And so the team that cost five times as much as ours (or is it more) has won. Big deal. The fact that we have been competitive with this "financial model" for so long has been brilliant, and we've not received half as much credit as we deserve. On our day we can still compete with them, but we must also face facts. They have no financial restrictions whatsoever and eventually that is bound to tell. To be even this close to them is a great thing. Whether it will be worth watching football in the future is debatable.
However bad we were-and we were-it is only a supposed friendly. City beat Real Madrid 4-1 a few days ago. It was our third game in six days including all that flying.
Only kidding mate, I think you did very well to keep the score below 8-0. On a serious note though, City looked frightening with their pace and passing, they will be a force this season.
Maybe, maybe just thanks to their great players. You have to admit, they seem to understand each others game very well.
We made them look very good tbh. Midfield was poor, and both full backs, but particularly Davies, are too easily beaten by pace. Still don't rate Davies, Janssen or N'koudou tbh. Don't think we can carry them all through a season if they're needed.
I think a lot of their one touch stuff would have made it hard for anyone, I was very impressed with the way every contested loose ball got knocked to a City player (by a City player), too often they are knocked into space or for a throw-in. They back each other up very well and know where each other are at all times. Many of their first touch balls were also great through balls to the strikers too.
Missing Sonny, Rose, Lamela and any signings. Still, a dog **** performance that needs putting right. Win our first game of the season and it's pretty much all forgotten. It was the third game in 6days and we don't have Citeh's resources when everyone's fit. Liverpool, Citeh and Chelsea have the pace to torture our defence without Walker and Danny Rose and we need to do something about it in the next month. We need to get Toby's contract situation sorted ASAP and get a minimum of 3 quality additions in. We've played the game that we can compete as we are but we need to replace Kyle's speed on the right as pace kills Trippier (and Davies), an additional central defender (CCV's not ready), support for the three behind Kane and if there's the money, maybe cover for Wanyama/Winks/Dembele. Lots of hard work needs to start happening immediately if we're not to blow our season before the window closes.
In many ways this result could be a blessing in disguise regarding how we move forward in the transfer window now. Brian is absolutely right about needing to address the right hand side now walker has departed. There's just certain games that aren't going to suit tripper. - he'll go from looking very good, to completely out of his depth against a certain type of team. As others have mentioned, the money city throw at their team is obviously going to improve them eventually. They've also been signing players from day 1, and we're now seeing a team that's already starting to settle. - something that Eriksen suggested would really help us, but here we are on July 30th with no signings yet. More pace is a must for me. We looked short last season, and that was reiterated last night. Personally, I get extremely frustrated watching us when Kane's back is always to goal and he's marked so tight, meaning he can't receive a diagonal pass, as it restricts our flow and movement immensely. We need a solution or two, and pronto! Prepare for another sluggish start lads! (If only we hadn't had such a slow start to the season and drawn so many games....)
Thank god I fell asleep at half time I do not pay attention to preseason results or even how we play cos it means nothing. We all remember beating Roma 5-0 at WHL in 2008 and then having the worst statt to a season in our then 126 year history. I think we will struggle without signings cos when some of our first team are out we can not replace them and we will need to also rotate. There will be many times next season ghat we will play 3 games in 6 or 7 days. City did look good but after spending £380m in 13 months they should look bloody decent!
If City can replicate that performance in the Prem, they will destroy every side they face. We have to console ourselves in the knowledge that Arsenal would probably have succumbed to double-figures.
Bloody internet. 20 years ago my entire knowledge of that game would have been about a one inch-long "report" in the paper (if that) which I would read to see if the 1m pound summer signing from Denmark had played. In case anyone else wants to pointlessly ruin two hours of their finite life: http://www.replaymatches.com/2017/07/manchester-city-fc-vs-tottenham-hotspur.html Plus I wouldn't then go immediately to a message-board to moan about it. Simpler days!
I thought the difference between the sides was off the ball. We pressed aggressively to get it back quickly after we lost it It's something spurs have done to us at the lane the last couple of years and eventually blew us away,we appear to have the personnel now to do the same
This is true but in the PL Kompany et al would not have been allowed to get away with some of those challenges.
After watching those three games, I must say that IMO GKN is just bang average . He is taking up a place in the squad that could be freed for better quality.
One of the first ingredients in the 'high press' recipe, perhaps third in the list only to stamina and aggression, is pace. Without it, playing a high line is suicidal as one mistake leaves you caught with you pants down and no hands to pull them back up again. As a result, the back line puts in the sort of nervous, jittery performance we saw last night which essentially becomes a study in self-fulfilling prophecies. We are currently set to start the season with no pace anywhere in the side. Trippier and Davies are two of the slower FB's out there, Walker is gone and Son and Rose are injured. What makes City so effective is that they have ferocious runners throughout the side - it now doesn't matter where the ball is located on the pitch, it will never be more than 10 yards away from a City player with serious afterburners. Unless we want to ditch our pressing game and revert to the AVB-esque pass it out from the back approach, new signings are imperative. A pacy RB and a pacy AM. Dembele and Wanyama are fantastic players, but neither is able to recycle the ball accurately enough to turn defence into attack quickly. Winks may be the answer to this question but he is young and very inexperienced. I keep telling myself 'it was only a friendly', but the problems don't stop at 'they just weren't up for it'. We saw a number of performances like that last season - notably the away games at yourselves and Pool - where we were simply overrun by teams with enough pace to out-press us. In the game at the Etihad you should've been 4-0 up at half time. We brought on Son, intoduced some pace, and following Hugo's double brain farts, somehow found a way back into a game that looked long lost.
