Blue tinted glasses firmly in place, i am happy to accept, that given the way things panned out, we were well beaten, by the better side (on the day), and ultimately got what we deserved.
BUT...................things could and SHOULD have been different. am i alone in thinking the following ? or is it the glasses?
1) Silva should have scored very early on, from close in
2) Wanyama came straight through the back of Fernandinho, in the build up to their first goal, i thought it was a
clear and obvious foul, although commentators descibed it as a good challenge, and "surprisingly" didn't show it
again, certainly no analysis.
3) Less said about Kolarov's excellent finish , the better
4) Thought there was a clear penalty, for foul on Sergio when score was 1 - 0, again commentators said "Sergio got there first, and nicked the ball away, ...but not enough in it," hmmm!
5) Rose having already been booked, shortly afterwards pulls Sterling back, when he was about to cut into the box
typically cynical challenge, that to me was a definite second yellow.....
6) Wanyama, again, having already been booked could / should have had a second yellow
7) Sergio hit the post, had a free kick well saved by Lloris (who also made a couple of excellent saves), and had 2 or 3 poor shots, and on another day could quite possibly have had a hat trick.
OK, a slighty biased view, but if none of the critically important key, goal changing decisions / moments, go your way, then neither will the result!
Indeed,it also highlighted our lack of depth and especially how important Nolito and KDB are to his tactics and the dynamic.I still think we're favourites for the league, but in terms of how much progress we've made and need to make, as Pep keeps saying there's a long way to go.
Taking a positive from the negative though,we are still top of this league and the problems of yesterday will be something Pep will now be frantically seeking to rectify.
that high press tactic won't work that well next season when we sign full backs who are agile, quick and comfortable on the ball. To be fair, FB positions should have been fixed long time ago.
Get fucking stuck in...
I can take losing, i understand players can have off days, i don't expect us to win every game, but what i do wanna see is some fucking bottle when the chips are down. Mix it, get your foot in properly and hit them hard.
We got twatted yesterday and it took far to long for the players to get up and fight.
Swap for Phil 'the face' Jones perhaps?Well thats the Second game our fullbacks have been found out.....Zabba too slow fof EPL games....Kolorov should be at another club.....shambles at the back......Stones and Bravo take some credit.....midfield and defence shambolic and Sergio the invisable man 2 games in a row. ???? Need some strong words or time to sell !!!
Respect your opinion. It's always pleasing to hear someone with a reasoned view.
You may find me too stubborn, but I'm sure the result would be the same even with Carvajal and Alaba as fullbacks. The main problem now is the team's incoherence, not individual mistakes. The team is not educated properly, doesn't work as a unit, it's too early - Pep states it at every presser, does anybody listen to our coach? If the system doesn't function well, individual 'mistakes' start to occur, and people start to single out players and bash them. But modern football is a team sport, and the likes of Pep bring it to the level where the system can catalyze the effectiveness of its parts at unprecedented rate. In my very humble opinion, City need the new team now much more than new players.
It's laughable to hear that Pep is 'found out' and now any team can outplay us using the same 'pressing' approach. No, because Pep is actually a master of 'Pressing-resistance', he just needs 1) time 2) personnell to implement it. And supporters' patience, of course.
As for 'bad players' - most of them will be eventually replaced. But you can't just throw away all of them at once. Besides of purely financial aspect, such things can hurt squad morale badly, teambuilding is a subtle thing. Pep shows that every player has a chance, no matter how good/bad he was in the past. It's very important! Even if it costs us some results here and there. And tell me: don't you think that guys like Zaba deserve to be treated as legends in their final year with City? Even if they can't cope with fitter, younger opponents any more. Let them finish their job.
And one point about those who think that they know better than our coach. If i've learned anything during 8 years that I follow Pep, it's that he has more football brains that all football forums combined. You're in the safest hands, trust him, fasten your seatbelts, learn and enjoy! Do not question the Boss, support him! The moaning in today's match thread has reached absurd proportions.
Sorry for my far-from-perfect English, hope I'm understandable enough.
Indeed,it also highlighted our lack of depth and especially how important Nolito and KDB are to his tactics and the dynamic.
Taking a positive from the negative though,we are still top of this league and the problems of yesterday will be something Pep will now be frantically seeking to rectify.
Could have fooled me.We recovered more loose ball than Spurs.
One of the cornerstones of Pep's sides is aggression. Going back to his Barcelona team, they were small guys physically, but they were aggressive as fuck in their challenges. More than the lack of quality on the ball yesterday, I reckon the lack of aggression from back to front will have infuriated him.