Im proud of our lads tonight,but some lessons learned I hope....you must stayed switched on, all the time, giving the ball away costs big time...(knockaert)..we showed them too much respect.... but well done lads.
Show's the massive gulf in class between Premiership and Championship now. When Man City's reserves can brush you aside like that without reaching 2nd gear - That team was probably worth £200M yet most of them don't get a look in on their first team starting line up - only 3 of that team tonight started against Arsenal - how can players like these be happy not playing every week? Too much money - salaries should be capped now before it becomes impossible to challenge these teams in any format - killing the English game!!
We couldnt get near them first half. 2nd half we gave a very good account of ourselves Some positives and lessons to be learnt there today
This experience will do our lads a the world of good, they now know where the bar is..,.ps. I don't mean the pub..
Game was lost by then Proud - Man City will give Barcelona a run for their money if they keep their current form up!!
Yes - They shook hands with Jack Rodwell whose on £90K per week and has only played 1 game this season - how the **** can he break into the England team playing so little?
Milner, Silva and Dzecko were different class - Milner was superb though - definately going to the world cup - and to think Capello played Ashley Young ahead of him on the left
No. Playing well against a championship side proves very little A nice little player, but no real qualities. I stand by that 100%
We made Milner look good - he had Wasilewski and Konchesky as his opposition down the flanks don't forget ... he may go to the world cup due to his versatility but he certainly wouldn't get a starting spot for me ... certainly not ahead of Townsend the Ox or Walcott out wide ... and I'd play you before Tom Daley TC...
agreed ... although I can't profess to understand some of the team selections ... not sure what Liam Moore has done wrong ... would have been a better bet for me in either of the full-back berths ... forward line ... seriously Nigel? starting with Nugent and GTF? ... Jeff Schlupp did more to ruffle the Citeh defence in his 15 minutes than those two combined in all their time on the pitch .. if that's a surprise to Nigel it wasn't to me ... pace, power and aggression Nigel ... he deserves a start up front ... with Nuge and GTF together our only goal threat was set piece ... Lloyd had another good game - both him and Knocky caused them problems but Knocky's indiscipline and wastage cost him this time .. Drinkwater, King (and James when he came on) all did well against quality opposition... Defensively we were a bit of a shambles - our marking on the third goal abysmal ... again why not Moore? need a result against QPR because this is not a good run results wise ...
Lloyd Dyer, Kasper Schmeichel, Danny Drinkwater and Matty James all did well last night Jamie Vardy worked hard and gave their backline something to think about and Jeff Schlupp made a decent cameo We need to remember who good the opposition was. Anthony Knockaert especially would have learnt alot last night
Lescott will be thanking his lucky stars that Jeff wasn't playing from the start ... the way that Jeff went by him brushing him aside and nearly finding Vardy with the cross in the last 10 minutes is just the kind of power, strength and pace that we are lacking from our forwards ... they were having to foul Jeff to counteract him ... they didn't need to with Nuge ... shame he only got that cameo.
Kasper did little wrong, kept the scoreline down with some real good saves. I can see why Wasil was chosen at right back, any clearances from Jo Hart were to the wings, and he chose to put a player in there that is more dominant in the air, and lets face it, Wasil has had experience against this level before with Anderlect. I assume that Miquel was chosen for his pace in the centre (which wasn't really needed with Dzjeko in the middle). You could argue that it would have been a good learning curve for Moore and DeLaet (possibly too much to give him 90 mins coming back from injury), but do you risk playing them? Thought that DD, King and James hassled well, but were overwhelmed when in possession, usually opting for a backward or sideways pass. I didn't expect a ball to cut open their defence, we don't really see that enough at Championship level. Knockeart was ineffective most of the time, but he wasn't really going to show up any of Man Citys team for skill. Dyer was ok, didn't take on their last man at all, and he was Citys 3rd choice RB! I was willing him to kick and chase or even take it on just once, his positioning was good when he didn't have the ball though, was a good outlet for the CMs. His goal was the regular hit and hope, big assist to Kompany for that goal. GTF would have been worse than useless at the end of the match, and tried to use him to keep possession a bit longer, didn't really work, because Man Citys workrate was Champions league class. Nugent was Nugent, put alot of effort in, same with Vardy, Schlupp was ineffective again, not really harassing their back line often enough to deserve a starting place on Saturday. I know their will be those of you that saw him run around Lescott once and think hes the best thing since sliced bread, but what did he do? had a weak shot, or a terrible pass, i still can't make up my mind what he was trying to do. Everyone expected a white wash, thought we put up a good account of ourselves, if we play with that tempo on Saturday, we may get a 0-0 draw
You saw a different game to me Wizard ... I thought Schlupp did really well when he came on - ineffective? - young hungry but perhaps alittle naiive - should probably have gone down under Lescott's challenge - he also drew a number of freekicks in an around the box by his physical presence - Nugent chases but rarely puts his foot in with any real intent, neither is he particularly combative - therefore the defenders were under no real pressure whilst he (and GTF) was on - very different with Jeff, they know that he is going to actually get at them - Not for one minute saying he is the 'best thing since slice bread' but he does at least 'have a go' ... Nuge looked like he was going through the motions ... running around a bit not really wanting to take on any real responsibility - but it's all about opinions Knockaert did show up - he was quite effective in the first half but then did a couple of silly things - free-kick for the first goal and giving the ball away for the second - the skill level of the opposition is trrelevant in my book - they can and have been beaten this season by Cardiff and Villa for instance Up until Schlupp came on Lloyd was the only one of our team causing them defensive problems - I thought he did very well - part of the problem was that neither GTF or Nuge can keep up with him when he's on a run ... and didn't actually look as if they really wanted from him ...
Gulf last night was at times immense. Much more even after Silva went off. Thought Matty James made a difference after half time. Kasper kept us interested (though his positioning for the free kick goal was questionable). Bottled a few challenges last night (even Was) which was disappointing. Pleased that we didn't give up, and can hold our heads high. Must remember that 1 of their players is valued at more than our complete team, and that 1 of their players earns more a week than our complete team. Not despondent at all - we were simply beaten by a better team.
