This Stoke defeat?

OB1 said:
Didsbury Dave said:
Train said:
Except, from the point of his return from injury to the end of season game against West Ham last season, he scored 7 goals and made 5 assists with multiple games of 7 key passes or more in the last few weeks. That would suggest to me that he was okay and was quite influential in some of his games.

Unless i'm misunderstanding you, and your point is that he hasn't been playing well since his return from his recent injury in pre-season. If that is your point, then i can kind of understand. However, we are only three games in. And Nasri has played okay in the first, performed well in the second and looked just as bad as our other creative players in the third, so even then, its a stretch for me to come out and say i fully understand your point, because to me, you're being unreasonable, and a bit of a dick.

I'm not bothered about the stats, mate. I'm giving an opinion from watching him. He came back last Februaryish from an injury, after having the first run of proper form since he arrived in the first third of last season. He actually came back quite well and scored a couple of times in the first couple of games but then for the rest of the year his form was inconsistant at best, poor at worst. He's started this season the same.

There have only been three months in his entire City career when he's played at the top of his form, so he can do it, and does it in little fits and starts. But not often enough again, just like his first two years. If he doesn't get back to consstency again soon he may have to be dropped. In my opinion of course.

He's no further down on form at the moment than Silva and he has made more key passes than Silva this season.

Seriously, what exactly did Silva do that was better than Nasri against Stoke? Give the ball away 40 times? I love them both, but it's outrageous to see people just blame Nasri, who was actually involved in 3 of our best chances to score! And of course you're not bothered by stats Dave.. why let little things like facts get in the way of a perfectly good slagging off. And besides the stats showing his worth, Nasri runs more than any other player on the pitch on a consistent basis, and Jovetic wouldn't have scored either of his goals against Liverpool if it wasn't for Samir's excellent build-up play.

I'm not here to have a big argument, but just wanna say if you can't understand what Nasri does for the team, then you really just don't understand how our team functions in the first place. That doesn't mean he's automatically in the team and always plays fantastic.. no one does! But for f*cks sake don't even try to tell me he wasn't excellent last season. He was a huge part of our title win and is always desperate to get more silverware. He's right up there with my most appreciated players!
 
cleavers said:
BlueAnorak said:
cleavers said:
We weren't inept, we did everything we could to score, and luck on their part prevented it. We compounded that by giving away a dreadfully easy goal, where we let them waltz through us first, and our keeper had a mare second.

Other than that they showed no ambition to win the game, just bore the crap out of the watching public, and we had more than enough chances to win it comfortably, shit happens as they say. Its not an excuse I agree, but we weren't inept as the stats showed.

Balderdash Cleavers.
We were slow to get the ball forward, slow to spread the ball across the pitch, didn't shoot often enough from long range and our final passes were sloppy. Jovetic & Aguero wasn't working as a pair and Sagna's overlapping was frankly awful (though the last 3 points should improve over the next month).
We were pants.
Your opinion, you're entitled to it, and I can't really be bothered arguing the point.

However, I never said we played well, we didn't, but I couldn't fault our effort (we are probably three weeks behind stokes players in pre season training because of the WC), and we were unlucky, they did f**k all really, and if not for Hart's fuck up, we'd have at least got a point. Stoke were anti football all game, and we got sod all from Mason, and he gave them everything (not that I expect anything else from that rag). As posted by someone else "shit happens", and we seemed to catch quite a lot on Saturday in my opinion, whilst not being at our best.

For sure they parked the bus, and Mason gave us nothing (except for denying Stoke a pen for the foul by Kolarov) but we were just far to slow and we didn't deserve to win.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Train said:
Didsbury Dave said:
I'm afraid Nasri is still on the naughty step for me, too. He hasn't played well since he returned from injury last spring.

Same old Nasri, foot on the ball, look backwards, too many touches, in the main. I've said it before, my guess is that the manager knows he's a confidence player and is waiting for him to play himself back to form. I'll bet you Navas isn't happy about it, though.

Except, from the point of his return from injury to the end of season game against West Ham last season, he scored 7 goals and made 5 assists with multiple games of 7 key passes or more in the last few weeks. That would suggest to me that he was okay and was quite influential in some of his games.

Unless i'm misunderstanding you, and your point is that he hasn't been playing well since his return from his recent injury in pre-season. If that is your point, then i can kind of understand. However, we are only three games in. And Nasri has played okay in the first, performed well in the second and looked just as bad as our other creative players in the third, so even then, its a stretch for me to come out and say i fully understand your point, because to me, you're being unreasonable, and a bit of a dick.

I'm not bothered about the stats, mate. I'm giving an opinion from watching him. He came back last Februaryish from an injury, after having the first run of proper form since he arrived in the first third of last season. He actually came back quite well and scored a couple of times in the first couple of games but then for the rest of the year his form was inconsistant at best, poor at worst. He's started this season the same.

There have only been three months in his entire City career when he's played at the top of his form, so he can do it, and does it in little fits and starts. But not often enough again, just like his first two years. If he doesn't get back to consstency again soon he may have to be dropped. In my opinion of course.

I agree completely. He's got some great attributes, particularly ball retention in tight areas under pressure, and in terms of yards covered per game, he's surprisingly and consistently, one of the best at the club.
The most glaring issue for me though (and I can sense OB1 stretching and yawning as I climb aboard my pet hobby horse) is not just his actual lack of pace, but also the pace with which he moves the ball. He holds on to it too long, and on the counter he's as much use as a chocolate teapot. Yes, David Silva stank against Stoke as well, but there's always a sharpness in his movement and changes of direction, plus he plays with his head up, whilst Nasri frequently plays the game at walking speed. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good player, and one who has conjured up some magical moments for us, but I don't think he has imposed himself anywhere near as much as someone with his talent (and price tag) should have done. If we had quicker options, he'd have been subbed a fair few times if I was City manager.......
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Mister Appointment said:
Chippy_boy said:
I have mixed feelings about this. One the one hand, the "all teams lose at some point" argument seems reasonable and we should probably put our single defeat into perspective.

But on the other hand, we should not be complacent enough to imagine that we can afford many slip ups like this. Chelsea ran us pretty close last season, only falling at the final hurdle. Had the dice rolled differently, they might have been champions in a season where even their manager thought they could not.

This season they are enormously stronger. They will doubtless have the best defensive record in the league again and at the other end their 6 past Everton tells you all you need to know. Yes they will drop unexpected points, but not many. Not many at all. I'd be very surprised if they finish on less than 90 points this season and we should be aiming for 6 to 9 points more than last season as our target (92 to 95) if we are going to retain our title, imho.

In that context, 3 points dropped to Stoke is a huge blunder. We can ill afford many more cock ups like that or it will be a repeat of the 2012/13 season with one team running away with it... and it's not us.

Admit it. You just cut and pasted this from early last season! :)

Seriously though, I've got us down as finishing this season with over 90 points. Comfortably. I could be well wide of the mark but the Stoke game has done nothing to change that opinion. We're better than last season, stronger squad wise (even with the loss of Negredo which for me is mitigated by Jovetic's fitness and the potential signing of Kelechi), have more continuity in terms of the manager's methods, more stability with the new contracts for Sami, Kun, Silva, Dzeko, Vinny, etc.

I'm genuinely gutted at how little optimism there is around Bluemoon. I can understand a little trepidation had Liverpool taken us to the cleaners, but losing such a one sided game as Stoke occasionally happens to all top teams. Beyond that we should be fucking pumped up instead of bigging up Chelsea - which by the way was EXACTLY the same story last season.

Mourinho's cloak of invincibility is gone. Looking forward to that game more than any other.

I suspect you're right and it's the same people flapping now as were flapping at the beginning of last season. But not the same ones from the season before.

Not everyone. but most... ;-)

To be fair Didsbury, saying we were a bit shit against Stoke and we'd better pull our finger out, is not "flapping", is it.

Unless you want everyone to say "that was fucking marvellous lads" every time we lose at home to dross?

The reality is, we WERE a bit shit. And we had better pull our finger out. It's fair comment to be honest.
 
Chippy_boy said:
Didsbury Dave said:
Mister Appointment said:
Admit it. You just cut and pasted this from early last season! :)

Seriously though, I've got us down as finishing this season with over 90 points. Comfortably. I could be well wide of the mark but the Stoke game has done nothing to change that opinion. We're better than last season, stronger squad wise (even with the loss of Negredo which for me is mitigated by Jovetic's fitness and the potential signing of Kelechi), have more continuity in terms of the manager's methods, more stability with the new contracts for Sami, Kun, Silva, Dzeko, Vinny, etc.

I'm genuinely gutted at how little optimism there is around Bluemoon. I can understand a little trepidation had Liverpool taken us to the cleaners, but losing such a one sided game as Stoke occasionally happens to all top teams. Beyond that we should be fucking pumped up instead of bigging up Chelsea - which by the way was EXACTLY the same story last season.

Mourinho's cloak of invincibility is gone. Looking forward to that game more than any other.

I suspect you're right and it's the same people flapping now as were flapping at the beginning of last season. But not the same ones from the season before.

Not everyone. but most... ;-)

To be fair Didsbury, saying we were a bit shit against Stoke and we'd better pull our finger out, is not "flapping", is it.

Unless you want everyone to say "that was fucking marvellous lads" every time we lose at home to dross?

The reality is, we WERE a bit shit. And we had better pull our finger out. It's fair comment to be honest.

So you keep telling us. Anyone would think you enjoy saying it the number of times you've said. Remember you said the same shot after the Charity Shield too. And that was a friendly.
 
Mister Appointment said:
Chippy_boy said:
Didsbury Dave said:
I suspect you're right and it's the same people flapping now as were flapping at the beginning of last season. But not the same ones from the season before.

Not everyone. but most... ;-)

To be fair Didsbury, saying we were a bit shit against Stoke and we'd better pull our finger out, is not "flapping", is it.

Unless you want everyone to say "that was fucking marvellous lads" every time we lose at home to dross?

The reality is, we WERE a bit shit. And we had better pull our finger out. It's fair comment to be honest.

So you keep telling us. Anyone would think you enjoy saying it the number of times you've said. Remember you said the same shot after the Charity Shield too. And that was a friendly.

I think you're either a stalker, or you are mixing me up with someone else mate. I've hardly spoken on the matter.
 
Chippy_boy said:
Didsbury Dave said:
Mister Appointment said:
Admit it. You just cut and pasted this from early last season! :)

Seriously though, I've got us down as finishing this season with over 90 points. Comfortably. I could be well wide of the mark but the Stoke game has done nothing to change that opinion. We're better than last season, stronger squad wise (even with the loss of Negredo which for me is mitigated by Jovetic's fitness and the potential signing of Kelechi), have more continuity in terms of the manager's methods, more stability with the new contracts for Sami, Kun, Silva, Dzeko, Vinny, etc.

I'm genuinely gutted at how little optimism there is around Bluemoon. I can understand a little trepidation had Liverpool taken us to the cleaners, but losing such a one sided game as Stoke occasionally happens to all top teams. Beyond that we should be fucking pumped up instead of bigging up Chelsea - which by the way was EXACTLY the same story last season.

Mourinho's cloak of invincibility is gone. Looking forward to that game more than any other.

I suspect you're right and it's the same people flapping now as were flapping at the beginning of last season. But not the same ones from the season before.

Not everyone. but most... ;-)

To be fair Didsbury, saying we were a bit shit against Stoke and we'd better pull our finger out, is not "flapping", is it.

Unless you want everyone to say "that was fucking marvellous lads" every time we lose at home to dross?

The reality is, we WERE a bit shit. And we had better pull our finger out. It's fair comment to be honest.

I didn't mean you, chippy.
 
Chippy_boy said:
Mister Appointment said:
Chippy_boy said:
To be fair Didsbury, saying we were a bit shit against Stoke and we'd better pull our finger out, is not "flapping", is it.

Unless you want everyone to say "that was fucking marvellous lads" every time we lose at home to dross?

The reality is, we WERE a bit shit. And we had better pull our finger out. It's fair comment to be honest.

So you keep telling us. Anyone would think you enjoy saying it the number of times you've said. Remember you said the same shot after the Charity Shield too. And that was a friendly.

I think you're either a stalker, or you are mixing me up with someone else mate. I've hardly spoken on the matter.

Stalker? Haha. Classic Bluemoon. No mate I'm not stalking you. I just find posters who give up the season after the charity shield are very memorable. No harm no foul though.
 
pweyhe said:
OB1 said:
Didsbury Dave said:
I'm not bothered about the stats, mate. I'm giving an opinion from watching him. He came back last Februaryish from an injury, after having the first run of proper form since he arrived in the first third of last season. He actually came back quite well and scored a couple of times in the first couple of games but then for the rest of the year his form was inconsistant at best, poor at worst. He's started this season the same.

There have only been three months in his entire City career when he's played at the top of his form, so he can do it, and does it in little fits and starts. But not often enough again, just like his first two years. If he doesn't get back to consstency again soon he may have to be dropped. In my opinion of course.

He's no further down on form at the moment than Silva and he has made more key passes than Silva this season.

Seriously, what exactly did Silva do that was better than Nasri against Stoke? Give the ball away 40 times? I love them both, but it's outrageous to see people just blame Nasri, who was actually involved in 3 of our best chances to score! And of course you're not bothered by stats Dave.. why let little things like facts get in the way of a perfectly good slagging off. And besides the stats showing his worth, Nasri runs more than any other player on the pitch on a consistent basis, and Jovetic wouldn't have scored either of his goals against Liverpool if it wasn't for Samir's excellent build-up play.

I'm not here to have a big argument, but just wanna say if you can't understand what Nasri does for the team, then you really just don't understand how our team functions in the first place. That doesn't mean he's automatically in the team and always plays fantastic.. no one does! But for f*cks sake don't even try to tell me he wasn't excellent last season. He was a huge part of our title win and is always desperate to get more silverware. He's right up there with my most appreciated players!

I never mentioned the Stoke game once. I talked about Nasri's form over the last seven months. It's a perfectly reasonable point to make and a perfectly reasonable discussion is taking place, without you banging your tub and shouting melodramatic nonsense about 'slagging off'.
 

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