The Journalist Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Once the initial disappointment of conceding the last-minute goal had worn off, my overriding feeling since full-time last night has been that we can play even better than that in the second leg. I’d be interested to hear how others saw the game tactically last night - @spudski among others - but here are three things I thought we did brilliantly and three things we can do better. The good: - We very clearly targeted Bravo and Mangala in possession, with anything back to the goalkeeper immediately chased down by Reid, triggering Paterson, Brownhill and Bryan to cut off passing angles to their back four. This high press led to our goal. - Smith and Pack sat deeper than usual, meaning that if they beat our high press our back four had a degree of protection. We struck the difficult balance of pressing but still getting bodies behind the ball really well, which, for me, is the part of the game Premier League teams haven’t got right against Man City this season. - For the most part, we didn’t get sucked into just lumping it and tried to play our way out. We looked supremely confident in our own ability - as we should be! When we had to go long, we worked the ball into a position to hit the channel rather than just pumping it long. The not so good: - We didn’t win anywhere near as much second ball as we did against Man Utd, nor did we secure possession quite as well from 50-50 plays (eg. goal kicks). This is, in part, because Man City are utterly world class at this side of the game and it’s one thing that sets them apart. - We lost so much possession from our own set-plays. Our free-kick and corner delivery was miles short of what we’re capable of and will have to improve in the second leg. We also lost so much ball from our own throw-ins. It’s picky, but it’s something I’d be looking at. - When we went forward, Pack and Smith both got a bit caught between joining in the attack and sitting back. Pack, in particular, got stuck in no-man’s land a handful of times when we lost the ball in their final third and they were suddenly four on three or the like. Man City are so good at creating those situations, but I still reckon we didn’t help our own cause at times. Anything else stick out for people? Either way, what a pleasure watching our team against that level of opposition. It’ll have been a huge education for both our staff and the players. And the best bit? We’re still in the tie and can 100% play better in the second leg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderingred Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Yeah, for all the quality Man City had, I felt that their chances mostly came from us conceding possession in our own half. We didn't help ourselves at times. Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that! Immense performance against probably the best team in Europe and we still know that we can get even better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phileas Fogg Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 9 minutes ago, The Journalist said: We lost so much possession from our own set-plays. Our free-kick and corner delivery was miles short of what we’re capable of and will have to improve in the second leg. We also lost so much ball from our own throw-ins. It’s picky, but it’s something I’d be looking at. This is a very good point and watching the game I agreed. Our physicality and aerial threat is one area where we should be superior to them. Shame Djuric isn't fit. They appeared to largely be using zonal marking at set pieces which is a big risk when you're defending against the likes of Flint. Our delivery has to be better as it's a big chance we have to take advantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dastardly and Muttley Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 We gave the ball away too often in our own defensive third, particularly in the first half. We were choosing to play out of trouble when a long ball may have been better to allow us to clear our lines. I’d be interested to see what we could do with a stronger striker up front, like Djuric or Diedhiou, although I struggle to see who drops out to let them play, as I think Walsh will be a first team starter soon at the expense of Mags with Bryan dropping back. Comes down to Pack or Smith to drop out for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyderInACan Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Shoot more! Several times (I think) Korey and maybe Packy had sight of goal but took one touch too many, giving their defenders chance to close down/block. @The Journalist spot on re our corners, one in particular from Joe was woeful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiled Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Magnússon was woefully out of position at times. I would really like him to succeed but you could see he was following the ball rather than keeping tabs on his player(s). Gave them far too much space to exploit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dolman Pragmatist Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 5 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said: This is a very good point and watching the game I agreed. Our physicality and aerial threat is one area where we should be superior to them. Shame Djuric isn't fit. They appeared to largely be using zonal marking at set pieces which is a big risk when you're defending against the likes of Flint. Our delivery has to be better as it's a big chance we have to take advantage. Good point about the zonal marking. That was very noticeable last night and I doubt Aden Flint has ever had so much space at corners. Surely this is something that we should try to exploit in the second leg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowshed Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 It is easier said than done but Reid's penalty came from pressing. Man Citys equaliser then came from a press that was out of shape. Manchester City consistently open out very wide in possession and withdraw players to the byline when building from the back. This stretches the opposition and creates space to play through in the centre if a team presses the sides. Kevin De Bruyne sits off waiting for that central space to open up then drops in. Bravo took the ball from a player by the corner flag, City pressed that player, Kevin De Bruyne drops into the space, Bravo plays a simple ball into one of the finest midfield players in the EPL - Kevin De Buyne unmarked which takes out five players leaving Man City with space and overloads to score. It was text book Man City they do it constantly and it is a trap. There is no need to press players by the corner flag. Let them have it. Deal with what comes next. It is easier said than done but the above is not unexpected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamC Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 4 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said: This is a very good point and watching the game I agreed. Our physicality and aerial threat is one area where we should be superior to them. Shame Djuric isn't fit. They appeared to largely be using zonal marking at set pieces which is a big risk when you're defending against the likes of Flint. Our delivery has to be better as it's a big chance we have to take advantage. No idea how near he (or Diedhiou) are to be available, even as subs for the second game. If they are it will give us a focal point, because clearly their central defence is their weakest area. I felt we failed to make good use of our obvious chance at corners by some really poor delivery. Also, maybe it was nerves but there were more than expected hurried passes, especially Brownhill & Pack. Problem for us is their incredible pace on the counter meant we were at our most vulnerable when we had lost possession in their penalty area. How we combat that is tricky, as committing fewer forward also makes us far less of a goal threat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiled Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 We backed away far too much for the run that Kevin De Bruyne made for his goal. He ran nearly half the pitch before receiving the pass that led to his strike. But hey, he's one of the best players in the world (in one of the best teams in the world) so criticising our efforts against him doesn't feel very fair! I felt nothing but pride for the way we played last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Popodopolous Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 The way they broke for their equaliser was frightening and nuts tbh! I remember turning to my mate and saying about the pressing when Bravo played it out something like "If that was Hart, he might well have fluffed that a bit" and before I even finished my sentence, it was in our net!! On Djuric, Diedhiou- and you can add O'Dowda in for delivery- but even just one of the first 2- could have been an outlet, gained us a few yards up the pitch in last 10-15 mins, plus given them something to think about at the back if had come on earlier. Injuries eh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingswoodactor Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 35 minutes ago, Phileas Fogg said: This is a very good point and watching the game I agreed. Our physicality and aerial threat is one area where we should be superior to them. Shame Djuric isn't fit. They appeared to largely be using zonal marking at set pieces which is a big risk when you're defending against the likes of Flint. Our delivery has to be better as it's a big chance we have to take advantage. I was saying to myself whilst watching that we need to stop these floaty style corners, and to start whipping them in with a bit of pace. Didn't we have 5 corners?! Think one of the commentators said the same thing, about us delivering better quality from our set plays in order to give Flint & co a better chance of attacking the ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BCFC_Dan Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 I'm not sure there was a lot we could do better. Man City might not have quite had their full first team out but that could have been a Champions League semi final and the away team wouldn't be too disappointed. Not many teams are going to maximise possession against Man City, whilst their two goals came from 1. beating the press with a great pass by the goalkeeper and 2. Sergio Aguero. Better teams than ours will get beaten in that way. All we can do is look at the way Man City played and see that as something to aim for. The one thing I think we can learn from them and hope to achieve is the way they took lower league opponents seriously and kept going to the very end trying to break them down. We've shown we can play very nearly as well as the best team in the country and based on what we've done in the cup this season we should have no fears if we do go up. The challenge would be to produce that form across 38 games, including games with teams scrapping for their lives and those who park the bus. Man City beat everybody, whoever they are, and that attitude is something to aspire to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phileas Fogg Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 29 minutes ago, GrahamC said: No idea how near he (or Diedhiou) are to be available, even as subs for the second game. If they are it will give us a focal point, because clearly their central defence is their weakest area. I felt we failed to make good use of our obvious chance at corners by some really poor delivery. Also, maybe it was nerves but there were more than expected hurried passes, especially Brownhill & Pack. Problem for us is their incredible pace on the counter meant we were at our most vulnerable when we had lost possession in their penalty area. How we combat that is tricky, as committing fewer forward also makes us far less of a goal threat. When I saw their defence I suspected they might be vulnerable. Mangala is incredibly dodgy and Stones (despite rating him) needs an organiser alongside him otherwise he can be a liability. They also played a young primarily attacking midfielder in defence alongside Danilo who probably lacks a bit of match sharpness. I felt Pep underestimated us somewhat and would be surprised if he picks the same defence in the next leg. It could be a good game for Diedhiou. Shame he probably won't be fully fit. Our starting 11 last night lacks a bit of pace with no out and out sprinters in the side so you're right about the counter attacks. I was half expecting Johnson to bring Eliasson on for Brownhill in the second half. He is capable of very good delivery and his pace and trickery might have spooked the Man City defence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampshire reds Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 We were fantastic last night the players and support were all as one. One thing I do feel was missing more strength and power up front. Bobby was brilliant and worked his socks off. But a big forward I feel is missing from our team and squad. I know duric is injured but for me it's something we need to address this window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTRFTG Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 27 minutes ago, Xiled said: We backed away far too much for the run that Kevin De Bruyne made for his goal. We only had 5 behind the ball (including the keeper) when we lost possession and the back line did exactly what they're supposed to do in dropping back - if they'd stood still a simple one-two and they'd have passed it through it over us. The price of defending by pressing upfront is when it goes wrong it tends to do so spectacularly, especially when playing quality opponents. Wolves goal was for exactly the same reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jcolebristol Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 This seems crazy picky because this is the difference between a 9.9 performance and a 10/10. Pack or Smith could have stuck with de bruyne before he ran the whole pitch for the goal, but we were in a good attack position at the time so hard to resist joining in. We could’ve pinched a goal! someone could have closed de bruyne down but prob would have just created space for sterling to receive the ball and score. Man City score in those situations against the best defences inthe world, so can’t knock our boys there. It was inevitable. We gave walker time to cross the ball for aguero, prob through tiredness. Pato looked shattered defending that patch. Press harder or sub the tired players? that all said, there were 100 positive examples where they did these things brilliantly. So to let slip just a couple of times, is amazing. And we’re talking about aguero, de bruyne, sterling, walker etc. These are 100m stars. They’re worth that for a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nbafc Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 As a few have eluded to, having a couple more first reamers on the bench would really help; no point to get stuck on any ifs or buts but famara & o dowda coming on last night for the last 20 would have made a big difference for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeWordCityNerd Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTRFTG Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Playing with a striker (which we don't presently have) would be a start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOTBLUE Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 3 minutes ago, OneWordCityNerd said: win Nothing else to add OWCN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Der no.2 Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 9 minutes ago, Jcolebristol said: This seems crazy picky because this is the difference between a 9.9 performance and a 10/10. Pack or Smith could have stuck with de bruyne before he ran the whole pitch for the goal, but we were in a good attack position at the time so hard to resist joining in. We could’ve pinched a goal! someone could have closed de bruyne down but prob would have just created space for sterling to receive the ball and score. Man City score in those situations against the best defences inthe world, so can’t knock our boys there. It was inevitable. We gave walker time to cross the ball for aguero, prob through tiredness. Pato looked shattered defending that patch. Press harder or sub the tired players? that all said, there were 100 positive examples where they did these things brilliantly. So to let slip just a couple of times, is amazing. And we’re talking about aguero, de bruyne, sterling, walker etc. These are 100m stars. They’re worth that for a reason. We did get caught pressing high up, KDB made the break down the centre of the park, Pack tried chasing him down but didn’t have the legs. Should Pack or Smith have been holding back? Probably. But we had been pressing and playing our socks off against the best side in Europe so lets cut our boys some slack. Well done City....very proud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBCFC Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 We could/should have been a bit more clinical first half, we had 3-4 really good opportunities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downendcity Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 3 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said: We could/should have been a bit more clinical first half, we had 3-4 really good opportunities. I wonder whether they would have been at last night's match been at Ashton Gate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueredsupporter Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 23 minutes ago, Jcolebristol said: This seems crazy picky because this is the difference between a 9.9 performance and a 10/10. Pack or Smith could have stuck with de bruyne before he ran the whole pitch for the goal, but we were in a good attack position at the time so hard to resist joining in. We could’ve pinched a goal! someone could have closed de bruyne down but prob would have just created space for sterling to receive the ball and score. Man City score in those situations against the best defences inthe world, so can’t knock our boys there. It was inevitable. We gave walker time to cross the ball for aguero, prob through tiredness. Pato looked shattered defending that patch. Press harder or sub the tired players? that all said, there were 100 positive examples where they did these things brilliantly. So to let slip just a couple of times, is amazing. And we’re talking about aguero, de bruyne, sterling, walker etc. These are 100m stars. They’re worth that for a reason. Man City had the ball mate played it back to Bravo and he took half the team out.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiled Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 28 minutes ago, BTRFTG said: We only had 5 behind the ball (including the keeper) when we lost possession and the back line did exactly what they're supposed to do in dropping back - if they'd stood still a simple one-two and they'd have passed it through it over us. The price of defending by pressing upfront is when it goes wrong it tends to do so spectacularly, especially when playing quality opponents. Wolves goal was for exactly the same reason. I've watch the goal again and you're right, we probably did as much as we could against the best counter-attack of the game. It's difficult to fault this backline snapshot: Sometimes you are just beaten by better players. Perhaps we need to keep tighter on KdB in the second leg (sounds obvious) even if it's at the expense of our own attacking forays. I was concerned to see Flint pushing on as much as he did when the game was still at 1-1. We do not need to look for a winner in every situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBW Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Marking. For De Bruyne's goal both players ran to the player with the ball and left him open. For Aguero's goal the only player near him was behind him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curr Avon Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 1 hour ago, The Journalist said: Once the initial disappointment of conceding the last-minute goal had worn off, my overriding feeling since full-time last night has been that we can play even better than that in the second leg. I’d be interested to hear how others saw the game tactically last night - @spudski among others - but here are three things I thought we did brilliantly and three things we can do better. The good: - We very clearly targeted Bravo and Mangala in possession, with anything back to the goalkeeper immediately chased down by Reid, triggering Paterson, Brownhill and Bryan to cut off passing angles to their back four. This high press led to our goal. - Smith and Pack sat deeper than usual, meaning that if they beat our high press our back four had a degree of protection. We struck the difficult balance of pressing but still getting bodies behind the ball really well, which, for me, is the part of the game Premier League teams haven’t got right against Man City this season. - For the most part, we didn’t get sucked into just lumping it and tried to play our way out. We looked supremely confident in our own ability - as we should be! When we had to go long, we worked the ball into a position to hit the channel rather than just pumping it long. The not so good: - We didn’t win anywhere near as much second ball as we did against Man Utd, nor did we secure possession quite as well from 50-50 plays (eg. goal kicks). This is, in part, because Man City are utterly world class at this side of the game and it’s one thing that sets them apart. - We lost so much possession from our own set-plays. Our free-kick and corner delivery was miles short of what we’re capable of and will have to improve in the second leg. We also lost so much ball from our own throw-ins. It’s picky, but it’s something I’d be looking at. - When we went forward, Pack and Smith both got a bit caught between joining in the attack and sitting back. Pack, in particular, got stuck in no-man’s land a handful of times when we lost the ball in their final third and they were suddenly four on three or the like. Man City are so good at creating those situations, but I still reckon we didn’t help our own cause at times. Anything else stick out for people? Either way, what a pleasure watching our team against that level of opposition. It’ll have been a huge education for both our staff and the players. And the best bit? We’re still in the tie and can 100% play better in the second leg! What a pleasure to read! Brilliant!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murraysrightplum Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 Hold the ball up more in attacking areas. I like Bobby Reid but that isn’t the type of player he is. At times he looks isolated up there and a more physical presence is needed. Strongly think we need a few more recruits in this window as the bench looks quite average and the starting 11 are going to burn out at some stage. Sorry to be doom and gloom but can see the league going tits up after the cup dramas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jj77 Posted January 10, 2018 Report Share Posted January 10, 2018 I think one thing that could have been better is a bit more composure when in great positions around the box. I'm thinking specifically when Bryan rushed his cross/shot and a few other moments I can't remember the detail of. Apart from that 10/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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