*** Official Man City vs Real Madrid ***

[zuricity]

Tevez was terrible 1st half but gradually got better & better. The service he got was apalling to start with & that got better though.

why can't you simply say that RM were dominant and the best team in the first half? much better than us ... which they were . why?

Teves got sweet fa from his midfield, or anyone else for that matter

Teves was quiet , that's a fair analysis.

[Lev Bronstein]

In the first half we didn't see much of the ball and either gave it away cheaply or went carelessly offside. Quite a few were guilty of that.

[Socrates]

Vinnie must be rested. He is tired. Last season he played almost every game, only that red card had him off. Even Zabs was owned by Tranny. I think he could had left Maicon until the last moment.

I would had loved to see Bobby taking a piss on Maureen.

fucking tired??? we have only just began ffs !!!!!

He has just turned to shit.....end of.

so last season's prem player of the season has "turned to shit" Carl the cunt has spoken... fucking fuck the fuck off carl. If you cannot be proud of that performance tonight then you are the biggest cunt ever. Do one. I am not reading your shit anymore...

Then go play in the titty bar and fucking do one you smarmy cunt.

you are the only one of us who have ever been in such a place you racist mysoginistic fuckwitted cunt. You are a disgrace.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Vinnie must be rested. He is tired. Last season he played almost every game, only that red card had him off. Even Zabs was owned by Tranny. I think he could had left Maicon until the last moment.

I would had loved to see Bobby taking a piss on Maureen.

fucking tired??? we have only just began ffs !!!!!

He has just turned to shit.....end of.

so last season's prem player of the season has "turned to shit" Carl the cunt has spoken... fucking fuck the fuck off carl. If you cannot be proud of that performance tonight then you are the biggest cunt ever. Do one. I am not reading your shit anymore...

Then go play in the titty bar and fucking do one you smarmy cunt.

you are the only one of us who have ever been in such a place you racist mysoginistic fuckwitted cunt. You are a disgrace.

You said your not reading my stuff anymore you lying fat cunt......titty bars are your speciality you fucking gargoyle and you know it.
On a side note , I dont pay for my women..unlike you jibba jabba.

[phips]

Just got to watch the game.

We deserved to lose. Horrible play in the first half, worse defense in the 2nd half.
Hart did all he could to help us win but our defense, yet again, was shit. Maicon was
terrible again, two games in a row.

Positives: The Bosnians. Who wanted to sell them? I know I did. AK was still shit going
forward until the free kick but still. Yaya is immense and was great. Garcia was great too,
especially his positional play. Nasti wasn't terrible either...definitely better than Savic would've been;
I don't think Lescott could've done anything with Benzema's goal.


Tevez and Silva hardly had the ball. We did NOTHING in the first half. RM's defense was worse
than ours but we hardly pressed them, especially in the first half. I really don't like the 3-5-2 at ALL

Marcelo's goal was great tbf.

HEY MANCINI, PLAY A BACK 4!
His quote about wanting to put Aguero on but not able to since Maicon got injured shows his inexperience
in Europe. Hey, Mancini, put Clichy on the fucking right. That's 4 defenders.
You don't need 5 with 3 defensive midfielders. Fucker.

[Duckman]

Just got to watch the game.

We deserved to lose. Horrible play in the first half, worse defense in the 2nd half.
Hart did all he could to help us win but our defense, yet again, was shit. Maicon was
terrible again, two games in a row.

Positives: The Bosnians. Who wanted to sell them? I know I did. AK was still shit going
forward until the free kick but still. Yaya is immense and was great. Garcia was great too,
especially his positional play. Nasti wasn't terrible either...definitely better than Savic would've been;
I don't think Lescott could've done anything with Benzema's goal.


Tevez and Silva hardly had the ball. We did NOTHING in the first half. RM's defense was worse
than ours but we hardly pressed them, especially in the first half. I really don't like the 3-5-2 at ALL

Marcelo's goal was great tbf.

HEY MANCINI, PLAY A BACK 4!
His quote about wanting to put Aguero on but not able to since Maicon got injured shows his inexperience
in Europe. Hey, Mancini, put Clichy on the fucking right. That's 4 defenders.
You don't need 5 with 3 defensive midfielders. Fucker.

AK is not Bosnian, but hey, Spain played Georgia the other day. :p

[Swales4ever]

I am currently sad and sick at various levels, not only for the result and the game.

Although it does not affect my pride in having finally met up with a very special Living Legend like Sir John68 is, sharing the excitement at witnessing MCFC taking on bloody Real Madrid, on their history exuding ground and having given them the hardest life till the last second of the game.

[Goaters 103]

We cant argue Real didnt deserve to win that game because clearly they did. The frustration and despondency comes from the way we lost - being 2-1 up with 5 mins to go and coming away with nothing shouldnt happen.

Cannot fathom the logic of pitching a 19 year old into his debut here, nor debuting an entirely new centre-back pairing in a game of this magnitude. Similarly isolating Maicon on Ronaldo for large parts of the game - something we somehow got away with - wasnt tactically smart either. At times we couldnt get the ball out of our own half in the first 45 mins, but we grew in to the game and gradually carried some threat in the 2nd half, mainly thanks to Ya Ya Toure who was far and away our best player.

We haven't defended particularly well all year, but showed some signs last saturday with Kompany and Lescott returning to something like their normal form. To then break that partnership up for this game seemed a bit bizarre to be honest. I recall Kolo being mysteriously selected at the Allianz a year ago and that didnt work either, and quite why we didnt put our experienced centre-half pair out together baffles me and probably Joleon as well.

With Dortmund beating Ajax last night, we absolutely must win the Dortmund home game next - its a total must-win with bells and whistles. Failure to win there, and we are fuct.

[Chinners]

This is football, QPR probably felt similar after losing 3-2 when winning 2-1 into injury time

[Duckman]

anybody knows what ever happened to Mario? He wasnt even on the bench last night, right?

[Ted Hughes]

anybody knows what ever happened to Mario? He wasnt even on the bench last night, right?

Just left out for Dzeko & Aguero. No other reason.

[london blue 2]

I'm over it now. shit happens. On to Arsenal THAT is a must win

[Douglas Higginbottom]

anybody knows what ever happened to Mario? He wasnt even on the bench last night, right?

Just left out for Dzeko & Aguero. No other reason.

There was mention that it was for technical reasons which sounds like it was tactical and somebody got the word wrong! You can't really have 3 strikers on the bench so one had to go and he chose Mario.No big deal for me but no Milner at all was a major surprise.

[Ted Hughes]

anybody knows what ever happened to Mario? He wasnt even on the bench last night, right?

Just left out for Dzeko & Aguero. No other reason.

There was mention that it was for technical reasons which sounds like it was tactical and somebody got the word wrong! You can't really have 3 strikers on the bench so one had to go and he chose Mario.No big deal for me but no Milner at all was a major surprise.

Mancini probably said technical meaning tactical. It pretty much can't mean anything else unless Mario's cpu has burned out or his hard drive needs replacing.

[PALUS]

After a night and still feel awful, not because we lost, but in the way we lost and how we open the game.I must say despite the problems with the defense last night and during the beginning of the season Silva is not even close to Silva Wizard of early last season but I think it is matter of time when he will blow up again and show the grandeur that he has no doubt, while Yaya reminds me a steel train that no one can stop it. He is amazing, everything he did last night. I am most disappointed because I really think like the team that has a whopping 20 players we cant start as we are Grenada to play against Real and wait for Bob to understand that we need to start as favorites because there is no team in the world that we can attack.I Know Bob went To the surprise that he almost succeeded in but I think City should start out with the intention to dominate regardless of the opponent, it is my opinion, I was very disappointed with our Defence and pulling in the 16 meters and I think Nastasic although he had a good debut for someone who is 19 years old is not supposed to make his debut at this level.

[dazby]

OK, so the selections were very weird. Maicon against the Tran. Nasti making a debut. Gazbaz having his first game back.

In the first half we were dreadful. Why? Our shape and lack of midfield workrate. How many times did the defence have to boot it long because the short option wasn't available? Gaz was back with a new midfield partner in Garcia. Garcia was a rabbit in the headlights. Let's assume that the tactic against the Tran and Di Maria was to show them the inside and force them to go into a crowded midfield. Only problem is, Garcia wansn't sticking to the script. He was playing far too deep and was extremely unsuccessful in breaking up play. Still, the majority of their chances were from a long way out and it takes a damn good shot to score from there.

Yaya and Tevez were isolated. As Tevez was the front man he couldn't make the midfield run s to help out play. Yaya was struggling to get on the ball. Nasri wasn't noticed until he got injured. And Dave? A passenger. They were being stifled by a Madrid midfield containing 0 creativity and 100% graft. No Ozil, no Modric. Stalemate.

The second half begins and Kolarov begins to have an impact going forward as the change in shape allows City to control the midfield better. Then the big moment. The excellent Essien comes off. Madrid lose their steel and City begin to really find some holes. Dzeko comes on as the point forward and Tevez is freed to have an impact. A break from Yaya and Dzeko makes a great finish, with Cassillas making a dreadful early decision to dive left.

1-0 to City. So, control things and keep it tight? No, Marcelo tries once, twice and thanks to some terrible terrible terrible laziness from GARCIA, he scores.

1-1 It's a far more even game now. The benches are cleared and Real's defences have given away to attacking creativity. Kolarov scores to make it 2-1. Golden rule. Tighten up in defence right after scoring because that's when you are at your most vulnerable. But no, Benzema gets given a gift ball, as a result of no midfield pressure. And the scoreboard pressure that City had generated evaporates again.

The third goal was a piece of pure Ronaldo. The topspin generate gives Joey no chance to make a save and the pressure is off Mourinho for another week.

Yes the City defence was poor-ish. However, the City midfield was much much worse and was the root cause for all the pressure being on the defence in the first place. They didn't provide a shield nor did they keep the ball enough to relieve the pressure.

Still, the only way to beat Real Madrid is to play Real Madrid. The best way to get champions league experience is to play in the Champion's League. We won't win it this year. We are at least 3 years away. However, it's games like this that are the stepping stones to those victories.

[Chinners]

anybody knows what ever happened to Mario? He wasnt even on the bench last night, right?

Just left out for Dzeko & Aguero. No other reason.

There was mention that it was for technical reasons which sounds like it was tactical and somebody got the word wrong! You can't really have 3 strikers on the bench so one had to go and he chose Mario.No big deal for me but no Milner at all was a major surprise.

Mancini probably said technical meaning tactical. It pretty much can't mean anything else unless Mario's cpu has burned out or his hard drive needs replacing.

I was thinking that the technical reason was that the grass in Madrid is the type he's allergic to.

[Dameerto]

OK, so the selections were very weird. Maicon against the Tran. Nasti making a debut. Gazbaz having his first game back.

In the first half we were dreadful. Why? Our shape and lack of midfield workrate. How many times did the defence have to boot it long because the short option wasn't available? Gaz was back with a new midfield partner in Garcia. Garcia was a rabbit in the headlights. Let's assume that the tactic against the Tran and Di Maria was to show them the inside and force them to go into a crowded midfield. Only problem is, Garcia wansn't sticking to the script. He was playing far too deep and was extremely unsuccessful in breaking up play. Still, the majority of their chances were from a long way out and it takes a damn good shot to score from there.

Yaya and Tevez were isolated. As Tevez was the front man he couldn't make the midfield run s to help out play. Yaya was struggling to get on the ball. Nasri wasn't noticed until he got injured. And Dave? A passenger. They were being stifled by a Madrid midfield containing 0 creativity and 100% graft. No Ozil, no Modric. Stalemate.

The second half begins and Kolarov begins to have an impact going forward as the change in shape allows City to control the midfield better. Then the big moment. The excellent Essien comes off. Madrid lose their steel and City begin to really find some holes. Dzeko comes on as the point forward and Tevez is freed to have an impact. A break from Yaya and Dzeko makes a great finish, with Cassillas making a dreadful early decision to dive left.

1-0 to City. So, control things and keep it tight? No, Marcelo tries once, twice and thanks to some terrible terrible terrible laziness from GARCIA, he scores.

1-1 It's a far more even game now. The benches are cleared and Real's defences have given away to attacking creativity. Kolarov scores to make it 2-1. Golden rule. Tighten up in defence right after scoring because that's when you are at your most vulnerable. But no, Benzema gets given a gift ball, as a result of no midfield pressure. And the scoreboard pressure that City had generated evaporates again.

The third goal was a piece of pure Ronaldo. The topspin generate gives Joey no chance to make a save and the pressure is off Mourinho for another week.

Yes the City defence was poor-ish. However, the City midfield was much much worse and was the root cause for all the pressure being on the defence in the first place. They didn't provide a shield nor did they keep the ball enough to relieve the pressure.

Still, the only way to beat Real Madrid is to play Real Madrid. The best way to get champions league experience is to play in the Champion's League. We won't win it this year. We are at least 3 years away. However, it's games like this that are the stepping stones to those victories.

I think Garcia WAS sticking to the script, when we didn't have the ball we were in a narrow 4-1-4-1 early on, and Garcia was the '1' just in front of the defence (and often dropping back into the defensive line). I wasn't really paying attention in the second half so didn't look to see if we'd changed how we defended. We stayed narrow the whole match though, I know that much, which is why they could come inside at will and why Marcelo ended up in a position to score (which he'd been threatening to do most of the night, having the luxury of Ronaldo as a decoy ahead of him)

[Blue_Manc]

We made Mourinho do his trademark slide. That shows how tough of a team we are, lol

[Ted Hughes]

The defence were all stood too deep. That was the reason Real got so many shots off. There were a whole gang of defenders just stood marking fresh air, leaving a space all round the edge of the box & when a Madrid player did a sidestep, nobody was coming out to stop the shot.

If you watch Wigan's defence v the rags (which I was taking the piss out of at weekend) it was identical to ours & had we been playing the rags, we would have got hammered there too. In fact the goal Powell scored & the pathetic defending was almost identical to the goal Marcelo scored. Truly abysmal stuff & below Premier League average standard.

We were shite.