What Is lacking?

the default position at fans of every club in this country is “we need a striker‘, it’s hilarious.

Chelseas top scorer this season is Jorginho. Our top scorer was Gundo & on the whole we have been amazing this year Until last night.

Between the two clubs we won every trophy or contested in every final. So the default response of a striker is lazy. Of course we need to replace Aguero this summer but a striker wasn’t what stopped us from winning the CL last night - in Sergio we’ve had one of the best strikers of all time in the side for 10 years and never got close to winning it.

Pep built an amazingly fine tuned system this season that won *every* big match it played in every competition then inexplicably dropped it in the biggest of all. We’ve seen several examples this season of what happens when we divert from that fine tuned team, and what we looked like last season and early in this before he found said system. It wasn’t pretty.

on this occasion it was on Pep, not quality of personnel or positions we lack. He didn’t have an answer to Tuchels system and for whatever reason didn’t think the tried & test false 9 would be enough, so didn’t once use it against him this season. I find that unfathomable.

So ultimately what’s missing is the managers ability to navigate the latter stages at this club. Let me be clear - he is a genius and I want him to stay for as long as he wants to be here. But he’s almost too deep of a thinker at this stage and ultimately his players are mortal.That disconnect is something he needs to dial back on.

I suspect all he needed yesterday was one of his team to say Pep, let’s keep it simple. Asking players to do new things on a night where the main thing is to calm nerves doesn’t sound like the best strategy. At the very least if you’re going to try something completely new use the 3 dead rubber games we had the bonus of having to give the players a chance To get to grips with it. Not a Champions League final.
 
citymad said:
That’s just a stat to hide behind. Besides Guardiola never learns . Fact is He handed Chelsea the game from the kick off. Credit Chelsea they took advantage of it and their keeper never had to make a save.
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Mate, that's been haunting me since our line-up was announced yesterday. It's a new day, sun shining and tomorrow's a bank-holiday but I just can't shake the notion that we didn't have a snowball in hells chance of winning last night. Oh well, that's why Pep is one of the greatest and I'm not. Not one of baldy's better days.

In response to the original question:

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Someone who just will not tolerate losing.
 
Cityzen_89 said:
Players? Mentality? Leadership? Quality In Key Areas? All Of The Above?

Basically, can this be sorted with new players or does this go deeper and is it more of a mentality issue? If so, how do we move forward and sort this?
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None of those, actually and some posters using the defeat to have a dig at the usual scapegoats frankly make me laugh.

That Harvertz goal would have never happened with Fernandinho or Rodri on the pitch, and by letting them on the bench, Pep not only weakened his defense but also his attack.

He tied up Gundogan, who's not a defensive midfielder, forcing him to stay deeper thus having less influence on the game and cut off the defense from the attack, making the transitions ponderous, hazardous even, and constantly exposing the back four to Chelsea's counter-attacks. I've rarely seen you so disjointed.

I still can't fathom why he chose the most important game of the season, a one-off at that, to mess with a proven, league winner, starting XI. The system with the false 9 worked perfectly. The players had their habits, routines and partnerships. Everyone knew what they had to do on the pitch. The second leg against PSG should've put to bed any discussion about who's going to start, except maybe Fernandinho/Rodri. So why for the love of God, change that? Why not simply play your football?

I honestly thought that he would rectify his mistake at half-time, yet he persisted until one hour has passed and with this Chelsea team known for being a tough nut to crack, it was too little, too late. I said before the game that it was vital for you to get the first goal. By the time Fernandinho came on the damage was already done and Chelsea had a huge psychological advantage. Combined that with their well organized team and Kanté in the midfield and you just know that that one goal would be enough.

This Man City team had enough to see Chelsea through, even if it was never going to be easy. Talking about mentality, lack of striker or lack of leadership is simply shifting the problem. It's really heartbreaking, because I wanted Pep and this team to win the CL and put a definitive stamp on this footballing era.

Seems we'll have to wait a bit more.
 
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What is Lacking?

I think some City fans on here need to take a step back from their keyboards, for a while. Disappointment can cloud judgement.

City have been on a dominating run domestically for a decade. City have played football unknown before on these shores, literally breaking records on a weekly basis.

We lost a game of football to another decent side. In a competition we have been regularly playing in for a decade, and been making progress in.

We are in that competition again next year, and will be one of the favourites. Probably be the favourite again.

We played against a team that defended well and took their chance.
In football, it's easier to defend than attack. As in life, its easier to spoil than create. City wanted to create chances, Chelsea were happy to not concede.
The best team didn't win the cup, but the best team has no right to.

Fans jumping on the false nine situation need to realise this tactic is a development against defensive anti football that we play against every week. It has got us where we are this year. Just "getting a top class cf" is not so clear cut when the spaces are so tight, the box is so congested and chances are so few.

We don't struggle scoring goals, generally, we struggle conceding goals on the break.
We have seen it so often that it is now a trope. This is the area that needs work.

The error yesterday was not playing the same lineup that won the semi-final. Players become used to the flow of a game, to know where other (regular) players will be. Removing that puts doubt in the players minds. Doubt causes hesitation and uncertainty. That lineup also has a positive mental experience of playing and winning in a tense game. But it's all easy to say in hindsight, at the time I believed it was a courageous and bold attacking statement.

Pep will tinker and innovate, because that is how he has changed football all over the world. Long may he keep pushing the boundaries (but not too much in a chumps final, ok?)
 
swblue64 said:
Dont over complicate in big games. The quad was on this season but for some bizzaaaaar reason we played the second string v Chelsea in the FA Cup semi and tossed it off. Then tonight the only question we all wanted to know was Dhino or Rodri, and we end up playing neither and our most out of form player Sterling is in the team. WTF ????!!!!!!?...
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Pep is cut a lot of slack by City fans and rightly so but last night was bizarre to say the least.
 
JoeD said:
None of those, actually and some posters using the defeat to have a dig at the usual scapegoats frankly make me laugh.

That Harvertz goal would have never happened with Fernandinho or Rodri on the pitch, and by letting them on the bench, Pep not only weakened his defense but also his attack.

He tied up Gundogan, who's not a defensive midfielder, forcing him to stay deeper thus have less influence on the game and cut off the defense from the attack, making the transitions ponderous, hazardous even, and constantly exposing the back four to Chelsea's counter-attacks. I've rarely seen you so disjointed.

I still can't fathom why he chose the most important game of the season, a one-off at that, to mess with a proven, league winner, starting XI. The players had their habits, routines and partnerships. Everyone knew what they had to do on the pitch. The second leg against PSG should've put to bed any discussion about who's going to start, except maybe Fernandinho/Rodri. So why for the love of God, change that? Why not simply play your football?

I honestly thought that he would rectify his mistake at half-time, yet he persisted until one hour has passed and with this Chelsea team known for being a tough nut to crack, it was too little, too late. I said before the game that it was vital for you to get the first goal. By the time Fernandinho came on the damage was already done and Chelsea had a huge psychological advantage. Combined that with their well organized team and Kanté in the midfield and you just know that that one goal would be enough.

This Man City team had enough to see Chelsea through, even if it was never going to be easy. Talking about mentality, lack of striker or lack of leadership is simply shifting the problem. It's really heartbreaking, because I wanted Pep and this team to win the CL and put a definitive stamp on this footballing era.

Seems we'll have to wait a bit more.
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Good post
 
city warrior said:
Mentality and offensive quality.

The mentality of players like Bernardo, Stones, Sterling, Mahrez even Gundogan is just not that strong. They are not weak, but you just don't feel they thrive under pressure and that they will be the best player on the pitch on the BIG games. Players like KDB, Dias, Foden, even Ederson, Zinchenko or Walker tend to play really well on big matches.

The main thing is quality, specially for an offensive team like ours. We have a lot of depth and great squad players, but other than KDB which player is without a doubt a top 15 player in the world? Foden and Dias can get there if they keep this season's level. We have a bunch of top 15-50 players, but against elite competition we should have 1 or 2 more offensive top 5-20 players ( Haaland, Kane, Coman, Gnabry, Kante, Salah, Sancho, Verrati, Kimmich).

If we want to win PL(which is great) what we have is enough.Good quality and a ton of depth. But against the elite in cups competition, you need stars.
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Yet the player you bang the drum for was our worst attacking option until he went off injured, KDB was next to useless when on the pitch yesterday, was he carrying a knock?

It was undoubtedly the decision to not play Fernie or Rodri but to revert Gundy back to DM that cost us this game.

It really doesn't matter if Pep is the best manager in the world he still makes utter brain farts in this bastard competition, play your best fucking team and let them worry about us for a fucking change.

His recent record against OGS and now Tuchel is shocking and the first isn't good enough to manage an u9's youth team.
 
Pep did say in a recent interview that to stay relevant and challenge for the top competitions, the squad will need to be regularly overhauled. This season if you include Aguerro I see 4 players in and at least 4 out. I have a feeling next year could be Torres breakthrough season as I see him being used as a central ST. For me he could become the surprise player in our squad next year.
I also believe Pep will change his tactics too With next seasons team looking a lot different to this seasons team.
Hopefully Pep will fill the squad with 2-3 Academy players with Delap, Doyle and Palmer joining the squad.
Players out I believe could be from Mendy, Sterling, Mahrez, Garcia, Aguerro and Cancelo. 6 players out 3-4 in plus 2-3 youths. A new formation and we go again.
I don’t want to lose Mahrez or Cancelo but it could happen. The money raised added to the prize money for this season will help City sign at least 2 marquee players to freshen the squad up.
This is only my thoughts and I will probably be completely wrong lol.
 
JoeD said:
None of those, actually and some posters using the defeat to have a dig at the usual scapegoats frankly make me laugh.

That Harvertz goal would have never happened with Fernandinho or Rodri on the pitch, and by letting them on the bench, Pep not only weakened his defense but also his attack.

He tied up Gundogan, who's not a defensive midfielder, forcing him to stay deeper thus having less influence on the game and cut off the defense from the attack, making the transitions ponderous, hazardous even, and constantly exposing the back four to Chelsea's counter-attacks. I've rarely seen you so disjointed.

I still can't fathom why he chose the most important game of the season, a one-off at that, to mess with a proven, league winner, starting XI. The system with the false 9 worked perfectly. The players had their habits, routines and partnerships. Everyone knew what they had to do on the pitch. The second leg against PSG should've put to bed any discussion about who's going to start, except maybe Fernandinho/Rodri. So why for the love of God, change that? Why not simply play your football?

I honestly thought that he would rectify his mistake at half-time, yet he persisted until one hour has passed and with this Chelsea team known for being a tough nut to crack, it was too little, too late. I said before the game that it was vital for you to get the first goal. By the time Fernandinho came on the damage was already done and Chelsea had a huge psychological advantage. Combined that with their well organized team and Kanté in the midfield and you just know that that one goal would be enough.

This Man City team had enough to see Chelsea through, even if it was never going to be easy. Talking about mentality, lack of striker or lack of leadership is simply shifting the problem. It's really heartbreaking, because I wanted Pep and this team to win the CL and put a definitive stamp on this footballing era.

Seems we'll have to wait a bit more.
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Good post. TBH i cant see us ever winning the CL under Pep, everytime he cocks it up.
 
BlueBas said:
Got to remember no team has won champs league on first ever appearance in final. Whole team will learn from this. Get Haaland and go again.
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We should have been the first. With the PSG team on the pitch it could have got embarrassing for Chelsea.
 
burning blue soul said:
To be fair, he changed 1 player... just the 1!
Bizarre is not the correct word.
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It is where he played them is the deciding factor as opposed to the PSG game.

But in both games he played a true DM and won both games, he didn't in the final and we lost and that is the answer, the question really is why?
 
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