Man City vs Real Madrid | Post Match Thread

CityFan94 said:
I'm not sure what most of you expected from mostly our second choice side against Real Madrid's first eleven.

We were without Kompany, Zabaleta, Mangala, Fernandinho, Delph (0-0 when he came off), Aguero and Bony. Possibly Pogba and De Bruyne coming in aswell, that's nearly a whole new team.

I'll try and take the positives from the game. I thought up until Delph got injured, we were playing well. I liked the shape, 4-3-3, with a nicely balance centre midfield. Fernando protecting the back four, Delph's energy and pressing with Yaya's passing and drive from midfield. There were some real good signs and I look forward to seeing that midfield trio again.

Sterling was so dangerous, looked a threat every time he got on the ball. Probably our best player today. Silva was good as always, some great link-up play. Yaya didn't look 100%, but it's still pre-season, no big deal.

Denayer got a little bit of a reality check and was shown just how hard it's going to be to make it here. I still think Denayer will become a top CB for us, and will play quite a lot of games this season, but it shows the importance of easing young players in, rather than throwing them in like some on here seem to want. Left back was a bit of a disaster really. Kolarov had a shocker in the first half IMO and Clichy wasn't much better for the fourth goal. It stressed the importance of us getting a top LB in this summer, I think it'll make a big difference in the Champion's League.

Dzeko coming on and showing absolutely no interest wasn't good to watch. It looks like he's gone, which asks the question; why did he come on? Would it not have been better to give Iheanacho a chance down the middle? Dzeko's attitude and workrate was pretty shocking and I can't see how anybody would think that's acceptable.

I don't think we performed badly given the circumstances, it wasn't really a 4-1 game. There was definitely positives to take from the game and also it showed us areas where we need to improve.
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Its been no different for most of his time here. It really hasn't. One of my most disliked players of this era.
Even when hes happy he gets pushed off the ball too much for a big guy, has a poor first touch and always seems to drift out wide and then even for a target focal point hes lost.
 
Just back from the match. City were fine until the Delph injury. We lost the midfield after that. Maybe Fernando looked better on TV than in the flesh, but I thought he was poor as he was against Roma. He over commits to tackles up the ground and is easily passed. Lacks any real pace to get back once turned so we are more often than not outnumbered. Yaya refuses to track back as does Nasri (he was very poor today) and Kolorov is truly awful defensively. Both centre halves I thought were OK and were let down by there more senior fullbacks and midfield. Silva was good (offensively) and Sterling the pick of the City players. Good work rate and pace. Mangala trained last night so not sure why he was not there tonight? Strange.
 
When we play in front of a 100,000 crowd and the match is televised all over the world we would normally expect a better performance. It seems though that our defensive options were limited by injury, absence and poor form. Pity.
 
It makes me laugh reading the articles on Daily Mail etc...

'Any Regrets Raheem?' was the headline of one of them.

I'm sure Raheem is gutted he came to City after half our reserves got beaten by a full strength Real Madrid team! Absolute whoppers!
 
Cambo said:
Just back from the match. City were fine until the Delph injury. We lost the midfield after that. Maybe Fernando looked better on TV than in the flesh, but I thought he was poor as he was against Roma. He over commits to tackles up the ground and is easily passed. Lacks any real pace to get back once turned so we are more often than not outnumbered. Yaya refuses to track back as does Nasri (he was very poor today) and Kolorov is truly awful defensively. Both centre halves I thought were OK and were let down by there more senior fullbacks and midfield. Silva was good (offensively) and Sterling the pick of the City players. Good work rate and pace. Mangala trained last night so not sure why he was not there tonight? Strange.
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mangala was sick and there are talks of Fernando going to Portugal. We need Pogba AND De Brunye if we are going to compete with madrid, Barca etc
 
Very happy night for me as it was my first city match after supporting the team for 13 years. Disappointing result, but at this stage of the year the result isn't important. Great to see a mix of youth and established players. Sterling is going to be something special i feel, exactly what we've been looking for.

Great amount of people wearing city shirts which is always good. I found it funny though as I was sitting In amongst alot of people wearing madrid scarfs, and when Benitez came on the big sceen, one guy said 'is benitez our coach this year? When did he take over from mourinho'
 
Getting beaten by Real Madrid is no disgrace.

However, pre-season friendly is no excuse for the poor level of performance put in by so many senior players. Playing in front of almost 100k people in a televised match you would think would be motivation enough for said players to focus and bring their A game.

So either they have a poor attitude or they are just not good enough. I think the latter.

The problem is it could take several seasons to overhaul the squad and bring in the necessary quality. This added to the complete lack of defensive organisation imprinted on the team leads me to believe we may well be waiting longer for the next trophy than we all hope.
 
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