Wow

I really don't know what else to say about Saturday's opponents... just wow. Amazing to think they aren't realistically even going to win the league.

Personally, I felt we played exceptionally well at times, especially early 2nd half, and until the final 20 minutes we were always in with a shout of gaining a point. They were rattled but when you check out who they brought on, especially Yaya Toure, who I thought was a massive influence as he won the midfield battle, a battle Citeh were losing in the 2nd half, it was no surprise that they eventually added to their tally. It could have been an even heavier defeat but that's what players of that class can do to even the best defenders.

Overall, we can't be too downhearted - the scoreline probably didn't reflect the overall balance of the game. Had it finished 2-1 to them I doubt any of their fans could have complained - it was a pretty close game until they went 3-1 up. But the sheer quality of two or three of their goals and the relentless search for more goals was extraordinary. Ok, we collapsed in the final few minutes but the excursions of Monday at Tottenham will have had an effect on that. We were naive to keep trying to score ourselves instead of keeping the score down but I quite like that - we were safe, why not have a go?

Still massively proud of what our team has achieved this season. Only Man City have given us a real tonking (twice) - no shame in that. Its happened to better teams than us this season... at least we only have to play them twice a year

OTBC

 

Agreed.

Yaya Toure was what changed the game in the second half. I wanted to see him play as he's such a good player but I also knew if he was going to play we were going to be in trouble.

He is also much bigger than I thought he was.

 

Correct Toure was exceptional

 

The bugger was classed as "doubtful" before the game! Why couldn't they have rested him?

 

It's annoying that just cos we shipped 6 against man city, people think we need to overhaul our defence... As I said, there was no complaining last Monday!?

There side is just sheer brilliance, had they have had aguero and tevez upfront all season then god knows where they will be, but for me they lost the title when yaya toure went to africa.

I said after the game that it was a shame the result ended up how it did because we didnt deserve that, but to only get tonked twice by the same team and arguably against the best and richest side in the league says how far we've come.

When it comes to next season we need signings that will win us games against the bottom 12 teams and not the top 7 cos you only need to look at qpr where that gets you, and our defence is more than adequate for doing that.

P.s just add messi to the front 2 and that could be Argentina's strike force at the next world cup

 

I'm just glad he was on the bench. Don't want to know what the score could have been had he started.

 

Switching to the Diamond helped them dominate midfield too, Howson appeared to go at the base was playing against Toure, De Jong and Barry it was absolutely impossible for him anyone for that matter,

 

Not overhaul some of us would like to see some quality in the event of injuries etc thats all.

 

but the diamond changed the game in our favour until mancini changed their system bringing toure on. we then didn't adjust ours because we couldn't as all changes had been made and toure ran the show from then on. he was like a man-mountain. sensational player.

 

Great player and their a great team still not liking getting panned 6-1.

 

i completely agree with holty's boots - there is absolutely nothing wrong with our defence. we haven't even played our first choice four this season. we have a young defence who are still learning but i simply cannot think of anyone who we could afford who will make it instantly and noticeably better. we are so attack-minded as a team we are bound to concede goals anyway.

 

well we aren't the first and won't be the last. its what happens when world class players ALL play at the top of their game in the same match! we were desperately unlucky to get beat 6-1 - it was never a 6-1 match, but lets face it, it could actually have been worse! just shows how good their players really are...

i hate losing 6-1 too but i can just about cope with losing heavily to sides like that!

 

Yeah - I thought De Jong was also exceptional and Toure coming on ultimately swung the balance in their favour.

I thought Citeh were exceptional in midfield and up front they were scarily good - have to admit, and feel a bit proud, that we gave them a good go in the first 20 minutes of each half and in the second half we were well in it .... until Toure came on

On the train back to Peterborough, which was full of Citeh fans, I got chatting to a couple of their lads who wre full of compliments about us saying they liked the fact that we kept having a go at them and are always trying to score - they also said that Toure coming on pulled the balance of the game back to them. They also said it was their best performance in ages and also said that if Tevez and Toure had been available all season they would have won the league - on Saturday's showing I can't argue with that.

As has been said elswhere, we can't measure oursleves against the likes of Citeh, we have measured up successfully against those clubs around us and that has given us a solid foundation moving forward. We should be proud of that fact.

For my part I actually enjoyed Saturday's game, despite the heavy defeat, and stood to applaud both sides at the end.

 

This is why we struggle to keep clean sheets, we've had so many issues with injuries I don't see why bringing in a bit more quality nothing expensive a Lambert type player who puts in a shift but an upgrade on what we've got.

 

The first two goals from Man City were great, even if Tevez shouldn't have really been able to score from where he did.

Surman's goal was also good. Great to see him come into the penalty area often to have a go, as his goals against Wolves , West Brom and someone else who he scored a volley against (I forget who) show.

 

well thats for lambert to try and figure out and not us - cos i sure as hell can't think of any that will improve our defence! he's just pulled bennett out of the bag and if he isn't playing for england in the near future i'd be very surprised. he oozes class and ayala also has that kind of talent, though he's a bit more rugged too. i think they'd compliment each other well and with ward and whitbread as back up, why do we need more centre halves? right back, fine - naughton please, but we don't need more centre halves - we need a settled back four, thats what we need!! ward and whitbread are capable back up.

 

I'm very happy with Ayala, Whitbread, R Bennett not a massive Ward fan will have to see how he ends the season.

 

i like ward when he plays it simple. he's a talented lad but his concentration levels concern me. but as back up, no problem whatsoever - you won't find many teams below 8th have better back up than ward and whitbread

 

Not sure on his decision making ability sometimes would like a bit more pace too. One positive with me is his comfortable on the ball you can't knock him for that.

 

to replace ward with someone of equal ability but younger would cost an arm and a leg! there is no hurry to offload any of our defenders though i believe barnett will go as he has certainly been found out at this level. not many of our squad have but he probably has, maybe crofts too. so not bad really considering some have come from league one!!