Southampton Vs City Post Match Discussion Thread

[Sky Blue]

Hmmm one or two suspicious posts popping up on this thread....

 

[ric619]

I think a lot of the players looked tired against Southampton which is due to Pellegrini playing practically the same players every single game. If you play the same players in the same formation all the time then its not going to be difficult for our opposition to figure out how to play against us, and as weve seen pellers clearly has no plan b. I dont think we can make excuses of "when so and so comes back we'll be better", of course we will but we also have good players on the bench not playing. Why is Demechalis playing ahead of Lescott? Kompany and Lescott was the centre back partnership we had to win the league. Why is Zaba playing every game? He looked tired against the saints, rotate him with Richards, we could have done with him bombing down the wing yesterday. Milner had a poor game i thought, should have been taken off earlier for Navas. Nagredo shouldnt have come off, he was just starved of support from a very poor midfield. Why isnt Rodwell being given a chance? I was impressed with him towards the end of last season, id play him ahead of Garcia and Kolarov (when hes placed in midfield) any day of the week. Toure had a bad game, why not take him off and give Rodwell a chance? Nasri had a bad game, again probably from fatigue. And what ive noticed with pellers is his subs seem to be the wrong choices in my opinion. Too often he takes off a striker and puts in a player to hold the midfield when were chasing the game and need a goal. Nagredo and Aguero have been in blistering form, we needed a goal so he took off nagredo around the 50-60th minute and stuck garcia in the middle :/ can not work that out. I hate to be one of those fans that calls for a manager to go but i just dont see pellegrini winning the title with us. In my opinion we should be top already this season given how poorly a lot of the other teams are playing. The fact that we are one game away from giving arsenal the title already is just nto good enough and i see no signs of improving.

 

[lasereyes]

Afternoon City fans,

I am a Saints fan who was at the game yesterday and I would just like to let you all know, without giving it the spotlight of it's own thread, that you were terribly let down by a group of fellow 'City fans' after the match.

I go to Saints games on my own nowadays because I love my club and it is the situation I have found myself in. I always keep myself to myself, except in the stands to enjoy the football and nothing else, then return home 15 minutes walk from the stadium. However, I unfortunately returned home yesterday with a slightly bloody nose after being headbutted by one of your brainless so-called supporters who had decided it was I who had called him a 'fat b*st*rd', despite walking along minding my own business on the opposite side of the road. I noticed this group of morons a little further up the road since they were giving it the big one to police cycling past and walking in front of traffic. I could hear them shouting across the road but wanted nothing to do with it. Next thing I know I had this guy on my shoulder and swearing in my face so I plainly told him he had the wrong guy. He then headbutted me, turned and tripped on the kerb and fell through a road sign into the road. There were no police about at this point and had I retaliated I'm almost certain I'd have further been on the end of a real kicking from the rest of them so I quickly carried on with my way home to avoid more trouble while absolutely furious knowing they would get away with this. I'm still very angry about it today which is why I'm making this post. I know what a great club Manchester City is and I know Mancunian City fans so I respect what has gone on at the Etihad in recent years, despite your lack of English talent. I also share a hate for the red half of Manchester like many other football fans and it's great to be above them still. I would never tarnish a whole set of fans with the same brush and I'm sure virtually all of you will be ashamed of the actions from a blue few yesterday.

Thanks, good luck in your pursuit of the title.

Really sorry to hear this, bud. Unfortunately there are cretins in all walks of life. Kudos to you for walking away. And thanks for your comments on City in general. The vast majority of us just want to see good Football and Blue wins. And of course United being humiliated never hurts :)

 

[lasereyes]

People are getting carried away by Arsenal just wait and see how things pan out there is still a lot of football to be played

Agreed. Besides we have our magician returning against them next weekend. Lets see how they handle Merlin. I actually think that we have coped well considering he is very close to being our best player.

In relation to last nights game, there are a number of ways of looking at it. It was an improvement on last seasons debacle. In the context of what will probably be a long and close season the point might prove to be invaluable. Also I don't think Nasri was quite as sharp as he has been he has been in the past few games. That made a difference.

I also think that there is a persuasive case to adopt 4-2-3-1 for many of the away games. Playing Kun and Alvaro up top in a 4-4-2 formation led to us being swamped in midfield. At stages they seemed to have more players on the park than us. I hope MP does adapt. He did so in the Chelsea game and it worked effectively. It's simply the case that on occasions we need the extra body in midfield.

Prior to the game their Manager said they were going to press us high up the park and swamp the midfield. It seems that we remain vulnerable to this while we continue to play 2 strikers.

I remain a fan of MP. I have seen sublime football played by this team this season, even better than the Championship season. If we don't sort out some of the issues about formation this season for one reason or another, you can bet we will be an even better team next season, once Txiki works his magic in the transfer market again.

Agree with this post. I am also generally positive on MP and the way he conducts himself. Vast improvement over RM on that score. One observation is he does seem to have somewhat set-in-stone ideas that he is reluctant to change. Like 4-4-2. Milner must play Center Right. Richards can't play CB. Blind spot with Garcia. DeMichelis over Lescott regardless of the evidence. He needs to learn from mistakes rather than repeating them hoping that lady luck will smile on us. We are in a dogfight and don't have much margin for error. The one time he went in with a good gameplan on the road was against Chelsea where he did play a 4-5-1. And although he selected Garcia rather than Milner or Rodwell and Aguero was a bit isolated in offence, we held our own and should have got a good point but for the Hart/Nastasic fuck-up at the end.

 

[evank23]

Those of us there felt that we didn't even deserve the point. Although if sergio had been himself we could have scored a couple more.

Can anyone upload a video with the cheers at st marys when sky was showing utd lose and the gloom faces? My phone had died. It was magic but couldn't find anything on youtube although lots of people were recording

 

[TueartsOHK]

Really embarassing to see that a few Saints fans have been angry enough to join this forum just because some mindless twat(s) assaulted them. These oxygen thiefs are not football fans - they are an embarassment to the club.

On football matters...as a few posters have already said, I think a point was about all we derserved from the game - I don't think we ever looked like winning it. I still don't understand Pellegrini's stubborn insistence on always playing 2 forwards against a team that are extremely good at keeping posession and pressing teams to get the ball back. For a lot of the game our forwards were isolated whilst our midfield was struggling to retain posession. He changed this after about an hour but the pattern of the game already seemed set. Why we brought Dzeko on was a complete mystery - in a game when were not getting enough of the ball how is Dzeko going to help our cause?

Hopefully a few of our key players will be rested in the week. Aguero and Toure both look knackered

 

[Marvin]

In Mancini's time, possession was King

This has changed under Pellegrini. We often play with just 2 central midfielders, Navas, Nasri and two out and out forwards

This means we don't monopolise possession in the way we used to, but it should mean that when we do have possession we are much more dangerous. That's certainly how it's worked out at home. For example we battered Spurs and could have done the same to Swansea, but on each occasion they had more possession than we did.

We were a bit more conservative against Southampton starting with Milner instead of Navas

I thought a point was a very fair result, although I think it's noteworthy that Southampton created very little and were reliant on a great bit of individual skill to beat Pantillimon. I mention that because a great deal is made of City being weak defensively and City getting caught out in this regards away from home. But that's not really true. We've been caught out this season away from home after a series of one off errors. Southampton away was probably our best defensive performance of the season. Unfortunately the rest of the team had an off day

 

[Denis Law's Backheel]

Afternoon City fans,

I am a Saints fan who was at the game yesterday and I would just like to let you all know, without giving it the spotlight of it's own thread, that you were terribly let down by a group of fellow 'City fans' after the match.

I go to Saints games on my own nowadays because I love my club and it is the situation I have found myself in. I always keep myself to myself, except in the stands to enjoy the football and nothing else, then return home 15 minutes walk from the stadium. However, I unfortunately returned home yesterday with a slightly bloody nose after being headbutted by one of your brainless so-called supporters who had decided it was I who had called him a 'fat b*st*rd', despite walking along minding my own business on the opposite side of the road. I noticed this group of morons a little further up the road since they were giving it the big one to police cycling past and walking in front of traffic. I could hear them shouting across the road but wanted nothing to do with it. Next thing I know I had this guy on my shoulder and swearing in my face so I plainly told him he had the wrong guy. He then headbutted me, turned and tripped on the kerb and fell through a road sign into the road. There were no police about at this point and had I retaliated I'm almost certain I'd have further been on the end of a real kicking from the rest of them so I quickly carried on with my way home to avoid more trouble while absolutely furious knowing they would get away with this. I'm still very angry about it today which is why I'm making this post. I know what a great club Manchester City is and I know Mancunian City fans so I respect what has gone on at the Etihad in recent years, despite your lack of English talent. I also share a hate for the red half of Manchester like many other football fans and it's great to be above them still. I would never tarnish a whole set of fans with the same brush and I'm sure virtually all of you will be ashamed of the actions from a blue few yesterday.

Thanks, good luck in your pursuit of the title.

Really sorry to hear this, bud. Unfortunately there are cretins in all walks of life. Kudos to you for walking away. And thanks for your comments on City in general. The vast majority of us just want to see good Football and Blue wins. And of course United being humiliated never hurts :)

Just HAD to get the little "lack of English talent" jibe in though didn't he............................

 

[Plaything of the gods]

Afternoon City fans,

I am a Saints fan who was at the game yesterday and I would just like to let you all know, without giving it the spotlight of it's own thread, that you were terribly let down by a group of fellow 'City fans' after the match.

I go to Saints games on my own nowadays because I love my club and it is the situation I have found myself in. I always keep myself to myself, except in the stands to enjoy the football and nothing else, then return home 15 minutes walk from the stadium. However, I unfortunately returned home yesterday with a slightly bloody nose after being headbutted by one of your brainless so-called supporters who had decided it was I who had called him a 'fat b*st*rd', despite walking along minding my own business on the opposite side of the road. I noticed this group of morons a little further up the road since they were giving it the big one to police cycling past and walking in front of traffic. I could hear them shouting across the road but wanted nothing to do with it. Next thing I know I had this guy on my shoulder and swearing in my face so I plainly told him he had the wrong guy. He then headbutted me, turned and tripped on the kerb and fell through a road sign into the road. There were no police about at this point and had I retaliated I'm almost certain I'd have further been on the end of a real kicking from the rest of them so I quickly carried on with my way home to avoid more trouble while absolutely furious knowing they would get away with this. I'm still very angry about it today which is why I'm making this post. I know what a great club Manchester City is and I know Mancunian City fans so I respect what has gone on at the Etihad in recent years, despite your lack of English talent. I also share a hate for the red half of Manchester like many other football fans and it's great to be above them still. I would never tarnish a whole set of fans with the same brush and I'm sure virtually all of you will be ashamed of the actions from a blue few yesterday.

Thanks, good luck in your pursuit of the title.

Sorry to hear that. Appalling behaviour. Glad you're OK and haven't taken against all of us. You've got a great footballing side there and a great atmosphere in the stadium as well. All the best.<br /><br />-- 09 Dec 2013, 11:21 --<br /><br />

Just HAD to get the little "lack of English talent" jibe in though didn't he............................

It's true though, isn't it!

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

A lot of posters have expressed, yet again, their concern at playing only 2 central midfielders and I agree with those concerns. In favour it gives us width, which we haven't had for a good few seasons, especially when Navas is on the field, but it means we don't have real depth. When we don't have the ball we can be stretched lengthwise and widthwise. It means that there can be acres of space for teams, like Southampton, who play 5 in midfield. Another result is that our lads spend too much time chasing the ball, something for which Ya Ya is not really equipped as other posters have argued, and we suffer from fatigue in the later stages.

On Saturday Southampton looked a very good team with some very good players. They passed the ball and kept possession and they looked the more likely winners as the game wore on. And this was not a full strength Southampton side. I feel that this was yet another example of us making a reasonable side look better than they actually are. Posters have been telling us that this is one of our toughest away matches and that Southampton have great players. Their players are not as good as ours. Their record at home suggests vulnerability as well. They have won 4 at home, but only against Palace, Fulham, Hull and Swansea. Sunderland and West Ham came away with draws and Villa took all 3 points. This should have been 3 points to City, but after the first 25 minutes a win never looked likely.

If we play the same formation against Bayern....