How to beat Man City - CL -Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City FC (The Sky Blues) | Vital Football

How to beat Man City - CL -Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City FC (The Sky Blues)

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Nick Real Deal

Vital Football Legend
In simplistic terms pundits offer two options. Sit back , defend, play on the break and set pieces , or press and push further up the pitch, unsettle.

That seems a bit too obvious to me, surely we can come up with a more complex strategy .....can't we ?
 
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Sometimes, the simplest ways are the best ways.

I remain convinced that the best way to beat Citeh is to bully them. Make it an aggressive match, go in hard, be totally in their faces. If you rattle them I think they are more susceptible to mistakes. Similar tactics to our second half against Liverpool would work best.
 
I think it is about unsettling them....fast quick pressing to stop them playmaking and dictating ...with desire and passion ...we are fit enough to do this....stop the tippy tapping slow play and see them panic a bit rather than dominating.
 
Yeah the tippy tapping is a problem. Being a bit more direct is important. We passed it out from the back better last night but there were a few occasions where the back four and Lloris nearly got themselves into trouble because they were being overly cautious about getting it further up the pitch.
 
We won't be able to pass our way out of the back v City. Couldn't do it v Liverpool. Basically, we're not good at it and don't have the personnel for it.

Home game, avoid conceding. Simple. Get a goal on the break, sorted!

We might not get many chances, but I hope to god the coaches get them practising shooting and be clinical. Am a bit fed up of reading, could've been 5-0, 6-0, out of sight, etc..
 
Play our best players, play an aggressive fast tempo game in possession and without. Then we will need them to be at no more than 75%.

Then maybe.....
 
Firstly we simply can’t rely on set pieces, we convert 1/10 chances.
Secondly, we can’t soak up pressure for 90 mins in the way we did in the first 30/45 mins against Dortmund. That was a masterclass in defending but cannot be sustained.

I agree, get in their faces even if it means tiring towards the end, if we close them down at every chance, sniff them out and stifle their plan, then we can survive the closing stages with good use of subs.
 
Simplify the game. If we try to possess the ball and pass it around...especially on defense...we will fuck it up and lose the ball in a horrible spot and get smacked.

I say we simplify things.

When they have the ball - Be aggressive first and foremost, close them down and hound them whenever they have the ball...bully them. Make them uncomfortable on the ball as best we can and force them to make mistakes. (plus it has the added bonus of slowing their attack and slowing their counters)

When we have the ball - No naffing around...get it out of our feet and up the damn pitch to our playmakers ASAP. I don't want to see our defense trying to control the ball as much, push it up the pitch. We need to prevent losing the damn ball in horrible spots as much as possible. I don't mind if City has more possession than us. It is what you do with the ball that counts. So get it to our playmakers quickly and let them go to work.

The only way we stay with City:

-Not make dumb mistakes at the worst possible spots on the pitch.
-Be aggressive and beat the shit out of whoever has the ball relentlessly.
-Be efficient AND effective when on the ball.
-Get a little lucky!
 
USAFSPURS said:
Simplify the game. If we try to possess the ball and pass it around...especially on defense...we will fuck it up and lose the ball in a horrible spot and get smacked.

I say we simplify things.

When they have the ball - Be aggressive first and foremost, close them down and hound them whenever they have the ball...bully them. Make them uncomfortable on the ball as best we can and force them to make mistakes. (plus it has the added bonus of slowing their attack and slowing their counters)

When we have the ball - No naffing around...get it out of our feet and up the damn pitch to our playmakers ASAP. I don't want to see our defense trying to control the ball as much, push it up the pitch. We need to prevent losing the damn ball in horrible spots as much as possible. I don't mind if City has more possession than us. It is what you do with the ball that counts. So get it to our playmakers quickly and let them go to work.

The only way we stay with City:

-Not make dumb mistakes at the worst possible spots on the pitch.
-Be aggressive and beat the shit out of whoever has the ball relentlessly.
-Be efficient AND effective when on the ball.
-Get a little lucky!
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Amen to that

I want to see some direct football mixed in, starting with Lloris. Fuck the tippy tappy stuff from him dinking it to the full backs. Get it on Kane's head downfield, gain some territory and let Kane draw some fouls. No way Laporte likes the aerial stuff and is very susceptible to committing fouls. We also need to do what winning teams do and set high expectations with the referee. Question every decision and stay down when fouled. The best chance we have of winning this game is disrupting their rhythm.
 
USAFSPURS said:
So get it to our playmakers quickly and let them go to work.
Click to expand...

In principle, simple and logical thing to do. But of late. our so called play makers ping the ball back to the player that passed it to them in the 1st place, Now that defender then kicks it sideways. Even when in space, I see our play makers look to return the ball to the sender by instinct rather than turnaround and take on the opposition and do something more progressive.

We are great to watch when everyone looks to move the ball quickly. Last season saw some mouthwatering moves culminating in some great attacks/goals. This season we have become a lot more conservative and therefore, ponderous imo.
 
Play them the way liverpool did when they knocked them out of the CL by not giving them a minutes peace. Get at them from the off and stop playing sideways backwards football
 
Some interesting theories. A few things to consider

Pep will make adjustments if it's not working for him, both personnel and tactically. So whatever we do he is likely to have an answer.

It's over 2 legs with the first at home. We have to keep a clean sheet or at worst concede only one. Away goals and all that. They will have the same thoughts , ie we must score at WHL . We will then reverse that when at their place, try and score away goals.

So possibly the strategy for each game could be different.

I would hope Poch will be trying to nullify certain City players who are the biggest threats. Possibly allocate marking duties to few of our players to freeze them out. I think Aguero was taken care of by Toby in one game we played against them. Sterling will be a handful. I think Alli has glued himself to De Bruyne before unless I am imagining that.

The mark out frustration strategy could be the way to go. If we succeed, the second leg is then perhaps more open to us showing some flair tempered with caution.

What I fear is a gung ho take them on strategy in the first leg.
 
We can try and do what we want but unless we get a serious bit of luck ie an early City sending off, I can't see us getting a positive result.

I fear the tie will be out of reach by the 2nd leg, my only hope is we still have a small chance going into that game.
 
Nick Real Deal said:
Pep will make adjustments if it's not working for him, both personnel and tactically. So whatever we do he is likely to have an answer.
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Nick you make a valid point. Pep doesn't sit glued to his seat for 45 mins before even considering a change, or wait 'til 80 mins to come up with a plan. Poch needs to rise to the in-game challenge, without having to say we played better in the 2nd half in the post match interview. If we are not tactically pro-active, the game could be over by half time.
 
We have to exploit our home advantage to have any chance. Pep is worried enough to schedule a practice session at our new stadium so it’s obviously in his head. We don’t defend well so safer to play in their half as much as possible. I think our record against them at WHL was pretty good and although the teams have changed sometimes hoodoos work, like us at Anfield.

Their defence is dodgy if you can get to it...usually teams are tied up chasing their front players so every chance by-pass them at get at that defence.
 
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