Your right it is about opinions and Pep`s it is then, Stones is the player that brings the ball out of the air and plays it on the floor, we play differently when he plays Stones is the thinker that Pep wantsCrap? Have you ever heard of "different opinions"? I don't care about the press, I've never been particularly confident about John Stones. He hasn't been consistent enough throughout these three years, that's a fact. Laporte is at a different level defensively, and we need another one just like him in order to win the Champions League.
Laporte is our best player defensively, don't mix them up. Passing is crucial for our defensive players and I agree on that, I didn't say anything about his passing either. But he.is.not.a.world.class.defender. End of. It doesn't matter if it hurts your ears or eyes, it's still the truth. But trust me, I would like to be proven wrong. I just haven't been so far.
I am just going to tell you a little bit about football, it was Norwich game plan to allow us to have the ball, and allow us to play in their half and then catch us on the break, which they successfully did, so nothing to do with us working hard it was more to do with us falling into Norwich trapThey had 3 shots on target and scored 3 goals but that is completely irrelevant to the effort we put in to stop them creating chances. The fact that only 10% of the game was played in City's final third demonstrates the effort we put in to stop them scoring.
City's issues yesterday were technical; not whether they worked hard enough. They weren't smart enough yesterday.
And that is my final word for now. Good night.
3-2 is the evidence mate. Honestly, you don't expect Norwich to play controlled football as they did, the way they retained and controlled the ball before the first goal was amazing, played out from the back and press up high up on the pitch when required.
If they do keep playing in the same manner they would easily finish in top 10. Fully deserved 3 points.
Tbf anyone who had watched them this season could see that and he was the manager when we played swansea in the cup,pep and the players got it wrong,arrogants shites the lot of us and you can check my pre match posts
I bet the rags and Scousers won't play as shit as we did when they go thereI bet they wont play like that when the rags and scousers go there
Panic on the streets of Manchester, shoot the PG, shoot the PG, shoot the PG, we lost but are we that entitled? Anyone can make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world or the season.Yesterday was a shambles of a performance but there have been worrying signs since the start of the season. Bournemouth created three clear cut chances against us as well as the goal they scored. Two one on ones and the chance that hit Eddie in the face, gifted by, wait for it, an Otamendi mistake when he chested the ball to no one. Brighton played through our press a fair few times, had 45% possession and created a couple of decent chances. West Ham and Spur's are the only games we have played really well, even then Spurs scored with their two attempts on target.
Shocking individual mistakes aside what yesterday proved once more and what our players should know by now is this. If you go into any game, especially in the premier league, thinking superior technique and skill is enough to just turn up and win without putting in the hard yards as well, you will come unstuck and we did big time. We were 2-0 down before the penny dropped, got back into it then were killed off by that shambles of a third goal. The drive and effort we put into the last 20 minutes should have been from the first whistle.
MOTD last night highlighted how there was no pressing or urgency in the build up that led to their first goal. I wish I had a bookies around the corner because I sensed this coming pre match. It was all set up, just like those away cup ties we used to lose against lower opposition in the bad old days. Live on tv, small compact ground and a noisy passionate crowd for whom it was their cup final. All the tales about a patched up.Norwich side so hit by injuries they had TWO keepers on the bench. Pundits predicting how many we would score, climbing Everest without tools etcetera we should have knew what was coming.
I thought we were too professional and streetwise these days to take a game for granted, I was wrong. Worryingly I think we are going to miss Vinny's leadership and calm presence on and off the pitch more than I imagined. Let's hope we galvanise and go on a long winning run from here, including the dippers.
Panic on the streets of Manchester, shoot the PG, shoot the PG, shoot the PG, we lost but are we that entitled? Anyone can make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world or the season.
He does make some good points to be fair, relevant to a post match thread.Panic on the streets of Manchester, shoot the PG, shoot the PG, shoot the PG, we lost but are we that entitled? Anyone can make a mistake, it’s not the end of the world or the season.
Wait a minute,i'm mixing their manager up wth the brighton one,still their first game v dippers had plenty of warnings,they broke at speed several times and the linesman kept flagging them offside when he was not supposed to and they were onside for most of them,they pressed the dippers really wellNorwich played that way all last season and their manager said they weren't going to change. I watched them at Anfield and they caused Liverpool plenty of problems but poor finishing let them down. Liverpool were more clinical than us, we had our chances but wasteful weak finishing let us down or we could have got at least a draw.
I too had a bad feeling prior to the game, it was all too easy on paper and everyone writing Norwich off in the media worried me. I knew it would unite them, they had nothing to lose. Their injuries made me think I was worrying unduly but they didn't seem to affect them one bit. I think Potter was the Swansea manager when we played them.