Manchester City-Chelsea Champions League Final Post Match Thread | Page 5 | Vital Football

Manchester City-Chelsea Champions League Final Post Match Thread

I just want to win the CL to remove the stick that everyone uses to beat us with.
I see little point in crying over spilt milk, Pep laid out his table and we lost the final narrowly. This trophy for me comes second to the leauge, but as you rightly point out it will be used as a weapon against us until we win it, so win it we must within the next 1-5 seasons.
 
'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'
- George Santayana

4-3-3 v 5-3-2 always make me nervous and we were exposed from the first few minutes and ineffectual for pretty much the rest.

Although Pep couldn’t refrain from tinkering with the controls the absence of Fernandinho/Rodri might not have made the difference. The goal that knocked us out of the FA Cup originated from the same sort of area. Jorginho turned away from Foden in the middle, Cancelo was pushed up on the left WB and they exploited the space behind him to string out Stones-Dias-Mendy - Steffen started to come out (just as Eddy did on Saturday) but in his case he was caught in No Man’s Land and Mendy (Like Zinchenko) was too far behind the attacker who had run goal side of him. The player in central midfield in both cases was taken off the chess board.
 
'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'
- George Santayana

4-3-3 v 5-3-2 always make me nervous and we were exposed from the first few minutes and ineffectual for pretty much the rest.

Although Pep couldn’t refrain from tinkering with the controls the absence of Fernandinho/Rodri might not have made the difference. The goal that knocked us out of the FA Cup originated from the same sort of area. Jorginho turned away from Foden in the middle, Cancelo was pushed up on the left WB and they exploited the space behind him to string out Stones-Dias-Mendy - Steffen started to come out (just as Eddy did on Saturday) but in his case he was caught in No Man’s Land and Mendy (Like Zinchenko) was too far behind the attacker who had run goal side of him. The player in central midfield in both cases was taken off the chess board.
We lost to a side with 19 points less than us in the title race, if we had matched their setup, we probably would have still lost because we rarely play that way. TT, like Pep does his homework and uses his fast players well on the counter, this loss will be driving Pep mad and he could just walk out on us.
 
I hope not. I still think he is driven to succeed with City. Much depends on what direction they take with Aguero out of the squad - how do they plan to move the squad forward?
 
Pep will stay, it won’t be easy to win three titles in five season by any manager out there now in the toughest league. Board will be happier to keep him . He can bring the best out of our squad .
With the amount of attacking players Chelsea has they shouldn’t park a bus to beat city. Roman bought this much attackers to witness a dumb bus parking strategy to win the game.

We need to see the mentality of the most managers out there to beat guardiola. The brand of football we see today can’t be played easily by any other manager. Others will definitively down grade our players level .

Chelsea’s present manager and past won the champions league by hiding behind a bus . And win looked never like a victory. Still augero’s moment, cannot be repeated by Romans investment.
 
a Freudian slip when he says it was not intentional makes him as guilty as hell
Antonio is as solid as a brick shithouse and the block was deliberate, but don't think he meant to damage Red Kev that much. Without our playmaker and talisman it probably did effect the result, but these injuries do happen from time to time and we were unlucky.
 
a Freudian slip when he says it was not intentional makes him as guilty as hell
I too don't imagine that he wanted to injure Kev so badly but he did want to put a 'reducer' on him and affect his game afterwards. I do think that it was deliberate and just as reckless as a tackle from behind or above knee height. He definitely endangered his opponent. It should have been a red card.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a red for a bodycheck. He did lead with his shoulder into his head though, which is a red in rugby.

The play acting from Rudiger told me he knew exactly what he was doing, his intent may not have been to fracture his skull but he fully intended to hit him.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a red for a bodycheck. He did lead with his shoulder into his head though, which is a red in rugby.

The play acting from Rudiger told me he knew exactly what he was doing, his intent may not have been to fracture his skull but he fully intended to hit him.
Neither have I but the criteria/threshold should be the same IMO - whether you endanger the opponent. He crossed that line big time. John Stones didn’t intend to injure his opponent in the game against Villa but it was deemed late, reckless, endangering the Villa player. The failure to apply the same standard to a deliberate obstruction was a mistake by the officials.
 
Neither have I but the criteria/threshold should be the same IMO - whether you endanger the opponent. He crossed that line big time. John Stones didn’t intend to injure his opponent in the game against Villa but it was deemed late, reckless, endangering the Villa player. The failure to apply the same standard to a deliberate obstruction was a mistake by the officials.

It may be something that's looked at now by the law makers given the extent of Kev's injury.
 
It may be something that's looked at now by the law makers given the extent of Kev's injury.
Just watched it again. Rudige’s play acting makes it worse. He went down holding his head but there was NO contact by his head with Kev.

Him pretending he was hurt is cheating bullshit. The shot from behind Rudiger is the most telling - he was moving to his left but realising he would be out of position he stops and blatantly causes the collision. VAR should have at least sent Lahoz to the monitor.

I don’t hear the phrase ‘Tactical Foul’ mentioned once. Just a bit of chuckling by McPointalot when the referee helps the guilty party to his feet.
 
Talking of rugby union, I remember Sonny Bill Williams (NZ) being sent off in a New Zealand-British Lions Test a couple of years ago for a shoulder to the head.

As I principally follow rugby league as well, there's been a huge crackdown on contact to the head in Australia in the past weeks (intentional or not) that has caused a lot of comment, mainly of 'needs to be done, protect the players, but the game is going soft'.

Think it's following US sport and procedures in place to guard against long term effects after retirement, and to stop legal cases arising.
 
Talking of rugby union, I remember Sonny Bill Williams (NZ) being sent off in a New Zealand-British Lions Test a couple of years ago for a shoulder to the head.

As I principally follow rugby league as well, there's been a huge crackdown on contact to the head in Australia in the past weeks (intentional or not) that has caused a lot of comment, mainly of 'needs to be done, protect the players, but the game is going soft'.

Think it's following US sport and procedures in place to guard against long term effects after retirement, and to stop legal cases arising.
In US football, any blow to the head is an automatic ejection, and a 1 game ban.
 
Just finished listening to the Why always Us? podcast, and it sounds like we are having a big turnover this transfer window. Some expected names, and one shocking one. :oops:
 
So the question has to be who would YOU think is the shock departure?

Sterling?
Mahrez?
Jesus?
Rodri?
Laporte?
Cancelo?

Now Ederson would be a real shock.