NOR fucks up twice in 5 minutes, and it costs, conceding promising plays to the opposition. You see, ignorance of danger and inexperience cost (remember Chelsea's equalizer?). However, I can name players, far more experienced, who cannot be satisfied with their performance tonight. Some of them came from the bench, maybe because they were not trusted to start anyway. Miles away from the required standard...
Penalty in the end (sorry that's not football, that play belongs to wrestling), they gave it against Romero (Spurs, by the way) for fouling Burn vs Newcastle. This is probably worse, but it was ignored...
Do I blame the ref? Nope. Why? Because this is not new. Quite the opposite, it's the norm. We are officiated differently, period. This is cancer, we grew older with this, it's going on for 10 consecutive years. The club is supposed to be aware of the situation. That means, taking appropriate measures and actions OFF AS WELL AS ON the pitch. That also means we have to try harder. We have to be perfect. I'm sorry, that's the discipline for City...
I do not enjoy posting these days, and if I do I will only repeat myself, so what's the point? The club's "strategy", a sequence of managerial decisions, remains a mystery to me, I cannot find any logic behind them. Tonight, for example, balances in midfield were extremely delicate, once again. We had a lot of players operating there, yet we lacked control in the absolute key area of the pitch. Not competitive enough with the ball, fragile without it. Story of this season...
However, that only comes as a consequence of 2 elements, the combination of which pretty much defines City's reality for years:
a. Low, or extremely low, energy levels.
b. Major drop in terms of individual quality.
With the exception of Chelsea, once again we started preseason when all other teams were on the final stages of it. Basically, when all other teams were completing it. However, the club insists on operating in the framework of a small squad. The team has been a moving hospital for months, obliged to register kids as subs. Players that would never appear on the pitch (unless, of course, we ever had a 3 goals lead advantage or something). We have wasted numerous quality opportunities in the transfer market for years, players who could have helped us in every single area of the pitch from the beginning or after a short period of adaptation. Players who left their clubs for cheap or reasonable, in any case definitely affordable prices. [By the way, I will resist the temptation to mention names here, I will definitely not enter that discussion for obvious reasons. I am sure every single member of this forum reading these lines fully understands what I mean]. Instead we have "invested" huge hopes and expectations to some young, talented players, who need time to develop. Exactly because they are not finished articles. Also to some seniors who have not offered till now what was expected from them. Nevertheless we still remain limited in certain positions, and it shows. So I guess the club is not particularly "hungry", is it? I mean, it seems like the club is willing to wait, with the team operating as a "vehicle" for the development of certain players...
Is the above statement correct though? After all, we are letting Oscar Bob leave, for example, aren't we? So I guess we are not waiting for his progress anymore. Make that make sense. Because the fact remains that we did count on Oscar Bob for half a season, didn't we? I know it's rather uncomfortable, but let me remind you that City started with Bob away at A. Villa, just an example. Do you remember Villa's position on the table at that moment? That match was the beginning of a magnificent streak, leading to 3rd place. Yes, the match vs City. Oscar Bob does not start for A. Villa at that moment of time. You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. In fact, Oscar Bob does not have a place in Emery's bench. We also started with Savio in that match, would he start for Emery? I fully support the man, but I'm not sure Matheus starts ahead of M. Cash either. Not to mention, we started with Rudolph and Bernardo in midfield, if you remember. And so on. Why shouldn't THAT City lose against that Villa, can somebody please explain? We are talking about Villa, by the way. Not Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Arsenal etc. Is that clear?
Did I mention Arsenal? Against them, that was the 3rd match in a week with the same lineup. Forget about the lineup itself for a moment, how competitive you think it is / can be, focus on what I' ve just written instead. With Pep giving his best Helenio Herrera impression, and with players who could hardly walk, never mind run. Erling goes through in the 2nd half, he scores there it's 0-2, practically game over. But he's "dead", so he delivers a routine strike, easy for their GK. People forget such "details" for some reason, "details" that decide the outcome of matches. A few minutes later, Erling will naturally be subbed (Phil was already off). The thing is, we were dying out there, yet the manager had to wait until 87' so as to introduce Savio, apparently he could not trust the boy for more minutes in such a game -and he was right. On the other hand, Arteta brought people like Saka, Eze (who was considered surplus for City, I assume), even Martinelli, from the bench! And guess what, it was the latter who scored in 90' + 2, saving Arsenal. How can that be possible for a club expected to compete at the highest possible level? What exactly are we debating here? Let's not pretend we do not understand what's going on. And let's not forget that this shit would never happen (and it did not happen) at City under Mancini or Pelegrini. Period...
The team used to "carry" Phil (the model procedure: his progress did not "hurt" City), no we are "carrying" a lot of players, for different reasons. It's supposed to be the other way around. So you're thinking, in 2, 4, 6 months the kids could show significant progress. However, in 2, 4, 6 months it could be bye bye to the PL, CL etc. History does not wait for you, I'm sorry. But as I've already said, that's not even the case any more for Oscar, the boy is being sold. Good luck to him, I have zero complaints from him or Savio, it's not their fault. As for Hugo Viana, he gets zero credit for Antoine's transfer, for example, as far as I am concerned. The player (not good tonight, by the way, despite his goal) arrived 6 months late, to say the least. And guess what, we are never getting the above mentioned (Villa away) 3 points back, if you understand what I mean. I know exactly the mess Viana has inherited from his predecessor, I am fully aware of his starting position. But, unlike his predecessor, an extremely lucky man, he seems to have a football as well as a managerial brain. Which means, I expected more. Everything he's done so far is / seems to be in the right direction, let me put is this way. Yet it's half measures. Period...
A few final comments regarding tonight's match. This is the PL, right? Which means:
- You don't win games by avoiding to play the whole match.
- You don't win games by showing fear to the opposistion.
- You don't win games if you lose all fucking duels, being bullied throughout 90', always second on the ball.
- You don't win games if you lack focus and concentration, offensively as well as defensively (this team is experienced enough to know this, take my word for it).
This group of players has gone WAY BEYOND its limits for years. Beating fatigue, nature itself, in the framework of a brilliant strategy emphasizing on control. On the basis of maintaining possession of the ball and keeping rhythm as low as possible, thus cancelling opposition's advantage in terms of energy levels. It has never EVER happened before (for so long, by the way), it will never happen again. Yet we are struggling with this strategy at the moment (despite the introduction of a variety of very interesting new tactical ideas), and the reason is directly associated with the drop of quality I've mentioned above. We are not as creative as we should be with the ball, we are not as solid as we should be without it. We are struggling to control matches. Which, in turn, leads to lack of confidence, it's more than obvious. It was City's attitude, a City avoiding to compete, lacking ambition in their game, that gave hope to Spurs during 2nd half...
That's the most painful thing for me tonight. We accepted a team with a well known history deliver their usual WC Final performance against City. Appear like winners (which they aren't). People like Palhinha, Simons, Solanke etc (not being disrespectful here, they are good players, no doubt about that) appear like monsters. And so on. We had them where we wanted, and we threw it away. The mindset was totally wrong. It's highly disapointing and painful, I know, but I'm trying to focus on the "whys". Limitations in certain positions, lack of quality, lack of freshness, are stuff obvious for everyone to observe. Stuff bound to have an influence to a team's morale and performance. But there's also another dimension: You keep bringing good players in a squad so as to maintain the "hunger". We have players in that squad who have won a lot. Too much actually. I'm not questioning their professionalism, never will. It's human nature. New good players will strengthen you, facilitate the rotation policy effectively (which provides freshness), enhance internal competition, keep motivation high...
Bottom line: All these years, City's hierarchy thought they had found the winning formula. They were wrong. They were always wrong. It only worked because of the Guardiola factor. Take a look at the circumstances under which he delivered, take a look at our squads all these years. Take a good look. I have talked repeatedly about this, I'm not coming back. No manager would ever be in a position to design a strategy with 4 CBs, just an example, one of so many. It would never EVER occur. I assume Pep did not ask, never mind demand, City's hierarchy did not respond. And he went on to win the treble. In the 21st century, with 4 CBs. [If you think what I' ve just written went unnoticed in the football industry and media, think again. You're wrong. They chose silence. I wonder why...]. We have been violating basic principles of the sport, we have been disrespecting common logic for years. Last season history and nature took their revenge. I'm praying it won't happen again this season. The idea of watching that **** in London celebrating is already killing me, I know I will never recover. I know it. But if it happens, we only have ourselves to blame...
Hugo Viana has a lot of work to do. Good luck to the team...
PS. I know a lot of the stuff I've written would belong to another thread. I apologize. Thank you for your time.
