Stoke Vs City Post Match Discussion Thread

[flb]

Think our owners have droped a bollock appointing this Pellers bloke as manager

So far I'd agree, he's consistently picking the wrong starting eleven each game.

He's clueless about the PL, despite him boasting he can manage anywhere, anybody who picks Garcia is pissing in the wrong pot I'm afraid.

Cheech and Chong the Spaniards better prey they haven't fucked up with the red eyed lizard seemingly fucking things up each week.

You know, Mancini don't seem that bad after all.

Given the injuries there was nothing wrong with the side he picked today. Lescott CANNOT play on the right side of the defence, he was appalling against Hull and the most one-footed player in the squad.

As for your name-calling, fucking grow up

Hahaha, grow up

Brilliant !

Get your Lego out

 

[LoveCity]

Not sure why our defending is being debated today. Our defence is patched up and chugging along right now so to keep two clean sheets in a row is good despite a lot of dodgy and heart-stopping moments.

For me the more pressing problems are the other side of the halfway line with the same stagnant attacking we saw too much under Mancini. Predictable sideways passing, slow tempo, lack of ideas and variety. Against Newcastle, Navas was a proper winger and pumping in crosses, players were shaking it up with long diagonal passes to switch play, and there was a vigor to the team. That has just disappeared since, a really bizarre phenomenon.

'Parked buses' can be bypassed but year after year in games like this we struggle and furthermore teams seem to be improving their counter attacking against us. I've seen three Pellegrini teams and they attacked much better than today, so it's a case of either the instructions/tactics not getting across yet or the players just unable so far to do what he asks.

If our brand of tiki-taka continues to lead to dropped points this season we should fundamentally look at the style and consider whether it's right for the Premier League. We're the richest club in the world so should be able to play in a way which dominates the Premier League except when we come up against equals like Chelsea.

I didn't see much tiki-taka today we could hardly keep the ball. Stoke hardly parked the bus either!...

Well, we were pretty poor today but the style was still the pass-based poking and prodding thing, trying to walk our way through the defence too much. I was just generalising that as 'tiki-taka' even though it falls short of the real thing - it's pretty clear Barcelona are City's inspiration in how we're shaping the club and style.

Thing is, even Barcelona are trying to move away from their former brand of tiki-taka with more variety (and Neymar) and Pique said they had been a 'slave to it'.

Teams have evolved and now know how to defend against the possession-dominating passing style, yet we are playing a zombie version of it away from home so it's no wonder we're struggling to create chances. Navas is supposed to help change this yet spent most of the match on the bench then when he did come on Zaba was in his way once again. And as much unjustified hate as he's been getting on here, Fernandinho at least tries to drive forward with the ball, something Rodwell wasn't doing today.

Annoying thing is we seemed to nail it against Newcastle, the way to shake up our style and give teams more problems when they defend deep, but that has yet to reappear since.

 

[Berkovic_blue]

So far I'd agree, he's consistently picking the wrong starting eleven each game.

He's clueless about the PL, despite him boasting he can manage anywhere, anybody who picks Garcia is pissing in the wrong pot I'm afraid.

Cheech and Chong the Spaniards better prey they haven't fucked up with the red eyed lizard seemingly fucking things up each week.

You know, Mancini don't seem that bad after all.

Given the injuries there was nothing wrong with the side he picked today. Lescott CANNOT play on the right side of the defence, he was appalling against Hull and the most one-footed player in the squad.

As for your name-calling, fucking grow up

Hahaha, grow up

Brilliant !

Get your Lego out

I think you need a lie down

 

[flb]

Given the injuries there was nothing wrong with the side he picked today. Lescott CANNOT play on the right side of the defence, he was appalling against Hull and the most one-footed player in the squad.

As for your name-calling, fucking grow up

Hahaha, grow up

Brilliant !

Get your Lego out

I think you need a lie down

Who with, you and Pellagrini


You keep defending his decisions mate, your looking foolish

 

[Berkovic_blue]

On second thoughts keep the drunken rant going, I could do with someone to laugh at

 

[bluethunder]

our problem is lazy players. some of our players are lazy as fuck. all they care about is their pay cheque. they don't take pride in their game.

there's a number of players that switch off whenever they want and it is not acceptable.

 

[SJT]

Let's face it
If we're struggling against Cardiff, Hull and Stoke then that's this year gone, someone said the same thing to Fred On Radio MCR with Cheesey, it was the moment we we all thought, yeah, I've been thinking this too, but kept it quiet cos we didn't want to believe it, Pellegrini's not Manchini, and before you tossers say 'rag' I ain't!

How did we fuck up? sacking a manager who brought the good times back?

 

[kanovic]

Hahaha, grow up

Brilliant !

Get your Lego out

I think you need a lie down

Who with, you and Pellagrini


You keep defending his decisions mate, your looking foolish

Would you go lay with Manicni im sure you loved everything he did last season? maybe if he ever gets a job you should go too.

 

[Stoned Rose]

An interesting shift seems to have occurred.

The last 3 games have seen teams not park the bus against us but instead they've actually had a right good go and on all 3 occasions IMO gotten the better of us, especially in the middle third.

That in itself tells me something is different.

I think they call it a '2 man midfield'.

It doesn't suit our personnel and playing that way with a patched up back 4 to protect is very arrogant, very stupid or both.

Imo to win games in this league it's almost essential to control midfield. Controlling midfield does two things i) it takes the heat off the back 4 and ii) it allows you (in theory) to create chances to score. Mancini was very very big on this and imo was spot on in this aspect (he did get other things wrong though).

If we go with a 2 man midfield the scum will obliterate us mark my words.

The Plzen game is now pivotal. Should we not win that game the pressure on the manager and players will be immense going into the derby and the 'doubts' will be pervasive.

The 2 man midfield has to go.

I'd go 4-5-1 v Plzen. Flood the midfield and control the middle third. The rest will come as a result of said control.

 

[kanovic]

Let's face it
If we're struggling against Cardiff, Hull and Stoke then that's this year gone, someone said the same thing to Fred On Radio MCR with Cheesey, it was the moment we we all thought, yeah, I've been thinking this too, but kept it quiet cos we didn't want to believe it, Pellegrini's not Manchini, and before you tossers say 'rag' I ain't!

How did we fuck up? sacking a manager who brought the good times back?

You should abandon ship. I would if i thought that this year is gone after 4 games lol get a grip man