Post Match Thread: City vs Spurs

[dave_blue12]

The way we set up and the way we played, there's no way we deserved to lose that match. They had one shot on goal, from 30 yards. They didn't get behind us once, until the last minute when they scored. Their first corner was on about 75 minutes. Although we didn't have possession, I felt we were in complete control of the game. In the second half Yaya and Silva showed flashes of why they are club legends. If we can perform to the level we did yesterday, we've got a good chance of winning the league.

Totally agree. But will Pellegrini set us up accordingly ?

 

[greasedupdeafguy]

We are truly shite at the moment, never even looked like winning in either of the past two games. And why he keeps leaving Kelechi on the bench is completely beyond me. Yaya toure is not a second striker.

And why the hell is Roberts out on loan when we desperately need a winger.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

He did. He even made a change at half time, swapping the disappointing & non closing down efforts of Silva on the right, with Sterling, which made a big difference to the effectiveness of both teams. The kind of tweak people like me have been asking for, rather than random fucking about (except if he has seen a problem, why not change after ten minutes ?)

But even so, just when it looked like he had realised where our problem lies, with his original team selection, in the end, Spurs ran through the hole Pellegrini created in the middle of our midfield.
He again backed Yaya doing one thing which will win us the game & gambling that we get away without his weaknesses elsewhere being exposed. We didn't. Again. And the oppo manager put fresh legs in there & grabbed the opportunity Pellegrini had given him.

Even on a relatively 'good' day, he is still out performed by the rival manager, & by some distance if you compare their plan & organisation as a team, to ours, which was non existent. We are even being outpassed by teams who are nothing special at keeping possession.

We have a fantastic set of players who are playing at 50% workrate & 50% invention & a manager who gets praise for days when he's almost competent & hasn't been totally ripped apart.

He is so incredibly lucky to have his job.

We are truly shite at the moment, never even looked like winning in either of the past two games. And why he keeps leaving Kelechi on the bench is completely beyond me. Yaya toure is not a second striker.

And why the hell is Roberts out on loan when we desperately need a winger and he wont play for celtic .

 

[Walking on the blue moon]

Thought we played better than Spurs last night. The defence was mostly solid, bar the momentary lapse of concentration that resulted in the second goal (a seemingly recurring theme this season). Pellegrini set up really well for this game. We played much deeper in the first half, so that might explain a lack of attacking attempt. But then for all their pressing and hustle-bustle, Spurs offered as little in attack as we did. They seemed pretty contented to pass the ball back and forth between their defenders after winning the ball. Our passing seemed sharper than in recent matches, especially in the second half, but sometimes we still lost the ball in midfield rather easily, and some of our final balls were well below standard.

But for refereeing blunders, we would have got a win, or at least a draw. The penalty decision was a disgrace because from no angle could the referee perceive Sterling's action as blatant handball, except in his overactive imagination. And thereafter a few dubious offside calls were made against us. What seemed more infuriating was that it was the second time we suffered from unjust ruling by the same referee in this season. Wish we could ban Mark Clattenburg from refereeing our matches ever again.

Was baffled by the substitution for Clichy though. Thought he had defended well. Provided great support in attack as well (e.g. the assist). But I thought the other substitution was fairly reasonable. After the penalty, we needed to be more attacking to get back in the match, and Fernando, despite all he offered defensively, did not keep the ball very well last night. He could not provide great help in transition between attack and defence. As some had pointed out, most of the time he offered no outlet for other midfield players. In that sense, Toure could provide greater support.

Unlike some in this thread, I think Silva and Toure's performance are far from poor. Both of them worked hard and helped out in defence, particularly in the first half. Silva's passing was crisper and more incisive and there were some lovely trademark exchanges between him and Sterling. While he did miss a "sitter" in dying moments of the match, he, as well as Yaya, had played a major part in orchestrating our attack last night. Yaya was partly responsible for the second goal but this time it was not for lack of effort. He just couldn't fulfill the high attacking and defensive demands of his role in a 2-men midfield anymore. But this seems to be the problem of the whole team nowadays.When we were defensive, we didn't offer adequate attacking threat. But when we commited numbers in attack, we left holes in midfield for opponents to exploit. Perhaps part of the problem was our ineffectiveness in attack. Sergio had an off day, missed some great chances, lost the ball constantly and sometimes tried to do to much. Maybe it had something to do with lack of service. After all, we lacked movement around the box, and this had been our problem since December. Injury and resulting fatigue played a part, but it could be something deeper. Hope this could be addressed before long.

Onwards and upwards! The team seemed to be gradually improving, but much more would be required of them from now on. Let's hope they fight until the end.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Totally agree. But will Pellegrini set us up accordingly ?

Thank mate. Not sure what you mean by will he set us up accordingly?

 

[dave_blue12]

Thank mate. Not sure what you mean by will he set us up accordingly?

Yesterday he set us up to combat Spurs. Will he continue to take the opposition into account as he's clearly capable of. Or will he go back to we 'play our way and don't worry about the opposition'

If you goes with the pragmatic approach I think we can go unbeaten for the rest of the season (assuming we can avoid Clattenburg) which would put us in with a good shout of the title.

Even yesterday we could have easily won despite getting screwed over by Clatts. Sergio is unlikely to keep missing those half chances.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Yesterday he set us up to combat Spurs. Will he continue to take the opposition into account as he's clearly capable of. Or will he go back to we 'play our way and don't worry about the opposition'

If you goes with the pragmatic approach I think we can go unbeaten for the rest of the season (assuming we can avoid Clattenburg) which would put us in with a good shout of the title.

Even yesterday we could have easily won despite getting screwed over by Clatts. Sergio is unlikely to keep missing those half chances.

Ah ok, I get you now mate.

I really hope he does start taking the opposition in to account. It's always been my major criticism of him. I understand he wants to stick to his beliefs of attack no matter what, but it's clearly not worked for the last 18 months. It's shit or bust time. He can't put his principles above winning trophies, and this might be his last chance to win a major league title in Europe.

As I said earlier, that disciplined shape and staying a bit deeper and more solid against Spurs won't necessarily be right against every team. It will probably be the right call against Liverpool though, leaving space in behind against them, and having an immobile midfield was absolutely suicide last time, I really hope he's learned from that.

I can't see us winning at Anfield, but after that I'd expect a 0-0 against The Shite at home, and I think we can realistically win every other game. Of course there will be surprises along the way, but we are well in this title race.

 

[OB1]

Dive in mate, the water is lovely ;-)

:-)

Splash.

 

[OB1]

Ah ok, I get you now mate.

I really hope he does start taking the opposition in to account. It's always been my major criticism of him. I understand he wants to stick to his beliefs of attack no matter what, but it's clearly not worked for the last 18 months. It's shit or bust time. He can't put his principles above winning trophies, and this might be his last chance to win a major league title in Europe.

As I said earlier, that disciplined shape and staying a bit deeper and more solid against Spurs won't necessarily be right against every team. It will probably be the right call against Liverpool though, leaving space in behind against them, and having an immobile midfield was absolutely suicide last time, I really hope he's learned from that.

I can't see us winning at Anfield, but after that I'd expect a 0-0 against The Shite at home, and I think we can realistically win every other game. Of course there will be surprises along the way, but we are well in this title race.

Pragmatism should be his watchword for the rest of the season.

 

[Shaelumstash]

pra

Pragmatism should be his watchword for the rest of the season.

I completely agree mate!