West Brom Vs City Post Match Discussion Thread

[chris85mcfc]

This is not a moan from a Blue Who's Never Satisfied. O.K? Got that out of the way.
If Pellegrini gave them a bollocking for the two goals conceded, when we were totally — but totally — in charge for the first 75 minutes, then some of that bollocking should have gone his own way. I know he needs to protect players etc., but that was one substitution too many last night. Take Sergio out: o.k. there's a hole, but we can deal with it. Take Nasri out, the way he's playing at present: we're really starting to feel it. Take Yaya out, and you've then got a situation where there's no one simply holding the ball calmly in midfield, knocking it back and forth, playing the game out. West Brom were given more possession in the last fifteen minutes than in the first seventy five. The two goals were simply pressure goals (for what it's worth, I don't have Pants at fault for either of them, I suppose we can agree on that. Keep him in for the Saints match, I say). It annoyed me, intensely, because it's not the killer instinct that you need to win that Premiership. Had we won, clean sheet, 3-0, that result would have looked fairly different to me. As it is, it was shades of Chelsea, shades of Villa. Yes, it's three points, and many will say, who give a…? The way you win matters, too.

I agree with you about the amount of substitutions. Aguero coming off is understandable, but Yaya's game doesn't really require a lot of energy especially at 3-0 so he could have stayed on just to play keep ball which is does better than anyone IMO.

Can't agree with your last comment. The way you win is irrelevant. I'd take 6 or 7 more away wins like that thankyou very much :)

 

[Anonymous]

He actually admitted that error. He said "Some of the players thought the game was won before it was. Maybe I did too".

I thought that was a nice touch from the manager.

 

[Cobwebcat]

He actually admitted that error. He said "Some of the players thought the game was won before it was. Maybe I did too".

I thought that was a nice touch from the manager.

I did too. I think he's realising, particularly away fron home in the EPL, that teams will fight to the end and its never done till the ref blows his whistle.

Resting players is very important but if too many changes result in us not winning a game the psychological impact is even greater. Most players will say when you are winning you want to play every game and dont feel tired.

 

[cheddar404]

He actually admitted that error. He said "Some of the players thought the game was won before it was. Maybe I did too".

I thought that was a nice touch from the manager.

That he was complacent or admitting to it? Hopefully he will learn from it. You would have thought with all his years of experience, he would know that you can't afford to think that you can stop playing in any Premier League match. It certainly explains the sloppy attitude towards the end.

 

[Eds]

Playing the last few minutes with only nine players was always going to be a problem

 

[Tourist since 1971]

first things first, thanks for 3 points

second:
why in hell we pull that early out of away games , crucial goals in the last 15 minutes of the games have put us in this position

Aston villa 73' and 75'
Cardiff 60' & 79' & 87'
Chelsea 90'

I think you'll find we beat Cardiff in 1960, 4-2 at home, so I dont see your point.

 

[Anonymous]

That he was complacent or admitting to it?

I don't think the manager was complacent. He made the right decision to take off arguably our best three players of the last few months to rest them for the weekend.

What I meant was it was a nice touch of him to include himself in his comments regarding complacency. I different manager may well have just publicly lambasted his players for being stupid complacent twats. Clearly Pellegrini operates in a different way.<br /><br />-- Thu Dec 05, 2013 12:06 pm --<br /><br />

He actually admitted that error. He said "Some of the players thought the game was won before it was. Maybe I did too".

I thought that was a nice touch from the manager.

I did too. I think he's realising, particularly away fron home in the EPL, that teams will fight to the end and its never done till the ref blows his whistle.

Resting players is very important but if too many changes result in us not winning a game the psychological impact is even greater. Most players will say when you are winning you want to play every game and dont feel tired.

Yes I agree, but the fact is we won last night. Comfortably. Some of the recriminations which I'm reading don't bare any resemblance to the true nature of what happened in the game. West Brom were never at any point in that game from when it kicked off to when the final whistle blew, and were never in any danger of getting anything out of it.

 

[cleavers]

At 3-0 up with 6 minutes to play, everyone should expect us to see out victory, which we did, but the rank bad defending hasn't gone away fully.

For most of the night we defended well, restricting them to hardly any good chances, but we switched off at the back in the last minutes, and while it didn't cost us a result, it cost us a margin of victory we'd fully deserved, and ultimately made the performance look less impressive, when there was a good chance of making a significant statement to the rest of the league that we've fully clicked away from home now as well.

I've no problem with any of the subs, all key players rested, and those that came on weren't the ones at fault for the goals anyway.

 

[cheddar404]

That he was complacent or admitting to it?

I don't think the manager was complacent. He made the right decision to take off arguably our best three players of the last few months to rest them for the weekend.

What I meant was it was a nice touch of him to include himself in his comments regarding complacency. I different manager may well have just publicly lambasted his players for being stupid complacent twats. Clearly Pellegrini operates in a different way.

True; and I like the guy for stuff like that. I just thought as a team, we had complacency written all over us once we'd scored the third. Should the players be blamed for this? Well, yes to some extent but they are 11 individuals out there following the manager's orders.

 

[Anonymous]

At 3-0 up with 6 minutes to play, everyone should expect us to see out victory, which we did, but the rank bad defending hasn't gone away fully.

For most of the night we defended well, restricting them to hardly any good chances, but we switched off at the back in the last minutes, and while it didn't cost us a result, it cost us a margin of victory we'd fully deserved, and ultimately made the performance look less impressive, when there was a good chance of making a significant statement to the rest of the league that we've fully clicked away from home now as well.

I've no problem with any of the subs, all key players rested, and those that came on weren't the ones at fault for the goals anyway.

At some point we're going to have to start giving the opposition a little credit too. West Brom could've rolled over and allowed us to run up a cricket score after the third goal went in but instead they continued to come at us with everything they had. It was pretty obvious to me why other big teams have struggled at their place.