Kicking the ball away...

[Tribute]

Adam Johnson was a right **** last night i thought. Good player tho

exactly my thoughts watching him. Petty and trying to get Skittles carded again after the pen - but nonetheless, excellent winger

[Fernandinho]

Odd to think thet their best player on the night was probably cheaper then most players on the pitch.. Was it 11 mil they payed for him?

[red g]

Odd to think thet their best player on the night was probably cheaper then most players on the pitch.. Was it 11 mil they payed for him?

Thought it was about 6/7 million?

[Shaggy]

Johnson? I thought it was £8m, which was a lot given he was nearing the end of his contract. By all accounts we were in for him but our bid was blown away by theirs...shock horror.

[Parr_Zee]

They said £5m on the commentary last night...

[Parr_Zee]

oh yes, please dont think im blaming the ref. we were poor last night. just thought i'd comment on a tactic i really dislike.

I thought it was well played by City - they never hammered the ball away but just sneakily knocked the ball far enough away to give them time to set-themselves and to stop us from catching them dis-organised. Its what good players do ... I do it all the time

[Fernandinho]

I thought it was well played by City - they never hammered the ball away but just sneakily knocked the ball far enough away to give them time to set-themselves and to stop us from catching them dis-organised. Its what good players do ... I do it all the time

It's what ******s do. From personal experience I think the right way to play football is to play hard but fair. Sure go in for challenges hard etc, but put your hand up when its not your ball and say so, give the other team the ball if its near you etc. Just because you are playing against another team it doesn't mean you need to be a cunt to them...

[Parr_Zee]

It's what ******s do. From personal experience I think the right way to play football is to play hard but fair. Sure go in for challenges hard etc, but put your hand up when its not your ball and say so, give the other team the ball if its near you etc. Just because you are playing against another team it doesn't mean you need to be a cunt to them...

Ha Ha - are you calling me a ******?

Its a winning mentality I guess ... what would a coach say to you if you got the ball back to them quickly and as a result, the opposition exploited a gap as your team-mate was not back in position?

Its a similar situation to when Fabio Aureio allowed Theo Walcott to drift past him on the half-way line and create a key-goal last season. Loads of people were saying foul him, take a booking and let your team set-up properly again. I would have done exactly that.

[Fernandinho]

Obviously i'm not an idiot, im not gonna go chasing a ball, kick it over to them so they can play on while im not on the pitch yet... but at the same time, if the ball is at your feet down the other end of the pitch and its their ball, there is no harm in picking it up and handing it to them etc...

[Parr_Zee]

I don't know ... its a difficult one. City were holding a lead so clearly wanted to allow themselves to get organised when we had the ball. I can see exactly what they were doing and i would have done it too.

There are so many examples of playing slyly but within the rules - keeping the ball in the corner at 90mins, committing a foul for the good of the team, "winning" a penalty ... etc. I genuinely believe that a winning mentality will make good players do these things - a win at all costs mentality.

[Fernandinho]

Was thinking much the same thing. I guess you need the right mix. Too much of a winning mentality and you just become a cunt (Fergie) and not enough and you become the team who is good but not great (current arsenal team)

[Parr_Zee]

[Alex]

I don't know ... its a difficult one. City were holding a lead so clearly wanted to allow themselves to get organised when we had the ball. I can see exactly what they were doing and i would have done it too.

There are so many examples of playing slyly but within the rules - keeping the ball in the corner at 90mins, committing a foul for the good of the team, "winning" a penalty ... etc. I genuinely believe that a winning mentality will make good players do these things - a win at all costs mentality.

Totally agree with this and more of the team need the same attitude. Gerrard and Carra have it, so does Torress to a degree. But some of the lads are too honest sometimes.

[Parr_Zee]

Totally agree with this and more of the team need the same attitude. Gerrard and Carra have it, so does Torress to a degree. But some of the lads are too honest sometimes.

Oh definitely. It make me laugh on here when people say they would never like to see John Terry, Ashley Cole, Cristiano Ronaldo, Joe Cole (!), Rooney, Mourinho etc at our club, because they are all cunts - no, they are all winners! They just look like cunts to opposing fans, because they'll do everything in their power to win.

[Redspin]

Please don't go down 'the Houllier route' (maintaining after being torn apart we were the better team because we had more shots, corners or throw ins) We only created a couple of real chances (that resulted in a double save from Hart) aside from that everything else was from distance.

BTW I agree with the OP I was frustrated by the kicking the ball away and Adam Johnson's moaning and attempting to get people booked everytime he was fouled.

I didn't maintain that we were the better team. The previous poster said that we did nothing better than City - he was so excited he put the word "nothing" in capitals. I merely pointed out that we had more shots on target, so in that category alone we did something better than them.

Maybe you've been on here too long and have caught a nasty dose of Craig H Syndrome, reading something and deciding it says something else.

In fairness to us, we made their goalie work far harder than Reina and, although we played badly we were hardly "torn apart". Shambolic defending led to the first, poor marking from a corner led to the second and a soft penalty led to the third. It was actually City who were shooting from a distance.

"Torn apart" to me suggests a team on the rack for 90 minutes, penned in their own penalty area and losing by four or five goals from open play and only an amazing goalkeeping display preventing more goals. Last night was none of those.

A functional, workmanlike City packed the midfield, pressed when they lost possession and had good outlets in wide areas to stretch our defenders. Although they won by three thanks to the two set-plays they were remarkably unsuccessful in creating chances in open play, considering their possession

None of this means that I have said that we were the better team