The Football.....

[ianrauk]

I watched the Man City match while sitting on a turbo trainer. Bayern Münich played them off the park for long periods. There's definitely a problem with the water in Manchester.

Joe Hart seems to be having a mare season. And there's an England game coming up.

 

[Boris Bajic]

I think we all need to start cutting the Blue half of Manchester a little slack.
They've cut their cloth to suit their (modest) purse, keen as they are to respect both the spirit and the letter of the FFP rules that are shortly to be introduced.
Not for City the extravagant cash-puking raid fest on new players sucked in by the vacuum cleaner of 'We Can Afford To'.
City are loyal to the principles of hard work and a slowly evolved team spirit achieved through years of backroom continuity and long-term managerial appointments.
For the relatively modest outlay of twelve pounds, they have already triumphed in the FA Cup and the Premiership. Hats off to them, I say!
I may have some of my facts a little wonky, but the essence of the post is absolutely correct.

 

[MarkF]

Joe Hart seems to be having a mare season. And there's an England game coming up.

I watched Celtic v Barca and Fraser Forster was very impressive, as he was v AC in Milan too. Hart is poo.

Bayern Munich were superb. Man City were humiliated, left looking technically and tactically inept and they didn't have the spirit to dig in, like Celtic could v Barca.

 

[Haitch]

City had two plans last night:
Paln A: Hoof the ball up the pitch and hope for a lucky bounce
Plan B: Head down and muscle your way past defenders until you lose the ball.

These tactics are a blight on English football. Buying in physical presence instead of training a team to pass and run (I heard that fewer than 50% of City's passes found a teammate last night) is not going to win in Europe. No matter how many millions are spent.

 

[ianrauk]

City had two plans last night:
Paln A: Hoof the ball up the pitch and hope for a lucky bounce
Plan B: Head down and muscle your way past defenders until you lose the ball.

These tactics are a blight on English football. Buying in physical presence instead of training a team to pass and run (I heard that fewer than 50% of City's passes found a teammate last night) is not going to win in Europe. No matter how many millions are spent.

I think they only had something like 33% possession last night. That is poor.

 

[accountantpete]

IMHO the predictions are an annoyance as they disrupt continuity.

The City game was a supposed eye-opener.

BM and Barcelona are on a different level to anyone else but the fact remains that Barcelona without Messi struggled to break down Celtic and if City had a good keeper and one defender hadn't dozed off they would have beaten Bayern.

 

[Haitch]

I think they only had something like 33% possession last night. That is poor.

Reminds of the Roy Harper lyric: Possession is a clue but not the game.

 

[accountantpete]

Reminds of the Roy Harper lyric: Possession is a clue but not the game.

The goal's a changing paradise, a moment out of date

 

[Haitch]

...if City had a good keeper and one defender hadn't dozed off they would have beaten Bayern.

Sorry, but City and Bayern Munich were on different planets last night and the Etihad is not on planet footbaal. The only look-in City had was when BM took off Robben and Ribéry in the last 15 minutes. City also failed to realise that European referees won't allow the same kind of physical play that is common in England. Keep the ball down, pass and run into space at speed to keep pressure on the midfield.

 

[Andrew_P]

No mention of Arsenal, I think they going well, I do wonder if the absence of Walcott is helping.

 

[ianrauk]

No mention of Arsenal, I think they going well, I do wonder if the absence of Walcott is helping.

And the addition of Otzil.

 

[brodiej]

Another poor night for Manchester teams.
Manure still top of their league by goal difference, Citeh 2nd.
Still early days but think it's going to be a close call for both of them to qualify out of the groups.

I think City may struggle but United should be fine.

Last night was their toughest game - Donetsk beat Chelsea last year - and a draw was a pretty good result I thought

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Arsenal looked superb at times. Fraser Foster was amazingly good for Celtic. I'm surprised Man City held on to the ball for 33% of the time, such was the Münchkin's dominance. And - I won't be saying this often - Chelsea also played a blinder!

 

[ianrauk]

[QUOTE 2688482, member: 30090"]Trying to decipher all this prediction stuff with stuff about actual football is making my head hurt[/quote]

Why doesn't that surprise me Lee?

 

[ianrauk]

[QUOTE 2688485, member: 30090"]Why does it not surprise you?[/quote]


Because it's you...
Now.. what are your predictions for this weeks games and what did you think of the results last night?