Real Madrid Vs Manchester City Post Match Thread

[Number13]

Gutted to get nothing from that last night. Our best hope now is for Real to win every other game apart from our home one. I still fancy us to get the second spot.

 

[jollylescott]

- Hart kept us in the game in the first half, but his distribution is total crap! I mean seriously shit. Him having the ball 99% of the times meant we gave it right back to Real.
- Kompany had a very bad game and looks like he still has some way to reach last seasons level of quality.
- Maicon was totally dominated by Tranny, looked very slow at times.
- Nasty looked very good considering the circumstances.
- We looked better when Silva was substituted. (worrying...)
- How Mario can be above Edin in the pecking order is a mystery.
- Yaya Toure is close to being the best player in the world. Shame he missed that chance.


We were 2-1 up at the Bernabéu against one of the top three teams in the world, with five minutes to go. I'm still not sure whether to be happy with almost winning, taking a point, or angry due to the easy goals we conceded. Some positives, but equally many negatives.

I think Real won the group last night, so it's between us, Dortmund and Ajax to battle for the second spot.

A number of points. I agree about Maicon. There was a comment by an Italian commentator prior to us buying him that Maicon had lost a yard of pace. I agree with that comment. I think Micah/Zaba will be better options in the big games. Also on reflection I don't think GazBaz was fit enough for such a challenge last night. Edin must be preferred over Mario. I would start Edin against Arsenal.

Nasty is cool hand Luke. Did very well all things considered. I would play Nasty again this weekend. Joes distribution is a mystery. I am sure it wasn't this bad last season. I am cutting some slack to David he is still working back from the euros.

To be fair this season I have only seen the team play well once and that was the community shield. Sergio needs to start this week. Give tevez a rest and start Edin. Vinnies form is hard to explain. He travelled a lot in the off season. He doesn't seem to have his focus at the moment.

 

[sh249]

The performance was very good. Not many teams can go to the Bernabeu in such an important game and try to play football. There is only one team on the planet who could do that.

When the dust settles we will realise that in Nastasic and Garcia we have made two top class additions.

We restricted Real Madrid to taking shots from outside the area and in the end they got a bit of luck. Perhaps they earned it. Cruel game

We were lucky that Essien played. Unlucky to lose two key players to injury

Two things Madrid did very well which we could learn from:

1) Crossfield passes to get wide men one on one and Di Maria, Ronaldo c an be deadly one on one

2) Shooting from edge of area. We dominate games, but don't work the keeper enough. Marcelo, Ronaldo, Di Maria were all shooting the second they got an opportunity

Overall defeat is a defeat but there are defeats at Bayern where you are given a lesson, and defeats at Real Madrid where you know you are almost the equals of one of the world's great teams. In time the players and management will be able to take some positives from this.

Real Madrid were better but not by much

Very good summation

Spot on.

As for the idea that we got 'battered' and only Hart stopped us 'being embarrassed' - do me a favour. He made one very good save from Ronaldo and a top save from the shot deflected by Higuain. Other than that, it was long range shots which he dealt with comfortably. The only real chance they 'created' was Higuain's from the ball dropped in over Kompany. And we had chances ourselves - Zabaleta should have scored, Yaya should have scored, and in the first half he should have picked out both Nasri and Silva with better passes to put them in.

Only real disappointment is that the last 2 goals were avoidable. First was unlucky - without the deflection it was never going to beat Hart. Second was crap defending, I thought - Barry and Yaya didn't do enough to close down Di Maria. For the third, Zaba should have shown him outside, and Kompany shouldn't have fucking ducked!

As for tactics, of course, in hindsight it's easy to say Milner should have played to double up on Ronaldo (I know some were saying it before, too), but aside from the opening 25 mins I didn't think he caused too many problems, Maicon did ok. And I'm sure Mancini wanted Nasri in as he wanted us to keep the ball when we had it - in the 10-15 mins before he went off, we'd started to dictate more, and he was involved in that.

And though I'm not a big fan of the 3-5-2, I don't think we can't blame that switch last night - we played it from the start of the second half (just took Townsend until the 80th minute to realise it!) and it worked pretty well for 25 mins.

As someone else has said, Madrid were absolutely bang on their game last night - and we were minutes from taking something from them. A few regrets, no doubt, given the way it played out, but all told a top effort we should be proud of, and a real marker that we can compete at this level.

 

[the blue panther]

Reality check for me.
Madrid put us in our place and exposed our inadequacies. You can't go there and get anything unless you are in top form, and to my surprise, we almost did, but undeservedly.
Back four apart from Clichy need to sharpen up, and Vinny in particular needs to get back to his dominant best pronto.
Garcia looks ok but again, for me, not sharp enough.
30+ attempts on goal for Real says it all really, and how Higuain's header stayed out in the 1st half was incredible. That said, each goal we conceded should potentially have been prevented.
We can improve a lot, and hopefully that will start on Sunday, but, I didn't expect anything but defeat last night, so I am not that disappointed to lose by the odd goal. However, I think the narrowness of the defeat masks how poor some of our game was last night, and I hope that it gives them all the big wake up call they need. Early days in the season, but we have had a glimpse of the level we need to raise ourselves up to next, and we need our top players to click into top form urgently in order to improve on last season.

 

[HellasLEAF]

Zab - Kompany - Lescott - Clichy

please Roberto.

 

[Lakeysbadknee]

The performance was very good. Not many teams can go to the Bernabeu in such an important game and try to play football. There is only one team on the planet who could do that.

When the dust settles we will realise that in Nastasic and Garcia we have made two top class additions.

We restricted Real Madrid to taking shots from outside the area and in the end they got a bit of luck. Perhaps they earned it. Cruel game

We were lucky that Essien played. Unlucky to lose two key players to injury

Two things Madrid did very well which we could learn from:

1) Crossfield passes to get wide men one on one and Di Maria, Ronaldo c an be deadly one on one

2) Shooting from edge of area. We dominate games, but don't work the keeper enough. Marcelo, Ronaldo, Di Maria were all shooting the second they got an opportunity

Overall defeat is a defeat but there are defeats at Bayern where you are given a lesson, and defeats at Real Madrid where you know you are almost the equals of one of the world's great teams. In time the players and management will be able to take some positives from this.

Real Madrid were better but not by much

Very good summation

I think in the first 25 minutes or so Marcelo & the tranny were finding little holes between the midfield and defence,and indeed could have been a couple of goals up,to combat this Garcia dropped 5 yards,playing just in front of Kompany which then forced Marcelo & tranny out onto the wings and we became more effective. In the 2nd half those 2 had sussed this and started to drop their shoulder,come inside & try from outside the area. Unfortunately we didn't close them down quick enough,de Jong was the master at doing this,Garcia is not as effective,though he does give us much more in other departments. Absolutely gutted we didn't hold on for the draw(or even a win),but it's early days,so let's see how we bounce back,maybe that's our Community Shield v rags moment,which galvanises us for the rest of the season.

 

[Pigeonho]

Mixed feelings. Should have been put to bed by half time if it hadn't been for a combination of Hart playing out of his skin, a bit of luck and bad finishing by their players. I was actually not arsed when they equalised the first time as a draw there is a superb result, especially given the first half performance. To lose a lead, then end up losing in that fashion though just gutted me to be honest, and despite it being away at one of the faves to win the competition, we will be looking at another group-stage exit if we don't buck up.
All in all though, not many gave us a chance of even a point there, so I suppose we are where we started.
Capable of beating Ajax away and drawing v Dortmund away. Beat those 2 at home and we can still afford to lose to Madrid at the Etihad if the worst came to the worst.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Maicon is better going forward but his high crosses were a little pointless. He will learn

Call me old fashioned but i prefer defenders who can defend.......

Looks like we've purchased another Kolarov,and thats not a good thing.

 

[bernabias home shirt]

We were battered
Don't try and mask it.

 

[Patientman63]

The performance was very good. Not many teams can go to the Bernabeu in such an important game and try to play football. There is only one team on the planet who could do that.

When the dust settles we will realise that in Nastasic and Garcia we have made two top class additions.

We restricted Real Madrid to taking shots from outside the area and in the end they got a bit of luck. Perhaps they earned it. Cruel game

We were lucky that Essien played. Unlucky to lose two key players to injury

Two things Madrid did very well which we could learn from:

1) Crossfield passes to get wide men one on one and Di Maria, Ronaldo c an be deadly one on one

2) Shooting from edge of area. We dominate games, but don't work the keeper enough. Marcelo, Ronaldo, Di Maria were all shooting the second they got an opportunity

Overall defeat is a defeat but there are defeats at Bayern where you are given a lesson, and defeats at Real Madrid where you know you are almost the equals of one of the world's great teams. In time the players and management will be able to take some positives from this.

Real Madrid were better but not by much

Very good summation

Yes to all. One point to add - Joe Hart is a great goalkeeper, but still developing. He also needs to put his brain into action before he opens his mind about team mates. Sure the defence didn't close space down allowing them to shoot so much, which must have annoyed him. But his distribution and kicking should be better, and it isn't just last nights game that you can say that about. Improve on that and then think about criticising other team mates. Overall, well done blues - the champions league is a learning curve and is a hartbreaker!

You collar a young goalie straight off the pitch after losing a big game in the last 5 minutes, ask him any question and you will get an emotional answer. I don't disagree with your overall assessment, but I admired Joe's answer, he was clearly gutted and self critical, and that is how it should be, that's how I want it to be! It shows he cares.. If they had interviewed me straight after the game it would have been way more emotional than that!