*** Manchester City v Dynamo Kyiv CL Match Thread***

[Dimples]

spot on Douglas.
shame on everybody.
we shoukd be celebrating.
this is a massive step forward.

[getdressedmctavish]

As Doug says, job done without breaking sweat. Cant ask for more. Now for some sensible tactics v rags which gives protection to the cbs. I think we will win.

[Original Dub]

I listened to some serious shite tonight from Robbie savage.

It wasn't biased commentary, it was pure incompetent.

"I feel sorry for whoever is watching this"
"At least there's only 9 mins left".
Etc etc

Cunt forgot he was working for a TV station.

We did fuck all. But we needed to do fuck all. Kiev were a fucking joke and the criticism should have been directed solely at them.

Just like it should at any team who sits back 3-1 down at half time.

I'm sick of listening to fucking idiots everytime I watch my team.
Thank fuck I'm there on Sunday.

[Slim]

As Doug says, job done without breaking sweat. Cant ask for more. Now for some sensible tactics v rags which gives protection to the cbs. I think we will win.

We may not have broken sweat, but we broke two defenders.

[phips]

not all arsed about the lackluster performance. it was exactly what was needed.

Fernando MOTM for me with Clichy and Yaya coming close.

[carl_feedthegoat]

spot on Douglas.
shame on everybody.
we shoukd be celebrating.
this is a massive step forward.

Shame on fuckign fans like you for accepting shit football...at whatever cost.

Thankfully there are propert sport journalists like Samuel that repeats what some of us have been trying to drum into fans like you !!!

By MARTIN SAMUEL FOR THE DAILY MAIL
There will have been worse matches than this, technically, but they will have been played by lousy teams. Manchester City are supposed to be good. So, too, Dynamo Kiev. This was going to be breakthrough night, when City would at last join the Champions League last eight. And for that reason some of the locals will not have minded the tedium, seeing it as job done.
But they should mind. They should feel entitled to expect so much more. It is too easy to blame this on the injuries to Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi that threw City’s plans through a loop. It is too simple for Kiev to concede that a 3-0 away win was beyond them. Both are to blame. It did not have to be as dull as this.
Yet this is what we could be watching, for months on end, if European competition is ever allowed to become a semi-closed shop. Here was football minus the drama; here was the game when the result is guaranteed.
Kiev knew they were out, City knew they were through and both teams knew their obligations to UEFA’s round of 16 would be over as soon as referee Ovidiu Hategan blew the final whistle. Not even the disruption to City’s defence could persuade the Ukrainians to raise their tempo. Kiev, if you pardon the pun, were chicken.
And City were far too comfortable. The best that could be said of them is that they were excused games on medical grounds. Losing Kompany after five minutes, and his partner Otamendi after 20, would sink the spirits of any team. Kompany is a talisman for City, and they are much reduced without him. If his calf injury stretches towards May, his loss could be fatal to the club’s ambitions in the remainder of the season.
For Kiev there is less excuse. They should have been buoyed by City’s misfortune, instead they settled. Andriy Yarmolenko had a shot saved by Joe Hart after 64 minutes, but that was about the best of it until injury time and a goalmouth scramble involving Oleksandr Yakovenko.
For City, Jesus Navas hit the post. The travelling Ukrainian press pack largely hit the bar. They weren’t bad judges.

How anyone can advocate meaningless rounds of matches, shorn of tension, as a money-spinning format for the Champions League in future is a mystery. Occasionally in two-leg cup tournaments this will happen, a tie that is as good as over at the end of 90 minutes. It could be the same in the Nou Camp tonight when Barcelona and Arsenal meet.
But to build an absence of danger into the fixture list, to make the process so safe and formatted, would be fatal to fans’ interests. City did not sell out this match as it was, and had the locals known then what they know now, their numbers would have been even smaller.
This was an occasion devoid of edge, and the stadium had largely emptied before the end. One can only hope City’s performance reflected the dispiriting loss of their captain, Kompany. If not, they must hope for another lucky draw on Friday, as any European team of quality will remove them.
The only conclusion that could be drawn from the first half was that Kiev did not appear to have done enough homework on City’s defence. A better-informed team would surely have realised how calamitous it was to lose not just Kompany but also Otamendi. It left Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis guarding the shop, and neither acquitted himself particularly well.

[HailNerdQueen]

Do I wish the game could have gone better? Absolutely. Losing Kompany like that is heartbreaking. With reporting that it's the old calf injury and he'll miss a minimum of one month... And he has a propensity towards this injury in general, I know there are glass jaws, didn't realize you could have a glass calf. I'm disappointed he was dashed on so unworthy a rock. And poor Otter...

Lost respect for Kyiv with how rough they played us and for fucking what? They needed three points that they weren't going to fucking get and the sore assholes wanted to take our lineup down a peg out of goddamn bitterness. My boy Yaya did well except for that straight low shot...couldn't aim for a corner? And Navas clipping the post... Why, why?! Ugh. Silva and Aguero played fine, Clichy & Hart got a bit of a work done today as well but all in all the game felt like going through the motions, which was all we had to do, I suppose.

We made last 8 and we're "making history", but it feels like a goddamn funeral. The crowd even felt it, especially after Kompany departed.

[john@staustell]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

[Grandad Rosler]

Boring boring boring game but job done in the night. I'm happy we are in the quarters and didn't exert too much with the derby at the weekend. That being said I was willing us to at least give us something to stop us nodding off!

In terms of the Kompany surely there was an air of inevitability about it? If not in this game then one in the not too distant future given his recent record of injury comebacks.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Fans like you just see straight ahead, like a blinkered horse , banging on and on and on about getting to the fuckign QF of the cl whilst completely ignoring the SHIT season we have had in the Prem (Let's not mention the embarrassment in the FA cup).

Sure we won the LC , as happy as I am that we won a pot , i'm certainly not going to use that as a tool , to brag about it when faced with a barrage of criticism from opposing fans after another shite performance against some shite team.

No one expects us to win and be perfect all the time, not me , not anyone that's sane, but our season has seen us witness too many embarrassing matches where we have been humiliated and outplayed and this has happened against too many sides.Pellegrini has performed badly all season , he isn't to blame for a bad performance here and there , but he is to blame for a season of shite performances and the current trajectory says we will end up out of the top 4.

If any fan thinks that taking the second least amount of points off the top 10 fuckign sides in the prem is not embarrassing , then you all need to see a fucking specialist.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Fans like you just see straight ahead, like a blinkered horse , banging on and on and on about getting to the fuckign QF of the cl whilst completely ignoring the SHIT season we have had in the Prem (Let's not mention the embarrassment in the FA cup).

Sure we won the LC , as happy as I am that we won a pot , i'm certainly not going to use that as a tool , to brag about it when faced with a barrage of criticism from opposing fans after another shite performance against some shite team.

No one expects us to win and be perfect all the time, not me , not anyone that's sane, but our season has seen us witness too many embarrassing matches where we have been humiliated and outplayed and this has happened against too many sides.Pellegrini has performed badly all season , he isn't to blame for a bad performance here and there , but he is to blame for a season of shite performances and the current trajectory says we will end up out of the top 4.

If any fan thinks that taking the second least amount of points off the top 10 fuckign sides in the prem is not embarrassing , then you all need to see a fucking specialist.

Who's suggesting otherwise Carl? We all know it hasn't been good enough on the whole but fuck me it's a sad day if we can't acknowledge achievements that we have made.

[Cocacolajojo1]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

I wasn't there for the Alan Ball days but I agree with most of what you write. There are a lot of things to be critical about but also things to be happy about. Yesterday was a good moment, albeit a tad bittersweey considering the injuries.

[carl_feedthegoat]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Fans like you just see straight ahead, like a blinkered horse , banging on and on and on about getting to the fuckign QF of the cl whilst completely ignoring the SHIT season we have had in the Prem (Let's not mention the embarrassment in the FA cup).

Sure we won the LC , as happy as I am that we won a pot , i'm certainly not going to use that as a tool , to brag about it when faced with a barrage of criticism from opposing fans after another shite performance against some shite team.

No one expects us to win and be perfect all the time, not me , not anyone that's sane, but our season has seen us witness too many embarrassing matches where we have been humiliated and outplayed and this has happened against too many sides.Pellegrini has performed badly all season , he isn't to blame for a bad performance here and there , but he is to blame for a season of shite performances and the current trajectory says we will end up out of the top 4.

If any fan thinks that taking the second least amount of points off the top 10 fuckign sides in the prem is not embarrassing , then you all need to see a fucking specialist.

Who's suggesting otherwise Carl? We all know it hasn't been good enough on the whole but fuck me it's a sad day if we can't acknowledge achievements that we have made.

John is , Dimples is and fuck me , there's one or two others that are wondering what all the fuss is about with fans like me complaining about the shite I've had to witness this season.
I'm to get some humility by thinking back to Alan fuckign Balls reign !!! do me a fuckign favour!

It seems that whenever we slag our team off (and justifiably so ) some fans think we should look back at yesteryear before we throw our toys out of the cot!! I was there in yesteryear and it was shit.........this season has also been shit and it needs to be highlighted,not brushed under the carpet.

For the blinkered fans -We have taken 9 points in 13 games against the top half of the table....we have lost 8 games and only scored 12 fuckign goals - 12 point sbehind fuckign Leicester, if that's not worthy of a slagging off and labeled under the title of EMBARRASSING then fuck knows what is.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Fans like you just see straight ahead, like a blinkered horse , banging on and on and on about getting to the fuckign QF of the cl whilst completely ignoring the SHIT season we have had in the Prem (Let's not mention the embarrassment in the FA cup).

Sure we won the LC , as happy as I am that we won a pot , i'm certainly not going to use that as a tool , to brag about it when faced with a barrage of criticism from opposing fans after another shite performance against some shite team.

No one expects us to win and be perfect all the time, not me , not anyone that's sane, but our season has seen us witness too many embarrassing matches where we have been humiliated and outplayed and this has happened against too many sides.Pellegrini has performed badly all season , he isn't to blame for a bad performance here and there , but he is to blame for a season of shite performances and the current trajectory says we will end up out of the top 4.

If any fan thinks that taking the second least amount of points off the top 10 fuckign sides in the prem is not embarrassing , then you all need to see a fucking specialist.

Who's suggesting otherwise Carl? We all know it hasn't been good enough on the whole but fuck me it's a sad day if we can't acknowledge achievements that we have made.

John is , Dimples is and fuck me , there's one or two others that are wondering what all the fuss is about with fans like me complaining about the shite I've had to witness this season.
I'm to get some humility by thinking back to Alan fuckign Balls reign !!! do me a fuckign favour!

It seems that whenever we slag our team off (and justifiably so ) some fans think we should look back at yesteryear before we throw our toys out of the cot!! I was there in yesteryear and it was shit.........this season has also been shit and it needs to be highlighted,not brushed under the carpet.

For the blinkered fans -We have taken 9 points in 13 games against the top half of the table....we have lost 8 games and only scored 12 fuckign goals - if that's not worthy of a slagging off and labeled under the title of EMBARRASSING then fuck knows what is.

Fair enough but surely you can acknowledge our achievements this season too, no?

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

I wasn't there for the Alan Ball days but I agree with most of what you write. There are a lot of things to be critical about but also things to be happy about. Yesterday was a good moment, albeit a tad bittersweey considering the injuries.

The truth is that fans see Kompany trudging off the pitch (yet again), ally this to our increasingly spineless/lacklustre performances and see a poor end to the season ahead (with the strong possibility now of dropping out of the top 4). Last night's achievement needs to be set into that context.

[Slim]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Oh settle down.

The injuries were a fucking bodyblow although it looks like Otamendi's isn't so bad which I guess is a blessing.

Kiev played horrible anti-football from a team that needed to attack and aside from kicking the crap out of our players really couldn't be bothered playing the game. We've seen this time and again this season from a club playing for a point in the league(last weekend for example) and in 180 minutes of football now we've been unable to find a way through.

Now the Norwich game we can say they were lucky, we can say they executed their game plan well. But against Kiev I doubt that's the case TBH. I'd put it more down to our players not giving a crap. So two games, zero goals. Pellegrini promised entertaining football didn't he? Fairly certain that was in his very first statement upon joining the club, maybe you shouldn't be excusing someone not doing their job by saying "Alan Ball era was worse".

Bad football is bad football. Saying "well this example is worse" is a lot like saying Dahmer wasn't such a bad fella, he didn't kill as many people as Bundy.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Oh settle down.

The injuries were a fucking bodyblow although it looks like Otamendi's isn't so bad which I guess is a blessing.

Kiev played horrible anti-football from a team that needed to attack and aside from kicking the crap out of our players really couldn't be bothered playing the game. We've seen this time and again this season from a club playing for a point in the league(last weekend for example) and in 180 minutes of football now we've been unable to find a way through.

Now the Norwich game we can say they were lucky, we can say they executed their game plan well. But against Kiev I doubt that's the case TBH. I'd put it more down to our players not giving a crap. So two games, zero goals. Pellegrini promised entertaining football didn't he? Fairly certain that was in his very first statement upon joining the club, maybe you shouldn't be excusing someone not doing their job by saying "Alan Ball era was worse".

Bad football is bad football. Saying "well this example is worse" is a lot like saying Dahmer wasn't such a bad fella, he didn't kill as many people as Bundy.

I disagree that our players didn't give a crap, we played a very disciplined containment game that needed effort to implement regardless of the opposition.

Pellegrini did promise entertaining football and to be fair to him has tried to deliver on that promise in the main, you can count the examples on one hand on when he's implemented pragmatic tactics to ensure we didn't lose.

In regards to his tactics too, it seems he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't with some people. He played it clever last night, the onus was on them, if he'd played his normal game and they'd scored then it could have made for an uncomfortable night and those that are complaining about his approach now would be complaining about his lack of pragmatism.

[iwasthere2012]

I'm absolutely staggered by some of the negativity on here toward a team that has already won a trophy and just reached the QF for the first time.

Surely only infants expect everything to be perfect and win all the time? Funny thing is the general media is positive about this.

But the way some people behave on here and BM is the sort of crap from fans that makes good owners at clubs sell up and fuck off.

It's what some of you deserve - a trip back to the Alan Ball days to learn a bit of humility

Oh settle down.

The injuries were a fucking bodyblow although it looks like Otamendi's isn't so bad which I guess is a blessing.

Kiev played horrible anti-football from a team that needed to attack and aside from kicking the crap out of our players really couldn't be bothered playing the game. We've seen this time and again this season from a club playing for a point in the league(last weekend for example) and in 180 minutes of football now we've been unable to find a way through.

Now the Norwich game we can say they were lucky, we can say they executed their game plan well. But against Kiev I doubt that's the case TBH. I'd put it more down to our players not giving a crap. So two games, zero goals. Pellegrini promised entertaining football didn't he? Fairly certain that was in his very first statement upon joining the club, maybe you shouldn't be excusing someone not doing their job by saying "Alan Ball era was worse".

Bad football is bad football. Saying "well this example is worse" is a lot like saying Dahmer wasn't such a bad fella, he didn't kill as many people as Bundy.

I disagree that our players didn't give a crap, we played a very disciplined containment game that needed effort to implement regardless of the opposition.

Pellegrini did promise entertaining football and to be fair to him has tried to deliver on that promise in the main, you can count the examples on one hand on when he's implemented pragmatic tactics to ensure we didn't lose.

In regards to his tactics too, it seems he's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't with some people. He played it clever last night, the onus was on them, if he'd played his normal game and they'd scored then it could have made for an uncomfortable night and those that are complaining about his approach now would be complaining about his lack of pragmatism.

FIBD, I've no problem with a pragmatic energy conserving 0-0 draw, to see us through, but I think taking it for just that, is masking over a few uncomfortable truths.
I think the Martin Samuel article quoted earlier is fairly squarely on the money.
We saw that game out second half far too comfortably. There was no real challenge mounted by Kiev and yet we looked totally spooked and panicky in the first half after both CB's had to be replaced. The same problems we've seen all season were evident. Simple passing seems beyond some of our squad and the ones who we see it as a major strength in their game are also infected with the same two yard pass virus. Our attack is totally disjointed and all too often we depend on an isolated aguero to come up with something on his own. If he's not firing we don't score.I can't see us getting away with that against anyone left in the last eight of this competition, without being severely punished.
Someone said the victory (in the tie) was bittersweet. I think this is a good description for a lot of our reactions, on here. Of course we're happy to progress in the competition, but the pragmatic side of us knows that our league form has shown us that with Kompany gone from the CB pairing, the prognosis is not good in the PL.
We've been abysmal without him and we've been without him a lot. The hope a lot of us had that with him at the helm we might see a settled back four and City start to string some form and results together, is looking a little more hopeless today. We hadn't started the rally with him, it seems less likely without him. It seems more likely that we are going to see the chop/change defense that hasn't worked ever for us, continue to the end of the season and I for one am more hopeful that what's around us is every bit as bad as us i.e The rags and Arse., than really having faith in us suddenly starting to switch it on.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I guess it depends on your perspective IWT. It was clear from the opening minutes that we were set up to play a containment game, need only look at Fernandinho's position to see this, he was deployed left of centre to contain their main threat Yarimelenko ( or however you spell the fucker ) and in that regard it was a thoroughly professional, disciplined performance.

We didn't look uncomfortable to me, one undercooked Demichelis pass to Mangala and subsequent brain fart aside we looked totally composed and dealt well with what little they mustered.

Martin Samuel is just using the fact that the game was a snorefest to get his usual dig in against the Eurocracy, nothing to see here, we don't have a duty to entertain him, our duty was to advance to the quarter finals of the European Cup for the first time in our history.

As for what the rest of the season holds, I'll leave that to other threads, I am commenting on this game in isolation here as its a match thread.

[Wonderwall]

I guess it depends on your perspective IWT. It was clear from the opening minutes that we were set up to play a containment game, need only look at Fernandinho's position to see this, he was deployed left of centre to contain their main threat Yarimelenko ( or however you spell the fucker ) and in that regard it was a thoroughly professional, disciplined performance.

We didn't look uncomfortable to me, one undercooked Demichelis pass to Mangala and subsequent brain fart aside we looked totally composed and dealt well with what little they mustered.

Martin Samuel is just using the fact that the game was a snorefest to get his usual dig in against the Eurocracy, nothing to see here, we don't have a duty to entertain him, our duty was to advance to the quarter finals of the European Cup for the first time in our history.

As for what the rest of the season holds, I'll leave that to other threads, I am commenting on this game in isolation here as its a match thread.

The samuel piece is not badly written, its the shitty headline thats given by the editor that always lets him down (of which he has no control). Although he hasnt been as pro city in recent articles as he has been in the past