Real Madrid post match post mortem

[paulchapo]

Fuckin Gutted!

I had a feeling of foreboding because of the way we started with an uncharateristic brand of old man walking football.

I thought we'd go at em from the opening whistle, & that allowed Real to score early & put us under pressure to respond. It must have been an instruction to take the sting out of the game by Pep, which subdued the crowd from the outset.

We dominated the game, but Real came with a game plan to defend deep & hit us on the counter & it worked.

Grealish was our best player by a mile & it shocked me when Pep pulled him off.

Foden started on the right, but was quiet all match, so when the subs were warming up, I honestly thought Foden might get pulled, but I suppose he poses more of a goal threat than Grealish, hence he stayed on & Jack got pulled.

From 70 mins on, you could see Real were playing for penalties & so it proved.

The pivotal moment was KDB missing an absolute sitter. If there was anyone you'd want a ball like that to fall to, it was King Kev, but he fluffed his lines at the crucial moment.

From then on my gut was telling me that was our chance of victory gone. KDB took his equaliser well, but in games like this it's all about small margins & his missed proved the ultimate difference in normal time.

In retrospect, we'd have been better pulling off Foden, moving Bernardo centrally & putting Doku on the right, with Grealish left, but hindsight's a wonderful thing.

Kudos to Walker who had a great game, alongside Akanji who was immense too.

Haaland was better tonight, but Rudiger proved yet again he's got Erling's number.

Real got the penalty shootout they wanted after our equaliser, & I just knew they'd get through if we got to that stage.

Bernardo went straight down the middle with his penalty which looks great when it comes off, but stupid when it doesn't.

Kovacic's penalty was a combination of weak & we'll saved, but Real took their chances when it mattered most.

The more gutting aspect was that we went through extra time, rinsed ourselves dry, & now we face a buoyant Chelsea in 3 days time.

I'm still proud of our boys. The season's not over, but our main focus now must be the league over the FA Cup, & not repeating the transfer errors of last summer.

Now we better brace ourselves for the Bellingham wankathon! I seriously dislike the bastard!

Again... Fuckin GUTTED!!

Can't argue with any of that. They defended well and did all the usual shitehousing to spoil and slow the game down. Our half asleep start cost us. As time ran out somebody needed to gamble with a shot. Kev a big miss for a player of his quality. We left everything out there and it's small.margins. The crowd raised themselves after a quiet beginning. I could fucking slap Bernardo for that penalty. Win the league now the cups probably too far after tonight's efforts.

 

[skillman]

We got to the edge of the box so many times tonight and just refused to shoot. Strange considering two of our goals last week (and one at the weekend) came from shots outside the box!

 

[baggy]

kova againstChelsea runners? We will lose the FA cup too.
Unfortunately Rodri and Kev are knackered!

I don't think we will have much choice tbh. Majority looked exhausted at the end there. Only 1 real day of rest before the game this weekend

 

[oakiecokie]

Bernie I love you but that penalty .. OFFS.

 

[HelloCity]

When you think about it, it wasn’t much different than the other games against the top sides at home this season - Arsenal, Liverpool especially, but also to a degree against Chelsea, Tottenham and the first half against the rags.

We’ve really struggled to break down the low block and create clear cut chances and it was the same again tonight. I was obviously delighted when we equalised - but even more so because I just couldn’t see us scoring before then. If anything, our best moments came from the off the cuff and unpredictably of Doku simply because it mixed up our slow and predictable build up.

 

[MMA]

Madrid h - Shite
Luton h - Scored the 3rd
Madrid a - Shite
Palace a - Scored the 3rd
Arsenal h - Shite
Newcastle h - Shite
Liverpool a - Shite
Copenhagen h - Scored the 3rd
United h - Scored the 3rd
Luton a - Scored 5
Bournemouth a - Shite

9 goals in 11 games. What a player...

They don't want to hear it mate.

 

[burning blue soul]

I get that. And im conscious that im teetering on the edge of madness. But its been a growing feeling for a while. Nothing stands still and as much as i love KDB maybe that tuff decision needs to be made. The king is dead, love live the king and all that…

I agree, in principle. But, tonight had nothing to do with Kevs efforts.
We missed Gundogan tonight, and we lost because we didn't replace him.

 

[citymad]

Because Haaland is fucking useless and rarely scores unless we are comfortably winning

Not fucking useless that’s OTT but he’s pretty anonymous most of the big games. Easily owned by good defenders.

 

[David Kloppesh]

How so ?

Walker playing, Foden playing out of position and shit subs

 

[Damocles]

Because Haaland is fucking useless and rarely scores unless we are comfortably winning

Yes, we should get rid of the statistically greatest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League who grew up a City fan and Dad captained the club.
That seems a great idea.