Man City (A) - Sat 25th Nov 2023 (12:30pm)

[VladimirIlyich]

Very satisfactory result and overall performance despite us looking a bit tired due to those fuckin internationals.

[redinblack]

Its a good point on a day we weren't great, we hung in there. I'm alright with it.

[Bossy]

Great result from a poor game. City will be more disappointed and considering they were at home looking at making record victories, they were worse than us. Most of their chances, including the goal came from our fuck ups. Trent was great today and his goal was old school TAA.

I thought Macca was ok, got his foot in a few times and was about the only one who did first half. Much prefer Gravenberch to Jones. Sorry but he’s continually turning 180 degrees instead of laying the ball of, Grave turns and goes forward. Szobo was a bit meh.

Ali was piss poor with his feet, but he often is, I can’t get my head around us playing it back to him rather than testing their high defence with balls over the top.  Mad.

Anyway, happy, we are loads better than last season and need 3 or 4 of the players to step up In confidence and we’ll be fucking great. 

[Red_or_Dead]

2 hours ago, DaveT said:

Ederson and Haaland should be donated to science for their miraculous healing powers.

I am sure there would have been some generous donations to Brazilian and Norweigan charities from Abu Dhabi. 

[Section_31]

Pissed me off on the radio before saying we have  'fierce rivalry'. I don't consider city to be anywhere remotely in the same stratosphere as us as a club, they're inconsequential, juiced up footballing flotsam.

 

I wouldn't wipe my arse with these matches but Guardiola has clearly been told by the marketing department to pump these games up. 

[VladimirIlyich]

4 minutes ago, Red_or_Dead said:

I am sure there would have been some generous donations to Brazilian and Norweigan charities from Abu Dhabi. 

We need to be arseholes with not releasing players for internationals like everybody else does. It's extremely naive at the least. 

[3 Stacks]

16 minutes ago, an tha said:

Given the usually very high pts totals needed to finish ahead of abu dhabi and the fact they are proven front runners - who drop few pts, avoiding defeat today which would have seen us fall 4 pts behind them is a very good result.

 

4 pts to them even this early would have been a potentially quite significant lead....

 

The draw keeps us right bang on their tails - i don't think the importance of that can be overrated at all.

 

 

The reason we have come 2nd to City many times is that we don't win enough and draw too many. In contrast, they manage to go on massive winning streaks pretty much every season.

 

The point is that scraping a draw here, or even beating these, does not then by rule mean we won't drop a bunch of points against bad teams, or away from home, which we do more than them.

 

Playing the best team in the world, away, has literally nothing to do with the context of any of our other games in a season. That's why it's not that important or indicative of much.

[an tha]

Just now, 3 Stacks said:

The reason we have come 2nd to City many times is that we don't win enough and draw too many. In contrast, they manage to go on massive winning streaks pretty much every season.

 

The point is that scraping a draw here, or even beating these, does not then by rule mean we won't drop a bunch of points against bad teams, or away from home, which we do more than them.

 

Playing the best team in the world, away, has literally nothing to do with the context of any of our other games in a season. That's why it's not that important or indicative of much.

Nobody suggests it means we won't drop pts elsewhere - but if you can't or won't see the significance of not falling 4 pts behind them today then I can't help you, mate.

[Rushies tash]

Can I also mention the atmosphere there today, which sounded absolutely shite. 

[Bossy]

5 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

The reason we have come 2nd to City many times is that we don't win enough and draw too many. In contrast, they manage to go on massive winning streaks pretty much every season.

 

The point is that scraping a draw here, or even beating these, does not then by rule mean we won't drop a bunch of points against bad teams, or away from home, which we do more than them.

 

Playing the best team in the world, away, has literally nothing to do with the context of any of our other games in a season. That's why it's not that important or indicative of much.

The very definition of glass half empty. 

[Pete]

5 minutes ago, Rushies tash said:

Can I also mention the atmosphere there today, which sounded absolutely shite. 

Saving it up for tomorrow.  

[manwiththestick]

10 minutes ago, Rushies tash said:

Can I also mention the atmosphere there today, which sounded absolutely shite. 

Are you surprised though?

 

There were fans of theirs leaving before the final whistle in a 1-1 game against what they call their main rivals.

[3 Stacks]

11 minutes ago, bossy said:

The very definition of glass half empty. 

No, it isn't. It's neither positive or negative.

[Bossy]

Just now, 3 Stacks said:

No, it isn't. It's neither positive or negative.

We get 90 points but aren’t champions, so to not see the team in a positive light after falling short in extraordinary circumstances is pretty half empty, for me anyway. Then to secure a point away at a team that have won 23 on the trot, and to see that negatively is also half empty. So that’s full empty, ha. 

[Tj hooker]

Sky trying to make out that the cheats are our main rivals now , Klopp having non of it in the pre- match interview made me smile I must admit 

[No2]

1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

It's a better result for us than for them, but no, we did not really carry a threat. Realistically, City should have won this 1-0, but a moment of individual quality gave us a draw. Cool.

 

The credit you can give us is we had a pretty good shape and didn't break. Given loads of people thought we could win this game, though, you'd think they'd expect more than that, but I personally didn't. And that's fine, the importance of this game is overrated in the context of the season.

 

 

 

You don't have chat shit. They also scored from one moment of individual quality, Ali made 1 good save, so did Ederson. 

[Twentyman]

12 minutes ago, No2 said:

You don't have chat shit. They also scored from one moment of individual quality, Ali made 1 good save, so did Ederson. 

 

It was more of a mistake from us, if anything. Dom and Trent let Ake dance around them like traffic cones. Ali was poor on the shot as well, think he parries that around the post on a normal, non-shite day.

[ZonkoVille77]

We were poor but the point is welcomed. I would have thought the main aim was to get back into the CL with anything else being a bonus. There was lots to like about the overall discipline but the failure to create was disappointing. Onwards and sidewards. We're fuckin shite. 

[No2]

2 minutes ago, ZonkoVille77 said:

We were poor but the point is welcomed. I would have thought the main aim was to get back into the CL with anything else being a bonus. There was lots to like about the overall discipline but the failure to create was disappointing. Onwards and sidewards. We're fuckin shite. 

I thought we were far from poor, just checked the stats before posting and seen they had 61% possession. It felt like we had more of the ball than them for long periods, I thought Mc Aallister was excellent, as were the back 4. Mo looked dangerous without actually ever getting much a chance but there was a sense this was a really evenly matched game and a goal was coming. Jota was poor, he's not suited to these games were we try build slowly, he loses it far to much for that type of game. Elliot, Endo and Gravenberch were all decent as well when they came on.

[KMD7]

1 minute ago, No2 said:

I thought we were far from poor, just checked the stats before posting and seen they had 61% possession. It felt like we had more of the ball than them for long periods, I thought Mc Aallister was excellent, as were the back 4. Mo looked dangerous without actually ever getting much a chance but there was a sense this was a really evenly matched game and a goal was coming. Jota was poor, he's not suited to these games were we try build slowly, he loses it far to much for that type of game. Elliot, Endo and Gravenberch were all decent as well when they came on.

Agree with all that. 

[Red74]

These are gonna get a points deduction this season. Staying on their coat tails galvanises us. 

[ZonkoVille77]

7 minutes ago, No2 said:

 Jota was poor, he's not suited to these games were we try build slowly, he loses it far to much for that type of game. Elliot, Endo and Gravenberch were all decent as well when they came on.

 

Agree with all of the above. The 3 subs brought much needed energy when they came on. I just felt the forwards' link up play was poor and rushed at times. The midfield created little but worked well with the defence and kept them relatively quiet. A welcome point and I'm sure Klopp would feel the same.

[Rushies tash]

3 minutes ago, Red74 said:

These are gonna get a points deduction this season. Staying on their coat tails galvanises us. 

 

The only way that will happen is if we've already won the league with a couple of games left.

[manwiththestick]

6 minutes ago, Red74 said:

These are gonna get a points deduction this season.

I like your positivity but that's not happening.

[AngryofTuebrook]

1 hour ago, Section_31 said:

Pissed me off on the radio before saying we have  'fierce rivalry'. I don't consider city to be anywhere remotely in the same stratosphere as us as a club, they're inconsequential, juiced up footballing flotsam.

 

I wouldn't wipe my arse with these matches but Guardiola has clearly been told by the marketing department to pump these games up. 

There's a difference between "rivals" and "competitors".

 

Competitors - in our case, we've had Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc. at different times before City got rich - are like your work mates: fun for a bit, but when you go your separate ways, you don't give a shit about them. 

 

Rivals - Everton and Man United - are like your real friends: you take an interest in their fortunes wherever they go and whatever they do.