Napoli post-match thread

[Tricky_Trev]

I love how pessimistic some of you are. But you can not be as pessimistic as me - well before Zaha came back ;)

You are a team I love to watch . That is why I am here - you are one of the best teams in the world. You are favs to top the group. The test on your defense away to Napoli will be huge - but you have to play these games in the CL. And you need the test.

Thing is, we could keep smashing everyone left and right, but the impending doom of typical city will never leave my being.

 

[Metalartin]

I think when Pep says: "The best team he's played against" what he means is the way they go about the game of football rather than the individual talent(although their players are very good they don't stack up to Real Madrid or Barca).

Other teams have tested us and beat us(Monaco, Shaktar, Spurs on their day have all impressed) but in a different way that plays to their own strengths not trying to beat us at our own game on the form we're in(only Barca on their day and now Napoli) because we'll punish them badly when they fall short and get lost on the pitch. Napoli very nearly found themselves in this position too... totally lost with no way back so credit to them for holding it together and finding a foothold of some sort.

He will be talking of a team that plays in a way that aligns with the way he thinks the game should be played, they play so similar and thus have a better idea of what positions our players might take up as play develops better than what we've faced so far on the form they are showing. This will probably only make us even better at it is the scary thing for every other team as City analyse the performance over the coming weeks, what chance will a PL team have of pressing us if we take it up a gear?

Pep will be happier that we were able to see the best of Napoli, that we were tested, forced to make mistakes and concede possession longer than we are used to as he will see it as an opportunity to learn and improve the team. Napoli will probably grow from this game too, if we'd have thrashed them like we could have it would have set them back big time in terms of confidence but we'd have probably not learned as much from the game either.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Why was pep saying this was the toughest team he has played - is this all mind games?

maybe its due to napoli saying man city were the best team in europe.

well you lot are not far behind thats for sure.

but its just odd. this lame media talk shouldnt make any odds to the players..

City should have been 5 nil up first half. strange game - but a win is a win.

He is looking at how well City are playing & how Napoli adapted to it (albeit initially surviving due more to luck & bad finishing/poor decision making) then caused their own problems & almost got back in the game.

We battered Barca here last season & are playing better than that now, but this game was much much more difficult.

 

[ballbag]

Do other City fans think City played extra-odinarily well?

Perhaps a game you need to see back on TV to find our why we gave away possession. It was my impression that we did not keep the ball, or pass it as well as usual. was that down to the pressure on the ball from napoli, or was it down to poor play from City. I am not sure at the moment. I don't have time to watch it again so I'll never know

I reckon it was more to do with all 11 picked from the start have played the previous 3 games and need a breather. Rotate a few in for Saturday and get them fresh again.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Have I misunderstood something, or is the group F table a lot less comfortable than it looks like?

City could still end up third in case of the following:
1. Feyenoord loose all their games; Their remaining games are City away and Shakthar away, so this is very likely.
AND
2. Napoli beats Shakthar at home. Quite likely in my opinion.
AND
3. City loose both away games to Napoli and Shakthar

If all 3 conditions are fulfilled Napoli, Shakthar and City will all end up with 12 points.
In that case the following rules determine the ranking of the teams:

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;

What this means is essentially that in case all 3 teams have 12 points, we can throw away the results against Feyenoord, and only the direct comparison between the 3 teams will count. In other words City will have to beat at least one of Napoli and Shakthar in the direct home/away comparison to qualify for the next stage. We have started okayish by beating them both at home, 2-0 and 2-1. But actually yesterdays result is not very comfortable. Napoli only have to beat us 1-0 at home, and they are better than us in the direct comparison.

So City needs to get a result in at least one of the 2 away games in Napoli and Donetzk to be sure to qualify. If we want to win our group we need a result in both games. Given that Napoli and Shakthar probably are the best 2 teams we have played this season, that is not gonna be easy. We need a couple of performances equal to what we did in the Chelsea game to go through.

A draw in either game & beat Feyenoord would give us 13 points.

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Have I misunderstood something, or is the group F table a lot less comfortable than it looks like?

City could still end up third in case of the following:
1. Feyenoord loose all their games; Their remaining games are Napoli home, City away and Shakthar away, so this is very likely.
AND
2. Napoli beats Shakthar at home. Quite likely in my opinion.
AND
3. City loose both away games to Napoli and Shakthar

If all 3 conditions are fulfilled Napoli, Shakthar and City will all end up with 12 points.
In that case the following rules determine the ranking of the teams:

1. higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question;
2. superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question;
3. higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question;
4. higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question;

What this means is essentially that in case all 3 teams have 12 points, we can throw away the results against Feyenoord, and only the direct comparison between the 3 teams will count. In other words City will have to beat at least one of Napoli and Shakthar in the direct home/away comparison to qualify for the next stage. We have started okayish by beating them both at home, 2-0 and 2-1. But actually yesterdays result is not very comfortable. Napoli only have to beat us 1-0 at home, and they are better than us in the direct comparison.

So City needs to get a result in at least one of the 2 away games in Napoli and Donetzk to be sure to qualify. If we want to win our group we need a result in both games. Given that Napoli and Shakthar probably are the best 2 teams we have played this season, that is not gonna be easy. We need a couple of performances equal to what we did in the Chelsea game to go through.

We need 4 more points, simple as

 

[Jazzman]

A draw in either game & beat Feyenoord would give us 13 points.

Yup that's right. All I am trying to say is that despite the table looking nice for us right now, we are not through yet. Both away games in Napoli and Donetzk will be very tough.

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Yup that's right. All I am trying to say is that despite the table looking nice for us right now, we are not through yet. Both away games in Napoli and Donetzk will be very tough.

You've also got to remember we have in effect a half point due to our vastly better GD than anyone else. Not to mention will probably further improve it with our home game against feyernoyd

 

[Chris in London]

Yup that's right. All I am trying to say is that despite the table looking nice for us right now, we are not through yet. Both away games in Napoli and Donetzk will be very tough.

Yes, that's right. But both are winnable, too. In fact, if we beat Napoli at their place, then assuming we also beat feyenoord at home we are guaranteed top spot irrespective of the result in Ukraine. I really would like to achieve that scenario, as it means we can rest our big guns in readiness for the derby the following weekend.

 

[franksinatra]

If anything, we didn't play out from the back enough. Too many direct balls, losing possession and them coming right back at us, already in good positions from the previous attack. Mostly from Walker. Stones and Otamendi were unbelievable. The full backs struggled much more than those two with the pressure, but a full back does have fewer passing lanes, so it's understandable I guess.

That was how I saw it. There was a short period where Stones and Walker went long quite a few times and pit us under pressure and also it stopped sticking to the likes of Sane as well. To be expected against top opposition we would have to suffer a bit aswell.