Man City vs Spurs: Match Thread

[Ben1]

While the result is pretty irrelevant it is a little concerning that our starting line up was not far away from our strongest team with the exception of Wanyama who hopefully will be back for the start of the season and Son and Rose who won't. The argument put forward has been that our first team is possibly still the strongest in the league and we only need a couple of back up players.
I didn't watch the match but reading through some of the posts it looks like our strong starting line up on paper just didn't perform.
By the way , what is the issue with Wanyama ?

I believe Vic got a small knee injury against PSG and is returning this week

 

[thinktank]

Mauricio: "They were better. It's always tough to lose but the result is not the priority. We are working to get fit."

Alli wasn't.

 

[Lilbaz]

We have 2 weeks to sort ourselves out. I really doubt we will play like that against newcastle. Preseason has never been reflective of the season.

So i'm guessing that dier will be picked as the player to hate this season? Really saddens me that some of our fans have to do this every year.

 

[StartingPrice]

The question isn't if it was piss poor, it was. The question is why it was piss poor. A secondary question would be if we should be worried or not.

Negatively, pre-season or not, I have rarely ever seen a Poch team playing with such a lack of snap. The press was half-hearted, the tackling non-committal and there was a hell of a lot of dithering. Frankly, it reminded me of the Newcastle defeat at the end of the 15 - 16 campaign - and that isn't a spectre we really want to be raising prior to our first game of the season. Poch will either be totally non-plussed and in serious arse-kicking mode, or he will know all the mitigating circumstances, some of which we wont be aware of and not fussed because it was a nothing game against a very good team where his experiments hamstrung us a bit. I really don't know which, so I am not going to pretend I do.

Slightly less negatively, and please remember this isn't making excuses because I have no responsibility for what happened, I'm just saying it how I see it. Firstly, City are way ahead of us in terms of preparation. Secondly, as someone above highlighted, we really have no idea just how much Poch has been exhausting them in training. Thirdly, we will only play City twice. Fourthly, once we are match fit, committed and at full-strength I don't believe they will dominate us so easily.

Ultimately, I think it was just a perfect storm for City tonight. A team that looks best when going forward got to play a diluted defence at (probably) its very worst, with lots of changes, while not being pressed too much where they are weakest, in defence, against a team who for several reasons weren't as committed as City were. City were going into challenges like injuring one of our lot would have been an add on bonus at times, even against a BPL rival, if you are tired from heavy training commitments and at an earlier stage in preseason, and at sixes and sevens in terms of the personnel on the field being a bit of a hodge-podge, it must be hard to react to that. Our intensity was missing today - I doubt it will be in competitive games.

One positive from tonight is that with all their buying I actually don't think City looked all that. They are still soft in the middle. We were shit but I think they hammered us more at their place in the spring. If that was just a training session for us I am more confident of our prospects this season. We were minus Rose, Son, Big Vic, and (hopefully) Pereira on the right. On evidence we have much higher to go to our ceiling than that city team.

Same old City really. Great going forward,
they will hammer a few teams this season. But still a bit frail at the back imo. When both teams are up to speed, I expect it will be a closer affair.

Why do folk not see this. Even though our pressing, closing down and chasing of loose balls was pretty half-hearted, City still gave the ball away, knocked it loose, gave one another Hail Mary balls, received the ball a lot with backs to goal, played dangerously across their box. If we had been at full throttle I don't think they would have been at all comfortable. And they looked to be held together in a defensive sense by Toure and, particularly, Kompany. How many games will they play this season? They needed to improve their defence and, frankly, I can't see any evidence based on tonight's game that they have. I can't say that they haven't but it wasn't evident given that they still took a lot of risks and were held together by players who are not likely to play every game, they would have been seriously uncomfortable if we had been playing with our first eleven and our usual intensity. Sorry if anyone thinks that is optimistic. In my defence, folk thought I was being optimistic during City's first ten games under Poch when they won every one and folk were talking about them winning the league unbeaten, I was pointing out that in every one of those ten games teams were getting behind the City defence with ease. Even Sunderland in their first game at the Etihad did.

I'm not going to make any outrageous claims, or offer to put my nads on the line (unlike some foolhardy souls above). Their defence may be improved come kick off on day one. They may run away with the league, while we may flounce out of the title rave by the end of August. But I didn't see anything tonight to suggest they would be that much different to last season - very good going forward, but slightly suspect at the back. I didn't see anything tonight to justify saying they will run away with the league or that we have zilch chance.

My conclusion - don't panic.

 

[Flashspur]

Meltdown

 

[Bobbins]

CONTEXT: http://www.espnfc.com/international...hind-man-city-in-3-0-loss-mauricio-pochettino

To be honest the whole context of the interview doesn't change the impact of his quote at all. In fact he then goes on to say we're desperately trying to get some new faces in because there's a lack of energy and competition in the squad.

 

[Derryank]

That was absolutely shocking. I'm really struggling to accept the 3 CB at the back is our preferred line of defense. Roma had it sussed, as did Pep. KWP and Davies do not posses the qualities to play that formation... Plan B, Poch?

Underwhelming to say the least.

 

[Ben1]

To be honest the whole context of the interview doesn't change the impact of his quote at all. In fact he then goes on to say we're desperately trying to get some new faces in because there's a lack of energy and competition in the squad.

I was thinking this...it doesn't really stop the fact that he said this, in public, clear as day, two weeks before the season. They may not be the words of a pissed off man, but they certainly aren't the words of a happy one.

 

[mark87]

Although it doesn't really matter that we lost a pre season game as it is about getting match fit at this point, there isn't any excuse for not putting the effort in. It doesn't matter if it's pre season or not, players should always be working as hard as they can when playing in a game.

 

[Krule]

I did think that we looked extremely predictable against City and that possibly minds were more on the long trip home rather than the game. With the season starting so soon I was just pleased everyone appeared to come out of the match relatively unscathed, despite some extremely questionable tackles from the opposition. I don't think Poch learnt a lot from the game except that City look a strong title contender and have a huge depth of talent in their squad. I have never understood why people are so impressed with Kompany....whenever I have seen him play he's an imposing player on the pitch, but only because he's big and looks a hard bastard. I wouldn't say he was particularly talented and is obviously prone to injury. I saw nothing to change that opinion this time.
Definitely a totally different attitude than we saw in the PSG game but I'm willing to allow them the benefit of the doubt and looking forward to August 12th.

 

[mugpunt]

Three mitigating points- Technical sides (especially when unusually motivated) always have a major advantage over sides relying on Physicality and team press in non-competitive environments- especially when the heat is such as to render our press virtually inactive.

Peps preseason is short and sharp style and tends to fast starts- ours is longer in days, daily sessions and intensity and focused on being the fittest side in the country thought the season- we've generally been heavy legged in preseason under Potch ( and more concerningly in early season games too)

Working with from the strong sense that we will sign at least 3 first team squad players i.e. 'The Italian' Ross Barkley and say Pereira- We were missing a full outfield team- half of whom would be in our Best 11... Son,Rose,Wanyama,Lamela,Edwards, Onoma, Sissoko

 

[Ben1]

Three mitigating points- Technical sides (especially when unusually motivated) always have a major advantage over sides relying on Physicality and team press in non-competitive environments- especially when the heat is such as to render our press virtually inactive.

Peps preseason is short and sharp style and tends to fast starts- ours is longer in days, daily sessions and intensity and focused on being the fittest side in the country thought the season- we've generally been heavy legged in preseason under Potch ( and more concerningly in early season games too)

Working with from the strong sense that we will sign at least 3 first team squad players i.e. 'The Italian' Ross Barkley and say Pereira- We were missing a full outfield team- half of whom would be in our Best 11... Son,Rose,Wanyama,Lamela,Edwards, Onoma, Sissoko

Agreed, however onomah, sissoko and Edwards are a real real stretch

 

[SpursTillIDie1882]

We are a bit behind in our preseason training for show it showed, we were just not with it, no one pulling their eight except maybe Hugo in the first half. Our first 11 is extremely stong, the thing that shows and will prove potentially our biggest threat to us not doing anything decent next season is the vast difference of the strength of the squad, thats is clear advantage chavs and man city have over us. its all well and good blooding young players of course and yes thats Pochs philosophy but we are no going to unearth the kanes, allis of this world who somehow just managed to be at that star quality level, every season who just look and play at that level. Rose took a season or two under poch to show his full amazing potential, walker was good but dramatically improved under Poch, Dier has done well almost to that required and consistent level but still needs polishing. Ericksen is just class but after one season under Poch his all round game has improved. No doubt some youngsters will improve also however it maybe to our detriment on pushing frward over the next couple of seasons, which then posing the questions will our biggest stars still want to stay after that time, its a bit of a conundrum. Wenger as good as he was failed to find that balance and eventually you do need to bring in quality and thats costs money.

 

[mugpunt]

Agreed, however onomah, sissoko and Edwards are a real real stretch

Onoma I agree is and I only used for the symmetry of rounding out a full outfield 10- But Sissoko was massive against City when we overpowered them at home and Edwards is more talented as an impact player than the Fodens and Diaz who rubbed salt into the wounds.

You can also add the fact that our entire engine room was make shift with Dembelle and Winks still injury recovery mode after their surgeries and Dier again showing that he is not a CM regular.

I always expected us to scrape this by 1 or them to thrash us...never expected a tight loss based on all the above factors.

 

[1971 Spur]

Just watched the game (missus wanted to watch some stupid film) and haven't been keeping up with the match thread. Perhaps i'll repeat what's been already said but yes. it wasn't a good performance by any means. I think we have to take into consideration that it's not a game that was played under "Premier League" conditions though. City had everyone to choose from and we were missing Wanyama, Rose, Son, Lamela plus any signings we will inevitably make. The strength of their bench was a large part of their tactics insofar as they first 11 were sent out to run us into the ground for 60 mins knowing that the cavalry lay in wait. In league conditions they would have had a maximum of 3 subs not the 10 that they made (Otamendi was the only one who played the full 90 whereas we had Dier, Eriksen, Kane and Toby). About the 60 mins mark they changed almost half the team and brought on Aguero, Nasri, Toure, Foden and Mangala, most of them who would feel that they had something to prove. Lets see how they go once the season starts and half that squad know they are not first choice though they are mostly full internationals and in a World Cup year. We weren't at our best but we were never let get a foothold in that game (bar maybe around 70 mins). It was akin to being "tag-teamed" and Nasri has previous with that. We will strengthen before the window shuts and we will get our unavailable players back. If the league ever changes the rules to allow 10 subs we're in trouble though.

 

[Ben1]

Onoma I agree is and I only used for the symmetry of rounding out a full outfield 10- But Sissoko was massive against City when we overpowered them at home and Edwards is more talented as an impact player than the Fodens and Diaz who rubbed salt into the wounds.

You can also add the fact that our entire engine room was make shift with Dembelle and Winks still injury recovery mode after their surgeries and Dier again showing that he is not a CM regular.

I always expected us to scrape this by 1 or them to thrash us...never expected a tight loss based on all the above factors.

Ofc sissoko is still a member of the squad, but including him and potential new signings like Barkley is a stretch when it's most likely one or other.

Question for the group: do the people slating dier as a centre mid player want another player in that position? Not a criticism, just a question, as ive only seen 1-2 suggesting a deep midfielder.

 

[guy]

I didn't see the Roma game, but we looked very good against psg. That made it even more shocking to see how awful we looked today

 

[ajspurs]

Onoma I agree is and I only used for the symmetry of rounding out a full outfield 10- But Sissoko was massive against City when we overpowered them at home and Edwards is more talented as an impact player than the Fodens and Diaz who rubbed salt into the wounds.

You can also add the fact that our entire engine room was make shift with Dembelle and Winks still injury recovery mode after their surgeries and Dier again showing that he is not a CM regular.

I always expected us to scrape this by 1 or them to thrash us...never expected a tight loss based on all the above factors.

Not sure these factors are enough to even potentially expect a thrashing. IMO there's no real excuse for putting out such a dire performance. The team without a doubt should have been able to strongly compete at the least. It was only a friendly bla bla but a friendly can end up being quite detrimental to the state of mind if we're being badly thrashed by any team let alone a PL rival. And make no mistake, City should have put about 8 past us. This was a very very good result for us when you look at what the score could and should have ended up being.

Hopefully it was just down to it being preseason and not something that's a sign for the upcoming season. I guess you could say that Madrid were thrashed by City and they almost beat and went toe to toe with Barcelona right now. I just hope there won't be a repeat of a performance anything like todays and we can put it behind us after the Juventus match.

 

[DannyNZ]

Ofc sissoko is still a member of the squad, but including him and potential new signings like Barkley is a stretch when it's most likely one or other.

Question for the group: do the people slating dier as a centre mid player want another player in that position? Not a criticism, just a question, as ive only seen 1-2 suggesting a deep midfielder.

I think we can do better with a genuine mid fielder rather than Dier as a make shift. That means Dier moves to being CB where I think he is better suited.

 

[benski]

Poch out innit