QF 1st Leg Post Match Thread

[Craig]

Spurs are in quite a precarious position Re top 4 but it didn't stop them putting out their best team. Do you think Pochetinno will rest players against Huddersfield?
More to the point will Klopp rest players in a CL semi against Barca in order to win the league?

I doubt either will do that. All games are big now for both clubs and they'll just have to go for it. Spurs will probably hope to be a couple up on Saturday and then get the likes of Son off. The games not until Wednesday anyway so shouldn't be a problem for them to go all out in both.

 

[Pezzer2]

I don’t know about everyone else but this result has hit me for 6. So frustrating.
The Barca’s and Madrid’s wouldn’t usually panic in this situation and would normally stroll through still. We need to step up to the plate and get rid of our inferiority complex in later stages of Chanps league, what better time than next week and imagine the boost it would give the whole club in the run in.

 

[Marvin]

Recall the tactical changes he made in the Anfield Quarter Final where we lost 3-0? He brought in Gundogan and dropped Sterling.



You play your big players in your big games and you stick to your teams style of play if you are the better side. Barcelona weren't great at Utd but they played Messi and they tried to play their usual game and impose their passing game on Man Utd in their half of the pitch.

He might be an outstanding coach, but he does have a weakness in the Champions League where instead of playing his normal game he tries to find tactical solutions to outwit his opponent.

 

[AdamMarrett]

Surely Pep will unleash KDB, Sane and Mendy in the second leg, and hopefully Bernardo as well. Immediately gives us more threat, and having watched the game at some ridiculous hour on Wednesday morning when I saw the line up I thought that was Pep's plan.

Also when does Sterling start taking penalties? Aguero's record is a bit hit and miss for how great he is.

 

[7evens]

This actually taps into a question I was asking myself during the game. How would Pep have approached the prospect of "Spurs away" if it had been a group game instead? I know it's purely a hypothetical scenario because we could never play Spurs in the group stages, but Pep clearly struggles when it comes to managing the minutiae of away games in the knockout stages because he approaches them with a considerable amount of caution. I have the utmost confidence that we'll come through the second leg confidently because our mission is clear, and that's when Pep's at his best.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Tell you what if our defenders don’t stop stupidly diving in, putting their hands on and rushing near the Spurs players it doesn’t matter what line up or tactics Pep does because we are going out!

Spurs were as bad as any European side I’ve ever seen at diving the other night and the ref fell for every single one (as they always do in Europe, the refs are abysmal!)

If we don’t smarten up there we will not progress.

 

[paulchapo]

The mistake we made against Spurs was playing it like a European tie when we were playing an English club. If we would have played our fit first eleven choice and our normal game we would have won or at least got a score draw. With a longer recovery time before the Palace game this game was the one to play our first eleven. Now by resting players and losing we have to play our fit first eleven in two highly competitive games in four days, one of which we are trying to overturn a deficit.

Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid away are the teams our approach on Tuesday would have been perfect, Spurs wasn't.

This isn't an attack on Pep, who is obviously a fantastic coach we are blessed to have, but I think deep down he also will be kicking himself. Even 0-0 for me wouldn't have been a great result. Our cautious approach instilled hesitation and doubt in our team. Playing our normal game and team we are more than capable of going to Spur's and winning, as we have done lately. A chance missed. Are we capable of turning it around? Of course but we have made it twice as difficult for ourselves.

For the rest of the season we have to play all our key players if fit in every game, because due to Liverpool refusing to go away every game is a must win. On the subject of Liverpool everyone predicted all their big players would be burnt out as they play all the time but this hasn't happened. Injuries can happen at any time we have to stop fretting, resting players etcetera and now go for broke in the maximum eleven games we have left if we go all the way, if not it is less. No time for faint hearts and wimps, man up City and make history.

 

[davymcfc]

Said all week should have played foden and mahrez v Brighton. Challenges them to play themselves in to contention for the big matches coming up whilst giving the other players such as the Silva’s and KDB a rest. Like that vital week last season he has got his rotation wrong. Needs to go full strength from hereon out.

 

[Marvin]

I don’t know about everyone else but this result has hit me for 6. So frustrating.
The Barca’s and Madrid’s wouldn’t usually panic in this situation and would normally stroll through still. We need to step up to the plate and get rid of our inferiority complex in later stages of Chanps league, what better time than next week and imagine the boost it would give the whole club in the run in.

We'll be OK in the home leg as we'll be forced to play attacking football.

It's the difficult away games where Pep has lost it. This surprised City fans, including me. But if you look back he does this all the time, and hence the criticism of him in Europe is valid.

He's still the world's best coach but he has an achilles heel in the Champions League. It took its most extreme form yet away at Spurs where we rested de Bruyne in the absence of Bernardo, and played Mahrez instead of Sane.

Pep seems to have a chink in his armour when it comes to the Champions League. I think he has accrued a number of bad defeats in this competition at Manchester City and Bayern Munich and it has got into his head and he comes up with team selections and tactics in response when he would be better leaving well alone. This is now part of Pep.

I think he needs to stand back and consider what he is doing in these games as it is damaging him and his teams.

He is still a great coach, but every person has their traits. Micro-management is one of his, and it can sometimes be to our detriment.

 

[Marvin]

The mistake we made against Spurs was playing it like a European tie when we were playing an English club. If we would have played our fit first eleven choice and our normal game we would have won or at least got a score draw. With a longer recovery time before the Palace game this game was the one to play our first eleven. Now by resting players and losing we have to play our fit first eleven in two highly competitive games in four days, one of which we are trying to overturn a deficit.

Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus and Real Madrid away are the teams our approach on Tuesday would have been perfect, Spurs wasn't.

This isn't an attack on Pep, who is obviously a fantastic coach we are blessed to have, but I think deep down he also will be kicking himself. Even 0-0 for me wouldn't have been a great result. Our cautious approach instilled hesitation and doubt in our team. Playing our normal game and team we are more than capable of going to Spur's and winning, as we have done lately. A chance missed. Are we capable of turning it around? Of course but we have made it twice as difficult for ourselves.

For the rest of the season we have to play all our key players if fit in every game, because due to Liverpool refusing to go away every game is a must win. On the subject of Liverpool everyone predicted all their big players would be burnt out as they play all the time but this hasn't happened. Injuries can happen at any time we have to stop fretting, resting players etcetera and now go for broke in the maximum eleven games we have left if we go all the way, if not it is less. No time for faint hearts and wimps, man up City and make history.

It's very difficult for City fans in the aftermath of a defeat to criticise and assess the team they support when the media are taking great delight in sticking the boot in. The natural reaction is just to reject all criticism but Pep's record in domestic games is near flawless, but in the latter stages of European competition it is poor. Bad luck, or is there something more to it?

In normal competition he places great value in players holding their position in wide positions and staying true to his attacking philosophy and yet he abandons this in the Champions League away games. He should not do it. He did this last season at Anfield when Gundogan came in. He doesn't seem able to learn from mistakes, and in fact compounds them.