I think we were massively fortunate in this game, and we should be aware of this. Against Spurs we dominated the ball but scored through a set-piece. Today, again we dominated the ball for long periods in the 2nd half and were able to create some very fluid passages of play on the outside of their box, but rarely did we threaten their goal. There was one must score moment from a PSG error in the 1st half when Bernardo passed to Foden and he struck it too centrally.
At the highest level, the difference between the teams is wafer thin, so you need a little bit of lady luck on your side. Fine margins win games, fine margins lose games, we know this from our defeats to Spurs and Liverpool. Its good to see fortune favour us in the CL.
PSG are in a way the counter-opposite to City. Their threat are their forwards in Mbappe and Neymar, whereas our offensive talent is that we have 5 fantastic midfielders in Foden, GUndogan, Bernardo, Mahrez and KDB but we are forever massed against their defence outside their penalty box free-wheeling forever. It is beautiful to watch when we have a lead but frustrating if we need a goal. Nothing came of all our midfield play at Wembley, and nothing came from it last night either. You could say the same about PSG too (took a corner).
Football is not all about threat, our game is about domination. It is an old adage, the opponents cannot score if you have the ball, so the best way to defend against Mbappe and Neymar is to not let them have the ball. Our team is designed to keep the ball and we do it very well. To say nothing comes from possession misses the point, if you are playing with the ball, the ball is moving and the opponents move according to where the ball is. You can stay virtually static and whilst the opponents are constantly moving, readjusting and looking for potential runners. That takes immense concentration and saps energy. You drain the opponents of energy and they make a mistake, hence Laporte scoring from a set piece, because Spurs had been literally passed to death
Our free-kick was incredibly fortunate. Mahrez can try that a 100 times and will never be able to do that again. What was he trying to do? GO round it, go over it? poor execution that came off simply because he hit it hard and on target.
Concentration, they relaxed, they were no longer looking for runners, readjusting. All the build up play and constant passing increases pressure. That pressure takes its toll, they switch off and concede. Small margins.
We got lucky. Same as Spurs did when they came to City in that Q/F. But you need luck.
You always need fortune on your side in sport. How often do you get unlucky winner's. Another old adage, the more I practice, the luckier I get.
I think we have make a virtue from a fundamental weakness in our side...the lack of a centre-forward. Our ability to control the ball prevents Mbappe and Neymars from hurting us because it means we dominate the ball but we don't carry the same lethal threat in the penalty area that PSG have.
When PSG have Neymar and Mbappe on the edge of our penalty area, then they have the capacity to shift the ball really quick and get a runner in on the end of a cross e.g., Mbappe to Veratti that he missed by inches. I don't see this City side carrying this kind of threat.
Yet that threat scored once, whilst we dominated the second half. If we played a centre forward would we have dominated midfield. If we don't dominate midfield, a centre forward ends up a peripheral luxury. It becomes 10 v 11
The ability though to suffocate a side by preventing them from building up play, and to monopolise the ball though are huge pluses.
If Foden and/other players develop the Neymar/Ronaldo/Lampard ability to carry a real goal threat without being an out and out centre-forward then this absence of a central stiker does not matter.
Foden is on the way to scoring 20 goals this season, Gundogan has scored how many? Kev and Mahrez always carry a goal threat. Raz scores plenty.
In the Summer we have a crucial decision to make. Do we continue as we are, or do we sacrifice a forward to carry more threat in the box but at the same time lose control over possession? How many times do Bernardo and Mahrez cut back inside and float lovely balls in but rarely do these crosses have much threat. Against Villa that's how Rodri scored (from a Bernardo ball).
We have enough threat already to have won a Cup, been in the Semi of another, have a good chance of being in the final of the CL and barring a collapse of epic proportions should be English Champions. How much more threat do we need.
The plus side is though that most games end up 30:70 possession for City and what can an opponen do with so little possession? PSG are very dangeorous because they are more clinical, or efficient with their 30% possession.
The result indicates otherwise.
Ederson had more touches than Mbappe. Neymar was reduced to petulance.
In 270 minutes of football against Haaland, Mbappe and Neymar, three of the best strikers in the world, how many have they scored? Less than our Phil.
