Sporting CP (A) | CL | Post Match Thread

[the blue panther]

This'll probably get lost in the 50 odd pages that have suddenly appeared but, here goes:-

If you don't take your chances - shit happens. I could stop there but I won't.

If you play a kid at the back in his first full game, away, with a big crowd and against a bull of a centre forward, shit is likely to happen. The bull scored 3; he should have bagged 5.

If you give 2 penalties away with challenges the worst amateur is unlikely to do, more shit'll happen. Gvardiol didn't need to challenge his man as Akanje was right there covering. Nunes played like the wimp he's looked in all but the last 3 games, and his pull back in the area on the arm of the guy he gave the ball away to was pathetic - what did he expect?

Haaland - even he's lost a bit of confidence and that's not surprising as he isn't being fed enough, but, if you miss a penalty and the chance to get us back to 3-2, heads drop and more shit happens. Savinho; great dribbling tonight but no end product at all.

I think we can see that, without Rodri, shit will happen, but especially so if we keep playing the high line. I think that even Pep might have reached his limit on us getting caught out like we do repeatedly, so it'll be interesting to see if he tweaks things going forward.

Let's get through the Brighton game, then hopefully reset with a fitter squad and restart the season again like we did after November 2022 - our greatest season ever.

 

[Tolmie scores]

'We could have scored more'

FT: Sporting 4-1 Man City

Sporting forward Viktor Gyokeres to Uefa: "It's always nice to score and even better to score a hat-trick. Most important was to win the game so it was a brilliant night for us.

"We knew it was going to be tough and we didn't start off well. We knew they would give us space and we could have scored more than four to be fair. They could have scored more as well.

"You need to raise your level when you play better opponents. I tried to keep doing what I've been doing."

On manager Ruben Amorim leaving for Manchester United: "We will miss him a lot. We've done amazing things together. We will miss him and the other guys in the staff who will leave. We have to look forward and attack the next challenge ahead of us."

There is the crucial part. "We knew they would give us space."

So did we Viktor, so did we.....

every week - space wins games - sadly that's not for us that style

 

[paulchapo]

4-1 Man City


Manchester City

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva to TNT Sports: "It's disappointing because we're a bit in a dark place right now. Everything looks to be going in the wrong way.

"Even when we are playing well we don't score our chances and we concede too easily. We definitely need to look inside and check what we're not doing well. And we need to get better very quickly otherwise it will be very difficult to come back from these losses.

"It's football. It's difficult to find reasons for what is happening to us. I don't remember in seven-and-a-half seasons this team losing three games in a row. It just looks like this team is going the wrong way now.

"The good thing is even though we have lost these three games we are still in a good position especially in the Premier League. After losing three games we are still in the main competitions fighting for everything. But we need to better, obviously.

"Our injured players need to come back because we need them and it's just not good enough tonight."

 

[stan bowles]

Ever the optimist Stan ?

More of a realist actually.

 

[East Level 2]

Can we please stop saying Nunes is ok and making excuses for him.

The man is absolutely wank. How can there be so many of you who just won’t have it?.

He's looked half decent against a couple of poor teams. Therefore he's brilliant.

 

[Mike N]

Baffles me why any Blue pays any attention to the rag **** that is sam lee

He’s an utter shithouse.

 

[coolcity]

Injuries should never ever be an excuse. And if our whole season in all competitions depends on one single player going off injured then we don't deserve to win anything in the next 10 years. This is all on Pep and if he is such a great coach, and I think he is, he should be able to get out the second team out on the pitch and play some coherent tactics. For some reason or other Pep just abandoned every single principle he's been following for years. And letting go of so many good players with replacements nowhere good and this Faustian deal with Haaland is finally bringing results!

Sorry, but Rodri, De Bruyne, Ake, Walker, Stones, Savinho, Doku, Grealish, Bobb, the list goes on...it's not just one player FFS!

You "think" Pep is a good coach? We've just won four titles in a row, NO club has EVER done that. And the rest, domestic treble, full blown treble etc.

No team on the planet that have had to make the changes that we have had to make pretty much since the start of the season, with arguably our two best players out for most of it and Boob, who looked like he would make a real difference based on pre-season displays plus Rodri out for the entire season - yet only now have we really slipped. One Carabou match which we didn't take too seriously, rightly so in our current position, one solitary league defeat against a Bournemouth side that don't concede many, and tonight's match away to a very good side with a couple of soft penalties against and one missed, which may well have changed the game completely had it gone it.

The only problem is that people cannot recognise the difference between a blip caused mostly by a severe injury list, and a crisis.

 

[Josh_D]

Finally just watched the second half. This reminds me of the 4-0 Leicester loss in the 16/17 season.

The lads will be ok. Poor showing from some but a system change may be needed to steady the ship. The underlapping and inverting is creating space at the back that no one covers.

If there’s any time to back the lads, it’s now. It’s a rocky ship currently but we should be all hands on deck to give them our support.

 

[Kippax77]

He is likely to be fit enough to play due to the circumstances, like Laporte do for us, but the injury is affecting him that is obvious So yeah bravo to him what would the alternative be? Play someone even less fit or another kid?

Play players that can try and win us a football match.
No interested Laporte mate

 

[lunebleu]

Embrace the adversity. Most of us have seen it, lived through it and come out the other side better for the experience.
There’s a lot of our fanbase who will never relate to that and have known only good times.
Believe me, it makes you appreciate things much better when things go pear shaped after success.
We are going through it at the moment, on and off the field. The next few months are going to be seismic and it’s probably a good time to rally round and show a bit of support for a group who have made all our dreams come true in the last few years.

We went 34 years without winning anything…… I think the old guard City fans will cope with this current blip. More recent fans sound like they need counselling after this trauma.

 

[East Level 2]

4-1 away at Lincoln in League Cup. I knew we’d never win a fucking trophy ever again with that shower of utter shit.

We were great for the first 60 seconds.

 

[Gordyola]

I agree with some of this but "Relentless games" is not true. Liverpool have played exactly the same amount of games. They are not in the same position as us. They do not have the same injuries as us. Nor the same ability to commit defensive suicide every game at least 3 times.

This season maybe but no where near what ours have played in the last three or so, we had the most players at the Euro’s and the WC before that ours also went deeper in the competitions both for City and their countries

 

[manimanc]

The "we was shite once so anything that happens in the future is ok" post. Bingo. What a load of shite, when we was shite it wasn't fun but it was expected. No pot to piss in, average players and so on. It isn't the 90s anymore mate, we are a juggernaut of a football club with the best manager and players in the game. Losing games happens, losing playing like a bunch of half arsed idiots shouldn't ever happen

Ah well horses for courses and all that.
I've followed us for nearly 40 years so I feel I can say what I say and mean it. Yes I compare the past with today and rightly so as it was shite but it was also great not having a pot to piss in as that what made us.
Anyway I'm getting sidetracked. We're only human. We aren't robots. This has been coming for a long while, teams lose form, players get tired.
Calling this team half arsed idiots shows how entitled a lot of our fans have become, now that is a load of shite.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Yes but does not excuse us being so awful with our finishing, Even our goal was straight at the keeper who messed up

I couldn't agree more. We miss far too many chances .

Pretty sure Pep knows that too.

 

[Bluewars II]

Yeah honestly this is daft. We’ve gone from wingers who score 15+ to these lot. If Haaland doesn’t turn up we’re fucked

Any elite level winger would struggle getting G/As in this City team, it's not the quality of winger it's a combination of teams playing so deep against us and Peps tactics.

 

[ancoats]

We've been shite for weeks mate.

We still love city but let's have it right.

Injuries or not the "way" the teams playing is tactically shit.

And before you say your a bigger blue, I could easily take being beat of the scum 10 nil as long as I could see our team trying.

We've been shite.

a couple of things..
I would never say I am a bigger blue than anybody else and losing hurts me just like everybody else.
The team did try tonight, but we put ourselves under pressure after missing loads of chances in the first half

Look behind the scenes nobody knows what going on ? Pep leaving ? Players are struggling but we just don't know.
They say you don't become a great team overnight, But I also don't think you become a shit team overnight as well

We all have to stick together and get behind the team right now, The media will be loving it right now and we will be getting shit left right and centre so do we really need to help by slagging off our own club and fans

 

[The Black Shed]

Somewhere lurking within Manchester City is a brilliant counter attacking side. I just wonder (not being a coach, manager obvs), what tactical changes could be made to play this way, other than pulling the high defensive line and the horseshoe attacking pattern back into our half. Give some space for the wingers to run into and get fed.

 

[Metal Biker]

*I left here, I left here, I left here when we were shit (for six daaays)
I left here when we were shit*

 

[paulchapo]

4-1 Man City


Manchester City

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, speaking to TNT Sports: “Cannot say much when you lose 4-1. Congratulations to Sporting Lisbon for the game.

“We had a fantastic first half, now we are struggling to score. We create and concede when the opponents don’t do much.

“The first half was really good, we scored a goal, but every pass, the simple things we missed sometimes.

“It can happen. After the third and the fourth we have to avoid it. Emotionally we were not stable enough and in this competition you have to be stable. At 2-1, many things can happen. We have to be emotionally more stable.

“It was a very good action for them. They made a good moment, they were fast and scored."

Defensive changes a problem? “Maybe. I don’t know. When you play lots of games you cannot play the same line up and same back four. We have had these problems for day one but it is what it is.

"Now is the difficult moment in terms of results but I want to be here. I want to fight and not give up, I like this challenge as a manager I have ahead of me. Who wants to follow us will be there.

“It is football. Maybe what we lived in the past is the exception. Sometimes you can lose. We were in the position where they punished us for the few they do and we struggled for the chances we had.

“The first half was almost enough to finish the game and then we were losing 3-1."

 

[Blue and still suffering]

'We could have scored more'

FT: Sporting 4-1 Man City

Sporting forward Viktor Gyokeres to Uefa: "It's always nice to score and even better to score a hat-trick. Most important was to win the game so it was a brilliant night for us.

"We knew it was going to be tough and we didn't start off well. We knew they would give us space and we could have scored more than four to be fair. They could have scored more as well.

"You need to raise your level when you play better opponents. I tried to keep doing what I've been doing."

On manager Ruben Amorim leaving for Manchester United: "We will miss him a lot. We've done amazing things together. We will miss him and the other guys in the staff who will leave. We have to look forward and attack the next challenge ahead of us."

There is the crucial part. "We knew they would give us space."

So did we Viktor, so did we.....

They could have scored more! Six shots on target and two of them were penalties!