QF 1st Leg Post Match Thread

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Prestwich_Blue said:
It is. 1-0 isn't the end of the world but there were so many puzzling and downright annoying features in the game. Last season we went to Wembley and beat them 3-1. We went 2 up (penalty scored by Gundogan, note) they got one back then Pep, almost for the first time as manager of City, showed some pragmatism by closing the game down. Really don't see why we didn't do this last night.

Play KDB & Sane for an hour then bring on Silva/Gundogan and Mahrez to close the game down. We've got 4 full days to recover from this game before we play Palace. Really baffling and really infuriating.
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Pep's achilles heel throughout his career has been the Champions League and he has always been questioned about it. He's gone safety first as a result and it was totally unnecessary.

We can still go through. But we could easily go out too and all because the coach temporarily lost faith in his own footballing beliefs and his own players.
 
isaac_88 said:
Pep has cost us in the UCL once again, he’s just so naive it’s unbelievable. First of all he couldn’t have put out a worse XI with the players available. Playing Mahrez means we can’t utilise the right wing because he is so bad it’s unusable when he plays, David Silva has been out of form since February so should’ve played KDB who always puts in a good performance vs Spurs, the same goes with Sane whenever he’s up against Trippier.

He then allows Aguero to take the penalty instead of Gundogan, Aguero has missed more UCL penalties than he has scored. Why is nobody at the club getting this information, the same lack of research cost us the game at Anfield as Pep claimed he didn’t know how bad Mahrez’s penalty record was. Lloris wouldn’t suspect Gundogan to take a penalty for us as he’s only taken one penalty for us outside of a penalty shootout, he’s our best penalty taker by far, I mean he scored in the UCL final!

He then refuses to bring on our most impactful subs in KDB and Sane until the 88th minute which seems like a multiple occurrence as he has built up a tendency to leave key substitutions too late. I see Poch on the Spurs bench with an iPad so he can get a better view of the game, why doesn’t Pep utilise the technology available to make better judged decisions, maybe then he will see how poorl we’re really playing.

I feel with Pep in the UCL it’s just bad decision after bad decision. The starting XI next game must be:
GK: Ederson RB: Walker CB: Kompany and Laporte LB: Mendy CDM: Fernandinho CM: Bernardo (Gundogan if he’s injured) and KDB LW: Sane RW: Sterling ST: Agüero
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Because Pep is exempt from criticism. Don't be surprised if Pep picks exactly the same eleven next Weds.
 
Ardwick Green Blue said:
We’ll know around 10pm next Wednesday if Pep made the right calls last night. We could still have the League in our hands and be through to the CL semis in which case he did or we could be out of the CL and Liverpool have the league in their hands and therefore he didn’t.

Anyone else getting very nervous?
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Yes, can take absolutely nothing for granted at the minute.
 
Marvin said:
Pep's achilles heel throughout his career has been the Champions League and he has always been questioned about it. He's gone safety first as a result and it was totally unnecessary.

We can still go through. But we could easily go out too and all because the coach temporarily lost faith in his own footballing beliefs and his own players.
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I agree with you but I don't even see what's safety first in playing Mahrez. He doesn't work as hard as Sane tracking back and ducks most tackles.
 
Marvin said:
The biggest game is the one immediately in front of you and now we are in a situation where one domino has fallen.

I know what you are saying but Spurs was the tougher game, and it was on a Tuesday. Sane was well rested. SO was KDB. There's no justification at all for not playing them.
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KDB wasn't.
 
so again i hold fire on the after match thread give myself time to cool down and look at the bigger picture ???

am buying into this new manchester city and starting to think big and positive thoughts and a truly believe we are the real deal top draw club now and little old city gone ?? i was puzzled at pep first team vs spurs but after 15 minutes i knew his plan ?? and it comes from last season game at liverpool and the crazy 15 min we have in us and we lose control and before you know it the tie is gone and the 2nd leg is over before you play it

but this time pep packed the middle of the park and took out the flair players for work horses and just sat in and played lets see football, and it nearly worked ?? and if aguero scores the pen its a different game and we hit them on the break but the save give spurs the push and we just went back to that mad 15 minutes that is our our achilles heel

deep down pep would have took being only down by 1 goal before the game but the pen miss and the loss of control would have pep blood pumping, but you could see pep giving the players the fingers to the brain and think think think its ok just hold out and we can and are still well in control of the tie, the uefa officials and VAR are a joke and it was not a pen ?? just like ours in the last round and they have got this so wrong and needs a review of the law and change it before its cost somebody from winning the title??

manchester city and and pep knows we have some much more in the locker and we will go deep into the 4 competitions, maybe not win all 4 and europe is always in the back of my mind about the officials and stopping us with the rules and punishment and deep down i really don't give a shit about winning the champions league they can have it

SO I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH THIS QUOTE "Superbia in proelia," (PRIDE IN BATTLE) they will always be a little bit of old manchester city in me
 
The new White Hart Lane is a brilliant space age stadium, surrounded by Third World transport infrastructure.
By 11:15pm the Thomas Cook coaches had travelled 100 yards, and we finally reached the ETIHAD at 4am
Amazingly, I was home quicker after the T/C day trips to Napoli, Juventus and Copenhagen.
 
Mattyc55 said:
Spurs have another big game at weekend (like us) and obviously they won’t be able to rotate like we have/can.

I think they’ll be absolutely knackered in that second half next week providing we show up and play with the intensity of the Liverpool game in jan.

We need to make a massive noise next week to get behind them. That Liverpool atmosphere was special and there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t replicate that next week.

Pep got it wrong for sure but it’s set up for a special European night and we’ve not really had that many of those in recent years.
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Spurs are playing Huddersfield at home on Saturday, not sure that counts as another big game from any perspective other than Huddersfield fans getting to see the stadium firsthand.
 
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Mancity1980 said:
So it is better to play a weaker side in the second leg? Pep has to manage the squad over this run in, he cannot play a full strength team 2, 3 times a week. In order to win the quad this was probably the one match he could risk keeping his powder dry.
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Given the injuries I dont have a massive problem with the team selection though. It was the manner in which we played and the failure to make changes in the game. I don't think we have to play a "weaker" team in either leg really. We have a lot of flexibility in our squad.
 
SpursLoyal said:
I think I will duck out.

Thanks for tolerating me for the last few days but I'm sensing a lot of anger here and I don't want to come across as a WUM.

As I said several times in the other thread I thought we would hold our own last night but lose the tie over two legs. Still seems like the obvious outcome.

Anyway, fingers crossed you beat the Dippers to the Premier League title.

Cheers.
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Don’t duck out pal. I think having a couple of fair minded opposition fans on here is great. The “angry” you refer to is just a bit of frustration and is not directed at you guys.
 
squirtyflower said:
From the new away end it was easier too get to Tottenham Hale
We stayed to the end, clapped the three players that could be arsed to come over and then went to the loo.
Then a leisurely dash to the Tube and was in Euston for 22:51
Went for a pint in the station and then strolled back to Kings Cross for a kebab!
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That sounds very civilised.
 
For what it's worth, and this is something I've not seen mentioned much, I wonder if there is an element of not letting Spurs settle or tactically figure us out. Pochettino is a smart manager, but having to play against whatever combinations he has to play against will be tricky.
 
Mmm, not the best was it. A poor penalty, a poor piece of defending and not that great up front. Can we turn it around? Yes, but not guaranteed as the curse of the away goal (or lack of) may come into play. Sane and Kdb on as soon as they scored for me, not 88mins. I think the very last microns of wiggle room have gone now for a sensational season, it really is shit or bust from here on in.
 
Mattyc55 said:
Spurs have another big game at weekend (like us) and obviously they won’t be able to rotate like we have/can.

I think they’ll be absolutely knackered in that second half next week providing we show up and play with the intensity of the Liverpool game in jan.

We need to make a massive noise next week to get behind them. That Liverpool atmosphere was special and there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t replicate that next week.

Pep got it wrong for sure but it’s set up for a special European night and we’ve not really had that many of those in recent years.
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That's coz we've been shit.
 
Last night we lost 1-0. Spurs are a very, very good side and yet the match turned on a missed penalty from our world class striker and an error from our left back who hasn't started for us since Boxing day. Such are the small margins which decide matches. I couldn't understand why Bernado didn't start, until I found out he wasn't fit. Why weren't KdB and Sane in the starting eleven for God's sake?!! But KdB, I suppose, must not be overplayed after his nasty injuries and we need him much more for the rest of the season. I still don't know why Leroy didn't start and only came on so late on, but I literally know nothing about the condition, mood etc of any of the players. Pep and his team do. I would have had Gundo take the penalty - Sergio hasn't taken a decent penalty since we thrashed Chelsea, but I only decided on Gundo after Sergio had missed! And to cap it all we seemed to be in control of the game when we conceded.

So, it was a defeat, it may even be a costly defeat but we ain't dead yet and turning on Pep like a pack of wolves seems to me to be ludicrous. Let's see how next (Sunday and) Wednesday pans out before we throw our toys out of the pram and insult the world's greatest manager and his players.
 
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