are city too "nice" for europe?

[goat]

kind of links in with the de jong thing

at times yesterday and in europe in general it looks like a lot of the players are happy watching the fancy lads to see what they will do next instead of launching them into row z

if i was playing against city i doubt theres anyone id be scared of, id think twice about a 50-50 with yaya in the first 20 minutes but after that he will just be jogging around. what happened to the english style of having a proper hardman, other than de jong the last i remember was 90 year old stuart pearce

are there any hardman left anyway or have they been replaced with snide fuckers that scrape your ankle off the ball?

[bluebrendan]

kind of links in with the de jong thing

at times yesterday and in europe in general it looks like a lot of the players are happy watching the fancy lads to see what they will do next instead of launching them into row z

if i was playing against city i doubt theres anyone id be scared of, id think twice about a 50-50 with yaya in the first 20 minutes but after that he will just be jogging around. what happened to the english style of having a proper hardman, other than de jong the last i remember was 90 year old stuart pearce

are there any hardman left anyway or have they been replaced with snide fuckers that scrape your ankle off the ball?

Pretty much, Wilshere is as snidey as they come.

It's difficult to see how a true hardman could be used now, especially in Europe, as the refs in general are too card happy.

[goat]

true but some names just on a teamsheet could make a few shit themselves

[bluebrendan]

Fernando to change his name to Gentile, perhaps? 

[goat]

he would probably fuck that up too

[Ludo]

Genitals more like

[The Blue Blooded Maniac]

I know what your saying but there was no one on the barca team yesterday who would frighten me either. Well maybe mashcherano

I was thinking that were to nice regarding our innocent approach. Whenever we have played in Europe and we fart near an opposing player they hit the deck and 9 times out of ten win a free kick. I know its frowned upon but being noble and fair isn't getting us anywhere. It works for Chelsea.

When Silva did that knock on for agueros goal I thought kun had over hit and saw a few tackles sliding in and straight away thought he should have gone down for the penalty (obviously he scored so it doesn't matter)

We seem a little to proud (or maybe just daft take your puck) to draw the tackle and leave a leg in, but that's how all the big dogs play so maybe it should be time we did as well.

[gavin]

Difficult to be hard in the Euro games as they punish you for next to nothing. I don't believe in all this talk of tactics or approach after last night. It was clear to me that we simply didn't play well enough in that first half. Hard to think of a single player that did himself any justice in that 45 minutes. I didn't really agree with the 11 that were picked but I know for a fact that they could have done a hell of a lot of better in that half.

[goat]

knew i should have had more coffee before making this point

barca and teams like that have most of the fancy players that need stopping, weve 2. they dont need to resort to kicking as much

[goat]

Difficult to be hard in the Euro games as they punish you for next to nothing. I don't believe in all this talk of tactics or approach after last night. It was clear to me that we simply didn't play well enough in that first half. Hard to think of a single player that did himself any justice in that 45 minutes. I didn't really agree with the 11 that were picked but I know for a fact that they could have done a hell of a lot of better in that half.

has it been as bad in other euro games this season? ive only watched the city and malmo qualifying games. i know its shit and raggy to think this but....uefa make it pretty clear they dont want us in this cup and we manage ok in the league keeping 11 players on the pitch

[gavin]

I just don't think you can get away with kicking in the Chumps league unless you are one of the favoured few not that I would advocate it anyway. I don't think we have any particularly cunning foulers anyway. Ours manage to get booked for silly, meaningless fouls never mind cunning, purposeful fouls.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

There have been many times this season when I've thought we looked a bit tackle shy - with opponents passing and moving the ball from their penalty area right up to ours without a single City player making anything resembling a determined challenge!

Personally - I would be happy if our players just worked a bit harder to close down space, and not hover around admiring Messi while he shapes up for a lazy killer cross in, or (worse still) stand back while Alba ambles unchallenged through our area with all the time in the world and enough space to park a mini-bus in - to pick out Suarez! Forget kicking the tricky players -  FFS just get the block in - or at least rush them into making the pass....

The rule changes over the years have made the art of defending very difficult now. The hard men aren't what they used to be - although I suppose that cheating shit Skrtel still gets away with murder at the bindippers. How's Pepe going at Real Madrid these days? Does he pick up many yellows?

[goat]

was going to say does the pope shit in the woods and show you a massive list of yellows
but

2014/2015   Real Madrid   PRD   1350   15   15   0   0   0   1   0   0   0

the first 15 is number of games and the last 0`s are yellows, second yellows and reds

still did this tho

[Rowley Birkin QC]

I know I won't be popular for saying this - but I'd sign him in a shot!

[goat]

say what you want about him but a club like real madrid seem happy to have him , i agree kenny, can never have too many players used to winning around



at the very least it will give the likes of dani alves a reason to roll around

[bluepill]

I think we are definitely to soft. I was irritated the other night and I would not like to be a particularly dirty team but we're a team full of pansies. Filth used to strategically take cards, its not nice but it was often very effective

[Neil Mcnab]

Players in Europe anywhere in the last third of the pitch, if challenged, will head for the floor at the slightest touch. Gone are the days of rolling over five times, they make it look as natural as possible. Our players need to copy this when playing in Europe. Wouldnt like it in the Premier and they would be rightly slated for it.
But for Europe, the opposition teams have an advantage if its only them who easily fall over. Playing a team like Barca, we cannot let them have any advantage.
As for dishing out, we would have players sent off.
Pepe is past his best, no thanks.

[goat]

past his best but still better than mangala and younger than demi

[Neil Mcnab]

Howedes would cost about the same, if he didnt work out could be sold on.

[goat]

fuck it, buy both and buy hummels just to upset the rags