***Official Manchester City vSSC Napoli match thread***

[ruralblue]

Ezzzzz normal!

[PALUS]

mates its ok remember my words we come from munich with 3 pts

[Moonchesteri]

mates its ok remember my words we come from munich with 3 pts

for some reason I also have a feeling that will happen.

[bluej]

mates its ok remember my words we come from munich with 3 pts

for some reason I also have a feeling that will happen.

I think all the teams in this group are capable of taking points off each other, I think the points will be pretty evenly distributed over the group.

[london blue 2]

Ezzzzz normal!

This

[Biamp]

mates its ok remember my words we come from munich with 3 pts

for some reason I also have a feeling that will happen.

I hope so, but it all depends on the players we have available at the time, as well as their form.

[Biamp]

Ezzzzz normal!

Indeed. I don't think a point is bad after all. I mean it's our first game in the Champions League. And just like Kolarov said as long as we didn't lose the game, its all good.

[shawzy]

All the other games in the champs league 1st games have been tight affairs..Im happy..We got a point and an education for the next game...I still wish we would have played with our fastest fullbacks Micah and the Cliche ;-0 We would have stretched there MF and DF outwide alot more and gave our creative players in the middle more time on the ball..Anyway fuck it we got a point..Onwards and upwards.

[lets all have a disco]

Grade C.
Can do better in class with the right text book and attitude.

[Alfie]

Not to compere us too much to barca, but I think we had a bit of a "Zlatan syndrome" that barca had. That is, that we, with so skilled passing players, rather tried to find crosses and air-balls to Dzeko than just tried to find a pass behind the back-line.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

All the stuff about playing the ball too centrally is of course correct but what surprised me was how ineffective Nasri and Silva were.Silva was ok in the first half but disappeared and for me the pair of them got themselves too far forward too early.Too often they weren't the ones doing the creative work leading into the box and as they got forward they got marked tightly and made everything congested.
Then of course if Barry and Yaya puyshed a little high up there was great danger if we lost the ball.Let's face it Barry and Yaya are not the fastest in recovering.I do think Nigel would have read the game better and sat better which in turn would likely have brought Nasri and especially Silva back to the ball more to the team's benefit.

[Yffi_88]

Thought the fans were terribly quiet tonight. Their goal was coming for a while second half. Usually we give the lads a kick up the arse in times like that but we stood there dumbstruck. I was up in the gods which I expected to be quiet but even the south stand was pretty quiet all game. For our first game in the CL And all the talking we've been doing I was as disappointed with the support just as much as I was the team.

[Kladze]

Bit of a reality check for us tonight, this champions league business is no Wigan at home.

Aside from the fact that we attacked with very little width tonight I also thought the occasion got to some of the players a bit - not in terms of nerves so much as many of them seemed to be trying TOO hard rather than just letting the football flow through them as they have been doing of late.

Also, de Jong was shown to be a big miss when we face higher quality opponents.

[shawzy]

Ive just watched the goal we conceded again and it was sloppy..Where the hell was Kollers at left back?, plus Lescott was too slow and by the time Vinny tried to tackle to make amends it was too late.

[Kladze]

Ive just watched the goal we conceded again and it was sloppy..Where the hell was Kollers at left back?, plus Lescott was too slow and by the time Vinny tried to tackle to make amends it was too late.

Tough call blaming Kolorov when the goal came from a breakaway in their third of the field through Barry giving the ball away and Nasri not stopping (legally or illegally) their runner. Kolorov would have had to be Usain fucking Bolt to get back there on time.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Lescott...he does fuckall with the ball....sideways and backwards every fucking time he got the ball (barring one time) and slow to boot.....does my head in.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Blessing in disguise.


I've been telling people all season not too get too carried away because although we've done well we've come up against absolute shite ( Spurs included). We will have to play and beat better teams than Napoli to stand a chance and at times tonight we ran out of ideas.


We have the making of a great side but one step at a time. The other thing great sides do is have a real onslaught in the final 10 minutes and nick plenty of late goals.

[shawzy]

Ive just watched the goal we conceded again and it was sloppy..Where the hell was Kollers at left back?, plus Lescott was too slow and by the time Vinny tried to tackle to make amends it was too late.

Tough call blaming Kolorov when the goal came from a breakaway in their third of the field through Barry giving the ball away and Nasri not stopping (legally or illegally) their runner. Kolorov would have had to be Usain fucking Bolt to get back there on time.

Im not just blaming him.. Napoli were playing fast counter attack and 3 defenders were in no mans land for the goal..I just think we should of been a hell of alot tighter.

[Goaters 103]

Thought a draw probably a fair result. We had 24 shots on goal but only 4 on target - too wasteful.

We were also a little too naive as well; for their goal Nasri had an opportunity to chop the runner down in their half and take the booking - something Napoli did to great effect - but he let the runner go and a goal resulted 5 seconds later. In that situation we need to be ruthless and not be choir boys. Kompany too got away with a howler when he should have let the ball run out.

For 15 mins in the 2nd half leading up to their goal, we were bossed for the first time this season and I hope we learned from the experience. Thought Aguero, Silva and Nasri were a little under par tonight but we will learn from the experience.

As an aside I also thought Lescott had his best game for us. Imperative we get something in Munich to keep the group close, and then take at least 4 points off Villareal.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Against Spurs, Nasri got out wide and put crosses into the box. It worked a treat. Why did he stop doing that tonight?