Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0

[Mana]

1 minute ago, Diddymen said:

Arsenal are not in europe or the FA cup. They have more than enough days to spare 

What about Spuds? They have FA Cup. Liverpool also has Europe, FA Cup and LC and they were able to postpone and manage the backlog.

[Everyonesallowedanopinion]

2 minutes ago, Diddymen said:

Front 3 were all wrong today. But TT chops and changes them so of course they’re not going to play well in one match.

As noted above, we were never in the match. What a shame. Last season we were all over them and today we couldn’t string 5 passes.

Brighton away now on Tuesday.

Mom another note, Arsenal’s request to postpone their match against the Spurs has been accepted. I’m sorry, but this is not on 

Someone from our club needs to raise this with the FA,  Neville and Carragher said the game should have been played and teams are cheating.

Why won't the FA come out and say why injured players,and suspensions are allowed to be included, I thought it was only COVID as the reason to be called off

[My Blood Is Blue]

I’m disappointed with the result today, but it is a ridiculously strong Man City side, so I’m not going to go over the top in my criticism of the team or some of the players.

Thay said, Ziyech and a Pulisic were really poor today, Pulisic never got into the game and Ziyech was just really very poor. I said before the game it was the wrong selection and that they both had a big game ahead to prove the faith shown in them and unfortunately as they often do, they disappointed. Also, Ziyech seemed to lose all over today.

Lukaku, I’ve no idea what we do with him to be honest. He is playing like I feared he would. His touch has not improved since when he was last in the PL, he is often static and when he does get the ball that he needs, it takes far too long for him to force the attack forward. He strikes me as a player who needs the perfect pass or it just won’t come off.

Kepa I thought did well when needed, the goal I’m not sure he can be blamed for. Would Mendy have saved it? Maybe, we’ll never know, but KDB hits it so hard and true that Kepa had to try and anticipate to some extent… I’d KDB goes to the other corner, we’re celebrating a great Kepa save.

Rudiger, good. Kova, good. Sarr, decent effort. Alonso, shaky start, recovered well, but we need someone competing with him for that role. Kante did ok, but was one of his more erratic games. 

Biggest disappointment for me was probably the manager. He got the team selection wrong and he took far too long to adjust it. Mount should have been on at HT and I’d have got Havertz on shortly after that too. Regardless of whether it was Lukaku being poor or the service not right, Havertz would have been a better option today.

Anyway, we move on, plenty of games coming up and chances to win trophies.

[My Blood Is Blue]

4 minutes ago, Diddymen said:

Arsenal are not in europe or the FA cup. They have more than enough days to spare 

Exactly. It benefits them to delay this game and have Xhaka and whoever else they claim to be without, gives them a nice break just as their fixture list is getting busy. It’s a joke.

[Holymoly]

1 minute ago, Droy was my hero said:

Feel free to close your eyes and mind.

You admit they had far more chances. How is that reflected in your stats? It's not, so let's just ignore it shall we?. The game is played on the field Droy not on an Excel spreadsheet.

Much as I'd like to ignore your meaningless drivel, it's hard when you're omnipresent and keep shouting everyone else down. Football must be like watching the matrix for you, a neverending waterfall or ones and zeros. It's a shame you can't assess a game with words without recourse to highly subjective quack stats and pass them off as the proof of your opinion.

[Blue Rod]

This game exposed a lot of truth about our current situation. To me, none of it is new.

For all his abilities, Tuchel lacks attacking ideas. I expect a lot of flak for it, just the last time I said it. When we win the ball, we seem to freeze. This happens even on the edge of opponents 18 yd box. There is no transition. It is the same every match, and no matter who plays. Playing it back or sideways seems the default position. And yet, your best chance of unsettling your opponent is the second after their attack breaks down. This is a fundamental, almost non-remediable flaw in Tuchel's approach. 

There is another way; you win the ball, and immediately go on the offensive and leave half your opponent team running towards their own goal and behind the ball.

Still we could have even won this match if not for the next problem I'm going to write about.

Our signings over the past 3 years; in fact, since Emenalo left, have been awful. Lukaku doesn't even look like a £40m player, never mind £100m, £325k/week player. Werner is on £270k a week. I can think of 10 better PL players on 40k/week. I don't think Havertz would have done any better. Ziyech was only ever a one trick pony. If he can't find the time to hit his diagonal pass, then you are left with a very average player. Kepa actually took a step to his right after the shot has been played. Only he knows what he saw. And we are talking about the world's most expensive keeper. None of Kepa, Pulisic, Havertz, Werner, Ziyech, Lukaku is worth the money we spent on them, I'm afraid. 

The reason even interim managers did so well was  because we had made good signings. I think we've gone off the rail with our signings over the past three or four seasons. 

We seem to be obsessed with playing the ball amongst ourselves. It gives us the illusion of being in control. I'm not the least impressed by it. If we cannot break down a team after they have just lost the ball, what chance have we to break them down when they are back into shape? 

If Tuchel doesn't change something in the way we play, I worry for his future past next season. 

 

[Mana]

4 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I’m disappointed with the result today, but it is a ridiculously strong Man City side, so I’m not going to go over the top in my criticism of the team or some of the players.

Thay said, Ziyech and a Pulisic were really poor today, Pulisic never got into the game and Ziyech was just really very poor. I said before the game it was the wrong selection and that they both had a big game ahead to prove the faith shown in them and unfortunately as they often do, they disappointed. Also, Ziyech seemed to lose all over today.

Lukaku, I’ve no idea what we do with him to be honest. He is playing like I feared he would. His touch has not improved since when he was last in the PL, he is often static and when he does get the ball that he needs, it takes far too long for him to force the attack forward. He strikes me as a player who needs the perfect pass or it just won’t come off.

Kepa I thought did well when needed, the goal I’m not sure he can be blamed for. Would Mendy have saved it? Maybe, we’ll never know, but KDB hits it so hard and true that Kepa had to try and anticipate to some extent… I’d KDB goes to the other corner, we’re celebrating a great Kepa save.

Rudiger, good. Kova, good. Sarr, decent effort. Alonso, shaky start, recovered well, but we need someone competing with him for that role. Kante did ok, but was one of his more erratic games. 

Biggest disappointment for me was probably the manager. He got the team selection wrong and he took far too long to adjust it. Mount should have been on at HT and I’d have got Havertz on shortly after that too. Regardless of whether it was Lukaku being poor or the service not right, Havertz would have been a better option today.

Anyway, we move on, plenty of games coming up and chances to win trophies.

If we only dropped points today, what you said in the grand scheme of things is fine. This is City at the Etihad it’s always going to be difficult getting something there.

What angers me is that the bigger picture of it all. We haven’t won any PL game but 1 in the last SIX games. The run of form is absolutely shocking and the common denominator of it all is the frontline players.

They have failed season after season, doesn’t matter which coach it is. Failed to deliver the basics or can’t finish in the final third.

I am fed up. Until we sell the whole lot of these useless forwards plus Alonso, we will be experiencing this again next season - with or without TT.

[Rob B]

2 minutes ago, Mana said:

What angers me is that the bigger picture of it all. We haven’t won any PL game but 1 in the last SIX games. The run of form is absolutely shocking and the common denominator of it all is the frontline players.

They have failed season after season, doesn’t matter which coach it is. Failed to deliver the basics or can’t finish in the final third.

I am fed up. Until we sell the whole lot of these useless forwards plus Alonso, we will be experiencing this again next season - with or without TT.

Different game today with a front three of Hudson-Odoi, Havertz, Mount IMO 

[Blue_In_Every_Way]

Not much wrong with the selection from my point of view - maybe Mount instead of Ziyech. 

The truth is Tuchel, not for the first time in his career, has reached his limit in terms of his coaching. Pep Guardiola just has no limits apparently. He keeps adapting to situations, learning continuously, winning games...

Tuchel may beat him on the odd occasion but Pep's going to win the vast majority of the times because he's just a better coach. 

We looked really poor IMO. Couldn't string passes together to launch an attack of note as far as I can recall. Wasn't sure if we were supposed to be in a low block or medium block because you couldn't see it on the field being translated. 

Tuchel has to understand that this system, this style - it has taken him as far as it can go. Its been stale since maybe mid-November. Its been 2 months and he's not adapting. Liverpool are now potentially 5 points ahead of us and we are tumbling out of the top 4. 

With Reece James and Ben out, our full-back play has gone flat. Something has to change.

[Blue Rod]

46 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I think he was trying to get a better view.... There were defenders in his line of sight 

I've just watched the replay. He actually moved to his right after the shot has been played. In the end his effort didn't even look like a dive, more like a fall to his left side. He could have gambled that, as Silva was shielding KBD from his (Kepa's) right, then the shot was likely to come to his left. KDB was also leaning that way. He would have had to play through the legs of Silva to get to the right of Kepa.