We were clearly tired with only one day of preparation after such a massive midweek away game. I doubt we would have maintained the last 10 min intensity for the entire 90. Not to absolve Conte of all blame as he made some weird decisions. Only shows how slim our side is.
Matt LawVerified account @Matt_Law_DT 2m2 minutes ago We've not said this too much since he came to England but I think Conte got his big decisions wrong today
It's early in the season still, if we are going to play with contained effort consistently we won't do anything, players shouldn't be tired. We should have come at them earlier instead of wasting the time we had Hazard with fresher legs. It's less down to actual tiredness and more about protecting the legs. City worked much harder throughout and we should aspire to that in September. Credit to them, they earned the win. Now just hoping Morata has a light injury and nothing more serious, Bats cannot lead the line as he can.
I just don't think tiredness was the primary reason we lost today, not even close. As Matt Law suggests in his twitter this was a tactical loss above anything. We put in a heroic effort in the week, but again, it's September.
Tough end. After Morata went out, we looked like we were down to 10 men. There seems to be no Plan B w/o Morata. Replacing him with Willian was a kick in the gut for Bats on top of it.
While I'm sure fatigue played a role Conte got it wrong tactically. The 3-5-2 wasn't effective and we should have reverted back to the 3-4-3. It was also clear things weren't clicking and he should have made a sub far sooner to inject something anything into the game. I love Azpi but he just doesn't provide the punch we need at RWB. Either start Moses or give Zappacosta a chance.
Second best by some distance, very disappointing after the promise of midweek, the sad truth is City are just better than us, I just hope its the powder blue half of Manchester that wins the league (I think they will)
1. It's between the Manchester teams this season. That was my thought before the season and it's still my thought now. I like the signings we made but if we wanted a chance, we needed to sign a real impact player to make a step up. 2. I never expected Michy to come on for Morata. If you remember to last season, when Costa was out, Michy never started in his place. Always Hazard up top with Pedro/Willian off. When Michy decides to stop having a trampoline as a first touch, maybe he'll get the call. 3. Christensen showed his quality, but watching also as a US Men's fan, this is a quality you don't want to see. What I mean is, our defense should not have been pressured that much anyway. I applaud his skill and tenacity but what's more revealing were the problems all over the pitch (a la Tim Howard in 2014 v. Belgium). 4. Upcoming schedule - this October will be the biggest test in terms of how we do this season. away to Palace home to Roma home to Watford home to Everton (cup) away to Bournemouth away to Roma home to United
I think Morata's injury and the short turnaround were factors, even if it wasn't Conte's best tactical performance.
I've always thought TC was a great shot stopper, but lacking in the organizational/vocal part of the position. I'm still seeing confusion in the back where Cahill or Luiz is screaming for TC to come out and command the box/ball and it's not happening. Frustrating. Still one of the world's best. I would like to see the De Bruyne goal and see if it was stoppable. Lots of speed and close quarters.
With Morata I felt we could grabbed a win. Without, we looked a man down and scared of what is a team with plenty of weaknesses to exploit.
I agree that TC does not come for the ball often enough which is strange since the thing that initially made me favour him over Chech was that he seemed much more positive in coming for crosses. I can only assume that has been coached out of him by the staff at Chelsea