Why Change The System?

[Ted Hughes]

That's all fair enough & sound tactically, but we have ruined our system in order to stop a fullback. What did Barca do different ?

That sends the message out to the whole team, that Barca are better than us & we went to pieces accordingly.

They had Masherano. How many headers did he have to win ? How many corners did we have ?

If we are admitting that we can't play football on equal terms v Barca, which Kolarov's selection says, then how about we have another plan of actually trying to beat them, by hitting them at their weak spots ?

We just stood in a line & got beat. Like Palace at Arsenal. Except Palace created more chances.

Bollocks Ted. Kolarov on one wing and Navas on the other. What does that tell you? I just wish Dzeko was fully fit. If we'd have kept 11 on the pitch I've no doubt we could have won that, and I'm confident we can get them a right scare in the return.

Kolarov was just a second fullback spending most of his time stood level with our box. Did nothing to hurt Barca.

[Dubciteh]

You didn't hear me asking for it & certainly not Kolarov, in a million fucking years.

I don't recall seeing who you asked for, I don't normally make it to the 8th paragraph tho so I might have missed it :)

I didn't ask for anything. I believed Pellegrini when he said we will not change. Just assumed the choice would be whether he plays Jovetic, Dzeko or Nasri as the 2nd attacker. I would have gone for Jovetic as he is like an extra midfield player anyway & Nasri isn't fit.

If I thought we were going into systems to play v Barca, at home, not even one of them I came up with would involve Kolarov as a midfield player.

I actually wanted milner there all along but only realised yesterday he was suspended, with nasri not fit and jovetic/silva not great at tracking back, it made sense to me to play kolorov there to thwart one of there most dangerous weapons Dani Alves on the overlap and it worked the 1st half. Granted as you have said in other threads i didnt expect kolorov and the rest to forget how to pass and shit themselves but in theory before the match the tactic for kolorov was the best available. I would imagine once we had a stonghold in the game the plan was then in the second half to replace him with nasri or jovetic but the sending off killed this option.

Why are we changing our whole system to stop one of their fullbacks?
We should have been more concerned with causing Alves problems.

Its not a change to the whole system to stop one full back, its playing a different left sided midfielder to stop a full back. The change in the system was necessary to help us win the midfield battle and give us a better chance of winning the game. And it was working until the sending off.

If we had of played our normal 442 i reckon we would of lost and likely more by than 2 goals.

[dazby]

Kolarov was just a second fullback spending most of his time stood level with our box. Did nothing to hurt Barca.

That's because he got fouled every time he got in attacking positions.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

I don't get all the doom and gloom around here.

Well I'll give you where mine comes from.

Imo, we have just been played off the park at football by a side which isn't better than us, because we were scared of them.

We were scared going forward, but after the sending-off we seemed to get angry and looked like a different animal (although limited in what we could do due to the missing player). If we learn as well for this game (both manager and players) as we did after the Chavski game, then we won't have anything to fear in going to their place.

[guv111]

We started poorly and never really recovered, except when the remaining nine outfield players galvanised themselves after Demichelis's sending off. Not for the first time in Europe we played in a timid, nervous manner and paid for it.

Why are we so keen to hand certain teams (Bayern home and away springs to mind) such a crucial advantage? Then, when we did get the ball in those first twenty to twenty-five minutes, we treated it like a hot coal and couldn't give it back to Barca quickly enough. We looked disjointed and cumbersome, probably in part due to stage fright. All that was needed to lose the match was for one of our player to make a clumsy, careless mistake, and sure enough those errors led to goals. Hart must have turned to vapour again when he let that second go through him.

More seasoned/savvy European teams would have churned out a 0-0 if it had become obvious their shooting boots had been left back in the dressing room, and left themselves a chance in the second leg. City seem to love making life hard or even impossible for themselves.

[Ted Hughes]

Kolarov was just a second fullback spending most of his time stood level with our box. Did nothing to hurt Barca.

That's because he got fouled every time he got in attacking positions.

He barely got into real attacking positions. He only had about 2 touches in a position to cross the ball in the whole game. Most of his touches were just over the halfway line & in defence. Crossing is his only real purpose in an attacking sense & he was never in the place to do it properly.

[kinkylola]

putting kolarov that far forward is not going to make him more effective. In our system, where he has been effective as a fullback, it is because we have the left mid, either silva or nasri, cutting in as a playmaker and creating space for kolarov to run on to the ball and cross ... usually at first or second touch, which he does very well.

asking him to be the midfielder and stay wide, stifled our creativity through mid and made it so that kolarov had to try to create his own space, which he has no ability to do.

i was disappointed in putting kolarov there, though I (naively) hoped it would lead to more crosses from him.

that being said, we were in the game, and looking fine until the red. I would have still taken us to get something back with 11 men, even at 1-0 down. It's a shame it had to go that way.

[Blue Since 76]

Kolarov was just a second fullback spending most of his time stood level with our box. Did nothing to hurt Barca.

That was what he did, but I'm not sure it was what he was supposed to do. If Milner had been eligible, I suspect he'd have started there which could have been very different, but Kolarov was poor.

But if you don't take the risk of playing him, we'd have had no width of the left, leaving Clichy exposed against two and removing one option of getting round them. The tactic was fine, the only personnel available to do it was the problem

[Saul Goodman]

The tactic was fine, the only personnel available to do it was the problem

Agreed. Milner over Kolarov would've been better.

If we had played 4-4-2 with Jovetic or Aguero in for Kolarov it could've gone worse.

[Blue Since 76]

Agreed. Milner over Kolarov would've been better.

If we had played 4-4-2 with Jovetic or Aguero in for Kolarov it could've gone worse.

Especially if it'd been Aguero.

[Sparklehorse]

Who exactly did you want him to give it to when all 10 men were marked? The one time he tried throwing it out it was obvious what would happen and Sanchez duly stole the ball ahead of Clichy and was in. The only complaint I'd have was the one he punched in the first half when it looked an easy catch

if you watch the game you will see that he had several easy opportunities to give our defenders possession and being the goalie he should be calling for defenders to pass to, there were a couple of occasions when we did get possession from his aimless hoofing but that was it. Joe Hart is responsible for one of the greatest goalkeeping performances I've ever seen (re Dortmund), if not the best so i'm not a natural knocker of him, but imho he is no longer a commanding figure between the sticks and i fear that he will be gone by the start of next season unless there is significant improvement between now and then.

[Blue Since 76]

if you watch the game you will see that he had several easy opportunities to give our defenders possession and being the goalie he should be calling for defenders to pass to, there were a couple of occasions when we did get possession from his aimless hoofing but that was it. Joe Hart is responsible for one of the greatest goalkeeping performances I've ever seen (re Dortmund), if not the best so i'm not a natural knocker of him, but imho he is no longer a commanding figure between the sticks and i fear that he will be gone by the start of next season unless there is significant improvement between now and then.

I was at the game. Did you see the pace which Sanchez in particular was closing the defenders down at? What's the point of rolling it out to a defender who has to try and beat a man and then lump it forward before the next challenge comes in?

[failsworthblue]

I was not surprised or disappointed that MP changed the set up a little for Barca but like Ted amazed and disappointed that the change involved Kolarov. Given how well Garcia played against Chelsea (plus his recent improvements in all games) I expected him to partner Fernandinho to allow Yaya to fully support our attacking play.

Kolarov probably did help down Barc's right side just by being a body there but his talent as a genuine midfield player is close to nil. No touch or control at all.At nil nil I was just hoping MP would make changes in the set up for the last 20 minutes or so but events changed all that.Even at 1 nil with 3 minutes to go I would have said we had a good chance away but 2 nil is probably too much.

Spot on about Garcia , his best games have been in the big games he has played in, topped with the performance against Chelsea.
It was made for him last night and a very poor decision by Manuel.
Three big games at home , three defeats and poor performances, better not make the same mistake a week on Sunday.

[Saul Goodman]

I thought we shut down Alexis completely

[brite blu sky]

I thought the tactics were spot on and were exactly what i called for pre game(see match thread).

We tried going gung ho previously in europe against top sides and it never works.

We were shading the game up until the stupidity of Demi. The key was not to concede an early goal and grow into the game and thats exactly what was happening until the sending off. I fancied us right up until that moment.

Even at one down i thought the subs the count made just after the sending off were perfect.

The second goal was the killer but was a result of the sending off, kolorov had alves in his pocket in the 1st half, once silva went left wing we were always liable to leave space there and they exploited it, this coupled with clichys exhaustion was the reason for the second goal.

We will get there in the champions league i have full confidence on another night we would of won, its small margins.

How about this for a tactic: we play our strongest available side & are a bit more cautious going forward not to leave too many players in front of the ball, then try to beat Barcelona ?

How about this for a tactic: Play 3 strikers Aguero behind Negredo and Dzeko. No wingers and no Advanced midfield. 4 man defence and 3 DM ball winners that simply hunt the ball in a pack in front of the defence and hoof it towards their penalty area as soon as they can get a clear swipe. Sort of Stoke only with world class players.

My only other point here is to say that it is more about belief and commitment to really get stuck in. Way way too much respect last night.
What happened and what were the circumstances that snapped City into action at the Allianze ?? 2-0 down and nothing to play for having just been made to look crap. Pride, anger and a quite a lot of fuck it came into play and the players started to simply show how good they are at full pace.

How do you engineer that attitude ? If they can capture that attitude again with Aguero in the side they will surprise barca and you will suddenly see that the catalan side are as vunerable as any team when the initiative is taken off them.

It is what Bayern did to them and it shattered them.