In a game where the only reason the other team scored and tied the game was due to an Italian ref (nuff said) I fail to see how a draw is fair, but meh we're trough.
Looking at the replays again, it seems that Sami tried chipping the ball but instead kicked the ground and tumbled on the floor? Either way, we were off to a great start and the midfield was playing really well, including Modric I thought, but slowly got back to our usual selves. Lots of chances, lots of missed opportunities, and then concede possession. A typical day at the office. This game was on course to get exciting the last 15-20 minutes with us countering and trying to score while City were pushing up trying to get the equalizer, but the ref decided to give the red card which in turn literally killed what could have been an exciting encounter.
Yeah, I'm just pissed we gave them a sniff of the game instead of breaking their spirit early on. Damn shame.
My thoughts for y'all to rip apart if needed 1) Probably the best overall team performance of the season for a good portion of this match, other than the first-half finishing. I say that because this match really should have been over at the half. I also say that because we were absolutely playing them off of the park in the first half, and were doing it beautifully. The dispossessions and flawless one-touch passes to release into attack mode were an absolutely wonderful thing to behold. The pressure on the ball and unitary movement in defense at times were similarly excellent. 2) We actually got better in some ways after going down to ten. Most importantly for us going forward, Mourinho refused to go into shit-on-a-stick mode at any point in this match. He's starting to trust his players. We still attacked them, still passed the ball around, still kept pushing for a goal. 3) The entire back four, in its various compositions, played very well this game on the whole. I don't know what has gotten into Pepe lately trying to be cute with the ball. But the back four (in part due to Xabi/Sami's play) were consistently able to pressure City's front and kept them from cleanly receiving passes. 4) The pundits will probably pay too much attention to Ronaldo not getting on the score sheet, but he was absolutely sensational in this match for me, other than the wasted chance. He should've scored, but he was also given a raw deal despite making City's defenders look stupid time and time again. 5) Di Maria absolutely ran his socks off. Showed some wonderful dedication to the team. But the decision making needs work. 6) Where has this version of Xabi been? His turns and distribution today were fantastic. 7) Sami has to do better with the chances he was given. But like Angel, the effort he put in today was very visible, and I thought he had a great game otherwise. 8) The Xabi-Khedira-Modric pairing in the middle of the pitch absolutely wrecked City's midfield today. We were still vulnerable on the wings. It seems clear to me that Mou brought Modric in with away CL ties in mind. Ozil can always be introduced in these matches on the wings. 9) Real classy from the Man City fans booing injured players. Then again, I'm not sure we can expect any better from fans of a club owned by tyrants. Overall very proud of this team. It's not easy to go play another team fighting for its life on its home field. It's especially not easy to hold on for a result after you go into the half disappointed because you feel like the game should be over. The finishing MUST get better in big matches. This is a consistent problem with this team that has been present in the past 4-5 years. That is the only thing I can see keeping this team from immortality. The chemistry up front is still a little lacking, but that will come as the season moves along. Hala Madrid.
^Hmm, I think you are overrating the performance quite a bit. Alonso misplaced a ton of passes. They had quite a bit of the ball, their biggest failing being the slow transition into attack. They put us under a lot of pressure in the second half, even before the red. I agree somewhat that going down a man made players who were kinda sloppy and half-hearted at that point focus up a bit. First 25 minutes was great, but it slowly started shifting their way at least in terms of momentum. We needed a change early in the second half to shift things back over to our side, but it didn't happen. That said, we got a result so whatever.
I have to strongly disagree. His passing was poor and horrid at points in the second half where he seemed to pass to the other team or out of bounds more than our own players. His only major contribution for me is getting back and helping defend.
Xabi did have a couple of nice moves/passes/touches, but for the most part his passing was sub par. There was a long ball he attempted that went way far to the corner and it wasn't even close to whomever he was playing it to, very un-xabi like.
I think avoiding top opponents doesn't help in general, because sooner or later we will face top opponents in later stages, and if we aren't up to it, we will get eliminated. But this season is a special case. We know we are not playing up to our potential. Far from it. So, I want myself to believe that there is a chance this would change in later stages of the season. Mourinho's Inter had a similar issue in their 2009/10 campaign and they won the CL eventually despite their lousy start. I just hope that Jose tries to do something about Di Maria. The guy is killing us with his stupidity. I am not putting all blame on him, but when things aren't clicking perfectly, and he takes those stupid decisions - he makes things far worse.
This man is an idiot, give him an award. I'm not sure how ANY chance can be better than either Ronaldo 1 on 1 with the keeper, messes up, then gets another free chance 1 on 1 versus the keeper on the rebound and messes up on both. Nor do i see ANY chance that can be easier than Khedira, 1 on 1 versus the keeper, no one in sight, while he kicks the ground...not to mention khedira about 10 feet in front of goal when he opened his body and shot wide. I don't see how any chances can be better than these 4 yet you claim 1 of their chances was better than all four of these combined? You need to take a deep breath and calm yourself, you're acting like an idiot out here.
For one, I'd be happy if we got Man Utd first round. We shouldn't have any problem handling them, and it would help to play some higher quality opposition in the early rounds rather than taking out some chumps then coming up against Bayern/Barca in the semis.
Oh boy...a feeder team like Dortmund wins a couple of games and you get on your high horse already? Just remember what happened to Dortmund last year, I don't think we'll see much of a difference this year. My bet is they lose in the round of 16, although I'll be cheering for them. A feeder team is a feeder team, and that's all there is to it. The butler doesn't get to sit at the head of the table.
I don't think I'd label them as a feeder team at this point. Arsenal is much more of a feeder team than they are. They have beaten Bayern the past two leagues, and torched them head to head in the German Cup final last season. Not to mention, they beat us at their place and drew us at ours this year (regardless of if we weren't in our best form). I would not underestimate them, I could see them making a very respectable run. Would love to watch them against Barca, I think they are one of the few sides who could take them out over two legs.
If anyone needs calm down and take a deep breath, it's you, pompous ass. Dortmund has earned some respect with their performances in this CL, denying them that makes you look petty. I like that team, they play good football and don't act like huge jerkoffs.
I dunno, to me they look like exactly the type of side which would try and play them at their own game and end up losing 4-1. Dortmund are a nice team, but I don't think they have the quality at either end to go all the way when it matters in Europe. Ps interesting post match interview by Jose, two things stuck out. Firstly, he said he's finished second in the group twice - once with Porto and once with Inter, and he won it both times. Secondly there is gonna be a team in Europe which has worked its ass off to be top of the group, and they are gonna be pissed off when they draw us in the next round.
So last year, they failed to qualify out of the group stage, coming in 4th place. This year, they qualify first out of the toughest group in the competition, beating us away and tying at home. Yes, I don't see much difference this year.
Class/Talent = us and those culefuucks. Just form = Definitely those bavarianfuucks, Dortmund/italianfuucks in CL. Anybody running into one of those five teams will have problems, not impossible but problems. I agree that if we were to play a knockout round now we would most likely be knocked out by those bavarianfuucks and considering how poorly we've finished the italianfuucks would give us a run for our damn money with their idiotic luck they seem to have at times against us.
I was talking about Real meeting with Bayern and some of the comments in here about wanting to meet them in the R16...I'm not sure what Dortmund has to do with this other than my support for them.
I think the point I was trying to make was this: our performance as a team ironically would probably have been even better had we created and messed up as many chances. Any time you go on the road against a big-4 leagues champion and should have won by 3 goals, I consider it a very good performance. We deserved 3 points yesterday against a team that absolutely had to win.
I think we'd all agree that it happens a bit too often with this club in the Champion's League the last several seasons. We need to ********in' bury those, man. Sorry, still pissed.