Copenhagen Post Match Thread 0-0

[filbertway]

1 hour ago, Col city fan said:

Yes I think so. I was meaning midfielders essentially.

James, King, Drinkwater, Cambiasso, Kante...all superior footballers to Amartey based on what I've seen so far.

Even looking at the Pearson Premiership side for instance...was there a worse player in the usual starting 11 than Amartey? Struggling to remember any. Maybe Konch.... though he was a top player when he was younger.

But, as always, I'm happy to be proven wrong. I'd love to see the kid start to look like a really good central midfielder. It's not helping him that he's playing in a 442 though. He needs to be in a 3.

Still looks like a centre back playing in midfield to me. I'm 100% convinced this is going to be another Kisnorbo situation.

 

Although that being said, the way their played skipped past him like he wasn't there was school boy defending. Plenty of time for him to develop, but you'd expect someone of his age to be showing some serious quality in some areas if they're to become a top quality player at this level.

[ramadaone]

Their no 25, centre back was as good as I have seen all season

[yorkie1999]

41 minutes ago, ramadaone said:

Their no 25, centre back was as good as I have seen all season

He was excellent.

[AyewJoking]

how do i say this without sounding ungrateful?

 

Last nights offering was garbage. I was embarrassed and ashamed.

 

Was working all night so recorded and watched when i came home but i honestly wish i had gone to bed.

[carled]

8 minutes ago, Royston. said:

how do i say this without sounding ungrateful?

 

Last nights offering was garbage. I was embarrassed and ashamed.

 

Was working all night so recorded and watched when i came home but i honestly wish i had gone to bed.

There will be some along in a moment to point out your churlishness as we "got a result" (god knows how - I'm with you on this) as if we are to forgive playing ineptly if we get lucky enough to grind out a gritty 0-0.  Quite what those people would have been saying had Schmeichel not come to our rescue again at the end is anyone's guess.  Then we'd have been "unlucky" I suppose in setting out for not conceding and almost managed it. A plucky attempt indeed.

 

What happened to attack being the best form of defence?  If you set up a team to not concede and then do so, you're in all sorts of trouble. If you set out to win a game and happen to draw, it's not quite so bad?  Or am I being unrealistic with my expectations here?  The team I watched last night gave the ball away cheaply about 5 times in the opening 10 minutes and I'm sure I'm not the only one who was shouting at the TV at that point.

[Vindaloo FOX]

would like us to go in for Erik Johansson , looked solid in both games vs us .  

[murphy]

4 hours ago, AKCJ said:

No he wasn't. He was hailed as one of the best prospects in the Danish League.

 

People forget that the lad is 21.

 

He was far, far better than Drinkwater was last night.

 

No - not prospect.  He was hailed as one of the best midfielders in the Danish league. 

 

Quote from the Mercury:

 

"Amartey can play in several positions but after being converted into a central midfield player by Copenhagen boss Stale Solbakken, he was widely considered one of the best midfielders in the Danish league."
 

I didn't bring it up to have a go at Amartey himself, who is a young lad as you say, but to show the relative quality of the Danish league and how Copenhagen could win it every year in their sleep.

[shen]

It was a turgid game of football, everyone seems to agree on that. Didn't think any Leicester player stood out compared to Copenhagen players. In general, we looked pedestrian and took way too many touches and were all to happy to leave the initiative to Drinkwater and Mahrez, that is, if the defence and Kasper didn't just boot it long and over them. Looking at the game in isolation, that performance was worrysome. In the broader perspective it was a decent result which adds to this fairy tale.

 

Mahrez looked like he could do something special, but apart from a couple of shimmies, nothing came off for him (yet again). Vardy was so firmly down Zanka's pocket that he must've been blinded by the floodlights when the ball came in his vicinity. Musa showed nothing last night that signalled he has £17m worth of quality. If he's so quick, why doesn't he use it?

 

Schlupp tried at least and had our only shot on target, albeit a scuffed one.

Drinkwater seemed isolated and did OK, with the exception of his passing which was below his usual standard. Bad mistake first half which led to his yellow card.

Amartey did OK, but with the ball mostly being down the flanks, he didn't see a great deal of action.

Defence had their hands full containing Cornelius, Santander and Toutouh when he came on. Three unnecessary yellow cards with Huth's being close to a red.

Didn't think Copenhagen were that good, but they definitely controlled the game and were technically superior to us. Thank god Verbic, Santander and Ankersen couldn't shoot for shit and that Kasper saved Cornelius' effort.

Comments I heard from Copenhagen fans (who seemed to be football novices) during the game included: "Leicester fans aren't making much noise are they?", "Leicester aren't actually that good", "Just wait, they (Leicester) will be really bad but will probably win this 0-1".

 

 

[martyn]

1 hour ago, ramadaone said:

Their no 25, centre back was as good as I have seen all season

Was saying on the way out that I'd be happy to take a punt on him in January..Was decent in the home tie as well. 

[HighPeakFox]

6 hours ago, WigstonWanderer said:

If they could shoot better I think we'd have lost.

If we could shoot better I think we'd have won...

[foxes21]

They would have struggled against Burnley. We set up like they were Man City.

[VLC86]

2 minutes ago, foxes21 said:

They would have struggled against Burnley. We set up like they were Man City.

They aren't great but have that home record for a reason.

 

Would have been great to come away with a win but 1 point does the job.

[desertfox2]

3 hours ago, lgfualol said:

Meh, half our players were nobodies at 21. I think he will improve, would be better in a 3 for now though but that will never happen. 

Exactly, Vardy was at Stocksbridge Park Steels at 21. Mahrez was in the Le Havre B team, Le Havre 2. Slimani was playing for JSM Cheraga a few levels down from the Algerian premier league Even Kante was just breaking into the Boulogne 1st side in ligue 2 from the reserve side. 

 

Amartey is playing in the champions league at that age. He's not slow, he can tackle, can get stuck in and will go on to be a top, top player, hopefully with us. 

[foxy boxing]

6 hours ago, WigstonWanderer said:

Good result though unattractive to watch. Thought we were outclassed in the first half (not difficult TBF), though I don't think they had many clean cut chances even then.

 

Second half somewhat better (a little less hoofball) but still not all that inspiring.

 

Fantastic save again at the end from Kasper. If they could shoot better I think we'd have lost.

they clearly had the better chances to win the game, you would have banked on Santander to have scored thankfully he didn't

[yorkie1999]

32 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

They aren't great but have that home record for a reason.

 

Would have been great to come away with a win but 1 point does the job.

Think their fans are a big asset in getting home results. All that bouncing, booing and whistling at the away team is enough to put anyone off.

[ealingfox]

Deary, deary me. Some of the moaning in this thread is embarrassing.

 

Personally I was pleased with the performance and its a good result for us. Wasn't amazing going forward of course but we were solid, looked assured in our defending and were tactically disciplined. We completely stifled a team that has not lost at home for over 2 years. We did superbly well all game in stopping them from putting in crosses which is their main threat. I know he's an easy target now but Schlupp was a part of that. He did his job well which was to press wide and cover the full-back.

 

It was right to focus on defending. All that lacked was creating that one golden chance which if put away constitutes a textbook away performance for many, but as others have pointed out, they actually defended pretty well themselves.

[TheStig]

As an ardent City supporter living in Denmark (and present at the match) yesterday I was very disappointed with the performance.

 

We should be able to dominate FCK and should be a class or two above them. But we commenced timewasting almost from the 10th minute and offered absolutely nothing going forward.

 

Lots of long balls into "no-mans land" and apparently no plan (apart from being very defensive).We created  no pressure on Copenhagen and we were happy to suck up their pressure and rely on Kasper to bail us out in the end (again). I don´t really know what to expect from the side at the moment - but certainly a little more than what they showed yesterday. City seem not to enjoy the "European Tour" at all. Very little power, agression, will or drive - very few smiles at being here at all - and that supposedly is reflected in our play and approach. Maybe I am wrong but shouldn´t it commit being Champions of England and give it a "go"?

At least we should give the Danish champions a run for their money - and I don´t think we did.

 

Off my chest - expect to be ripped apart now

 

 

 

[Number 6]

24 minutes ago, TheStig said:

As an ardent City supporter living in Denmark (and present at the match) yesterday I was very disappointed with the performance.

 

We should be able to dominate FCK and should be a class or two above them. But we commenced timewasting almost from the 10th minute and offered absolutely nothing going forward.

 

Lots of long balls into "no-mans land" and apparently no plan (apart from being very defensive).We created  no pressure on Copenhagen and we were happy to suck up their pressure and rely on Kasper to bail us out in the end (again). I don´t really know what to expect from the side at the moment - but certainly a little more than what they showed yesterday. City seem not to enjoy the "European Tour" at all. Very little power, agression, will or drive - very few smiles at being here at all - and that supposedly is reflected in our play and approach. Maybe I am wrong but shouldn´t it commit being Champions of England and give it a "go"?

At least we should give the Danish champions a run for their money - and I don´t think we did.

 

Off my chest - expect to be ripped apart now

 

 

 

Perhaps we should have but think there was a big incentive to not lose that. 10,7,5 seems much nicer than 9,7,7. 

[carled]

43 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Deary, deary me. Some of the moaning in this thread is embarrassing.

 

Personally I was pleased with the performance and its a good result for us. Wasn't amazing going forward of course but we were solid, looked assured in our defending and were tactically disciplined. We completely stifled a team that has not lost at home for over 2 years. We did superbly well all game in stopping them from putting in crosses which is their main threat. I know he's an easy target now but Schlupp was a part of that. He did his job well which was to press wide and cover the full-back.

 

It was right to focus on defending. All that lacked was creating that one golden chance which if put away constitutes a textbook away performance for many, but as others have pointed out, they actually defended pretty well themselves.

Different strokes for different folks, etc.  I cannot believe you watched that game, particularly the calamitous errors that Morgan and Huth made in the first few minutes and describe it as "solid" and that we "looked assured"! WTF?  We looked anything but assured. And they spent all night bombing crosses into the box, which is the hallmark of this team - Claudio WANTS them wide putting crosses in that he hopes Huth & Morgan will deal with. Largely we dealt well with the crosses they put in, but we did NOT "do superbly... stopping them putting in crosses" as you state. We were tactically inept, not disciplined.  Before half time Schlupp looked utterly lost. After half time he'd obviously been told to run with the ball or he'd be subbed off. So he did that. Occasionally he actually took the ball with him, which was a bonus, of course.

 

I'll just settle for saying you must be easily pleased if you derived any enjoyment out of 90% of that game!

[WigstonWanderer]

2 hours ago, foxy boxing said:

they clearly had the better chances to win the game, you would have banked on Santander to have scored thankfully he didn't

Think we've already done the banking jokes. There's little interest in them now.

[ealingfox]

52 minutes ago, carled said:

Different strokes for different folks, etc.  I cannot believe you watched that game, particularly the calamitous errors that Morgan and Huth made in the first few minutes and describe it as "solid" and that we "looked assured"! WTF?  We looked anything but assured. And they spent all night bombing crosses into the box, which is the hallmark of this team - Claudio WANTS them wide putting crosses in that he hopes Huth & Morgan will deal with. Largely we dealt well with the crosses they put in, but we did NOT "do superbly... stopping them putting in crosses" as you state. We were tactically inept, not disciplined.  Before half time Schlupp looked utterly lost. After half time he'd obviously been told to run with the ball or he'd be subbed off. So he did that. Occasionally he actually took the ball with him, which was a bonus, of course.

 

I'll just settle for saying you must be easily pleased if you derived any enjoyment out of 90% of that game!

 

I was at the game. You must be impossible to please if you aren't at least satisfied with a point and a clean sheet away in Europe, in only our 2nd ever away CL game at that.

 

Calamitous errors is way over the top, they didnt lead to any golden opportunities. Its pretty much impossible to concede zero crosses in a game, but apart from the Cornelius header near the end they did not create much at all from wide areas.

 

We had a game plan and we executed the defensive side of it just fine, that's how we got the clean sheet. If you expected us to run rings around them at a ground where better teams than us have lost then you're a bit deluded.

[carled]

2 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

 

I was at the game. You must be impossible to please if you aren't at least satisfied with a point and a clean sheet away in Europe, in only our 2nd ever away CL game at that.

 

Calamitous errors is way over the top, they didnt lead to any golden opportunities. Its pretty much impossible to concede zero crosses in a game, but apart from the Cornelius header near the end they did not create much at all from wide areas.

 

We had a game plan and we executed the defensive side of it just fine, that's how we got the clean sheet. If you expected us to run rings around them at a ground where better teams than us have lost then you're a bit deluded.

As with many others on here, you're wrongly conflating dissatisfaction with the performance with dissatisfaction with the result. The result is fine - yay, bravo, amazeballs, etc.  However, the point was gained somewhat fortuitously in my opinion - and it appears I'm not alone in that. A calamitous mistake is such even if the other side do not take advantage. The mistake doesn't change, what the attackers do with it is secondary. Morgan and Huth (and Hernandez) were giving the ball away ridiculously easily early on. The Huth "leave" that almost led to Santander getting through was utterly ridiculous and against a better team would have led to a goal being conceded. That it didn't is nothing that Huth or the team can take credit for, it was the ineptitude of the attack so Huth's mistake was the same no matter what happened afterwards.

 

I wasn't at the game. I had the benefit of replays and a better view than you. TV does that, I'm afraid.  I also had to listen to that utter twat McManaman though, so it wasn't all good.

 

I don't expect us to run rings around them - I didn't say that and you're creating a strawman argument by implying that I did.  All I wanted was a bit more heart, spirit, energy and, yes, skill and excitement. Silly me!

[worthosoriginals]

7 hours ago, Col city fan said:

Amartey could improve. Of course, any player can with game time and experience.

The Amartey we are watching at the moment though is one of the worst footballers I've seen in a City shirt for some time. I said the same after seeing him about three times. His positional sense is very poor. He can't shoot for shite. His passing is generally like you would see in a five a side game (a quick sideways ball, usually to Drinkwater) and he's never gonna get you goals.

Despite King's physical limitations, you get a player with an excellent footballing brain. He instinctively knows where to be, is a crisp passer of the ball and of course, can score goals if he's allowed to get forward.

Fair play to Ranieri for continuing to give Amartey a chance...I think he's actually started more games this season than King? But I don't rate him at all really. The only thing he's not bad at is in the air. Aerially, he wins quite a few little battles in the central area.

I say again, to push on this season I think we need a top central midfielder. Someone who can pick a pass, and can control games from the centre. If that happens and we sign such a player, I think Amartey will sit in the reserves for some time.

I'm getting de Ja vous..couple of seasons ago you were saying it's cambiassos fault, we were bottom of league, midfield not up to scratch,we need someone like cattermole in, your suggestion at the time.

Look how all that went....

Now you have a new young scapegoat.

Pin it all midfield woes on Amartey he's sh1te.

 

 

 

[Callabinho]

Claudio didn't want to lose, simple as that. Yes we should really have rolled them over, they're not a good side and we showed them far too much respect. I maintain that if we had fielded the same side as we did in our previous two games (vardy included) we would have eased past them. 

 

However you can't blame Claudio for being cautious.. 

[Koke]

We got a higher wage bill than Copenhagen. Better individual players by and large. Better manager. The only thing they have on us is more CL experience. We treated them like Real Madrid. A draw is fine but we could and should have done better.