of our EDS mixed with some first reserves eg: Sagna, Kolarov, Fernando etc I can see a lot of positives even though I hate getting draws never mind a 4-1 loss. The big positive for me is the ditching of 442. I hope this is a sign of our way forward for next season.