And, we're off.....2016/17

[Deleted member 15344]

Brilliant game - this is what football should be

The referee is trying to make himself the starring role but thankfully the players are taking the limelight away from him - must be 10 plus players booked but not one bad foul

 

[pendodave]

To be (partially) fair to the ref, at least half the cards have been for pulling\tripping players when they've gone past the man. Not dangerous, but they need to be cautioned to ensure every single break isn't cynically nipped in the bud.

As for the other 5..

Anyway, mental but brilliant game.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Great game, maybe not for Tashy 😂

Nice of you to join in with our enjoyment :rofl:

 

[Pin-seeker]

Nice of you to join in with our enjoyment :rofl:

You do realise that you're talking to yourself? 😳

 

[Tashyboy]

Nice of you to join in with our enjoyment :rofl:

He's back. I couldn't comment coz I was sat at the game. What with me being an upstanding member of this forum ave not posted your earlier post 😁
What a game, one of those games you will remember forever. Hope the neutrals enjoyed it. Sat up in the gods in tier three of the new stand and the views and leg room were just amazing.

The ref once more was just dire.

Said this before and will say it again, if City take there chances they will batter teams but with that defence OMG. Apart from Stones, I would get rid of the lot. The Fact Ferandinho played at left back, shows Pep knows there not up to it. There is just no pace.

Disagree with the comments re Pep could get away with it at La liga. He had Puyol, Piquet and quality left and fight backs. Far better than are at City.

looking forward to me Christmas present, away trip City v Monaco.

Blueeeeeeeeee Moooooooooon.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

He's back. I couldn't comment coz I was sat at the game. What with me being an upstanding member of this forum ave not posted your earlier post 😁
What a game, one of those games you will remember forever. Hope the neutrals enjoyed it. Sat up in the gods in tier three of the new stand and the views and leg room were just amazing.

The ref once more was just dire.

Said this before and will say it again, if City take there chances they will batter teams but with that defence OMG. Apart from Stones, I would get rid of the lot. The Fact Ferandinho played at left back, shows Pep knows there not up to it. There is just no pace.

Disagree with the comments re Pep could get away with it at La liga. He had Puyol, Piquet and quality left and fight backs. Far better than are at City.

looking forward to me Christmas present, away trip City v Monaco.

Blueeeeeeeeee Moooooooooon.

No way were you enjoying it when they went 2-1 up! Great for the neutral, I still think Stones needs to play along side a more experienced centre half.

 

[Papas1982]

He's back. I couldn't comment coz I was sat at the game. What with me being an upstanding member of this forum ave not posted your earlier post 
What a game, one of those games you will remember forever. Hope the neutrals enjoyed it. Sat up in the gods in tier three of the new stand and the views and leg room were just amazing.

The ref once more was just dire.

Said this before and will say it again, if City take there chances they will batter teams but with that defence OMG. Apart from Stones, I would get rid of the lot. The Fact Ferandinho played at left back, shows Pep knows there not up to it. There is just no pace.

Disagree with the comments re Pep could get away with it at La liga. He had Puyol, Piquet and quality left and fight backs. Far better than are at City.

looking forward to me Christmas present, away trip City v Monaco.

Blueeeeeeeeee Moooooooooon.

Think the comments should on defence were by me. I accept that Barca had better defenders than have now. But for me the point was more the midfield and attack.

How many any of them can retain the ball, yaya maybe and silva. The rest still get the ball and head direct for goal. Meaning greater turnover of possession and facing more counters. It's great to watch, but the style is nowhere near that of Bayern and Barca as currently the players aren't of the same quality (for that style).

Re the defence, stone needs to learn how to defend. Atm he looks like Sideshow bob and Chelsea first time.

Time me will tell, but I don't think you'll dominate like peps previous teams due mainly to the nature of the prem and the unsuitability of the style he wants to play.

 

[clubchamp98]

No way were you enjoying it when they went 2-1 up! Great for the neutral, I still think Stones needs to play along side a more experienced centre half.

Agree with stones needing help Ottamendi is not good enough always on his arse.
Great game to watch for the neutral end to end.
Bit naive from Monaco once they were up 3/2 they should have sat back a bit more and denied City some space.
With 3 away goals that would have been tough.
Great spirit from City though.
What a goal from Aguarro but you should not be able to volley a ball in the box someone has to head this clear.
Schoolboy defending from both sides but that is what made it a great game.
as Paul said the fans did not look happy while losing, but no fans are!
looking forward to the second half but if city don't defend better it could still go any way.

 

[Tashyboy]

Agree with stones needing help Ottamendi is not good enough always on his arse.
Great game to watch for the neutral end to end.
Bit naive from Monaco once they were up 3/2 they should have sat back a bit more and denied City some space.
With 3 away goals that would have been tough.
Great spirit from City though.
What a goal from Aguarro but you should not be able to volley a ball in the box someone has to head this clear.
Schoolboy defending from both sides but that is what made it a great game.
as Paul said the fans did not look happy while losing, but no fans are!
looking forward to the second half but if city don't defend better it could still go any way.

Totally agree with all of that. Imagine City's attack going against city's defence. With the pace of sane and sterling etc they would just leave otamendi, Kolarov and Zabaleta standing. Watched stones last night and unfortunately the same as when we played Everton at our place earlier this season got out muscled ( Lukaku) My grief is this, V Everton stones goes for row z, comes off Baines and the forward is in. Why is Otamendi not covering. Same last night when Stones is on his ass. Where is Otamendi. Free kick over the top, where is Otamendi. Stones has covered for Otamendi this year, but at times it has not been returned. Pep will have seen that. But I thought at times last night Monacos wind backs were superb.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Totally agree with all of that. Imagine City's attack going against city's defence. With the pace of sane and sterling etc they would just leave otamendi, Kolarov and Zabaleta standing. Watched stones last night and unfortunately the same as when we played Everton at our place earlier this season got out muscled ( Lukaku) My grief is this, V Everton stones goes for row z, comes off Baines and the forward is in. Why is Otamendi not covering. Same last night when Stones is on his ass. Where is Otamendi. Free kick over the top, where is Otamendi. Stones has covered for Otamendi this year, but at times it has not been returned. Pep will have seen that. But I thought at times last night Monacos wind backs were superb.

Pep has to sort it out sooner rather than later, opposition know Stones's weakness, they've known for the last 2 seasons, put him under pressure when he's on the ball, Baines knew to close him down, the better the player along side Stones, the better Stones is.

 

[Tashyboy]

Pep has to sort it out sooner rather than later, opposition know Stones's weakness, they've known for the last 2 seasons, put him under pressure when he's on the ball, Baines knew to close him down, the better the player along side Stones, the better Stones is.

I think plan A was to play him with Kompany, that quickly went tits up, Otamendi was plan B, that went tits up even quicker. plan C was playing him with Kolarov.. by this point we had run out of tits all together. It not just a case of trying play around or fitting it around Stones. Coz without him you are looking at Otamendi and Kolarov and that ain't good for anyone's blood pressure. How we won last night playing with an iffy keeper and one make shift left back, and Otamendi. Al never know. I keep saying it but City have a big centre half in the elite dev squad that should be in this squad. Gonna be an interesting end of season run with no Gundohan, Jesus and Kompany.

our season will be defined by four games. When we play Monaco away, it is followed by Liverpool at home, Arsenal away then Chelsa away.

Lubbly jubbly.

 

[clubchamp98]

Pep has to sort it out sooner rather than later, opposition know Stones's weakness, they've known for the last 2 seasons, put him under pressure when he's on the ball, Baines knew to close him down, the better the player along side Stones, the better Stones is.

I think Stones is a very good player but the high press from Monaco leaves him limited outlets .
He can't launch it because City have no height up front to win the ball.
The midfield needs to work harder to give him options but the pressing game makes this difficult.
This is a very similar problem we have at Liverpool, but like us City don't seem to have a plan B.
But if you can score five goals it's happy days.
Pep and Klopp will be looking for some quality defenders but there's not that many around these days.
The art of defending seems to be getting lost.!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I saw City on the box a couple of weeks ago, can't remember who against. First half the other team did a high press and City were all over the place. Early second half the keeper and defenders started chipping over the press to players just inside their own half, near the half way line. 9 times out of 10 they held the posession as the players were all skilled enough to trap the ball. The oppo then had to decide whether to high press and get by-passed or step back. Either way City had an option, which they used well to stretch the other team. It seems as though they didn't use this plan B approach last night for some reason. A high press is simple enough to by-pass if you have a skilled midfield. I would have thought City would have the players to deal with that rather than get constantly caught at the back playing tippy tappy.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I think Stones is a very good player but the high press from Monaco leaves him limited outlets .
He can't launch it because City have no height up front to win the ball.
The midfield needs to work harder to give him options but the pressing game makes this difficult.
This is a very similar problem we have at Liverpool, but like us City don't seem to have a plan B.
But if you can score five goals it's happy days.
Pep and Klopp will be looking for some quality defenders but there's not that many around these days.
The art of defending seems to be getting lost.!

John Stones imo has the ability to become one of Englands best ever centre halfs, he's tall, fast, very skillful and young, his first season with us, Jags was having one of his best seasons, Martinez had us playing a different way and we caught teams out, season 2, Jags and Baines were injured, Funes was new and teams clicked on to how Martinez wanted us to play and the defence were under pressure.

If teams start playing out from the back then defending starts with the forwards, if the defence is under pressure the keeper has to be prepared to miss them out, if the defenders have the ball they've got to be prepared to miss the midfield out etc etc.

As stated loads of times Stones needs to use Row Z or maybe have a bit more belief and step up to be the main central defender. It's unfair to put it all on him as the team are making mistakes, it's just his prove more costly.

 

[clubchamp98]

John Stones imo has the ability to become one of Englands best ever centre halfs, he's tall, fast, very skillful and young, his first season with us, Jags was having one of his best seasons, Martinez had us playing a different way and we caught teams out, season 2, Jags and Baines were injured, Funes was new and teams clicked on to how Martinez wanted us to play and the defence were under pressure.

If teams start playing out from the back then defending starts with the forwards, if the defence is under pressure the keeper has to be prepared to miss them out, if the defenders have the ball they've got to be prepared to miss the midfield out etc etc.

As stated loads of times Stones needs to use Row Z or maybe have a bit more belief and step up to be the main central defender. It's unfair to put it all on him as the team are making mistakes, it's just his prove more costly.

I wasn't trying to blame Stones.!
I think city's defence is shocking except stones as I stated the team need to give him more options.
Hitting row Z when under pressure is fine ,I was thinking more when the goalie rolls the ball to him the wide men need to show more for him and give him options.
Pep as everybody knows likes to play from the back but sometimes you can catch teams out being a bit more direct.
This is where Dzeco was a good backup
Its ok conceding three goals if you score five but that's not good if your strikers are having a lean time.
But it was a good game.
as you know the further back you go the more mistakes are punished just ask Monacos keeper shocker.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

I wasn't trying to blame Stones.!
I think city's defence is shocking except stones as I stated the team need to give him more options.
Hitting row Z when under pressure is fine ,I was thinking more when the goalie rolls the ball to him the wide men need to show more for him and give him options.
Pep as everybody knows likes to play from the back but sometimes you can catch teams out being a bit more direct.
This is where Dzeco was a good backup
Its ok conceding three goals if you score five but that's not good if your strikers are having a lean time.
But it was a good game.
as you know the further back you go the more mistakes are punished just ask Monacos keeper shocker.

I never said you were trying to blame Stones!

I thought we were simply discussing him and last night.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'm sure Pep will splash the cash and sort the defence with wholesale changes come the summer. I think Stones seems to be suffering a lack of confidence and his decision making has been affected

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Buy either the Juve or Atletico Madrid defence, in full. Probably the best two out there. Assuming that doesn't happen break the bank for Bonucci. Unless he's had a mare this season he looked world class in the euro's. Put him alongside Stones and see what happens.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

This is Sevilla V Schmeichel at the moment.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Could be a precious away goal, Schmeichel the MotM.