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

[Cit.revenge]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =1&theater
This is the moment when Ref give Free kick to Barcelona Dzeko is going on goal alone and after that Messi score, wtf how is this free kick for Barsa ?!

[MilnersJaw]

Bang on with the goals. With the number of set plays we get his return is poor. Like you say though, thats being a bit churlish. I'd keep him next year for what its worth. Considering we'll need minimum of 2 new centre backs for next season his prem experience and knowledge could be pivotal

What aload of bollocks. Have you not notice but our corners are dog shit. Also hes hardly featured for two years.

[nottsblue]

What aload of bollocks. Have you not notice but our corners are dog shit. Also hes hardly featured for two years.

How many games has he played in 5 years? 150? How many goals? Not as many as at Everton, in fewer games i'll wager. Plus we're a much better side than Everton so he should score more than he does.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

What aload of bollocks. Have you not notice but our corners are dog shit. Also hes hardly featured for two years.

How many games has he played in 5 years? 150? How many goals? Not as many as at Everton, in fewer games i'll wager. Plus we're a much better side than Everton so he should score more than he does.

It's only a small point mate.
He was quite 'prolific' for a defender in terms of goal scoring at Everton and although it isn't their main job at all, if your centre backs can get you four or five goals a season each, like Chelsea's seem to, that can be the difference between winning the league or not.
How many games times has John Terry or to a slightly lesser extent Nemanja Vidic won their team the points with a header off a free kick or corner in a game where they weren't at their best?

That's my only 'criticism' of Lescott but that's really nitpicking.
Proper professional and been a great player for us. Wish him well wherever he goes this summer.

[Ted Hughes]

What aload of bollocks. Have you not notice but our corners are dog shit. Also hes hardly featured for two years.

How many games has he played in 5 years? 150? How many goals? Not as many as at Everton, in fewer games i'll wager. Plus we're a much better side than Everton so he should score more than he does.

It's only a small point mate.
He was quite 'prolific' for a defender in terms of goal scoring at Everton and although it isn't their main job at all, if your centre backs can get you four or five goals a season each, like Chelsea's seem to, that can be the difference between winning the league or not.
How many games times has John Terry or to a slightly lesser extent Nemanja Vidic won their team the points with a header off a free kick or corner in a game where they weren't at their best?

That's my only 'criticism' of Lescott but that's really nitpicking.
Proper professional and been a great player for us. Wish him well wherever he goes this summer.

For some reason, we always seem to have used Lescott more to cause interference rather than as an actual target for set pieces.

I remember one he scored against us for Everton, after the ball was half cleared, he just stayed forward & drifted behind Richard Dunne, they just hit a diagonal over Dunne's head & he nodded it in.

90% of the time with City, he seems to be one of the first people detailed to sprint back down the pitch.

[getdressedmctavish]

I don't know why, maybe he's nearly as old as me or something, but I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with Ted against people I believe seem to know little about the realities of the game. Our choice isn't between Lescott and Thiago or Bobby Feckin Moore, its a choice between L and Demichellis.I said don't judge Lescott v Messi he's likely to get mullered, but overall, given an impossible job, he did well, particularly with bringing it out of defence and passing.The point is this. He should be our second cb for the rest of the season.At the last count Hull had not signed Messi. Lescott can do the job in the remaining Prem games.The Count plays Demichellis and we'll fail, end of, imo.

[Breks]

why do people even respond to this bellend.

lescott was good last night apart from the bollock he dropped. after that his confidence waived abit.

if DM or nastic were playing, we definitely would have conceded in that first half.

Wondered when you would crawl out from under the rock you have been hiding under.

[bayblue]

I don't know why, maybe he's nearly as old as me or something, but I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with Ted against people I believe seem to know little about the realities of the game. Our choice isn't between Lescott and Thiago or Bobby Feckin Moore, its a choice between L and Demichellis.I said don't judge Lescott v Messi he's likely to get mullered, but overall, given an impossible job, he did well, particularly with bringing it out of defence and passing.The point is this. He should be our second cb for the rest of the season.At the last count Hull had not signed Messi. Lescott can do the job in the remaining Prem games.The Count plays Demichellis and we'll fail, end of, imo.

Agree. Think Lescott does well in PL. And, I think, Vinny and he play well together the vast majority of times.
Somehow, I doubt this will happen though. Pellers, like Mancini before, just doesn't seem to trust him.

[MilnersJaw]

Wondered when you would crawl out from under the rock you have been hiding under.

The world is bigger than Manchester. You should try leaving it, if you aren't too busy saving the the free world.

[The Original Special One]

Only just got to see the complete game this evening.
(the oul' telly's been acting up, and I may have to get a new one. And, up until now, my view of the game was based on the FiveLive commentary - which I think for the most part was reasonably fair; especially coming from our old buddy, Danny Mills)

To be fair, that Barca side are some way off their peak - particularly with Xavi less of an orchestra-conductor, perhaps because of a lack of stamina; and injuries seemingly taking too much of a toll on Iniesta - and also perhaps making him less relish the battle. Also, there doesn't quite seem to be the right chemistry between Neymar and Messi; perhaps the latter doesn't like to see the new star steal his thunder.
But you can see why - with both Messi and the not-yet signed Neymar out of last year's Barca side - Bayern Munich took them to the cleaners. Without them, they are quite an average side - at least by European standards.

But I've never seen an English side play as well in Barcelona, or take the game to Barca as much as we did. Which makes you wonder how we could have done at the Etihad with this formation.

Of course in both games we started with injured lone strikers. Aguero was so anonymous - I'd be interested to read his stats. for ground covered because I'm sure that he was well short of his average, even for that - that for almost the entire first half we might as well have been playing with just 10 men; or Aguero, playing on one leg.

Of course Barca created quite a few clear-cut chances in that first half but you could see what a difference that the introduction of Dzeko made: all of a sudden, we had 11 men again; and we were competing all over the pitch.
If you discount the two valid penalty shouts - one for each side - there were at least three very good goal-scoring opportunities we had: Nasri shooting straight at the keeper, when it looked easier to score; Silva, shooting over from a good position, when his best bet was to pass to a free and unmarked Toure. And then there was Dzeko's header, which Valdes finger-tipped over the bar.

I thought we might have started Javi Garcia as a purely defensive midfielder, thus freeing up Yaya to push further forward; but perhaps Pellegrini didn't trust Garcia's defensive capabilities enough against World-class opposition.
But even though Yaya was mostly deployed in a defensive role, he had another outstanding game, between breaking up and intercepting - and forcing Barca players into alleyways, and out towards the flanks.
As well as making the occasional foray forward; although his passing in a forward position wasn't of his usual consistently high standard.

James Milner took a while to get into the game - perhaps a reflection of his lack of game time; Samir Nasri was also quiet, early on, although his game picked up, but his miss was baffling - particularly given the quality of his finishes this season; and the composure he has previously shown in his finishing.
David Silva was busy; although he really needs to practice his shooting skills, because he's undoing so much of his own good work by tepid finishing.

Dzeko performed well when introduced, and was a marked improvement on the ineffective - and clearly unfit - Aguero. He's been gradually picking up in his past few games and I'm confident of him making a serious contribution in our renewed assault on the title.
Joe Hart had another outstanding game and it's great to see him put all his early season problems behind him.

Vinny Kompany was outstanding, although he rode his luck at times, with some of his challenges. Alongside him, Joleon Lescott for the most part performed well, but - ironically - his two major blunders were both instances where he was attempting to adapt his game to that required by Pellegrini: to be more cultured in his distribution, rather than just 'hoofing it', as had been his norm.
His error for the goal was an attempt to trap and pass almost in one movement; a ploy which came badly unstuck.

Fernandinho was also quite solid, although he limited his effectiveness with an early yellow card.

On the whole, an admirable performance by us, but we'd been left with a mountain to climb, after the first leg; and Kun's ineffective first half pretty much put paid to our chances, even before Barca scored.

But you really can't legislate for Messi; even below-par, he'll still kill you with one cobra-like strike