psg @ home match thread

[PrezIke]

Mangala was huge tonight, so far.

A rock

He played very well, as did Nico, and the rest of the back line.

Clean sheet against PSG! No one expected that.

[PrezIke]

So this is the Octopus we heard about, Fernando having a blinder tonight.

Was fantastic, and has been so in more than a few games.

[PrezIke]

Finally a fucking yellow card for one of their assaults.

This is quite obviously the game plan against us. It happens every damn game. So tiring to watch.

[PrezIke]

Clichy haters bow down too. He was class.

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Great atmosphere, for once. Expect to get Madrid and would put money on us beating that rudderless pile of shite.

[phips]

incredible result.

Joe was immense. MOTM by far. huge saves.

Clichy very good as well and so too Mangala.

feel a little bit sorry for PSG that Matuidi was booked and suspended for literally nothing...but, fuck em.

[Chopper]

So proud of the team.

I was convinced that The Brown would bag us a goal and I thought Mangala was absolutely sensational.

Was anyone else more nervous at 1-0 than 0-0? At 1-0 it was ours to lose and that always worries me.

Bring on any of the rest.

Said to my young lad KDB would score about ten minutes before he did.

Called it!

[Chopper]

DeBruyne is going to snatch one. I can feel it in my plums

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Purposely stayed out of the thread during the match.
Interesting to read the comments in the middle pages compared to the analysis at the end. I know we all get worked up during the game but, I think some of you are more influenced by the commentators you're giving out fuck about, than you let on.
Those watching on the Irish Channel TV3,
seemed to have a much more positive look on things during the game.

We got fair praise from Neil Lennon Kevin Kilbane and of course the Dunnie Monster.

I thought, to a man that was a fabulous performance. It was probably the best TEAM performance I've seen from us this year. It was nervy because of what was at stake, but everyone had a job to do, knew what it was, and nobody shirked the workload.
When things weren't going well, it didn't waiver us. Everyone stuck to the plan and we were well worth the win.
The two Ferns were immense and anyone who cannot see the value of the two of them working to that standard in our 5 man midfield, whether it's KDB or Yaya inthe hole in front of them, well I'm watching a different game to you. FACT.

Great night. Pellers got it right, but everyone did their job.
If we could get that workrate until the end of the season.

It would be churlish after getting through to the European Cup semis to be too critical, but if you can't see that we can't retain possession with the two Ferns on the park, then you're watching a different game to me.
I'm told it was possibly as low as 37% and all our attacking playets looked poor. We didn't keep Paris from having decent chances and rode our luck a little. We were crying out for somebody to put their foot on the ball.
Possession is key against sides at this level and if we get Barca especially,and give them the ball so frequently, we will get humiliated.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Purposely stayed out of the thread during the match.
Interesting to read the comments in the middle pages compared to the analysis at the end. I know we all get worked up during the game but, I think some of you are more influenced by the commentators you're giving out fuck about, than you let on.
Those watching on the Irish Channel TV3,
seemed to have a much more positive look on things during the game.

We got fair praise from Neil Lennon Kevin Kilbane and of course the Dunnie Monster.

I thought, to a man that was a fabulous performance. It was probably the best TEAM performance I've seen from us this year. It was nervy because of what was at stake, but everyone had a job to do, knew what it was, and nobody shirked the workload.
When things weren't going well, it didn't waiver us. Everyone stuck to the plan and we were well worth the win.
The two Ferns were immense and anyone who cannot see the value of the two of them working to that standard in our 5 man midfield, whether it's KDB or Yaya inthe hole in front of them, well I'm watching a different game to you. FACT.

Great night. Pellers got it right, but everyone did their job.
If we could get that workrate until the end of the season.

It would be churlish after getting through to the European Cup semis to be too critical, but if you can't see that we can't retain possession with the two Ferns on the park, then you're watching a different game to me.
I'm told it was possibly as low as 37% and all our attacking playets looked poor. We didn't keep Paris from having decent chances and rode our luck a little. We were crying out for somebody to put their foot on the ball.
Possession is key against sides at this level and if we get Barca especially,and give them the ball so frequently, we will get humiliated.

[DoomMerchant]

Purposely stayed out of the thread during the match.
Interesting to read the comments in the middle pages compared to the analysis at the end. I know we all get worked up during the game but, I think some of you are more influenced by the commentators you're giving out fuck about, than you let on.
Those watching on the Irish Channel TV3,
seemed to have a much more positive look on things during the game.

We got fair praise from Neil Lennon Kevin Kilbane and of course the Dunnie Monster.

I thought, to a man that was a fabulous performance. It was probably the best TEAM performance I've seen from us this year. It was nervy because of what was at stake, but everyone had a job to do, knew what it was, and nobody shirked the workload.
When things weren't going well, it didn't waiver us. Everyone stuck to the plan and we were well worth the win.
The two Ferns were immense and anyone who cannot see the value of the two of them working to that standard in our 5 man midfield, whether it's KDB or Yaya inthe hole in front of them, well I'm watching a different game to you. FACT.

Great night. Pellers got it right, but everyone did their job.
If we could get that workrate until the end of the season.

It would be churlish after getting through to the European Cup semis to be too critical, but if you can't see that we can't retain possession with the two Ferns on the park, then you're watching a different game to me.
I'm told it was possibly as low as 37% and all our attacking playets looked poor. We didn't keep Paris from having decent chances and rode our luck a little. We were crying out for somebody to put their foot on the ball.
Possession is key against sides at this level and if we get Barca especially,and give them the ball so frequently, we will get humiliated.

this is 100% true. I was saying as much to some friends during the match. We couldn't fucking get a hold of the ball at all in the first half. Much better second half, but we really we're dogshit the first half. Deserved to be down by a couple let alone griping that we should be 1-0 up.

Anyway, i think our best draw would be Madrid tbf, but you honestly it hardly matters. We could beat any of them on any given day, or decide to lose 4-1. No tellin.

Super stoked we made it this far tho...it's a big milestone and i just hope whomever we get we put in the kind of professional effort we saw in parts of both of these PSG legs which saved our bacon.

Clichy, Navas, Silva, Joe, and even the Ferns second half....were outstanding. And of course Kev Breezy with the goa,l and his focus and energy. Even amidst a ton of shit passes first half, he stuck with it and put in a shift. Even Kun despite the missed pen had a decent game. We kept them off balance enough second half to really boss the match and tho i was nervous as fuck even after Kev's goal, it was a dominant second half. The kind of shite the papers would be spouting about where it the Rags or Jose's Chelsea.

Well done City. And well done Count for benching Yaya. I am critical of him a lot, but he got it right tonight in terms of personnel and setup. All that matters.

cheers

[blues2win]

Fernandinho is excellent technically and doesn't give the ball away much at all. Fernando is not in the same league but he is in there as a defensive midfield player and in that respect did a very good job last night as he has mostly all season. Is he in the same league as say Thiago Motta no but he's a decent player nonetheless. I prefer three in central midfield because we would get more possession that way. However, if Yaya had played it would have meant losing Navas who offers protection down the right and an attacking threat even if his final ball isn't always the greatest. He suffers though, as Kolarov does, from our failure to get enough players into the box attacking crosses. In particular no one seems to make the near post runs that these two players cry out for. Aguero understandably tends to drop deep to find pockets of space but then isn't there to attack the crosses. We need more advanced runs from midfielders but only de Bruyne gives us that at all.

But yes anyone knocking the two Ferns is being churlish.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Little & Large were fantastic, their best game as a pairing for us by some distance

[iwasthere2012]

Fernandinho is excellent technically and doesn't give the ball away much at all. Fernando is not in the same league but he is in there as a defensive midfield player and in that respect did a very good job last night as he has mostly all season. Is he in the same league as say Thiago Motta no but he's a decent player nonetheless. I prefer three in central midfield because we would get more possession that way. However, if Yaya had played it would have meant losing Navas who offers protection down the right and an attacking threat even if his final ball isn't always the greatest. He suffers though, as Kolarov does, from our failure to get enough players into the box attacking crosses. In particular no one seems to make the near post runs that these two players cry out for. Aguero understandably tends to drop deep to find pockets of space but then isn't there to attack the crosses. We need more advanced runs from midfielders but only de Bruyne gives us that at all.

But yes anyone knocking the two Ferns is being churlish.

Piccs and Doomie make valid points above but our squad is what it is and your post above answers pretty much how I feel. also Doug mentioned Silva and De Bruyne weren't at their best initially but got going later. The fact is you put Yaya into that team and drop Fernando and the whole shape falls apart. Yaya is a far better player than any of them but doesn't have the fitness or discipline to do the hard team work that was required and I doubt we would have got the result over the two games. Last night was an upgrade on the Paris performance last week but it wasn't perfect.
The platform for us to play at all last night was set up by the two working in midfield and giving adequate cover to the two CB' who were never more than a couple of yards away from Ibra. Clichy is a better defender than Kolarov and Navas offers an outlet and covers the fullback better than any other option we have.
The fact that we gave the ball away so often early on up front is not the Two Ferns fault although I agree Fernando doesn't have the required composure overall. We have enough skill between Kun/Silva/KDB that should be able to create more. I think given time and fitness they will. They could become formidable. You could pick out individual errors in every player last night if you wanted(none come to mind with Hart), but as a collective, that was disciplined and as good a team ethic as I've seen in them this season. Everyone played for each other and looked hungry.
The only position I would have swapped Yaya into is the one Kev was playing in and he'll really have to pick up his game to oust Kev out of there. That's the way every position should be. You have to be performing at the top of your game to win your TEAM position.

I don't think anyone on here is saying that we don't need an upgrade to Fernando or the CB's to progress, but we are playing now with the current squad and you have to pick the best balanced team and not just the best individuals. The work ethic shown from Kun all the way to Joe, is what will see us through to the end of the season. Nothing less.

[PeterParker]

Fernando is having a "Javi Garcia" moment, before we sold the fella to Zenit.

I would like to keep Fernando, he can really help us defend and tracks back. There were some close-ups with Fern 1 talking to him, my guess is that they were speaking about what they need to do to stop Lucas and Pastore. Now, imagine Fernandinho trying to say the same things to Yaya.

[blues2win]

I listened to a discussion between Tony Cascarino and Gerry Francis. Cascarino full of praise for Kevin in particular but also the defence. He felt that PSG played in front of us which suited Mangala and Otamendi. Barcelona and teams like them, he felt, would be looking to get behind us much more and that's where our centre backs look much more vulnerable. Francis felt that we looked much more solid than usual because the full backs were disciplined and didn't get forward that much. That offered important cover for our CBs.

As far as ball possession is concerned we're going to be second best all night long against Barca, Real or Bayern. However, if we can be resilient in defence we can still win matches against teams who dominate possession by launching effective counter attacks.

In looking for culprits in losing possession I'd love to see the stats. I suspect that too many fell below 80 per cent. There were a lot of nerves early on for one thing. Otamendi was hoofing the ball out too often. Interested to see how Silva did because it looks as if he's nowhere near his best, even if he always has incredible vision and can produce moments of real quality.

To sum up Yaya would definitely have given us more possession and I personally favoured playing him but with both Ferns. Still we showed in both legs we can do without him. Now the Club are focused on upgrades. A left back, a centre back and probably two midfielders are needed and maybe a striker too. A lot of players will be leaving too. With Pep coming in its inevitable he'll want an overhaul. For now we need to focus on third and a CL final with the current squad which ain't too shabby.

[carl_feedthegoat]

To sum up Yaya would definitely have given us more possession and I personally favoured playing him but with both Ferns. Still we showed in both legs we can do without him. Now the Club are focused on upgrades. A left back, a centre back and probably two midfielders are needed and maybe a striker too. A lot of players will be leaving too. With Pep coming in its inevitable he'll want an overhaul. For now we need to focus on third and a CL final with the current squad which ain't too shabby.

YAYA would not have defended when it mattered - eveyone else put a shift in ...thank fuck Pellegrini has finally cottoned on.
We should play the very same team next in the Semi finals.

[Mase]

Here come all the rag fans with "with the amount spent City should be in the Semi's every year!"

[Moonchesteri]

To sum up Yaya would definitely have given us more possession and I personally favoured playing him but with both Ferns. Still we showed in both legs we can do without him. Now the Club are focused on upgrades. A left back, a centre back and probably two midfielders are needed and maybe a striker too. A lot of players will be leaving too. With Pep coming in its inevitable he'll want an overhaul. For now we need to focus on third and a CL final with the current squad which ain't too shabby.

YAYA would not have defended when it mattered - eveyone else put a shift in ...thank fuck Pellegrini has finally cottoned on.
We should play the very same team next in the Semi finals.

I agree with Carl. Putting on Yaya when we were 1-0 to help us keep the ball was a good move but no way he should have started

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Clichy haters bow down too. He was class.

He was outstanding.