Real Madrid (H) Pre-Match Thread

[kaz7]

We embarrassed UEFA

The end

 

[mosssideblue]

I can see it now...we have kick off, ref blows his whistle...ball passed back to KdB who spots the Real keeper off his line...fires a beauty in the top corner...ref disallows it because either a) Real weren’t ready or b) he was doing a practice whistle and he hadn’t really blown for the kick off...

Nurse, this one has not taken his meds

 

[lastmanback]

I don’t fear Madrid at all. I fear we’re gonna play Rodri, Gundo, KDB and Mahrez. If we do we’ll get overran by a very dangerous counter attacking team time after time.

Without any hesitation whatsoever I would play Foden for Mahrez and Bernardo for Gundo. We need legs!

They all played in the 2-1 win in Madrid ?

 

[Scottish Cityzen]

Match day not off to a good start, looks like the vet will be putting my 15.5 yr old Aussie Cattle Dog to sleep, not had a good night

Brutal mate, hoping you take solace in 15 years of good times.

 

[TheThirdDeano]

Who's our back-up keeper?
£10 says Eddie gets sent off

 

[Jacob Smith]

Ederson
Walker Dinho Laporte Cancelo
Rodri
De Bruyne Foden
Mahrez Jesus Sterling​

 

[St.Pauli support]

Single yellow cards are no problem.
We have no player who would miss next match.
After the match yellow cards will be cancelled so no player could miss incl. CL final
for yellows as long as no red card is involved.

Valverde and Modric would miss next match though - next season.. ;)

 

[ancoats]

tonight pep has to get it right ? he had 2 weeks to get into the players head his plans ? but most of all is the don't lose your heads and let the officials control the game play our game and we take control ? but lose it and we have seen what happens

uefa would be fools to try something tonight ? the spot light is on them and the officials so any dodgy stuff tonight would be flagged up, city are good enough and real madrid are not the best, so if city take their chance we win and also if we keep a clean sheet we also win

 

[Zenmanc]

I'm getting nervous chaps. City jersey already on. First whistle can't come soon enough.

 

[Nelinho]

That s/f performance screamed out that they weren't that arsed about the FA Cup. It's all about the CL and they quite fancied a two week rest leading up to tonight

I don't believe that, not for a moment. It was a case of complacency, even arrogance, for which we have been severely punished on several occasions this season (Norwich away, Wolves at home etc).

The whole team entered the pitch with the wrong mindset, thinking it's going to be routine as we own Arsenal (Guardiola admitted this afterwards saying "...we were not ready..."). When such a thing occurs, history teaches us it becomes difficult to change the story of a game. Yes, we were better 2nd half (finishing the game with 72% possession and 13 shots against Arsenal's 4, all on target though...) yet well below our standards...

Pep himself underestimated Arsenal, for example by fielding David (after having played the whole 90' 3 days ago), Gabby and Mendy (who were not protected, substituted late in the previous match) etc. Lacking the necessary energy affects your decision making, naturally some players struggled, never came close to their usual performance levels...

I've said it numerous times, unlike his previous teams you won't find anything cynical in Guardiola's City. Quite the opposite I would say, a sense of innocence which often leads to naivety, ignorance of danger etc. A lot of this can definitely be explained by the quality of the players and staff as human beings. You can't help (I certainly can't) but fucking love them...

Anyway, fuck it, what's done is done. I'm perfectly sure it did hurt though, players are aware of the fact they fucked up. That is why I believe the team can earn positives from that experience ahead of the Madrid game. Another reminder that against City all teams show up determined to give their very best. Also another reminder that if you're not mentally prepared, if your concentration levels are not at 100%, even relegated Norwich could beat you (never mind Arsenal at an FA Cup semi-final or Madrid at a CL knock out match).

It was a wake up call, probably at the most appropriate timing. I have no doubts about the team's desire tonight. Needless to say, I have no doubts about Madrid's attitude either. They have never accepted that defeat at home, make no mistake about it, they will enter the pitch determined to turn it around, change their fate. The challenge for us is to show the necessary confidence, composure and maturity, stuff we often missed in critical European games...

Good luck to the team tonight. Let's finish the job, send Madrid to vacation and move on to the QF.