Marseille (a) post match thread

[Neville Kneville]

I think the last time I heard this was after we knocked Real out of the Champions League.

Tbf, Pep added the 'secret ingredient' to the defence after that, or otherwise perhaps it might have been true.

I don't think we were brilliant last night, the midfield, barring KDB, was slow & uninspiring, but what we definitely were, was solid at the back & you could see us starting to play more & more like City, with the confidence that solid backline brings, to try stuff without being scared that every attacking mistake means a goalscoring chance at our end.

Another ten minutes & it would have been a good old fashioned 6-0 jobby.

Very encouraging.

 

[Sparkys-Army]

Just finished the game (girlfriend round last night and had to put a movie on and pretend we weren't playing). Huge credit to Zinchenko who slotted in beautifully. Defended pretty well with the press and his passing was pretty decent too.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

Much better last night. Finally enjoyed watching us play again

 

[half & half derby scarf]

I am confused, did we play a game last night? I can't seem to find any media reports on the game, strange.

I had a look at the BBC live text option last night. It was unreal. They were willing Marseille on. Some of the comments were bordering on obsession with us to fail. Only in the last 10 minutes did the narrative change when it was clearly a lost cause for them.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Tbf, Pep added the 'secret ingredient' to the defence after that, or otherwise perhaps it might have been true.

I don't think we were brilliant last night, the midfield, barring KDB, was slow & uninspiring, but what we definitely were, was solid at the back & you could see us starting to play more & more like City, with the confidence that solid backline brings, to try stuff without being scared that every attacking mistake means a goalscoring chance at our end.

Another ten minutes & it would have been a good old fashioned 6-0 jobby.

Very encouraging.

Completely agree. I don't think it can be overstated just how great it feels to have three decent centrebacks.

 

[brian the blue]

Tbf, Pep added the 'secret ingredient' to the defence after that, or otherwise perhaps it might have been true.

I don't think we were brilliant last night, the midfield, barring KDB, was slow & uninspiring, but what we definitely were, was solid at the back & you could see us starting to play more & more like City, with the confidence that solid backline brings, to try stuff without being scared that every attacking mistake means a goalscoring chance at our end.

Another ten minutes & it would have been a good old fashioned 6-0 jobby.

Very encouraging.

Whilst Gundogan/Rodri still lack dynamism, the main thing from last night was he played them in the 2017/18 style midfield with Rodri as the sole holding player and Gundogan/De Bruyne as the 2 further up/out wide.

This at least gives Rodri more space to turn when receiving the ball from the defence and also gives him 5 options to pass forward to, as opposed to the 4 options and Gundogan to his side like you get when he plays this "double pivot" system.

We've been here before though, we need 3 or 4 consecutive performances like this to really start to turn the tide, but the problem is, with rotation brings changes to the system and I just fear Mahrez on the right, Sterling on the left, Gundogan and Rodri together as a flat 2, Eric Garcia rotating with Laporte and more dropped points in the league.

 

[jimmygrimblesboots]

Two thing i was surprised at last night , our defence has cost £400m and VVD is injured ,news to me.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

Two thing i was surprised at last night , our defence has cost £400m and VVD is injured ,news to me.

I love how Ian Darke is perfectly articulate whenever he has the opportunity to waffle on about price tags but when that first goal happened he went full Porky Pig.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Just finished the game (girlfriend round last night and had to put a movie on and pretend we weren't playing). Huge credit to Zinchenko who slotted in beautifully. Defended pretty well with the press and his passing was pretty decent too.

Grow a pair

 

[OrigamiNinja]

He’s played well the last few games, all that matters is the present. Or we can just ignore that and go off what he’s done in the past. You criticise him in a game he played well in. Makes no sense.

Except he hasn't played well the last few games, he has been passable at best. What actually makes no sense is how quickly people forget the absolute shit-show that was the 1st half at West Ham, never mind the countless other games where Rodri and Gundogan have been paired together and it has been a disaster. Ignoring the past, is actually ignoring the evidence that Gundogan is not a number 8. Its not even like we have to look far to find all the evidence we need. We have two 8s, one is the best midfielder in the world and the absolute gold standard for playing in that position and the other is Gundogan. I am not suggesting that we would be fortunate enough to have two 8s the standard of KDB but its definitely possible to have someone who is that level or two below him and still excellent, not 5 or 6 levels below like Gundogan, who only looks remotely decent in that position against garbage opposition.