lots of Toon fans are saying we should have ‘went for it’ against City as opposed to the negative, stifling tactics we employed. Even Pep was mildly beelin that we didn’t give them the freedom of the park. Personally I’m happy with a narrow 0-1 defeat to the best ever Peemiership team rather than a 0-6 pasting but being sake in the knowledge that we ‘gave it a go’. Which camp are you in?
Also to think about is the impact a hammering may have on team and fan morale. A 0-1 defeat to City is better than most will get and can be dressed up as a morale victory...
Shoulda been a combination of the 2 really, at the end of the day it was a bit of an off day for them, they weren't that amazing, and we could have easily got a draw, we had at least 3 decent chances. They were obviously better than us, but they didn't rip us apart.
We were ultra defensive and no counter attack at all. I would have played a similar formation but not sat as deep.
Im kinda in between so wont vote. I get the defense side of things but until the last 15 minutes we actually gave them the freedom of the park and it was not even a football match. The concern for me in the premier league is that things will only get worse in terms of entertainment. The richer clubs will dominte more than ever before and clubs like ourselves have virtually nothing to play for other than survival. When jose is complaining that 300 million is not enough we are basically saying money and astronimical amounts of it win football games. Not graft, training, tactics, teamwork etc.... sad times!
Jose has always been one to splash the cash and never had a Plan B. He was eztremely lucky at Porto with the players they had acquired before he had arrived.
I don’t understand all the beeling and criticism stemming from yesterday’s game against City. Yes we were ultra defensive and sat back deep, but what did people expect? We were never going to beat them, that is a fact no matter how much people don’t like it, it’s the truth. So do we go for it and ship six goals, no definitely not. No points was a given but our goal difference and most importantly that of the teams around us is also very tight. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t entertaining, no, but it was safe for us. The positives were the team as a team stuck to the game plan, worked hard and gave them one or two hairy moments. People can say what they like but we couldn’t afford a thrashing, not from the point of view of our league position or our fragile confidence levels.
Unfortunately that was thinking too, ie we're gonna get beat so let's limit the damage. Being adventurous might have made us conceed 6 yes, but Huddersfield beat Man U by being adventurous and Burnley beat Chelsea by being adventurous. We went 1 up against Man U and Chelsea by going for it, I don't like the idea that we have to shut up shop vs the big teams
Unfortunately this whole season we are trying to shut up shop because we just don’t have the players to do much else. Keeping the score down was important. But I am afraid that this becomes the norm. Football has become very predictable and boring. Everyone is scared of city so they are just going to walk the league title because everyone will adopt the same tactics as us. Football is well and truly borked atm!
We really didn’t have any other option. Had we been in the top 8 in good form and challenging the top 6 then yeah go for it, but we aren’t we’re currently in a relegation battle. We can take a bit of confindencen in keeping city quiet and limited to 1 goal, no positives would have come out of a 5-0 thumping, other than it being expected considering city’s form!
What about Inter Milan? His coaching ability came to the fore there. Pep has only ever had the best of the best available to him.
Quite a modest spend to be fair over 2 seasons. To win the champions league with Porto and Inter Milan deserves huge credit. Pep is clearly afraid of a taking on a challenge like that, he needs to go to a club where the superstars are in place or the funds are unlimited.
I don't disagree with Pep at all. But the same applies for Jose. Like I said he was very fortunate with the players he acquired whilst at Porto.The players he had whilst at Inter Milan were Champions League quality. Also he spent (apart from Madrid) pretty much the most in the year he joined Inter - not modest at all over 2 years. Also, if you look at his transfers they were all players in their prime and did not support the clubs future. Real Madrid spent £200M that season - half of which was Ronaldo - now look what he has done for them.
Football is becoming like watching chess. Entertainment comes from mistakes. The game is becoming so tactical that mistakes are becoming fewer and fewer.
Rafa was spot on IMO. We defended and held them to one goal and then gave it a go in the last 15 min and did give them a scare or two. To play open football would have been stupid given the disparity between the two teams in players both playing and on the bench. To try and counter attack from the first minute also would have been folly as that over 90 minutes would have given City too many opportunities. To try and entertain, well only the stupid and the Sky commentators would advocate that. We literally were one good header or a non dive and shot or a chip from getting a point. The aim of the game is to win but if you can’t win then don't lose. Next time Gary Neville learns how to set up a team against Barca is the time i’ll think about listening to his advice over Rafa’s.
