City put 4 around him early on, pep knows who is the engine in our team, but he adapted and played will.
He is too slow at times IMO Chesh and he nearly cost us a few times. I know he has a fan club, but he shouldn't be immuned from criticism.
Meslier - 6. Another learning curve for the kid. Didn't do alot wrong but De Bruyne nearly embarrassed him early on and his distribution was poor compared to last week. Kids doing well. Ayling - 7. Left one on one vs Sterling for large parts of the game. Not an easy task. Once initial 20 mins was over he grew in to the game and looked more than capable of pinning City back on that flank. Cooper - 7. Solid enough. A couple of nervy moments in his own box but was in the right place more often than not. His long passing is still not up to standard this season. Koch - 9. Ben who? Looking more assured with every performance. Stuck to his task and made important blocks. Not afraid to get close to people and man handle them (legally). Comfortable stepping out and playing in to the front three. Dallas - 7. Turned it around after the first 20 minutes. Still looks lost in the middle. Typical Dallas performance. Works hard, does the easy things well, supports the attack. Cleared off the line and had a one vs one at the other end. Sums him up. Phillips - 6. Crowded out first half. Gave the ball away too often in the first period. 2nd half turned the tables, dictated the play a bit more and made some important interceptions. Needs to stop swinging the corners out of play. Got an assist from a corner. Klich - 7. I'm knackered just watching him. Kept a level head throughout and was one of the few who got his foot on the ball early on. Was missed when he went off. Roberts - 6. Workrate still not quite at Klich and Phillips levels. Defensively inept. Did however play a couple of clever little balls which made chances for us. Rightly subbed but an improvement on his last performance. He's a striker. Costa - 5. Outmuscled alot. Didn't chase back everytime. Wasn't his night. Looked a bit more confident on the left in the second half and seemed to keep Walker in check. Screwed Ayling over in the first half by not helping out with Sterling. Alioski - 5. He tried bless him. Not quite up to games against this level of opponent. Worked hard enough but seemed to be wondering what had happened alot of the time. Tried to be brave but it didn't quite come off for him. Bamford - 8. Had his weetabix again. Workrate exceptional. Showed some lovely touches and intelligent movement. Deserves to keep Rodrigo out on this form. Handful! Subs. Poveda - 8. Must have moved himself in front of Alioski for the wing position. Mendy is still spinning. Looked angry that City let him go and proved his point. An exciting performance. Rodrigo - 8. Class shone through. Got his first goal. Could have had more. Hit the bar, created chances, committed defenders, passed the ball well. Superb impact. Davis - 6. Did ok. Couple of nervous moments. Tried to go forward. Just about did enough. He will have been relieved to hear the final whistle.
Me? I have criticised him plenty. He lacks the acceleration and top speed to be truly world class. He is lucky that England struggle in his position at the moment. His delivery is improving although he has basically knocked it in to touch twice in the last two games. I will stick up for him tonight though. Peps gameplan was to press high with a front three to stop Meslier playing it out from the back. De Bruyne stood 10 yards off Phillips inviting the pass in to him. As soon as Meslier or anyone looked like rolling it in to Kalvin, all four of them sprinted to close all avenues off. That's tough. After the first couple of times there has to be options if you continue to play in to him. City did a great job of cutting those out early on. Things started to improve once the lads started bypassing Kalvin and lifting the balls out wide. 2nd half, City had to try and stop that happening and Kalvin was given more space which is why he had a better 2nd half. He still wasn't on his game tonight though. I loved tonight's game and the way the game morphed one way and then another. Bielsa is a genius. I'd put him up against anyone in the world as a tactician. Drink it in whilst we can.
Ag Agree with most of those cooper too high for me, messed up twice for the goal, struggling in the air again - just looks hurried on the ball and nervous off i klich too low. Made us tick, involved in everything good we did. And ran his arse off as he does every week. MoM Rodrigo looked great for 30 mins and shagged in the last 15... made some very poor passes around his own penalty area. We should ban him from our own half as he does damage at both ends of the pitch. I was really impressed with poveda today... on and off the ball.
yep, that’s what I saw... same with Liverpool.. they know he’s fundamental to the system - problem today was the meslier’s distribution was poor so the long ball to beat the press wasn’t functioning... in the first 20 minutes that contributed to wave after wave of attacks. Think KP needs to adjust to first time passes, it’s extra touches where he’s blind to one of the players closing him down that’s catching him out. He’s good enough to do it - but it also needs his team mates to make sure they give him an outlet. Thought he adapted well and was good second half.
Yep. Hard to disagree with that reasoning. Marked Cooper up (as I did with all of the defence) due to the fact they were exposed to a world class attack and repelled them constantly which brings me on to Klich. First half we were left massively exposed through the middle and he was conspicuous in his absence along with Roberts too many times in that first 20 minutes. Rodrigo did tire but he came on. Hit the post. Scored. Forced the keeper in to a worldwide on to the bar and played some lovely passes. City were **** scared of him.
Just seen Bielsa presser and when asked about Rodrigo starting he said before too long everyone will see the quality he brings, but after playing 45 mins at that pace he was hardly moving at the end. He will soon be ready. So in other words he isn't up to Bielsa fitness levels yet. And yes hes fit enough for any other team even Spain but not fit enough for Bielsa yet
Yeh, wasn’t arguing with the score for Rodrigo... he was great, just pointing out why he probably isn’t starting at the moment! re klich, yeh Maybe he could have got closer to Phillips, but he’s not a usual ‘first receiver’ for us typically - if costa or alioski keeps getting beaten to the ball or Losing it, then we’re going to be in trouble In transition. Thought klich was primarily responsible for dragging us back into the game in that first half.
Genuine question, are you a qualified coach? Your reading of the game is a different level to most, I would go as far as to say superb
Thanks. No. I just make it up. Most of it is bollocks probably. I played football for years and years and often took training and stuff. I was never the most talented but tried to get an edge by reading the game. Didn't work, I was still ****! I used to play in the Phillips role so just probably understand that position the most and what problems are hard to combat. He had a tough 20 minutes. Didn't shy away from it though and came through strongly in the second half against imo the best midfielder on the planet in De Bruyne. It's also why I am such a big fan of Klich. You need players like him to put the work in to help out. If I was Phillips I would be buying Klichs beers every saturday night. It's also why I say Roberts is a striker. I'd hate playing with him in midfield. He'd infuriate me.
Absolutely delighted with the result. This could have been a horror story but after 4 games and having played two of the best teams in Europe we're still well in the top half. Not many teams are going to be able to deal with us the way Citeh did. They closed off our avenues for playing out from the back. If in trouble Meslier flicks it to Harrison who we missed. I was very impressed with Meslier and you can see the confidence the defenders have in him. He is very confident with the ball at his feet. Casilla would have tripped over it a couple of times and given goals away. Meslier was happy to look up for a pass even with forwards close to him. His distribution suffered because of the way City were closing us down. I think the whole team gave every ounce tonight. I was listening to a phone in where a Citeh fan was complaining about their start to the season and said that they should get rid of Pep. The presenter asked who he would have instead and he replied that they should take Bielsa back on the bus. Now that is praise
get the **** in ...up to 5th chuffed for you , just hope you can keep it up and bring back the glory days, can't wait to watch Leeds in Europe getting a bit ahead of myself here but you have a cracking manager a good chairman and a great team, the only way is up if you can keep the team spirit going.........Leeds have done it the proper way not bought it like City, Chelsea Spurs it's about time a Northern team came through and this time it's a giant with fan base to match, excuse me i'm so chuffed i'm getting a semi writing thisonwards and upwards hers looking forward to next week.
