Baldrick’s cunning plan.

[Dubaimancityfan]

I have listened to multiple City podcasts and read a lot of opinions about the lineup for the final and the overwhelming agreement of all was that the side that beat PSG should start with only some discussion on whether Ferna or Rodri starts. Even here almost everyone said that Ferna should start for his style of play, experience and leadership.

However Baldrick had a cunning plan to trick Tuchel, so he starts with none of them and to top it all, he starts with the most out of form player we’ve had this season. I don’t think I need to name him. When it was clear to all that it’s not working and we were a goal down, he didn’t make any changes until well into the second half and it wasn’t the obvious change we were all shouting for. No he brings on another out of form player in Jesus and leaves our top striker who scored 2 goals last week on the bench and also the hat trick hero of a couple of weeks ago. And that was a forced change because of KDB’s injury !!

Finally Ferna is introduced in the 64th minute and we begin to have some control of the game but alas it was too late as Chelsea dug in and played the game of their life. They had the lead and would not let it go. Aguero came in the 77th minute but unfortunately he could not produce a miracle again and it was heartbreaking to see him in tears at the end.

I’m writing this in the morning here in Sydney having had hardly any sleep as the game was at 5 in the morning our time and I have still a long day to go through with this fuckup of a match on my mind. I apologize for the length but I just had to spill it all out and you guys are the only ones who will really understand my pain. Cheers

[Dimples]

Spot on.
Everyone I talked to before the game could not understand the changes and all said it was a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone was correct.
I have no sympathy for Pep with this fcuk up. He did it before in the CL and has not learnt his lesson.
I am so disappointed. Chelsea took full advantage and fair play to them. But to me it is a CL we left behind more so than one Chelsea won.

[Tokyo Blue]

I’m writing this in the morning here in Sydney having had hardly any sleep as the game was at 5 in the morning our time and I have still a long day to go through with this fuckup of a match on my mind. I apologize for the length but I just had to spill it all out and you guys are the only ones who will really understand my pain. Cheers

I know, mate. We do this every week. A lot easier when we win, though.

[Tokyo Blue]

Spot on.
Everyone I talked to before the game could not understand the changes and all said it was a disaster waiting to happen. Everyone was correct.
I have no sympathy for Pep with this fcuk up. He did it before in the CL and has not learnt his lesson.
I am so disappointed. Chelsea took full advantage and fair play to them. But to me it is a CL we left behind more so than one Chelsea won.

You and Dubai are correct, in my opinion. He has shown that he learnt NOTHING from the Lyon match. Not a sausage/

Working with his mates, he is far too comfortable at City. He needs a bit of pressure, a threat or two, a boot up the arse, if you will.

[Dubaimancityfan]

I’m writing this in the morning here in Sydney having had hardly any sleep as the game was at 5 in the morning our time and I have still a long day to go through with this fuckup of a match on my mind. I apologize for the length but I just had to spill it all out and you guys are the only ones who will really understand my pain. Cheers

I know, mate. We do this every week. A lot easier when we win, though.

It’s definitely easier when we win mate. As for your other remark, it is very strange that Pep does not learn from his mistakes. How many times has he done this tinkering/overthinking and we end up on the losing side: Liverpool, Spurs, Lyon and finally today all at crucial stages of the Champs League.

[Cotswoldknight]

As soon as I saw the starting lineup I just knew we would lose, I’m gutted that we lost but because he fucked with the team it doesn’t feel as bad as it would if we had lost playing our strongest team

[Dimples]

As soon as I saw the starting lineup I just knew we would lose, I’m gutted that we lost but because he fucked with the team it doesn’t feel as bad as it would if we had lost playing our strongest team

It feels worse. We threw it away.

[zabbadabbado]

I can not help but think he deliberately fucked us over.

And i think it has everything to do with him feeding the narcistic side of his personality at all costs.

Everyone is talking about him, and his management today.

Narcists crave attention.

He could have held his Hands up and admitted he got it wrong, after watching the same game as us.

Not one bit of it, that was by design to justify what he had done to sabotage our chances

[carl_feedthegoat]

I can not help but think he deliberately fucked us over.

And i think it has everything to do with him feeding the narcistic side of his personality at all costs.

Everyone is talking about him, and his management today.

Narcists crave attention.

He could have held his Hands up and admitted he got it wrong, after watching the same game as us.

Not one bit of it, that was by design to justify what he had done to sabotage our chances

He deliberately fucked every City fan by playing Sterling and he needs to be taken to task over it....he cannot justify that change given the way Sterling has performed.

Ill paste this here that I wrote on the 'do we trust pep thread'

During his 77 minutes on the pitch, Sterling had just 29 touches of the ball, which was fewer than Ederson, whilst he only completed 11 passes, which was the fewest of any player from either team to start the game AND he lost possession 12 times with City’s rare attacks regularly breaking down when he got involved

[Dubaimancityfan]

I can not help but think he deliberately fucked us over.

And i think it has everything to do with him feeding the narcistic side of his personality at all costs.

Everyone is talking about him, and his management today.

Narcists crave attention.

He could have held his Hands up and admitted he got it wrong, after watching the same game as us.

Not one bit of it, that was by design to justify what he had done to sabotage our chances

He deliberately fucked every City fan by playing Sterling and he needs to be taken to task over it....he cannot justify that change given the way Sterling has performed.

Ill paste this here that I wrote on the 'do we trust pep thread'

During his 77 minutes on the pitch, Sterling had just 29 touches of the ball, which was fewer than Ederson, whilst he only completed 11 passes, which was the fewest of any player from either team to start the game AND he lost possession 12 times with City’s rare attacks regularly breaking down when he got involved

In work place terminology, there is something called “sackable offense”. I believe that by the mere fact of playing Sterling, Pep has committed one, let alone the the blasphemy of not playing a DM. I keep thinking of how Fernandinho reacted when he was told he was not starting in the biggest game of his time at City (and maybe the last) and how the other players took that. Well we probably know how seeing the way they played resembled a team just cobbled together for one match only.

[PeterParker]

He said he did his best selection.
Nothing to see here, let's move along.

[hayling22]

It hurts more thet we were beaten by a team from our own back yard, who had already done us twice, but thinking we had the nouse to work it out.
A decent Chelsea team, but not a team of any greatness, a team who half a season ago were mediocre.

They had a manager come in, see what was wrong, and corrected it, not playing world beating football, in fact more recently they showed several weaknesses, and they bottled a final themselves, so they were in some ways there for the taking.

I can't help thinking Peps selection affected the whole team morale, the team should have picked itself. Peps reasoning is nonsense, With a solid defensive midfield, we would have created as much if not more than we did, but for sure we would have played better.
Pep says the Prem is the most important, it's really his mantra, but great teams win big competitions.
We can win the Prem for the next 5 years but if we don't become a killer team when it matters, the feeling will be diluted.
I expect us to win the Prem again, we are set up for it, but it will start to irk if we don't make that final step.

For those who say we should be grateful and think back to the dark days, I accept that partly...But Scouse and Chelsea's recent history didn't take years to build
Chelsea were down and out with Frank, sacked their manager, and won The Champs League. Lucky? Well, maybe but why always us?

[ayrshireblue]

We'll be up there for the league every year because Pep's brain farts only account for 1/36th of the season whereas even in a two legged knockout tie it accounts for 1/2 of the result.
It's hard to get to a Champions League Final. We'll qualify every year for the last 16 for the same reasons as above, each game is only 1/6th of the result. But, when we get to the knockout games it demands no mistakes from players, referees or coaches as any one of them will see you knocked out. Why then does he wait till we get to the final, a one-off game, to play a system that he hasn't played and bring in our most out of form player? Not excusable. Not that he's offering an apology. When the mistake was obvious to a blind man why he doesn't change until he is forced to is due to his stubbornness. Had we went out due to his brain fart in the quarters I would have got over it but to wait until the final to have the brain fart is too much.
As has been said elsewhere not playing a DM destabilised the back four, it put creative players out of position just like playing Sterling also put Foden out of position. If we had a DM in position then Mount's through ball to Havertz isn't even played.

[PeterParker]

We'll be up there for the league every year because Pep's brain farts only account for 1/36th of the season whereas even in a two legged knockout tie it accounts for 1/2 of the result.
It's hard to get to a Champions League Final. We'll qualify every year for the last 16 for the same reasons as above, each game is only 1/6th of the result. But, when we get to the knockout games it demands no mistakes from players, referees or coaches as any one of them will see you knocked out. Why then does he wait till we get to the final, a one-off game, to play a system that he hasn't played and bring in our most out of form player? Not excusable. Not that he's offering an apology. When the mistake was obvious to a blind man why he doesn't change until he is forced to is due to his stubbornness. Had we went out due to his brain fart in the quarters I would have got over it but to wait until the final to have the brain fart is too much.
As has been said elsewhere not playing a DM destabilised the back four, it put creative players out of position just like playing Sterling also put Foden out of position. If we had a DM in position then Mount's through ball to Havertz isn't even played.

The thing is we had everything set up for us to win it this year. For the first time we had no weird selection in the previous rounds, no bent decisions against us and most of all, luck (see Mbappe injured) or decisions going our way (Can's handball or Foden scoring in the last minute the winner).
What happened yesterday, the brainfart tactic might really do some damage to the players.

We missed a chance that we waited 10 years for and we didn't do it on the pitch, but in the dressing room.
I am not that confident we can do it all over again next year.

[Crossie]

He’s had 4 goes at winning it with his teams. The fact that that is the closest we’ve got and he spunked himself says it all. I reckon Pellegrini would have won it by now if he’d had 4 goes, fully backed. We’ve basically been the best club side in the world for the last 4 years. Whenever Sterling starts you just know it’s not going to click.

[Bear60]

His cunning plan didn’t work and he brought Jesus on to steady the ship ffs

[zabbadabbado]

I can not help but think he deliberately fucked us over.

And i think it has everything to do with him feeding the narcistic side of his personality at all costs.

Everyone is talking about him, and his management today.

Narcists crave attention.

He could have held his Hands up and admitted he got it wrong, after watching the same game as us.

Not one bit of it, that was by design to justify what he had done to sabotage our chances

He deliberately fucked every City fan by playing Sterling and he needs to be taken to task over it....he cannot justify that change given the way Sterling has performed.

Ill paste this here that I wrote on the 'do we trust pep thread'

During his 77 minutes on the pitch, Sterling had just 29 touches of the ball, which was fewer than Ederson, whilst he only completed 11 passes, which was the fewest of any player from either team to start the game AND he lost possession 12 times with City’s rare attacks regularly breaking down when he got involved

I agree with everything.

One or two might think i am off my Rocker.

I do think he is has mental issues that undermine his genius. Remember the sabbatical he needed after being criticized for some weird shit.

Not one Premier League manager would have started that gave with no defensive midfielder, not one.

It was suicide plain and simple.

We lost because the defense was willfully exposed.

And i can not shake the thought it was by design for reasons unknown.

Sterling was on that Pitch for 70 + minutes.

Aguero who had scored a double the week previous gets 15 minutes in a game where we need a goal.

[Outcast]

I don't doubt we'll get to another final and win it, not sure it will be under Pep though.

[john68]

The problem Pep has is that he is a creative thinker. An artist who sees football as an art form and where perfection is sought but never quite attained and can therefore be improved.

Many of the World's top artists, poets, designers, song writers all suffer from "It can be improved" syndrome.
Malcolm Allison was similar. years ahead of his time, it seems as though, like Pep, he was a genius that was never satisfied merely with success. he needed to think, he needed to try out new things and test those ideas.
If you follow Mal's career, there were times when his dissatisfaction with perfection and his need to improve perfection brought him massive success. At other time; miserable failure.
At City, Mal had the perfect foil, Joe Mercer, a realist who had the ability to allow Mal to create but grounded enough to rein in his excesses.
At other clubs where Mal was given his head, his creativuty brought him successes but also huge failure.
He was a great coach with a vision of City that when given its freedom, brought City eventually to its knees at that time.

Pep, similarly is a great coach, his record stands testament to that, but like all other great creative thinkers, he is never satisfied. No matter how great the outcome, it can always be improved. Sometimes realism suffers and as we have seen and experienced on Sturday night. we suffer too.

Pep is a great coach and he has and will deliver great success, but there will be times when his "It can be improved" syndrome will bring us misery.

What all great creative thinkers need is a Joe Mercer realist who is able to guide and rein in those excesses. Someone he trusts who can say "That's it, it's great, it doesn't need to be improved."
I doubt we will ever find one, so City and we have a choice, accept Pep for what he is, or eventually move on with a different coach, maybe not as great or clever but more pragamatic.

[FA cup winners 2006]

The problem Pep has is that he is a creative thinker. An artist who sees football as an art form and where perfection is sought but never quite attained and can therefore be improved.

Many of the World's top artists, poets, designers, song writers all suffer from "It can be improved" syndrome.
Malcolm Allison was similar. years ahead of his time, it seems as though, like Pep, he was a genius that was never satisfied merely with success. he needed to think, he needed to try out new things and test those ideas.
If you follow Mal's career, there were times when his dissatisfaction with perfection and his need to improve perfection brought him massive success. At other time; miserable failure.
At City, Mal had the perfect foil, Joe Mercer, a realist who had the ability to allow Mal to create but grounded enough to rein in his excesses.
At other clubs where Mal was given his head, his creativuty brought him successes but also huge failure.
He was a great coach with a vision of City that when given its freedom, brought City eventually to its knees at that time.

Pep, similarly is a great coach, his record stands testament to that, but like all other great creative thinkers, he is never satisfied. No matter how great the outcome, it can always be improved. Sometimes realism suffers and as we have seen and experienced on Sturday night. we suffer too.

Pep is a great coach and he has and will deliver great success, but there will be times when his "It can be improved" syndrome will bring us misery.

What all great creative thinkers need is a Joe Mercer realist who is able to guide and rein in those excesses. Someone he trusts who can say "That's it, it's great, it doesn't need to be improved."
I doubt we will ever find one, so City and we have a choice, accept Pep for what he is, or eventually move on with a different coach, maybe not as great or clever but more pragamatic.

There is an element of that and i agree that Pep is a great coach but i think the main reason for the change on Saturday was driven by Pep's ego.

He wanted the headlines to be about his 'tactical genius' and he couldn't handle the prospect that if he trotted out the same team as PSG in the same formation that the praise would fall to the players. His ego is such that he never contemplated losing and the flak coming onto him.