Viktoria Plzen pre match discussion

[Jimfv1]

I hope it wont be the case that Plzen takes points off of us and then CSKA and Bayern goes there and wins and home also so they make 6 points.

Like it was with Ajax last year, Dortmund&Real easily made the important 6 points against them, we made 1...

Wont be easy match, they will up for it very match, they have a good form in their league, and also we have clear weaknesses in our team like we still struggle vs pressing. Heard good thing about their coach, compared to Wenger a little bit tactically and in playing style, if he is intelligent enough to make his team press us we will have problems tonight.

I hope Pellegrini gets it right in the CL as CL is important this year more than the PL, reaching the quarter finals is at least something we have to do this season. We cant be a laughing stock again to stay in the group stage eliminated teams. Especially with 90m spent on very good players and and a new manager coming in with CL-pedigree...

6 group stage matches only, there really isnt many chance to make mistakes and mistakes are punished on this level far more times than in the PL.

A win is needed tonight the team knows it, I want perfect mentality from them.

Nail on head time there mate. These are a good little side, and certainly superior to anything we have faced this season. They absolutely will press us, nearly all teams in the CL do. One of the key features of our group last season was the set up of both Dortmund and Madrid when they didn't have the ball. There was a snippet of footage taken by the stadium's overhead camera in the Bernebau, of Hart rolling the ball out to Nasty, who under pressure quickly knocked it sideways to Zab I think it was, and you could see Madrid's front 5, who were in a pentagonal shape, change tack as a well oiled unit to close down every City player on that side of the field. Honestly, it was like watching a pack of lions cornering a gazelle.
Our lack of pace is a huge problem in the face of this tactic, as there's never an out ball available to us. Ya Ya showed us how to break the shackles a couple of times in the Bernebau, but he was a lone figure in this regard.
I'm a miserable old traditional City pessimist at the best of times I know, but I genuinely can't see us getting anything out of this game. We struggled badly enough in the CL last season with a manager, who'd been at the club 3 years. This year we've got a new manager, who has key personnel deployed in unfamiliar roles, and whose tactics look ill suited to the players at his disposal. If we win I'll be thrilled, I'd take a draw, but truthfully, I will not be in the least bit surprised if we lose

I'm with you, we never do things the easy (or should that be predictable) way. Plzen came back from 2 down to draw with Milan in the group stages, and then beat Napoli 5-0 on aggregate last season in the Europa league, this team are no mugs, and are top of their league at present.

It really pisses me off that if Utd draw at home to Leverkusen it is a good result, yet if we don't win away then we are a shambles yet again according to our national press.

We'll probably slip up against Plzen, draw at home to Bayern, then beat CSKA at home and draw away to setup a group finale which will be touch and go in the last couple of matches, typical City !

 

[bayern blade]

To point out the bleedingly obvious, this game and its return leg are critically important in our group stage. The top teams make this their bread & butter and generally come away with 6 points from these fixtures - it will make or break us IMO.

I'm not saying it's gonna be easy, but I'll be expecting a win - a hard fought 1-0 (with no injuries) will do just fine.

No injuries is very important but alas I predict a 2-0 loss.

Worried that if Kompany starts he gets through ok , we need him on Sunday.

I think you'll beat them tonight.

 

[Pigeonho]

I hope it wont be the case that Plzen takes points off of us and then CSKA and Bayern goes there and wins and home also so they make 6 points.

Like it was with Ajax last year, Dortmund&Real easily made the important 6 points against them, we made 1...

Wont be easy match, they will up for it very match, they have a good form in their league, and also we have clear weaknesses in our team like we still struggle vs pressing. Heard good thing about their coach, compared to Wenger a little bit tactically and in playing style, if he is intelligent enough to make his team press us we will have problems tonight.

I hope Pellegrini gets it right in the CL as CL is important this year more than the PL, reaching the quarter finals is at least something we have to do this season. We cant be a laughing stock again to stay in the group stage eliminated teams. Especially with 90m spent on very good players and and a new manager coming in with CL-pedigree...

6 group stage matches only, there really isnt many chance to make mistakes and mistakes are punished on this level far more times than in the PL.

A win is needed tonight the team knows it, I want perfect mentality from them.

Nail on head time there mate. These are a good little side, and certainly superior to anything we have faced this season. They absolutely will press us, nearly all teams in the CL do. One of the key features of our group last season was the set up of both Dortmund and Madrid when they didn't have the ball. There was a snippet of footage taken by the stadium's overhead camera in the Bernebau, of Hart rolling the ball out to Nasty, who under pressure quickly knocked it sideways to Zab I think it was, and you could see Madrid's front 5, who were in a pentagonal shape, change tack as a well oiled unit to close down every City player on that side of the field. Honestly, it was like watching a pack of lions cornering a gazelle.
Our lack of pace is a huge problem in the face of this tactic, as there's never an out ball available to us. Ya Ya showed us how to break the shackles a couple of times in the Bernebau, but he was a lone figure in this regard.
I'm a miserable old traditional City pessimist at the best of times I know, but I genuinely can't see us getting anything out of this game. We struggled badly enough in the CL last season with a manager, who'd been at the club 3 years. This year we've got a new manager, who has key personnel deployed in unfamiliar roles, and whose tactics look ill suited to the players at his disposal. If we win I'll be thrilled, I'd take a draw, but truthfully, I will not be in the least bit surprised if we lose

I'm with you, we never do things the easy (or should that be predictable) way. Plzen came back from 2 down to draw with Milan in the group stages, and then beat Napoli 5-0 on aggregate last season in the Europa league, this team are no mugs, and are top of their league at present.

It really pisses me off that if Utd draw at home to Leverkusen it is a good result, yet if we don't win away then we are a shambles yet again according to our national press.

We'll probably slip up against Plzen, draw at home to Bayern, then beat CSKA at home and draw away to setup a group finale which will be touch and go in the last couple of matches, typical City !

Who says United drawing at home to Leverkusen would be a good result? Do you really think the press would say it is? Teams with a chance of winning the competition are expected to win their home games, so them drawing tonight would be met with criticism i'm sure.
As for us, well if United, Chelsea or Arsenal went there and lost, rivalry piss-taking aside would you laugh and wonder the fuck Plzen are? That's the way to look at it with us then too. We are expected to beat these and with good reason, mainly our expensively assembled squad and the talent it contains.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

I had a dream that my lad texted me to say we had won 5 - 0. I would hasten to add this was in the middle of a dream,
whereby we were losing 2 - 0 to AFC Wimbledon in the league.

I think this tells you i'm unsure about what's happening currently.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Nail on head time there mate. These are a good little side, and certainly superior to anything we have faced this season. They absolutely will press us, nearly all teams in the CL do. One of the key features of our group last season was the set up of both Dortmund and Madrid when they didn't have the ball. There was a snippet of footage taken by the stadium's overhead camera in the Bernebau, of Hart rolling the ball out to Nasty, who under pressure quickly knocked it sideways to Zab I think it was, and you could see Madrid's front 5, who were in a pentagonal shape, change tack as a well oiled unit to close down every City player on that side of the field. Honestly, it was like watching a pack of lions cornering a gazelle.
Our lack of pace is a huge problem in the face of this tactic, as there's never an out ball available to us. Ya Ya showed us how to break the shackles a couple of times in the Bernebau, but he was a lone figure in this regard.
I'm a miserable old traditional City pessimist at the best of times I know, but I genuinely can't see us getting anything out of this game. We struggled badly enough in the CL last season with a manager, who'd been at the club 3 years. This year we've got a new manager, who has key personnel deployed in unfamiliar roles, and whose tactics look ill suited to the players at his disposal. If we win I'll be thrilled, I'd take a draw, but truthfully, I will not be in the least bit surprised if we lose

I'm with you, we never do things the easy (or should that be predictable) way. Plzen came back from 2 down to draw with Milan in the group stages, and then beat Napoli 5-0 on aggregate last season in the Europa league, this team are no mugs, and are top of their league at present.

It really pisses me off that if Utd draw at home to Leverkusen it is a good result, yet if we don't win away then we are a shambles yet again according to our national press.

We'll probably slip up against Plzen, draw at home to Bayern, then beat CSKA at home and draw away to setup a group finale which will be touch and go in the last couple of matches, typical City !

Who says United drawing at home to Leverkusen would be a good result? Do you really think the press would say it is? Teams with a chance of winning the competition are expected to win their home games, so them drawing tonight would be met with criticism i'm sure.
As for us, well if United, Chelsea or Arsenal went there and lost, rivalry piss-taking aside would you laugh and wonder the fuck Plzen are? That's the way to look at it with us then too. We are expected to beat these and with good reason, mainly our expensively assembled squad and the talent it contains.

I would certainly hope that would be the case, but we had an expensively assembled squad when we went to Poznan and lost, Kiev and lost, Sporting and lost, Napoli and lost, Ajax and lost, etc, and that was with a settled side and manager. Viktoria Plzen may be relative small fry compared to some of those teams, but we will still need to bring our 'A' game tonight if we're to get anything at all. Experience suggests we may not

 

[Anonymous]

I hope and expect a win. However for the sheer comedy value of watching the wrist slitters losing their marbles a draw will also be satisfactory :)

Seriously though ... we have to win tonight otherwise we get off on the wrong foot which is not good in this group. On that basis, and with the quality we have, I expect we will win. Did I already say that. I think we'll win. And if I'm wrong. I'm sure i'll be reminded of it from here to eternity!

 

[Pppppppppp]

Nail on head time there mate. These are a good little side, and certainly superior to anything we have faced this season. They absolutely will press us, nearly all teams in the CL do.

I wouldn't be so sure. Plzen are brave enough when they feel they might get something out of a game even against a better opponent, but when facing someone way stronger, coach Vrba has often been surprisingly passive and careful, going against the way they are used to play and pretty much everything that makes Viktoria so relatively successful. E.g. last season at home against Fenerbahce who had all the time and space they could want. I feel this might be the case against City.

 

[pominoz]

Nail on head time there mate. These are a good little side, and certainly superior to anything we have faced this season. They absolutely will press us, nearly all teams in the CL do. One of the key features of our group last season was the set up of both Dortmund and Madrid when they didn't have the ball. There was a snippet of footage taken by the stadium's overhead camera in the Bernebau, of Hart rolling the ball out to Nasty, who under pressure quickly knocked it sideways to Zab I think it was, and you could see Madrid's front 5, who were in a pentagonal shape, change tack as a well oiled unit to close down every City player on that side of the field. Honestly, it was like watching a pack of lions cornering a gazelle.
Our lack of pace is a huge problem in the face of this tactic, as there's never an out ball available to us. Ya Ya showed us how to break the shackles a couple of times in the Bernebau, but he was a lone figure in this regard.
I'm a miserable old traditional City pessimist at the best of times I know, but I genuinely can't see us getting anything out of this game. We struggled badly enough in the CL last season with a manager, who'd been at the club 3 years. This year we've got a new manager, who has key personnel deployed in unfamiliar roles, and whose tactics look ill suited to the players at his disposal. If we win I'll be thrilled, I'd take a draw, but truthfully, I will not be in the least bit surprised if we lose

I'm with you, we never do things the easy (or should that be predictable) way. Plzen came back from 2 down to draw with Milan in the group stages, and then beat Napoli 5-0 on aggregate last season in the Europa league, this team are no mugs, and are top of their league at present.

It really pisses me off that if Utd draw at home to Leverkusen it is a good result, yet if we don't win away then we are a shambles yet again according to our national press.

We'll probably slip up against Plzen, draw at home to Bayern, then beat CSKA at home and draw away to setup a group finale which will be touch and go in the last couple of matches, typical City !

Who says United drawing at home to Leverkusen would be a good result? Do you really think the press would say it is? Teams with a chance of winning the competition are expected to win their home games, so them drawing tonight would be met with criticism i'm sure.
As for us, well if United, Chelsea or Arsenal went there and lost, rivalry piss-taking aside would you laugh and wonder the fuck Plzen are? That's the way to look at it with us then too. We are expected to beat these and with good reason, mainly our expensively assembled squad and the talent it contains.

Apparently baconface reckons this is the toughest qualifying CL draw the rags have ever had.

 

[Zmajuga]

They're not in the same form as last year. I watched Plzen in first round of qualifying against Zeljeznicar from Bosnia (club where Dzeko started his career) and they were nothing special. Considering they conceded 4 goals in two games (3 at home and 1 away) from such a weak opponent, then we must score at least 2 or 3 by all means.

I have posted this before, only a fool would use the game against Zeljo as any sort of measure of their quality. One of Plzen's first games of the season and basically a game where the opposition somehow managed to score with basically all three of their shots on goal – yet still managed to lose. With Plzen also never in any danger of losing the tie and controlling the away game even when they were down to ten men. And then they have gone and added four more wins out of four from their remaining qualifiers, conceding just three and scoring fourteen.

However, having said that, a team that had won the Premier League just over a year ago should be beating a team like Plzen rather easily. Indeed, it should be beating even outfits stronger than Viktoria like CSKA. European inexperience or not.

First of all calling someone a fool for stating his opinion is inappropriate and rude. I pointed to that particular game because it shows the weakness in their defense. Second, the rest of qualifying matches that Plzen played are the matches with teams that are similar in quality or worse than Zeljeznicar so I can freely say that this is a must win and if we can't score at least twice with our attacking force and win, then we're not ready for CL yet.

 

[SkyBlueUSA]

Best case scenario is City get a 2 goal lead in the first half. Second half, City just controls possession/kicks the ball around, subs around 60mins. with an eye on the derby for Sunday.