Game and players perfectly summarizedAbsolutely painful display. Full of players sulking their way through the game with their heads down.
Fucking wide open every time we lose the ball. We’re dead set on stationing ourselves 40 yards from goal - teams are happy for us to do it because they know one pass or dallying on the ball means they can turn us over and be at our 2 defenders within a second.
We’ve got our centre halves being pulled all over the gaff because one of our full backs is coming central while the other one is high up trying to condense the play.
Pep’s flat out refusal to use McAtee is winding me up too. Can he be worse than what’s on there? Not a fucking chance.
Bernie and Kovacic as a midfield 2 is painful and sets the tone for the rest of the team. They play it too safe. Slow, tepid, no energy and get turned over so quickly.
Shit all the way through the team. Nobody on there willing to take responsibility or take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Painful, painful watch.
Been thinking do they know he’s going? Are they frustrated that he won’t adapt his style to suit what he’s got? Yes there are injuries and they look tired but what gets me the most is the defence is shocking, the highline is killing us.This is Peps last season.
He knows the players are done with him. It's been a great ride. It would be so typically city if his final season mirrors his first.
Hang on, haaland should have had 2 tonight, could have had 4. He had PLENTY of chanceI don't think this was a freak result. Its actually a result that we have seen the past 3 games. Yes, the injuries are not helping. But we have the talent to have won these past three. The difference is: we now have no answer for the low block and we have zero counterattack.
We have been absolutely shambles when it comes to finishing. We cannot put a ball into the net on corner kicks to save our lives. Haaland is played by two men in the box and has hardly a chance to breathe.
And when teams do attack us, we offer no desire to counter fast. None. We would rather dial it back and move up into the midfield slowly. In my opinion, any attempt at a break with 3 or less players is likely forbidden by Pep because we would likely lose the ball. So players don't want to suffer the wrath of Pep, so they bring it up slowly.
Teams have caught up to us. You're correct. Rodri would have stopped those. But he's gone. Likely for 9 more months. These aren't freak results. Teams are studying us and adapting strategy accordingly.
He’s*Don't know if this is the right thread but a player that should be on citys radar is Samu Costa at Real Mallorca strong tough energetic holding midfielder 24 heez on the cusp of a big move just come into the Portugal squad heez a leader!!
Denial right thereI really enjoyed the game, if not the result.
The thread is filled with emotion, and people saying really daft stuff, as often happens after a loss, or even dropped points.
We lost this game in a second-half spell of about ten minutes.
We had 20 shots on goal to their eight.
We could easily have been leading by 2-3 goals at half-time.
ATM, we are finding it much harder to score goals than the opponents are.
The key issue is the loss of Stones, Dias, Rodri, Bobb, Grealish, Walker, and the lack of fitness of Akanji, Ake, and DeBruyne. That is a uniquely bad injury list, and will not continue indefinitely.
We are somewhere near the top of the league and also likely to qualify for the CL.
Are other, older fans like me...a shrug of the shoulders and move on?