***palace v city official match thread***

[30yeargloryhunter]

Overall we didn't play badly... Wasn't a Stoke at home or Burnley. Think it just compounded by what has been a bit of a shite season. We never seem to have gained any momentum and have become incredibly predictable. Why not go three at the back last night .... Why have such limited options on the bench? Can't wait for Derby and watch us any chance as obsessed but this season has been dire. Some fans get slaughtered as its if we are forgetting years of shit but I think it's good our expectations have changed. When saw us line up for Derby years ago at Maine Road and think Beckham scored free kick in first few mins they had better player in every position. Now we have that over 95% of teams we play and we should expect them play like that. To be honest even when we wank I still would have been pissed off at us losing away at Burnley and Crystal Palace.

[Ted Hughes]

I didn't think we played badly tonight we have just become far too predictable. Opposition know where the ball is going as we play the same patterns all the time. We don't move teams around as build up too slow and most of our stars just aren't offering moments of genius that can win you these games.
Silva hasn't had great season.., often passes at vital moments been heavy.
Toure just can't play in 2 in middle and is too slow. Pace we have got we don't use and never been convinced by Navas.., too many crosses straight into defence.
Never been fan of Dzeko and think he will go ... Touch and attitude is terrible.
We need speed and quality and some unpredictability in the team. Also our inability at set plays is enough to condemn management as it is a disgrace.
Not sure why Hart getting any grief ... I tend to agree that his save to conceded ratio is poor but he didn't do anything wrong tonight and even kicked the ball into play and nearly set up Aguero.
Biggest problem found tonight is found myself playing with phone and reading site during match which is unheard of... At times we can be bit boring

Basically a spot on post.If you look at tonight's game in isolation you could think we were unlucky.We dominated the game, had a couple of key decisions go badly against us and could so easily have won.

As a City fan though who has seen what's been going on since Xmas tonight wasn't a surprise. The problems we are currently having is a combination of all sorts of things.There does seem to be something not quite right within the camp but exactly what is pure speculation.

Teams are setting up against us better and better and we either have to be 100% at the top of our game or we will be frustrated but a well organised parked bus.We don't play with enough pace or variation so game after game is a struggle.We have tons of possession but so what.

Tonight I was worried about the 3 players in the Palace team who sat behind Murray as they have pace and loads of trickery.By and large they did nothing as we pushed them to defensive positions but because they were defending a lot we had a 9 man wall to contend with and didn't know how to do it.On a different day the keeper might not have made the few good saves he did or we wouldn't have hit the post and had a stonewall pen not given but it wasn't a different day .It was a day we have seen plenty of.

That is exactly how I see the situation and last nights game. Had the same fears as you with their pace and that they may win the battle in the middle of the pitch, but we won that battle comfortably. Hit the post, cleared off the line and a blatant hand ball should have resulted in a pen. Teams are setting up better against us, discipline and concentration negates our threat, the main criticism is we had/have no plan B.

The same thing began to happen when Bobby was in charge - he tried to play 3 at the back to change things and we weren't comfortable with the system.

Won't be reading the rest of this thread or others related after seeing a page or two, pathetic, & only came on to say well done to the match going fans for giving the team plenty of support including at the end.

But I think the points here are are sensible & it is obvious we have a problem in respect of teams playing this way. It's hilarious to read some people quoting 442 as being the problem when the oppo has a back 11! As if it makes a fucking difference what the side is on paper when all 10 are playing in the oppo's half!

But sides have sussed out that they can snide a result playing this way & now even Arsenal & Chelsea do it against us. Dzeko is supposed to be a way round it but is almost impossible to find. Bony might have made a difference tbf, but we still need more.

We have two basic problems; a lack of ability to cash in when we are dominating & a lack of athleticism when we aren't.

Both have been with us all along & both need to be solved in the transfer market. The current players will not solve it. No matter who the manager . The time is up for some, but we have to phase it, not just do it all in one window.

[phips]

read what I said before misquoting me.

i love it when things come full circle

[Wonderwall]

read what I said before misquoting me.

i love it when things come full circle

I said it clearly Phips, you wrote a jumbled load of bollox, in my humble opinion of course ;-)

[Mikhail Chigorin]

read what I said before misquoting me.

i love it when things come full circle

I said it clearly Phips, you wrote a jumbled load of bollox, [b]in my humble opinion of course[/b] ;-)

Steady on WW old chum, you'll be in danger of being accused by some, of sounding like Uriah Heap.

[Hazy2]

Until fight for the right to play is part of our mentality, we will always struggle. We are the classic team of get the 1st goal, well teams are so organised, they say have it, keep it, you so slow in the build up, we can get it back when it suits us, to many times this season we have hard work, a bit of luck kill us, I said it after villa we won 2-0 and we were rip got one ball to give them the lead, which would have been another 75% possession and fuck all to show for it. The scum will let us have it I predict right now with the attitude of 1 fucking goal and this bunch of wankers are done. Sad incitement of players to comfortable and a manager who needed to get some truths into the players who have strolled all season, with no pressure to change.

[Beefymcfc]

Just to cheer people up, we are now 9 points behind where we was this time last season, 5 points behind in the disastrous Mancini season and 10 points behind the 1st PL winning season.

Funny old game, isn't it.

[City64]

Just to cheer people up, we are now 9 points behind where we was this time last season, 5 points behind in the disastrous Mancini season and 10 points behind the 1st PL winning season.

Funny old game, isn't it.

It could get worse next weekend Beefy .......

[Blue Oli]

Just to cheer people up, we are now 9 points behind where we was this time last season, 5 points behind in the disastrous Mancini season and 10 points behind the 1st PL winning season.

Funny old game, isn't it.

It could get worse next weekend Beefy .......

If it does I'll eat my breakfast

[Beefymcfc]

Just to cheer people up, we are now 9 points behind where we was this time last season, 5 points behind in the disastrous Mancini season and 10 points behind the 1st PL winning season.

Funny old game, isn't it.

It could get worse next weekend Beefy .......

It could do but I'm not expecting it. This is the time to man-up and show the fuckers what we're really all about.

[Nigels Tackle]

Just to cheer people up, we are now 9 points behind where we was this time last season, 5 points behind in the disastrous Mancini season and 10 points behind the 1st PL winning season.

Funny old game, isn't it.

It could get worse next weekend Beefy .......

It could do but I'm not expecting it. This is the time to man-up and show the fuckers what we're really all about.

that sounds like a rally cry....

[Beefymcfc]

Just to cheer people up, we are now 9 points behind where we was this time last season, 5 points behind in the disastrous Mancini season and 10 points behind the 1st PL winning season.

Funny old game, isn't it.

It could get worse next weekend Beefy .......

It could do but I'm not expecting it. This is the time to man-up and show the fuckers what we're really all about.

that sounds like a rally cry....

A rally cry! This is the fucking Derby, this shouldn't need a rally cry, everybody should be up for this game anyway, regardless of what happened yesterday.

Come on the Blues!!!

......... City Win, United Lose, Oh City, you got me singing the Blues .......

[Sue Perb]

I think this blog, by Dan Cheeseman, raises some really interesting questions about our beloved team and its performances this season.

I find myself agreeing with much of the sentiment in this article.

Worth a read IMHO!

http://ow.ly/2X3gcu