Real Madrid loss is a Positive Sign!

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SuperSilva

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Understandably everyone, including the players and Mancini are down that we lost a won game in the last 5 mins. But I have just been reading Yaya and Barry's views and everyone in the team are very pleased and so should we:

Yaya said -
Yaya Toure thinks Manchester City's narrow defeat by Real Madrid proves the club are getting to grips with the UEFA Champions League.

City's second foray into the competition started with a dramatic loss in their Group D opener at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

The Premier League champions failed to get beyond last season's group stages and face a tough task to better that when facing two more past winners in Borussia Dortmund and Ajax.
But, after only losing to Real - one of the game's true heavyweights - by conceding two late goals, City talisman Toure is convinced progress is being made.

The star midfielder said: "I think we played against a fantastic team. Real Madrid have a big history, they are a big club.

"It was quite good for us to play against them to see what level we are at now.
Click to expand...

While Barry said -
Gareth Barry feels City sent a warning out to the rest of Europe at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night.

Few teams go to Real Madrid and score twice, never mind take the lead twice.

And even though they ended up losing the game to a last-minute Cristiano Ronaldo goal, Barry believes the Blues showed they have the firepower to go far in the Champions League this season.

“We knew they were going to have the ball for long periods,” said Barry.

“We didn’t set out to frustrate them but we set out to work hard and hit them on the counter-attack.

“As we showed throughout the game, we are pretty dangerous.

“We played a good game and there are a lot of positives, but overall we are disappointed.

“Playing away is always tough in the Champions League. To have got so close to the three points is disappointing, but there is great stuff we can take from it.

“Even at 2-1 up we knew it was going to be a lot of hard work.

“There were still five minutes plus injury time left, so a lot can happen, particularly against a great team like that.

“But having gone 2-1 up you’re not expected to lose the game then, so we were pretty down at the end. We are scoring a lot of goals but conceding at the same time. I am sure as the season goes on that is something we can work on.

“We matched them and on another day could have come away with the three points.

“I am sure it will be a great game when they come to the Etihad Stadium, but before that we have to try to make sure we get some points on the board.
Click to expand...


After that I am pleased and confident as should every blue. If we can do that to a strong Real and push them to their limits on their home turf, we will dominate them at home.
 
SuperSilva said:
Understandably everyone, including the players and Mancini are down that we lost a won game in the last 5 mins. But I have just been reading Yaya and Barry's views and everyone in the team are very pleased and so should we:

Yaya said -
Yaya Toure thinks Manchester City's narrow defeat by Real Madrid proves the club are getting to grips with the UEFA Champions League.

City's second foray into the competition started with a dramatic loss in their Group D opener at the Bernabeu on Tuesday.

The Premier League champions failed to get beyond last season's group stages and face a tough task to better that when facing two more past winners in Borussia Dortmund and Ajax.
But, after only losing to Real - one of the game's true heavyweights - by conceding two late goals, City talisman Toure is convinced progress is being made.

The star midfielder said: "I think we played against a fantastic team. Real Madrid have a big history, they are a big club.

"It was quite good for us to play against them to see what level we are at now.
Click to expand...

While Barry said -
Gareth Barry feels City sent a warning out to the rest of Europe at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night.

Few teams go to Real Madrid and score twice, never mind take the lead twice.

And even though they ended up losing the game to a last-minute Cristiano Ronaldo goal, Barry believes the Blues showed they have the firepower to go far in the Champions League this season.

“We knew they were going to have the ball for long periods,” said Barry.

“We didn’t set out to frustrate them but we set out to work hard and hit them on the counter-attack.

“As we showed throughout the game, we are pretty dangerous.

“We played a good game and there are a lot of positives, but overall we are disappointed.

“Playing away is always tough in the Champions League. To have got so close to the three points is disappointing, but there is great stuff we can take from it.

“Even at 2-1 up we knew it was going to be a lot of hard work.

“There were still five minutes plus injury time left, so a lot can happen, particularly against a great team like that.

“But having gone 2-1 up you’re not expected to lose the game then, so we were pretty down at the end. We are scoring a lot of goals but conceding at the same time. I am sure as the season goes on that is something we can work on.

“We matched them and on another day could have come away with the three points.

“I am sure it will be a great game when they come to the Etihad Stadium, but before that we have to try to make sure we get some points on the board.
Click to expand...


After that I am pleased and confident as should every blue. If we can do that to a strong Real and push them to their limits on their home turf, we will dominate them at home.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't agree that we are likely to "dominate" RM at the Etihad, but I agree that there are some real (no pun intended) positives to take from Tuesday's match. Not only were we not blown out on their hallowed pitch, but we made them reach down deep and scratch and claw their way to a 90th minute winner. A much improved showing over the Allianz fixture against Bayern in last season's CL group. I believe that both City and RM will be improved as a result of our match. Losing to last season's best club in the world on their pitch is no disgrace, and we now should feel that on our day, we can defeat any club in the world, on any pitch. I'm not sure I would have felt that way before Tuesday's match, but I know I do now. Yes, RM can and will play better than they did on Tuesday, but you know what? So will we. Considering that this was the opening fixture in our second CL campaign ever, I think we have come a long way in a very very short period of time.
 
I've watched the whole game 4 times now due to being on annual leave and having time to really study it in depth.

We were forced to adapt and play in a way which is fairly alien to us. We are used to having the ball, controlling games and playing out from the back at our own pace. This game didn't allow that. Madrid were relentless in their closing and mithering of us in our own half which I have to say was great management and tactics from Mourinho. Madrid had more possession and we were forced to defend solidly as a unit.

I feel the first half was well managed and we restricted Madrid to shots from distance and from positions that were hard to score from. They didn't get 'in behind' us once nor did they get to the byeline and create problems with crosses. They also didnt cause us any issues from free kicks or corners.

Defensively we were certainly 'in the game' and I feel we looked resolute and well drilled.

There were a couple of occasions where they dropped balls 'over the top' of Kompany where he was 'caught out' but in my opinion this was due to Kompany's individual mistakes rather than it being the fault of the 'team' or the 'system'.

Offensively we also had a couple of opportunities in the first half to make something happen. Once when we broke on the counter and Yaya played in Silva on the right on the edge of Madrid's box. Silva unfortunately dilly dallied and played a 'nothing' ball and the moment was gone.

Another opportunity was where Maicon was in acres of space out on the right and whipped in a high cross for Tevez who unfortunately was well marshalled and his header was smothered by I think Pepe.

In the first half I feel we were finding our feet, had been given the instruction to keep a clean sheet at all costs and to use the counter attack. I feel Madrid were slightly the better side this half.

In the second half I feel we stepped up a gear and were in fact slighty the better team overall. On the whole we again restricted Madrid to shooting from outside our box (unfortunately this 'worked' twice this half), but again they didn't really get 'in behind' or 'split' our defence at any point in this half.

Madrid began to run out of steam (I feel they'd be instructed to get the game over within half an hour hence their fast and assertive start) and our midfield began to get on top.

We scored a very good counter attacking goal and on 75 minutes could and should have gone 2-0 but Yaya missed when through 1 on 1 (in a very similar manner to his miss at Stoke earlier). Had that gone in we'd have won the game as Madrid were physically drained.

The rest as they say is history.

My overall thoughts are that we played very well and really weren't 'far away' from the best team in Europe at all.

Next time I'd do 2 things:

1. Deal with Ronaldo differently. Maicon was overly exposed and had no answer to him. Either use a different full back or use Milner to 'double up'.

2. Start with 2 up front. I noticed throughout the game that we didn't really give Madrid much to 'worry about' as Tevez was so isolated and much of what he was sent didn't 'stick'. With another striker to aim for and to support Tevez we'd have given Madrid more defensive duties and curtailed their ability to press us so hard.

Have discussed the game with several Utd and Chelsea fans and all of them thought we were very good and deserved something.

I'm 100% confident we'll qualify.
 
After Tuesday, I think we all hesitate to be too optimistic, but, its not impossible to see City still going through, and just possibly winning the group.

I expect us to improve game by game - as we've been 20% off our best to date this season, and whilst we've conceded a lot of goals by our standards, Joe Hart has had no chance of saving several of them. That run of goals against must end soon.

If we play to our best form in the remaining champs league games, we should take points from them all, if not, win them all - especially at home. If that happens and we finish level with Real Madrid but win at home 2-0 against them, we'll go through as winners.

Then, the dream continues that, if United win their group, they get drawn against Real Madrid and get absolutely fuckin' mullerred by them - home and away. And we beat RM/Barca/ or United - if they somehow scrape through to Wembley - to mark an amazing quadruple.

AAhhhh - happy days!
 
To my surprise I haven't faced any pisstakes at all from the Rags I know, they seem impressed and grudgingly admitted we gave them a great fight
 
Good performance against arguably the best team in the world but still few things to work on. We were overran in the first half, didn't close the long range shots down quick enough and we let Ronaldo have a field day on the left. As good a player as he is it's not that impossible to keep him quiet. We let him cut it far too many times and gave him plenty of space to run at us. Having said that I'm delighted we gave them a scare and played better than we did at Bayern so thats improvement in my eyes.
 
We could have been 3 down at half time but we wasn't because of a bit of luck and some good saves by Joe. to let it slip in last few mins was gutting.

Plus points for me was Natasic, Edin and of course Yaya.

We now need to win our home games and win at least one away game to have any chance of going through which is a big ask against the teams in our group.

On our current form id rate our chance of going through as 50/50 at best. But i'm confident we can get the defence back strong and if we can i'd rate our chances 70/30.

Biggest concern on the night and the season up to now is the leaking of sloppy goals no goal scored against us this season has been an unstoppable they have been sloppy and should have been stopped by midfield or defence.
 
It gave a good kick up the backside to tell us we are a bit way from being a dominant force yet which is a very good thing.

We are not that far off Madrid in reality, but in terms of going against them and being comfortable in giving them a game we are far away. It is the mental side of the game we are struggling with in Europe, we have the players but we lack the belief to go and win against top sides.

Once we beat a few top sides like Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich then I believe it will give us a mental stability to go on and compete comfortably in Champions League. There are times we look so nervous and look a shadow the the team we see week in week out in the Premier League.
 
Stoned Rose said:
I've watched the whole game 4 times now due to being on annual leave and having time to really study it in depth.

We were forced to adapt and play in a way which is fairly alien to us. We are used to having the ball, controlling games and playing out from the back at our own pace. This game didn't allow that. Madrid were relentless in their closing and mithering of us in our own half which I have to say was great management and tactics from Mourinho. Madrid had more possession and we were forced to defend solidly as a unit.

I feel the first half was well managed and we restricted Madrid to shots from distance and from positions that were hard to score from. They didn't get 'in behind' us once nor did they get to the byeline and create problems with crosses. They also didnt cause us any issues from free kicks or corners.

Defensively we were certainly 'in the game' and I feel we looked resolute and well drilled.

There were a couple of occasions where they dropped balls 'over the top' of Kompany where he was 'caught out' but in my opinion this was due to Kompany's individual mistakes rather than it being the fault of the 'team' or the 'system'.

Offensively we also had a couple of opportunities in the first half to make something happen. Once when we broke on the counter and Yaya played in Silva on the right on the edge of Madrid's box. Silva unfortunately dilly dallied and played a 'nothing' ball and the moment was gone.

Another opportunity was where Maicon was in acres of space out on the right and whipped in a high cross for Tevez who unfortunately was well marshalled and his header was smothered by I think Pepe.

In the first half I feel we were finding our feet, had been given the instruction to keep a clean sheet at all costs and to use the counter attack. I feel Madrid were slightly the better side this half.

In the second half I feel we stepped up a gear and were in fact slighty the better team overall. On the whole we again restricted Madrid to shooting from outside our box (unfortunately this 'worked' twice this half), but again they didn't really get 'in behind' or 'split' our defence at any point in this half.

Madrid began to run out of steam (I feel they'd be instructed to get the game over within half an hour hence their fast and assertive start) and our midfield began to get on top.

We scored a very good counter attacking goal and on 75 minutes could and should have gone 2-0 but Yaya missed when through 1 on 1 (in a very similar manner to his miss at Stoke earlier). Had that gone in we'd have won the game as Madrid were physically drained.

The rest as they say is history.

My overall thoughts are that we played very well and really weren't 'far away' from the best team in Europe at all.

Next time I'd do 2 things:

1. Deal with Ronaldo differently. Maicon was overly exposed and had no answer to him. Either use a different full back or use Milner to 'double up'.

2. Start with 2 up front. I noticed throughout the game that we didn't really give Madrid much to 'worry about' as Tevez was so isolated and much of what he was sent didn't 'stick'. With another striker to aim for and to support Tevez we'd have given Madrid more defensive duties and curtailed their ability to press us so hard.

Have discussed the game with several Utd and Chelsea fans and all of them thought we were very good and deserved something.

I'm 100% confident we'll qualify.
Click to expand...

Good post
 
A clearer picture emerges when the knee-jerk and adrenaline fueled posts dwindle
I thought before the match, we needed another run through the qualifiers before facing RM. After the match, still feel the same.
Very rare these days for us to play a better team, perhaps Bayerne, but we have dropped points and still been the better team.
To see out the game and not concede is not the piece of cake many claim, you need the whole team to be good on the ball, (we aren't) the movement off the ball has to be ceaseless and effective( maybe there were fitness issues, but we did not achieve that) and we dont have enough practice at it.
When ronaldo mishit his shot and it fluked into the net i was gutted, but then it felt like i had found a wallet. and it was empty. Not like being robbed, just the what-might-have-been emptiness you get when you have a raffle ticket one away from the winner.
If the new signings had arrived for a full preseason it may have been a different story, i dont know for sure but it could only been a good thing.
 
At 86 minutes & 1-2 up, what we needed was the dogged defensive spirit of Manchester City 2 years ago. We were naive that's all & I firmly believe we'll learn by our mistakes.

The Real match is the glamour tie of the qualifying rounds & if anyone wants to know how far we've come as a club, just remember Ronaldo's reaction to scoring the winner & 3 times Champions League winning managers Adebayor-style knee slide! Trust me, victory meant more to them than it would have done for us because we were expected to lose anyway......
 
Whats to be postive we lost from a winning position.Im not postive but that might change on sunday if we beat arsenal
 
So you'd help yourself to someone else's cash if you found their wallet... scouser?[/quote]

from past experience, the wallet's owner is more relieved at having a sum of cash returned than an empty wallet, your honour hence my disappointment. Heaven forfend any base motive fueled my chagrin
 
I wasn't happy with our first half performance , we were closed down quickly , dispossessed far too easily , and Tevez was totally isolated ... even when he got the ball he was unable to do anything with it.

We could easily have been three , or even four , down at the interval .... but Joe Hart stood firm.

But you had to give City credit in the second half , their spirit was commendable , and the fight was taken right to the very end ....... we are a very good side , and for a few minutes there , on their own ground , Real Madrid were teetering on collapse ...... but great sides find a way of coming back at you , they don't give up , and i did think we lost our composure , and shape in those final few minutes though , and unfortunately for us it eventually told.
 
Anyone who went to Madrid and was in the Plaza de Mayor square can check out my photos on my facebook page Tommy Beattie
 
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