Man City Post match thread

[Wolfox]

4 hours ago, Nod.E said:

Drop Chilwell.

Drop Tielemans.

Drop Vardy.

 

In order of priority.

 

Crap from them every week for two months.

Chilwell  had a really decent game…. Watch the game not the forum mythology…. Also Vardy looked quicker and sharper than he has done for a bit…

[foxinsox]

20 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

Chilwell  had a really decent game…. Watch the game not the forum mythology…. Also Vardy looked quicker and sharper than he has done for a bit…

Yes, Chilwell had a good game and neutralised Mahrez well, apart from the goal, though Fuchs looked to have been indecisive on the replay, going for Mahrez and leaving Jesus to score.

 

Overall that was a good performance and Praet managed KDB better than most. Maddison also did well despite playing wider and deeper. Indeed I thought no one had a truly bad game apart from Vardy, and even he had many more touches. 

 

March should allow us to put points on the board and we have 10 points and GD of space between us and 5th place.

[City1884]

5 hours ago, NeilLCFC said:

Still trying to understand why their handball didn’t even go to a VAR check??

 

One rule for the ‘big teams’ and another for everyone else. 

Unfortunately, we are just too “nice” of a team in this situation.

 

Their handball, hardly any of our players appealed for it. In the Kop, we had no clue it even hit an arm, because no-one made a fuss. Only realised watching replays when I got home.

 

The penalty, EVERY Man City player surrounded the referee appealing. (Half of them probably didn’t even see a thing).

When this happens, the official(s) at Stockley Park have to be seen to be checking it.

 

The outcome? They get a penalty, ours doesn’t even appear to go to VAR.

 

We need to get smarter. It may not look pleasant, but if we want stuff checking, we need to appeal stronger and surround the ref. It’s not how it should be, but it’s what we need to do.

[filbertway]

Aside from Rodgers going mental and bringing James on. Thats a solid performance. Cheated out of it by inconpetent pathetic worms in black.

[Deeg67]

Praet and Kelechi were excellent.  Obviously this formation was something BR used because of the way MC smoked us last time, but I like it.  Those two offer too much to be left on the bench ATM.  Frankly I think Dennis is our best midfielder and Kelechi our best striker right now.  That said, I expect we'll be back with our "starting" 11 against Norwich and go back to aimlessly kicking the ball between the central defenders and the keeper.

Edited 23 February 2020 by Deeg67

[deep blue]

8 hours ago, City1884 said:

Unfortunately, we are just too “nice” of a team in this situation.

 

Their handball, hardly any of our players appealed for it. In the Kop, we had no clue it even hit an arm, because no-one made a fuss. Only realised watching replays when I got home.

 

The penalty, EVERY Man City player surrounded the referee appealing. (Half of them probably didn’t even see a thing).

When this happens, the official(s) at Stockley Park have to be seen to be checking it.

 

The outcome? They get a penalty, ours doesn’t even appear to go to VAR.

 

We need to get smarter. It may not look pleasant, but if we want stuff checking, we need to appeal stronger and surround the ref. It’s not how it should be, but it’s what we need to do.

I also don't think we have team tactics to exploit the darker arts whereas many teams do. It's well accepted that the top 6 teams have for years taken opposition players out in order to snuff out attacking breaks as soon as soon as they've started, without yellows being issued. That's not to say that some of our team don't do it occasionally, but we clearly don't have a team ethic of dirtytactics.  And then there's the Villa game where their defender admitted that team tactics were to "stop us playing by any means, fair or foul".

 

It's a quandary - do we follow suit (something I would not like to see), or continue to be the nice team and lose out because of it?

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

One of us will be celebrating a BATE Borisov hiding next year and it won't be them, who gives a shit at this stage

[Guest SO1]

31 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

Praet and Kelechi were excellent.  Obviously this formation was something BR used because of the way MC smoked us last time, but I like it.  Those two offer too much to be left on the bench ATM.  Frankly I think Dennis is our best midfielder and Kelechi our best striker right now.  That said, I expect we'll be back with our "starting" 11 against Norwich and go back to aimlessly kicking the back between the central defenders and the keeper.

I really hope you're not right about us going back to the same old same old on Friday. The way we played today that starting 11 earned the right to stay on the field.

I'd even give Ndidi another week off. No way Praet doesn't start. Time for some of our players to start showing that intensity in matches consistently

and not just on the training pitch.

Edited 23 February 2020 by SO1

[Deeg67]

1 minute ago, SO1 said:

I really hope you're not right about us going back to the same old same old on Friday. The way we played today that starting 11 earned the right to stay on the field.

I'd even give Ndidi another week off. No way Praet doesn't start. Time for some of our players to start showing that intensity in matches consistantly and not just on the training pitch.

You mouth to Rodge's ear on Praet, but I'm not sold - I think he'll go right back to what hasn't been working.

[Guest SO1]

Just now, Deeg67 said:

You mouth to Rodge's ear on Praet, but I'm not sold - I think he'll go right back to what hasn't been working.

Think Praet's probably our best all around midfielder right now.

I wish I had the knowledge to know why we can't come out with that kind of intensity every match. That's why the guys today need to be rewarded.

Come to the match with that kind of juice and we'll start racking up the points in no time.

[Kopic]

Ne'mind.

[deep blue]

11 hours ago, harpendenfox said:

Re VAR. we got a decision last week

We got a decision that we probably wouldn't have got without VAR, but it was the correct decision. There's a world of difference between that and VAR getting it wrong, which it did yesterday evening.

[Nicolo Barella]

I honestly thought everyone played well, we were just unlucky. Vardy missed a golden opportunity, de Bruyne's handball does not get more "unnatural position" than that, and Iheanacho going off really stunted our plan even if Barnes played decently when he came on.

[Nicolo Barella]

I think we should use three at the back and Iheanacho + Vardy up top whenever we play a team that will take it to us like Man City did. We looked in much better control of things with Fuchs back there and Iheanacho was very useful progressing the ball forward, and leaving Vardy to do his thing 

[mozartfox]

2 hours ago, deep blue said:

I also don't think we have team tactics to exploit the darker arts whereas many teams do. It's well accepted that the top 6 teams have for years taken opposition players out in order to snuff out attacking breaks as soon as soon as they've started, without yellows being issued. That's not to say that some of our team don't do it occasionally, but we clearly don't have a team ethic of dirtytactics.  And then there's the Villa game where their defender admitted that team tactics were to "stop us playing by any means, fair or foul".

 

It's a quandary - do we follow suit (something I would not like to see), or continue to be the nice team and lose out because of it?

We must change. Bring in a Argie or Italian cheating coach.  If you cannot beat them, join them. 

 

[Sionnach gorm]

Overall Leicester City looked good.  Unfortunately, a rare Vardy miss and a clearly incompetent VAR.  Schmeichel was brilliant.  Onward.

[Dr The Singh]

2 hours ago, SO1 said:

Think Praet's probably our best all around midfielder right now.

I wish I had the knowledge to know why we can't come out with that kind of intensity every match. That's why the guys today need to be rewarded.

Come to the match with that kind of juice and we'll start racking up the points in no time.

Thanks Denis, you were good, bit not that good

Edited 23 February 2020 by Dr The Singh

[Dr The Singh]

I thought we were unlucky

[Deeg67]

35 minutes ago, Sionnach gorm said:

Overall Leicester City looked good.  Unfortunately, a rare Vardy miss and a clearly incompetent VAR.  Schmeichel was brilliant.  Onward.

Not that rare - he can't hit the broadside of a barn lately.

[Dan LCFC]

Happily would've seen us walk off. With VAR in operation it's totally inexcusable. You could forgive errors but these simply aren't errors at this point - I'm not convinced.

 

Football's a great social but the competition has zero integrity. It's impossible to take seriously.

[inckley fox]

3 hours ago, Wolfox said:

Chilwell  had a really decent game…. Watch the game not the forum mythology…. Also Vardy looked quicker and sharper than he has done for a bit…

I've just watched the game back and Ben really wasn't good at all. It's the second game running that I've replayed it and focused on him. Even if you put yourself through the replay with a positive outlook, hoping to see the best, the stark reality isn't great. He's simply not up to it right now.

 

I wouldn't be harsh on the team though. I thought we were at the races and deserved at least a point. There were plenty of fine performances and the outcome had far more to do with the officials than the footballers.

 

The officiating was dire. The use of VAR comical. Until very recently I never focused on referees, nor blamed results on them. But it's the only sensible thing you can say about that game. I'm normally annoyingly calm after a game, and piss everyone off by trying to be objective about events, but today my blood really boiled.

 

The officials dictated the outcome. If I had a criticism it would be that the players during the game, and the manager afterwards, failed to underlined the farcical nature of what occurred. And it's clear nowadays that if you don't create a fuss, nobody will take notice.

 

It wasn't just the major decisions. It was the rest of the game too. You can say these things go both ways but they don't.

 

It's the first season I've ever known where decision making - and, more often than not, errant or inconsistent decision making - has taken precedent over football. The authorities have achieved something that I always considered impossible in hugely undermining the integrity of the game.

 

So I'm perfectly proud of the team and refuse to treat that as a defeat, because if I were to single out anyone as being responsible for Man City taking the three points, it wouldn't be any of the 22 footballers out there today. I don't think we should understate the extent to which that was a joke.

[mozartfox]

I wonder if that Mega Bell End Aka David Coote will be allocated another Foxes game before the end of the season? Hopefully, he will be demoted quite soon. So out of his depth, really.

[Arkie Bennett]

40 minutes ago, inckley fox said:

I've just watched the game back and Ben really wasn't good at all. It's the second game running that I've replayed it and focused on him. Even if you put yourself through the replay with a positive outlook, hoping to see the best, the stark reality isn't great. He's simply not up to it right now.

 

I wouldn't be harsh on the team though. I thought we were at the races and deserved at least a point. There were plenty of fine performances and the outcome had far more to do with the officials than the footballers.

 

The officiating was dire. The use of VAR comical. Until very recently I never focused on referees, nor blamed results on them. But it's the only sensible thing you can say about that game. I'm normally annoyingly calm after a game, and piss everyone off by trying to be objective about events, but today my blood really boiled.

 

The officials dictated the outcome. If I had a criticism it would be that the players during the game, and the manager afterwards, failed to underlined the farcical nature of what occurred. And it's clear nowadays that if you don't create a fuss, nobody will take notice.

 

It wasn't just the major decisions. It was the rest of the game too. You can say these things go both ways but they don't.

 

It's the first season I've ever known where decision making - and, more often than not, errant or inconsistent decision making - has taken precedent over football. The authorities have achieved something that I always considered impossible in hugely undermining the integrity of the game.

 

So I'm perfectly proud of the team and refuse to treat that as a defeat, because if I were to single out anyone as being responsible for Man City taking the three points, it wouldn't be any of the 22 footballers out there today. I don't think we should understate the extent to which that was a joke.

I'm the same. I don't like losing, of course, but if the better team won a fair contest then I will acknowledge and accept that. This wasn't a fair contest. I feel cheated. Decisions, especially the two penalty calls, were repeatedly weighted in favour of Man City.

 

VAR has probably made no difference to the "big team bias", it has only made it more obvious because the officials have a second opportunity to make the right decision, yet still somehow get it wrong. I struggle to believe it's down to incompetence. It feels corrupt at times. To me, it felt corrupt yesterday.

[WigstonWanderer]

Astonishing that the incompetent clowns manning VAR can’t even be consistent within the same match!

[fox_favourite]

Something else than the unbelievable VAR decisions got me was the fact Man City players surrounded the referee at every opportunity. I thought this was supposed to be stamped out of the game and only the captain is allowed to hassle the ref?? Why isn't that being highlighted? Oh wait...it's Man City.

 

The referee was so poor, and this isn't an isolated incident. Season after season, refereeing standards are dropping and it's becoming a joke.