nelto
Sergei Rebrov
I’m just clutching at straws mate, we were dog brick in that match as well. My only trip to the Etihad.
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OMT The Mighty THFC vs Abu Dhabi City
- Thread starter inkpenspur
- Start date
I’m just clutching at straws mate, we were dog brick in that match as well. My only trip to the Etihad.
nelto
Sergei Rebrov
No idea, but Pep knew his and was on the touch line throughout organising. Don’t think Poch got off of his arse. We seemed beat before we started.
Legohamster
Ian Walker
I’m not sure about the rules, so feel free to correct me.
I think if it was given as a free kick Lloris would have walked.
Given his showing I’m not sure if that would have been better!
thfcsteff
George Hunt
When he pushed further forward he was effective, indeed, one ball which switched out to Trippier was inch perfect and allowed Trippier to cross first-time - a dangerous moment. He played the ball far quicker than Moose who was ponderous and got caught way too often.
Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
thfcsteff
George Hunt
The thing for me is that we didn't really stand off or press. It was like 3 or 4 attackers would press, our centre midfielders would a little bit, but maybe not...and then not really cover the centre backs properly either. Whatever we do, we should be compact, either pressing or sitting back. We were strung out and all over the place in the first 30 minutes, it was phucking park football from us and pathetic. Very annoyed with Poch that the team went out and played with so little cohesion in that first half an hour, we could never recover from that poor start.
Either sit back and counter or press, whatever that in-between sh1te was yesterday, I hope we don't see it again. Poch needs to be watching tape of the last 3 games against City over and over and then watching how Liverpool played them at Anfield, coming up with a solution for them next season. The good thing about Poch is that he will likely do exactly that.
markysimmo
Johnny nice-tits
The fans of the oil country doped club who have spent over £2bn in the last 5 or so years singing about not winning the league, no class with that money obviously
StephenH
David Ginola
Sorry? Are you actually trying to tell me Sanchez didn’t have a poor game yesterday?
Robspur12
Nick Barmby
I disagree Steff. At the start Dembele was getting pressed and couldn't get in to the game. But in the lead up to our goal Dembele had come into the game more and actually moved the ball well. Our weakness defensively was definitely on the Trippier, Sanchez side ably "assisted" by a poor performance from Lloris.
As we know Verts has been imperious this season and while Sanchez has had a good start in some big games, notably Juventus and yesterday his inexperience alongside trippier' defensive ineptitude has been exposed. In fact we were lucky that Diouf was pants or he would have made us pay last week at Stoke.
For me we have definitely missed Toby who is at least the same level as Verts.
Now I understand Poch has his reasons for not playing Toby and I trust him. But we need experienced cover whilst Sanchez develops, he is only 21after all. So I think if Toby goes he needs to be replaced with another experienced defender.
Make no mistake Mourinho will target our right side next Saturday and he has the players to do it.
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Like it or not I think we have to give credit to City for inducing that uncertainty. One very effective way to counter a high-intensity press is to have a group of three of four of your team able to keep up a rapid spell of one-touch passing combined with running into space so as to create multiple options for the return pass before the opposition can get near you.
That is what Guardiola is brilliant at coaching into his teams. Whenever we tried to press, the ball was gone and that created our uncertainty whether to press or stand off. We got caught between two stools, doing neither one nor the other effectively, thus allowing City to exploit Guardiola's tactics to the full. Either you sit back and wait for them to come on to you in the hope you can smother them around your area then catch them on the break OR you go all out to disrupt their one-touch passing and movement. There's no halfway house.
Of course it helps that they have players supremely comfortable on the ball and capable of executing such swift one-touch passing to perfection but we've seen at the Etihad in the past week or so that both Liverpool and for a critical twenty minutes United showed how it's possible to upset their rhythm and put them on the back foot.
You basically have to go all out for it but yesterday for once we strangely lacked the collective energy and commitment that's obligatory for such a strategy.
Given we had enjoyed a free midweek our lack of energy begs the question, did Poch overtrain them for this game to the point they were ready to drop before a ball was kicked, or are we witnessing a collective end-of-season fatigue beginning to set in?
Whatever it was, we can but hope Poch shakes them out of it by Tuesday.
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Mikey10
Jimmy Neighbour
That was perhaps the thing I found strangest last night. We were sat high up in the stands directly opposite our bench - Poch went into his technical area twice, once to give Davies a drink, then for the last two minutes. Highly unusual for him.
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Also just prior to bringing Son on for Lamela.
glasgowspur
Luka Modric
The press was as disjointed as I've seen in a long time.
If the front 3 go it has to be followed up, but dele, Dembele or dier never seemed to have pushed up to cover.
Don't think Harry is fit, especially for a game of this intensity.
I actually am beginning to think we play better when we don't have a break. 2 games a week we seldom drop standards.
If the front 3 go it has to be followed up, but dele, Dembele or dier never seemed to have pushed up to cover.
Don't think Harry is fit, especially for a game of this intensity.
I actually am beginning to think we play better when we don't have a break. 2 games a week we seldom drop standards.
Baleforce
Arthur Rowe
Lamela didn’t have a good game with the ball but the press pretty much died when he went off, City reistablished and got the third.
It does look like we are dropping away, we were awful against Stoke too, we do have a few players returning from injury so maybe it’s just that, but, if we have faded before the end of the season, considering how slowly we started, Poch needs a different conditioning plan next season.
It does look like we are dropping away, we were awful against Stoke too, we do have a few players returning from injury so maybe it’s just that, but, if we have faded before the end of the season, considering how slowly we started, Poch needs a different conditioning plan next season.
Bedfordspurs
Mark Falco
Having watched it again it was another game where we were smothered in midfield and seemed to be constantly outnumbered
But the goals came from fast direct passing
Dembele and Dier were missing for 30 minutes and Sanchez had a poor game
Trippier and Davies struggle against pace which has always been the case
The frustrating thing for me was we were back in it 2nd half but I don’t remember a shot until moura came on
But the goals came from fast direct passing
Dembele and Dier were missing for 30 minutes and Sanchez had a poor game
Trippier and Davies struggle against pace which has always been the case
The frustrating thing for me was we were back in it 2nd half but I don’t remember a shot until moura came on
Mikey10
Jimmy Neighbour
I’m not sure we can read so much into this game. Yeah, I agree we were poor v Stoke but we ground out a result. No matter what’s happened over the past 10 days, City are the best team in England by a stretch, so we shouldn’t be too surprised by losing to them. If we can bounce back against Brighton on Tuesday then all will be well in the league. Top 4 would definitely be an excellent achievement given the unique circumstances of this year.
Having said all that I did come away last night worried about next Saturday. I can see Mourinho doing a complete tactical number on us and there are real worries about the form of some of our players. If Poch was selecting on level of performance then Harry and Hugo would not be starting the next couple of games.
nayimfromthehalfwayline
Andy Thompson
One of the most expensively assembled teams in history beat us.
You know, just for a little perspective.
And while we were poor, my frustration is not that we lost to City but that we didnt give a true account of ourselves.
Which tells its own story I think. IMO we could have taken something out of it with some belief.
You know, just for a little perspective.
And while we were poor, my frustration is not that we lost to City but that we didnt give a true account of ourselves.
Which tells its own story I think. IMO we could have taken something out of it with some belief.
nayenezgani
Jimmy Neighbour
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
The game was effectively lost in the first 30 minutes. Poch admitted as such in his post match interview when he said that we didn't compete during this period. The question is why was this? Why was our high press so lethargic and ineffective (Harry was basically just jogging in closing down). Ditto Dele and Eriksen and Lamela wasn't much better either. This led to four of our players bypassed and stranded high up the pitch. This had the knock on effect of our midfield being outnumbered and their top quality world class players left with time and space to pick their passes.
Yes our defence and goalkeeper had poor games too but the real reason for this lies with our front players not defending adequately imo. That was the root cause of our problems yesterday.
Yes our defence and goalkeeper had poor games too but the real reason for this lies with our front players not defending adequately imo. That was the root cause of our problems yesterday.