City vs Bristol City - LIVE!!!!!

First topic message reminder :

45 mins until team news. Reckon we might see Tosin tonight.

You can get away changing maybe 2-3 players but not having this many non first teamers  playing

Walker makes a big difference

Shit yet again from sane

A bit of class from kev

Have we had s good corner yet?

Gash at the back again

Feel sorry for BC they could beat us here but there is a 2nd leg

Pep doing a Pellegrini tonight

No right foot from sane

Silva is no Silva II

Really feel for them, we don't deserve it

Class from serge

I’ve wanted to give Gundogan and Bernardo time but they’ve been wank. Sane has been

Sane has been crap

Stones is rusty, manga is crap

We took them far too lightly and got lucky. We didn’t deserve it

stones and mangala should never play together again

they were a liability every time one of them went near the ball.

shows how good Ottamendi has been this season

Pep will probably talk about how good Bristol City were and hard they fought etc. but we absolutely disgustingly poor.

I'll agree we lacked pace in MF with Yaya and Gundogan, but we just didn't;t take our first half chances. We can get away with a below oar team performance with some outrageous skill from kev or dave or augero. 

But you can't look good with this many below par performances. I'd give kev a 7 but there were some truly shocking, lazy performances tonight.

The sooner we get Sanchez, the better.

Yaya is finished. He shouldn't play another game unless we are 3 up
Mangala Fucking dreadful. Please don't let him play again
Bravo Sorry but he needs to go We surely can do better than this guy. Inspires no confidence at the back
Stones is only good when he has someone decent next to him otherwise he gets dragged to down to Mangalas level
Sergio didn't do a lot but our saviour once again
I didn't really want us to get Sanchez until the summer but that pile of shite shows we need him ASAP
Bristol deserved at least a draw. Still onto the Dippers now and hopefully a 100% improvement

Agree....think BC deserved more from that. We had possession but were fucking garbage. Far too many players in this squad are just not pulling it out when they get the chances. 

1. Mango....woeful - simple as. I've tried to stick up for him in the past, but he's not took his chances this season.

2. Bravo...was little embarrassing watching him trying those things tonight that Ederson does in his sleep - but good pass out to Kev for the goal...that's all I can say on Bravo. He didn't look as confident as he has done in the past. Trying too hard.

3. Gundogan - I know he got 2 assists at the weekend, one very good backheel...but he offers fuck all. I counted up his touches in the 2nd half....3 touches on 62 mins...from a CMF role. That's fucking shameful in this side. His passing was awful...sorry, I know some will disagree and it's just my opinion, but he's far too slow for how we want to play.

4. TLMLF...wish he would just fuck off. Simple as that...and I'm being kind with my words.

5. Bernardo Silva...good cross for Sergio's goal, but if that;s what we get for £43m.....I'll have Jesus Navas back thanks. Monaco must be pissing their sides at the money we paid for this player. 

Pep's plan back-fired tonight. 2-1 may as well be 0-0 when we go there next week. No chance of resting players if he wants to get through. If we see 2 of those 3 MF players I've mentioned above, we'll struggle again and be lucky to get through.

Agree that Walker made such a difference when he came on. Zinchenko...can't be too hard on him as he's clearly not a LB. Danilo flatters to deceive, good one match, woeful the next.

Still...a lucky win is a lucky win....well done Bristol City....you did well. We contributed far too much for the overall result.

Sane....will he get back to some kind of form soon? Hope it's the weekend...as he's been distinctly average for a few months now.

Sanchez....get him signed up now!!!

This is now...we have the CL coming up in a few weeks time and if we play like this....we'll be fucked by Basel unless we start hitting the heights again, we set a few months ago.

and "pundits" now going over my point of Bristol City triggering from the square ball to Mangala..

Lost my stream at 1-1 just starting extra time & couldn’t get it back so scrolled through the comments here & thought we had lost 2-1 lol

you've got to pick the weak point. It's very obvious.

If Walker, Delph and Dino were playing, Mangala can get by. But you can't play Zinky at LB and Mangala next to him. And Stones was just coming back and Danilo is just ok at RB.

When Walker came on, he caused them so many problems with his searing space. He gave them something they couldn't handle. He could motor down the line himself or pass to someone else and run onto a through ball. Danilo doesn't offer that dimension at all.

We changed too many players for my liking.

I agree Dawg. Pep did a Wenger but thankfully we were luckier than the Goons

Topdawg wrote:you've got to pick the weak point. It's very obvious.

If Walker, Delph and Dino were playing, Mangala can get by. But you can't play Zinky at LB and Mangala next to him. And Stones was just coming back and Danilo is just ok at RB.

When Walker came on, he caused them so many problems with his searing space. He gave them something they couldn't handle. He could motor down the line himself or pass to someone else and run onto a through ball. Danilo doesn't offer that dimension at all.

We changed too many players for my liking.

But surely, if Pep plays Zinchenko and Danilo, one of them HAS to bomb forward and overlap?

Zinchenko tried a couple of times, but not enough that would push them back. Danilo didn't do it all...he made a couple of direct runs at their defence and lost the ball. Pep should see that, surely?

I know we are missing Mendy, and Delph is vastly better than the two player mentioned above....but what tonight shows to me, is that we have an average squad in-depth - at the moment.

Our full backs aren't great, if Walker and Delph don't play.

Our CB's are so random in form, unless Stones and Otamendi play together.

Our MF looks slow and ponderous without Ferdy and Merlin.

And unless Sane gets his form back, we are relying on Sterling, or a piece of magic from Aguero or KDB.

The rest of the squad from our strongest 11, isn't actually that great when we have to make more than 2/3 changes (and the keeper). 

We've seen it a lot this season....the Carabou Cup being a prime example. Wolves - awful. Leicester - awful. Tonight - awful. Shakhtar - awful. All when we've played a weakened team.

Ferdy has been immense for us this season....but we play so much better when we have quicker thinking players in MF, like KDB and Silva, plus Ferdy. Gundogan, TLMLF and Bernardo offer us very little and slow everything down to a walking pace.

Tonight, the quick breaks came from KDB's quick thinking and balls forward...the rest offered nothing, apart from that cross at the end to Sergio.

If I was Pep...I would be looking at 2, maybe 3 players in January if we can get them. A CB, Sanchez and another striker or DFM who plays the ball quickly. Bernardo out wide offers very little. Gundogan in MF does a similar amount of work as TLMLF in defence and very little going forward. 

Some may say the PL is over....not for me. Lose against LFC and we could be 12 points ahead. Lose 2 more and we could be 6 points ahead before we hit March. All this with the CL and FA/LC as well to cope with.

That's what's pissed me off about tonight. We had players on that pitch that cost a fortune, but we got away with a 1 goal advantage, which pretty much fucks up the return leg and resting players. Plus, we won't be seeing many kids playing now, next week. 

Pep in his post match interview stated how proud he was and how well his team played????? Was he watching the women's team?

You are right Andy I think Chelsea & the Scum have better depth than us but our 1st team is better
Still think Gundogan & Bernardo are reasonable buys and can do a job but at the moment neither are replacements for Merlin Ferdy or anyone else
Pep just made too many changes in all of those games you mentioned similar to Arsenal in the FA Cup & you just can't keep getting away with it
Mongala Bravo & Yaya are very poor players so if you have these 3 and a young inexperienced lad playing out of position along with a CB returning from injury, no striker & 3 players still trying to find their feet in the PL you are asking for trouble
Sanchez a decent CB not your boyfriend or Johnny Evans and a good back up to Ederson is what I'd like to see although unlikely wel get rid of Bravo til the summer
I' also agree the PL ain't won by a long chalk Leads of 9/10 points have been eaten up with only a few weeks left in the season before and playing in 4 competitions could really screw us up

After much reflection, I concur that Mangala is a liability, Bernardo slows the game down too much, Sane is football bipolar, Sterling needs a bit of shooting practice, Bravo's distribution is only fractionally better than Hart's and TLF finds the game too fast when everyone's standing around waiting for kick-off.

Oh, and Sergio is a FUCKING LEGEND and anyone who is thinking of selling him needs to be shot in the face. From point blank range. Repeatedly. With an Uzi.

Not sure 'repeatedly' is needed with an Uzi....it sort of sends it's 9mm rounds in a full burst.

But I concur with your sentiment.

Yeah, it is a bit redundant when using an automatic weapon, but I felt it was worth repeating.

unless you mean to empty several magazines into said face?