Real Madrid (A) | CL | Post Match Thread

[eyalluvitt]

The loss to the Rags in the Cup Final was the pointer for me - we just didn’t turn up. It was a signpost to this season.

I’d have sacked Pep after that but I’m maybe a bit reactionary

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

TNT sports commentator saying ‘ City have their consolation goal if you can call it that,’ yes actually I would. Cnut.

Don't get me started on the biased commentary mate. I feel I need to blame the team and manager tonight before resorting to anything else. Lol

 

[Johnny Mars Bar]

It’s not just that though is it, we have lost 13 games and been woeful most of the season.Only Peps credit in the bank is keeping him in a job, every other top team would be tempted to pull the trigger

True, but to be fair he's got more credit in the bank than Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates combined after a lucky day at the horses.

 

[flb]

We can't afford to have any emotion about it. We don't change that midfield and we will have a similar season to this even with rodri

Yeah get that but a well run club fighting on multiple fronts isn’t fragile in key positions. We have enjoyed the ride as fans but maybe the club (and us) got complacent

I’d say it’s us (the fans) who have become complacent.
We want us to win 6 in a row and can’t contemplate that real big changes are on the way , molded by the worlds best manager.
The narrative is being set by the media already , that we are a club in crisis , we are a flash in the pan etc etc.
More fool the cunts when we kick on again next or the following season.
We are in crisis ! 4th , in the FA Cup.
We’ve had a disastrous CL campaign , and that’s what is really hurting.

 

[city2]

Least getting knocked out hopefully we can go for top 4 and the fa cup plus the players can get fit instead of rushing back. Plus take some pressure off them because over the years this team has given their all for this great club and now they need support not some of the words of hate directed at the players. I thought we were more appreciative of the success we have all been apart of.

 

[eyalluvitt]

No thanks

Agent Amorim after the rags pay him off?

 

[Benarbia’s Backheel]

I’d have sacked Pep after that but I’m maybe a bit reactionary

Haha just a bit!

 

[Fordyboy46]

I've suffered City being shite for long enough not too be too downbeat about tonight. What I would say is that it was extremely disappointing how little was done to try and win the game tonight.

The shape was awful and the strengths of Marmoush and Savinho completely nullified. I'm not sure what Pep was hoping for but he should have changed it.

The one thing I wanted was fight and passion yet we just trod water for the entire game and it was pathetic in truth.

They're not that good and we aren't that bad. I don't want to see our players or manager ever throw the towel in as early as they did.

Yep, zero fight on show from everybody tonight

 

[oldhamblue]

This was like the Pellegrini game against Franco FC where we needed a goal but never looked like scoring.

No subs at HT. Geriatric midfielders again. Pep had no interest in winning this game

 

[Damanino]

wonder what Khaldoon makes of all this. I hope he instructs Soriano to wake up and build this side up again to that level where it was.
but the big question why did we let it weaken like this. its not like we had a great period 20 years ago we were on top just 2-3 years ago. top of the world football. now we are facing 1-2 seasons of a big rebuild, lots of money to be spent while we get even close to where we were and it might happen, might not.

strengthen while you are ahead, while you are top. what we did is weakened ourselves and become comfortable just when we got to the absolute top. it got to the point we are comfortable to go into the season with very old players past their best, thin squad while the fixture schedule just keeps growing. mental.

 

[Marvin.]

I don't think you can take too much from a game in which we were without Haaland and then we lose Stones after 5 minutes when already without Akanji leaving Dias and Ake to cope with Mbappe and neither are quick.

And then we have Gundogan in midfield. Please Pep stop playing Gundogan and KDB in these intense matches. Its like carrying a passenger and you can't at this level.

Play Mcatee or O'Reilly.

 

[ancoats]

We need to calm the fuck down here, talking about sacking Pep is just Thrump insanity. This season has been a very unlucky one We had injuries all season both on defenders and midfielders Fodens form dip, and maybe that's why we seen that the squad is becoming to its end? Imagine if we did not lose Rodri should we still talk about how slow we are? Its not like he is a Ferrari either. Against Newcastle we all saw what important it is to have a
Player that fitts that position he did it well, today we played a hell of a team, like we do on Sunday and we are not there yet.
But I agree we need to get our squad younger and faster, in my mind we miss Kdb greatness and creativity and crosses and a right fullback.

The biggest and glaring thing is NO Full Backs in the Squad, We have just had the winter window and Knew Walker was leaving and still never signed any Full Backs,

The Fans wanting Pep OUT should hang their hands in shame. Yes, the buck stops at his door but many things behind the scenes we don't get to see could and have tied his hands and maybe nothing else could be done to help this season, I get the NO need to panic buy, but even getting somebody on loan to play full-back would have balanced the team in the short term

I hate Losing and watching players coasting, tonight many of that team were in no way under pressure to perform to the point that captain Dias turned off and made the mistake we all are getting used to seeing.

Maybe we didn't fancy the fight tonight and have bigger games coming up for the future of next season's plans
A top 4 place is at stake and maybe a FA Cup final again so can understand the risk and reward. But I hate watching us buckle and wave the white flag tonight

 

[bigA]

It's been a dogshit season, no doubt about that but remember that we are at the end of the cycle with most of the squad. Ederson, Walker, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo and maybe Stones could and really should be moved on at the end of the season. All have played a massive part in our success but time and injuries have caught up with them and they are now becoming detrimental to the team and at an alarming rate. But it is not only players who need to be moved on, it's also some of the backroom staff who need to be shown the door as well. Review, Remove and Replace. That's is what's needed. A major rebuild but a rebuild built on quality and spanning a couple of seasons and not a rebuild of panic buys and substandard players.

We need to address the issue of continuous injuries and the effectiveness of our medical staff dealing with them. I don't think we've brought back the likes of Dias, Ake, Stones, Akanji etc to the team fully fit and still carrying injuries. We can say we're unlucky but we should always be prepared for those situations occurring and have good enough players to cover those eventualities. Which leads us to my next point.

We need to seriously look at the underwhelming recruitment of players during the past 2/3 seasons and question our scouting system. We have replaced players leaving with players that are not consistent enough (Kovacic, Doku, Grealish) or not good enough to meet the challenge (Nunes, Phillips, Gomez) Or we have not even replaced those players who left at all. The sale of Alvarez and not replacing him immediately was bordering on criminal. Hopefully with the signings of Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Khusanov are portents of better days ahead but we need more players coming in and players of equal or better quality than the ones that need replacing.

Maybe we should start giving more game time to McAtee, O'Reilly, Vitor Reis and other promising youngsters as well.

We are in for a lean time in respect of winning titles but we also need to ensure the gap that is going to occur over the next season or two is not going to be a chasm that will leave us with little or no hope of catching up.

 

[cleavers]

I’d have sacked Pep after that but I’m maybe a bit reactionary

....or just a fuckwit ?

 

[Taylor’s Nod Down]

End to end sees them scoring even more.......pep needs his team to compere in one on ones....its why walker was so valuable and stones and rodri.....we can't do that anymore so he tried to revert to basically playing with 6 midfielders....issue was we didn't have prime rodri, gundo, kdb, Bernardo and we're trying to use a group of nearly new players with marmoush sav combined with Bernardo and Gundo neither of which can run anymore plus nico..who while decent can't be expected to be a prime fernandihno let alone prime rodri

They could have shot when they wanted tonight. Had it been ‘basketball’, by some fluke, we may have outscored them. That can only happen if we shoot though. We can then rely on them hitting a bar, miss a sitter, over play or Eddie not play like a bar football keeper that got stuck between coming out and staying.

We have a big squad that we’re not getting the best out of because of a commitment to a tactic. Stop inverting, drop deeper, stop being over loyal in game time ( it doesn’t diminish respect for everything achieved and given to us) and don’t leave 3 new signings completely exposed. One at right back looking scared to want the ball or pass forwards, which is semi understandable (although Rico has struggled, he’s always ‘shown’) a ‘6’ playing ‘8’ and ‘4’ and resorting to pulling people back x2 and a winger/ forward / midfielder who looked completely confused. Added to Savio as a false 9 and devoid of all attacking threat and Foden as a winger / false 9 that thought ‘fuck it’ for 15 minutes and broke the shackles and was brought off.

So with those problems, yes, basketball, luck and entertainment please. And then into next week with everyone’s goodwill, no hate and the next step of the re-build

 

[IcriedwhenTueartleft]

Rudderless from the off. Quite a few really poor performances.

 

[Marvin.]

Yep, zero fight on show from everybody tonight

Khusanov and Dias didn't give up.

We had an impossible job when we went 1-0 down and lost Stones. We actually kept going but we couldn't get close to the ball and pressure them. I think your comment is wrong. It's not zero fight. We are just not physically able to compete at this level especially with injuries

 

[Marvin.]

Don't get me started on the biased commentary mate. I feel I need to blame the team and manager tonight before resorting to anything else. Lol

Carragher apparently laying into Haaland tonight accusing him of running from Rudiger.

 

[cleavers]

Khusanov and Dias didn't give up.

Dias sort of gave up for the first goal, WTF was he doing ?

 

[IcriedwhenTueartleft]

Best teams we’ve faced since CL final…Arsenal 4 times, Madrid 4 times, Liverpool 3 times, PSG, Inter again…that’s 13 games & not a single win.