CL- Manchester City v FC Barcelona - 19:45

jive

Boskowski wrote: »

The match thread matches the game I see.

City are rattled since the Chelsea game, no doubt about it. Gone from unstoppable to stuttering.

Don't get the Demichelis hate. Thought he was pretty good actually - don't forget the level they're playing at - and the red card wasn't even his fault really.

I blame Kompany not Demichelis for the first goal. Demichelis was terrible against Chelsea (playing out of position) hence the hate, thought he was good tonight... until the challenge

Mr.Nice Guy

Hamann was great there dismissing the excuses being made about the referee. Will be very interesting to see if SSN highlight his comments tonight and tomorrow. Probably not as it seems straws must be clutched.

Turtwig

Thought the referee had a good game.

Wish they didn't talk about it. Will they be disciplined for that. I really liked Pellegrini so disappointed with that.

ThirdMan

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Hamann was great there dismissing the excuses being made about the referee. Will be very interesting to see if SSN highlight his comments tonight and tomorrow. Probably not as it seems straws must be clutched.

Jernal wrote: »

Thought the referee had a good game.

Wish they didn't talk about it. Will they be disciplined for that. I really liked Pellegrini so disappointed with that.

What was said?

wotzgoingon

Good game by Barca. Bring on the next leg.

Turtwig

Referee wasn't impartial.

Load of rubbish tbh.

The_Kew_Tour

Bring on the 2nd leg?

The tie is over.

super_furry

Jesus, City's lack of experience in Europe is really showing from the way they set up, to Kompany admitting that he thought the game would be referred like a Premier League match. You have to adapt to succeed in Europe and City haven't done that at all.

loyatemu

someone's probably already made this point but would commentators ever STFU about "vital" away goals. As City didn't score, there are no circumstances under which Barca can win this tie on away goals. (TV3 commentary was driving me mad, they seemed to be having a competition to see how many different ways they could describe Barca as a big team and say City have spent a lot of money....)

Shanotheslayer

jive wrote: »

I blame Kompany not Demichelis for the first goal. Demichelis was terrible against Chelsea (playing out of position) hence the hate, thought he was good tonight... until the challenge

Kompany kept in on, but it's cleary Demichelus fault. Amateur hour sliding Messi like that. Kompany was magnificant throughout the game.

UnitedIrishman

City are just like United when we came into the CL first in the 90's - a bit naive.

Problem is, if they keep having a high turnover of players and managers then they're unlikely to gain those abilities they need to win it.

CSF

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

City are just like United when we came into the CL first in the 90's - a bit naive.

Problem is, if they keep having a high turnover of players and managers then they're unlikely to gain those abilities they need to win it.

They don't have THAT high a turnover of players. Hart, Clichy, Kolarov, Kompany, Zabaleta, Toure, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko, Nasri, Milner all in at least their 3rd season with the club.

Iused2likebusts

Dont understand the barca hate in here at all. I find their style a joy to watch it will be a sad day when xavi, iniesta and messi retire. It's not barca's fault that teams line up 8 players on the edge of the box to defend against them. They forced this onto a city team that have annihalated utd, spurs and arsenal at the same venue. Granted they arent as exciting as previous seasons but that was some standard to live up to.

Shanotheslayer

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Dont understand the barca hate in here at all. I find their style a joy to watch it will be a sad day when xavi, iniesta and messi retire. It's not barca's fault that teams line up 8 players on the edge of the box to defend against them. They forced this onto a city team that have annihalated utd, spurs and arsenal at the same venue. Granted they arent as exciting as previous seasons but that was some standard.

People would of moaned about Barca if they won 4-0.

EuropeanSon

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Wave after blaugrana wave have smashed against the sky blue dam, finally it has cracked to the overwhelming force of beautiful nature.

"Cracked to the overwhelming force of beautiful nature" doesn't really make sense as an English sentence.

I think you're trying a little too hard.

wotzgoingon

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Dont understand the barca hate in here at all. I find their style a joy to watch it will be a sad day when xavi, iniesta and messi retire. It's not barca's fault that teams line up 8 players on the edge of the box to defend against them. They forced this onto a city team that have annihalated utd, spurs and arsenal at the same venue. Granted they arent as exciting as previous seasons but that was some standard.

I find them a joy to watch as well. But they really have to watch the other team, as they keep getting caught on the break against good attacking teams. Happened in the past two champions league seasons.

jive

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Kompany kept in on, but it's cleary Demichelus fault. Amateur hour sliding Messi like that. Kompany was magnificant throughout the game.

What Dimechelis did was stupid but Kompany was well out of sync with the other 3 at the back who held a decent line. It was Kompany's fault the chance was there to begin with and Dimechelis' fault for not lunging in sooner or just leaving it up to Joe Hart. I'm not excusing the tackle, it was a stupid decision but it was Kompany's fault he had to make the decision.

gosplan

EuropeanSon wrote: »

"Cracked to the overwhelming force of beautiful nature" doesn't really make sense as an English sentence.

I think you're trying a little too hard.

Yeah.

Keep it straightforward Andersonisgod.

That last one would never make it past your sub ed.

Who does the Anderson refer to anyway?

Utopia Parkway

Fashionable to knock Dimechelis but the goal was Kompany's fault. Didn't step up with the rest of the defence and played Messi onside. Not much Dimechelis could have done really only chase after Messi. Maybe he shouldn't have dived in and hoped Messi would have missed or Hart might have saved. But it was Messi. He tends to score those.

dfx-

KingdomYid wrote: »

Wow, the amount of anti Barca sentiment in this thread is a suprise to me. it was a job well done by them away from home imo.

Every single Barcelona match thread for the past six years goes with that sentiment; win lose or draw, home or away it doesn't matter.

Andersonisgod

gosplan wrote: »

Yeah.

Keep it straightforward Andersonisgod.

That last one would never make it past your sub ed.

Who does the Anderson refer to anyway?

The word "due" should be in the sentence however I was distracted as, at the time of writing that message, I was also loudly screaming at my brother, who happens to be a Man City fan. Multi tasking obviously isn't a strong suit of mine.

The_Kew_Tour

Andersonisgod wrote: »

The word "due" should be in the sentence however I was distracted as, at the time of writing that message, I was also loudly screaming at my brother, who happens to be a Man City fan. Multi tasking obviously isn't a strong suit of mine.

So you have a brother who is United and City fan and you're Chelsea fan. Must be some craic:pac:

Andersonisgod

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

So you have a brother who is United and City fan and you're Chelsea fan. Must be some craic:pac:

No Man Utd fan in sight, I actually read someone say that before and I'm not sure where it comes from. I have 2 brothers, one is a City fan (who may be deaf from my rather loud ranting) and the other is a Liverpool fan, who needn't worry about goings on in the Europe :P

The_Kew_Tour

Andersonisgod wrote: »

No Man Utd fan in sight, I actually read someone say that before and I'm not sure where it comes from. I have 2 brothers, one is a City fan (who may be deaf from my rather loud ranting) and the other is a Liverpool fan, who needn't worry about goings on in the Europe :P

my mistake then. Thought you mentioned United brother before. me bad.

Royale with Cheese

I made the point that watching Barca can be very boring when they were at the height of their powers and I was shot down from all angles. No it's not their fault that teams line up across the box against them. But I don't care who's fault it is, I can appreciate their often great goals but quite a lot of their matches are snoozefests.

That said I will actually criticise them tonight. A man up and they really didn't push that hard for the second, to be honest the game could just have easily finished 1-1 instead of 2-0. Also I haven't seen much of Neymar this year but all he did tonight was give the ball away.

Demosthenese

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I made the point that watching Barca can be very boring when they were at the height of their powers and I was shot down from all angles. No it's not their fault that teams line up across the box against them. But I don't care who's fault it is, I can appreciate their often great goals but quite a lot of their matches are snoozefests.

That said I will actually criticise them tonight. A man up and they really didn't push that hard for the second, to be honest the game could just have easily finished 1-1 instead of 2-0. Also I haven't seen much of Neymar this year but all he did tonight was give the ball away.

At the Nou camp they do not need anything bar a draw away from home and an away goal. What else do they NEED to do? Its not a popularity contest, they do not need to entertain they NEED to qualify. clean sheet away from home and 2 goal advantage- yeah lets critisize their lack of entertainment.

Great point. go watch some ice hockey why don't ya.

Shanotheslayer

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I made the point that watching Barca can be very boring when they were at the height of their powers and I was shot down from all angles. No it's not their fault that teams line up across the box against them. But I don't care who's fault it is, I can appreciate their often great goals but quite a lot of their matches are snoozefests.

That said I will actually criticise them tonight. A man up and they really didn't push that hard for the second, to be honest the game could just have easily finished 1-1 instead of 2-0. Also I haven't seen much of Neymar this year but all he did tonight was give the ball away.

Clearly didn't see assist to Alves so.

Turtwig

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

That said I will actually criticise them tonight. A man up and they really didn't push that hard for the second, to be honest the game could just have easily finished 1-1 instead of 2-0.

They had something to lose. City still had real potency. City's original game plan was based heavily on counter attacks. In a game of chess, which this match was, you do not play into your opponents strength. Had they gone for the killer they could have been got caught out.

mada999

Ryu Hayabusa wrote: »

Terrible and boring match,

if this is the beautiful game of football from the school of barcelona, I look forward to seeing Bayern give them another hammering

you know my take on it.. if your team has pacy front men (and a good holding mid) then it would be a big problem for barca..

if you cant contain their attacking 6/7 players then you should be able to counter them successfully if you hit the wings after you turn the ball over.

city without Aguero are just not built for that.. If i was City i'd continually knock long balls at the defense, as they Barca don't seem too comfortable with that type of attack, they just dont see it against them in La liga, but of course you need runners from midfield to collect the knock downs...

mada999

Andersonisgod wrote: »

This is still aside who can handle big European matches against physical sides, it was a lesson in game management from the Catalan club

To be honest, the ref give a lot of soft free's.. it seems that in midfield, if a Barca player loses the ball, he goes down and he gets a free. Been like that for a long time imo

Imo City did not look like they were outplayed, both teams had a couple of gears more to go in that game..Messi (and he is the greatest attacker at the moment)apart from the run for the sending off was pretty much anonymous

mada999

Paully D wrote: »

I like Kompany but I think a portion of blame can be attributed to him for the goal. If he was more aware of where the line was he could have stepped up or not ran so far back in order to avoid playing Messi onside. Maybe a bit harsh, but I feel he should be more aware in that situation.

Anyone agree?

no not really. Bit of a freak goal from my point of view...

1. city player tackled in mid, one of the Barca players even thought so and just kicked the ball forward as if he thought it was a free

2. City left back thought it was gonna be a free also and stopped, then when there was no free came back to life (should have played the whistle)

3. Barca player passed into Messi's path



3.

Corholio

Was a pretty poor match really, City not brave enough to take Barca on, which they could have IMO and Barca happy enough to keep trying to pass their way through a defence mostly unsuccessful. City were starting to carve out the clearer opportunities and looked more threatening when nearer the goal than Barca did, but in the end it was an efficient away performance from Barca without being all that great. Missed chance by City definitely though.

mada999

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

City are just like United when we came into the CL first in the 90's - a bit naive.

Problem is, if they keep having a high turnover of players and managers then they're unlikely to gain those abilities they need to win it.

not rally imo, they paid big money for duds...

Clichy
Demi
Lescott
Dzecko

how much was that I wonder?

mada999

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Dont understand the barca hate in here at all. I find their style a joy to watch it will be a sad day when xavi, iniesta and messi retire. It's not barca's fault that teams line up 8 players on the edge of the box to defend against them. They forced this onto a city team that have annihalated utd, spurs and arsenal at the same venue. Granted they arent as exciting as previous seasons but that was some standard to live up to.

i actually dislike their tiki taka football, so arrogant imo, but they've won lots of titles, champs league and world club cups...prob for them is that they will be picked off by fast counter attacking sides like Bayern Munich - hopefully :pac:

JPA

I love watching Barca and always have, some of the best players in the PL were chasing shadows tonight. I love the rapid passing and movement, the dribbles, the turns.
No other team does what they do, it's great!

stiffler123

mada999 wrote: »

not rally imo, they paid big money for duds...

Clichy
Demi
Lescott
Dzecko

how much was that I wonder?

Dzeko and Clichy are not duds.

Vinz Mesrine

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

So you have a brother who is United and City fan and you're Chelsea fan. Must be some craic:pac:

Chelsea?
City?
Barca?

Who did you they all support pre 2005?

Agueroooo

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

Chelsea?
City?
Barca?

Who did you they all support pre 2005?

Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool

eZe^

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

Dont understand the barca hate in here at all. I find their style a joy to watch it will be a sad day when xavi, iniesta and messi retire. It's not barca's fault that teams line up 8 players on the edge of the box to defend against them. They forced this onto a city team that have annihalated utd, spurs and arsenal at the same venue. Granted they arent as exciting as previous seasons but that was some standard to live up to.

I don't quite agree, and I'm a Barca fan. I can completely understand people's lack of love to the way they play, I at times can get a little frustrated at their relentless approach to keeping possession. I think neutrals just find it a bit lethargic to watch a team constantly play safe pass, Barca's passing is probably the best the world has ever seen, but they mainly play the percentages.

There were plenty of times last night when Iniesta could have tried to play a killer ball, or Alexis / Alves could have tried to take on a full back and get the team on the back foot, but instead they cut back inside and play a slow pass back along the penalty area. For people who don't have a particularly vested interest in any of the players / history of the club, I can see why it's not exciting football (it's impeccable, patient, and intelligent, just not overtly exciting to a lot of people, especially because it's been dominating European and world football for the past 6 years).

Andersonisgod

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

Chelsea?
City?
Barca?

Who did you they all support pre 2005?

I don't mean to be rude because I like to think I am quite a classy fella, but, judging by this match thread alone, you seem to be developing a bit of an obsession with me. I can assure you now, I'm not worth it.

However to answer your rather condescending question, I've supported Chelsea since I was a kid, it was Tore Andre Flo that did it for me, later, when I really got into football, it was Drogba (my favorurite player ever). Because nobody supported Barcelona before 2005? What an odd statement that is, in reality I love football and Barcelona are the greatest purveyors of football that there is. My brother went with his local soccer club to the Man City facilities and a game between City and Liverpool, he loved it, he thought the club were great and thus he is a City fan.

Tomorrow I will tell you all the gruesome origin of my birth. The day after shall be the inspirational tale of my first day in school, involving a battle of wills between me and a kid who never washed his hands.

stiffler123

stiffler123 wrote: »

Dzeko and Clichy are not duds.

and also only cost £7 million which is was a pretty good deal i think

Nuri Sahin

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

my mistake then. Thought you mentioned United brother before. me bad.

I'm sure he said he had a United supporting brother when his username was being questioned last year. He yapped on about Anderson Silva, Xbox and another forum where he was affectionately commenting on Real Madrid was brought up.

Andersonisgod

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I'm sure he said he had a United supporting brother when his username was being questioned last year. He yapped on about Anderson Silva, Xbox and another forum where he was affectionately commenting on Real Madrid was brought up.

It's very kind of you to keep such detailed, if somewhat incorrect, tabs on me. I think you may have mistaken brother for friends of brother, who are mostly Man Utd fans.

However I am entirely sure that this has been previously explained and resolved. Though of course if you wish to continue discussing my life story, by all means PM me and I will be only to happy to indulge you.

Agueroooo

might as well just continue this thread. ...


Something tells me City will get something out of this game tonight.

Turtwig

Barca have been awful recently. You could well be right. But City haven't exactly been the pinnacle of their usual selves either.

Turtyturd

Agueroooo wrote: »

might as well just continue this thread. ...


Something tells me City will get something out of this game tonight.

A beating?

Much like last night's game I reckon this was over as a contest weeks ago.

Rayne Wooney

Barca will control the game like Bayern did but City will be far better on the counter than Arsenal were last night

wotzgoingon

Can't wait for this match. Should be good.

Headshot

Great to see Eamo back

Neeson

Pity Giles isn't there. Always enjoy his input.