Man City Post Match Thread - first defeat in 12

[dynamark]

Well beaten needed changes after 10 minutes .How vardy managed to get a goal out of that  was incredible.Riyad was always going to murder Chilwell and he did all game.Fuchs would have got closer to him as he did last year but they were all trying to help inside as wilf was up against  it.You have to get close to prevent the run at you as a full back and he couldn't get there.Perez and Barnes just got by passed by a quick ball.

Still second and Liverpool may well be fatigued on 26th but bit of a lesson today

[inckley fox]

17 minutes ago, Izzy said:

We weren’t great but we weren’t allowed to be. 
Sometimes you’ve just gotta doff your cap and admit you lost to the better team.

Man City are champions for a reason and would’ve beaten anyone today.

You know, I think we played our part in allowing them to perform that way. We were poor.

 

Sides that press high love unforced errors from an opposition that wants to build from the back, and we repeatedly played into their hands. We were very reluctant to look for the early ball. Chilwell was sub-standard (and I can't believe I've just heard Rodgers singling him out for praise). In fact, neither full back covered himself in glory. Perez (and, perhaps, all four attacking midfielders) simply wasn't up for the sort of battling display that we needed from our midfielders if we wanted to pick up possession.

 

There were unforced errors from too many, too often, and in too many dangerous areas. You can't get away with performances like that against the best teams.

 

This doesn't mean to say it hasn't been a great season so far, nor that it isn't understandable against a great Man City side. And I'm still ecstatic with this side. But it's not the first time we've talked about a sub-par display of late, and we're going to have to pick things up.

Edited 21 December 2019 by inckley fox

[sishades]

13 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Losing to Man City away is no shame

If we want to compete on a regular basis at the top of the table we must lose this kind of mentality.

[coolhandfox]

Difference between a team that has won back to back titles, and competes every year in the Champions League.

 

And a team that expect for 3 players is competing at this level for the first time.

 

Some over reactions on here and the match thread.

Edited 21 December 2019 by coolhandfox

[NaijaFox]

6 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Vardy is producing a once-in-a-lifetime season we will likely never see from Leicester again.

 

Nothing to do with today. Of course Soyunchu and Ndidi have been superb, but Vardy is producing probably the greatest ever season of any Leicester player. The hipster vote saying anyone but Vardy has been POTY is just being edgy for the sake of being edgy.

Definitely, if Vardy maintains his form all season not only would he be our POTY but would be a (if not the) leading candidate for league POTY. 
 

Nonetheless, it would be wrong to deride consideration for other superb performers. Let’s just be glad we have all 3 (plus others) and hope they all hold  their form throughout the season.

Edited 21 December 2019 by NaijaFox

[EchoFox]

Man City put in a great performance but we just seemed poor today, the constant passing backwards was frustrating to watch.  I think in a game like that they should have just gone for the longball forward and played the counter-attack game, the few chances we did have we mainly got that way. 

[eastendfox]

One piece of good news. Our best young players just got less attractive in the transfer window. 

[Tom12345]

6 minutes ago, Chrysalis said:

Today needed a press and counter.

 

When we started passing it around to do a build up just seemed bizarre.

Yeah, especially when the passing is between Chilly, Soy, Kasper and Evans! We really need to develop a way to get out of the high press and get the ball to our midfielders.  Not sure if you noticed, we do this better on the right side with Ricardo than on the left side with Chilly. Chilly tends to pass it back to Soy which perpetuates the problem. Ricardo does try to play it forward so it helps get us out of that cycle of passing around in our own third whilst under pressure. Chilly is really a weak link here - even Soy and Evans always look ahead to try to pass forward whereas Chilly often seems to have made his mind up about passing backwards.

Edited 21 December 2019 by Tom12345

[SouthStandUpperTier]

16 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Losing to Man City away is no shame

yES iT Is

 

WE muSt bE PUnIsHEd

 

[StriderHiryu]

Just now, sishades said:

If we want to compete on a regular basis at the top of the table we must lose this kind of mentality.

I agree with that sentiment BUT this is our first season since the title win where we've even looked close to being a top 4 team. Man City's best player tonight was Mahrez who they pinched from us. We all want to see us battle at the top and under Top and Rodgers I can see us getting there... eventually. But to expect this season is too soon IMO, need to be somewhat pragmatic about it. Our wingers were crap tonight and one of theirs was incredible, and that's a winger that used to play for us but left for them. That's what we are fighting against to get back to the summit.

 

4 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

I think that's spot on. Start of the season BR guilty of showing too much respect to teams, today I thought he didn't show them enough respect. We were better off playing 4-4-2 and playing aggresive long ball kick and rush tactics. Passing it back all the time, standing off them just didn't work. 

I did wonder if he would go for the pure counter style as Wolves pulled it off magnificently earlier in the season. In the end we just played into their hands and Guardiola will be thinking that was an easy game for his side.

 

 

 

 

[Jaspa]

Men against boys, could see it in the press they made it seem like we didnt have any outlet besides a panicked long ball and when we pressed them it seemed easy to spin us around and hit us repeatedly. That said it was a good performance from Man City, Riyad certainly well up for it, de Bruyne conducting the show, wingbacks both solid.

 

Didnt think Youri or Perez had much of an effect on the game, Ricky with another off day. We're still screaming out for a top quality winger. Best team won.

 

[Tom12345]

3 minutes ago, EchoFox said:

Man City put in a great performance but we just seemed poor today, the constant passing backwards was frustrating to watch.  I think in a game like that they should have just gone for the longball forward and played the counter-attack game, the few chances we did have we mainly got that way. 

Said the same too. No point passing around under pressure in front of Kasper!

[UniFox21]

I'm still fumimg at that penalty decision. They've given an incredibly soft penalty and then not given or even looked at Ederson absolutely clearing out Barnes.

 

All 3 have basically said it should've been a penalty 

[don_danbury]

they were made to look better than they are. they've not been anywhere near as good as last season and they were without aguero and laporte.

Edited 21 December 2019 by don_danbury

[CityIsBlue]

@Babylon

 

"In the big games, we rarely turn up. We have been second for a reason, but we don’t seem capable of taking that into the bigger games too often. 

 

Man U away a case in point, they were absolute horse shit at the time. Yet again we could barely muster an effort on goal. Paid too much respect, passing atrocious.

 

We put up a better showing under Puel in a lot of bigger games. Despite his other performances being nowhere near as good. 

 

So let’s analyse it."

 

 

We have been second for a reason....We have been more consistent, results wise, against the lesser sides in the league.

 

Why is that?

The reality is, for a side second in the league, we are very poor up front. Bar Vardy, no one else would get into any of the 'Traditional Top 6' sides.

We can get away with that weakness against sides outside of the Top 6, because we have probably the 3rd best midfield in the league and the best defence, which allows us to dominate the game in possession against these lesser sides.

 

We are looking to break into the 'Traditional Big 6', obviously this season Top 4, which means we have to focus on being able to beat the other 13 'Weaker' sides in the league. With that, we have needed to adapt to a side better at playing more expansively, which we for sure are compared to past seasons, but of course, as a result, when playing this way against the better sides, like tonight, we get punished.

 

Just look at Arsenal's record against Man City/Liverpool over the past few years. Like us, they are still miles behind Liverpool/Man City, obviously even further beind than us. But like us they have aspirations of improving and finishing high up the table, which means you need to be able to play progressive and expansive football. Playing expansive against a better side is not wise, but its a needs must really if you want to play that way consistently.

Manchester United have the opposite problem. They play defensive counter attacking football, which is why they can win at the Etihad by exploiting Man City's only real weakness, but then drop points to Everton/Sheff UTD/Bournemouth/Villa etc. Because they are not expansive enough against defensive sides, but very good on the counter.

 

The reason we are 2nd in the League is because we have been doing to lesser sides than us, what Manchester City did to us tonight......Outclass them with superior quality.

We've also been very fortunate or very clinical, depending on the side of the coin you look at, to win games such as Watford/Everton when not playing well.

 

Tonight we witnessed what the next level is.

I think our defence is in good order, if we swapped the back fours around tonight we would have conceded more.

Our midfield is realistically as good as we can do.

The front 3 needs work though. If we have any plans to spend the Maguire money, we need to do that on 2 players here.

[sdb]

We seemed to play in energy conservation mode. Yes they were brilliant but we were so lacklustre, Chillwell so isolated and a lot of off days across midfield. 

[Guesty]

11 minutes ago, inckley fox said:

 

Sides that press high love unforced errors from an opposition that wants to build from the back, and we repeatedly played into their hands. We were very reluctant to look for the early ball. Chilwell was sub-standard (and I can't believe I've just heard Rodgers singling him out for praise). In fact, neither full back covered himself in glory. Perez (and, perhaps, all four attacking midfielders) simply wasn't up for the sort of battling display that we needed from our midfielders if we wanted to pick up possession.

The bit regarding Chilwell. I can, it's good man-managment. Rodgers knows he was poor, Chilwell knows he was poor, everyone knows he was poor - and he will probably be singled out in match reports.

 

It's what Chilwell needs - he's only young - and himself knows it's a lie. All the squad will also appreciate it as they know they could be in Chilwell's position one day.

 

Edited 21 December 2019 by Guesty

[sdb]

We really need a winger who can affect games now. 

[Kopfkino]

Can't even think of criticising Chilwell. The bloke had to do the job of 3 players from minute 1 to minute 90

[Keiriel]

We clearly threw the game to play mind games with Klopp; his team will see this as a win, they'll whip their dicks out on Instagram to brag about having the title won, and Jurgen will go on to share his childhood schnitzel recipe on all the late night shows. The joke's on him though, as we'll go on to smash them at the King Power, go unbeaten for the rest of the season, and finish strongly with Vardy wearing the Premier League trophy like a condom during the champions ceremony; the home supporters loudly singing 'You'll Never Wank Alone'.

[Aus Fox]

We as a supporter base, really do not give the opposition enough credit.

Mahrez was unplayable today, we’ve all seen him do that to many a full back. KDB is by far the best player in the premier league, and for me he had his best game of this season today.

Man City have spent over a billion quid on putting a squad together and when they click and play like they did today, you can see the difference in class. 

To say we need to compete better or players are made to look poor is harsh, we are playing some of the best in the world.

We are a good young squad, we are on 39

points after 18 games. We will have set backs, but things are very good for us.

Sometimes, I just think we need to stop criticising our own and look at how good the opposition is.

[TheStig]

The three matches we have lost have been agains Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool - away. In all of these matches we have actually offered very little and I can only see 2 reasons:

 

Either the players (apart from a few) have too much respect and are "scared"?

 

Or our set-up and maybe mental preparation is not right?

 

If we want to be at the top this has to be sorted out. To me it seems that the same players "disappear" in these matches and this falls back on BR.

I would have thought that a professional footballer would thrive in these "top matches" but somehow we disappear and seem afraid. Am I wrong?

[RowlattsFox]

Man city were so good off the ball. Stopped all the spaces, and didn't allow us to get Maddison and Tielemans invovled. 

 

Let's not get too critical. We are a gulf behind Liverpool and Man City. Let's remember what are aims are this season, and that's top 4. 

[Chrysalis]

6 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

I'm still fumimg at that penalty decision. They've given an incredibly soft penalty and then not given or even looked at Ederson absolutely clearing out Barnes.

 

All 3 have basically said it should've been a penalty 

 

Who decides if a VAR check is done?  I was surprised there wasnt even a check.

[Paninistickers]

1 minute ago, Guesty said:

The bit regarding Chilwell. I can, it's good man-managment. Rodgers knows he was sh*t, Chilwell knows he was sh*t, everyone knows he was sh*t - and he will probably be singled out in match reports.

 

It's what Chilwell needs - he's only young - and himself knows it's a lie. All the squad will also appreciate it as they know they could be in Chilwell's position one day.

 

He wasn't shite at all. He was hung out to dry by our formation.

 

I can't imagine there's any full back in the world that can cope with KDB and Mahrez in each shoulder.

 

Today's blame.lies with the manager not paying man city enough respect. We needed workaholics Albrighton and Choudhury around the he team today