*** Barcelona v City - Official Match Thread ***

[carl_feedthegoat]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

[Ted Hughes]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

Lescott had a fucking good game. You find a centre back in our league who can go to Barca & stand up against Messi & Co like VK & JL did. You'd need about six fucking midfield players round Terry & Cahill in a game v that lot.

[Goaters 103]

Also thought Lescott did ok. At fault for the goal, but also defended well at times and passed it well too.

Ya Ya, Nasri and Silva could have more blame laid at their doors for being largely imeffective when we needed them to step up.

Milner once again highlighted how criminal it is that he gets 1 game a month.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

Lescott had a fucking good game. You find a centre back in our league who can go to Barca & stand up against Messi & Co like VK & JL did. You'd need about six fucking midfield players round Terry & Cahill in a game v that lot.

Of course I said I thought Lescott was excellent to half time but there again I wouldn't expect Carl to have spotted that.Tends to miss the odd thing with those blinkers on :)

[carl_feedthegoat]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

Lescott had a fucking good game. You find a centre back in our league who can go to Barca & stand up against Messi & Co like VK & JL did. You'd need about six fucking midfield players round Terry & Cahill in a game v that lot.

Christ on a fucking bike!!!!! He played SHITE,GOT SKINNED,PASSED THE BALL TO THEM,GAVE THEM A CLEAR CUT PENALTY THAT WASN'T GIVEN,GOT SKINNED,GOT SKINNED,GOT SKINNED AND WAS AT FAULT FOR THEIR FIRST GOAL.

Just because he passed the ball forward for the first time in his fucking career, it doesn't paper over the abysmal shite he did in defense.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

Lescott had a fucking good game. You find a centre back in our league who can go to Barca & stand up against Messi & Co like VK & JL did. You'd need about six fucking midfield players round Terry & Cahill in a game v that lot.

Of course I said I thought Lescott was excellent to half time but there again I wouldn't expect Carl to have spotted that.Tends to miss the odd thing with those blinkers on :)

No , he wasn't excellent up to half time you old fuckign duffer !...suggest you watch the match again...and watch it on a fucking 52 inch HD plasma ffs !!!

[Ted Hughes]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

Lescott had a fucking good game. You find a centre back in our league who can go to Barca & stand up against Messi & Co like VK & JL did. You'd need about six fucking midfield players round Terry & Cahill in a game v that lot.

Christ on a fucking bike!!!!! He played SHITE,GOT SKINNED,PASSED THE BALL TO THEM,GAVE THEM A CLEAR CUT PENALTY THAT WASN'T GIVEN,GOT SKINNED,GOT SKINNED,GOT SKINNED AND WAS AT FAULT FOR THEIR FIRST GOAL.

Just because he passed the ball forward for the first time in his fucking career, it doesn't paper over the abysmal shite he did in defense.

Which fucking central defenders have you seen, who can be left 1v1 against Lionel Messi & not get skinned regularly ?

I'll tell you 3 who wouldn't get fucking near him; Mike Doyle, Dave Watson, Bobby Moore.

Leave any big fucking Prem centre back in that position & he is in deep shit. Vinny is probably the only player in the Premier League who would have a cat in Hell's chance, & that only on a good day.

You expect Lescott to come into the team after being left sat on his arse & go 1v1 with fucking Messi ? Yeah right.

He did some great defending tonight & made some great passes, miles better than our two fullbacks.

[Sideshow Bob]

Milner once again highlighted how criminal it is that he gets 1 game a month.

on last night's performance, 1 game a month is too many! he was garbage.

[Ted Hughes]

Milner once again highlighted how criminal it is that he gets 1 game a month.

on last night's performance, 1 game a month is too many! he was garbage.

He did some good & some shit stuff, but again, like Lescott; it's a hell of a job to suddenly get thrown in v Barca away from home.

Milner & Lescott stood up a lot better than many of the supposed better players.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Ah well.Just a shame we didn't go out in the first leg with the same positive attitude as tonight.Not that we were great but the approach was right.We got into their faces and tried hard to get forward without being kamikaze about it.

I was happy at half time but it was clear that Kun wasn't fit enough to be out there.I didn't expect him to be winning all sorts of ball and running riot but he wasn't close to the game at all.Lescott alongside Vinnie I thought were excellent and some of Lescott's passing was top class.Sadly although we got closer to scoring in the 2nd half with Edin on ( I thought he was very good for his first half hour) Lescott made the crucial mistake and it was game over.

Strange through all that and we had a few players playing below par for me.Two of them were key in Nasri and Silva.Not useless by any means but not at their best.Vinnie of course was very special (and that's even with a fair few mistakes he made as well) but you would expect nothing else.

Barca are not the team they once were but tonight did a job.They were quite cautious a la Bayern last night.Attacking yes but also intent on not getting exposed.Imo we were clearly a match for them and although the ref didn't favour us ( the Messi penalty appeal aside) I doubt if his poor performance decided the match.No doubt at all that it was a pen on Edin but the ref bottled that one and equally no surprise that Zaba went mental to get sent off.

Overall I actually feel a little proud of them tonight but maybe I am in a big minority.

Lescott was excellent????...hahahhahahahahhahhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahah

You are a card Douglas, Ill give you that.

Lescott had a fucking good game. You find a centre back in our league who can go to Barca & stand up against Messi & Co like VK & JL did. You'd need about six fucking midfield players round Terry & Cahill in a game v that lot.

Christ on a fucking bike!!!!! He played SHITE,GOT SKINNED,PASSED THE BALL TO THEM,GAVE THEM A CLEAR CUT PENALTY THAT WASN'T GIVEN,GOT SKINNED,GOT SKINNED,GOT SKINNED AND WAS AT FAULT FOR THEIR FIRST GOAL.

Just because he passed the ball forward for the first time in his fucking career, it doesn't paper over the abysmal shite he did in defense.

Which fucking central defenders have you seen, who can be left 1v1 against Lionel Messi & not get skinned regularly ?

I'll tell you 3 who wouldn't get fucking near him; Mike Doyle, Dave Watson, Bobby Moore.

Leave any big fucking Prem centre back in that position & he is in deep shit. Vinny is probably the only player in the Premier League who would have a cat in Hell's chance, & that only on a good day.

You expect Lescott to come into the team after being left sat on his arse & go 1v1 with fucking Messi ? Yeah right.

He did some great defending tonight & made some great passes, miles better than our two fullbacks.

And he was at fault for the goal , at fault for nearly giving away a penalty and was at fault for some lots of SHITE DEFENDING.

The above is factual Ted , not an opinion , just the bare fuckign truth.

Pellegrini is at fault and so are the people above for not buying a top CB in January , if they had done that then we wouldn't be having this argument at this moment in time.


AND FYI FUCKIGN VALLADOLIDS DEFENSIVE PARTNERSHIP COPED PRETTY WELL WITH MESSI.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Martin Samuel who is probably the best sports writer out there had this to say about Lescott.

"With Martin Demichelis banned for the second leg, Joleon Lescott stepped up as Vincent Kompany’s partner, and one presumes he will be stepping down once an adequate replacement is found.
He was lucky not to be booked for a foul on Lionel Messi after six minutes, lucky not to concede a penalty to him soon after.
City should have been a goal behind in the first half when Lannoy disallowed one from Neymar that should have stood, and when Lescott got in a tangle from a Cesc Fabregas pass on 67 minutes, the rest was history. As were Manchester City.
One error is all it takes for Messi to decide a game, and poor Lescott was a calamity waiting to happen.


Hes shite at this level and we cannot afford to spunk 90 k a week on a player like him.

End of.

[Ted Hughes]

Our cbs had a real job on today & made a great effort of it.

Both our centre backs did brilliantly to keep Barca out for so much of the game. And as for blaming Lescott for the goal, any cunt could suffer a ball going through them when it's kicked at them like that. Our forwards & midfield did it on many occasions.

If you allow Barca to pass the ball in that area, it will likely get through sooner or later, that's why Messi anticipated it. In a normal game, we would have players trying to stop that ball getting through. Because we were chasing the game, we didn't.

It's the usual shite of singling out Lescott for basically not being 100% fucking perfect.

[Ted Hughes]

Martin Samuel who is probably the best sports writer out there had this to say about Lescott.

"With Martin Demichelis banned for the second leg, Joleon Lescott stepped up as Vincent Kompany’s partner, and one presumes he will be stepping down once an adequate replacement is found.
He was lucky not to be booked for a foul on Lionel Messi after six minutes, lucky not to concede a penalty to him soon after.
City should have been a goal behind in the first half when Lannoy disallowed one from Neymar that should have stood, and when Lescott got in a tangle from a Cesc Fabregas pass on 67 minutes, the rest was history. As were Manchester City.
One error is all it takes for Messi to decide a game, and poor Lescott was a calamity waiting to happen.


Hes shite at this level and we cannot afford to spunk 90 k a week on a player like him.

End of.

Shall we sign fucking Piquet to replace him. He did well.

[carl_feedthegoat]

So did Chelsea's when they weren't chasing a 0-2 scoreline. Our cbs had a real job on today & made a great effort of it.

Both our centre backs did brilliantly to keep Barca out for so much of the game. And as for blaming Lescott for the goal, any cunt could suffer a ball going through them when it's kicked at them like that. Our forwards & midfield did it on many occasions.

If you allow Barca to pass the ball in that area, it will likely get through sooner or later, that's why Messi anticipated it. In a normal game, we would have players trying to stop that ball getting through. Because we were chasing the game, we didn't.

It's the usual shite of singling out Lescott for basically not being 100% fucking perfect.

He didn't make one mistake Ted for fucks sake !!! he made loads !!!!!!

I always slag him off when he plays bad so I can understand it when you have a pop at me but when you get MS saying the same thing then you need to sit back and fuckign take it in.

[The Original Special One]

Pellegrini is at fault and so are the people above for not buying a top CB in January , if they had done that then we wouldn't be having this argument at this moment in time.

They made the call that they could pick up their two January window targets in the Summer - or two players of comparable ability - without risking FFP strictures.
Which is fair enough, in my book.

And how many times has it been said that you never make good deals in the January window?

Pello bought a player who'd done the business for him - Demichelis - when the combination of Nastasic's injuries and loss of form - and Lescott's dodginess on the ball - caused him to make an emergency purchase.

I can't believe he's already being damned for making close calls that didn't come off in a League where so many Latins have failed to make the transition, whether immediately or not

[Green & Blue]

Lescotts efforts were admirable but he was way out of his depth tonight.The penalty was a major escape and he was a mess for the first goal.I really hope we can get the right player in the summer to partner Kompany.

[Goaters 103]

on last night's performance, 1 game a month is too many! he was garbage.

Utterly incorrect in every way.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

We need a new central defender.

There isn't a football person in the world who doesn't know this.
But I would argue that we need to look at left back as well.

We do need a new left-back, my money being on Clichy being shown the door. We also need cover for Zab and I'd venture to say cover for our new central defender. Whether these latter two come from within the club or through the cheque-book is another matter.

[hartfordsheartbeat]

At this level your feet need to work as quickly as your brain. We have too many players that this is beyond. The time you get on the ball is limited so you need to move it quickly and most importantly accurately. Some of our players give away hard won ball far too easily and cause us to get turned around unnecessarily. It's all very well highlighting the obvious areas that need strengthening ,finding the players to do it seems to be a huge problem, one that successive managers have had trouble addressing.

[Ted Hughes]

So did Chelsea's when they weren't chasing a 0-2 scoreline. Our cbs had a real job on today & made a great effort of it.

Both our centre backs did brilliantly to keep Barca out for so much of the game. And as for blaming Lescott for the goal, any cunt could suffer a ball going through them when it's kicked at them like that. Our forwards & midfield did it on many occasions.

If you allow Barca to pass the ball in that area, it will likely get through sooner or later, that's why Messi anticipated it. In a normal game, we would have players trying to stop that ball getting through. Because we were chasing the game, we didn't.

It's the usual shite of singling out Lescott for basically not being 100% fucking perfect.

He didn't make one mistake Ted for fucks sake !!! he made loads !!!!!!

I always slag him off when he plays bad so I can understand it when you have a pop at me but when you get MS saying the same thing then you need to sit back and fuckign take it in.

There are a squad of people who give Lescott shit, not just City fans. He even gets dissed when he doesn't play.

I know Lescott got skinned a couple of times by Messi & once was because he gave the ball away badly & I know he was lucky to escape the pen. But he's just been chucked in the team away at Barca ffs, it's hardly a surprise he is a bit off the pace early doors. The goal though, could have happened to any centre back & I'm not having it that he did anything especially bad there. You see that kind of thing happen all the time around the box & you either get away with it or you don't.

Did you see Zabba early doors almost fall over when the ball came straight to him in the box ? Or Kolarov, head the ball to Neymar, then fall on his fucking arse ?

Some of the stuff that happened around the pitch tonight was awful, & Lescott was not responsible for much of it. He was responsible for some great interceptions, some bailing out fuckups by others, & some great forward passes.

We had 4 defenders. Kompany was brilliiant. Lescott did well on the whole. Zabba & Kolarov were utter dogshit. Zabba also got sent off for being fucking stupid. As usual, Lescott is the one who gets the shit.

It has always been the same since we signed him.