Wolves (H) Post-Match Thread

[The Preacher]

No hard luck stories today, no maybes, what ifs. Nobody to blame but ourselves. We were very poor, individually and collectively and Wolves deserved to win. Though some were worse than others, which outfield player in a blue shirt deserves to come out of that with much credit? We could/should have been 3/4 goals down by half time, our horribly sloppy and complacent passes across midfield having put them through one on one four times! Wolves were brilliantly organised, disciplined and ‘on it’ for 95 minutes. They gave us nothing and Silva’s brilliant (unlucky) free-kick was all we had to show for our lacklustre endeavours. We could not get in behind them, we couldn’t play through them and they completely nullified our forward threat, reducing us to pumping in high balls that were food and drink to their 6’3”” defenders. We were lethargic, established no tempo and were craven in defence. That’s the worst I’ve seen us play at home, I think, under Pep. But days like today have been very rare and it’s not often we’ve come away from the Etihad feeling as dejected as we have today. I always thought it was going to be difficult to maintain the desire, hunger and intensity of the last two seasons. Injuries to key personnel don’t help, of course, but I think last season in particular took more out of this squad than we perhaps realise.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Well Pep now has a call to make. Obviously there was more wrong with the side than Ota. Midfield was also static. Aguero was bottled up.

Sadly I have a feeling Pep is going to be stubborn and stick by this side.

We need youth down the core of the side HB/Garcia, Foden, Jesus.

If I was Jesus and Foden I'd be extremely frustrated tonight. They really should be starting and we all know it.

Jesus over Aguero?. I'd go with that, Jesus needs a run in the team but never seems to get one.

 

[come-on-barney]

Do you really think we can win the Champions League with this defence? come on. What will happen when Barcelona Paris or Bayern will come to the city of Manchester?

Strange as it seems I do, but think we might need a central defender in January.

 

[deano ou812]

We knew we needed a CB in the transfer window yet decided either we could go without or didn’t want to spend what certain clubs wanted,it was Sod’s law or typical city when then Laporte got injured and stones as well ( all be it stones short term ) ..

 

[Franknorgrovesnephew]

It's not as if we have been unlucky to lose the two game we haven't we've been easily beat

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Don't bet on it being any different against Palace, everything crossed Kev is back.

Indeed!

My team would be:
Ederson
Walker-Garcia-Stones-Angeleño
Fernandinho
de Bruyne-Silva
Mahrez-Agüero-Bernardo

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

When you discover that the goals scored by Traore were his first for 72 games , it puts our performance into perspective.

To be honest we couldn't complain if we had conceded more, we were so bloody sloppy and slow in midfield.

The guns will be out for Otamendi after that showing , but the signs have been there for some time sadly.

 

[come-on-barney]

Good banter with the wolves fans on the way back to S Wales. Champions of England you’ll never sing that, to the retort of Champions of Asia you’ll never sing that

 

[simon23]

If there is anything city about being city we will make a poor defence of the title and win the champs league. I have been convinced that is our priority this season, but defensively we will need recruitment.

we wont come to the CL with our defence - saying that the club/team/manager is prioritising, that is just deflection -

defensively we have a huge problem, one that isnt sorted easily.

People asking for the kids to play - i can see why - but im not sure either of those are the answer -Garcia as good as he is isnt the answer to solving our problems against set pieces or fast breakaways as he is small and not particualrly fast. THB i have only seen the once and again as good as he is, Im not sure he would have solved the problems today (thought both are better in the build up than ottomendi so maybe

The issue is in the middle of the park which does affect the defense as well - we have centre halves who arent as good as passing between the lines and we had a midfielder today who takes zero risks, playing safe all the time and offering no drive forward at all instead choosing to pass sideways and backwards all the time - Gundogan - also when he loses the ball he cannt recover - Rodri is on his own and has recently commented how he needs to get use to playing in midfield as a single defensive pivot (TBF to gundogan thats the same with any combo of our midfielders - BUT the differene is that al the others have the work rate to recover, or at least try) -all the other midfielders also offer better movement between the lines - gundogan doesnt and rodri is a defensive midfielder so we only really had David Silva today doing this. - Again Pep has alluded to this in his post match comments saying the problem wasnt the defeenders but losing the ball in midfield - he is right - however he has also said numerous of times during his time at city that he needs defenders who are very good 1vs 1 - ottomendi's lack of pace means he suffers in this department and he then dives in

Our fullbacks didnt help today and Im not sure any of the replacements offer exactly the quality that Pep needs (Cancello needs more time) -they all have great physical attributes and offer a lot going forwad but in the short passing build up/retaining possession, Im not sure any of them are exactly what pep wants - Walker, Mendy can be both very sloppy with their passing.....especially when passing towards the centre of the pitch (outside to in)

 

[come-on-barney]

we wont come to the CL with our defence - saying that the club/team/manager is prioritising, that is just deflection -

defensively we have a huge problem, one that isnt sorted easily.

People asking for the kids to play - i can see why - but im not sure either of those are the answer -Garcia as good as he is isnt the answer to solving our problems against set pieces or fast breakaways as he is small and not particualrly fast. THB i have only seen the once and again as good as he is, Im not sure he would have solved the problems today (thought both are better in the build up than ottomendi so maybe

The issue is in the middle of the park which does affect the defense as well - we have centre halves who arent as good as passing between the lines and we had a midfielder today who takes zero risks, playing safe all the time and offering no drive forward at all instead choosing to pass sideways and backwards all the time - Gundogan - also when he loses the ball he cannt recover - Rodri is on his own and has recently commented how he needs to get use to playing in midfield as a single defensive pivot (TBF to gundogan thats the same with any combo of our midfielders - BUT the differene is that al the others have the work rate to recover, or at least try) -all the other midfielders also offer better movement between the lines - gundogan doesnt and rodri is a defensive midfielder so we only really had David Silva today doing this. - Again Pep has alluded to this in his post match comments saying the problem wasnt the defeenders but losing the ball in midfield - he is right - however he has also said numerous of times during his time at city that he needs defenders who are very good 1vs 1 - ottomendi's lack of pace means he suffers in this department and he then dives in

Our fullbacks didnt help today and Im not sure any of the replacements offer exactly the quality that Pep needs (Cancello needs more time) -they all have great physical attributes and offer a lot going forwad but in the short passing build up/retaining possession, Im not sure any of them are exactly what pep wants - Walker, Mendy can be both very sloppy with their passing.....especially when passing towards the centre of the pitch (outside to in)

Give the age of some of the key positions
In the side we will need to rebuild. Lamps not doing a bad job with youngsters...