Relive every moment of every first team game since the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Our archive of matchday threads originally posted in the General Discussion Forum.
hammer1975 wrote:
R
There was time for Cresswell and Diop to adjust imo - they had a clear view of Walker speeding up on the outside of Mahrez. It was a good move by Man City but defensively we could have done better.
Letting Jesus get to the ball first in the box was also poor defending IMHO
Colours never run wrote:I know it because others around me agreed and then Pellegrini subbed him. He wasn't doing his bit defensively enough for the manager, amongst others watching on near us who also saw it. If you saw him playing as a rogue centre forward, then that says everything, because that weren't what was expected of him in that match. Keeping him on the pitch wouldn't have prevented the same outcome.
Oh well. If you and others around you agreed then you clearly must know the instructions Antonio had.
He was playing as a right side forward in a loose three, supporting Haller as a two on occasions.
Even from that position he wasn't tracking back any less than Anderson or Lanzini, who was very poor indeed
For whatever reasons Pellegrini took Antonio off it didn't work as we kept the ball less and defended worse
I thought there were some encouraging signs in our attacking play but defensively as we have seen in pre-season little seems to be have been done be it on the training ground or in player recruitment to address our clearly vulnerable defence.
Now whether that is solely down to Pellegrini or a lack of money available to him to deal with it, it is clear from today and I am pretty certain we will be see quickly as the season progresses what a mistake it was not to focus more on this area of the side during the close season.
If Manchester City had been unplayable today a 5-0 home defeat might have been acceptable in such exceptional circumstances but today I thought they were a mixed bag and I think 5-0 says more about how poor we are defensively rather than how good they were.
Hopefully our attacking players live up to their potential and then I am sure there will be enough sides we can outscore to avoid trouble but if they don't and we are going to rely on our defensive play and struggle to see how we will match our efforts from last season.
On the second Anderson and Fornals a bit lackadaisical on the turnover, the midfield was arguably out of place, , but certainly lacked recovery pace in a chase with De Bruyne.
The third was offside more so than the one that was disallowed, and again the defence was playing the CF offside (Aguero in that case). Fred's dilemma is whether to hold the line (as coached) or go back in and play Aguero onside.
4th was crap from Fab.
5th was also slightly odd goalkeeping. Turnover from Haller.
A lack of pace and the offside trap not working against a team who pass it well and have good movement.
Last edited by bubbles1966 on Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Colours never run wrote:The centre backs switching off are getting away with murder. Where were they for the first??
I agree. Neither covered themselves in glory today.
As someone else said, to even compete close to Manchester city you need at least five players playing close to their very best and the others above average
Wilko1304 wrote:
He wasn't playing centre forward for 30 mins. He had a five minute spell where Haller went left. Otherwise, he was just having to work very hard up and down to get in behind a lot.
That's pretty much my point. He was the one player doing more running than anyone else as he was the one tasked with getting forward.
Yet he is the one hooked when some of the other players didn't break much of a sweat.
Poor from the manager in this instance IMHO
I'm reasonably happy that the bits I've read in this thread are not hiding behind VAR or anything. I could barely see the Sterling offside (and not sure I agree with these margins) and I felt the penalty decision was dealt with pretty poorly, but we can hold no excuses.
I do think City turned it on against us when they sensed blood, it was remarkably ruthless. And the disallowed goal, I wish that had stood and the penalty not been retaken, because that was mesmerising.
We visibly tired, and as we were beaten, we had nothing to rouse ourselves with.
Crouchend_Hammer wrote:
That's pretty much my point. He was the one player doing more running than anyone else as he was the one tasked with getting forward.
Yet he is the one hooked when some of the other players didn't break much of a sweat.
Poor from the manager in this instance IMHO
That I'm in agreement with. There's is an uncomfortable alliance, it is clear Pellegrini wants something else from his forward men and Antonio's carelessness in the pass is clearly at odds with what the manager looks for. I'd have kept him and Jack on, definitely wasn't interested in seeing much more of Anderson today. Disagree with your view on Lanzini, felt he and Jack made us tick all first half, and that Manu was giving balance as a third option in there whilst also getting close to Haller.
There are times that our play is going to come off spectacularly. And there will be times, and I don't just mean against these good teams, where we will look foolish.
Pelle is bang on in highlighting our naivety and their niggly fouls to break up play.
Problem is, this really shouldn’t have come as a surprise - they always do it. Which means that our players should have been sent out with clear instructions to rough them up a bit and/or get in the ref’s ear from the off.
The fact that we weren’t is down to the manager, I’m afraid.
If I remember rightly from last season, Brighton are pretty smart at this tactic too...
We need to develop a more cynical side if we’re going to succeed in this league.
1. As much as we all hold Adrian in high regard, City will have rubbed their hands together with glee, watching LFC's main keeper getting subbed yesterday. They can beat anyone, so the incentive to get goals and points on the board, whilst their only real rivals are playing their new signing in the next half a dozen league matches.
2. City beat Chelsea 6-0 last season, and are in the habit of winning. They, realistically, are in a league of their own.
The biggest thing to take away from this drubbing? Its Man City. And that's not to be in anyway underestimated. Only a handful -if that, in this League can turn it on like that.
Out of 38 games, it's a drop in the ocean. That's the perspective I take away from it with these group of players.
OohAahButler wrote:Pelle is bang on in highlighting our naivety and their niggly fouls to break up play.
Problem is, this really shouldn’t have come as a surprise - they always do it. Which means that our players should have been sent out with clear instructions to rough them up a bit and/or get in the ref’s ear from the off.
The fact that we weren’t is down to the manager, I’m afraid.
If I remember rightly from last season, Brighton are pretty smart at this tactic too...
We need to develop a more cynical side if we’re going to succeed in this league.
I agree. However not everything was in the managers control, noble was missing due to injury who can definitely do that job. Not that it would have prevented the loss (just minimised it I reckon).
Rewatching the action on MOTD. VAR is going to ruin the fun and excitement of football. You almost don’t want to celebrate goals in case they’re disallowed and can’t really celebrate a goal 56 seconds later. The moment has gone.
The late, great Brian Clough predicted television would destroy our game. I’m sure this isn’t quite what he meant but I think it’s safe to say he was right.
I’ll leave you all to dwell on the post mortem. Good luck for the rest of the season.
btajim - mcfc wrote:Rewatching the action on MOTD. VAR is going to ruin the fun and excitement of football. You almost don’t want to celebrate goals in case they’re disallowed and can’t really celebrate a goal 56 seconds later. The moment has gone.
The late, great Brian Clough predicted television would destroy our game. I’m sure this isn’t quite what he meant but I think it’s safe to say he was right.
I’ll leave you all to dwell on the post mortem. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Money from TV has already changed the game beyond all recognition sadly Jim. I can see VAR incrementally removing some joy but today was a procession as much as it was a football match. Not meaning to sound like a sore loser as Man City are a club that has been through the wringer more than most but the financial divide has made football less competitive than ever.
btajim - mcfc wrote:Rewatching the action on MOTD. VAR is going to ruin the fun and excitement of football. You almost don’t want to celebrate goals in case they’re disallowed and can’t really celebrate a goal 56 seconds later. The moment has gone.
Completely agree and exactly why I didn’t want it. Today was like a pantomime. “It’s a goal. Oh no it’s not”. What has football become when you celebrate a goal being disallowed two minutes after it hit the net? I also worry how it will impact player morale.
Anyway, I wanted to try and draw some positives. And that was reallly Haller who I thought looked very good. Reminded me a little of Kanoute the way he used his chest to bring the ball down. His touch was great and he looked like he had quick feet. The biggest issue was getting players closer to him.
City were and are different class. I reckon Ederson would get a game in centre midfield for us. Their ability on the ball and constant movement to make a multitude of triangles when moving up the pitch is something else and undoubtedly the best football we’ve seen in the Premier League.
Crouchend_Hammer wrote:It is embarrassing (imho) that people are blaming the ref, droning on about VAR etc etc, when we just got beaten dice nil at home and we didn't have a chance till the 70th minute
Call a spade, a spade we were rubbish for almost all that match across the pitch
Sound like a load of many old whiners. Very Spursy
Crouchend_Hammer wrote:
Tbf I never said any posters had said that bad decisions were the reason we lost.
Hope Cresswell realises soon that if he keeps backpedalling half-heartedly while they're sprinting around him they'll be by in a flash. Otherwise we'll see a lot more of that this season.
Colours never run wrote:The centre backs switching off are getting away with murder. Where were they for the first??
Spot on. Diop was awful today and the man most at fault for their first in my eyes. Walker rinsed Cresswell but if Diop plays the situation better hed have had a better chance of stopping it than Cresswell
