Match Thread | Manchester City vs Shakhtar Donetsk (26/09/17)

[Trevor Morley's Tache]

Is it too early to break out the fanny wipes?

 

[KCblue]

Is it me or has Delph looked better than Walker?

 

[Ballymagash Blue]

Hard to get gee'd up when you've been to funerals with a better atmosphere

Lack of atmosphere is a problem in all English football grounds. There's a passivity and lack of engagement not easily explained. Etihad by no means the worst.

 

[AlexGrimaldo]

Paulo Fonseca is a great coach. He and Marco Silva both the same level , actually they took the same training course together. Hope in the second half we "kill" them. I think we will win this.

 

[RandomJ]

Can't drop points at home. Pep needs to get them firing second half.

 

[Dipsis_LTU_MC]

Is it me or has Delph looked better than Walker?

yes. delphy had a great first half.

 

[Bluep*ss]

worst stat I heard before K.o. - City have never had a 0-0 in CL. - oh shit !

 

[01cravend]

Shakhtar have actually been awful defensively we're just milliseconds/a few yards off kilter.

 

[sh249]

Familiar story, really. Look great when we're prepared to press high as a team. Then as soon as the opponents put together a first decent attacking move, we shit ourselves, start dropping off, gaps open up between the back four and the midfield, and teams find it so easy to play through the lines against us.
Been a bit of a constant for the past three years or so. Obviously nowhere near as bad now as it was for the last 18 months of Pellegrini's time, but it's still a problem. And it also has a knock-on effect on our attacking - the fact that we're not able to turn the ball over as quickly high up the pitch means we're not as threatening as we could, and should, be.
All that said - I still think we'll win.

 

[chesterbells]

They're just below us in the UEFA coefficients. We're 12th, Napoli are 18th and they're 19th. No mugs at all.

Can foresee a classic three-way tussle in this group. We've been here before.