Spurs (H) 2nd Leg - Post Match Thread

[domalino]

Mendy was awful last night. Laporte was punished for 2 mistakes. He's been solid all season though. Kev and Sterling were on another level. Sadly I think we have seen the best of David Silva. He's lost his magic. We've been blessed to have him here for so long.

The first leg cost us ultimately. Aguero puts that pen away and we are talking about a semi final. Not blaming Aguero at all but Pep needs to look at the team selection and how we played that night.

Don't think we'll ever win this competition. The God's are against us. Last season with VAR we'd of gone through and this season without it we'd have gone through.

Gutted. But lt can be forgotten when we bring home the treble.

Mendy wasn't terrible at all. All things considered getting thrown into one or the fastest paced Champions Lesgue knockout games in history with only a game or two back from 18 months out he was bloody exceptional.

He dealt with Moura and every single time he got 1v1 he made the tackle. He put in fewer dangerous crosses than normal but he was very noticeably tucking in to midfield for the first half and not getting on the overlap, still played one very nice through ball to put sterling through.

Honestly if your take away from that game was that Mendy was a problem, i feel sorry for you.

Also Laporte made 3 mistakes and was punished for all 3.

 

[HarrytheBlue]

Yeah he'd have been onside if Bernardo hadn't touched it but I think Bernardo's touch actually diverted the ball to him.

I can cope with that one - offside for definite. Spurs are through and they'll enjoy it, but everyone's talking about us being screwed over.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Working away in Edinburgh and so Bluemoon advise was to watch City in the 3 Sisters bar. Thinking it was a place where City fans from the area would go. Fucking rammed with Liverpool fans !! Not great when you celebrate like a Loony when Sterling bags the winner only for hundreds in the pub to go mental when VAR was given offside. Horrible night, great game but can’t help but believe UEFA are bent !!

I can imagine! What a nightmare moment that must have been! Bad enough at the game but to be surrounded by scousers.....

 

[stonerblue]

I think this highlights the issue with VAR, the angles they chose to use, the ‘line’ they draw etc.

I also think the ‘thought process’ the officials in the VAR box use should be broadcast. They should supplement this by explaining which law(s) they are using to form their decision and the decision should be a ‘majority’ one made by a panel of 3.

IF they’re going to use it, at least do it properly and transparently.

However, if it were my choice I’d fuck it off.

It very clearly takes the emotion out of the game. It will get to a point where the crowd will be forced to stifle their automatic response to ‘go mad’ when a goal goes in, and have to ‘wait’ for VAR to say ok crack on and celebrate now.

Dangerous that imo. It takes the essence and excitement out of the game.

Bang on Rose. I was there for my first live game with var and have to say all my fears about the system were laid bare in front of my eyes. I will not be going to another one. After shelling out around 80 notes on the day it seems that i'd have been better informed sat at home in front of a telly. I've not watched any of the incidents yet so have no idea if the calls were 'correct' or not. What i do know is the whole experience was ruined by the desire to make football a robotic, no doubt, game that we all have to watch in slow motion.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

Just got to take it on the chins and move on. No extra motivation needed now, there is no way we can let those twats from Murkyside win the league and that is the main focus.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Mendy wasn't terrible at all. All things considered getting thrown into one or the fastest paced Champions Lesgue knockout games in history with only a game or two back from 18 months out he was bloody exceptional.

He dealt with Moura and every single time he got 1v1 he made the tackle. He put in fewer dangerous crosses than normal but he was very noticeably tucking in to midfield for the first half and not getting on the overlap, still played one very nice through ball to put sterling through.

Honestly if your take away from that game was that Mendy was a problem, i feel sorry for you.

Also Laporte made 3 mistakes and was punished for all 3.

I thought he looked a little bit sluggish at times but only to be expected. Other than that he was ok. Nothing out of the ordinary but a decent game.

Laporte and Ederson were terrible. They were the reason we went out and Delph last week.

Poor defending in both legs and Spurs capitalised.

Fair play to Spurs, at least they play the game the right way. I would have Son off them in a heartbeat. Great player.

 

[Blue Hefner]

VAR made the correct call, his arm was in a natural position and he didn't move his arm towards the ball. Would it have gone in if it didn't hit is arm though? maybe not the fact it hit his arm probably helped direct it goalwards but it did come off his hip last. For me VAR made the correct decision but I do think they got it wrong with the offside and the ref should have taken a look himself which he didn't. No consistency again.

Aguero was offside, I’ve no complaints about that. Offside is a matter of fact. However, Llorente scored with his arm

 

[Scottish Cityzen]

Just seen a comment online where a rag has said its swings and roundabouts. You got the decisions at Swansea and your luck can't last forever! Jesus wept!

Revel in that comment mate....it means the most enjoyment the rags get in football nowadays is when the main team in Manchester (and surrounding areas) have a disappointing result. It helps deflect them from their tortuous run of 2 wins in 7 (seven) and recognition that they were second best in the two games they won.

It’s also a bit of bravado ahead of them getting absolutely SPANKED next Wednesday.

 

[lionheart]

One good thing is that Liverpool have to play the mighty Barcelona on 30th April and 7th May, which might hopefully spoil their Premiership title ambitions.

 

[Cityfan1977]

what a game, I am still not over it, has anyone seen this I am been blasted on twitter

 

[BlueAnorak]

Maybe. I made that point at the time. Pep subsequently said that he felt the team did not have the physical capacity to play our normal attacking game at Spurs. Can we argue that given we are sat at home, whilst he trains the players?

I am worried about Sane. I find it very odd that his involvement in this tie was almost non-existent.

I'm worried about Sane. Its very, very disturbing. Sane wins games on his own. Its not like he doesnt track back - this element of his game has improved massively this season. Maybe it's a Sane/Mendy thing. Pep didnt play them together at the start of the season either.

Our defending has been poor on too many occasions this season - especially in the Champions League I think Pep needs to start CL games with a double pivot. Gundogan clearly can't play the role on his own. Our DM was non existant last night till Kev was pulled a bit deeper.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Personally, I'd scrap VAR altogether.

For me, it ruins the whole experience and that's watching on TV. God know how crap it is at game where you don't have a clue what's going on and are left standing around for minutes.

IF it stopped refs and officials from cheating, then I would put up with it. But clearly it doesn't. We have the wide open cheat-goal of (a) deciding what to review and what not to review, and (b) refs deciding to look at the video and ignore the bloody evidence anyway. Complete joke and a waste of time to the detriment of the game imo. I'd rather just put up with the normal cheating rather than video assisted cheating.

 

[George Hannah]

You thinking Aguero was bad last night shows how much you know. Fuck me, just noticed your Gundogan comment too. Try another sport, petal.

Didn't say Sergio was bad actually but it's all a matter of opinion friend. Maybe you should have stayed monosyllabic - that way I could give you the benefit of the doubt. Gundogan the great - lol

 

[kippax4ever]

Can see this having a longer term effect on things as it's known that we have a decent number of fans who already have distaste for CL, and believe in conspiracy's against us and this just fuels that further.

In order to keep top players you need to be seen as one who gets CL, not any domestic treble. They don't give a care about that.

We have some players already looking to possibly go in Leroy and Gundo and I think this might settle it for at least Leroy, even if he doesn't track back enough.

Pep's approach leaves us vulnerable here at this level as teams get better because they know what he wants to do, and just wait for their chances on the counter where the talent is good enough and we seem to have mentality problems.

I think some of that comes from the changes to the back 4 that are constant. Yes, injuries are partially to blame, but our 2 centre halves change all of the time. Are there any top clubs or even good clubs that do so as frequently? Our depth there, as well as the injury records of Kompany and lately Stones, plus concerns about Nico leaving combined with Vinny's age, needs for Pep's system, his emphasis on a happy dressing room and a possible transfer ban lead him to possibly let such a rotation go on.

Kev, Raz and Bernardo were immense, but it wasn't enough.

3 goals at home is a sad thing to ignore over very borderline VAR decisions had they gone either way. Both went against us, but I don't think it was a conspiracy.

Utter Bull-Shit

 

[bondsman]

We beat ourselves

You said we deserved to go out, I think that’s crap

 

[OB1]

I agree, VAR is being used incorrectly. There is no consistency the ref should review anything that is referred to him on the pitch side monitor, he did for Llorente but not for Sterling. Above all else VAR is supposed to be used when there is a clear and obvious error. The linesman didn't even flag and the ball fell into Aguero's path by way of a ricochet it wasn't played to him and the last clear touch came off a Spurs player so VAR shouldn't have even been consulted for the offside in my opinion.

Moving forwards though VAR is going to be in every game in the very near future and there will be plenty of times when it works out well for us.

What really stinks for me is the away goals rule as that needs scrapping its outright unfair just like golden goal was.

In theory VAR should favour us in the long run but last night that Sterling goal getting chalked off was simply one of my worst moments in nearly 50 years of being a season ticket holder - not that I actually used my seat last night (had to give it away due to being at work 200 miles from MCR) - I celebrated like a maniac and I'm one of those guys that often checks the liner has not flagged before getting carried away. A horrible fucking experience.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Does anyone else feel fucked after last night ? Sat in work with no voice and still coming down.

 

[jaiguruKun]

That needs to change. If it is marginal, they should flag if a goal is scored and then let VAR decide. If there's no flag the goal should then stand. The flag would hopefully prevent the sort of cruel and unusual punishment we endured last night. Sure it would delay some celebrations of perfectly good goals but surely better that way round.

On the other hand, if the flag is raised players tend to stop. If what you suggest was applied, they would be told to carry on every time the flag is raised which would waste a lot of time and energy.

 

[mikemcfc123]

Couple of unfortunate mistakes by Laporte last night punished in first half. He has hardly put a foot wrong all season so impossible to be angry with him really.

Just totally gutted - not much more to say really. Saturday cannot come soon enough.

 

[Mancity1980]

The atmosphere last night at the stadium (not just at the start) throughout the whole game was truly magnificent. Then after the fallout of the drama the posts on this this thread showed something similar to the atmosphere -

It showed that we City fans do actually care about wanting to win this competition. My one reserve is this, and it is about the booing. Would the UEFA bigwigs who sit in their suits want a team in a CL final beamed all around the World, and have the anthem at the start booed for all to hear and witness ?? I dont think they would

I honestly believe it is time to put this booing to bed, the atmosphere we created last night, the consistent singing, shouting our team forward and the jeering of the opposition when they had the ball is what is needed now

If you are suggesting that we stop booing because it has gone on a bit too long then I empathise, if you are suggesting we stop because the big wigs at UEFA will conspire to ensure we never win then I passionately disagree with you. That is EXACTLY the reason we started in the first place and it would be more reason to CONTINUE.