MotD commentator missing the fact that the ball was moving when Haaland plays the ball.to Grealish. Jumping in to make an issue about nothing because it was City. **** 'em! Edit.... Just seen it again and I gave the ref too much credit. He ****ed the decision!
This is another issue when the Laws are wrong. The norm should be playing on for a while when the fouled side retains possession as in Rugby. What if Grealish had been Offside? Then the ref would have been right to give the foul. Under the current laws I don't think he could play on, and then give the foul if Grealish had scored and then VAR gave him offside.
Lots of people going crazy about the advantage at the end. Talking like he had an open goal! Davies had already caught him up, he’s still 30 yards from goal, one of the best keepers in the league and grealish isn’t exactly known for his finishing.
Correct, the " pundits " have this belief that all things Citeh are perfect and as powerspurs points out , why no yellows for the decent shown
FantStic show, very innovative and even spawned a sequel in Benson, with the fabulous Rober Guillaume.
Watched some extended highlights as well as MoTD. Gutted I missed a cracker but the curry hit the spot too. Start with the the bad: Davies and especially Emerson looked awful. Their positioning and marking was all over the place, argued with one another over Foden’s goal and Emerson was lucky Haaland forgot his scoring boots. Thank god Romero replaces one of them (Emerson) on Thursday. 5 goals in 2 games conceded with those two and it could/ should’ve been more. Bissouma also very disappointing and has been in general of late, been nowhere near as good as the opening couple of months, sloppy in possession and cost us the third City goal. Vicario’s silly pass at the start of the second half. The good: Vicario’s incredible save after his silly pass, along with one or two other solid saves. Can’t believe this guy wasn’t snapped up by bigger clubs earlier. Good keepers rarely go under the radar too. Lo Celso’s finish was genuinely superb, Son would’ve been proud of scoring that, let alone a CM. Should add £5m to his value with a bit of luck. Also enjoyed his barge on Haaland after the final whistle whilst the ugly Viking was throwing his toys out the pram. Johnson might be a very late Aaron Lennon replacement, albeit with a more height. I love these types of players who run the wings at pace and cause FBs to **** themselves. His cross was excellent, weaker foot too. Kulu is practically back to the levels he was at in his first 6 months at the club, albeit he’s more potent than creative this time round, that rare header of his was class. The versatility he’s showing is massive for us and his running and distance stats are absolutely mad too. Ange’s tactics. I predicted at the start of the season that this fixture especially would be a nightmare for us as Pep’s kryptonite has generally been Jose/ Conte-ball yet for Ange to go there with a makeshift team and come away with a draw after some well worked goals is a testament to the belief he instills in the team. Yes we rode our luck once or twice but you’ll need that against a £bn elite side that’s managed by Pep Guardiola. You can also tell Pep genuinely rates him too, sometimes Pep overhypes an opposition player or manager in what I feel is some sort of mind games ploy but there seems to be a huge level of respect and admiration from him with Ange, even praising his tactics pre-match after giving a bit of analysis on it. If Pep genuinely rates you as a manager, that’s a huge compliment and tells us we really do have a good one on our hands.
This is an utter myth, Spurs have done well against Citeh whether tis taking the game to them (peak Pochettino, the Conte 2-3 etc) , or playing Portu-ball. Therefore if that variable is changing, then we look at the ones that are not. And that one is ... PEP !!! A manager who is continually found wanting by one opponent, no matter what system they are playing, would be better served by changing their system for the exceptions. And that is the beauty of it. Cirehs' PL title wins have NOT been decided by the outcome of their games against Spurs. But we know it pisses off Pep immensely that he cannot guarantee to prevail against them (hence the attempted snide comments such as the "Harry Kane team" ) .
I doubt it actually annoys him that much. He probably forgets our result(s) within a day or two. Long term we actually have little baring on City’s fortunes, we’re merely a bump in the road for him, though from our POV it’s obviously highly enjoyable.
Agree with the rest of your post, mate, but not this - at least not entirely. Do I want to see Ben Davies and Emerson as our CB's in the PL? Bloody hell, no! But I think you are being unduly critical of the two who were playing only their 2nd game together against (arguably) the best and most free-scoring team in Europe. Did they make mistakes? Yes, no question. Did they get pulled out of position? Yes, no question. But a) they worked their socks off and b) maybe more by luck than judgement, they kept the PL's top goalscorer off the scoresheet. And only one of the 3 City goals was down to them. Am I critical of the club not providing better cover for these scenarios? Damn right, I am! But will I be harsh on the two stand-ins who have done their best in a team that as a whole has shown more fight and commitment than almost any group of Spurs players in my memory? Absolutely not! Maybe I'm putting on rose-tinted glasses because I am really buying into the Ange revolution, but I'm going to refrain from attacking these two individuals right now.
I think you do have those glasses on mate as you’ve just highlighted how bad they were but then praised them . Working hard and giving your all is a prerequisite of any footballer, the fact they do that isn’t something to praise but to expect. It’s why Ndombele gets so much stick because he doesn’t work hard and give his all. Emerson was absolutely horrific yesterday, especially in that first half and Haaland missing a sitter after his mistake is the only reason we can say “they kept him quiet”. Davies was less awful but that’s not much to boast about. They were terrible vs Villa and responsible for both goals, their marking in general yesterday was non-existent, makeshift or not it wasn’t good enough. We can’t be lowering expectations for poorer players even if played out of position, that’s how mediocrity sets in. I’ve been a long term defender of Davies over the years but we’re at a stage now where there’s a clear quality gap at LB and he’s not viable CB cover either, excellent pro but we need more than that now if we’re to give Ange the tools for potential success.
I think belief is the absolute key word here and I said this during the Chelsea game as I watched 9 men defend a free kick from the halfway line: The absurd clamouring by pundits and some fans for managers to be 'pragmatic' misses entirely what Ange is trying to do: Instil real, genuine belief in this club. Being pragmatic, taking the Jose or Conte approach, gets you results in the short term. You pick up a handful of points here and there. Sure, maybe you'll pick up enough to scrape a place in European competition. But you're doing this all while ignoring the fundamental underlying issues that remain. Switching your entire system because of injuries or opponents sends the clearest of messages to your team and/or your wider squad: I only trust you to a point. Telling 9 men with 40+mins to play: "keep pushing" is the strongest vote of confidence I can think of. And yes, I acknowledge that there is a fine line between heroics and madness, but for far too long we've run a mile from even trying to toe that line. It's no wonder we've fallen short at every single hurdle. No wonder we're still without a trophy: at the very core of our teams has been a genuine belief 'we could lose this' and so we choke and lose it. And that belief has been fuelled by a succession of managers who have, through their decisions, reinforced a view that their players can only be trusted to a point. From Poch, whose selection pool shrank year by year until squad players were ignored entirely and injured 'favourites' selected ahead of them, to Jose and Conte who defaulted to playing 10 behind the ball at the slightest whiff of danger, all the while constantly moaning to the press that they didn't yet have the tools to play the way they wanted to. Fear and self-pity have been the dominant emotions at this club for years now. In bounced Ange on his kangaroo, lost his best player, just got on with it, and suddenly we have a manager who trusts 9 men to get a result, who trusts a team with zero defensive players in their strongest position to go toe to toe with City. Confidence and determination are now the emotions at the club.
Saying Emerson was horrific completely misses the point of Ange's tactics. Emerson was the main outlet at goal kicks and was closed down quickly by City's attackers. Nevertheless he never booted the ball away and always tried to beat the press. He gave the ball away sometimes but despite those mistakes he never hid from receiving the ball. Without the ball, I don't think he made any defensive mistakes at all. So he played exactly how Ange would want him to play.
