Paris Saint-Germain (A) - CL SF | Post-Match Thread

[kaz7]

Any alternative commentary ?

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Best performance you've seen from a Pep side at City?

It's certainly right up there. Phononemial.

It wasn't the best in pure footballing terms but in terms of character, spirit, and sheer mental toughness it was one of the best I have ever seen from a City side. PSG had us on the ropes for 30 minutes but we clambered back on our feet and dealt them a knockout punch. Bloody fantastic.

 

[kaz7]

Massive result

Lol

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

After ten minutes in the first half, we were understandably more conservative in our approach as PSG became more dominant & took the lead. Between 20-40 minutes we looked decidedly ragged with PSG pulling us all over the place. However, there's a few things you failed to point out.

When Mahrez & Foden were attacking, they were attacking in isolation, often surrounded by 2-3 PSG players & having little or no options for the pass. This is why most of our first half attacks were being blunted & easily snuffed out.

In the second half I immediately noticed a difference. When Mahrez received the ball, Silva closed in to support him, but crucially Walker overlapped which pushed Bakker back therefore creating space.

Whereas we were closing down individually in the first, in the second half we hunted PSG down in packs giving them little time on the ball, forcing them into errors. This seemed to unnerve them & it reminded us of what we do best most weeks.

Agreed, we didn't have an out & out striker to make the most of many 6 yard box opportunities, but I doubt we'd have made those opportunities unless we had the control we created for ourselves in the second half. It's a legitimate tactic, as we have Foden, Silva, Mahrez, KDB & Gundog who've proven they know where the back of the net is to compensate.

Another crucial observation & probably the most important thing effecting last night was Pep. In the past, he's been guilty (imho) of over-thinking crucial CL ties which have cost him at Bayern & City. Who can forget Bayern's disastrous man for man marking effort against Barca, or the weird formation City played at Klanfield with Gundog playing right wing?

Against PSG the whole world mostly guessed the line up beforehand, with only Zinchenko/Cancelo & Stones/Laporte being the only reasonable unknowns. After the half time team talk, we were reminded of who we were & what we do best, so therefore brilliantly executed it in the second half & PSG couldn't live with us. So much so they began to lose the plot because we were making them look so ordinary. Remember, they're NOT used to being played off the park like we did to them.

As I posted after the Carabao Cup, City are better than most of us fans (me included) give us credit for. Two weeks ago I watched a rerun of El Classico in Madrid 2011-2012 season. Barca were sporting Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Sanchez, Villa, Alves, Busquets, Puyol etc... The Barca team around this era were widely considered to be the finest footballing side in soccer history, & I could definitely see their DNA in the way today's City side play.

This is a big claim, but when we tick (notwithstanding Messi), today's best City side is every bit as good as that iconic Barca team, if not better. I saw more errant passes from Barca that match & less movement than we have. Many times I watch City & I'm perlexed as to what formation we're playing & which players are in what position. If I'm lost, just imagine what opposition players must be thinking/feeling? The crazy thing is that the City players all seem to know what they're doing regardless of who plays, so there's an order to what on the face of it seems very random.

Make no mistake, we thoroughly deserved last night's win. Yes the KDB goal was fortuitous & Mahrez admitted he was trying to curl the ball around the wall, but got it horribly wrong & still scored, but I believe you make your own luck, & we took full advantage of it.

It's only half time & PSG are more than capable of overturning the tie, however we're just as capable as tearing them a new arsehole too, so just as I thought last night, they've got as much to worry about as we have. It'll now come down to who can carry out their plan best next Tuesday & make the most of their luck.

Advantage City, but we'd be silly not to continue where we left off last night. Hopefully Pep has learned to continue with what has served us so well so far, & not to over think the return leg & present us with a surprise line up, formation & set of tactics which has cost us previously.

A really good post.

 

[rowarta]

that 2nd half was the most controlled I've seen from a city team in Europe

 

[Phil1]

I think that is a little harsh, I do think Marvin is correct in that we do lack an out an out striker, someone who will take those chances.

This argument forgets that the reason we get into these positions so often is down to an overload of midfield players and fullbacks playing on the front foot.
Having a dedicated striker would likely mean a change of tactics with no guarantee we'd create as much.

 

[Manchester33]

RIGHT, absolutely fantastic result last night - i couldn’t be more proud of our boys.
But i’m a bit nervous with all the “were going Istanbul” comments.....remember blues, PSG scored 4 goals in Barcelona and 3 goals in Munich.
In the last few weeks, we have been beaten by Chelsea and at home by Leeds.
All we need is another brain fart on Tuesday and its all over.
I’m confident but let’s not get all “raggish”
Come on City

I agree with you about fans being over-confident. The semi-finals aren't over yet and PSG are very capable of coming to our ground and beating us. But I think we're comfortably a better defensive side than either Munich or Barca and looking at our form in the Champions League as a whole we're clearly in the driving seat.


We've won 10, drawn 1 and lost 0.
They've won 6, drawn 1 and lost 4.

We've scored 23 goals, we've only conceded 4 and on we haven't conceded more than 1 goal in a game.
They've scored 22 goals, conceded 13 and have conceded in every knockout game so far.


Going off those stats, it's very likely we're at least going to score one. They have a couple of world beaters in Neymar and Mbappe, but I trust our back line to keep them quiet again. We shouldn't be arrogant, but there's no harm in being confident in this position.

 

[Bozzie]

The football show on SkY news now totally slating Foden and KDB from last nights game. Total helmets

Listening to Matthew Upson criticising Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne is slightly surreal. If you're Rob Wootton I guess you've just got to work with what you're given, anything's got to be an upgrade on Stephen Warnock and Sue Scott.

 

[Dribble]

A game of two halves really and a really enjoyable game to watch. Any neutral watching that that didn't enjoy it is clearly biased against us, which means Talk shite radio were for one, fuckin' toxic anti City was nauseous, but no surprise there!

When I saw the lineup I was pretty pleased with it. Unlike quite a few of the European games against top of opposition we didn't alter our natural balance or play me daft formations in order to contain and nullify. PSG came at us and we weathered their storm really well and i felt Ederson was not at fault for a cracking goal as he was rooted to the spot with no time to adjust.

From quite early on it was obvious that Foden was too isolated on the left and when Pep brought on Zinc for Cancelo when we really started to punish them. Like many I was fearful of their main two Mbappe, and Neigh-mare. A show pony of wonderful talent(when it's going well) tainted by being a nasty horrible desperate cheat when the chips are down, as he proved yet again last night.

We really wanted this game and showed it. PSG were desperate enough to resort to some nasty tackles and spoiling tactics and were left feeling a sorry mess at the end on their own pitch!

Still only half time so we cannot get carried away as a fired up PSG can really punish us by brilliant football and Mbappe I think is the best striker in the world right now and I feel as though he is still a danger man to be very wary of. Imagine him in our side, no don't, we're scary enough as it is when we're on fire without him but we do need a top class striker and I'll be delighted to to sign young Haaland.

I just hope we play our natural game next leg. No strange tactics or formations please Pep. We just need to absorb the goal threat and player on attacking game and we could really make a sorry mess of them, here's hoping we do because in our stride we can beat anyone. Cant single anyone out for praise or criticism really as we were solid defensively and relentless going forward.

I felt well chuffed and proud after the game, still buzzing today: )

My sentiments exactly...

 

[Didsbury Dave]

We haven't been as good at home this season as we have away.
PSG apparently have been better away from home too.
Home advantage means less this season with no fans in stadiums

Long way from being over this tie.

It's the same position we found ourselves in last season at home to Real. The away game went the exact same way too ironically, they took the lead, we came back to win 2-1 and they had a man sent off.
Even if we take the lead next week there'll be a long way to go as, like when Benzema equalised at the Etihad last year, a goal for them puts the tie back on a knife edge and will get the nerves jangling.

Also the same situation as Dortmund - 2-1 up after first leg. Both those ties we won both legs and we are more than capable of doing the same again.

Every big CL tie we have a spell of first half nerves and it has ended up costing us the game. We've had that spell and are still in control. That bodes extremely well. I think we have proved that we are a better team than PSG and that's the most important thing of all.