Match Threads Man City vs Spurs - Match thread - Carabao Cup Final 2021 - KO 4:30pm

[Spirit of '61]

Today cemented what we all really know deep down.
We are no way good enough.

This game should have been city backing out of our ferocious tackles as they have bigger fish to fry, instead it looked like it was city's last and only hope of a trophy.

No good sonny crying, we as fans know we need a total rebuild.

Let's hope our new manager will cull all this medecrocy .

Hopefully this is the final act of this squad .

Done and fucking dusted

This current bunch of players are no way as bad as they appear.
The ingredients are good enough ( not super selected organic, I'll grant you).
What is lacking is a talented young chef to do the mixing..

 

[roy@SC]

1-0 down in a cup final 10 minutes to go and we don't press the ball once. Piss poor. Only Dier,Toby and Hugo getting any credit whatsoever. Shackles off once Jose's gone? Do me a favour.

100% bang on. That was disgusting. Predictable when I saw the crazy midfield selection. No disgrace to lose to city, but to put up no fight and never look to win the game was shocking. We played like minnows. Embarrassing

 

[Japhet]

So, we got beaten by a billion pound team with (probably) the best manager in the world while ours has had 1 game. I was expecting an absolute coating and a cricket score.

 

[EastLondonYid]

We've been here before,

Let's jog on and go again

Massive rebuild now,

Time to get all the dead wood out.

 

[wayneg]

Dude, of course no one is claiming we lost that final as a direct result of Levy.

Go back and read some of the comments on here. Full time whistle goes .. some people didn't comment on performance.. was just levy out/enic out, F#ck levy etc.

 

[Albertbarich]

Lots of talk about squad gutting and managers but ultimately today I think I saw a team that never believed they could win.

The tactics weren't too bad. I like the idea of two banks of three, it's what I've wanted for ages but we were just too passive. Scared to really go for it not in an attacking sense but pressing and tackling.

We made it to easy by being so passive in the press.

Also mason has maybe had 4 sessions with them, it's no surprise that were not a well oiled machine.

It's been a rough rough time. Since the champions league final and even before the squad has looked disjointed and lacking in confidence but it's got worse and worse. Right now I honestly think mason and his team putting their arms round them , encouraging brave attacking football would make the world of difference.

Look at reguillion. Not a single person would have refused that transfer. Now he's a shell of his former self. It's not a voodoo spell or him not trying. No just a bad season and a squad who as a collective lack confidence.

I hope we stick with Bale for the rest of the season, encourage more like the second half of the soton game and let's enjoy it and see where is takes us.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Very true , didn't make much of an effort in Madrid either under Poch, think it was about the 80th minute before we had a shot on target , that final was also lacking in passion at least we had a yellow card today.
When we had a couple of breaks on today we just couldn't make the right pass.

I really don’t think it’s a lack of passion or trying it’s a lack of a clear plan and/or quality, simple as that.

Today when we finally start stringing some passes together and moving up the pitch, Winks hits a diagonal straight off the pitch. Every time city hit one with KDB or Gundogan it went straight to marhez feet and he was 1v1 vs reggi.

I was at the final and we pinned Liverpool back and had quite a few chances. Completely different to today where we got utterly dominated but hardly surprising given we have a 29yr old with 1 match experience in charge against one of the best teams and managers of all time.

 

[KingKay]

Yep it’s a weird feeling . 8 cup finals played since takeover and 8 wins in cup finals for them.
Very obvious why they are as good as they are unfortunately

It might be because it was a much bigger game, but I felt far worse after the loss to Liverpool in the CL final. This just feels like the game was rigged and the odds where stacked against us from the start.

 

[IamSpurtacus]

Why is that spam @GilzeansGrandad ?

?

 

[richard_gleeson]

The way they talk about us on TV and radio makes us sound like we are really poor and lucky to be in a final. This shows how far behind we are still as a team. We are not bad on paper, but very bad in big performances.

 

[C0YS]

That's exactly the point that I was making to @Dr Know albeit I misunderstood his point a bit. Mason is in a position where he is just steadying the ship for the remainder of the season. He has no experience to speak of and I'm as certain as I can be that he won't get the job permanently. No way should anyone criticise the guy.

Yeah indeed. I think he does have experience though, and also as I said, he has had no time whatsoever. The change of manager the week before is not good prep, at least a month before is required. But I honestly don't think any manager we could bring in, or anything we could do would have given us more than a 10% chance of winning this game. I will repeat it again Man City have won 30 out of their 33 games, not 'unbeaten in', won. The level they are playing at is an exception. If we managed to hold on until extra time, that would already be something.

Those three games were a freak game against leeds where their 29 shots vs Leeds 2 shots resulted in a 2-1 loss. Man city vs Man utd, city again, 23 shots to 8 shots, dominated possession and Man utd won that game by being solid and taking their chances. Chelsea probably put up the biggest challenge to city, but even that man city dominated possession and outshot Chelsea and Chelsea benefited from them losing De Bruyne, and Chelsea are the best defensive side in the league these days.

I really don't really know what kind of game people expected. Doesn't matter who you are, most games against city go this way, possession-wise this is the absolute norm for city. The main issue was our lack of incision when we did break the press, poor referring decisions also didn't help.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

This forum can be highly toxic at times...the f#ck son comments, kane can't do it in finals, levy out, the list goes on. The majority of this is over the top and completely unwarranted.

I'm not saying Son had a great game or has been in form the last few months, but he does put a shift in and has been a great team player since he signed.

Kane got absolutely no service today, had to drop back etc and was probably not even ? percent fit. If he was playing for City today he would have scored for fun. Saying he fails in major finals is ridiculous, the champions league final he wasn't fit.

Levy out, people can have their opinion on the man, but he isn't the main contributor in why we lost today, he didn't pick the team, coach the players or make the subs. I get some of his decisions previously with regards transfers / manager hirings may lead to critisim but I think to blame him for todays performance is petty.

Levy hired Jose, Jose was a disaster, levy also fired Jose a week before the final and appointed a 29yr old, so how can levy be absolved from any blame lol?

He’s the root fucking cause of everything.

 

[jimmy-jojo]

Maybe we are the Harry Kane team after all...if he’s a no show then forget the other 10...just putting it out there... by the way I’m still not convinced but too many players go missing when they have the ability not to...it must be a mental thing...win at all costs......

At this point, I actually think Harry is holding us back. How fit was he to play this final?

His mentality is that he wants to play in every match even though he’s not fit and it will be to the detriment to the team.

We can’t have a player who is being treated as though they are bigger than the club and all our success is totally dependent on them.

 

[GiveMeMoura]

The mess we’re in is all on Levy

Massive rebuild needed

And rumours in the media Levy fired Mourinho because Mourinho wanted rid of the deadwood and Levy didn’t ??

we’re fucked

 

[LSUY]

Levy out, people can have their opinion on the man, but he isn't the main contributor in why we lost today, he didn't pick the team, coach the players or make the subs. I get some of his decisions previously with regards transfers / manager hirings may lead to critisim but I think to blame him for todays performance is petty.

This stagnant squad is partly down to his transfer policy. The decision to sack Jose less than a week before a cup final was down to him. The decision to install an inexperienced interim when an experienced alternative (Chris Powell) was available was down to him. Levy deserves his fair share of the blame for today.

 

[Atomic Blonde]

So many tears in here. What did you expect? We’ve just played by far the best team in the league, while being managed by a 29 year old rookie, who’s been in the job less than a week. It would have been miracle if we had won.

I don’t think we embarrassed ourselves. We battled well and lost narrowly. Yes, it’s frustrating but it never really ours to win.

To be fair , I don't think anyone was 'expecting' us to win. After the depressing negativity of Mourinho, most posters were saying they would actually accept losing if we finally got to see our best players playing front foot, attacking football.

I feel bad criticising Mason but he said his football philosophy was about being 'brave' and playing the 'Tottenham way'. Not starting Bale and Ndombele and then ending the game with Winks and Sissoko is the exact opposite of 'brave'.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

It might be because it was a much bigger game, but I felt far worse after the loss to Liverpool in the CL final. This just feels like the game was rigged and the odds where stacked against us from the start.

Same mate. Barely bothered we lost this, expected nothing different to what happened today. vs Liverpool I was distraught for days because I felt like that was our year and if not for the Sissoko ‘handball’ after 2 mins I think we’d have given them a real good game which indeed we did for 80 mins until they go their 2nd.

 

[j_walsh89]

First time post, very long time lurker! I am actually so disgusted at that performance today I sent an email to club. Main points were no heart again, no trying in the last 5 minutes when losing, and Kane and Hugo deserve so much better, and no more of my money into the club after that miserable week of “European Super League” and paying off Jose just for us to buy the second rate options every season. Also don’t want to see certain players “play” for us again.

 

[Gbspurs]

Kind of a hollow feeling losing to a team that’s bought their success.

Moral superiority isn't worth shit I'm afraid.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

We are not bad on paper, but very bad in big performances.

To be fair - we've been bad in non-big performances too.