Match Day Thread Premier League, Cups & Euro Watch

#jinx

 

Who are the five?

Assuming he's excluded ourselves and is only talking about our challenges.... I'd guess at Man City, Chelsea, Spurs, Man Utd and Arsenal, but I saw Wolves in the article when I had a quick glance.

 

I doubt that he thought Spurs could win it twice

 

Not many think they can win it once...

 

Thing is thats not a shock result for city. For a good couple if years everyone was terrified of attacking them for fear of getting drubbed.

Last season teams woke up to the fact that if they sit back with no outball they are definitely getting a beating, but! If they go at city they are frail and can be got at.

For all of the plaudits pep hasn't built a balanced team, terrifying going forwards yes, ask them to defend and they are ****ed.

No point giving him more money for defenders he's already had enough, he doesn't know what to do with them.

 

It’s really too early to draw many conclusions about the prospects of the City team. Remember they had some significant injuries and they are still behind in terms of coming up to league competitiveness having started later. Leicester credit to them took advantage of some inexperienced and naive defending. Conceding these penalties was really poor. It’s clear that Laporte is their VVD. Without him their defence is vulnerable to counters. With a good CB to complement him, and Jesus and Aguero coming back they’ll be formidable again.

 

Yep...

Sit back and defend; you'll lose.

Have a go and attack; you might still lose but you've also got a chance of winning.

 

City are still favourites to win the title.

 

Yep.
Almost all great attacking teams are vulnerable at the back to a certain extent - we ourselves are. The way to beat them is, as you say, to go at them - but it's always a bit of a gamble and you can end up with a right tonking.
Leeds had a go at us and got 3 goals, unfortunately their defence wasn't up to much either so we got 4.
I only saw the last 35 minutes of today's game, but City's shooting was woeful, and their defenders don't seem to know how to stop an attack now they're not allowed to foul any more.
Obviously Pep just hasn't spent enough money yet.

 

West Ham 2:0 Wolves.

 

Hmmm, this is overly generous to city i think.

They started a week later, 1 game behind, which didn't seem to be a hindrance when they tore through wolves.

Naive and inexperienced defending?

Walker £50 million
Mendy £52 million
Ake £40 million

Not exactly youth prospect's thrown in at the deep end. In fact I thought the kid was the best out of them, maybe not had enough time to be infected by peps philosophy.

I struggle to see how bringing in jesus or Aguero will help them defensively, it certainly didn't last season.

Will city be a force this year? Of course they will, the squad cost half a billion, it would be hard to spend that amount of money snd not build a great team.

 

City still haven't solved their biggest weakness; losing Kompany.

Even when he was aging, losing his legs and making errors or giving away soft fouls, he was organising and talking. KDB and Aguero simply aren't the same mould of experienced player, neither is Fernandinho. Pep will buy another 100mill of defensive talent and go on to challenge for the title again, being heralded as a god all the while. The weaknesses are still there though, they can be got at.

 

Plus, they're about to break £400m on defenders since Guardiola arrived! It's a crime against football that they still can't defend.

 

But they're covered by FFP still

*stolen from BBC comments

This transfer was funded by Etihads innovative new sponsorship deal that sees them branding the goalposts. Maximum coverage guaranteed as the camera will watch Ederson pick the ball out of his own net at least 4 times per game.

 

That's just taking the piss!

 

Bit rich for Rodri to moan about leicester putting 11 men behind the ball and being "lucky" given that he used to play for Simeone's Atletico Madrid.

 

I get the complaint of sitting 11 men back, but hardly when the other team scores 5 ffs

 

"The learning is do 100 passes at the back and the game is over. But we tried to score a second and third. For me they are lucky, it is not the way I like to play."

1. 100 passes at the back won't win you the game by itself.

2. Rodri is a defensive midfielder in a team that just conceded five. He may wish to consider how he likes playing.

 

That surely can't be right. 400m for a defence than can be beaten because the striker is quick. Sweet jesus.

I really don't buy into this pep is a genius ****e, he's just the next mourinho, successful while the money is rolling, come up against a challenge and he's a petulant child. I wonder if we will see him at spurs in 10 years.

 

It wasn’t just the defence that was not functioning. Their attack was powder puff. Lots of passing without much effect apart from the Marez and Ake goals. Interesting that they needed set pieces to score these not from open play. With one of the regular strikers they could have scored more.

Sometimes you wonder how these expensive defenders can be so naive. If the strikers are ahead let them shoot and the GK may save it. But grab them from behind it is a certain penalty these days with VAR. High prices do not guarantee excellence. Look at Kepa the most expensive GK in the world.