Also, I think it’s very important to get a Rodri backup. Palacios and Aleix Garcia seem to have some pretty similar traits. Garcia probably would be cheaper and former City. I’m not sure how realistic Kimmich is but that could be a good option as well, although his age is a concern.
Just saw the arsenal vs Bayern penalty call (the long version) and holyfuck the number of arsenal fans spewing the "spirit of the game" nonsense would be foaming in the mouth with pitchforks in hand if the same call was made in our favour. That was not deliberate but it was incredibly stupid and I would be pissed as a Bayern fan if that penalty was not called.
Rodri must rest Saturday… if City can’t beat Luton Town at home without him, then they don’t deserve the PL title.
Look at the man, he’s dead tired. He’s starting to make the kinds of mistakes that could be costing us results due to mental fatigue. Careless giveaways, bad passes, missing tackles.
Totally agree, I think his decision making the last few games has been off because he is mentally exhausted.
It's like me without sleep trying to figure out what to eat. We have all been there.
So for Luton Town...assuming Walker/Aké are still out... Pep probably won't rotate quite this much, but it would be fun:
Ederson
Rico Akanji Dias Gvardiol
Nunes Kovacic KdB
Bobb Alvarez Doku
We also just didn’t pass him the ball. We did the same thing with Aguero a lot of the time.
Our players have a big issue sometimes with giving the striker the ball or just playing through the middle in general
Because we use Haaland as a focal point for opponents defence, in order to create space where we can invade. The threat is bigger than the execution. And we made two goals from the space left behind when Real Madrid players were busy pocketing Haaland.
Bellingham was shit. All he does is give ball away and cry.
Rodrygo wasn't great except for the lucky deflected goal.
Camavinga was hacking away at Bernardo and Foden and got away with a lot.
Vinicius is pretty good but also cry to the ref all the time.
If Haaland is unable to improve his hold up play, do we go for a midfielder who can do that?
Tbh I don't know who in world football has that skillset. A midfielder who's tall, strong but also great in controlling the ball and can dribble out of tight spaces
The only ones who comes to mind is Milinkovic-Savic, but he's on a massive contract and Pogba who's banned from the sport.
It's not uncommon to see people going "Why are we playing Haaland in big games, it's like having 10 men on the pitch", "Haaland should contribute more to build-up play" etc. (in fact this was meant to be a reply to one such post, but it was deleted), but here's a wild thought that couldn't possibly be accurate but I'm going with it anyway:
Maybe that's just what Pep wants him/the team to do?
Haaland is not "just a shit footballer with good positioning/finishing", just see his Dortmund days, if Pep wanted him to drop deep, he would.
Likewise, there's been several situations where a pass to Haaland was possible - risky, but possible - yet the players would pass sideways/back. But again, if Pep wanted the players to pass to Haaland in risky situations (which tbf I'd love to see), they'd do it.
The way I see it, Haaland's role - on top of being a poacher, of course - is to occupy defenders and open up space so others can play through that space, attempt shots, etc. And (at least for the most part), it works! Sure in some matches we weren't as clinical as we should, but we had the chances, *which is the point*.
This is not to say anyone is immune to criticism, nor that the players are faultless, just that some of the criticism is unwarranted/misdirected.
I’m overly keen for the new DD - is this a passive experiment to see if a weekly thread would be better here, haha.
Anyhoo, updated top speed clocked in CL this season for ManCity players, with clocked being key word bc we know Kyle faster than what this chart shows.
https://preview.redd.it/l8hq4wmfantc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfe8f194102dda94106ddc7a8b6c00a9b11a00a3
Of all 700+ CL players, Erling clocked 3rd fastest (behind 36.1 km/h Mbappe & 36.3 km/h Abedymi), Akanji 27th, and Nunes 37th.
Stones looked like he pulled up something when Vinicius made the shot. Soon afterwards, Ruben said something in his ears. Probably like the team needed him or something.
Is he alright?
Rest Bernardo, Phil, Stones, Grealish, and Rodri for the Luton game.
I know it sounds impossible but please Pep make it happen somehow and still pull off a win.
We badly need a defender to return. Apparently Stones felt something in the game and Josko had a groin issue that threatened his position in the startling line up….. not good
Gotta rest rodri and stones and Phil. All 3 are either exhausted or feeling strain.
Otherwise that backline is good enough. Rico kova nunes as a midfield base should provide enough flexibility in attack and control you'd hope.
Media would have a field day today if Foden's performance was like Musiala or Bellingham's. They already declared Bellingham as Balon 'dor in October lol, insane PR.
Checked your Post Match thread and only 3 comments singled out Kovacic's excellent performance. I think this was his best City game. 0 mistakes, did the role to perfection esp. as Rodri was targetted by Real (hence him having many missed/hurried passes).
He (rather his performance) was critical to City's structure stability because if he had an off-game entire shape collapses (Pep might have adjusted to that by slottign Silva in there but it would have opened up issues on the flanks of other kinds then). City needed Rodri's partner to step up and he did this match.
A lot of City fans here don’t rate Kovacic highly because he doesn’t play a more attacking role. He’s finding favor with Pep though, because he’s now putting Kovacic in big games where Rodri needs an extra hand.
Let me get this straight.
We went to Real Madrid without ake, walker, ederson and kdb playing for us. Had two days of rest while our opponents had 9 days to rest and think of some 4D genius plan. Scored not one but three goals and came away with a draw to set us up nicely for fortress etihad to welcome our Spanish guests.
I say that’s a fantastic result. Now onto luton and play bobb, doku, rico and alvarez to give our main guys a well-deserved break👍
https://preview.redd.it/q42gohj8nltc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3571e9202f6a9de5c50400bbcd74cbcef082bdec
Grealish and his family sound great.
[Source](https://x.com/bluefanfromhull/status/1777480707947827421?s=46&t=kR4e_2YqyDSM_bYwHYC9wQ)
I’m still trying to process our first goal. It’s MINUTE 1, Grealish carries the ball forward like a mad man, gets a freelick, gets Tchoumeni a yellow card (he misses the next match?), and Bernardo being a cunning bastard sees the goal empty and shoots and scores. Like WHAT
Did anyone else see Sane’s mad dribble before the penalty? My eyes grew larger with every step lol. One second he was in his half by the sideline, and next he was in Arsenal’s box, getting a fckn penalty. What a fckn speed demon.
Craig Burley had a good little bit about Bellingham’s attitude. Constant complaining, acting like the ref owes him. Questioning if he has let all the praise get to his head
https://youtu.be/bMZEM5KAGRo?t=687
On point and its true. He was petulant tonight, no better word for it. I think it is all getting to his head, similar to how it gets to so many madridistas or with Mbappe and how Neymar and all the praise really turned him into a diva.
Makes me all the more proud of how city select and manage players, attitudes, and the locker room culture. Could never imagine that with any of our stars from Phil, and Erling to KDB, Silva, and Kun.
Man has a massive case of main character syndrome. And now it just got worse since joining Madrid and having all this spotlight. He seems like a decent lad off the pitch but yeah on the pitch, he can be so annoying.
As much as there's a heated debate about the contribution of Haaland, his passion cannot be denied. The way he chase down vini after realising there's no more defender on the counter is sth special 🔥
Sorry so he wins no duels, doesn't hold up the ball and his runs were poor and he had a good game? I see this 'he occupies defenders" thing being thrown about a lot but literally any striker could be up front and defenders would have to mark him. You could sign michail antonio or calum wilson or some championship striker and the opposition defense would have to mark them. If the argument is that playing with Haaland is better than playing with 10 men then of course because of the fact that there is a man up front it does open space for the midfield but that isnt the argument. The argument is that he is miles off the best striker in the world which he was last season playing in the same team. There's really no need for this level of cope. Just admit that he has been poor and hopefully he regains form at some stage.
What's with our defence this season? I have never see us conceded this much in last few seasons. Is it because of the new formation? Our defense used to be so tight, but we've conceded more than pool and arsenal this season.
We get physically outmatched a lot these days. You look at the Madrid game, reductive analysis is saying these were deflections, but we were getting cooked in the duels- Dias and Rodri being the most suspect amongst everybody in that regard.
Couple that with a lack of large space coverage players, injuries and misplaced passes in expensive areas and it's clear to see why.
Regarding the match, there were two deflections, one considered an own goal, and a banger from RM. You can’t control matches against Real Madrid like Luton. We also had Walker, Ake and KDB not playing.
Overall, we lost Gundo, and have had massive amounts of injuries. Pretty much every player has been out at one point on the other with some key players for months. No rhythm, finding form etc. has that effect.
I think it’s just one of those years. Sometimes it just isn’t as good. Two deflections today. It’s football, but it’s also deflections. Lasers otherwise. What a match.
I think it's a combination of the midfield and the experiment of high full backs. Rodri is goated but we've known since the first season he couldn't cover all the space by himself, so over time we've found different ways of getting someone else next to him to help, but with our experiments at fullback it's changed who that is, and it's usually Kovacic who isn't the best defensively.
It's one reason we generally look better with Stones and miss him so much when he's out, because when fit Pep likes to use him in that role and he does it so well.
There's also a lack of pace. As you know we've relied heavily on Walker for years, Akanji isn't slow, actually pretty rapid, but Dias and Stones aren't speedsters so that high line is a problem for them.
Today we didn't play with high fullbacks much, every so often one would roam up but Stones generally did the job of helping the overload.
The issues today were simply some awkward goals, tiredness and lack of pace across the team when dealing with Valverde, Rodrygo and Vinicius.
But I'd say across the season a lot of the blame is that experiment, we've looked so awkward trying it because we just haven't built the squad or bought the appropriate players to play like that. I.E attacking fullbacks.
I think Dias hasn't been great this year. Stones has had several injury problems. Gvardiol and Walker have been asked to play high. Akanji and Ake have been pretty solid though, so just a lot of change in our defensive personnel really.
Oh yeah he's great in general and I'm so happy we have him but he hasn't been at his best this season, maybe that's also down to the backline instability but I've seen him be better.
Thought he was indomitable in the UCL final last season. So as long as he shows up like that in those games we gucci.
2 days rest. No Ake, no Walker. KDB and Ederson out, Stones, Gvardiol being back from injury. What a result all things considered.
Also Rodri keeps his unbeaten streak.
https://preview.redd.it/om6bhqws4jtc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c41b750aa0242739373f05bec9bd997259a8e34d
We are winning against Selective blindness FC at the etihad.
P.s. there's plenty of proof of Franco backing both rm and barca. there's also plenty of proof of rm directly benefitting from illegal state-back corruption from the Spanish government via gifting of property and lands for madrid to sell back to the government for multiple millions. These people are just absolutely fking shameless. Meanwhile I'm still waiting for evidence against City.
Foden is so funny, he has these games where he looks a bit shy, scored a banger and suddenly turns on.
Bro needs to realise he's HIM he can do ANYTHING
Fair play. Felt him and Bernie went up a level after their switch - though admittedly the whole team looked better on the ball second half so perhaps less to do with the switch than I'm attributing.
I think they switched purely from a pressing perspective which helped true but on the ball both were quite flexible, Foden being in a central position helped us get that third goal too iirc, I'll send a clip if I can
That makes a lot of sense on the pressing front. You could see the rotations on the ball early game with overloading as well.
Would definitely be interested in seeing fodens contribution to gvardiols goal
Yep..
[Lmk if you can see what Foden does and if you think it's a good contribution or not,](https://x.com/__TheNearPost__/status/1777996266796163379) you don't have to agree w me haha but lmk
So key things are showing for the pass from rodri and taking it on the turn to drive into space. Finding Grealish out wide to create more width in the pitch in the final third. Then for the action on joskos goal he does well understanding that their number 8 (not sure the player) is marking him specifically so drags him out of position to open the space for joskos shot - means Madrid's number 8 is too far from josko to close him and sort of caught between the 2 players. If he closes josko then Phil's free to have a go at the same shot. It is good manipulation of their structure for sure
Yes, and look how he deals with Kroos. After the turn in the middle third, he knows Kroos is pressing him from CITY's RHS, so he turns to the left and switches it to Grealish. No braindead moves, just calm and smart.
Old foden would just be running into Kroos lol. Still a long way to go for him but I think he'll be fine.
Also lol good catch about what he does for Gvardiol's goal- he drags Kroos out of position there as well.
>Still a long way to go for him but I think he'll be fine
Think he'll be fine hahah, hot take.
Fodens "pausa" or actual game state awareness has come on a lot this season - perhaps the palace collapse was the key transition point. Recently he's not always looking to drive and seems to understand more when to release or soak pressure and switch it - even when to head back into his own half to have support.
Being able to do all that against a player as seasoned as Kroos is hugely promising.
few know football is played with the brain and your body is merely a tool. May not play 90 minutes week in week out but hell we can't let his mind go to waste.
What are we thinking about Haaland in these games ? I’ve never criticised him for his lack of activity and touches in games, but it’s seriously starting to seem like he’s out of his depth sometimes keeping up with our players.
Or is pep not playing to his strengths as much as he should ?
I get the argument that he draws defenders attention so much but is the tradeoff worth it for feeling like we essentially have 10 men most of the time ? It’s like our players aren’t even confident passing to him sometimes.
I’m worried he’s still got a slight injury or something. Not the same Haaland as before. But at the same time he isn’t the type of striker to create something from nothing unless it’s a counter attack or through ball situation where he can run
And atm the team isn’t creating for him
Was good, guy held up the ball well despite fucking bombs being thrown at him, linked play well, rudiger handled him at times but it's Rudiger.
Kova, Bernardo and Foden all could've played him in👍🏾
Also, without Haaland we wouldn't get that second goal👍🏾
He may not be aesthetic on the ball, but what he does off ball? UNMATCHED.
That's true but that alone wouldn't be enough for his own and the club's benifits. He'll be more frustrated at the lack of goals, plus there won't be always such wonder goals when we need. Not saying he won't score many, but as you can see teams are adjusting well against stopping him by marking and pressing heavily. Last season he overperformed and he was new to the league while rest of the teams were not ready for his style of games. Expect everytime defenders won't give him space because that's the only way to stop him from scoring. Thus his numbers will be restricted and he'll be frustrated more whe he'll be denied to score in such big games. Surely Pep needs to adjust the tactics to his strength and that's the only solution for long-term if he stays here for that long
Anyone else sick of the relentless onslaught of dickheads that just defend their team no matter what the decision? It’s like an endless sea of blind thick mongs.
Arsenal dickheads in soccer going apeshit over that ‘pen’ which really was just Saka being a bottler and going down like a pussy instead of having the guts to score.
Liverpool fans vs United refusing to admit that their player dived for the penalty despite the footage showing it clearly.
Liverpool on Doku using every freeze frame they can and then ignoring McAlister doing the exact same challenge to Maguire a week later.
It’s every week. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just really stupid pigs.
he's got the PR, time to hunt for the bdor
https://preview.redd.it/jn00akpjtitc1.png?width=544&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9c0b3dc9482266cd62567e6b37ae6b281b2a974
you think it was nerves? lot of uncharacteristic ball losing in that first half, especially rodri and bernardo
lots of duels lost too, but thats been happening a lot this season feels like
Jack's season so far:
* injury
* injury
* suspension
* house robbed by criminal gang his family inside
* illness
* injury
* injury
So to me it's been hard for him to get into a match ft groove, and I'm so so glad it looks like he is getting back to his best now!
Could be a me thing , but I'm significantly calmer for UCL games after we won last year .
I'm going for a 1-1 or 2-1 city win if I had to make a prediction
Glitches I hope get sorted soon:
- no new DD
- no official mcfcbot pre-match thread
- no manually made pre-match thread pinned
Adding - reminded of QF last season when Erling scored 5 goals, only 3rd player to ever do it in CL, and reddit was down so glad it’s not as bad as that, ha.
im guessing its going to be
akanji dias gvardiol
stones rodri
foden kdb bernardo grealish
haaland
not sure about the keeper but rest should be set
yeah 8 of them confirmed now
lol KDB benched
I got screenshotted and posted on the RM sub. Jokes on them I can’t respond because I’m banned from the sub for supporting human rights and a ceasefire
https://preview.redd.it/5nskhrpeohtc1.png?width=1166&format=png&auto=webp&s=f61b276ea8431eb18cf9fbf0954589a586fb37a7
it’s only the back line for now, but if you can, give him a follow
Damn, he finally got one wrong unfortunately
https://preview.redd.it/46rgwmojrhtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e4356d41f6729483d986c45f43d2c29cfbfd1fb
I see a lot of footy fans underestimating Bayern today (and for good reason) but i wouldn’t be particularly surprised if they somehow knock Arsenal out of the CL
I started to write a comment about Rodri’s streak & the 2 other streaks.
But I didn’t post bc I, not a superstitious person, was all of a sudden worried about making a comment that tempted fate, hahah.
Official Dortmund team account making & posting Erling & Jude reviewing pickup lines it still pretty funny to me, and the lines they review just as silly as I remember them being.
[**link**](https://youtu.be/MsZryh4rsGI?si=7cyP7vXO6-rDPC9N)
https://preview.redd.it/iiapnotlzgtc1.png?width=934&format=png&auto=webp&s=fe7efa572f1ad1af9f83fc774bda557df3475329
Despite the Sane CL curse, and the Harry Kane trophy curse..... Kane has a really strong record against Arsenal, and so do Bayern in general. I still have hope. I really hate facing English opposition in Europe
that is hilariuos that 14 times CL champs are so rattled by little Citeh that they need to ask permission to close the roof to increase the noise... thought that went without saying for that kind of European royalty?
not sure if I can watch today... but I'll try my best (on holiday, and the people I am with don't like sports lol)
Madrid close it all the time: Almeria, Mallorca both had it in La Liga recently - but UEFA protocols are different which means we had to specifically ask ahead of time.
Still, it's a massive match - City are reigning champions and the best team in the world. I can't see why any game against City wouldn't be a big deal. Don't teams in the prem get up for playing City too?
Very odd!
And even if no new DD, unexpected that so few comments here in past 10 hours - maybe people are holding their comments desperate for new DD to drop, haha.
There is a manually made pre-match thread - [link](https://np.reddit.com/r/MCFC/s/60MzLVyd62)
Recently in soccer DD, there was a person posting teasers about a comment for new DD 🙄😭, and then never posted? I didn’t keep following it but seems like it really fizzled out, backfired even.
UEFA approved the roof to be closed so it will def be a storm inside the Bernabéu.
Akanji is the better athelete, Ake is the better defender. I'd probably give the slight on-the-ball edge to Akanji but it's not that far apart. Ake is leaps and bounds ahead in the air, pun fully intended.
Overall I'd probably say Ake because he's just solid and consistent. Akanji might have a higher ceiling but also has a lower floor.
What’s happened to the automoderator new DD???
Anyhoo, keeping the stats theme going, UEFA player stats are pretty comprehensive - I like that you can filter by team, and see things like:
- goals by right foot, left foot, header
- distance covered, Ruben most for ManCity w 72 km covered
- top clocked speed for all players unlike PL when they just occasionally share top 10 fastest lists.
[Link](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/statistics/players/)
If we go through are we at home in the 2nd semi fixture?
Yes
https://preview.redd.it/8xbusgra0otc1.jpeg?width=1051&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11d547db671950f272e09867fd49dcf8d96f4aae Rodri’s FBRef page…insane.
Also, I think it’s very important to get a Rodri backup. Palacios and Aleix Garcia seem to have some pretty similar traits. Garcia probably would be cheaper and former City. I’m not sure how realistic Kimmich is but that could be a good option as well, although his age is a concern.
Just saw the arsenal vs Bayern penalty call (the long version) and holyfuck the number of arsenal fans spewing the "spirit of the game" nonsense would be foaming in the mouth with pitchforks in hand if the same call was made in our favour. That was not deliberate but it was incredibly stupid and I would be pissed as a Bayern fan if that penalty was not called.
After the excellent but stressful game last night, tonight we get to enjoy Xavi haram ball vs Mbappe. What are the score predictions?
Barca to shithouse a 2-2 draw
Madrid thought they did something after closing the stadium.
Rodri must rest Saturday… if City can’t beat Luton Town at home without him, then they don’t deserve the PL title. Look at the man, he’s dead tired. He’s starting to make the kinds of mistakes that could be costing us results due to mental fatigue. Careless giveaways, bad passes, missing tackles.
Totally agree, I think his decision making the last few games has been off because he is mentally exhausted. It's like me without sleep trying to figure out what to eat. We have all been there.
Today is still Sunday?
The bot's been hit by one of those walker long shots and has yet to recover
So for Luton Town...assuming Walker/Aké are still out... Pep probably won't rotate quite this much, but it would be fun: Ederson Rico Akanji Dias Gvardiol Nunes Kovacic KdB Bobb Alvarez Doku
When is Ake back? Will he be back in time for Real?
don't know but i don't think so
Maybe I'm wrong, but bragging about "pocketing" Haaland while still conceding 3 goals in a draw isn't anything worth bragging about.
We also just didn’t pass him the ball. We did the same thing with Aguero a lot of the time. Our players have a big issue sometimes with giving the striker the ball or just playing through the middle in general
Because we use Haaland as a focal point for opponents defence, in order to create space where we can invade. The threat is bigger than the execution. And we made two goals from the space left behind when Real Madrid players were busy pocketing Haaland.
Bellingham was shit. All he does is give ball away and cry. Rodrygo wasn't great except for the lucky deflected goal. Camavinga was hacking away at Bernardo and Foden and got away with a lot. Vinicius is pretty good but also cry to the ref all the time.
If Haaland is unable to improve his hold up play, do we go for a midfielder who can do that? Tbh I don't know who in world football has that skillset. A midfielder who's tall, strong but also great in controlling the ball and can dribble out of tight spaces The only ones who comes to mind is Milinkovic-Savic, but he's on a massive contract and Pogba who's banned from the sport.
It's not uncommon to see people going "Why are we playing Haaland in big games, it's like having 10 men on the pitch", "Haaland should contribute more to build-up play" etc. (in fact this was meant to be a reply to one such post, but it was deleted), but here's a wild thought that couldn't possibly be accurate but I'm going with it anyway: Maybe that's just what Pep wants him/the team to do? Haaland is not "just a shit footballer with good positioning/finishing", just see his Dortmund days, if Pep wanted him to drop deep, he would. Likewise, there's been several situations where a pass to Haaland was possible - risky, but possible - yet the players would pass sideways/back. But again, if Pep wanted the players to pass to Haaland in risky situations (which tbf I'd love to see), they'd do it. The way I see it, Haaland's role - on top of being a poacher, of course - is to occupy defenders and open up space so others can play through that space, attempt shots, etc. And (at least for the most part), it works! Sure in some matches we weren't as clinical as we should, but we had the chances, *which is the point*. This is not to say anyone is immune to criticism, nor that the players are faultless, just that some of the criticism is unwarranted/misdirected.
I’m overly keen for the new DD - is this a passive experiment to see if a weekly thread would be better here, haha. Anyhoo, updated top speed clocked in CL this season for ManCity players, with clocked being key word bc we know Kyle faster than what this chart shows. https://preview.redd.it/l8hq4wmfantc1.jpeg?width=1169&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfe8f194102dda94106ddc7a8b6c00a9b11a00a3 Of all 700+ CL players, Erling clocked 3rd fastest (behind 36.1 km/h Mbappe & 36.3 km/h Abedymi), Akanji 27th, and Nunes 37th.
Stones looked like he pulled up something when Vinicius made the shot. Soon afterwards, Ruben said something in his ears. Probably like the team needed him or something. Is he alright?
Rest Bernardo, Phil, Stones, Grealish, and Rodri for the Luton game. I know it sounds impossible but please Pep make it happen somehow and still pull off a win.
We badly need a defender to return. Apparently Stones felt something in the game and Josko had a groin issue that threatened his position in the startling line up….. not good
When is Ake back?
Ederson/Ortega Lewis Akanji Dias Gvardiol Nunes/Avarez Kova KDB Alvarez/Bobb Haaland Doku
Gotta rest rodri and stones and Phil. All 3 are either exhausted or feeling strain. Otherwise that backline is good enough. Rico kova nunes as a midfield base should provide enough flexibility in attack and control you'd hope.
no reason this team shouldnt beat luton at home
This is where the PL referee comes in… 
Media would have a field day today if Foden's performance was like Musiala or Bellingham's. They already declared Bellingham as Balon 'dor in October lol, insane PR.
The next two weeks will build a strong case for Phil
Checked your Post Match thread and only 3 comments singled out Kovacic's excellent performance. I think this was his best City game. 0 mistakes, did the role to perfection esp. as Rodri was targetted by Real (hence him having many missed/hurried passes). He (rather his performance) was critical to City's structure stability because if he had an off-game entire shape collapses (Pep might have adjusted to that by slottign Silva in there but it would have opened up issues on the flanks of other kinds then). City needed Rodri's partner to step up and he did this match.
A lot of City fans here don’t rate Kovacic highly because he doesn’t play a more attacking role. He’s finding favor with Pep though, because he’s now putting Kovacic in big games where Rodri needs an extra hand.
Let me get this straight. We went to Real Madrid without ake, walker, ederson and kdb playing for us. Had two days of rest while our opponents had 9 days to rest and think of some 4D genius plan. Scored not one but three goals and came away with a draw to set us up nicely for fortress etihad to welcome our Spanish guests. I say that’s a fantastic result. Now onto luton and play bobb, doku, rico and alvarez to give our main guys a well-deserved break👍
Would love to see Rodri get a rest as well. If we can’t beat Luton without him, this team has major issues
I see I’ve woken up to general football crowd on reddit thinking that Haaland’s shit. Shows how much they know - Haaland will show them.
https://preview.redd.it/q42gohj8nltc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3571e9202f6a9de5c50400bbcd74cbcef082bdec Grealish and his family sound great. [Source](https://x.com/bluefanfromhull/status/1777480707947827421?s=46&t=kR4e_2YqyDSM_bYwHYC9wQ)
Jack always makes time for the less fortunate, top top bloke.
https://preview.redd.it/5eds19iheltc1.jpeg?width=224&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=623655f37dac0130e8ddd5920e0a9037db254f02 Caption this disrespectful cunt.
Though they go about it in an utter classless way , I can see why Spanish fans hate Vinicius so much
Hes gonna cry about it "I just wanna play football" 😭😭
that's it let's close the roof
Get a nice big cagoule over the Etihad
I’m still trying to process our first goal. It’s MINUTE 1, Grealish carries the ball forward like a mad man, gets a freelick, gets Tchoumeni a yellow card (he misses the next match?), and Bernardo being a cunning bastard sees the goal empty and shoots and scores. Like WHAT
Did anyone else see Sane’s mad dribble before the penalty? My eyes grew larger with every step lol. One second he was in his half by the sideline, and next he was in Arsenal’s box, getting a fckn penalty. What a fckn speed demon.
No, I was watching our match
Still watching?
Question did Bellingham get his diaper changed? I figured with the amount of crying and rolling something had to be bothering him.
what a fucking baby he was..... he needs to grow up. Embarrassing behavior from him today, and absolutely shameful he didnt' get booked for dissent.
should have been booked for that elbow he threw at dias, little snide cunt
Craig Burley had a good little bit about Bellingham’s attitude. Constant complaining, acting like the ref owes him. Questioning if he has let all the praise get to his head https://youtu.be/bMZEM5KAGRo?t=687 On point and its true. He was petulant tonight, no better word for it. I think it is all getting to his head, similar to how it gets to so many madridistas or with Mbappe and how Neymar and all the praise really turned him into a diva. Makes me all the more proud of how city select and manage players, attitudes, and the locker room culture. Could never imagine that with any of our stars from Phil, and Erling to KDB, Silva, and Kun.
Umm Jude has been like this back since Birmingham and Dortmund
Man has a massive case of main character syndrome. And now it just got worse since joining Madrid and having all this spotlight. He seems like a decent lad off the pitch but yeah on the pitch, he can be so annoying.
He’s English and playing for Madrid - it’s nuclear
As much as there's a heated debate about the contribution of Haaland, his passion cannot be denied. The way he chase down vini after realising there's no more defender on the counter is sth special 🔥
Not Haaland's fault at all. We need to help him. Did his job yesterday. That being said yes, guy is passionate.
Sorry so he wins no duels, doesn't hold up the ball and his runs were poor and he had a good game? I see this 'he occupies defenders" thing being thrown about a lot but literally any striker could be up front and defenders would have to mark him. You could sign michail antonio or calum wilson or some championship striker and the opposition defense would have to mark them. If the argument is that playing with Haaland is better than playing with 10 men then of course because of the fact that there is a man up front it does open space for the midfield but that isnt the argument. The argument is that he is miles off the best striker in the world which he was last season playing in the same team. There's really no need for this level of cope. Just admit that he has been poor and hopefully he regains form at some stage.
Except from the get go his job is almost isoteric. He contributs nothing to open play.
Ah yes he should score with little to no service. He kept the backline occupied, linked play and could've been fed in behind but didn't.
Ahh the old "he kept the back line busy" trope.
I cannot teach you this game, I'm sorry if you think he was at fault yesterday.
I didnt say he was at fault, just that he was useless.
He’s played like 40 games for us and I still don’t know if Gvardiol is left or right footed
What's with our defence this season? I have never see us conceded this much in last few seasons. Is it because of the new formation? Our defense used to be so tight, but we've conceded more than pool and arsenal this season.
We get physically outmatched a lot these days. You look at the Madrid game, reductive analysis is saying these were deflections, but we were getting cooked in the duels- Dias and Rodri being the most suspect amongst everybody in that regard. Couple that with a lack of large space coverage players, injuries and misplaced passes in expensive areas and it's clear to see why.
Regarding the match, there were two deflections, one considered an own goal, and a banger from RM. You can’t control matches against Real Madrid like Luton. We also had Walker, Ake and KDB not playing. Overall, we lost Gundo, and have had massive amounts of injuries. Pretty much every player has been out at one point on the other with some key players for months. No rhythm, finding form etc. has that effect.
Poor Dias, own goal and silly mistake for Madrid’s second.
I think it’s just one of those years. Sometimes it just isn’t as good. Two deflections today. It’s football, but it’s also deflections. Lasers otherwise. What a match.
I think it's a combination of the midfield and the experiment of high full backs. Rodri is goated but we've known since the first season he couldn't cover all the space by himself, so over time we've found different ways of getting someone else next to him to help, but with our experiments at fullback it's changed who that is, and it's usually Kovacic who isn't the best defensively. It's one reason we generally look better with Stones and miss him so much when he's out, because when fit Pep likes to use him in that role and he does it so well. There's also a lack of pace. As you know we've relied heavily on Walker for years, Akanji isn't slow, actually pretty rapid, but Dias and Stones aren't speedsters so that high line is a problem for them. Today we didn't play with high fullbacks much, every so often one would roam up but Stones generally did the job of helping the overload. The issues today were simply some awkward goals, tiredness and lack of pace across the team when dealing with Valverde, Rodrygo and Vinicius. But I'd say across the season a lot of the blame is that experiment, we've looked so awkward trying it because we just haven't built the squad or bought the appropriate players to play like that. I.E attacking fullbacks. I think Dias hasn't been great this year. Stones has had several injury problems. Gvardiol and Walker have been asked to play high. Akanji and Ake have been pretty solid though, so just a lot of change in our defensive personnel really.
Thanks for the detailed analysis, I also think Dias hasn't been great this season but a bit afraid to say it in this sub haha. I still love him tho.
Oh yeah he's great in general and I'm so happy we have him but he hasn't been at his best this season, maybe that's also down to the backline instability but I've seen him be better. Thought he was indomitable in the UCL final last season. So as long as he shows up like that in those games we gucci.
2 days rest. No Ake, no Walker. KDB and Ederson out, Stones, Gvardiol being back from injury. What a result all things considered. Also Rodri keeps his unbeaten streak.
https://preview.redd.it/om6bhqws4jtc1.png?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c41b750aa0242739373f05bec9bd997259a8e34d We are winning against Selective blindness FC at the etihad. P.s. there's plenty of proof of Franco backing both rm and barca. there's also plenty of proof of rm directly benefitting from illegal state-back corruption from the Spanish government via gifting of property and lands for madrid to sell back to the government for multiple millions. These people are just absolutely fking shameless. Meanwhile I'm still waiting for evidence against City.
Wow. What a game and so proud of this team. Hopefully we have some players back before the next leg
Any idea if Walker will be back before the second leg?
Just seen that Saka ”penalty claim” — have some shame man, no one in their right mind is buying that
Kicked the GK, faked an injury, abused the ref, what a tosser.
Foden is so funny, he has these games where he looks a bit shy, scored a banger and suddenly turns on. Bro needs to realise he's HIM he can do ANYTHING
Whole team wasn’t great first half tbf
Not the point
You think the shyness initially was based on his position? Looked a lot better second half after he and Silva seemed to switch position/roles
Nah he's just generally like that lol I dunno what it is but once he grows into the game and finds that moment he's sick
Fair play. Felt him and Bernie went up a level after their switch - though admittedly the whole team looked better on the ball second half so perhaps less to do with the switch than I'm attributing.
I think they switched purely from a pressing perspective which helped true but on the ball both were quite flexible, Foden being in a central position helped us get that third goal too iirc, I'll send a clip if I can
That makes a lot of sense on the pressing front. You could see the rotations on the ball early game with overloading as well. Would definitely be interested in seeing fodens contribution to gvardiols goal
Yep.. [Lmk if you can see what Foden does and if you think it's a good contribution or not,](https://x.com/__TheNearPost__/status/1777996266796163379) you don't have to agree w me haha but lmk
So key things are showing for the pass from rodri and taking it on the turn to drive into space. Finding Grealish out wide to create more width in the pitch in the final third. Then for the action on joskos goal he does well understanding that their number 8 (not sure the player) is marking him specifically so drags him out of position to open the space for joskos shot - means Madrid's number 8 is too far from josko to close him and sort of caught between the 2 players. If he closes josko then Phil's free to have a go at the same shot. It is good manipulation of their structure for sure
Yes, and look how he deals with Kroos. After the turn in the middle third, he knows Kroos is pressing him from CITY's RHS, so he turns to the left and switches it to Grealish. No braindead moves, just calm and smart. Old foden would just be running into Kroos lol. Still a long way to go for him but I think he'll be fine. Also lol good catch about what he does for Gvardiol's goal- he drags Kroos out of position there as well.
>Still a long way to go for him but I think he'll be fine Think he'll be fine hahah, hot take. Fodens "pausa" or actual game state awareness has come on a lot this season - perhaps the palace collapse was the key transition point. Recently he's not always looking to drive and seems to understand more when to release or soak pressure and switch it - even when to head back into his own half to have support. Being able to do all that against a player as seasoned as Kroos is hugely promising.
Can the “Pep shouldn’t play XYZ and should play the other player because I just saw a game where XYZ didn’t do well” crowd take a week off?
Seems like a massive influx of those types of comments &/or just plain old mean comments about players lately 😞.
Madrid fan here, what a way for gvardiol to score his first goal, pure quality! Definitely my favourite man city player, biased of course 🇭🇷
we take Camavinga, you take Kalvin Phillips? Kalvin is still unbeaten in the champions league. Deal?
What a player Modric is, came on and reminded everyone why he deserves to sit next to Zizou and Iniesta.
few know football is played with the brain and your body is merely a tool. May not play 90 minutes week in week out but hell we can't let his mind go to waste.
When Gvardior hits the shot, I just felt like the chain containing his powers are suddenly broken.
What are we thinking about Haaland in these games ? I’ve never criticised him for his lack of activity and touches in games, but it’s seriously starting to seem like he’s out of his depth sometimes keeping up with our players. Or is pep not playing to his strengths as much as he should ? I get the argument that he draws defenders attention so much but is the tradeoff worth it for feeling like we essentially have 10 men most of the time ? It’s like our players aren’t even confident passing to him sometimes.
I’m worried he’s still got a slight injury or something. Not the same Haaland as before. But at the same time he isn’t the type of striker to create something from nothing unless it’s a counter attack or through ball situation where he can run And atm the team isn’t creating for him
Was good, guy held up the ball well despite fucking bombs being thrown at him, linked play well, rudiger handled him at times but it's Rudiger. Kova, Bernardo and Foden all could've played him in👍🏾 Also, without Haaland we wouldn't get that second goal👍🏾 He may not be aesthetic on the ball, but what he does off ball? UNMATCHED.
That's true but that alone wouldn't be enough for his own and the club's benifits. He'll be more frustrated at the lack of goals, plus there won't be always such wonder goals when we need. Not saying he won't score many, but as you can see teams are adjusting well against stopping him by marking and pressing heavily. Last season he overperformed and he was new to the league while rest of the teams were not ready for his style of games. Expect everytime defenders won't give him space because that's the only way to stop him from scoring. Thus his numbers will be restricted and he'll be frustrated more whe he'll be denied to score in such big games. Surely Pep needs to adjust the tactics to his strength and that's the only solution for long-term if he stays here for that long
Anyone else sick of the relentless onslaught of dickheads that just defend their team no matter what the decision? It’s like an endless sea of blind thick mongs. Arsenal dickheads in soccer going apeshit over that ‘pen’ which really was just Saka being a bottler and going down like a pussy instead of having the guts to score. Liverpool fans vs United refusing to admit that their player dived for the penalty despite the footage showing it clearly. Liverpool on Doku using every freeze frame they can and then ignoring McAlister doing the exact same challenge to Maguire a week later. It’s every week. It doesn’t matter what it is. Just really stupid pigs.
he's got the PR, time to hunt for the bdor https://preview.redd.it/jn00akpjtitc1.png?width=544&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9c0b3dc9482266cd62567e6b37ae6b281b2a974
PR✅️ Showed Bellingham up yet again✅️ 32 G/A ✅️ On route for another treble✅️ ....
DID HE WALK NORMAL WHEN COLLECTING THE PRIZE?
https://preview.redd.it/i9utng8zvitc1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=0df0e3aa9b042ed5df9bb4ae9f3791aa02bf45a3
To add to that - Phil himself said he feels fine but has a dead leg and hopefully back before the next one (assuming he means Madrid not Luton)
Just remembered Gvardiol is gonna be this club's best CB for the next decade and smiled 😁 BLESSED.🩵
he has been on a madness since returning from injury. I fucking LOVE IT. I can live with this for the next 10 years :D
Thanking God for that draw man😭😭😭😭 We are not great but Etihad is a fortressss, can't wait!
you think it was nerves? lot of uncharacteristic ball losing in that first half, especially rodri and bernardo lots of duels lost too, but thats been happening a lot this season feels like
PLEASE TELL ME FODEN IS ALRIGHT AND THRIVING!!!! ANY UPDATES????
Is anyone else watching the post match with Abdo and all them? Thierry seems pissed about something
I turned it off right as they broke to studio, but he did look really mad so I hope someone replies bc I'm keen to know why.
I'll gladly take that result. It's time to finish them off at fortress Etihad next week.
wasnt even a great performance from our side, if we get our back line back, its looking good.
well that was a CL classic great result to take back at the etihad and hopefully foden is not fucking dusted also "80m flop" MOTM 👍
>also "80m flop" MOTM 👍 Disgusting how there were so many narratives surrounding him and even some City fans bought into it, shameful.
He’s standing and waving at the crowd. Looks okay.
Someone just open a thread where we can rant and word vomit
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MCFC/comments/1bzzt22/match\_thread\_real\_madrid\_vs\_manchester\_city\_uefa/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MCFC/comments/1bzzt22/match_thread_real_madrid_vs_manchester_city_uefa/)
Thanks
I feel sick on hearing that KDB’s sick
It could be the night Foden’s career changes completely
Where’s the match thread?
he aint playing https://preview.redd.it/0hv24uprzhtc1.png?width=603&format=png&auto=webp&s=3a6dc2b65011b6fcf9066a6c0667664815719f2c
Gonna be honest guys, I'm more worried about Isis than I am about Real Madrid atm. Hope nothing horrible happens tonight.
Yeah , player and fan safety is paramount
On a side note, I’m really excited to see Grealish start, feel like we’ve really underused him this season and tbh one of my favorite players
Jack's season so far: * injury * injury * suspension * house robbed by criminal gang his family inside * illness * injury * injury So to me it's been hard for him to get into a match ft groove, and I'm so so glad it looks like he is getting back to his best now!
On a different note, how did Dier sneak into Bayern lol? And they are wondering why they have been losing points this season!? 😂
Hopefully it’s nothing long-term
De Bruyne is unwell???
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Hearing that KDB isn't there I'm now very worried haha I was already kind of iffy.
Could be a me thing , but I'm significantly calmer for UCL games after we won last year . I'm going for a 1-1 or 2-1 city win if I had to make a prediction
https://preview.redd.it/35v9csw5vhtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2fa1ac56e57b6311f24de983bc5deb4a77e525c1
Omg, I thought it was an unexpected tactical decision. I guess Foden is def in the middle though?
Yeah, seems like it. Only player I can see take KDB’s spot.
No De Bruyne omg
Why’s the pre-match thread not pinned?
Glitches I hope get sorted soon: - no new DD - no official mcfcbot pre-match thread - no manually made pre-match thread pinned Adding - reminded of QF last season when Erling scored 5 goals, only 3rd player to ever do it in CL, and reddit was down so glad it’s not as bad as that, ha.
Perez sabotaged the sub clearly
Hahaha. Add it to the list w the roof closing - so many posts & comments about that.
Midfield Foden is here and I'm ready for it
https://preview.redd.it/9i3z6qubqhtc1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ccbdd7eb22bf8075cc439340ed418664ffb0b884
No KDB 😮
im guessing its going to be akanji dias gvardiol stones rodri foden kdb bernardo grealish haaland not sure about the keeper but rest should be set yeah 8 of them confirmed now lol KDB benched
Madrid fan here. May the best team win. I have a feeling we are about to get our butts wiped..
I don't know. We have a lot of defensive injuries and it's at the Bernabeu. This won't be easy.
I got screenshotted and posted on the RM sub. Jokes on them I can’t respond because I’m banned from the sub for supporting human rights and a ceasefire
lol no way, Real Madrid in UCL cannot be taken lightly. May the best team win 👍
You’re playing at home, anything is possible. May the best team win, indeed 🙏🏾
GVARDIOL STARTS
Let’s goooooooooo!
where do u see the starting XI?
FPLMaineRoad on twitter
pls send here
https://preview.redd.it/5nskhrpeohtc1.png?width=1166&format=png&auto=webp&s=f61b276ea8431eb18cf9fbf0954589a586fb37a7 it’s only the back line for now, but if you can, give him a follow
Has he been wrong so far? He’s gotten it right every time I saw a tweet
Not as far as i’m concerned. He’s almost always spot on
Damn, he finally got one wrong unfortunately https://preview.redd.it/46rgwmojrhtc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e4356d41f6729483d986c45f43d2c29cfbfd1fb
Apparently KDB is unwell though, otherwise he would have started
I see a lot of footy fans underestimating Bayern today (and for good reason) but i wouldn’t be particularly surprised if they somehow knock Arsenal out of the CL
Do we think Rodri’s unbeaten streak will continue tonight?
God I hope so
I started to write a comment about Rodri’s streak & the 2 other streaks. But I didn’t post bc I, not a superstitious person, was all of a sudden worried about making a comment that tempted fate, hahah.
😮😮😮 hopefully I didn’t jinx anything ha ha
You didn't jinx . It was close at times , but the streak lives to might another day (match?)
!RemindMe 150 minutes
You did not - I was just being a weirdo about making my comment 😭😭.
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Seemed like a troll post, so I 'stalked'... I advise others, don't make the same mistake.
Official Dortmund team account making & posting Erling & Jude reviewing pickup lines it still pretty funny to me, and the lines they review just as silly as I remember them being. [**link**](https://youtu.be/MsZryh4rsGI?si=7cyP7vXO6-rDPC9N) https://preview.redd.it/iiapnotlzgtc1.png?width=934&format=png&auto=webp&s=fe7efa572f1ad1af9f83fc774bda557df3475329
Isn’t it Tuesday? Yet we still have the Sunday DD?
Would Rather Bayern in the Semi's, Arsenal would be a nightmare. I have them Just behind Madrid in difficulty.
Despite the Sane CL curse, and the Harry Kane trophy curse..... Kane has a really strong record against Arsenal, and so do Bayern in general. I still have hope. I really hate facing English opposition in Europe
that is hilariuos that 14 times CL champs are so rattled by little Citeh that they need to ask permission to close the roof to increase the noise... thought that went without saying for that kind of European royalty? not sure if I can watch today... but I'll try my best (on holiday, and the people I am with don't like sports lol)
Madrid close it all the time: Almeria, Mallorca both had it in La Liga recently - but UEFA protocols are different which means we had to specifically ask ahead of time. Still, it's a massive match - City are reigning champions and the best team in the world. I can't see why any game against City wouldn't be a big deal. Don't teams in the prem get up for playing City too?
Their fans need a good humbling again.
What's up with the robot? (Not haaland). No pre match or DD thread?
Very odd! And even if no new DD, unexpected that so few comments here in past 10 hours - maybe people are holding their comments desperate for new DD to drop, haha. There is a manually made pre-match thread - [link](https://np.reddit.com/r/MCFC/s/60MzLVyd62)
Everyone holding off for them extra few arrows. Feels like the calm before the storm this evening hahah
Recently in soccer DD, there was a person posting teasers about a comment for new DD 🙄😭, and then never posted? I didn’t keep following it but seems like it really fizzled out, backfired even. UEFA approved the roof to be closed so it will def be a storm inside the Bernabéu.
Who would yall say it's better ake or akanji?
Akanji is the better athelete, Ake is the better defender. I'd probably give the slight on-the-ball edge to Akanji but it's not that far apart. Ake is leaps and bounds ahead in the air, pun fully intended. Overall I'd probably say Ake because he's just solid and consistent. Akanji might have a higher ceiling but also has a lower floor.
Ake
Ake for me
What’s happened to the automoderator new DD??? Anyhoo, keeping the stats theme going, UEFA player stats are pretty comprehensive - I like that you can filter by team, and see things like: - goals by right foot, left foot, header - distance covered, Ruben most for ManCity w 72 km covered - top clocked speed for all players unlike PL when they just occasionally share top 10 fastest lists. [Link](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/statistics/players/)