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Seems to have some sort of wake up call. He looked a bit weird IMO shell shocked almost. He seemed a bit lost for words at the start then said he now knows what the problem is defensively and it will be sorted out very quickly. It seemed a strange interview to me.

Glad it wasn't just me that thought that. It was as you say quite bizarre and let us hope that he has "seen the light" and plays with the side from last season and gently eases the recent signings in instead of playing two or three at the same time and buggering up the side's tempo and mojo.

Sounded to me like the players were in for a bit of a dressing down. The running quote was strange like he thought they didnt try hard enough. Wonder what training is like today?

Wonderwall wrote:Sounded to me like the players were in for a bit of a dressing down. The running quote was strange like he thought they didnt try hard enough. Wonder what training is like today?

Day off for last night's team is the norm but maybe he will have dragged them in today even if it's just to talk about tactical play after they do a warm down session.Tomorrow might be interesting.You can bet your life Sunderland will be all about pressing and playing on the break on Saturday and we know from last year how well we did against them.

I can definately see a dressing down for the players but I've never seen him like that. It was like he was staring at the interviewer but almost a vacant expression on his face, then he went on to say what he did, like he had pinpointed the problem. Lets hope for the best anyway!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCzzx14dxyI

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:Sounded to me like the players were in for a bit of a dressing down. The running quote was strange like he thought they didnt try hard enough. Wonder what training is like today?

Day off for last night's team is the norm but maybe he will have dragged them in today even if it's just to talk about tactical play after they do a warm down session.Tomorrow might be interesting.You can bet your life Sunderland will be all about pressing and playing on the break on Saturday and we know from last year how well we did against them.

Doug, if you've got a recording of the game, just stick on the first ten/fifteen minutes, which was one of the best periods for us, when we should have wrapped up the game, but even then, you can see the problem which eventually killed us. Dortmund have already completely taken over the middle of the pitch.

They are actually very poor at that stage & let us through far too easily but the fact that they have a wall of 5-6 players in the middle means that, when we do lose the ball, their whole attack is ready to move on our goal, in our half. As the game went on, they got better & better at it & we brought on Kolarov which made it even easier for them.

For some reason, all our attack is pressed right up against their back 4 right from the start. It is crying out for a Tevez, to drop into the middle & link up play, like at Fulham (Silva does it early on but is surrounded by Dortmund players who don't close him, later they did) but instead, we are right up close to their defenders. That is exactly how we played v Villa, almost like 4 up, which I thought was Bob trying to throw the game. Obviously & frighteningly, it wasn't; he was trying something out which, although it failed miserably v Villa, he tried again last night.

Villa ran through us just like Dortmund did.

He looks like his whole world has ended in that interview

Mase wrote:He looks like his whole world has ended in that interview

Yes he looked deflated, confused and bemused.

That's a fascinating interview. He's a fascinating man to be fair...there's a lot going on in that head of his.

I'm hoping he really really sorts himself and the team out. I expect one fucking fired up team against Sunderland.

Mase wrote:He looks like his whole world has ended in that interview

Who wants to pick him up on Dortmund having more CL experience than us.

Aside from that, he looked knackered, a bit like he did around March last year when the pressure seemed to have got to him

He looked fried... now we are all waiting to see what his assessment of the problem was.
If he believes that his selection and set up should have worked and he knew that Dortmund would play the way they did then the players are in for some shit.. If on the other hand he realises he got it wrong and should have counteracted the Dortmund midfield, then we may see him revert to a more conventional City side v Sunderland.
Could be either imo, wouldn't surprise me if the players have been sat in a room watching Barca vids of pass and move since the game.

iether way we should see some reaction on Sat.