Maybe he was lined up to take the 5th penalty for City and never got the chance?
There are some mighty dumb comments on this thread!
That's why your best three penalty takers should take the first three. You only get a guarantee of 3 pens.Maybe he was lined up to take the 5th penalty for City and never got the chance?
There are some mighty dumb comments on this thread!
I can imagine.Martin Tyler didn’t
Sure aguero missed a penalty. But had pep not been over cautious and brought gundogun alongside Fernandinho (for the first time that season) we wouldn’t have needed that penalty. We were overly cautious, slow and pedantic in midfield in direct contrast to the previous games. When gundogun plays, the pressing intensity is less, the build up is slow, and our defence don’t get the support in front of them. Look at how Bernardo supported Rodri against Chelsea and Liverpool. There is no way we would have come out with any points if gundogun had startedYou what, mate? Have we travelled back to the 19-20 season?
I appreciate Gundogan's scoring form last season might have been caused by a change of position that enabled a bit of a purple patch for him, but he's been here five years now and still consistently starts in big games. There must be a reason for that. Pep doesn't suffer fools and he clearly trusts Gundogan, so the idea that he's been "rubbish" is really extreme. Pep's had no issue dropping club legends (or selling them), he's had no issue leaving players out for weeks when he deems that they're not doing well enough. I can't recall Gundogan ever going through a phase where he was benched for a long stretch despite being fit and available. He was instrumental in the 18/19 run-in and once again in our title-win last season, while the rest of his City career he's been a decent, professional option to fill in whenever Silva or Fernandinho haven't been available.
I'm actually a bigger fan of Gundogan than most people and have often seen real value in him where others haven't, but even if you were being really critical I think the worst you could accuse him of is not being as effective as David Silva in that #8 role and maybe being a little slow to accelerate. But we know now (given how good they've both been for ages now) that the Rodri-Gundogan double pivot was suffering from more systemic issues in 2019 and had little to do with them both as individuals. Rodri was getting used to his new position while dealing with a makeshift defence behind him (remember that we had to play Fernandinho at CB alongside Otamendi on far too many occasions), while Gundogan was in and out of the side with David Silva on his last legs. It's something Pep needed to sort out by fixing other areas of the team and that's exactly what he did.
As for Gundogan being at the heart of our Champions League exits... Christ, that's a massive stretch. He wasn't even involved in the Monaco games, so scratch those off the list. Liverpool - I don't think it's Gundogan's fault that Pep started him on the right-wing and that our defence shat itself in sight of the Kop, nor the fact that we had two perfectly legitimate goals disallowed for offside over the course of the tie. Spurs - Aguero missed a penalty in the first leg and VAR screwed us over in the second leg. Lyon - I seem to remember it was Raheem who skied it from 4 yards instead of tapping in for 2-2. And I'm pretty sure it was the random inclusion of Sterling in the final last year that disrupted the balance of the team overall, not Gundogan, who had been there all season.
Is Gundogan really our best penalty taker though? They all seem equally hit and miss these days to the point where it probably came down to a multitude of factors what the order was.And that was my point. Why is he going last? He's wasn't the 5th best penalty taker on the pitch. It was all over by the time the 5th came round. Great deal of good having our best go last
Imagine a team with E(d)erson, Lake and Palmer.Appreciate the detailed response, bud. I actually think Palmer has the talent to be an elite player for both us and England.
He is sure to get stronger at 19 and with his height, is beautifully balanced. He actually reminds me of Paul Lake.
He's a little intimidated at times with some of our bigger names, but that will get easier.
Palmer, a bit like Phil, we aren't sure what his best position is just yet, as the academy are turning out kids now who can play in a variety of positions across the front six.
He does sometimes want to play his way out of situations in the wrong areas and got caught out doing just that in his most-recent England U21 game.
I suppose that's kids for you, but I'm hopeful this one can be afforded the time by Pep to convince a few more of his quality.
??Why has our most experienced player and penalty taker not taken one. He's just a big a **** as Ronaldo and Jorginho, going last for the glory. Can't stand that shit
WHAT ! You cant be serious. Hes a regular goal scorer from midfield. He creates. His goals last season was a major part of us winning the PL.So is gundo. He’s usually sleepwalking games and is a passenger most of the time. Sometimes he sleepwalks past defenders for a tap in from 3 yards, but for me he’s a bigger liability than sterling