Man City (H) - Post Match Thread

[CosbehFox]

5 minutes ago, ttfn said:

Not sure it stacks up that expectations are unrealistic - I’ve not looked as far back as since we won the league but if you go back to the start of last season (give or take 6 months since the current malaise set in) we have one of the worst records against the big 6. In fact in that time (of the sides to have played both last season and this) only Villa and Wolves have taken fewer points and they’ve both played fewer games against them than we have. We do underperform against the “big six”, or at least we have done for the last year or so.
 

Other teams with less resources achieve better results against those teams. On a relatively small sample size some of that will be luck but it strikes me that Rodgers has tried the same tactics at home to Man City four years running and we’ve lost every time without scoring a goal, and without ever really looking like we might win.

Honestly surprises me if that’s the case because we’ve had some very memorable wins against the big six in recent seasons. 
 

Will say I think Liverpool and Man City are special cases to the other four 

[FoxyJim1987]

5 minutes ago, Dames said:

Glad that i’m not the only one who’s thinking this. 

It's easy to say that. If we had started with an attacking approach we might have been two down after half an hour.

[CosbehFox]

5 minutes ago, Dames said:

I wouldnt say so much better than we shouldn’t have even thought about giving them many problems. Its still their weakest area where as our attack is still our strongest. 

 

Barnes should have been given licence to give Stones a lot more to think about than he did today. 

The other context of that result is as that we were in a far better position of confidence than we are now. Justin in particular 

Edited 29 October 2022 by CosbehFox

[Dames]

1 minute ago, FoxyJim1987 said:

It's easy to say that. If we had started with an attacking approach we might have been two down after half an hour.

I think people are still missing the point its not an out and out attacking approach i’ve been saying or what Phil Mcnulty is saying. 
 

Its about being more ambitious than just looking to contain, of course we are going to spend a lot of time defending and today it was done well but at the same time we spent a lot of time with 11 men deep

in our half. We had no outlets as we were tactically too concerned in stopping what Man City could do. 
 

A slight tweak giving Barnes and Vardy more licence to get forward and look to hit them with a more direct ball and we’d have more than likely given them problems. Man Citys defence did not look invulnerable today at all. 

[Corky]

How did Dr Bruyne escape a booking? Wiped out Tielemans nowhere near the ball. 

 

Standard Man City stuff, though. Love a cynical foul.

[Dames]

3 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

The other context of that result is as that we were in a far better position of confidence than we are now. Justin in particular 

And this proves how far we’ve regressed under this manager and its why i’m reluctant to buy into the ‘he got it right’ narrative thats running on here today. 
 

I’m not saying we should be beating Man City or even matching them but we have to be a little more ambitious than looking to stop them from playing and sitting 11 men deep in our half for long periods of the game. The points in the game we did dare do something different we worried them. 

[moore_94]

1 minute ago, Corky said:

How did Dr Bruyne escape a booking? Wiped out Tielemans nowhere near the ball. 

 

Standard Man City stuff, though. Love a cynical foul.

Rather enjoyed a few minutes later watching Vardy run from the other side of the pitch to body him

[iancognito]

If Youri's volley goes in we probably go on for the win or at least a point.

The only thing we didn't do today was go more attacking straight after their goal or on the hour. As soon as we conceded, we needed to change the style.

 

Today was also conclusive proof for me that Nacho and Daka have to start as a pair. If that's at the expense of KDH then so be it, he's not having a great season.

[StanSP]

Just remembered that some guy behind me in the stands said 'come on, we're better than these'   

[Larry_LCFC]

Ultimately Brendan went out with a 0-0 gameplan which worked first half. But as soon as they scored early in the 2nd half, it should have been ditched straight away. Why he waited another 20 odd minutes before giving it a go when Man City were happily passing it sideways is what really frustrates me. I think an equaliser was coming for us but we ran out of time.

[st albans fox]

31 minutes ago, Corky said:

How did Dr Bruyne escape a booking? Wiped out Tielemans nowhere near the ball. 

 

Standard Man City stuff, though. Love a cynical foul.

And youri wiped out grealish later on and the ref evened it out by not booking him 

[Guppys Love Child]

Wow, this post match HYS is quite split.

 

Half thinking Todgers got it bang on with his holding tactics the others including journalists wanting more attacking intent more often.

 I'm leaning more towards the second. 

As Dames posted earlier  "The points in the game we did dare do something different we worried them"   I agree, as I feel we gave them too much respect 

[Supergray22]

16 minutes ago, Larry_LCFC said:

Ultimately Brendan went out with a 0-0 gameplan which worked first half. But as soon as they scored early in the 2nd half, it should have been ditched straight away. Why he waited another 20 odd minutes before giving it a go when Man City were happily passing it sideways is what really frustrates me. I think an equaliser was coming for us but we ran out of time.

As soon as we switched to Daka and Nacho up front we did open it up and had more of the ball in their half. The diamond midfield with Maddison at the top helped supply that. We certainly played in their half more but I’m not sure we created a lot more clear cut chances. Even in the first half we did create some dangerous moments. In the games we have won so far we have been ruthlessly clinical. Today we didn’t quite have that edge up front and in the final pass. We gave away the ball too easily in possession particularly in transistion through midfield but Man City were excellent  in stamping that out and in their pressing . We did look well organised and defensively cohesive. We couldn’t do that a few weeks ago.

 

It’s a tough call to make regarding how long do you go on the offensive because Man City are a very good team and likely on average over 90 minutes to beat you employing those tactics. It was good to see us open them up and panic them a bit at the end  Certainly the threat of Daka and Nacho brief though it was looked promising. We had them rattled. Maybe a 4141  set up used recently might have achieved something at the end too but again would have left us more vulnerable at the back. 
 

Overall though it’s frustrating because we did well against one of the best teams in world football.. It took a worldy of a free kick stemming from a silly foul to beat us together with a very good save from Youris thunderbolt. 

[Corky]

Man City have lost 4 league games since the start of last season. I'm sure most forums discuss the right way to play against the but facts are it relies on them having some sort of off day and you making the most of your chances.

 

 

[MalletFox]

7 hours ago, Col city fan said:

Losing by one to these is no shame whatsoever.

Where I did think Rodgers went wrong was to bring on Mendy for KDH at half time.

For about 20 mins after, we were put right on the back foot again and lost our only out ball from a deeper position. They capitalised, got the free kick and scored (albeit a worldie).

That forced us to change things up, as we were never getting back in the game at that point. But it was too late cos Man City stopped the press and saw out the game.

That was a shame. It was the wrong thing to do by us, tactically.

That said, I think they were in fourth gear pretty much all game anyway.

They are a fantastic team, both players and manager.

KDH was awful and wasteful in possession, one particular occasion right on the edge of their box where he took a heavy touch under no pressure and turned a really dangerous opportunity into a dangerous counter attack for them, completely agreed with the switch at HT. Think KDH has had a couple of average performances in the last 3.

[tom27111]

I think Gary Lineker himself edited the MOTD highlights, looks like we smashed them 

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

You’re not the first person I’ve seen make this point ….we aren’t  cute enough 

...I  think Maddison goes down enough to make up for our shortcomings in coercion!!!

[tom27111]

4 minutes ago, MalletFox said:

KDH was awful and wasteful in possession, one particular occasion right on the edge of their box where he took a heavy touch under no pressure and turned a really dangerous opportunity into a dangerous counter attack for them, completely agreed with the switch at HT. Think KDH has had a couple of average performances in the last 3.

 

He's been woeful lately. But as a local lad who came in and had some good early performances, people think he can do no wrong.

 

A lot even calling for him to be captain.

 

I'm not writing him off, but right now, he's not offering much more than Hamza Choudhury.

[Mickyblueeyes]

I enjoyed us today. I haven’t said that for some time. It’s a weird comment as we didn’t get anything but we did a lot of good things today. First 20 minutes it looked like it was only a matter of time before they scored. We grew into the game. Created a few of our own chances. 
 

We were organised today. Ward gave me confidence. How good was it to see a keeper claim a cross or two. Very few times did the back three panic. Even when they hit us on the counter once or twice in the first half, we re-grouped and limited them. I just like proper defending. It felt like we defended properly today. 
 

Going forward, we created some good chances in the first half. If there was any criticism from me today, it would be our composure in front of goal. Kel, Barnes and Daka all had chances where they could’ve done better. 
 

I love talking Brendan down but I think he got it right today. If I was to criticise one decision is the withdrawal of KDH for Mendy. I would’ve got Praet on.  I don’t think you compete with Man City as we did today by being as open as we were in the last 20 for the full 90. We needed a bit of luck today but I don’t think we got the tactics wrong. Despite De Bruyne’s comments, we pushed them second half and honestly, apart from a worldly free kick, I don’t think they really penetrated our goal in open play in the second half. 
 

Finally, the criticism of Brendan, from me, at least, will continue. We are a much better side than our start suggests. He’s not got the best squad but his lack of use of some players is criminal. When you get these guys organised, they can compete and that’s all I want. Too many times, I’ve watched us not compete and that is unacceptable. 
 

Brush it off and let’s finish this first half of the season strongly. 

[Claridge]

42 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

 

He's been woeful lately. But as a local lad who came in and had some good early performances, people think he can do no wrong.

 

A lot even calling for him to be captain.

 

I'm not writing him off, but right now, he's not offering much more than Hamza Choudhury.

His composure at times is awful, rather have Mendy all day long

[Sunbury Fox]

58 minutes ago, Corky said:

Man City have lost 4 league games since the start of last season. I'm sure most forums discuss the right way to play against the but facts are it relies on them having some sort of off day and you making the most of your chances.

 

 

Tbh Man City created virtually nothing from open play. Really annoying that they took advantage of Big Dan's customary mistake in what was an otherwise excellent game by him to break and win the crucial free kick. MOTD conformed my view at the time that he had to attack that high ball on the halfway line.

[tom27111]

1 minute ago, Claridge said:

His composure at times is awful, rather have Mendy all day long

Tough one. I really want him to succeed. 

 

I can see Soumare playing more there when Wilf is fit again.

[Guest Col city fan]

56 minutes ago, Sunbury Fox said:

Tbh Man City created virtually nothing from open play. Really annoying that they took advantage of Big Dan's customary mistake in what was an otherwise excellent game by him to break and win the crucial free kick. MOTD conformed my view at the time that he had to attack that high ball on the halfway line.

That’s the problem with Amartey. He can have a good, solid game but you KNOW that they’ll be a lapse of concentration when we’ll get punished for it.

This is the Premiership. These errors cost you

[iancognito]

3 hours ago, Claridge said:

His composure at times is awful, rather have Mendy all day long

I'd rather get Nacho in the side and give Daka a bit of support. That 20 minute spell today showed the way forward.

 

Maddison, Barnes, Nacho and Daka should give us enough up top to get out of this mess.

[Guest MarshallForEngland]

There are lots of ways to play well in football that don’t involve a relentless high press and committing many players forward. To keep a solid and consistent defensive shape for 90 minutes and be patient enough to wait for the right moment to break away and create something takes a lot of hard work and discipline, and to be honest I think that is also entertaining in its own way. Given how low on confidence we’ve been and how many times we’ve totally capitulated this season, trying to contain the opposition and “stay in the game” for as long as possible was the right approach. If we had opened the game up from the start by “getting at” Man City, playing with two strikers and less defensive minded wingbacks, it probably would have been another humiliating battering which we’ve already had a few of this season. We had good moments, almost scored, and aside from the outrageous goal we didn’t really give them too many clear cut chances. I don’t know what people expect to be honest, we are in a relegation battle and were playing arguably the best team in the world. Had a lot of things to criticise Brendan and the players about this season but that performance isn’t one of them.