BigOscar said:
Proud of the effort from most of the lads, even if we are well short of Barca's quality. Best moments of the night other than Hart have to be Pellers showing Nasri and Yaya what he thought of them. He's finally had enough and I think most of us have as well. 3 or 4 aren't good enough, but those two lack something far more important than talent. Well done the others though, heads could have dropped but they didn't.
Both players are two peas in a pod.....arrogance beyond their current ability, and play if and when they feel like it. It is no wonder they are the best of friends in the squad.
City's team doesn't have enough guts, but then it also doesn't have the skill needed to compete at this level, either.
There are definitely players who would be in any squad in the world, but that small handful are not bring complemented by enough talent and graft around them.
Watching Rakitic run right past Yaya into 400m sq of open space on the right side of our box was absolutely infuriating. We get overloaded on the back post repeatedly by considerably lesser teams than Barca, but that is all about the midfielders (with the sole exception of Fernandinho) ALL thinking they are centre forwards!!
Our middle two, both at the back and in midfield get pulled in all directions by quality teams and players and we live by the skin of our teeth in almost every game. MDM has some tactical nous, but it isn't enough to cover up his weaknesses. VK plays like his marker has him magnetized....too tight or miles away from his, depending on the forward's choice of polarity at any particular time. He gets pulled so far out of position that he spends half the game scrambling.....but that is in no small part to the fact that he is overexposed by Yaya way too often.
We need to play 4-2-3-1, and the two need to be any two of Milner, Fernandinho, and Fernando...and it is clear that none of those three would get into ANY other top team's midfield. That says it all to me.
Without Hart, it would have been embarrassing. As it was, Agüero's penalty miss was the "Typical City" moment.....a chance to make something out of the game thrown away by a poor penalty, from a poor penalty taker, yet widely regarded as our best player....who hasn't shown up for 3/4 of the time since he came back from injury.
We are in need of help, and a deep overhaul is only a part of that help.
