Post Match: City vs Barca

[Phil1]

The biggest disappointment was for all the talk beforehand regarding us not fearing them this year and not showing too much respect, we went out for 45 minutes and did just that.
It was like men against boys in the first half. Even when we managed to pinch possession we gave it back cheaply because of a lack of composure. The space that we allowed Busquets time and time again in and around the centre circle was criminal. He was often on the ball, with no city player within 10 yards and was able to get his head up and pick his passes at will.
We couldn't live with their movement off the ball and their pressing when we had it put us to shame. It's all well and good us wanting to emulate Barcelona, without the correct players though we're pissing into the wind.
Fernando and Milner in the middle left us open so often with swathes of space being afforded in front of the back four we just couldn't cope at times. We've often left our two CB's with little defensive protection from our midfield, against run of the mill premier league teams it's been a problem, against Barcelona...

I was fuming when we came out in the second half without making a change but we made a fist of it and managed to get ourselves back in the tie with a much improved attitude, helped I thought by Barca taking their foot of the pedal a little bit. Honorable mentions to Silva, Aguero and I thought Clichy until his red, whilst Hart made a couple of great saves including the penalty which has given us that smallest glimmer of hope.
Overall though I think this was another missed opportunity to show the watching world what we're capable of and once again we fell short.

 

[whp.blue]

We are ridiculously easy to play against. Busquets even said as much pre-match, "they let you play, which will be good for us". Our pressing is abysmal at this level. It's fine in the premier league, but we'll never get far in the Champions League unless we display more knowledge on how to actually press properly. We don't make it difficult for the opposition. Barca find it too easy against us.

With the much vaunted Milner in midfield how can this happen?

Seriously I don't remember Milner putting in many tackles despite his legendary work rate way out of his depth at this level and this is why he will leave in the summer

and Fernando has just been one huge disappointment.

 

[blueinnewzealand]

We are ridiculously easy to play against. Busquets even said as much pre-match, "they let you play, which will be good for us". Our pressing is abysmal at this level. It's fine in the premier league, but we'll never get far in the Champions League unless we display more knowledge on how to actually press properly. We don't make it difficult for the opposition. Barca find it too easy against us.

With the much vaunted Milner in midfield how can this happen?

Seriously I don't remember Milner putting in many tackles despite his legendary work rate way out of his depth at this level and this is why he will leave in the summer

and Fernando has just been one huge disappointment.

I genuinely think that him not signing a new deal will be beneficial for all concerned.

 

[quiet_riot]

The biggest disappointment was for all the talk beforehand regarding us not fearing them this year and not showing too much respect, we went out for 45 minutes and did just that.
It was like men against boys in the first half.

THIS! It was a carbon copy of last year for the first half. We looked shit scared of them when they had the ball, and shit scared of going forward when we had the ball, in case we lost it. The result was an attacking (?) formation but overly defensive play - Nasri and Milner looked scared to go forward and that left Aguero and Dzeko very isolated.

We looked a different team in the second half, up until the sending off.

 

[onceabluealways]

We are ridiculously easy to play against. Busquets even said as much pre-match, "they let you play, which will be good for us". Our pressing is abysmal at this level. It's fine in the premier league, but we'll never get far in the Champions League unless we display more knowledge on how to actually press properly. We don't make it difficult for the opposition. Barca find it too easy against us.

Yo're spot on except for one thing - it isn't fine in the premier league. Teams like Barca , Bayern can play this pressing game in Europe because they do it every week, it becomes habit.

Peller's said when he came that he likes to press the opposition in the same way Barca do and play fast attacking football. Either he has changed his philosophy or can't manage the players to get them to do what he wants. Any manager who thinks we can play 442 against Barca when our CM is FERNANDO ( he is absolutely sh*t) and Milner doesn't undersatand football very well.

 

[BlueAnorak]

We are ridiculously easy to play against. Busquets even said as much pre-match, "they let you play, which will be good for us". Our pressing is abysmal at this level. It's fine in the premier league, but we'll never get far in the Champions League unless we display more knowledge on how to actually press properly. We don't make it difficult for the opposition. Barca find it too easy against us.

With the much vaunted Milner in midfield how can this happen?

Seriously I don't remember Milner putting in many tackles despite his legendary work rate way out of his depth at this level and this is why he will leave in the summer

and Fernando has just been one huge disappointment.

Seriously did ANYBODY, aside from Hart, play well last night?
Pass and move only works if you move. Our boys resembled statues most of the night.

 

[YaYa]

We are ridiculously easy to play against. Busquets even said as much pre-match, "they let you play, which will be good for us". Our pressing is abysmal at this level. It's fine in the premier league, but we'll never get far in the Champions League unless we display more knowledge on how to actually press properly. We don't make it difficult for the opposition. Barca find it too easy against us.

Yo're spot on except for one thing - it isn't fine in the premier league. Teams like Barca , Bayern can play this pressing game in Europe because they do it every week, it becomes habit.

Peller's said when he came that he likes to press the opposition in the same way Barca do and play fast attacking football. Either he has changed his philosophy or can't manage the players to get them to do what he wants. Any manager who thinks we can play 442 against Barca when our CM is FERNANDO ( he is absolutely sh*t) and Milner doesn't undersatand football very well.

Spot on. Every single blue I overheard on the way to the ground/in the ground was saying pretty much the same thing. Why the fuck can't Pellers learn from his past mistakes?!

You cannot go toe to toe with Barca, I don't care what anyone says. You need a measured, disciplined approach which we seem to be incapable of producing. The only exception was the Roma game which I thought was the corner turned but evidently not!

 

[Rorz88]

It really does shock me the amount of negativity on this thread from last, ok we not at our best in the first half and were lucky to go in 2-0, but we did.

This has nothing to do with the tactics employed by Manuel, and we proved that at the start of the second half where, with the exact same side, created 4 or 5 clear cut chances and should have scored.

The application in the first half was not there, yet in the second half it was ! we needed that for the whole 90 minutes.

We really have got to cut these mistakes out of our game aswell. Granted not much can be done about the first goal, lucky ricochets and all. the second goal however, we have got to do better, Kompany has to cover that near post and anything that comes near it. Zabaleta cannot be making those challenges in the box on 90 mins, he just need to stand up and jockey, very simple.

I thought Dzeko had a really good game again last night, put himself about, won every header, only thing is, he should have scored ! Milner was solid again and did everything he could, wasn't helped by a half rate Fernando. I think Milner could do a job in there with Yaya, or with yaya and Dinho for the second leg.

We really are still in this tie and the second half should give people a lot of hope. Lets not make Harts save count for nothing ! CTID

 

[blueinnewzealand]

It really does shock me the amount of negativity on this thread from last, ok we not at our best in the first half and were lucky to go in 2-0, but we did.

This has nothing to do with the tactics employed by Manuel, and we proved that at the start of the second half where, with the exact same side, created 4 or 5 clear cut chances and should have scored.

The application in the first half was not there, yet in the second half it was ! we needed that for the whole 90 minutes.

We really have got to cut these mistakes out of our game aswell. Granted not much can be done about the first goal, lucky ricochets and all. the second goal however, we have got to do better, Kompany has to cover that near post and anything that comes near it. Zabaleta cannot be making those challenges in the box on 90 mins, he just need to stand up and jockey, very simple.

I thought Dzeko had a really good game again last night, put himself about, won every header, only thing is, he should have scored ! Milner was solid again and did everything he could, wasn't helped by a half rate Fernando. I think Milner could do a job in there with Yaya, or with yaya and Dinho for the second leg.

We really are still in this tie and the second half should give people a lot of hope. Lets not make Harts save count for nothing ! CTID

All for being positive but you cant blame people for not being happy. Most City fans would be pleased if they just saw progress/pellers learning from past matches but we aren’t at this particular level. Its no secret theres an issue with us in the CL.

 

[01cravend]

We always get outplayed by these possession teams and only get back into them when they take their foot off the gas(bayern, 2nd half last night). Like we don't have a clue what to do, having a look at some Atletico Madrid games would be a good place to start.

Also I think the defending we done well last night was holding a good line and playing them offside regularly, that will need to continue in the second leg along with furious pressing from all quarters, and just play aguero up front on his lonesome.