Monaco - Post Match thread.

[OB1]

Thing is he has again said the defending isnt the problem.....i get he says attack us the best form of defence and i dont disagree but we have to be able to degend against teams who will openly attack us as monoco dod and liverpool will at weekend...our defenders one on one are all shit ..the only one is kompany and its starting to lokm like pep just wont play him (pep says he us fit so something is a miss somewhere)....but kompany isnt the answer alone. Our players just atruggle against real athletic midfieldrrs.....we just get overrun not necessarily outplayed....

It's not just about attack being the best form of defence although he might point to the fact that in the premier league City are currently the team that allows their opponents the fewest shots on goal (which is a potential step towards conceding the fewest goals). Last nights stats show that we only allowed Monaco, Europe's top scorers, 8 goal attempts (basically our league average) and 28 dangerous attacks. Meanwhile we had 45 dangerous attacks but only produced 6 goal attempts from that.

The story of our whole season has been not being clinical enough at either end of the pitch - and it was a problem last season. You can choose whether you think the defending or attacking is a bigger problem for us but we need to improve both. However, the way the team is set up to defend is not for me the biggest problem and Pep isn't going to change it but he will change the players so that his game plans can be executed more effectively because getting his way of playing to work is a better route to success than compromising it by retaining players who are not good enough.

 

[Gordyola]

wtf is wrong with KDB. He couldn't hit a barn door with his passing. I cant believe how he misses so many passes.
Starting with Clichy, Sagna, Kolarov and Stones in back four, what did people expect.Team selection killed us. To throw away a 2 goal lead like that is spineless. Pep has next season to turn our weakness around as honeymoon will be over. Today was weak as piss!

Agree first half but he dropped back in the second and was much better making a significant contribution I don't believe that whatever 4 he chooses from the possible 6 would have made any difference Credit to Monaco in the first half

 

[hgblue]

Pretty much this. A bit more pragmatism. Sterling and Sane on the break. Maybe even with KdB as a false nine and we would be in the last 8.

I've pretty much given up on calling for a more pragmatic approach, it just isn't going to happen. We seem to be making a virtue out of having little regard to the basics of defending. We're City. We can go to Monaco with an attacking front five, a dodgy back four and keeper, and just Fernandinho offering any protection. Unbelievably naive and arrogant. Going somewhere like Monaco and putting in a defensive shift, hitting your opponents on the break, and finding a way to qualify is not a tactic that should be beneath us. We're a football team and not just an extension of the manager's ego.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

One thing that struck me whilst watching some of the painful highlights.


It’s easy to blame Sterling, but the move where he got caught in two minds, arose because Aguero made the wrong run.

In that situation, the striker (Iheanacho at Hull, Jesus at West Ham, Sterling at Bournemouth) is supposed to sprint beyond the final defender for a tap-in at the far post. It’s been a tried and trusted tactic at Barca for years, because you also benefit from own goals where the defender can’t get out of the way.

However, Aguero’s natural instinct is to either run towards the near post, or to hold his ground and wait for a pull-back.


The commentators (and most fans) blamed Sterling, but I suspect that Pep would be more annoyed with Aguero.

 

[Gordyola]

The easiest thing in football is making yourself difficult to beat( its why there is always giantkilling). We see it all the time at home where limited teams manage to keep us out, yet one of the top coaches in the world can't set us up like that. Once you have real pace up front it should be a doddle. Just what did de bruyne have to do to get subbed? On recent form should have been nowhere near the team. Monumental fuck up by pep coming a week after his team selection blew any remote chance of us winning the league . He ain't fooling me .

He has said numerous time that he will not compromise his beliefs and principles and if that what his employers want he will go home I for one am 100% behind him He will not make his team play like Leicester / Stoke and if he did Bluemoan would be in total meltdown. Chelsea winning at WHU and our schedule of games was the reason for his team selection v Stoke

 

[meltonblue]

I don't think Guardiola sees it in terms of a split between attack and defence like some do though (it isn't "you five are attackers and you five are defenders"). It's a collective responsibility of all of them and in the first half, as bad as it is to have a back four with the personnel we currently have, they were exposed time and time again due to the frailty in midfield and up front.

It is reliant on stopping attacks more at source and De Bruyne and Silva in the first half were effectively nowhere. There was a slight tactical shift in the second half, but the main difference was everyone attacking the player in possession for Monaco when they first got the ball.

Fullbacks are an absolute must for next season. However, the really big dilemma for Pep is that the underlying issues are also further up the pitch and some really big decisions need to be made if we are going to play the way he wants us to.

 

[Gordyola]

I've pretty much given up on calling for a more pragmatic approach, it just isn't going to happen. We seem to be making a virtue out of having little regard to the basics of defending. We're City. We can go to Monaco with an attacking front five, a dodgy back four and keeper, and just Fernandinho offering any protection. Unbelievably naive and arrogant. Going somewhere like Monaco and putting in a defensive shift, hitting your opponents on the break, and finding a way to qualify is not a tactic that should be beneath us. We're a football team and not just an extension of the manager's ego.

If we had taken our chances, like they did, we would be in the draw. Story of the season

 

[BillyShears]

He has said numerous time that he will not compromise his beliefs and principles and if that what his employers want he will go home I for one am 100% behind him He will not make his team play like Leicester / Stoke and if he did Bluemoan would be in total meltdown. Chelsea winning at WHU and our schedule of games was the reason for his team selection v Stoke

So baffling when I read experts on Bluemoon talking about Pep being more pragmatic. Laughable suggestions we should've started with loads of defenders to defend the tie out. These people are stuck in a time warp IMO and haven't come to terms with who Pep is.

 

[Tevez City]

I blame Pep mostly for not starting Yaya and Otamendi.

His excuse that City doesnt have CL experience is not right. We have more experience than Leicester City and the avg age is higher than Monaco's.

He just dont realise the importance of Yaya.

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Absolutely nothing to blame the defence for, they all had their redeeming qualities last night.

Stones was a real leader in the second half, making crucial interceptions and breaking forward with the ball on numerous occasions.

Kolarov never stopped trying to get us going and both Clichy and Sagna showed the required levels of aggression.

It was the paucity of the front six that lost us that game last night, nothing more.

A first half in which they failed to break a sweat, failed to defend from the front and provided Monaco's own quality in the wide areas, exposing us for the first two goals.

It's been a bullshit narrative all season, that the defenders are the problem.

De Bruyne's form has been shocking for months and Pep made a stupid mistake of preferring that midfield set-up without the ball control of Yaya.

Aguero cost us. Sterling cost us. Silva cost us.

Kudos to Sane, who at least refuses to hide.