Not just this performance, I know we were down to the bare bones with injuries and we were playing City, but the whole season has been piss poor and I just don't think this manager has much about him tactically or man management wise to have us dominating again. A bit tired of his delusional post-match interviews as well.
It's at times like this that the gulf between us and the top sides is quite so visible, playing the rest of the table we can sometimes think we're winging it or better, but the fact remains that we are ****e. We're no better than West Ham or Villa, chancers in big games, hoping for lucky breaks like today. City's play was incredible, their industry, their movement (particularly off the ball) was so assured, they knew where to place the ball with each pass, we on the other hand played speculative, hopeful balls all game into spaces where we were immediately going to be challenged. Onana had a good game, as did Garnacho, but overall, it's no use pretending that had we Martinez, Shaw and Hojlund back in the side that we would have done any better. Bad result, not humiliation, but that in itself is a damning indictment - we should be ****ing raging at a loss in the local derby.
It is sad reading your post. It demonstrates the complete train wreck that we have become. I didn’t watch the game as I followed the stats on text and I was appalled by the fact that by the 85th, we had only managed 2 shots at goal scoring one of them. It’s shocking that a professional premier league team can be that bad. Burnley fkin did better against City in that stadium. What do these players do in training? It is without a shadow of a doubt that ETH has shown his maximum capability as a coach in the last two years and he simply is not good enough!
I don't think we should judge things by this match tbh. I'm far more fcked off at how we play against teams we should be performing against and beating. Just to put some context, even under Fergie when we lost the league on the final day, we played City in one of those final few matches where Kompany scored iirc and we were clearly outperformed and created 0 or 1 shot on goal. **** happens and City were very good then also. Ok we lost the league but the fact we were actual title contenders was bcos of how we performed against the rest. That's where our problems lie right now.
You can't 'watch' a match by way of stats and then comment on the performance, that's just ridiculous. The only way you can have an objective view on how the team played is by watching it. Anyone who did, will have seen the very idea was concede possession and hit on the break. It is a perfectly valid way of approaching an away game against a team who are, frankly, better. Watching the game would have shown you Rashford's air shot at the far post which was basically a sitter he should have scored. Had we gone in at half time 2-0 then this game plan had worked. Even at one nil, we looked ok even though the pressure was building. City wore us down and won, that's not the biggest deal in all this as we expected it. We gifted them the third goal. We've got Everton at home on Saturday. I'm going. A repeat performance then yes, no way good enough. I don't expect that though, I expect a different set up and mode of play. Hojlund being back would he a big plus if he makes it, bloody hope so.
Not just this City game though. I watched the Fulham game and it was horried to watch us play that way at home against a lower tier team. Not the first time we have done that at home either. It really doesn't matter who we play, there is never a conviction of something that is sustainable in our execution. We have won games because the team is filled with talents that should quite frankly be performing better. And we have rightly lost games because they have rarely been able to perform to the best of their collective abilities. The coaching is simply not there to train these players execute to a plan that is repeatable and useful in 7 out 10 games regardless of injuries. For me, the injuries have amplified just how bad the team coaching is, but it is certainly not the cause of our ineptness.
