Spurs (A) | Post-Match Thread

[Inter Me Nan]

Mate, with all due respect the following was widely regarded as our strongest team playing 433. Not a mix & match with other players thrown in & a change of formation, but just these players, playing 433.

Ederson
Walker
Stones
Dias
Zinchenko
Rodri/Fernandinho
Silva
Gundog
Mahrez
KDB
Foden

This is the team universally favoured & desired by City fans. It wasn't rocket science. Now against Chelsea in the League & in the FA Cup Semi Final, how many differences were there, & what formations were we playing?

Chelsea played what was considered their strongest 11 in one match, their strongest 9 in the other & they stuck tl their preferred formation. Chelsea respected who they were facing & got their just rewards, whilst City with all the changes missed the chance to wrap up the league early twice, & lost the FA Cup semi.

Let's say there were reasons why Pep didn't pick our strongest 11 for these crucial matches, but what was the reasoning for not picking our strongest, most consistent 11 for the CL Final? :-|

I wake up at night crying sometimes wondering why the fuck didn't he play that team in the final!!!!
Oh well, onwards & upwards.

 

[decmancity]

Mate, with all due respect the following was widely regarded as our strongest team playing 433. Not a mix & match with other players thrown in & a change of formation, but just these players, playing 433.

Ederson
Walker
Stones
Dias
Zinchenko
Rodri/Fernandinho
Silva
Gundog
Mahrez
KDB
Foden

This is the team universally favoured & desired by City fans. It wasn't rocket science. Now against Chelsea in the League & in the FA Cup Semi Final, how many differences were there, & what formations were we playing?

Chelsea played what was considered their strongest 11 in one match, their strongest 9 in the other & they stuck tl their preferred formation. Chelsea respected who they were facing & got their just rewards, whilst City with all the changes missed the chance to wrap up the league early twice, & lost the FA Cup semi.

Let's say there were reasons why Pep didn't pick our strongest 11 for these crucial matches, but what was the reasoning for not picking our strongest, most consistent 11 for the CL Final? :-|

I would have played that 11 as well, but part of what we pay Pep for is to make decisions isn't it. Not just write a list of 11 players and play the same ones for 90mins every week, no?

In the FA cup semi final we had more possession, passes, better pass accuracy and shots but got beat. In the league game we had less possession, less shots, less touches and passes and got beat. Both times, different formations and different players.
We were a penalty kick away from winning that league game and squandered chances in the semi final from what I remember.
So despite the best efforts of Pep we could have walked away thinking we dominated the semi final with a secondary team and Aguero had is crowning glory and scored the penalty that won the league. Would that have changed the CL final, who knows.

Interesting you mention that, Chelsea didn't respect who they were facing in Leicester & got their just rewards in the FA cup final by being beat.

What was the reasoning for Tuchel not picking his strongest and most consistent 11 for the FA cup final?

Did he want to keep players fresh for a CL final, did he think he had some different tactics to beat Leicester compared to how they played the week before? Did Havertz knock his cup of tea out of his hands at the training ground so got dropped? Who knows.

Shit happens. Its football.

 

[Dribble]

I wake up at night crying sometimes wondering why the fuck didn't he play that team in the final!!!!
Oh well, onwards & upwards.

Three months later, I'm still lost as to why too. BUT this was the fear many City fans had in the lead up to the match, so it beggars belief that some of us are STILL trying to defend what Guardiola did in the final.

Even a Rag mate of mine messaged me just after the line up had been announced to ask what the fuck Pep was playing at! My heart sank too. Pep should have been confident enough to trust his own successes throughout the season.

We should have stuck to what had worked for us up until that point, & let Chelsea worry about overcoming us. All we managed to do was befuddle our own players, & left little protection to our defence. Madness! :-|

 

[Dribble]

I would have played that 11 as well, but part of what we pay Pep for is to make decisions isn't it. Not just write a list of 11 players and play the same ones for 90mins every week, no?

In the FA cup semi final we had more possession, passes, better pass accuracy and shots but got beat. In the league game we had less possession, less shots, less touches and passes and got beat. Both times, different formations and different players.
We were a penalty kick away from winning that league game and squandered chances in the semi final from what I remember.
So despite the best efforts of Pep we could have walked away thinking we dominated the semi final with a secondary team and Aguero had is crowning glory and scored the penalty that won the league. Would that have changed the CL final, who knows.

Interesting you mention that, Chelsea didn't respect who they were facing in Leicester & got their just rewards in the FA cup final by being beat.

What was the reasoning for Tuchel not picking his strongest and most consistent 11 for the FA cup final?

Did he want to keep players fresh for a CL final, did he think he had some different tactics to beat Leicester compared to how they played the week before? Did Havertz knock his cup of tea out of his hands at the training ground so got dropped? Who knows.

Shit happens. Its football.

You're completely ignoring the fact that City's strongest 11 is more than a match for Chelsea's. Imagine if we'd have won the league early? That would have been 4-5 matches that we could have played our second string, meaning we could have mix & matched our strongest 11 to keep them match fit, with only the FA Cup & CL Finals as our two meaningful matches left.

This is what all City fans wanted. At one point I wondered if Pep was having a breakdown. Watching him swearing on TV & crying about Aguero leaving was fuckin surreal, & showed a man overwhelmed with emotion, &/or succumbing to the pressure.

Yes Pep is paid millions to make these decisions, but please tell me why many City fans were crapping themselves beforehand that Pep would pull the unexpected, & fuck up the final?

As I said, the day Guardiola is considered above scrutiny, City really are fucked. :-|

 

[decmancity]

You're completely ignoring the fact that City's strongest 11 is more than a match for Chelsea's. Imagine if we'd have won the league early? That would have been 4-5 matches that we could have played our second string, meaning we could have mix & matched our strongest 11 to keep them match fit, with only the FA Cup & CL Finals as our two meaningful matches left.

This is what all City fans wanted. At one point I wondered if Pep was having a breakdown. Watching him swearing on TV & crying about Aguero leaving was fuckin surreal, & showed a man overwhelmed with emotion, &/or succumbing to the pressure.

Yes Pep is paid millions to make these decisions, but please tell me why many City fans were crapping themselves beforehand that Pep would pull the unexpected, & fuck up the final?

As I said, the day Guardiola is considered above scrutiny, City really are fucked. :-|

Yes, I would say it is.

There is no guarantee of anything in football. Our strongest 11 should have battered Wigan back in 2012 but we lost.
Chelsea are a fucking good team, they just got lucky on the day.
As I mentioned we dominated them in the semi, missed a penalty at half time in the league game and in the CL final we just didn't show up. On another day we could have won all 3 of those games.
We aren't talking like its City v Burnley here and we regularly put 5 past them home and away.

People were nervous because of the PTSD from Lyon I reckon. That was a truly monumental fuck up beyond belief. I will never ever understand that game and I reckon half of my post count is discussing it on this forum.

I maintain that playing Gundogan in the CL final wasn't anywhere near as bad as people say it is, as I said when this whole conversation started days ago, Pep rates Gundogan a lot and talked about his ability to play DM so him picking him to play DM in the final wasn't a huge surprise. I wouldn't have done it but its not beyond comprehension that it happened.
Pep had 3 choices, he picked one. It didn't work out.

The one thing I do remember from that game is that its a good job Tuchel didn't start Giroud because he might have bagged the 3 chances that Werner had and the game, never mind Ederson potentially getting sent off for taking out Havertz. The game would have been over at half time.

Simply put, we can't put the blame of creating barely anything in the biggest game of our lives in the past decade down to not playing Fernandinho or Rodri. All 11 should have done more. This will be my last post on this because its going nowhere.

 

[Dribble]

Yes, I would say it is.

There is no guarantee of anything in football. Our strongest 11 should have battered Wigan back in 2012 but we lost.
Chelsea are a fucking good team, they just got lucky on the day.
As I mentioned we dominated them in the semi, missed a penalty at half time in the league game and in the CL final we just didn't show up. On another day we could have won all 3 of those games.
We aren't talking like its City v Burnley here and we regularly put 5 past them home and away.

People were nervous because of the PTSD from Lyon I reckon. That was a truly monumental fuck up beyond belief. I will never ever understand that game and I reckon half of my post count is discussing it on this forum.

I maintain that playing Gundogan in the CL final wasn't anywhere near as bad as people say it is, as I said when this whole conversation started days ago, Pep rates Gundogan a lot and talked about his ability to play DM so him picking him to play DM in the final wasn't a huge surprise. I wouldn't have done it but its not beyond comprehension that it happened.
Pep had 3 choices, he picked one. It didn't work out.

The one thing I do remember from that game is that its a good job Tuchel didn't start Giroud because he might have bagged the 3 chances that Werner had and the game, never mind Ederson potentially getting sent off for taking out Havertz. The game would have been over at half time.

Simply put, we can't put the blame of creating barely anything in the biggest game of our lives in the past decade down to not playing Fernandinho or Rodri. All 11 should have done more. This will be my last post on this because its going nowhere.

Agreed. Several posters have intimated you're going round in an ever decreasing circle on your own, so leaving your contribution where it is, is probably for the best...

As previously stated, the only comment I heard Pep mention his reasoning behind his decision is that City are an attacking side by ethos, & he wanted to play the most attacking line up he could.

This left us exposed in midfield & defence & caused confusion as to who was supposed to be doing what & where. The only person responsible for that was Guardiola & his staff. We didn't try it against PSG, so why wait until the final to drop the surprise?

#Unbelievable :-|

 

[FantasyIreland]

Agreed. Several posters have intimated you're going round in an ever decreasing circle on your own, so leaving your contribution where it is, is probably for the best...

As previously stated, the only comment I heard Pep mention his reasoning behind his decision is that City are an attacking side by ethos, & he wanted to play the most attacking line up he could.

This left us exposed in midfield & defence & caused confusion as to who was supposed to be doing what & where. The only person responsible for that was Guardiola & his staff. We didn't try it against PSG, so why wait until the final to drop the surprise?

#Unbelievable :-|

Spot on,and even more criminal was the fact he did fuck all to change things when,after a very short time,it was very obvious that his choice of starting 11 was a pisstake.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

You're completely ignoring the fact that City's strongest 11 is more than a match for Chelsea's. Imagine if we'd have won the league early? That would have been 4-5 matches that we could have played our second string, meaning we could have mix & matched our strongest 11 to keep them match fit, with only the FA Cup & CL Finals as our two meaningful matches left.

This is what all City fans wanted. At one point I wondered if Pep was having a breakdown. Watching him swearing on TV & crying about Aguero leaving was fuckin surreal, & showed a man overwhelmed with emotion, &/or succumbing to the pressure.

Yes Pep is paid millions to make these decisions, but please tell me why many City fans were crapping themselves beforehand that Pep would pull the unexpected, & fuck up the final?

As I said, the day Guardiola is considered above scrutiny, City really are fucked. :-|

It remains to be seen if the players can get over the hangover from the CL Final. Pep's emotions were all over the place in the run-up to the final from the 3am phone call to Noel Gallagher singing "Don't look back in anger" to the sobbing over Sergio leaving. It must have transmitted to the players. Let's see what happens this season.

 

[Dribble]

Spot on,and even more criminal was the fact he did fuck all to change things when,after a very short time,it was very obvious that his choice of starting 11 was a pisstake.

When opposition fans are expressing shock at our CL starting line up, you know things are properly messed up.

I have no idea why Pep thought the best way to neutralise Chelsea was by diluting our defensive protection & going gung ho at one of the best counter attacking sides in world football. Total utter madness.... :-|

 

[Dribble]

It remains to be seen if the players can get over the hangover from the CL Final. Pep's emotions were all over the place in the run-up to the final from the 3am phone call to Noel Gallagher singing "Don't look back in anger" to the sobbing over Sergio leaving. It must have transmitted to the players. Let's see what happens this season.

It was right up there with Keegan's 'I'd love it' rant & Benitez's "Facts" symposium. Truly odd, especially for a manager like Guardiola who's done it all in football.

There's no way that odd behaviour didn't transmit to the players, who must have been thinking WTAF! :-|