Spurs (A) - Post-Match Thread

After some calm thinking, I don’t think the performance was extremely bad. Certainly not our worst performance this season but we have seen this type of game before.

Every opposition player defending with the striker playing as cdm and no space for kdb to exploit. Our players are not super humans that would always go past 4 or 5 defenders. I won’t blame our players because they are always outnumbered and I can’t expect them to always go past 2-4 defenders. Maybe we conceded cheap goals but 1 point does not really help, we needed 3 points but didn’t score.

we have to stop trying to break down our opponents sometimes if it isn’t working. We have to force them to come at us so they can expand and we hit them on the break because it seems we are struggling to break down low blocks. Teams are too compact and I don’t expect it to change cause it is working for them.
 
5 Hit Gibbon said:
There's only 3 certainties in life: death, taxes & City getting shafted by VAR/dodgy officiating.
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I wonder if, and I’m not one for placing bets. But. I wonder if ya can place a bet as to whether or not there’ll be a VAR decision for or against a team in a game.

There could be 2 positives.
1.The winnings will help pay those taxes....
2. The winnings will also help me choke down the dodgy VAr calls each week, thus with slightly less stress in my life I’ll life longer...

this obviously means I’ll be hanging around longer to pay more taxes before I die and the cycle is complete
 
Nelinho said:
There won't be many of you or me around this evening probably, but I guess we're used to that, aren't we?

Probably one of our best performances this season, in terms of pace and sharpness. Conceding an early goal, the way we did, and especially having a goal disallowed in that manner, increased the frustration within the team, resulting in wrong decision making during certain actions which could have easily ended with a different outcome...

Nevertheless City dominated the game once again against a top 6 team away, and if we have to pay the price for the philosophy we have chosen to adopt, so be it. At the same time, if this, typically for Mourinho, opportunistic strategy can help Spurs make a serious challenge for the title this season, good luck to them. I'm happy not being one of their supporters though...

Having said that, a couple of brief comments :
  • Our defensive behavior remains a systematic weakness. Improving the personnel is certainly a step forward, but it's not enough. City's style, set up, team structure and selection, constitute a by default risky strategy. Our defensive coordination needs to be perfect so as to support the concept of a high defensive line. It isn't. Our reaction in that first goal, individually as well as a unit, was terrible. And by the way : aren't we familiar enough with Son's movement or / and Kane's intelligence creating space for the former?
  • The lack of an easy goal is another systematic weakness. City have suffered through the years, so many times having been punished in matches they clearly deserved to win. Kane and Son, for example, are natural scorers, able to convert half a chance - and Mourinho becomes a genius. Why we did not invest in the striker area, especially this season, is totally beyond me. Furthermore, I am not sure our recruiting policy gives the necessary emphasis in the goal scoring attribute. Technique, creativity and vision define our game, an identity I love and admire. But without an end product, creativity becomes meaningless...
  • Last but not least, the lack of preseason, you won't find a factor more systematic than that. This is not an anomaly of a temporary nature, expected to simply disappear or get fixed smoothly. Because it won't. It will follow the team throughout the season, it will influence its performance. Period. It's incredible some people fail to understand this reality, strongly related to vital elements of City's game such as high, sustainable energy...
It will be a difficult season and the players will need all the support they can get. Some of them, like Bernardo or Kevin, are not in their best form, others, like Kyle, should forget this match as soon as possible. But the effort was there, the professionalism of these men cannot be questioned. Now they need to find the strength to react. They will need to find their confidence again, they will need to show determination. The team's unity is expected to be key here...

PS. Guardiola's contract extension fulfills a strategic priority for the club, I'm absolutely delighted with it. Having said that, I find the disrespect expressed towards the manager and / or certain players embarrassing for this forum, to say the least. I have nothing against constructive criticism, on the contrary I believe in it. Under different circumstances, I myself would be more open contributing to it. But that's not what we're experiencing here, clearly not. Too much negativity around, to which I am not willing to contribute. As I've said in a previous post, towards this attitude, people like me will always defend the team. The manager and the players, this manager and these particular players, have nothing to prove, as far as I am concerned...
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They are lacking the mettle required and you are entitled to defend them and their performances but we have generally been poor in the transfer market over the past 6 windows and you highlight one position where we have not set us up for sustained challenge.

The squad and the game plan is not good enough anymore some call it transition sometimes particularly when you don't keep the winning mentality in the squad and recruit players with this mentality and hunger for sustained success you will go backwards and fast.

its been extremely easy for every opponent this season to stay in games against us.

Dropping 12 points already is totally unacceptable even for this squad and we will drop many more.

I believe we will be out of the title race before Christmas or early new year which a few would have predicted before the season but nevertheless is not acceptable and heads should roll but they have to be the right ones.

Ake comes from a relegated side and Torres while young and seen as a replacement for Sane has not tasted much success with Valencia.

We can be a power again but the squad needs a major reset despite recent additions.

The jury is out whether this can be achieved under Pep.
 
LongsightM13 said:
I would respectfully disagree that there was much pace or sharpness on show. Four or five touches when we used to take one or two has been a depressing feature of the last 18 months.
I think questioning the professionalism of a group of elite international footballers whose heads and hearts visibly sink when they concede, and who seem incapable of winning from a goal down, is fair enough.
And if a lack of pre-season is the main reason for this malaise then what explains the entirety of last season, when we were similarly underachieving? And why isn’t he more proactive with his use of substitutes?
Genuine questions btw. I just don’t see how he can turn this around without accepting his mistakes with a huge dose of humility, rather than doubling down on his most self destructive urges
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You can’t always expect one touch passes though. With the way Tottenham set up you can’t expect one touch pass because they were compact and you would lose the ball always.

I myself have questioned our players attitude and why they played like they are not arsed and play with no urgency but I feel we reacted well after conceding the first goal maybe heads were dropped after second but I felt they reacted well.
 
Tokyo32 said:
You can’t always expect one touch passes though. With the way Tottenham set up you can’t expect one touch pass because they were compact and you would lose the ball always.

I myself have questioned our players attitude and why they played like they are not arsed and play with no urgency but I feel we reacted well after conceding the first goal maybe heads were dropped after second but I felt they reacted well.
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Moving the ball quickly is one of the best ways to beat a low block. Along, of course, with genuine natural width as you said previously.
Our record in coming from behind to win is pitiful for a squad of this quality.
 
LongsightM13 said:
I would respectfully disagree that there was much pace or sharpness on show. Four or five touches when we used to take one or two has been a depressing feature of the last 18 months.
I think questioning the professionalism of a group of elite international footballers whose heads and hearts visibly sink when they concede, and who seem incapable of winning from a goal down, is fair enough.
And if a lack of pre-season is the main reason for this malaise then what explains the entirety of last season, when we were similarly underachieving? And why isn’t he more proactive with his use of substitutes?
Genuine questions btw. I just don’t see how he can turn this around without accepting his mistakes with a huge dose of humility, rather than doubling down on his most self destructive urges
Click to expand...
if he doesn't change even if its some tough love for players we think are certain starters as he said he will be cut loose at seasons end.

Clearly its not working it didn't last season and this season has seen a further regression.

I think the vast majority would conclude our transfer activity is not up to scratch ,it has been sub par for too long now and the inevitable consequences of that are painfully obvious now.

Every club drops off eventually these days in the premiership relatively quickly and now its our turn we slid under MP in his last two years and RM in his final year.

Only Pep and Klopp remain as managers of title winning teams still at the same club and despite their extensions you doubt both will see their current contracts out.
 
Taking the first game out of the equation we have scored 7 goals in 7! That is a scary stat considering players at our disposal! Relegation form! Kdb aguero sterling etc...what is going so badly wrong?
How the fuck are we still playing a rb at lb! Argh frustrating!
Btw I don’t post much, more of a lurker but tempted to post more, had to vent some anger after that!

anyway MCFC OK
 
IMO the problem we have is that no mater what we do teams will sit in. Now we have the issue that we don't have that key (Merlin). Kev cannot play in small spaces like we need him to, so as Spurs did, when teams sit in with a back 8, unless we take a half chance, then we will always leave ousrselves open to a 1-2 shot team. So if we sit in, eventually we will come out and leave a hole. if we sit in, we will have even less shots on target. I'm not a stats sorta guy, BUT we simply don't create clear chances anymore. But it's all good, cos we have 80% possession!!! Pep has signed his new deal, now he needs to show/prove that he's not a one trick pony. 17-19 was the best football ever seen, but that's gone. So Pep earn that wage and make them players be as good as we hope (think) they are
 
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