CSKA Thread

[lee]

i agree gav..its a bag of sick

[bluebrendan]

Can't blame the ref for this performance.

Absolutely, gutless from back to front and in the dugout - got what we deserved, fuck all.

[BongoBlue]

I never want to follow the "agenda" mindset but dammit why do we always get shit refs?? Another terrible performance. Worse than any penalty non-calls or unnecessary bookings for us was the booking of the wrong guy for them when the real fouler was already on a yellow. And was right in front of him. Very weird...

However - we deserved nothing from that game, except when we went down to 9 men. Against 12, but still. We were awful. I am not sure why a team that can look so good and fluid domestically cannot get it together in Europe. We have a manager who has got to the latter stages of this competition with a lesser team; why can't he do it with us?

Baffling; and fecking annoying. Bent/corrupt/incompetent/insertswearwordhere/ ref notwithstanding.

[Leewonpen]

/quote]

Not sure we have looked good and fluid domestically this season....

[bluepill]

On the plus side we get to see how the team get on without having to carry yaya

[Paul lakes knee]

Biggest thing fro me last night apart from Yaya's laziness for their opening goal was how overly dependent we are on Silva for our creativity.

Absolutely gutted at that performance.

Referee was a twot though, wasn't he?

[Lekos]

I accidentally shouted "fuck off" in a nice persons face last night when they told me the score.  Pretty shocked really, at both my behaviour  and the score.

[Kilkenny Blue]

Glichy should never pull another City shirt on after last night.  Had to be one of the worst shifts ever put in by any city player that I can recall.  I know he could do nowt for the 1st goal, but he was a liability and performed the 'headless chicken' roll to perfection.

City have been crap for a month now.  I can see no signs of improvement or any indication of a cohesive response from either management or players.  Every team coming to the Etihad must fancy their chances, and unless there is a drastic change of attitude and balls then we are going to drop a lot more points and even a top 4 could be out of our reach.

We need Lampard back more than Silva. 

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Clichy's form has been getting increasingly erratic since around the middle of last season, is steadily getting worse, and shows no sign of recovering. So far this season I can only remember one game when I thought "Clichy was pretty good today". Sad to say it's more often now that I think he's become something of a liability. Time we got rid.

Nasri is baffling. He looked a new man in the early part of last season up to his injury against Newcastle - then it all fell apart again. Now his bottle has completely gone. No guile, no vision, won't take opponents on. He works hard and covers a lot of turf, but there's no end product. A poor substitute for Silva. I've finally lost patience now - time he went as well.

Yaya. This is the tricky one. There's no questioning his ability and I've long since lost count of the time his one or two moments of utter brilliance in an otherwise dour match have pulled our nuts out of the fire - but this only serves to raise the obvious question. How much better would we be if Yaya put in a shift for the full 90 minutes, or even 60 minutes, instead of the occasional 5 minutes here and there? I'm really torn. Half of me wants to keep his game changing moments of brilliance, while the other half of me thinks he's become a millstone around the necks of the rest of our midfield who constantly have to cover for him and his lack of running off the ball. You've brought us glory Yaya, but I think many of us now see you as resting too much on your laurels. Might be time to move on.

[andy1966]

I think he was comparing us to Inter who didn't win any of their first three games but still won the competition a few years ago.

So in his head we are still on for the treble 

[Zabba]

Lets call a spade a spade. Yaya, Nasri, Clichy and Navas need dumped and dumped asap.

Jovetic is edging closer to the exit door as well.

The way we play is so so predictable and easy to defend against, we always play in front of the opponents line of defence looking for the clever pass through. Opponents pack the centre of defence crowding us out. We build slow and deliberate. We play 442 badly. We play Jovetic behind Aguero, even though it clearly does not work.

We play two in front of our defence protecting them, but one is Yaya who cannot be bothered to defend or work. Opponents exploit this and our defence is consequently exposed, uncertain and in disarray. Play Yaya in a forward midfield role, if he has to play. I do not think any team at this level can afford to carry a passenger for 80 minutes each game, so I would get shot of him

We have no cohesion, no unity no team spirit and we are going backwards not forwards, only an ostrich with its head buried in the sand would not see this.

There is something seriously wrong in that dressing room, illustrated by Aguero heading straight down the tunnel when subbed in our last match and key players declining performances e.g. Zabaleta yesterday evening. It is there for all to see we are a 'TEAM' of 11 INDIVIDUALS, in the main relying on individual moments of brilliance to win matches.

My best guess is Pelle and his backroom team have lost the confidence of key players, probably over playing Yaya and team tactics. Who really knows this is conjecture, but something is seriously wrong and it is not 'players are nervous'. That is laughable given their age, experience and honours won.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Lets call a spade a spade. 

Well, I'd prefer some reasoned discussion (which is what I was trying to provoke with my last post) - but each to their own...

[Zabba]

Lets call a spade a spade. 

Well, I'd prefer some reasoned discussion (which is what I was trying to provoke with my last post) - but each to their own...

This is reasoned discussion, and straight talking.

How is it not reasoned? You may not agree but that is your choice, I have set out my reasons.

The players named need to go for falling way below the standards expected at this level consistently.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

You make some good points, but several of your comments are purely speculative, without any real foundation - and are thus somewhat over-the-top.

But like I said - each to their own.

[Zabba]

Yes some conjecture at the end I acknowledge that.

However the rest is perfectly reasoned and I note you agree with getting shot of Nasri and Clichy, but dither on Yaya. 

Watching City all my life has taught me one key lesson, trust your own eyes and instincts at all times.

If it is not right on the pitch then invariably it is not right back in the dressing room.

We may never find out the reasons or until years later in player interviews or books, but trust what you see and what your instincts tell you (true in life generally as well).

[The Blue Blooded Maniac]

The problem with Yaya is like the whole Tevez saga, although for different reasons. The thing is with Tevez is that we didn't want to sell him because we believed we couldn't manage without him. We need to move on from Toure for the good of the club

[zacc]

some react, some respond, sometimes we do one then the other, all part of how we cope with City's insanity

[goat]

trolls r us

bring back kelvin koogan

troll hunter 2 out soon

fuck knows why

[bluepill]

The problem with Yaya is like the whole Tevez saga, although for different reasons. The thing is with Tevez is that we didn't want to sell him because we believed we couldn't manage without him. We need to move on from Toure for the good of the club

If you can't survive without a player then you HAVE to sell them

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Watching City all my life has taught me one key lesson, trust your own eyes and instincts at all times.

And yet - you have heavily edited - indeed completely re-written - both your last two posts after I challenged you 

The edited version of each post was quite different in tone (less aggressive) and content (less speculative) from the original. Which seems to imply that you don't entirely trust your own eyes and instincts - after you've thought about things for a bit!