Southampton (N) | FAC | Post Match Thread

[southamptonblue]

Come on you Blues, another final for Manchester City

But how many of the starting line-up will play in the final ? I feel sorry for players who are asked to play today and will not be given a chance in the final ? Only Trafford and Cherki will play if they stay fit.

I know it's a squad thing and the first-team players need looking after for the Premier League title run-in
But we nearly lost this semi-final and it could have had a knock-on effect in the title race

Anyway, well played to both teams and Southampton gave us a big wake-up call and good luck in the promotion chase

Don't feel sorry for them at all....Kova was very lucky to play at all, since he hasn't kicked a ball for ages, Stones/Ake been injured alot.....the rest have all had opportunities to be the 'first choice and be rested' but didn't take the chance. There is no time, at successful clubs, for giving 5/6 games to perform....if you need that, you should be at Everton/Brentford etc . You need to be ready to come in and do the job.

 

[eastmanc]

Good lord.

Skin of our teeth.

Let's bury that performance.

Onwards

Thought we played really well second half.

 

[burnley blue mcfc]

Your memories not great.

Kid has won more trophies with is that I ever dreamed of seeing. And we'd have at least one title less if it wasnt for him.

So even when he doesnt play well, he deserves a hell of a lot more leeway yet.

FWIW I wasnt referring to Foden, but it applies to.him as well.

My memories fine pal, but if I misinterpreted your post then sorry I hold my hands up, Phil should be a city legend, but im not the only one seriously worried about him, the major gambling debs, rumours won’t go away?? is that the prob with him??

 

[borassic]

We absolutely smashed them to pieces. The issue is that too many are happy to go side to side. Like we’re playing the rondo without putting it in the net.

Pep has to sort that out. He’s set them up so well to dominate the game but it’s not good enough to hit the front man or miss passes and crosses or to not shoot when the chance is there.

We were unbelievably good today up until the box today. One of the most dominant games I’ve seen us play for a long time.

We have to find a way to score more goals

 

[dickie davies]

Try not to speak for others when you are wrong. He had a very good game today and hasn't exactly been available this entire season.

Do you think he's had any kind of impact on the squad in his time at City and if "yes" I'd like to hear your reasons

Today he had an average first half along with the majority of our players, then had a decent 13 minutes in the second before being substituted

He's not been a Kalvin Phillips disaster of a signing, but he certainly hasn't been a success

 

[richards30]

Proof today that many of the fringe players time is now up! Need 2-3 top class players in this summer

 

[Vienna_70]

Hang on , we all love Foden and want him to do well but for some reason he is a shadow of his former self Right behind him to be phenomenal next season

Phil has played too much football and not had enough rest / break from it, since he was 17.

He desperately needs the summer off to refresh himself. He should go fishing with his dad for 6-8 weeks and forget about football.

 

[malg]

Hang on , we all love Foden and want him to do well but for some reason he is a shadow of his former self Right behind him to be phenomenal next season

I've bored my family senseless for years saying that we'll see how good he is when he has to take the midfield load. He's not up to it. I'd love nothing more than an academy graduate to be the main man in our midfield, but that's not Foden.

 

[Zenmanc]

Do you think he's had any kind of impact on the squad in his time at City and if "yes" I'd like to hear your reasons

Today he had an average first half along with the majority of our players, then had a decent 13 minutes in the second before being substituted

He's not been a Kalvin Phillips disaster of a signing, but he certainly hasn't been a success

Meh. I have this thing called "a life" and don't have the interest or time to lay out reasons why a player in a position we are weak in reserve will be missed.

 

[Vienna_70]

Don't feel sorry for them at all....Kova was very lucky to play at all, since he hasn't kicked a ball for ages, Stones/Ake been injured alot.....the rest have all had opportunities to be the 'first choice and be rested' but didn't take the chance. There is no time, at successful clubs, for giving 5/6 games to perform....if you need that, you should be at Everton/Brentford etc . You need to be ready to come in and do the job.

There is no sentiment in top level football.

Or, at least, there shouldn’t be.

 

[Kinkybyname]

The fk has Shrek got on his head? Did he buy it off that Bulgarian world cup keeper? Walcott gracious in defeat, Richards even when he talks slowly is still a massive twat. Dog leash mentioned our massive squad, fat cow!

 

[chaddblue]

But how many of the starting line-up will play in the final ? I feel sorry for players who are asked to play today and will not be given a chance in the final ? Only Trafford and Cherki will play if they stay fit.

Don’t count on it

Quite likely we’ll have the rearranged Bournemouth and Palace games in each midweek before and after the final… so you might see a team not too dissimilar from today’s

 

[The Mighty Marmoush]

And the mighty Marmoush

?

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Nobody wants City to lose.....but if your opinion is that we might (for whatever reason) then that's their perogative to say so. The changes we made today, proved Pep did get it wrong at the start.....or the starting 11 would have taken care of it, they didn't!
Equalising through an 80 something minute deflection, was a get out of jail card.....and means I can leave my house next week ;)

Pep “got it wrong” and you “got it right”.

 

[Man_City_Loyal]

Sorry to say but I don't feel like we will ever see Phil back to his best, was like a lost puppy on that pitch.

Marmoush was shocking, truly horrific performance.

Too many changes, but least we got the job done, doku was the big change for me, and Savinho had a good spell when he come on!

 

[coolcity]

The instinct is to jump on them and say they were poor, but I don’t think anyone we bring in can do that kind of job if they don’t get the game time to back it up. It’s hard, but we can’t really criticize any player that plays once every two months.

I think the point that many have missed is that they come in and do a job. Sometimes it's not quite enough and we have to bring in the big guns to finish it off, but those players did enough to keep us in the tie and collectively got us through.

A lot are quick to criticise and somehow forget that we won the match. That's the whole point of the exercise isn't it?

We got 8 players rested and got to the final again, yet a certain contingent don't seem to be happy unless they have the opportunity to have a moan.

Even after a good win some are complaining, there were a few after we beat Liverpool 4-0 in he last round. When was the last time we beat Liverpool 4-0? I don't know why they bother at all sometimes.

 

[coolcity]

Nobody wants City to lose.....but if your opinion is that we might (for whatever reason) then that's their perogative to say so. The changes we made today, proved Pep did get it wrong at the start.....or the starting 11 would have taken care of it, they didn't!
Equalising through an 80 something minute deflection, was a get out of jail card.....and means I can leave my house next week ;)

The changes didn't prove Pep got it wrong at all.

Have any of you ever considered that when he makes changes for games like this he does so with the idea of resting players, while putting out a team that he expects will keep us in the tie at least, and if they can do that for an hour or more while others are rested, then he can bring in the first choice players to finish the job.

The alternative is you play your first choice XI for 60 games a season then end up struggling to finish in a Champions League spot because they're all knackered and/or injured.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Got the job done, that is literally all that matters. Wasn't even a bad performance though. First half wasn't great but it was only the front 3 that didnt turn up, the rest did their job. Game changed when doku and savinho came on, we had a very good second half we were just up against a very well drilled side that played well themselves.

Very much agree with this — apart from Foden and Marmoush, I thought the side was fine in the first half and better in the second, still better after the subs. Just didn’t take a wide number of good chances in the first 60. Could well and should have been up by 2 or 3 before Soton even had a shot. For whatever reason I never had a doubt this match, especially as we piled the pressure on. Credit to Soton as they played well in and out of possession.

 

[coolcity]

Doku was not even here during the treble season. There were no better teams than us in terms of teamplay, even 2 seasons ago as I wrote to You - we been champions and extremely unlucky against Real in UCL. Nobodys been better in the final third in terms of understand between them or combinations in 2022/23, even in 2023/24 I would say. Its not a FIFA video game.

My problem to the point? You are setting an impossible standard and then bashing people for not meeting it, specifically our footballers in this case. I see it as 'cheap' criticism that results in unrealistic visions and arguments that just don't hold up in the real world.

Great post. Far too many in this forum think we should be beating every team by a significant margin every week.

It beggars belief that Pep's won 19 trophies got us in 10 years and chance of another two and another domestic treble this season, while breaking another record - first ever team to reach 4 consecutive FAC finals - yet you would think we were scrapping for a mid table place the way some of them moan.

I don't even understand why they bother following us at all if they think we're that bad. It's embarrassing and puzzling to me as we continue on through the greatest period in our history, a period that virtually no other club will ever match.

 

[coolcity]

Back in the hotel, never ever understand why you don’t start strong and then rotate. Much more effort expended today doing it the other way around. Hard watch but we are in the final again. That game took it out of me but good to be there again.

Because what do you do if you play your first choice XI and it's 0-0 (or worse) after 80 minutes? Bring them off and put on your lesser players? You just can not play your best eleven in every single match when you're fighting in 4 competitions every season.