I could not believe we did not kill the match

[Dubaimancityfan]

Just watched the last 6 minutes after Bellers scored the equaliser. Here is what happened:
91.30 Goal kick from Given went straight to Foster and the rags were back attacking immediately.
92.00 Ball comes to Ireland who was alone and instead of controlling it and playing forward, he heads it straight to a rag.
93.34 Goal kick again from Given straight to rags defence !
94.11 Lescott coming out of our defence tries a short pass to Ireland which is intercepted and another attack starts. Here he should have scooped the ball as far away as he could.
94.22 When the rags get the last foul, Barry kicks the ball quickly back to them instead of standing on it and trying to loose a few seconds.
95.22 The ball is cleared by the defence and it comes to Tevez. He tries to head it forward instead of into touch which would have been easier and of course it was that ball that came back to Giggs to pass.
Add to all the above, when the ball came to Giggs and he passed to Owen, we had 4 players behind him, Tevez, Ireland, Bellers and Petrov. This when they all should have been in our penalty area defending. And of course SWP was standing miles away from Owen when he should have been marking him
Its amazing how naive our players were in the closing minutes when you consider that they are seasoned and experienced internationals.
Unbelievable.

[Martinez]

Our right winger should be marking their striker? What for? Micah is the one who should've been marking Owen. He crept further and further infield during the first half, when Owen scored he was basically sitting in Kolo's lap instead

[Dubaimancityfan]

Our right winger should be marking their striker? What for? Micah is the one who should've been marking Owen. He crept further and further infield during the first half, when Owen scored he was basically sitting in Kolo's lap instead

You're splitting hairs here mate. The simple fact is that Owen was unmarked and our closest player to him was SWP. I'm not defending Micah but if SWP was paying a little attention on what was going on behind him, Owen wouldn't have received the ball so easily.

[Martinez]

Then we see it differently, in my view SWP should be on the lookout for Evra who'd be exactly in that area if Sweeps had been marking Owen. If Micah needed support further down, I believe it's his job to marshall SWP into a supporting position. I'm just really unimpressed with Micah today, apart from that gaffe Giggs really exposed him in the second half

[Crossie]

We went to Old Stretford and put 3 goals past them, it wasnt pretty, but no one NO ONE goes to OT and tries to play pretty football.

3 goals, if anyone else scores 3 goals past them ill lick my own cock.

Just wait until we get our 3 best players back, figure out our best team and formation, add a couple in Jan, and play you at home. Your gonna get stuffed.

[Dubaimancityfan]

We went to Old Stretford and put 3 goals past them, it wasnt pretty, but no one NO ONE goes to OT and tries to play pretty football.

3 goals, if anyone else scores 3 goals past them ill lick my own cock.

Just wait until we get our 3 best players back, figure out our best team and formation, add a couple in Jan, and

play you

at home. Your gonna get stuffed.

I don't disagree with you on anything you said but just who is our best 3rd player you are talking about. I count Robbie and Ade. Who's the 3rd. If you mean RSC, well he still has to prove himself as a City player first.
And just what do you mean by (and play YOU at home) !!!!!

[Steve]

Just watched the last 6 minutes after Bellers scored the equaliser. Here is what happened:
91.30 Goal kick from Given went straight to Foster and the rags were back attacking immediately.
92.00 Ball comes to Ireland who was alone and instead of controlling it and playing forward, he heads it straight to a rag.
93.34 Goal kick again from Given straight to rags defence !
94.11 Lescott coming out of our defence tries a short pass to Ireland which is intercepted and another attack starts. Here he should have scooped the ball as far away as he could.
94.22 When the rags get the last foul, Barry kicks the ball quickly back to them instead of standing on it and trying to loose a few seconds.
95.22 The ball is cleared by the defence and it comes to Tevez. He tries to head it forward instead of into touch which would have been easier and of course it was that ball that came back to Giggs to pass.
Add to all the above, when the ball came to Giggs and he passed to Owen, we had 4 players behind him, Tevez, Ireland, Bellers and Petrov. This when they all should have been in our penalty area defending. And of course SWP was standing miles away from Owen when he should have been marking him
Its amazing how naive our players were in the closing minutes when you consider that they are seasoned and experienced internationals.
Unbelievable.

I agree mate. It's something I noticed, obviously to a lesser extent, against Arsenal. We were 4-1 up, and with around 10 minutes to go, and while we were never going to lose, we allowed them to score another goal, and have another 2 or 3 shots on target. Had one of those further shots gone in, we would've been in for a very nerve wrecking finish. The top teams in this league, and europe will punish you for that. At 4-1, an option would be to bring Zabaleta on for a forward, and just break the game down until the final whistle, with players mostly behind the ball, seeing the game out with minimum stress. A manager like Mourinho would not have continued with the same approach after scoring late on. He was always pretty good at closing games out with Chelsea, and we should try to aspire to that. I hope Hughes maybe has a look at this in training, and gets the team ready and able to contain sides in the last 5-10 minutes of games, also working on what tactical changes, no matter how slight they may be, so that we know exactly what to refer to when in this situation again.

[DoomMerchant]

We went to Old Stretford and put 3 goals past them, it wasnt pretty, but no one NO ONE goes to OT and tries to play pretty football.

3 goals, if anyone else scores 3 goals past them ill lick my own cock.

didn't Hull do it last year? Is this cocklicking "thing" you do new or did you lick yr shaft then as well?

cheers

[Ted Hughes]

Just watched the last 6 minutes after Bellers scored the equaliser. Here is what happened:
91.30 Goal kick from Given went straight to Foster and the rags were back attacking immediately.
92.00 Ball comes to Ireland who was alone and instead of controlling it and playing forward, he heads it straight to a rag.
93.34 Goal kick again from Given straight to rags defence !
94.11 Lescott coming out of our defence tries a short pass to Ireland which is intercepted and another attack starts. Here he should have scooped the ball as far away as he could.
94.22 When the rags get the last foul, Barry kicks the ball quickly back to them instead of standing on it and trying to loose a few seconds.
95.22 The ball is cleared by the defence and it comes to Tevez. He tries to head it forward instead of into touch which would have been easier and of course it was that ball that came back to Giggs to pass.
Add to all the above, when the ball came to Giggs and he passed to Owen, we had 4 players behind him, Tevez, Ireland, Bellers and Petrov. This when they all should have been in our penalty area defending. And of course SWP was standing miles away from Owen when he should have been marking him
Its amazing how naive our players were in the closing minutes when you consider that they are seasoned and experienced internationals.
Unbelievable.

I agree mate. It's something I noticed, obviously to a lesser extent, against Arsenal. We were 4-1 up, and with around 10 minutes to go, and while we were never going to lose, we allowed them to score another goal, and have another 2 or 3 shots on target. Had one of those further shots gone in, we would've been in for a very nerve wrecking finish. The top teams in this league, and europe will punish you for that. At 4-1, an option would be to bring Zabaleta on for a forward, and just break the game down until the final whistle, with players mostly behind the ball, seeing the game out with minimum stress. A manager like Mourinho would not have continued with the same approach after scoring late on. He was always pretty good at closing games out with Chelsea, and we should try to aspire to that. I hope Hughes maybe has a look at this in training, and gets the team ready and able to contain sides in the last 5-10 minutes of games, also working on what tactical changes, no matter how slight they may be, so that we know exactly what to refer to when in this situation again.

I remember Mourinho changing 3 players at half time. No need to guess what happened next. It's easy in hindsight to say 'change this' when the result goes one way but trying to engineer a change could've just as easily been the thing that would've cost us the game. The players on the pitch need to aquire the vision to read this kind of stuff themselves without the coaches having to drill it into them & the coaches have to be able to trust them to do it; or get players they can trust. If we'd had Roy K**** playing for City today, he'd've been taking the ball off Owen before he scored & bollocking everyone else for not seeing it.

We're a new side in which people are stil learning their roles though & these things happen in such circumstances, let's see if they sort it over time; I think they will.

[Steve]

Just watched the last 6 minutes after Bellers scored the equaliser. Here is what happened:
91.30 Goal kick from Given went straight to Foster and the rags were back attacking immediately.
92.00 Ball comes to Ireland who was alone and instead of controlling it and playing forward, he heads it straight to a rag.
93.34 Goal kick again from Given straight to rags defence !
94.11 Lescott coming out of our defence tries a short pass to Ireland which is intercepted and another attack starts. Here he should have scooped the ball as far away as he could.
94.22 When the rags get the last foul, Barry kicks the ball quickly back to them instead of standing on it and trying to loose a few seconds.
95.22 The ball is cleared by the defence and it comes to Tevez. He tries to head it forward instead of into touch which would have been easier and of course it was that ball that came back to Giggs to pass.
Add to all the above, when the ball came to Giggs and he passed to Owen, we had 4 players behind him, Tevez, Ireland, Bellers and Petrov. This when they all should have been in our penalty area defending. And of course SWP was standing miles away from Owen when he should have been marking him
Its amazing how naive our players were in the closing minutes when you consider that they are seasoned and experienced internationals.
Unbelievable.

I agree mate. It's something I noticed, obviously to a lesser extent, against Arsenal. We were 4-1 up, and with around 10 minutes to go, and while we were never going to lose, we allowed them to score another goal, and have another 2 or 3 shots on target. Had one of those further shots gone in, we would've been in for a very nerve wrecking finish. The top teams in this league, and europe will punish you for that. At 4-1, an option would be to bring Zabaleta on for a forward, and just break the game down until the final whistle, with players mostly behind the ball, seeing the game out with minimum stress. A manager like Mourinho would not have continued with the same approach after scoring late on. He was always pretty good at closing games out with Chelsea, and we should try to aspire to that. I hope Hughes maybe has a look at this in training, and gets the team ready and able to contain sides in the last 5-10 minutes of games, also working on what tactical changes, no matter how slight they may be, so that we know exactly what to refer to when in this situation again.

I remember Mourinho changing 3 players at half time. No need to guess what happened next. It's easy in hindsight to say 'change this' when the result goes one way but trying to engineer a change could've just as easily been the thing that would've cost us the game. The players on the pitch need to aquire the vision to read this kind of stuff themselves without the coaches having to drill it into them & the coaches have to be able to trust them to do it; or get players they can trust. If we'd had Roy K**** playing for City today, he'd've been taking the ball off Owen before he scored & bollocking everyone else for not seeing it.

We're a new side in which people are stil learning their roles though & these things happen in such circumstances, let's see if they sort it over time; I think they will.

Of course managers need to organise their players accordingly. They don't just turn up and say, alright lads get on with it, learn the ropes yourselves. Its not always about the personnel, Keane wouldn't have been able to take the ball of Owen, had he been closing down Giggs or somebody else. It's about defending as a unit. I don't remember this Mourinho game with the 3 changes at half time, but I doubt the reason for that was to close out a result for 45 minutes.

[Dubaimancityfan]

Just watched the last 6 minutes after Bellers scored the equaliser. Here is what happened:
91.30 Goal kick from Given went straight to Foster and the rags were back attacking immediately.
92.00 Ball comes to Ireland who was alone and instead of controlling it and playing forward, he heads it straight to a rag.
93.34 Goal kick again from Given straight to rags defence !
94.11 Lescott coming out of our defence tries a short pass to Ireland which is intercepted and another attack starts. Here he should have scooped the ball as far away as he could.
94.22 When the rags get the last foul, Barry kicks the ball quickly back to them instead of standing on it and trying to loose a few seconds.
95.22 The ball is cleared by the defence and it comes to Tevez. He tries to head it forward instead of into touch which would have been easier and of course it was that ball that came back to Giggs to pass.
Add to all the above, when the ball came to Giggs and he passed to Owen, we had 4 players behind him, Tevez, Ireland, Bellers and Petrov. This when they all should have been in our penalty area defending. And of course SWP was standing miles away from Owen when he should have been marking him
Its amazing how naive our players were in the closing minutes when you consider that they are seasoned and experienced internationals.
Unbelievable.

I agree mate. It's something I noticed, obviously to a lesser extent, against Arsenal. We were 4-1 up, and with around 10 minutes to go, and while we were never going to lose, we allowed them to score another goal, and have another 2 or 3 shots on target. Had one of those further shots gone in, we would've been in for a very nerve wrecking finish. The top teams in this league, and europe will punish you for that. At 4-1, an option would be to bring Zabaleta on for a forward, and just break the game down until the final whistle, with players mostly behind the ball, seeing the game out with minimum stress. A manager like Mourinho would not have continued with the same approach after scoring late on. He was always pretty good at closing games out with Chelsea, and we should try to aspire to that. I hope Hughes maybe has a look at this in training, and gets the team ready and able to contain sides in the last 5-10 minutes of games, also working on what tactical changes, no matter how slight they may be, so that we know exactly what to refer to when in this situation again.

I remember Mourinho changing 3 players at half time. No need to guess what happened next. It's easy in hindsight to say 'change this' when the result goes one way but trying to engineer a change could've just as easily been the thing that would've cost us the game. The players on the pitch need to aquire the vision to read this kind of stuff themselves without the coaches having to drill it into them & the coaches have to be able to trust them to do it; or get players they can trust. If we'd had Roy K**** playing for City today, he'd've been taking the ball off Owen before he scored & bollocking everyone else for not seeing it.

We're a new side in which people are stil learning their roles though & these things happen in such circumstances, let's see if they sort it over time; I think they will.

I don't recall the Chelsea match you refer to above. What happened ??
But coming back to yr Roy Keane remark, I fully agree but our problem is that we don't have such a player yet, a real leader who can marshal the troops and shout some sense into the heads of the players around to keep the concentration until the last whistle. That's what happened yesterday, many of our players were just waiting (hoping) for the final whistle and forgot their defensive duties which allowed Owen to score.

[Ted Hughes]

Just watched the last 6 minutes after Bellers scored the equaliser. Here is what happened:
91.30 Goal kick from Given went straight to Foster and the rags were back attacking immediately.
92.00 Ball comes to Ireland who was alone and instead of controlling it and playing forward, he heads it straight to a rag.
93.34 Goal kick again from Given straight to rags defence !
94.11 Lescott coming out of our defence tries a short pass to Ireland which is intercepted and another attack starts. Here he should have scooped the ball as far away as he could.
94.22 When the rags get the last foul, Barry kicks the ball quickly back to them instead of standing on it and trying to loose a few seconds.
95.22 The ball is cleared by the defence and it comes to Tevez. He tries to head it forward instead of into touch which would have been easier and of course it was that ball that came back to Giggs to pass.
Add to all the above, when the ball came to Giggs and he passed to Owen, we had 4 players behind him, Tevez, Ireland, Bellers and Petrov. This when they all should have been in our penalty area defending. And of course SWP was standing miles away from Owen when he should have been marking him
Its amazing how naive our players were in the closing minutes when you consider that they are seasoned and experienced internationals.
Unbelievable.

I agree mate. It's something I noticed, obviously to a lesser extent, against Arsenal. We were 4-1 up, and with around 10 minutes to go, and while we were never going to lose, we allowed them to score another goal, and have another 2 or 3 shots on target. Had one of those further shots gone in, we would've been in for a very nerve wrecking finish. The top teams in this league, and europe will punish you for that. At 4-1, an option would be to bring Zabaleta on for a forward, and just break the game down until the final whistle, with players mostly behind the ball, seeing the game out with minimum stress. A manager like Mourinho would not have continued with the same approach after scoring late on. He was always pretty good at closing games out with Chelsea, and we should try to aspire to that. I hope Hughes maybe has a look at this in training, and gets the team ready and able to contain sides in the last 5-10 minutes of games, also working on what tactical changes, no matter how slight they may be, so that we know exactly what to refer to when in this situation again.

I remember Mourinho changing 3 players at half time. No need to guess what happened next. It's easy in hindsight to say 'change this' when the result goes one way but trying to engineer a change could've just as easily been the thing that would've cost us the game. The players on the pitch need to aquire the vision to read this kind of stuff themselves without the coaches having to drill it into them & the coaches have to be able to trust them to do it; or get players they can trust. If we'd had Roy K**** playing for City today, he'd've been taking the ball off Owen before he scored & bollocking everyone else for not seeing it.

We're a new side in which people are stil learning their roles though & these things happen in such circumstances, let's see if they sort it over time; I think they will.

I don't recall the Chelsea match you refer to above. What happened ??
But coming back to yr Roy Keane remark, I fully agree but our problem is that we don't have such a player yet, a real leader who can marshal the troops and shout some sense into the heads of the players around to keep the concentration until the last whistle. That's what happened yesterday, many of our players were just waiting (hoping) for the final whistle and forgot their defensive duties which allowed Owen to score.

Chelsea picked up injuries early on & had no subs left.

I'm not sure that a player exists in world football who does that RK job to the highest standard. If we're to get one, we may have to find an unknown or failing that, create one from the academy to be the leader in the future.
To be fair though, most of the rags attention at that stage would've been stopping Adebayor at the other end had he been playing. I honestly don't think they'd've coped with him at all.

[ross.mcfc]

We can moan all we like about how many minutes were added on but every player in a blue shirt yesterday is more than familiar with how it works when you are holding onto a positive result at OT.

Of course they are going to get extra time, however there is another reason why they constantly win is that they never give up and every player, official, fan in the ground knew that. So why oh why when we were under a constant strain of attack did we keep hoofing the ball back to them allowing them to have another go. We had Toure, Ireland, SWP, Ireland, Petrov on the pitch, All players more than comfortable with taking the ball for a run or holding on to the ball.

[lets all have a disco]

It wouldnt have mattered if we had played a diamond passing routine in the middle of the park for ten minutes to wind down the clock that match was continuing till they scored,thats a fact.