Watching Man City

I think if that games played ten times City will win 9 of them, l don't think Pep would alter much about the way he went with the tactics etc. Another day De Bruyne would have buried it, Haalands might have gone in off the bar, it wasn't their day. Madrid parked the bus - a bit embarrassing to play like that at this stage of the tournament but they've done the job.

Personally l would have started Doku over Grealish.

 

Why do you think it’s embarassing to defend their box so well?

 

Absolutely nothing embarrassing about playing in a manner you think is best going to get you to the result you want.

Especially when it did. Saying nine times out of ten there’d be a different result is conjecture. The fact remains City went out having failed to score more than one at home against a team who spent the majority of two hours football camped in their own final third. It isn’t Real’s fault city werent good enough to break it down and it is to Ancellotti’s credit that he realised that could well be the case.

Nobody will remember (or care) that they ‘parked the bus’ at the etihad if their name is carved on the trophy on 1st June at Wembley.

I suspect it might be too.

 

I disagree its embarrassing. The managers remit is to win games, scale the leagueto progress in competitions.And a clever manager uses whatever tactics allow the team to do so.

 

To park the bus like watching Barnsley at Anfield, they're supposed to be the darlings of Europe. Barca won't be parking the bus against them on Sunday

 

Nor will Barca be winning any trophies this season

 

To be fair, I don't think they came to do a Gareth Ainsworth and park the bus...they came to try and hit City on the break, and did so early on...after that any attempt to bring the ball out led to them being dispossessed very quickly by a brilliant City midfield and the pressure went back on all 11 in the box. They defended brilliantly but had some luck when Harland hit the bar and Silva fell over his own feet trying to put the rebound in...and De Bruyne's miss. City's biggest mistake was leaving Grealish on the field for 70 odd minutes, I like the lad but he needed to do more than sitting out wide looking tricky and then passing inside without taking the full back on.

 

Interestingly, I went to watch City V Luton last week.

The way they play make it hard for the crowd to cheer them on. Loads of fans around me moaning that they try and walk it in. They are all frustrated and say it’s difficult to get excited sometimes, as where another team would normally shoot (and score) City proceed to tippy tappy it about more.

They weren’t complaining about the success, but it goes part to explain why it’s quiet at the Etihad.

 

I think that more to do with them being in transition and not having €103m Euros to spend on a midfielder recently...

 

Ive no dog in this fight at all - I want all the English clubs to do well in Europe. I get why some folk hate City, with their financial murkiness shall we say, but I can't abide why some posters love them so much?

Oh and I also noticed last night that both Head Coaches kept all their men in the box when defending set pieces. In good company is Ar Neil.....