***city v the ref, sorry v barca match thread***

[sheblue]

Martinez saying we played like proper Premier League 2nd half & Barca struggled to cope.

FUCKING SPOT ON.

Yes he was right, irrespective of formations and blaming the manager and all that shit, it's largely down to attitude. Ours was shite in the first half.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

Real shame we couldn't put the type of effort we shown at the start of the first half in more often.

Still maintain a core group of these players are pushing last 16 material and need an upgrade on to be getting beyond this level regularly.

Still, this game could've been 2-2, 2-3, 3-3. I get a feeling the second leg is gonna be interesting.

[london blue 2]

All things considered we just played messi suarez Neymar and iniesta and had them bricking it with ten men.

Not quite fucking Gillingham is it?

Not quite City either. That's the trouble.

All the talk is about what we can't do vs Barca. We actually can. We just don't.

All this tactics bollocks is a red herring. Just play our fucking game instead of playing theirs.

We did. We just done it too late.

[Nick]

Is Joe Hart a robot?

Personality-free-zone.

why is he always smiling and laughing with the opposition after the match. WE LOST YOU CUNT!

Now this (along with his comments when at Brum, his terrible kicking and poor shots to save ratio) is one of the biggest reasons i dislike him

fair play for the pen save. I thought he'd save it so I'd have to eat some words.

[PeterParker]

Have to ask. There is no doubt about this, the decisions are correct, however ...

How many away teams have a sent off and a pen in the last 8 of the Uefa Champions League?

[iwasthere2012]

For me Pellegrini got it so wrong tonight. Whether you agree with going 4 in midfield or not, (I believe he should have gone with five), he picked the wrong personnel for the job.
He must be the only one in the Stadium who thought Milner and Fernando against their midfield would work.
He persisted with the system and seemed to be getting more joy and then takes off the two people that can actually pass to a City player. I found the tactics baffling to be honest. All of their players are comfortable on the ball and can pass it five yards. We had no one in midfield capable of doing that. And even our senior players at this stage in their European careers are incredibly naive and rash instead of being calm.
The good points.....few....but It could have been 1-3. Who knows what City turn up over there. They only seem to start playing seriously when things seem impossible.

[Beanieboy]

Is it just me and the beer or did Messi miss that penalty and rebound on purpose?

[chef]

Hmm, if someone would had suggest me this score at half time, i would had taken it with eyes close.

My opinion on this game is this:

Today we can say goodbye to a real era, the defensive era of Bobby Mancini. The last glimpse of that was erased or changed tonight, we have nothing in common with that. Somehow it is normal, but it ends a real era and now we have to face a period where we can't hold a clean sheet.

Imho, Pellers lost us the game tonight, his starting eleven and overall tactic in the first half was worse that something Stuart Pearce would do. Barcelona deserved to win this game, they are better than us, we have to face that. Zabaleta, Vinnie and Clichy were awful tonight and all three have a bad season. You can't change that, they need a summer off to recharge.

Fernando for me is the real mistery. At some points he looks like he can be the best defensive midfielder in the world, a real octopus, like his nickname, however, the next second, he passes to Messi. Maybe we got the wrong Fernando, there is another one at Shakhtar. I would go on forever, but i prefer not to, i just want to congratulate Demi, at his age, he is one of the best defenders we ever had and Bubble head. Top save that against Messi.

From what it looks like, it is all over, we will lose there too, but at least lets give them a game for once. Let's play the way we showed people that we are current champions.

Fernando come from Porto (not shakhtar)

[getdressedmctavish]

Pellergrini proved a point. When we pressured in the second half the system didn't look too bad. Ted's point that it is the players is a reasonable one. And can Nasri kindly shut the fuck up. But to me, what was incomprehensible was for the manager to leave Bony on when we went to ten. You wouldn't do that if it was your kid's team in the fuckin park. Its a two legged game,we get Ya Ya back in the second and you persist with two strikers , one of whom is giving a good impression of Gary Mason only not as mobile.I Think the manager has to go, it is beyond dim. We never made a chance after the sending off and they had loads to put it to bed.As Merson said at the weekend, he could manage City.So, we are still in it but not with 442 in the return.

[PeterParker]

Hmm, if someone would had suggest me this score at half time, i would had taken it with eyes close.

My opinion on this game is this:

Today we can say goodbye to a real era, the defensive era of Bobby Mancini. The last glimpse of that was erased or changed tonight, we have nothing in common with that. Somehow it is normal, but it ends a real era and now we have to face a period where we can't hold a clean sheet.

Imho, Pellers lost us the game tonight, his starting eleven and overall tactic in the first half was worse that something Stuart Pearce would do. Barcelona deserved to win this game, they are better than us, we have to face that. Zabaleta, Vinnie and Clichy were awful tonight and all three have a bad season. You can't change that, they need a summer off to recharge.

Fernando for me is the real mistery. At some points he looks like he can be the best defensive midfielder in the world, a real octopus, like his nickname, however, the next second, he passes to Messi. Maybe we got the wrong Fernando, there is another one at Shakhtar. I would go on forever, but i prefer not to, i just want to congratulate Demi, at his age, he is one of the best defenders we ever had and Bubble head. Top save that against Messi.

From what it looks like, it is all over, we will lose there too, but at least lets give them a game for once. Let's play the way we showed people that we are current champions.

Fernando come from Porto (not shakhtar)

That's my point, there is another Fernando there that looks actually world class and maybe we got the wrong one.

[Ted Hughes]

Have to ask. There is no doubt about this, the decisions are correct, however ...

How many away teams have a sent off and a pen in the last 8 of the Uefa Champions League?

The sending off could have been swerved by the ref. He had a choice where be could have let it go & chose not to.

[guv111]

Why are we playing with power and vigour now when we are losing with just minutes to go? Why turn it on now when winning is beyond us?

Because this is what City always do against Barca, Bayern etc... when it's too fucking late. I said so in my first post in this thread about two hours ago.

Oh, here we go.

Wow! Great save, Joe!

A slender hope. Slender... but hope.

It's not just v Barca & Bayern. We were worse v CSKA Moscow.

It doesn't matter what system, or who plays. We cannot be trusted.
If we turn up, we can win games like this.

I was tempted to say "in Europe" or "in the Champions League", Ted, but then I thought of those fantastic performances against... umm...and err...

[london blue 2]

Ffs. Dzeko done alright so now we should be sacking pellers and bony.

Calm down lads.

[Dameerto]

Is Joe Hart a robot?

Personality-free-zone.

why is he always smiling and laughing with the opposition after the match. WE LOST YOU CUNT!

So he doesn't get a sly boot in the face in the second leg?

[zabbadabbado]

I thought Pellegrini fucked us over from the start tonight. Not one blue thought we should have started with that midfield 2 off Milner and Fernando.

We should have been 4-0 down at half time. Fucking criminal from the manager. I mean ffs we were playing Barcelona at least give us a fighting chance.

Why couldn't we just pack the middle first half, and hit them on the counter with one up front. Then go for it second half. Why the fuck do we always have to commit footballing suicide before rectifying the obvious problem. It makes no sense to me.

Much better second half.

Pellegrini was Barcelona best player tonight.

Watch and see he will play one up top and pack the middle at the Nou Camp in a game we simply have to win.

[Ted Hughes]

Pellergrini proved a point. When we pressured in the second half the system didn't look too bad. Ted's point that it is the players is a reasonable one. And can Nasri kindly shut the fuck up. But to me, what was incomprehensible was for the manager to leave Bony on when we went to ten. You wouldn't do that if it was your kid's team in the fuckin park. Its a two legged game,we get Ya Ya back in the second and you persist with two strikers , one of whom is giving a good impression of Gary Mason only not as mobile.I Think the manager has to go, it is beyond dim. We never made a chance after the sending off and they had loads to put it to bed.As Merson said at the weekend, he could manage City.So, we are still in it but not with 442 in the return.

I would have left Bony on.

Our best chance was to nick a goal. Header was a likely route. We may win 2-0 at the Camp Nou, but far more likely to have drawn tonight & win 1-0. Risk worth taking.

[dazby]

My query on the game was the number of times Kün was playing up top with Edin in the support role. Surely it should have been the other way round? Kolarov in the second leg with explicit instructions to push forward and find Edins head. With Kün playing behind.

[Sparklehorse]

Is it just me and the beer or did Messi miss that penalty and rebound on purpose?

I thought that too

[PeterParker]

Is it just me and the beer or did Messi miss that penalty and rebound on purpose?

I thought that too

Well, he signed with us.

[blues2win]

It was you and the beer.