Hmmm... some players picked on reputation...

Well that was the worst defensive performance I've seen for a long time.

Garcia? Really not sure what he brings to the team regardless of positions he plays.

Joe Hart - is it time he is dropped? One good save....but mistake after mistake again.

Yaya......he just doesn't put any kind of shift in.

Lescott - I think we can all agree....pretty much useless.

Tippy tappy football crept into our play again.

Manuel Pellegrini.......3 weeks since Nasty's in jury. He openly said he needs another CB....and done nothing about it.

Fernandinho.....I know some have said they think he is a good signing...well as I said pre-season, £30m??? He brings nothing more than Barry does.

Overall, well done Cardiff....they pressed and pressed, but we were just too lazy with the ball and couldn't defend.

Felt sorry for Navas...he kept out wide in the first half....and they just kept coming inside and didn't give it to him.

All in all....pretty f..king embarrassing and none of them deserve a penny in wages.

Awful.

Don't agree with your assessment of Lezza. The problems were coming from Garcia and Zabba (why not mention his mistakes for two goals?).

Hart bolloxed up again and his distribution was woeful (again).

Navas did f. all when he got the ball. Not much space to work in but he couldn't take his man on and cross it. Milner should have started instead of him.

Aguero was trying to score a wonder goal again rather than play as apart of a team.

whatever Dawg......too pissed off to get into any debate over who was to blame.....all I know is that we have spent almost £90m.............and that was fucking awful all over the pitch! Up for it? Not on that performance...too many have a guaranteed starting place for me.

well, I'd like to see for Hull

Pants
Micah, Nasty, Lezza, Clichy
Rodwell
Milner, Silva, Jovetic
Dzeko, Aguero

No team talk necessary for Cardiff... just show them the City web site featuring our players poncing around on a fashion catwalk... "Here yer go lads, that's what you're up against; kill!"

My problem with Mancini was that whenever the opposition were up for a scrap,be it Southampton or Everton or most teams in CL,we never matched them for desire and commitment 
Saw nothing different today
It was cardiffs first home game in the PL
Why the fuck were the team not ready for the battle that was so fucking obviously going to happen?
If Pellegrini wasn't aware then Brian Kidd should've made it his business to let him know what was needed
Piss poor once again

Just a couple of comments,first we were away from home so why is Milner not picked? in pre-season he was immense and he gives his all every game.Second,what is Joe Hart doing?he never came off his line to collect either of the corners for the first two goals.With his height and reach he should be in total control of the 6 yard box,give Pantillimon a run for a change,he was so reliable last season:) 

After that embarrassing performance Id drop most of em !
My team wd be

Pants
Mica Lezza Nasty Clichy
Milner Fernando Rodwell Silva
Negredo Jobetic
I'd drop Lezza & Clichy as well if we had any defensive cover although why Garcia,not a CB, was given preference over Boyota is beyond me

I guess it's because Garcia is more experienced than Boyata.

Why drop Dzeko??? He does enough to keep his place.

No1 deserves 2 keep their place after that

Terrible, embarrassing, a flashback to last season.
I said to my brother, Garcia and Lescott, we're going to lose, so he backed Cardiff to win, so at least that took the edge off the pain a little for him!
Why wasn't Boyata selected? Garcia and Lescott together are woeful, this was just as bad as Bayern for them two.
When will Hart learn? Dropped for me, Pants must be played away from home in future, as teams now target Hart on crosses, and score frequently!
Pellegrini was asked in the press conference before the game, " would players be told not to take Cardiff lightly?" So, did he tell them, did  they listen.
  Well, early days yet, but I remember saying exactly the same thing last season, The engineer has to start tuning the blue engine after this Cardiff misfire!

Someone has to tell him that certain players are needed for certain games.

Navas was never going to get any space to run into and he still seems scared to take on his man. No point him playing if that's the case.

They had 2 players on Navas at all times which was why he kept drifting inside and that is not his game, we have Silva for that.

Should have been Milner there all day.

Still lets hope it's a eye opener for the Engineer and he now knows what it will be like to play away in the prem.  Nothing like La Liga tippy tappy non touch football.  It's 100% 100mph in your face football.

I expect his next team to match that.

Anyway looking for the special one to thump the Rags to cheer me up and then put a 40m bid in for Shrek to run extra salt into the wound....

We can only hope that this was a learning lesson for Pelligrini,and that he has learned that there is only one Man.City and we love them  but we would prefer them to win!! 

Just been to the Etihad to watch the U21 game vs Everton - 3-0 comfortable win. Rusnak 2, Lopez 1.

Rusnak, Lopez and George Evans look a class above the rest.

After the way Yaya strolled around the pitch and Fernandinho kept giving the ball away - give Evans and Rodwell a run out in MF with Milner and Rusnak on the wings - and I mean in the Cup matches, not PL.

Still pissed off with our defence. It's going to be our Achilles heel this season if we do not buy one or two more players as options.....especially as Chrystal Richards is injured....for a change!  

£20m to Arsenal if they still want him? I'd sell him for that money as he cannot seem to go 3 months without having another 3 months out!

Can anyone else explain why Nasty was on the bench - yet didn't play?? Odd.

Blue I can only assume that he was nit fully fit and MP didn't want 2 risk him
From what I saw Garcia and Lescott won't make a decent CB pairing as long as I have holistic in my arse!

If Nasty or Mica aren't fit then surely it would be better to put Boyata in. I know he's not great but he has 2b better than Garcia and TBH I thought he did pretty well against the might of Bayern pre season

Totally agree TMG.....that's why I asked why Nasty was included  on the subs bench. What's the point? Garcia is far too slow to occupy that position and though he has played their before....he's clearly not a natural CB. Bizarre choice.

I think Lezza and Boyata are decent enough when partnered with Kompany. With each other it'd be a disaster. JoLo would be looking for direction and Boyata doesn't have the experience.

I'm glad that we didn't get Pepe as I think most of the teams would just wind him up and he'd end up doing something rash.

We do need another CB because this injury 'crisis' could easily happen again especially when Kompany gets himself sent off during the season.

Pepe for me.

My main concern from that game wasn't the fact we were slow in attack - they were well drilled defensively and we'd have kept losing the ball if we ran at them.  We should press in numbers like United or Chelsea do.

No, the main concern is we're still incapable of defending corners.  It should be the easiest thing in the world to practice.  Although it would help if we had anyone who could take a damn corner to practice against...

Are we man-marking now, or zonal? The players looked like they didn't have a clue.

Apparently, we're now on thought marking.  The players stand where they think the opponents might decide to go and stay there, even if they're utterly wrong.  At least that's how it looked.

I think Navas kept coming inside because Zab was pushing right up and overlapping into the channel Navas should be in so he had no option but to come inside. Zab should have been told to stay back and defend more and then maybe they would not have been hitting us on the break so easily.To be fair i dont think Lescott played that badly and Hart was partly to blame for at least one of the 2 goals from corners and totally for the second where he was too busy pushing the defender that was backing into him rather than concentrating on the cross until it was too late, idiot.

Navas didn't have any space to put the ball past his man and beat him on the outside. So he kept cutting in or putting feeble attemops at crosses in. Milner should have been the man as he doesn't need to beat his man to put good crosses in.

ManCityMan wrote:...Hart was partly to blame for at least one of the 2 goals from corners and totally for the second where he was too busy pushing the defender that was backing into him rather than concentrating on the cross until it was too late, idiot.

Peter Schmeichel said the exact same thing on MOTD.

But it's a good point, why is he expending energy on shoving a player in the box (which could potentially lead to a penalty if he buggers it up or the opponent drops to the floor) when he should be looking to prevent a goal?  Surely, given he can use his hands and therefore give him a decent height advantage, he'd be better employed using them to get the ball before his opponents do?

All rhetorical questions, of course.

I'm of the opinion that Pants should be given a crack at a few games.  I seem to recall he was pretty handy at defending corners.

leopold wrote:

ManCityMan wrote:...Hart was partly to blame for at least one of the 2 goals from corners and totally for the second where he was too busy pushing the defender that was backing into him rather than concentrating on the cross until it was too late, idiot.

Peter Schmeichel said the exact same thing on MOTD.

But it's a good point, why is he expending energy on shoving a player in the box (which could potentially lead to a penalty if he buggers it up or the opponent drops to the floor) when he should be looking to prevent a goal?  Surely, given he can use his hands and therefore give him a decent height advantage, he'd be better employed using them to get the ball before his opponents do?

All rhetorical questions, of course.

I'm of the opinion that Pants should be given a crack at a few games.  I seem to recall he was pretty handy at defending corners.

With you 100% on that, we lost the FA Cup due to a similar incident, and countless other goals have gone the exact same way, sunday, the derby, everytime I see a free kick for the opposition, you know  exactly where it's headed, but Hart doesn't?
Time for Pants to get a run, if we're picking on form, then it's a no brainer, Pants is great on crosses, and even tho he's tall, he still gets down quick.
Also time for Micah to get a run when fit, plus we've apparently agreed a deal for Demicheli too, but FFS, don't play Garcia and Lescott at the back again, Boyata had a great game when he played against Bayern, so I just don't understand why the defence is getting overlooked?

Jordan wrote:Are we man-marking now, or zonal? The players looked like they didn't have a clue.

Yeah, according to Zab, we were zonal marking last season...this season it's back to man-marking.

Weird, as last season we were picked up on by every 'pundit' whenever we conceded a goal from a corner...."tut tut, zonal marking isn't the way to go". Well it seemed to work more times than not, and the way the players 'supposedly' man-marked the opposition players on Sunday was hardly inspiring.



ZONAL



SUNDAY

The 6 yard box is packed with their players.

Whatever kind of marking we adopted, it was piss poor and simply put.....not good enough.
 
Despite Joe Hart looking "head and shoulders" above everyone else in there he still managed to miss the ball, couple that with Zab not doing anywhere near enough for BOTH goals too, we contrive to give Campbell a free header twice.

Poor marking and defending of a corner in its finest.

shakencity wrote:Despite Joe Hart looking "head and shoulders" above everyone else...

Shame we have to continue to make this joke ironically, really.

shakencity wrote:...couple that with Zab not doing anywhere near enough for BOTH goals too, we contrive to give Campbell a free header twice.

And this is something else I don't get.  After Zab made a total horlicks of marking Campbell for the first header, why entrust him to take care of the same player for the second?  Surely we'd have been better off with someone taller, who has a decent head on them and can win a ball in the air.  Someone with an unusual first name.  Someone who used to play for Wolves and was the centre of some serious bitterness from an old Everton manager.  Do we have someone like that on the squad?

Frazier Campbell is 5 ft 11. Hart is 6ft 5 Add to that Hart can use his arms How TF does Hart nanage to get beat in the air at all is beyond me Pants should be given a chance on Sat

Also Zabba is great going 4 ward but he's not great in the box

It's because he's too busy pissing about shoving other players out of the way.

Looking at the Cardiff picture (Hart apart), everyone of their players seems to be taller than ours....are we a team of midgets???

They had a man right in Harts face to make sure that he could not come out to collect the ball, the guy just backed right into Hart to obstruct him which is why Hart was pushing him away instead of watching the cross. There was no way he was going to be able to come out to use his height advantage to collect the ball against Campbell anyway because he was being blocked off. Having said that he should have been watching not pushing and its time for Pants to come in but no doubt nothing will change.

Hart Lescott Garcia Yaya Dzeko are all over6ft
Rodwell Barry Negredo Jovetic Boyata Nasty are too.
Micah is no midget either

ManCityMan wrote:They had a man right in Harts face to make sure that he could not come out to collect the ball, the guy just backed right into Hart to obstruct him which is why Hart was pushing him away instead of watching the cross. There was no way he was going to be able to come out to use his height advantage to collect the ball against Campbell anyway because he was being blocked off. Having said that he should have been watching not pushing and its time for Pants to come in but no doubt nothing will change.

So why not go down like a sack of spuds and complain he'd been shoved over?  At the very least, the ref will tell the other guy to pack it in and best case is we get a free kick and their guy gets booked.  Watching how often strikers drop like they've been shot by snipers, I don't know why keepers can't do the same.

The guy did nothing to Hart. Joe was still pushing him when the ball was crossed in and was still pushing him when he should have been going out to get the ball. I reckon he saw it very late and reacted accordingly.

No excuses, Hart used to be great on crosses WTF happened?
Boyata and Nasty should get a run, Garcia was sodding awful, and Lescott is useless without Vinny telling him what to do.
I expect a spanking for Hull, no mercy, and some severe selections from Pellers, firm, but fair, tell them they're on bench until they improve.....

the problem is we only have Kompany and Richards who can play right side of centre defense..
I really do not count Boyatta, sooner he is off the books the better.
Lezzer, Nasty are both left sided CB.
If available, line up the back as -

              Pants
Zab, Richards, Lezza, Clichy

I'd go for forward line up as -

   Yaya, Fernandinho
Jovetic, Silva, Aguero
           Dzeko

and if they arent trying to bang them in, bring on Navas and Negrado
possibly Kolarov to whip some left sided crosses in once Negrado upfront with Dzeko, Milner if Yaya starts labouring.

leopold wrote:

So why not go down like a sack of spuds and complain he'd been shoved over?  At the very least, the ref will tell the other guy to pack it in and best case is we get a free kick and their guy gets booked.  Watching how often strikers drop like they've been shot by snipers, I don't know why keepers can't do the same.

Hart wasn't being pushed or shoved the guy was just backing right up to him practically standing on his toes to make it difficult for the keeper to come out to collect or jump to punch. It's a common tactic by teams but the referees should clamp down on it in my view because it's clearly obstruction as the guy is quite clearly attempting to obstruct the keeper and is making no attempt to play the ball or even looking at the ball.

Have to say, their second goal, the corner in was very very good by Whittingham. I do think Hart could have done more, but I blame Zabaleta more for all three of their goals. His positioning was all over the place.

Fair play to Cardiff though. I highly doubt they will keep that intensity up throughout the season, but they kept their shape fantastically in the first half. That being their first game in the PL at home against one of the big boys, I knew they would be up for it and was half expecting a poor result. It is just annoying it came after going a goal up, I really thought once Dzeko scored we'd go on and get a couple more as it would force them out a bit.

You have to give them a lot of credit because they were obviously told that if we score they should not panic, keep their shape and continue to play the same way. If they had abandoned the game plan Mackay had them playing and tried to attack then we would have hammered them and he knew that. I don't see them keeping that intensity up all season and i would have preferred to have met them later in the season, hindsight is a wonderful gift eh?