Man City Post Match Thread - first defeat in 12

[Deeg67]

29 minutes ago, ozleicester said:

That is why Mahrez is a genius and i would take him back in a flash.

Chillwell wasnt poor... Mahrez and KDB were a cut above.

Man city are the best team ive seen on TV this year and i wouldnt write them off for the title yet. We shouldve beaten/drawn with Lpool... but these guys were another league.

That sort of player on the wing is what separates us from the two elite teams in the league.  Man City isn’t motivated every game - their focus is the CL and Pep’s wandering eye is fully in force.  But when they show up they’re clearly better than us.  There’s no shame in it.  Maybe if they mail it in often enough we could even hang with them in the table, but we’re not at their level yet.

[Guest BlueBrett]

Man if VAR isn't gonna overturn a blatant dive like Sterling's then wtf is the point?

 

Edging closer and closer towards the goal line tech only camp.

[WigstonWanderer]

If someone had have said before the start of the season that we’d only suffer 3 defeats before Christmas and that they would be at Anfield, Old Trafford and the Etihad, I’m quite sure we’d all have been more than happy.

 

Best I’ve seen from Man City and particularly Mahrez this season, so not a surprising result. At least we can count on Chilwell still being with us for the rest of the season. TBF he didn’t have much help, but didn’t help himself by allowing Mahrez to get on his left foot so often.

[Guest BlueBrett]

Just now, WigstonWanderer said:

If someone had have said before the start of the season that we’d only suffer 3 defeats before Christmas and that they would be at Anfield, Old Trafford and the Etihad, I’m quite sure we’d all have been more than happy.

 

Best I’ve seen from Man City and particularly Mahrez this season, so not a surprising result. At least we can count on Chilwell still being with us for the rest of the season. TBF he didn’t have much help, but didn’t help himself by allowing Mahrez to get on his left foot so often.

Yeh especially when you reflect that we've only lost to penalties as well - 2 of which were blatant dives. We've been fantastic, that's undeniable, but the manner of the defeats is as infuriating as it is encouraging. 

[Bob Weasel Fox]

7 hours ago, CyprusFox said:

100% penalty 

You having a laugh? 

[lanefox]

You’d genuinely think we were in a relegation battle with how some people talk, we’re 2ndat Christmas!

[Nicolo Barella]

Oh well, we lost to the 2nd best team in the league. I think the main problem we could have addressed was not starting Tielemans and Perez on the same flank, they lost the ball like 15 times between them probably. Praet should have started. That said, no real harm done. 

[hejammy]

One thing I will say about Evans, as much as I think he's incredible and defensively he's second to none, is that he takes far too long to release the ball. Normally it's not an issue however when teams have a high press like man City etc, we end up putting ourselves under pressure and then we either hoof it up in the end or we lose possession in a dangerous area. As soon as he receives the ball he struggles with the one touch pass. Like I said at the top of the post though, defensively he's amazing and his ability to read the game is fantastic, but perhaps his inability to pass quick or run out with the ball is the reason the top teams snubbed him in the past and the reason why he didn't quite make it at Manure 

[hejammy]

1 hour ago, WigstonWanderer said:

If someone had have said before the start of the season that we’d only suffer 3 defeats before Christmas and that they would be at Anfield, Old Trafford and the Etihad, I’m quite sure we’d all have been more than happy.

 

Best I’ve seen from Man City and particularly Mahrez this season, so not a surprising result. At least we can count on Chilwell still being with us for the rest of the season. TBF he didn’t have much help, but didn’t help himself by allowing Mahrez to get on his left foot so often.

Mahrez did have a great game don't get me wrong, but it was because of KDB that he got so much time and space with only Chilly to face. For me KBD is the type of player we need Youri to become. 

[Mike Oxlong]

Should have been banks of 4 when they had the ball and a quick longer ball past the press when we got it

 

We tried to match them and paid the price 

 

I expect we’ll face a harder press more often now through the rest of the season so will be interesting and a challenge to overcome 

[PaulW]

Really don't understand the insistence on passing out from the back, when opposition of Man City's class are pressing on the edge of our box. 

[Matt]

Re; The Peno, I can see why people are calling it a dive, but out of interest were those same people calling the Vardy one which wasn't give the other week a dive?

 

I dare say the majority of you were crying about the Vardy one a few weeks ago, yet simply dismissing Sterlings because it was against us.

 

For me the Vardy one the other week should have been given but if I hold that opinion I can't then say yesterday's wasn't a peno.

 

What I will say is if Vardy's wasn't given the other week that shouldn't have been given yesterday.

 

I quite like VAR and think it is needed but that's the frustration with VAR and a prime example of why it doesn't work for these kind of instances, on these decisions that are subjective. The injustice is we weren't given a penalty and Vardy got a yellow card for it, Sterling get's a penalty,

 

There are still massive inconsistencies dare I say favouring the 'top' teams, something I thought VAR would put an end to.

 

I understand we're all bias football fans but if we're not going to have any consistency for the rules as fans and calling for something for us but not against how do the refs or VAR stand a chance.

 

There is no doubt Liverpool, Mane inparticular will get a dodgy peno on Boxing Day, i'm calling that now.

 

[Stoopid]

No shame in yesterday - though we weren't great. Thought we might struggle up there...

But still believe we'll give Liverpool a real game on Boxing Day, and actually fully expect us to win.

A real boost for the NewYear, swiftly followed by what's looking more and more like a nailed-on appointment at Wembley for the League Cup Final.

Up the City!

[CosbehFox]

Surprised people saying we tried to match them. I felt we gave in and just let them do what they wanted. They played a high press and we simply didn’t have an answer around it. (Ironically when the Barca v Real games got so centred around pressing, both teams used launching aerial balls). We were completely submissive to Man City, never made a tackle in anger and they had a stroll. Hence I’m peeved at that performance but it does highlight the squad is generally inexperience 

[Deeg67]

59 minutes ago, hejammy said:

Mahrez did have a great game don't get me wrong, but it was because of KDB that he got so much time and space with only Chilly to face. For me KBD is the type of player we need Youri to become. 

Is that all? 

[Deeg67]

42 minutes ago, PaulW said:

Really don't understand the insistence on passing out from the back, when opposition of Man City's class are pressing on the edge of our box. 

That was a glaring problem, yes. Sometimes if they crowd you that much you just need to go over the top.

[UniFox21]

37 minutes ago, Matt said:

Re; The Peno, I can see why people are calling it a dive, but out of interest were those same people calling the Vardy one which wasn't give the other week a dive?

 

I dare say the majority of you were crying about the Vardy one a few weeks ago, yet simply dismissing Sterlings because it was against us.

 

For me the Vardy one the other week should have been given but if I hold that opinion I can't then say yesterday's wasn't a peno.

 

What I will say is if Vardy's wasn't given the other week that shouldn't have been given yesterday.

 

I quite like VAR and think it is needed but that's the frustration with VAR and a prime example of why it doesn't work for these kind of instances, on these decisions that are subjective. The injustice is we weren't given a penalty and Vardy got a yellow card for it, Sterling get's a penalty, there is still massive inconsistencies.

 

I understand we're all bias football fans but if we're not going to have any consistency for the rules as fans and calling for something for us but not against how do the refs or VAR stand a chance.

 

There is no doubt Liverpool, Mane inparticular will get a dodgy peno on Boxing Day, i'm calling that now.

 

It's the inconsistency that's the killer. We all want a human official who has slightly different views on fouls etc.

 

But, its the inconsistency with penalty decisions. We've seen it perfectly again in this game, Sterling felt contact and went down, receiving a penalty. Vardy received the same amount of contact, goes down and was booked for diving. Different officials this may have been, but 2 almost identical instances shouldn't give the 2 opposites. 

[st albans fox]

Thinking about our approach overnight - just seemed so ‘un Rodgers’ like

 

and the failure to change things when it clearly wasn’t working 

 

One possible explanation is that the players, frustrated with the approach at old Trafford (and Anfield to a degree), asked if we could play our ‘normal’ formation yesterday ....... Rodgers spoke afterwards about the evening being a ‘big lesson for a young group’ ..... that could be interpreted several ways and I realise I’m perhaps seeing things where they don’t exist but I’m seriously struggling to explain why the coaching staff wouldn’t have addressed what was going on in front of their eyes, especially when we got ourselves ahead.
 

We got lucky with walker over running the interception- it wasn’t our ‘game plan’ that created the chance for vards.  

 
one of the stand out things of our campaign thus far is Rodgers ability to recognise what is happening and tweak things to fix it ...... I simply can’t accept yesterday evening in that context ..... 

[Guest Danny Clender]

Man City 4 years under Pep vs Us 1 year under Rodgers, for me that was the take home from that game.

 

The tactic of attacking Chilwell worked a treat, I felt sorry for him. Fortunately there are not many of Mahrez's quality for other teams to carbon copy the tactic. 

 

They gave us no chance, but we did help them out in possession with the amount we gave it away to them.

I've always been an advocate of playing out from the back, but surely Rodgers saw it wasn't working yesterday, what does he write in his notebook?

 

Nothing to panic about, although under normal circumstances, when we lose games like that, there's often an air of "well at least we gave them a good game" I didn't feel that yesterday and that's my only concern. 

 

Our goal was wonderful, Barnes and Vardy combo, excellent and speaking of Barnes....oh Harvey...please can you start to score soon, that should have been a goal.

It reminded me of Perez vs Brighton, Barnes' chance wasn't as straightforward, but no doubt should have been put away, he knows that though. 

 

Evans was superb, again, and Ndidi battled hard, he just wasn't left with many options.

Schmeichel MOTM for me, that's what world class looks like in those saves. 

 

To maintain our Champions League aspirations, we have to reinforce in the window. 

[norwichfox]

All good runs have to come to an end...but why against these and why now? We're still in a great position and thinking back to last season where we would gladly have taken a finish in 7th place, I'm fully OK with where we're at now.

Seasons greetings to all.

[Happy Fox]

If we Had a player of Riyad’s quality on the wing that was the only noticeable difference for me.

 

Perez has never played on the wing before and you can bloody tell. He is not a winger! He is a forward stuck on the wing, he doesn’t have the nouse for that position.

 

Anyway onwards and upwards. After Liverpool we have favourable fixtures coming up where we can pick up maximum points. Come January I hope we bring in a winger and a CB.

[Gazza M]

Two teams trying to play the same style last night. Unfortunately they were a cut above and showed us how it should be done. 

 

That was the bench mark our kids need to look at and one day aim for. It was a huge learning curve, but we didn't disgrace ourselves. 

 

With hindsight we should have not tried to match them man for man but maybe flood the midfield or have gone 3 at the back and played more effectively as a counter attacking side. 

[Guest Danny Clender]

18 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Thinking about our approach overnight - just seemed so ‘un Rodgers’ like

 

and the failure to change things when it clearly wasn’t working 

 

One possible explanation is that the players, frustrated with the approach at old Trafford (and Anfield to a degree), asked if we could play our ‘normal’ formation yesterday ....... Rodgers spoke afterwards about the evening being a ‘big lesson for a young group’ ..... that could be interpreted several ways and I realise I’m perhaps seeing things where they don’t exist but I’m seriously struggling to explain why the coaching staff wouldn’t have addressed what was going on in front of their eyes, especially when we got ourselves ahead.
 

We got lucky with walker over running the interception- it wasn’t our ‘game plan’ that created the chance for vards.  

 
one of the stand out things of our campaign thus far is Rodgers ability to recognise what is happening and tweak things to fix it ...... I simply can’t accept yesterday evening in that context ..... 

It's an interesting theory and perfectly plausible, but I personally doubt it. 

Seems quite an unusual time to agree to it and I just can't see Rodgers being that casual.

 

I agree with your thoughts on his ability not to react.

 

What would the solutions have been?

 

Choudhury on for Perez, extra block in midfield?

Morgan on to bolster defence, but not many are happy with that?

Justin on to push Ricardo further up?

Nacho on as we've previously found success in?

 

sets up next Thursday sweetly. 

 

 

[CosbehFox]

I’d have been up for the two defensive midfielders as used very well on our last visit. Maddison more capable on the wing in that scenario 

[Blanchflower78]

There wasnt 2 teams playing the same style?? We barely got past the half way line, our passing was mainly backwards to defenders who then often put each other under pressure and lost it. Lets not dress this up, were second and we were massively schooled by them. They played 3 up top and pressed everything like their lives depended on it.

Love Brendan but he had no response to it, pep dominated the tactics all game. 

Being disappointed to lose at man city is no bad thing but christ make a game of it, surrendering from the get go is pointless.