United (H) | PL | Post Match Thread

Marvin. said:
Winning was brilliant but we can learn something from every game.

We saw a a world class keeper and a world class striker yesterday. Rodri and Reijnders struggled. Foden and Doku played very well. Doku's 2 assists were exceptional.

It was an uneven performance by City. Good and bad in parts. A game from a side in transition which is what many blues expected. We should get more control as Rodri gets fitter and Reijnders adapts. This is a growing City side imo. We have pressed the reset button but its effects won't be felt immediately. It's difficult to say how much this City side can achieve this season as we don't yet know much about players like Reijnders and Cherki and we don't know how Rodri is going to recover.
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I need to watch Pep's various post match interviews again. I think he said similar, that there was a lot to like in individual performances but a great deal to improve on. I'm paraphrasing that its not a direct quote.
 
GaudinoMotors said:
Hang on, City played completely differently in terms of application, tactics and personnel (in many positions).
The Marvins in here here giving it the big "I told you so" one, must surely realise it was through an almost complete rejig that the "moaners" were advocating....that it came good.
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I don't claim City to be a great side any more but we are a side in transition with some very good players whilst Man Utd side under Amorim have 31 points from 31 games. Therefore pre-match predictions of a Man Utd win from a small number of very active 'City' users was odd behaviour.
 
Marvin. said:
I don't claim City to be a great side any more but we are a side in transition with some very good players whilst Man Utd side under Amorim have 31 points from 31 games. Therefore pre-match predictions of a Man Utd win from a small number of very active 'City' users was odd behaviour.
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Yeah - discussing this "transition" realistically is odd behaviour.

Ooh look who's popped up.
The nothing to see liker in chief.
 
HarrytheBlue said:
Phil suddenly looks back to his best. Haaland yet again underlining his status as the most feared striker on the planet. Donnarumma instantly taking charge and from my seat in the East stand I saw him telling Haaland where he needs to be when defending corners. I've always said that Donnarumma is good with his feet - has a delicate touch when chipping to wing backs. Khusanov - a beast. Excellent performances all round. Men against boys.
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Excellent short distribution by Donnarumma and overall solid performance. Hard to see any chance for Trafford over the next few years. Long distribution a bit off and nowhere near Eddie but then who ever was or will be. Phil always looks better in his natural position but I don't think a midfield with him and Rjeindeers in it will be the most effective.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
I need to watch Pep's various post match interviews again. I think he said similar, that there was a lot to like in individual performances but a great deal to improve on. I'm paraphrasing that its not a direct quote.
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He did. He said that the attitude, body language, etc was amazing, but that performance wise there is a lot to work on. I don't think he will have liked how often we coughed the ball up in midfield. But he'll be aware how much of that is down to fitness/new players/Rodri slowly returning to his best.
 

Id forgotten all about this classic Futurist Electronic track,it's brilliant,the sound of Rock City Nottingham throughout the early to mid 80s....


This wreckage I call man utd
B side this wreckage I call Luke shaw.


Oops sorry,wrong thread ; )

Notice Numans back up band all decked out in traditional black and red ...away colours,how appropriate
Lead singer...in white.......symbolizing the white flag of the manager and captain,lol
 
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Lots of good players yesterday goalie looked great Dias best game for a long time khusanov stop fucking about pep he’s our best RB and he can easy slip into a 3 at back Doku boss foden great but the best for last the beast unreal big earl
 
Marvin. said:
Winning was brilliant but we can learn something from every game.

We saw a a world class keeper and a world class striker yesterday. Rodri and Reijnders struggled. Foden and Doku played very well. Doku's 2 assists were exceptional.

It was an uneven performance by City. Good and bad in parts. A game from a side in transition which is what many blues expected. We should get more control as Rodri gets fitter and Reijnders adapts. This is a growing City side imo. We have pressed the reset button but its effects won't be felt immediately. It's difficult to say how much this City side can achieve this season as we don't yet know much about players like Reijnders and Cherki and we don't know how Rodri is going to recover.
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Other than the world class save, Donnaruma didnt have much to do which makes a change from being hurt from counter-attacks. Pep has always said he hates tika-taka, but with us no longer being able to wear teams down mentally with possession & movement has Pep decided due Donnaruma & Trafford not being able to do what Eddy could with his feet, to finally react to counter-attacking football.
 
BillyShears said:
He did. He said that the attitude, body language, etc was amazing, but that performance wise there is a lot to work on. I don't think he will have liked how often we coughed the ball up in midfield. But he'll be aware how much of that is down to fitness/new players/Rodri slowly returning to his best.
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I know the talk is of Donnarumma not being great with his feet and just hitting it long, but I was surprised with how few outfield players were looking for the ball at our throw-ins. In our best teams, everyone gave options, yesterday there were times there were none. There was one thron-in first half near our box that was just throw, then hoof long on the volley.
 
1000096453.jpg

Flat Back Four & a Win! ​

As I've been lamenting since last season, it's not our players at recent fault, it's the inverted fullback system they've been forced to play which has been totally sussed out.

The setup against ManUre was exactly the same as the formations in our first three matches at the CWC. The result? It unleashed the unpredictable maverick Jeremy Doku & the Rags had few answers to the massive problems he posed to them.

Are we back to our swashbuckling best? No. Is this the progression I was hoping to see, even if we don't win a pot during this transitional season? Yes.

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Rodri looked well off the pace. I thought Silva was average at best in the first half, but he improved as the second half wore on. I feel for Bernardo. He's given his all for Manchester City, but you can see the effervescence & snap he once possessed in abundance is on the wane. Regardless, he'll always be a Manchester City legend for me.

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Starting at the back, Donnarumma was a revelation! He commanded his area like he owned the Etihad, & was to our manor born. He exuded a calm authority that I've never seen from a City keeper before.

His distribution will always be compared to Ederson's, but I've never seen an Ederson before Ederson, & I doubt I'll ever see an Ederson ever again. Eddie's a true City legend, but 26 year old Donna is our future.

At an early corner, he physically moved Vice-Captain Dias to exactly where he wanted him posted, & then he expertly marshalled the rest of his area with a firm authority. Our defence responded by exuding a confidence which has been missing for well over a season.

Our previous defensive confidence was built on our total control & attacking firepower. If teams were camped in their own box & terrified to venture out, that was our defence sorted by default.

We've lost that fear factor, so now our defence has to be a defence who will defend, & defend we did! Dias was totally dominant in the air & won everything thrown at us. Both Khusanov & Dias were brutal in the tackle, & when added to the footballing skills of Gvardiol & O'Reilly, our flat back four barely gave an increasingly desperate ManUre a sniff.

1000096457.jpg

Understandably, Rodri was off the pace, but more worryingly, Reijnders' form has seriously dipped for the third match in a row. The two clear chances he had, would've been buried in his earlier matches, but he side footed one at the keeper with the goal gaping either side & narrowly slipped the other one outside of the far post. Hopefully, this is just an early season blip in form, as he continues to bed in.

Foden was a revelation! He tore ManUre apart in the opening exchanges with his attacking play. He was seriously creative & rock solid defensively as he assumed a left-sided midfield attacking role. Boy, how we've missed him over the last 12 months, & you could see how much the headed opener meant to our Stockport Iniesta.

Haaland was supreme! Pre-match he said our performances had to improve & that he felt he now had to lead the team out of our slump in form, & he did just that.

I've never seen him put in so much effort in a match! He was closing down their keeper, pressing their defence & when under pressure in the latter stages, he was in our box reverting to a commanding defender! Fuckin brilliant!

The most pleasing part of the match for me was the performance of Jeremy Doku. Just like the first three matches of the CWC, he FINALLY had support from the LB, midfield & a more mobile Haaland & he tore ManUre a new arsehole as a result! If we can replicate this on the right, we're gonna terrorise defences across the Premier League & throughout Europe.

Old Toilet...

As for the Rags, they came setup expecting us to play an inverted FB, but when it was obvious that we were playing with a flat back four & weren't going to change, they strangely stuck to a system that was bearing little fruit.

However, I thought they played some decent football. Much better than they have when they sneaked several wins against us in the past. If they stick with Amorim, I can see an improvement in results as the season progresses.

We're now entering the meaty part of the season where games will come thick & fast, so the real football starts from now. Looking at our bench, I noticed Guardiola pointing at Lijnders after the opener as if to say "That's down to you". Lijnders also looked much more involved. He was evidently brought here to usher in a change of tactical approach, so it's no wonder he's looked disinterested & disconnected, when Guardiola reverted back to his failed inverted FB system.

Uncle Kolo is the conduit between the players & coaching staff. The way he encouraged & cuddled every player was so emotional & great to see.

It's early days, but I hope this victory will signal the end of Pep's failing inverted fullback tactic. It's been well & truly sussed out & judging by their recent comments, the players have lost faith in it.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the new Manchester City.

This emphatic victory was for you Ricky lad. Rest in Power our kid... )(

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Marvin. said:
Winning was brilliant but we can learn something from every game.

We saw a a world class keeper and a world class striker yesterday. Rodri and Reijnders struggled. Foden and Doku played very well. Doku's 2 assists were exceptional.

It was an uneven performance by City. Good and bad in parts. A game from a side in transition which is what many blues expected. We should get more control as Rodri gets fitter and Reijnders adapts. This is a growing City side imo. We have pressed the reset button but its effects won't be felt immediately. It's difficult to say how much this City side can achieve this season as we don't yet know much about players like Reijnders and Cherki and we don't know how Rodri is going to recover.
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We’ll see what’s what v Arsenal. Best team in the league atm imo so we’ll have our hands full.
 
Bentheblue said:
I’ll never understand why the Premier League allow a guy who is Manchester born and bread and whose family are Rags to referee the Mancheter teams, especially derby games. Hard to believe they are stupid enough to actually believe the Alty fantasy.
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To be fair apart from the rags back pass I forgot who was reffing to be honest. Didn't think he was bad at all
 
bluegaz13 said:
We were never going to go from ‘zero to hero’ in one match but some very encouraging signs…..tempered by the quality of the opposition.

Hopefully Pep now realises that that we need physicality in at least three of the four defenders and he has seemed to ditch the inverted full back which without the correct players, has cost us so many times over the last twelve months.

The presence of Rodri, although clearly very rusty helped and the return to form of Foden , Dias and Haaland is obviously going to improve any team.

Doku has now set the marker in what was his best game for City and O’Reilly got better as the game went on…..his height helped when United kept trying the diagonal ball which has caught us out so many times.

Donnarumma gave the back four so much more confidence but we need to see a lot more from Reinjders who was mostly on the periphery, although he could have ended up with two goals.

Special mention for Bernardo who should not play in every game and gave the ball away on a couple occasions which would never have happened 2 years ago. He covered some ground yesterday and never stopped running and put in a couple of vital tackles.
He is up there with David Silva, Aguero, Kompany etc etc when it comes legends…..just wish John Stones could be available for every game like Bernardo has been.
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I thought Bernardo stuggled at times tbh. Seems to have slowed down a bit and was ponderous in forward positions. As usual he gave his all but I fear we have seen the best of this chap and he is yet another we face the difficult task of replacing.
 
Marvin. said:
I don't claim City to be a great side any more but we are a side in transition with some very good players whilst Man Utd side under Amorim have 31 points from 31 games. Therefore pre-match predictions of a Man Utd win from a small number of very active 'City' users was odd behaviour.
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I must admit that for the 1st time in a long time I wasnt confident before kick-off in the derby. In the last 10 years we've been able to replace old legends with new & unfortunately thats something you can't replicate over a long time
 
Marvin. said:
Winning was brilliant but we can learn something from every game.

We saw a a world class keeper and a world class striker yesterday. Rodri and Reijnders struggled. Foden and Doku played very well. Doku's 2 assists were exceptional.

It was an uneven performance by City. Good and bad in parts. A game from a side in transition which is what many blues expected. We should get more control as Rodri gets fitter and Reijnders adapts. This is a growing City side imo. We have pressed the reset button but its effects won't be felt immediately. It's difficult to say how much this City side can achieve this season as we don't yet know much about players like Reijnders and Cherki and we don't know how Rodri is going to recover.
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The critical factor you have left out of your match report analysis is we still don't know the effect of the club word cup jaunt to America.......if the players has been fully rested,we would have perhaps scored 10
.i genuinely believe man utd turning into Huddersfield town...
Certainly like shaw,burger boyish heading for the cow shed.
 
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