Mancini

[Duckman]

I don't blame Mancini for the ending. Everyone just concentrates on last 20 mins. I blame him for the first 70 minutes which was just simply fucking embarrasing. I never expected to get anything from there (I mean they have won every single campaign starting home game in Europe in past 36 years). All football world was watching. For crying out loud, my mom called me half time and said that we are rubbish (feeling sorry for me). MY MOM.

This was genuine chance to show the world that we mean business and play positive football and aren't just pretenders. Even if we had lost. If anything, it's games like these that will get Mancini sacked somewhere in the future if he doesn't improve.

You know, the real reason why Sheik bought us was that football is probably the greatest marketing product in the world. Everyone (-Americans) loves it. EVERYONE. And there are not many things on this planet that have more positive image. They do NOT want to be embarrased by team playing negative football.

agree with this 100 % , why we are going out to play like we are levante in Madrid , we are goalscoring machine we have great players we shuold go out and play like we wanna win the game and we dont do that in Europe ts always some defensive shit.

It would have been fine to play like that if we have been playing a two game semifinal, but this is fucking group stage, we play to score goals and win, every fucking game. we are fuckin city.

[Ted Hughes]

I don't think we could have just taken on Real & beaten them on their own ground, the players were not confident enough in themselves & their touch to do it, BUT we could have raped them on the counter attack if we'd been solid & organised.

We showed that at the end & Mourinho knew it & was worried about it; thats why he played Essien.

In the end, we spent most of the match watching Real play, whilst we chased shadows with a scratch defence.

The later stages, where we ran straight through them, showed what we could have done on the break if we'd got our shit together properly.

[Alex Sapphire]

I have seen some things watching City but unril last night I had never seen them play Real Madrid. I had never seen City ahead at the Bernabeu. I have never seen a City that can crack open history's best team, and never seen a City that can "score when we want" on the BIGGEST stage.
I've never seen a defence and keeper that can frustrate more than 200 million worth of talent and the World's best manager. A City that is STILL capable of getting out of this group and into a position where we could face a team as big as that again and I believe on neutral ground, beat them.
I liked seeing that.

I blame this board (or rather some of the half wits who post here) for trying to spoil that.
Fucking stop it.

[Ted Hughes]

I have seen some things watching City but unril last night I had never seen them play Real Madrid. I had never seen City ahead at the Bernabeu. I have never seen a City that can crack open history's best team, and never seen a City that can "score when we want" on the BIGGEST stage.
I've never seen a defence and keeper that can frustrate more than 200 million worth of talent and the World's best manager. A City that is STILL capable of getting out of this group and into a position where we could face a team as big as that again and I believe on neutral ground, beat them.
I liked seeing that.

I blame this board (or rather some of the half wits who post here) for trying to spoil that.
Fucking stop it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it but I didn't. Not at all.

I didn't go there expecting to win (although I thought we could) & I thought we could possibly get hammered if things went against us. But I didn't expect what I saw from City, which imo was shite.

What we did last night was not the English champions taking on Madrid, it was Southampton or QPR almost getting a point at City because City missed a load of chances & defended badly.

We almost got away with it, like they almost got away with it.

Suthampton & QPR were shit & lucky at our place & we were shit & lucky at the Bernabau.

[Alex Sapphire]

I have seen some things watching City but unril last night I had never seen them play Real Madrid. I had never seen City ahead at the Bernabeu. I have never seen a City that can crack open history's best team, and never seen a City that can "score when we want" on the BIGGEST stage.
I've never seen a defence and keeper that can frustrate more than 200 million worth of talent and the World's best manager. A City that is STILL capable of getting out of this group and into a position where we could face a team as big as that again and I believe on neutral ground, beat them.
I liked seeing that.

I blame this board (or rather some of the half wits who post here) for trying to spoil that.
Fucking stop it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it but I didn't. Not at all.

I didn't go there expecting to win (although I thought we could) & I thought we could possibly get hammered if things went against us. But I didn't expect what I saw from City, which imo was shite.

What we did last night was not the English champions taking on Madrid, it was Southampton or QPR almost getting a point at City because City missed a load of chances & defended badly.

We almost got away with it, like they almost got away with it.

Suthampton & QPR were shit & lucky at our place & we were shit & lucky at the Bernabau.

you forgot Chelsea at Camp Nou and Allianz

and we weren't shit and we certainly weren't lucky

same game at Wembley, with lessons learned (and Iagree we need to do that) and we win

[Ted Hughes]

I have seen some things watching City but unril last night I had never seen them play Real Madrid. I had never seen City ahead at the Bernabeu. I have never seen a City that can crack open history's best team, and never seen a City that can "score when we want" on the BIGGEST stage.
I've never seen a defence and keeper that can frustrate more than 200 million worth of talent and the World's best manager. A City that is STILL capable of getting out of this group and into a position where we could face a team as big as that again and I believe on neutral ground, beat them.
I liked seeing that.

I blame this board (or rather some of the half wits who post here) for trying to spoil that.
Fucking stop it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it but I didn't. Not at all.

I didn't go there expecting to win (although I thought we could) & I thought we could possibly get hammered if things went against us. But I didn't expect what I saw from City, which imo was shite.

What we did last night was not the English champions taking on Madrid, it was Southampton or QPR almost getting a point at City because City missed a load of chances & defended badly.

We almost got away with it, like they almost got away with it.

Suthampton & QPR were shit & lucky at our place & we were shit & lucky at the Bernabau.

you forgot Chelsea at Camp Nou and Allianz

and we weren't shit and we certainly weren't lucky

same game at Wembley, with lessons learned (and Iagree we need to do that) and we win

Imo, Real will score all of the close range chances & 30/40% of those shots on an average night 60/ 70% of those shots on a good night.

That's double figures.

That's very very lucky in my book.

[Alex Sapphire]

I have seen some things watching City but unril last night I had never seen them play Real Madrid. I had never seen City ahead at the Bernabeu. I have never seen a City that can crack open history's best team, and never seen a City that can "score when we want" on the BIGGEST stage.
I've never seen a defence and keeper that can frustrate more than 200 million worth of talent and the World's best manager. A City that is STILL capable of getting out of this group and into a position where we could face a team as big as that again and I believe on neutral ground, beat them.
I liked seeing that.

I blame this board (or rather some of the half wits who post here) for trying to spoil that.
Fucking stop it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it but I didn't. Not at all.

I didn't go there expecting to win (although I thought we could) & I thought we could possibly get hammered if things went against us. But I didn't expect what I saw from City, which imo was shite.

What we did last night was not the English champions taking on Madrid, it was Southampton or QPR almost getting a point at City because City missed a load of chances & defended badly.

We almost got away with it, like they almost got away with it.

Suthampton & QPR were shit & lucky at our place & we were shit & lucky at the Bernabau.

you forgot Chelsea at Camp Nou and Allianz

and we weren't shit and we certainly weren't lucky

same game at Wembley, with lessons learned (and Iagree we need to do that) and we win

Imo, Real will score all of the close range chances & 30/40% of those shots on an average night 60/ 70% of those shots on a good night.

That's double figures.

That's very very lucky in my book.

so we're lucky they didn't get 10 and when our defending and keeping works it's luck?

I wasn't having a go at you in particular Ted but if you seriously believe this shit I may need to.
My post was to point out that any pleasure associated with a classic encounter like last night's is gradually being sucked out of me by a number of clueless sodswith too much time on their hands. please step away from the halfwits

[Chinners]

Bob took a gamble. Gave a debut to a raw central defender over probably our best CB at the mo as well as chosing Barry who is only just back from injury. It nearly worked as well, away to the best/most successful european side ever. . . . no wrist slitting required imo

[Ted Hughes]

I have seen some things watching City but unril last night I had never seen them play Real Madrid. I had never seen City ahead at the Bernabeu. I have never seen a City that can crack open history's best team, and never seen a City that can "score when we want" on the BIGGEST stage.
I've never seen a defence and keeper that can frustrate more than 200 million worth of talent and the World's best manager. A City that is STILL capable of getting out of this group and into a position where we could face a team as big as that again and I believe on neutral ground, beat them.
I liked seeing that.

I blame this board (or rather some of the half wits who post here) for trying to spoil that.
Fucking stop it.

I'm glad you enjoyed it but I didn't. Not at all.

I didn't go there expecting to win (although I thought we could) & I thought we could possibly get hammered if things went against us. But I didn't expect what I saw from City, which imo was shite.

What we did last night was not the English champions taking on Madrid, it was Southampton or QPR almost getting a point at City because City missed a load of chances & defended badly.

We almost got away with it, like they almost got away with it.

Suthampton & QPR were shit & lucky at our place & we were shit & lucky at the Bernabau.

you forgot Chelsea at Camp Nou and Allianz

and we weren't shit and we certainly weren't lucky

same game at Wembley, with lessons learned (and Iagree we need to do that) and we win

Imo, Real will score all of the close range chances & 30/40% of those shots on an average night 60/ 70% of those shots on a good night.

That's double figures.

That's very very lucky in my book.

so we're lucky they didn't get 10 and when our defending and keeping works it's luck?

I wasn't having a go at you in particular Ted but if you seriously believe this shit I may need to.
My post was to point out that any pleasure associated with a classic encounter like last night's is gradually being sucked out of me by a number of clueless sodswith too much time on their hands. please step away from the halfwits

I don't think our defending did work. I think we just got lucky. I think we defended very very badly & could have had the mother of all hammerings if Real had finished better. They missed at least two from 6 yards. That would have been 5 to start with.

I'm sorry if the fact that I thought we were utter shite is adding to people spoiling your day, but I thought we were utter shite.

[Beeks]

Madrid are the second best team in the world..arguably the best

Like it or not..we are not the best

QPR and Southampton is probably a good analogy

Them>City>Madrid

Of course that will change in time..but Rome wasn't built in a day

[Ted Hughes]

Madrid are the second best team in the world..arguably the best

Like it or not..we are not the best

QPR and Southampton is probably a good analogy

Them>City>Madrid

Of course that will change in time..but Rome wasn't built in a day

I think we are a lot better than we showed last night or in Munich though. We proved that first 30 mins in Munich & last 20 last night.

Imo, if our strongest defence was all square & then we scored 2 in that last 20, we would have won it, in fact we may have scored more as Real got desperate. That wasn't our strongest side last night & imo that performance wouldn't have beaten the rags at OT.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Were we lucky last night not to have conceded earlier than we did? Maybe a little but for me the manager who got most wrong was Mourinho. They had a 3 in the middle which gave me real hope. Alonso is a class player but plays very deep and isnt really a goal threat,Kedira is more a ball winner and Essien is past it.

I don't fancy Di Maria( just a fancy diver who has some good moments) that much and that left tranny and Higuain to do the scoring which they didnt look like doing,especially Higuain.My worry was when they switched to Benzema but especially Modric and Ozil who would hold the ball better and really press us with touch and movement.

Even if you could say we rode our luck a little the game changed when these players came on. It helped City from an attacking point of view as well as there was more space in the middle but it threatened us more as well and the game changed completely.Ultimately it seemed we would benefit most but then came the mistakes. Significantly standing off attackers and getting so deep.

Mancini and Platt have both said we must not allow that to happen so I guess it's not part of the plan so it must be that it was down to player mistake to let that happen. I wouldnt have thought we lacked a leader at the back with Vinnie there and I hope Joe screaming at them to push up but somehow it didn't happen.

[Ted Hughes]

Were we lucky last night not to have conceded earlier than we did? Maybe a little but for me the manager who got most wrong was Mourinho. They had a 3 in the middle which gave me real hope. Alonso is a class player but plays very deep and isnt really a goal threat,Kedira is more a ball winner and Essien is past it.

I don't fancy Di Maria( just a fancy diver who has some good moments) that much and that left tranny and Higuain to do the scoring which they didnt look like doing,especially Higuain.My worry was when they switched to Benzema but especially Modric and Ozil who would hold the ball better and really press us with touch and movement.

Even if you could say we rode our luck a little the game changed when these players came on. It helped City from an attacking point of view as well as there was more space in the middle but it threatened us more as well and the game changed completely.Ultimately it seemed we would benefit most but then came the mistakes. Significantly standing off attackers and getting so deep.

Mancini and Platt have both said we must not allow that to happen so I guess it's not part of the plan so it must be that it was down to player mistake to let that happen. I wouldnt have thought we lacked a leader at the back with Vinnie there and I hope Joe screaming at them to push up but somehow it didn't happen.

Mourinho was worried about our midfield imo as Real have been struggling v lesser teams, but we were so poor defensively that we were in a state of panic & unable to pass the ball out & gain an advantage even against a very limited Real midfield.

Mourinho only dared put on Ozil when Silva went off.

We really missed a big opportunity last night.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

The only criticism I have of Mancini is that he did nothing to shore up our right hand side when it was obvious from the first minute that Maicon needed more protection. It was this as well as a couple of individual errors that was our undoing in the end.

[lets all have a disco]

Europe is what will get Bobby sacked in the future if he doesnt work out the code to crack it.

don't be silly.

Silly in what way?
Not this season or maybe even the next but if he doesnt crack it the owners will eventually show him the door Europe is the next target in mind.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Were we lucky last night not to have conceded earlier than we did? Maybe a little but for me the manager who got most wrong was Mourinho. They had a 3 in the middle which gave me real hope. Alonso is a class player but plays very deep and isnt really a goal threat,Kedira is more a ball winner and Essien is past it.

I don't fancy Di Maria( just a fancy diver who has some good moments) that much and that left tranny and Higuain to do the scoring which they didnt look like doing,especially Higuain.My worry was when they switched to Benzema but especially Modric and Ozil who would hold the ball better and really press us with touch and movement.

Even if you could say we rode our luck a little the game changed when these players came on. It helped City from an attacking point of view as well as there was more space in the middle but it threatened us more as well and the game changed completely.Ultimately it seemed we would benefit most but then came the mistakes. Significantly standing off attackers and getting so deep.

Mancini and Platt have both said we must not allow that to happen so I guess it's not part of the plan so it must be that it was down to player mistake to let that happen. I wouldnt have thought we lacked a leader at the back with Vinnie there and I hope Joe screaming at them to push up but somehow it didn't happen.

Mourinho was worried about our midfield imo as Real have been struggling v lesser teams, but we were so poor defensively that we were in a state of panic & unable to pass the ball out & gain an advantage even against a very limited Real midfield.

Mourinho only dared put on Ozil when Silva went off.

We really missed a big opportunity last night.

I think you are right re why Mourinho started with that middle 3 but our passing and first touch was so poor we couldnt take advantage of it to serioulsy threaten them,Yaya's runs apart.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

The only criticism I have of Mancini is that he did nothing to shore up our right hand side when it was obvious from the first minute that Maicon needed more protection. It was this as well as a couple of individual errors that was our undoing in the end.

Anyone facing up to Tranny needs protection and similarly with Di Maria from the right and Marcello from the left but somehow we seemed not to realise that and let them have shots. Seems to me it was more the players going to deep that allowed this to happen rather than the manager telling them to do it.

[Ted Hughes]

The only criticism I have of Mancini is that he did nothing to shore up our right hand side when it was obvious from the first minute that Maicon needed more protection. It was this as well as a couple of individual errors that was our undoing in the end.

Anyone facing up to Tranny needs protection and similarly with Di Maria from the right and Marcello from the left but somehow we seemed not to realise that and let them have shots. Seems to me it was more the players going to deep that allowed this to happen rather than the manager telling them to do it.

All part of picking a defensive unit half of whom don't even know each other.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

The only criticism I have of Mancini is that he did nothing to shore up our right hand side when it was obvious from the first minute that Maicon needed more protection. It was this as well as a couple of individual errors that was our undoing in the end.

Anyone facing up to Tranny needs protection and similarly with Di Maria from the right and Marcello from the left but somehow we seemed not to realise that and let them have shots. Seems to me it was more the players going to deep that allowed this to happen rather than the manager telling them to do it.

I'm sure Mancini didn't tell them to drop as deep but I feel that with the Ladyboy playing more protection is needed from the outset. I would have played Milner on the right.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

Europe is what will get Bobby sacked in the future if he doesnt work out the code to crack it.

don't be silly.

Silly in what way?
Not this season or maybe even the next but if he doesnt crack it the owners will eventually show him the door Europe is the next target in mind.

Fully agree with this. It's not matter of opinion, I'm a massive Mancini licker, but a fact. Owners are guaranteed to want to see success in Europe sooner or later. Whether that is in two or five years is different matter.