Team news
Hart, Sagna, Otamendi, Demichelis, Clichy, Toure, Delph, Silva, De Bruyne, Navas, Aguero
Subs Caballero, Angelino, Zabaleta, Fernandinho, Fernando, Sterling, Iheanacho
C'mon City lets win well on a day Leicester have once again shown no sign of faltering.
Thought Fernandinho might start and Kelechi.
Hope Delph's got an oxygen tank with him, he's going to f*cking need one.
Quote from: Ludo on January 23, 2016, 16:33:14
Hope Delph's got an oxygen tank with him, he's going to f*cking need one.
Ludo, he will probably play 60 minutes, then bring Fernandinho on; no need to sub Yaya as he will be barely warmed up after only an hour on the field watching the game.
Gonna be an interesting game, hope yaya does the business. C'mon City.
Jesus wept.
Assist for Toure there.
In fairness to Toure he was too tired to tackle after 50 seconds of effort.
Great start, keep it up city!!!
Start again now. No fucking about.
No city nooo what are you doing?
Well... It's a strange game already!
The best striker in the league pulls us out of the sh*t.
Hart and Kun our best players first half. The rest need to join in second half.
What a save that was by Joe Hart from the free kick. A decent, competitive half of football. City need to make their extra class tell in the second half and take control.
We're too top heavy. One of De Bruyne, Navas, Silva or YAYA has to go.
Quote from: Ludo on January 23, 2016, 18:23:46
We're too top heavy. One of De Bruyne, Navas, Silva or YAYA has to go.
De Bruyne or Silva off for Fernandinho for me....
Yaya off for me, he's causing too many problems defensively and hasn't done enough to be on the pitch.
Today's football hasn't been great
If we play from now to next Christmas we won't look like scoring.
Pelle snoozing on bench as usual.
a substitution that changes nothing.
Oh he has woke up Navas off Sterling. Big deal!
What is the point of hoofing the ball route one to Aguero.
Finally Kelechi, at least that ties up defenders so West Ham cannot man mark Sergio so tight.
So no midfield at all now??
As said earlier Delph off Yaya stays on arrrggggghhhh
Exactly as I called it Kelechi freeing up Sergio to score
Kun gets us out of jail again. But Toure stays on and Delph goes off???
Fernando.
We're fucked
Again 2 points lost because of our average managers poor tactics. So nearly a defeat.
Where are our leaders, Kun leads by example, theres the stare as well. Theres not a lot else. Liittle talking or any verbal communication between our players. No problem when its going well. Need someone vocal to gee players up and give a bollocking when its not.
i'll take a point..west ham are no mugs
Quote from: Zabba on January 23, 2016, 19:22:05
Again 2 points lost because of our average managers poor tactics. So nearly a defeat.
My thoughts exactly. This needed to be three points, it's getting too far in the season and city needs to start grinding out results. But it seems city never gets going, sometimes running but falling over again and again and failing to mount any serious and consistent threat.
As exciting as a second or third place should be, this season is a fucking snore fest.
It is just not good enough. We didn't deserve anything more than we got. We're not capable of getting a run together under this manager. Mind you, there is a lot of players that need to look at themselves too. Yaya deserves his criticism today but so does Silva who was poor indeed. In fact there's a long list but, unfortunately, Otamendi was particularly notable again. That was disgraceful for their second.
Two desperately poor goals to concede, Toure initially at fault for the first but what was Otamendi doing going walkabout, Delph had to cover his position and so nobody was on Valencia. The second goal is just schoolboy stuff, Otamendi has one man to look after and loses him.
Quote from: gavin on January 23, 2016, 19:27:55
It is just not good enough. We didn't deserve anything more than we got. We're not capable of getting a run together under this manager. Mind you, there is a lot of players that need to look at themselves too. Yaya deserves his criticism today but so does Silva who was poor indeed. In fact there's a long list but, unfortunately, Otamendi was particularly notable again. That was disgraceful for their second.
Spot on
I would add our defence is STILL not fixed despite having spent a fortune, mainly because the team balance is all wrong. As shown time after time away from the Eitihad.
More often than not we are second best for loose balls, I have noticed that over our last few games.
West Ham's midfield were big, strong, pacey and numerous.
Ours was Delph.
Quote from: lee on January 23, 2016, 19:26:20
i'll take a point..west ham are no mugs
You have a point that the Hammers are a decent side but really we shouldn't be giving away one goal like we did today never mind two! We are our own worst enemies.
Quote from: bluebrendan on January 23, 2016, 19:30:30
Two desperately poor goals to concede, Toure initially at fault for the first but what was Otamendi doing going walkabout, Delph had to cover his position and so nobody was on Valencia. The second goal is just schoolboy stuff, Otamendi has one man to look after and loses him.
Valencia was being marked by Delph, Delph chose to leave his man to cover the near post, deflects of his bum an into the unmarked Valencia.
If Delph had stayed with his man, then no deflection and Ota clears.
If Toure hadn't been so weak and let his man get by easy, different passage of play entirely.
Yes, Ota too slow on the first goal.
Silva hasn't played well since coming back from Injury
Sterling looked ring rusty
No one played particularly well (Kun aside).
We should of stuck with Delph and Fernando in the centre.
Yaya's brain is now slower than his legs. Hart's distribution has always been shit, he should have gone to Specsavers instead of the hairdressers.
We certainly are our own worst enemy.
Technically both the players and manager lack the fundamental sense to realise that the formation we play (especially away from home) doesn't allow enough cover in defence. Once Yaya goes forward it's a struggle to get back, for the most part he's blowing out of his arse after 20 mins, and when the full backs are charging forward it leaves the two centre halves and any defensive midfield we have exposed. Couple that with the fact we play like total strangers at times it's not a good mix.
A little more pragmatism and a little less buckling our swash.
Quote from: Swiss on January 23, 2016, 20:45:35
Valencia was being marked by Delph, Delph chose to leave his man to cover the near post, deflects of his bum an into the unmarked Valencia.
If Delph had stayed with his man, then no deflection and Ota clears.
If Toure hadn't been so weak and let his man get by easy, different passage of play entirely.
Yes, Ota too slow on the first goal.
Silva hasn't played well since coming back from Injury
Sterling looked ring rusty
No one played particularly well (Kun aside).
We should of stuck with Delph and Fernando in the centre.
Have another look, Otamendi couldn't have cleared it because he's still getting back from wandering 10 yards up the park, he's between Yaya and Delph and a yard or two behind when the cross comes in. I can't blame Delph for going to cover the near post where Otamendi should have been.
https://youtu.be/PPh8a00uspE?t=3
Why did Kun look so pissed off after he'd scored the second?
I assumed it must have been disallowed for a few seconds
Quote from: jingoe on January 23, 2016, 22:07:53
Why did Kun look so pissed off after he'd scored the second?
I assumed it must have been disallowed for a few seconds
He was pushed into the back of the net when he went to get the ball to restart quickly.
Its all too obvious , we are let down time & time again by the same players
Otamendi demechelis mangala and yaya ...........you cant win a title with these players..........or a manager who plays two offensive mids (one of them who couldnt give a fuck) away from home against a strong West Ham midfield, offering no protection to a shite defence.
whoever thought it was a good idea to pay all that dosh for ota & mango wants shooting with a ball of their own shit
Hopefully next season it will all be sorted out, Pep will get rid of the dross that is losing us the title, this title that should be a stroll in the park
Quote from: bluebrendan on January 23, 2016, 21:09:14
Have another look, Otamendi couldn't have cleared it because he's still getting back from wandering 10 yards up the park, he's between Yaya and Delph and a yard or two behind when the cross comes in. I can't blame Delph for going to cover the near post where Otamendi should have been.
https://youtu.be/PPh8a00uspE?t=3
Sorry, yep, Demi would have been free to clear it.
It looks as though Ota has tried to anticipate the pass to Valencia , then gets out of position.
3 key errors by Yaya, Delph and Ota for their first.
Otamendi had a stinker.
But few came out of this with much credit, and there's little to say here that hasn't been said before. One look at Pellegrini's team selection clearly heralded that someone (most likely Delph - as Ludo suggested pre-kick-off) was going to be in for a tough day at the office, covering the ground Yaya won't (or can't). Surely every man and his dog can now see that including Yaya in the same side as Silva - plus TWO wide players - is a luxury we can seldom afford, especially away from home against the better sides like West Ham. One of Navas or De Bruyne should have been assigned to the bench to make way for the extra midfielder (one of the two F's) in beside Yaya and Delph.
To me Yaya is a luxury we can no longer afford at all. He has never been keen on the defensive part of a midfielders role, now he also has a very apparent physical decline. This is a poor combination. If he continues to be a starter, it will be a minus where we cant afford one. Yesterday, he was among many not putting in a good performance. It seems nailed on Pelle is gone at the end of the season, a dead man walking manager is a drag on performance as well.