*****Official Monaco v's City thread!******

[KinkyKinkladze]

Is there a general feeling that we have gone backwards since last year, or am I just focusing on the handful of people that are saying this? Utter shite tonight, but not indicative of a general decline in my mind.

For me, absolutely not. Sounds gash but I think this is a feeling out season, next year we'll get a proper look at a pep team. Results wise we are not progressing, but look at the majority of the football we're playing and you watch a quality of football you've never seen before.

Bollocks to it. Put everything into the fa cup and league and see where we get. I'd love to win the fa cup this season, but if we finish potless then I won't be too arsed. Next season I think we'll see something special.

[zabbadabbado]

Tactically that should have been a piece of piss but somehow Pep got it totally wrong ???

Not Fucking Good Enough !!!

Totally agree.

Why does he fuck about so much with our suspect defence and midfield it defies belief ?. He is supposed to be super intelligent, a meticulous forward planner, yet many of our fans, and I struggle to understand him quite often.

For instance “Yaya” great to have in the team when you want to slow the game down, our best ball retainer, and our best passer of the Ball. With a 2- 0 aggregate lead you would have thought he would have been the first name on the Team sheet for tonight, yet Pep for fuck knows what reason picked that abomination of a formation. Last week I thought Ottamendi had a decent game, we had 6 clean sheets prior to this, he inexplicably benches him.

We go 2 -0 down, it obviously wasn’t working, yet one feels his ego gets in the way of common sense to often. Or he leaves it too late, dare I say he is worse than Pellegrini.

Next season Guardiola will have no excuses. If we don’t win the FA Cup. He will start next season with Pellegrini as our most successful manager. That would be one hell of a Monkey to have on his back considering the financial support he had. And Pellegrini lack of support from above.

[johnny crossan]

Dismal and spineless performance - any redeeming features have escaped my notice at the moment.

[patrickblue]

Shite performance from the manager, set up all wrong all through the game. Did he actually watch the first leg?

Someone tell PG the concept of game management please.

100% managers fault

Agreed. I've had just about enough of this passing around the defence, just to prove some sort of point.

And I'm still waiting to see all the space it leaves up front.

It's bollox, yet everyone thinks it's wonderful, because someone did a computer simulation of the principle on sky.

[BrianF]

We have had a problem with our defence for a while now. We brought in Otter and Mangala (both average at best) we also got Sagna on a free as temporary cover. Then we got Stones who had a crisis of confidence and needed an experienced partner (we new Komps was touch and go with injuries) TBH it has been piss poor management from the Spafia and all.

[iwasthere2012]

Is there a general feeling that we have gone backwards since last year, or am I just focusing on the handful of people that are saying this? Utter shite tonight, but not indicative of a general decline in my mind.

For me, absolutely not. Sounds gash but I think this is a feeling out season, next year we'll get a proper look at a pep team. Results wise we are not progressing, but look at the majority of the football we're playing and you watch a quality of football you've never seen before.

Bollocks to it. Put everything into the fa cup and league and see where we get. I'd love to win the fa cup this season, but if we finish potless then I won't be too arsed. Next season I think we'll see something special.

Absolutely not. Yes there's big changes coming in personnel but I'm confident we'll get there.
We are miles off the pace st the top of Europe though.
I'd be happy with second tbh.

But I have an awful dread that The Rags will be handed the Rutopa Zleague this year to get them into the CL again and that would really ruin thd year for me.

[Beefymcfc]

Maybe Pep has a free reign this year and possibly even next. Therefore he is using this season to experiment with the players. Perhaps he wanted to see if we could cope without Yaya, with a view to seeing whether we give him a new contract.

The way KDB has dropped back over the last few weeks leads me to think Pep sees him as a long term Yaya replacement.

Experimenting with a CL semi final in our back pocket? You don't believe that mate, not for a second.

[Blue Since 76]

Is there a general feeling that we have gone backwards since last year, or am I just focusing on the handful of people that are saying this? Utter shite tonight, but not indicative of a general decline in my mind.

For me, absolutely not. Sounds gash but I think this is a feeling out season, next year we'll get a proper look at a pep team. Results wise we are not progressing, but look at the majority of the football we're playing and you watch a quality of football you've never seen before.

Bollocks to it. Put everything into the fa cup and league and see where we get. I'd love to win the fa cup this season, but if we finish potless then I won't be too arsed. Next season I think we'll see something special.

Is the football any better than the first season under Pellegrini?

Will Pep get it right? Probably. But remember when coaches coached the best out of players rather than playing Championship Manager with the cheat code so you could spend millions?

[nottsblue]

Maybe Pep has a free reign this year and possibly even next. Therefore he is using this season to experiment with the players. Perhaps he wanted to see if we could cope without Yaya, with a view to seeing whether we give him a new contract.

The way KDB has dropped back over the last few weeks leads me to think Pep sees him as a long term Yaya replacement.

Experimenting with a CL semi final in our back pocket? You don't believe that mate, not for a second.

I honestly don't know. Maybe he was over confident. Either way, not playing Yaya and having KDB sit deep did not work. At all. We were overran badly in the first half.

But that's not the sole reason for tonight's showing. Mores the pity as we have more work to do than we perhaps envisaged

[brite blu sky]

Maybe Pep has a free reign this year and possibly even next. Therefore he is using this season to experiment with the players. Perhaps he wanted to see if we could cope without Yaya, with a view to seeing whether we give him a new contract.

The way KDB has dropped back over the last few weeks leads me to think Pep sees him as a long term Yaya replacement.

Experimenting with a CL semi final in our back pocket? You don't believe that mate, not for a second.

Or perhaps he is just a one trick pony and only marginally better than Wenger.

[zuricity]

Tactically that should have been a piece of piss but somehow Pep got it totally wrong ???

Not Fucking Good Enough !!!

Totally agree.

Why does he fuck about so much with our suspect defence and midfield it defies belief ?. He is supposed to be super intelligent, a meticulous forward planner, yet many of our fans, and I struggle to understand him quite often.

For instance “Yaya” great to have in the team when you want to slow the game down, our best ball retainer, and our best passer of the Ball. With a 2- 0 aggregate lead you would have thought he would have been the first name on the Team sheet for tonight, yet Pep for fuck knows what reason picked that abomination of a formation. Last week I thought Ottamendi had a decent game, we had 6 clean sheets prior to this, he inexplicably benches him.

We go 2 -0 down, it obviously wasn’t working, yet one feels his ego gets in the way of common sense to often. Or he leaves it too late, dare I say he is worse than Pellegrini.

Next season Guardiola will have no excuses. If we don’t win the FA Cup. He will start next season with Pellegrini as our most successful manager. That would be one hell of a Monkey to have on his back considering the financial support he had. And Pellegrini lack of support from above.

Next season ? what makes you think Gladioli will be here ?

he fucked up badly tonight , the whole of Europe was watching him fall on his own sword.

[City64]

Tactically that should have been a piece of piss but somehow Pep got it totally wrong ???

Not Fucking Good Enough !!!

Totally agree.

Why does he fuck about so much with our suspect defence and midfield it defies belief ?. He is supposed to be super intelligent, a meticulous forward planner, yet many of our fans, and I struggle to understand him quite often.

For instance “Yaya” great to have in the team when you want to slow the game down, our best ball retainer, and our best passer of the Ball. With a 2- 0 aggregate lead you would have thought he would have been the first name on the Team sheet for tonight, yet Pep for fuck knows what reason picked that abomination of a formation. Last week I thought Ottamendi had a decent game, we had 6 clean sheets prior to this, he inexplicably benches him.

We go 2 -0 down, it obviously wasn’t working, yet one feels his ego gets in the way of common sense to often. Or he leaves it too late, dare I say he is worse than Pellegrini.

Next season Guardiola will have no excuses. If we don’t win the FA Cup. He will start next season with Pellegrini as our most successful manager. That would be one hell of a Monkey to have on his back considering the financial support he had. And Pellegrini lack of support from above.

Absolutely pal , all we had to do was keep the ball in midfield for decent spells in the match and try and play Aguero in and our defence doesn't have to defend it was that fucking simple . We still somehow had a chance to kill the tie off after we scored in the 2nd half and the cunt fucked up yet again with that shit high line defending from a set piece ??? WTF ??? I am totally perplexed / annoyed and fucked off in equal measures ...........absolute total fuck up of the highest order and the cunt supposed to be the best in the world ??? I don't fucking think so !!!

[KinkyKinkladze]

Is there a general feeling that we have gone backwards since last year, or am I just focusing on the handful of people that are saying this? Utter shite tonight, but not indicative of a general decline in my mind.

For me, absolutely not. Sounds gash but I think this is a feeling out season, next year we'll get a proper look at a pep team. Results wise we are not progressing, but look at the majority of the football we're playing and you watch a quality of football you've never seen before.

Bollocks to it. Put everything into the fa cup and league and see where we get. I'd love to win the fa cup this season, but if we finish potless then I won't be too arsed. Next season I think we'll see something special.

Is the football any better than the first season under Pellegrini?

For me, yes. We had many of our older squad hitting their peak back then. Yaya in particular. But I've seen some stuff this season that has taken my breath away. I can see what he wants to do, and if he gets the right players in the summer it will be beautiful.

[Beefymcfc]

Maybe Pep has a free reign this year and possibly even next. Therefore he is using this season to experiment with the players. Perhaps he wanted to see if we could cope without Yaya, with a view to seeing whether we give him a new contract.

The way KDB has dropped back over the last few weeks leads me to think Pep sees him as a long term Yaya replacement.

Experimenting with a CL semi final in our back pocket? You don't believe that mate, not for a second.

I honestly don't know. Maybe he was over confident. Either way, not playing Yaya and having KDB sit deep did not work. At all. We were overran badly in the first half.

But that's not the sole reason for tonight's showing. Mores the pity as we have more work to do than we perhaps envisaged

It was a poor showing and again showed the frailties of his tactics. He's shown before how wrong he can get it and tonight was another showing. When you play the first leg like that you have to show to those who tuned in it that it wasn't a fluke by playing in the same style. The only loser tonight was City as a brand because many would have realised that the brilliant first game was more out of necessity than principle. Unfortunately, this game showed our true worth and was an affront to all those, barring the Sky 4 loves, that wanted to see an open game.

Sad, but true.

[Blue Since 76]

Is there a general feeling that we have gone backwards since last year, or am I just focusing on the handful of people that are saying this? Utter shite tonight, but not indicative of a general decline in my mind.

For me, absolutely not. Sounds gash but I think this is a feeling out season, next year we'll get a proper look at a pep team. Results wise we are not progressing, but look at the majority of the football we're playing and you watch a quality of football you've never seen before.

Bollocks to it. Put everything into the fa cup and league and see where we get. I'd love to win the fa cup this season, but if we finish potless then I won't be too arsed. Next season I think we'll see something special.

Is the football any better than the first season under Pellegrini?

For me, yes. We had many of our older squad hitting their peak back then. Yaya in particular. But I've seen some stuff this season that has taken my breath away. I can see what he wants to do, and if he gets the right players in the summer it will be beautiful.

Glimpses in a few games. But I'd still rather have that first season under Pellegrini, at least the part up to Christmas and battering the likes of Spurs and Arsenal. Think I even saw Navas score once

[johnny crossan]

Tactically that should have been a piece of piss but somehow Pep got it totally wrong ???

Not Fucking Good Enough !!!

Totally agree.

Why does he fuck about so much with our suspect defence and midfield it defies belief ?. He is supposed to be super intelligent, a meticulous forward planner, yet many of our fans, and I struggle to understand him quite often.

For instance “Yaya” great to have in the team when you want to slow the game down, our best ball retainer, and our best passer of the Ball. With a 2- 0 aggregate lead you would have thought he would have been the first name on the Team sheet for tonight, yet Pep for fuck knows what reason picked that abomination of a formation. Last week I thought Ottamendi had a decent game, we had 6 clean sheets prior to this, he inexplicably benches him.

We go 2 -0 down, it obviously wasn’t working, yet one feels his ego gets in the way of common sense to often. Or he leaves it too late, dare I say he is worse than Pellegrini.

Next season Guardiola will have no excuses. If we don’t win the FA Cup. He will start next season with Pellegrini as our most successful manager. That would be one hell of a Monkey to have on his back considering the financial support he had. And Pellegrini lack of support from above.

Absolutely pal , all we had to do was keep the ball in midfield for decent spells in the match and try and play Aguero in and our defence doesn't have to defend it was that fucking simple . We still somehow had a chance to kill the tie off after we scored in the 2nd half and the cunt fucked up yet again with that shit high line defending from a set piece ??? WTF ??? I am totally perplexed / annoyed and fucked off in equal measures ...........absolute total fuck up of the highest order and the cunt supposed to be the best in the world ??? I don't fucking think so !!!

Offer it up friend, the truth you have spoken will be heard.

[KinkyKinkladze]

It was a bit special to be fair.

The navas goal against spurs was ace.

Edit - didn't quote that did I.

[zuricity]

Tactically that should have been a piece of piss but somehow Pep got it totally wrong ???

Not Fucking Good Enough !!!

Totally agree.

Why does he fuck about so much with our suspect defence and midfield it defies belief ?. He is supposed to be super intelligent, a meticulous forward planner, yet many of our fans, and I struggle to understand him quite often.

For instance “Yaya” great to have in the team when you want to slow the game down, our best ball retainer, and our best passer of the Ball. With a 2- 0 aggregate lead you would have thought he would have been the first name on the Team sheet for tonight, yet Pep for fuck knows what reason picked that abomination of a formation. Last week I thought Ottamendi had a decent game, we had 6 clean sheets prior to this, he inexplicably benches him.

We go 2 -0 down, it obviously wasn’t working, yet one feels his ego gets in the way of common sense to often. Or he leaves it too late, dare I say he is worse than Pellegrini.

Next season Guardiola will have no excuses. If we don’t win the FA Cup. He will start next season with Pellegrini as our most successful manager. That would be one hell of a Monkey to have on his back considering the financial support he had. And Pellegrini lack of support from above.

Absolutely pal , all we had to do was keep the ball in midfield for decent spells in the match and try and play Aguero in and our defence doesn't have to defend it was that fucking simple . We still somehow had a chance to kill the tie off after we scored in the 2nd half and the cunt fucked up yet again with that shit high line defending from a set piece ??? WTF ??? I am totally perplexed / annoyed and fucked off in equal measures ...........absolute total fuck up of the highest order and the cunt supposed to be the best in the world ??? I don't fucking think so !!!

Actually, the free kick proved Guardiola hasn't a clue.

Every City player except Raheem and Sergio , who both did the right thing and not move back, moved towards our goal ! an absolute nightmare .

they only needed the left back to signal to move up the field. and all of the monaco players would have been offside . Pep hasn't a clue , he has been saved by money in the past . I've trained thicko 13 year olds to pull the offside trick .

Man, am i pissed off with Pep , where's his horse ?

[KinkyKinkladze]

Am I alone in thinking the 3rd goal's freekick came from a stupid and increasingly tired kev wading in with a brainless challenge, at risk of getting himself sent off? Forget the subsequent defending, if yaya had come on for an obviously knackered kev when we scored, I think we would've done this.

Never mind, we're out. Still an achievable pot to play for yet.

[aristation]

We have a problem with this manager in that he plays how he wants irrespective of the players available. Tonight Fernandinho was horribly exposed because Pep did not give him the support and did not change it when we needed strength.
Speed is great but he must accept that Silva and Kdb do not have muscle and he must have someone to help Fernandinho against good powerful teams. One holding player and all out attack just won't ever work.
His plan needs a KDB with strength or a Silva who is 6ft 2 we haven't got that so it is him that has to change!