Real Madrid (A) Post Match Thread

[bugsyblue]

Still gutted.

 

[Newman123]

Our current group of players have four games left to deliver what I and many other Blues consider to be the most important trophy.

Win the PL or not, in my opinion, significant changes are needed to update and improve the squad for next season.

On what the club and staff will have considered to be the most important night of the season, a few players demonstrated very clearly that they're either not up to it mentally, or simply aren't good enough.

Cancelo - Inconsistent, indisciplined angry little man. A very average defender whose main contribution to City has been to mask/delay the our continuing need for a proper left back.

Laporte - Just not good enough. Potentially weak character. Can't be trusted. Proved that when he opted to play for Spain when France didn't pick him. Nathan Ake is a far more reliable defender.

De Bruyne -.Went into hiding last night when most needed. Completely overshadowed by the RM midfielders. Certainly nothing like a leader and shouldn't be anywhere near the captain's armband. World class? Not any more he's not. We'll be lucky to get one more good season out of him. I’ve said it before; Ward-Prowse would be a great replacement, and would flourish at City.

Sterling - Time to go. One good game in ten, rarely looks like he's interested. His cameo last night may well have been his last game, he was weak and shockingly poor. Cole Palmer would have been a better option.

Mahrez - Cash in if clubs are offering good money.

Jesus - Another angry little man. Just not good enough against strong, organised defences. Needs to move abroad to improve his game, because it's not developed in the PL.

Bernardo Silva - The bloke is either becoming too good for City, or City aren't good enough for him
If a few players matched his workrate and showed half his passion for the game, we'd have won the CL for the last two seasons and be looking at a third this month.
He would be running the show at a club like RM, and would most likely win both the CL and Ballon d'or within two years.
The best footballer at City by miles. If we don't strengthen the squad considerably in the summer, he could/should be looking for a move.

Foden, Grealish - Not ready for top level yet. Very raw and need another year or two to develop. Foden has been overplayed, Grealish has been overwhelmed by the big move.

Ederson - The Curate's egg. Good in parts (distribution), less good in others (shot stopping). He's been lucky to be playing behind a team who dominate possession in the PL.
That said, there are few better than him at what he does and he fits in for Pep. That's why he'll still be with us next season

Anyone who thinks Haaland is the missing piece in the current squad could be in for a nasty shock. We need fresh young blood, players with genuine hunger and strongmentality, to maintain current levels and improve on them in the next three years.

Is Pep the man to lead the change? If the club still wants to prioritise the CL, I'm genuinely not sure he is. Change is necessary at player level next season imo, and it's going to take someone with fresh ideas, who's likely to be around for longer than two or three years, and doesn't have a monkey on his back.

Do you reckon you should have not bought Grealish and instead forked out for Kane? Or brought in Messi?

 

[Mike N]

not a single player/players management team still not posted anything on social media yet? Done within seconds after a win. Cowards.

Wish I had the ‘not sure if serious’ meme

 

[inbetween]

It's revisionism at best mate.

How many goals are enough?

One more than an opponent, every time, that's all it ever takes.

Scored six against Monaco, four against Spurs, five against Madrid...

Two games with Sergio.

A striker makes the difference when the games are tight, not when you are conceding five against Monaco, five against Liverpool, four against Spurs, six against Madrid.

It's a collective mental issue in the biggest moments.

Platt used to say Dzeko scored 'heavy goals' which is what I think people are trying to argue we don't have, but five goals across the two ties with Madrid hides the fact our defending was pathetic.

These defenders aren't playing against big teams every week, with the possession we have they're playing up front for 75% of games. Cancelo and Walker spend most of their games in the oppositions half, against Leeds we were throwing defenders forward because there was no defending to do.

Either way it's impossible for us to sit back and defend, we defend from the front by possession and we win by scoring more than the opposition. If we go out to just defend then we're just going to struggle to score. Nothing shows this up more than the fact that we obviously aren't the best defensively yet we've conceded the least in the league. Once we come up against really good teams like Liverpool then we can easily tank 3 goals in a game.

A lot compare us to Liverpool and we are quite similar. Liverpool can't defend either however like us they're in a below average Premier League where they don't really need to defend. The only reason why they're up our arse and doing well in Europe too is because their front 3 just don't miss when it matters, how many times do they seem to dig them out of trouble compared to our front players?

A prolific striker is a huge priority next year, if we had someone scoring 20+ a season then the league would of been over months ago and we'd be looking at 100 points again. The same applies to last night, if we had taken our chances at the Etihad then the tie would of been over before last night's game started.

 

[doobyedoobye]

We were very unlucky

 

[bluebarry]

I'm still seething, can't write anything else!

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I really don't find that funny...

But I'm pissing meself now..
Cups for cock ups, gallows humour..its in our DNA

If you don’t laugh you’ll cry mate. We’ve always been the best fans at being able to laugh at ourselves, not to take things too seriously.

 

[Gabriel]

One small thing I couldn’t understand from our corners on the left was why de Bruyne even bothered going out there as if he might take it. Foden had the ball in such a position that no right-footed player could possibly get near it, so it seemed a complete waste both of a player and energy.

 

[Stiff Little Wingers]

Our current group of players have four games left to deliver what I and many other Blues consider to be the most important trophy.

Win the PL or not, in my opinion, significant changes are needed to update and improve the squad for next season.

On what the club and staff will have considered to be the most important night of the season, a few players demonstrated very clearly that they're either not up to it mentally, or simply aren't good enough.

Cancelo - Inconsistent, indisciplined angry little man. A very average defender whose main contribution to City has been to mask/delay the our continuing need for a proper left back.

Laporte - Just not good enough. Potentially weak character. Can't be trusted. Proved that when he opted to play for Spain when France didn't pick him. Nathan Ake is a far more reliable defender.

De Bruyne -.Went into hiding last night when most needed. Completely overshadowed by the RM midfielders. Certainly nothing like a leader and shouldn't be anywhere near the captain's armband. World class? Not any more he's not. We'll be lucky to get one more good season out of him. I’ve said it before; Ward-Prowse would be a great replacement, and would flourish at City.

Sterling - Time to go. One good game in ten, rarely looks like he's interested. His cameo last night may well have been his last game, he was weak and shockingly poor. Cole Palmer would have been a better option.

Mahrez - Cash in if clubs are offering good money.

Jesus - Another angry little man. Just not good enough against strong, organised defences. Needs to move abroad to improve his game, because it's not developed in the PL.

Bernardo Silva - The bloke is either becoming too good for City, or City aren't good enough for him
If a few players matched his workrate and showed half his passion for the game, we'd have won the CL for the last two seasons and be looking at a third this month.
He would be running the show at a club like RM, and would most likely win both the CL and Ballon d'or within two years.
The best footballer at City by miles. If we don't strengthen the squad considerably in the summer, he could/should be looking for a move.

Foden, Grealish - Not ready for top level yet. Very raw and need another year or two to develop. Foden has been overplayed, Grealish has been overwhelmed by the big move.

Ederson - The Curate's egg. Good in parts (distribution), less good in others (shot stopping). He's been lucky to be playing behind a team who dominate possession in the PL.
That said, there are few better than him at what he does and he fits in for Pep. That's why he'll still be with us next season

Anyone who thinks Haaland is the missing piece in the current squad could be in for a nasty shock. We need fresh young blood, players with genuine hunger and strongmentality, to maintain current levels and improve on them in the next three years.

Is Pep the man to lead the change? If the club still wants to prioritise the CL, I'm genuinely not sure he is. Change is necessary at player level next season imo, and it's going to take someone with fresh ideas, who's likely to be around for longer than two or three years, and doesn't have a monkey on his back.

Listen, we are all gutted at the result and if you went to Madrid then all credit to you but this is an entitled bloody stupid post. Of course there will be comings and goings and players have strengths and flaws but we have lost to a freak result against Real Madrid at their ground, not to the Dog and Duck. But if you can't see how good a player DeBruyne is then I despair. By the way, Bernardo, much as I love him has a flaws n tat he does not use his right foot anywhere near as much as he should even for simple passes which means whilst we retain possession we can lose momentum at times.
This is a squad that has done really well under a great manager (who also has his flaws) and I for one am proud of them. Okay, there were individual fuck ups that in the cold light of day which contributed to the freak result but on the balance sheet of football fandom then I will take this team anytime.
Fucking hell, even Haaland can't get you excited.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Too many players nearing the end of career and/or past their peak.
You have to keep changing to maintain levels.

You snooze, you lose.

Pretty sure Pep knows that. It's why Alvarez and hopefully Haaland will lead our attack next season along with Phil. With Gundo and Ferna no longer regular starters, we need top quality coming in and competition. If someone wants to be ruthless, there's Rice - 'almost' has the all-round midfield game - box to box, deceptively fast, skilful, tenacious, complete range of passes and a nasty side behind that jokey cockney reality tv show exterior. On the downside, his scoring record is piss poor. His arrival might also affect team morale. Would cost the earth in a position we already have an outstanding player in.

How would Jesus react to Alvarez and Haaland coming ? He'd probably want to leave.

Kevin isn't past his peak - was carrying an injury last night - and is now at his peak. And talking of 'peak' all Liverpool's best players are around the 30/31 mark -they'll all drop off a cliff at the same time. With us there's a decent spread of youth and experience.

I'm happy with our back four - four from six really.