MAN CITY 1 – 3 Leicester – MY THOUGHTS
7 Feb
Well, at least one team played like they wanted to be champions…
Congratulations to Leicester, who were simply magnificent once again and whose remarkable season shows no sign of wilting away. They were outstanding: confident, committed, energetic, entertaining, spirited, silky. Everything we should be. Everything we’re not.
If we can cast aside our feeling of bitter disappointment for a moment, I think we all recognise what a joyous achievement it was to see Leicester’s players perform like that, brimming with such high levels of self-belief and, crucially, looking as if they were enjoying themselves. So they should.
From a City perspective, however, this was yet another humiliating collapse: the latest chapter in City’s book of how to descend into chaos when things aren’t going our way. Once again, we didn’t just “not play well”. We capitulated.
It happened against Spurs and Liverpool this season when we were put under a spell of pressure and, rather than display our resilience and fighting spirit, two characteristics that any side battling for the title should have in abundance, we simply fell apart. We lost our composure. We lost our discipline. We lost the plot.
Let’s think back to the derby at Old Trafford last year, when Sergio Aguero fired us ahead early on and yet we utterly disintegrated when United recovered. Or what about the home encounter in the Champions League with CSKA Moscow last season, when we had two players sent off while chasing the game and felt a sense of injustice at the officials rather than shame at our own limitations. How about in the FA Cup against Middlesborough, when we were made to look like part-timers by a Championship side and never threatened a recovery. There are plenty more examples. We do not just merely struggle when under pressure and a goal down; we fold with embarrassing ease.
Sadly, the script was all too predictable yesterday. The simple reality is that City haven’t played well all season. We have been fortunate that other sides have been as off-the-boil as we have.
Two damning statistics serve to accurately highlight our struggles. We have not recorded consecutive Premier League wins in four months, and we have not won any game against other sides in the top six. It’s frankly pathetic.
Many would argue it is too simplistic to pin all blame on Manuel Pellegrini, but whilst the players deserve more than their fair share of criticism for such a haphazard and spineless performance, yesterday showed once again how easy it is to get the better of our manager.
Against the quickest strikeforce in the league and faced with a side whose success has come from their pace on the counter attack and their energy in midfield, Pellegrini decided against picking Bacary Sagna or Gael Clichy, City’s two quickest defenders. He opted play Fabian Delph on the left, when his dynamism and bite in central midfield have always impressed. He selected Yaya Toure in a midfield two. He played two strikers and left us short in midfield. The players hardly covered themselves in glory, but it was quite some feat for Pellegrini to get all the major decisions wrong.
The next five games will decide our season: Spurs, Chelsea, Dynamo Kyiv, Liverpool, Liverpool. It’s time for the players to hit back in the face of adversity. It’s time for the manager to cajole and inspire, guide and lead.
Are you confident that will happen? No, me neither.
Agreed. It was a disgraceful shambolic performance from a team that was second best in every department. Even our stellar performers like Silva, are so of form it’s demoralising. I said all week that if he starts with Demichelis then the likes of Vardy & Mahrez will tear us apart and that he should put Sagna in there instead. But like you said, how many times has Pellers got to get it wrong before people take notice???? Otamendi needs to spend more time on his composure & stability rather than how his fucking immaculate hairstyle & beard look! Toure should only be playing the last 20-30 minutes now as an impact player as that’s all he plays for in 90 minutes anyway. Fernandinho is no better at sprinting back either. Look at the foxes yesterday, as soon as they lost the ball they were all back behind it, attacking as a unit, defending as a unit. We do the same as individuals. Where’s the fight, team spirit & desire????? I’ve even found myself defending Sterling saying he’s young he’s got time to improve his passing, his finishing and his positional sense. But then I look at Anthony Martial over the road at the swamp and he’s twice the player Sterling is and is a year younger. All the pundits keep saying we’ve got by far the best squad in the league, really? Bar the first half a dozen games of the season we’ve been very very average. Our saving grace has been the other teams around us performing as bad as us. We all heard the rally cries from ex City players that we should now be stepping up and giving the (poor, in my opinion) outgoing manager a great send off by achieving a decent trophy haul this season. I’m sorry but I can’t see us winning anything. Big changes are needed.
There has been no consistency as the team is constantly changed so we continue to play like strangers. How often has the Leicester team been changed ? The tactic of the slow tippy, tappy patient build up has now become painful to watch and it enables opposition to walk back into position to defend never mind even run back. We have the sharpest finisher in the league with Aguero and he needs to be fed and far more quickly before he has three players around him. As for defending teams are able to run through our midfield at will. We need someone to shout from the roof tops within the club that tactics, team selection, fitness levels and attitude has to change for us to even finish in the top four.
We cannot play with big headed sf centred players. It’s time to stick in some youth and energy. Haha can only play upfront against slow teams,and covering midfielder as well as full backs have to be quick to recover. Also spent 65mln on two centre backs which do not know anything about defending and this has been obvious all season but what the f..k is our defending coaching staff doing. Under Mancini our back line was a wall well organised. Offensively we are so slow. In that respect Yaya has to go or boost himself to speed our attack.
Never has the phrase ‘greater than the sum of its parts’ been more apt for a football side than for Leicester City this season. Even for our so-called world stars, I was expecting us to be fired up from the off, ready to show Leicester who is the best team in the League and be determined to close the 3 point gap and go ahead of them on GD. Not a bit of it !
The team selection and formation was poor from Pellegrini. However, if any team defends like we did yesterday on all 3 goals you’re bound to lose any game. Otamendi diving in, Dimichelis weak and slow, Yaya pulling out of tackles, Kolarov and Zabaleta caught upfield and out of position. Fernandinho and Delph offering no protection for the defence.
The feeling remains that Pellegrini pays scant regard to the strengths of the opposition and sends the team out with a half-baked game plan. That is simply naïve and unprofessional in the extreme. The failure of Silva and Sterling to make any impression is also worrying. One is badly out of form and the other is still trying to justify the reason we bought him.
Could not believe what I was watching yesterday it could have been ten if not for Joe hart really feel for Kun nobody up to his quality he must be getting so frustrated lets just hope he stays fit because I honestly can’t see anybody else scoreing for us . I am sick of going to games and seeing within the first 2 min if we’re gonna be up for fight or not so many of the players just aren’t gonna cut it under pep and I think they know it .
Nastatic – probably mis-spelt it, how on earth could we have let him go let alone loaning denayer out at the start of the season – vincent has been injury prone for seasons and although demechalis had a good season a few years back he was bought for a season – although I have loved city going forward under pellegrini the defence has since the departure of roberto been somewhat suspect – I can see us clinging on to a top four place although I also know – heaven forbid that we might slip. Pity Vieira has gone to New York.
Pathetic, disgraceful, lackluster, passionless. On top of that, a frustrating manager with an absolute lack of understanding of what involves to defend. It is going to be a very very long season.
A pair of empty shoes on the field does a better job than MD and I was truly baffled that Pellers played MD instead of Sanga in a game that we mush have won
IRONY:
We finally get the manager that can take us forward who understands and can adapt his tactics for any situation but may not be in a position to attract the players he needs as we may very easily be out of the top 4 and out of Europe and with no cup wins either.
The sadness is it is a reality and we need to rely on the rest to be shite.
We have been witnessing this decline for the past two seasons.
No one deserves to win, you earn that right.
There is no swagger, just arrogance and un-professionalism.
Leicester are a fabulous team to watch at the moment that you rightly point out are;
“brimming with such high levels of self-belief and, crucially, looking as if they were enjoying themselves. So they should.”
We clearly look the opposite. WHY????
We are clearly a good team, so how can it all look so desperate and amateur????
“Superbia in Proelio”…..!!!! .. lost in translation with this lot at the moment.Their is no fucking pride..!!
I will still keep believing.
I agree with pretty much all above comments, its heart breaking spending week after week watching teams with far less talent (apparently) who win every second ball and who just simply want the game more
I for one am looking forward to the summer change as we have too many players who seem to take a pay cheque without giving 100%.
We need numerous first team changes including a real ‘spine’ to the team. We also need a left full back and will in the next 2/3 seasons need a new right back too. Why he plays kolarov is completely beyond me, he is dreadful.
Bring on the change, in tactics and personnel. CTID
why did pellegrini not make a signing or 2 even to freshen the squad up? why not david villa for 6/8 weeks for example? thankfully he’ll be gone soon hopefully with his 2nd title again won by other teams incompetence.actually a defeat by kiev would boost this.terrible as it may sound but are we gonna win the big cup? no.