Manchester City (a)

[rudedog]

If they play like they did today they will - they were superb but we managed to come back. It’s the cliche of one game at a time point of the season - I hope to **** they get knocked out of the CL

Other teams won't play open as we do though, they have struggled against a few bus parking teams this year.

[Fosterbloke]

The title is still on until it's not.

[Sus]

Exactly

[Mr Pink]

The title is still on until it's not.

I was down in the dumps all day after the result… feeling that that’s the title gone, and it well may be, but it’s not over yet…

Looking at city’s results- they went on an incredible 12 game winning streak, fair play.. but apart from that run, the longest run of league wins they’ve had all season, was 3 games. They may go and win the 7 games left, but who knows, they might just slip up! It’s a big task for us to win all our games too, but if we do, we probably still have a decent chance.

[Fosterbloke]

I was down in the dumps all day after the result… feeling that that’s the title gone, and it well may be, but it’s not over yet…

Looking at city’s results- they went on an incredible 12 game winning streak, fair play.. but apart from that run, the longest run of league wins they’ve had all season, was 3 games. They may go and win the 7 games left, but who knows, they might just slip up! It’s a big task for us to win all our games too, but if we do, we probably still have a decent chance.

I can be defeatist and throw in the towel to protect myself from further disappointment but really that's the thrill of supporting any club or player in sport.

How many times have we been tempted to throw in the towel only to score an unlikely last minute winner? The elation is unrivalled and if City slip up over the next 7 games and we don't, well how ****ing amazing would that feel?

So I'm gambling everything on red and hoping for a big payout!

[SB]

It’s a missed opportunity for sure but a deflected goal to start the scoring off & us coming back from a goal down twice shows we are up for the fight at least. It’s still in their hands unfortunately but here’s hoping.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Is a worse result for City in that they will feel they should be four points clear today and not just ahead by a single point.

We had a bit of an off day whereas they played well as a unit and we still managed to draw level twice and take a point .


Not too bothered with the whether or not we have a tough run in or if they have an easier one.

We both have the play all the same teams twice and we were not making anything out of us having supposedly easier runs on paper mid season when they had tougher runs, again on paper.


The pressure is still on them, as it is their's to lose now. We are a really really good team when we have something to chase and hunt down. We were 14 points behind them as recently as January and now we are only one point behind with both tems having 21 points up for grabs.

Not many teams of the remaining seven will have the ability to work us over as hard as City did yesterday.

As for the game itself yesterday. It is easy to be an expert in hindsight but my tuppence worth is that we lost it in the press and turnover in the middle. Henderson was not suited to yesterday's game for whatever reason (and that is not a critique of him overall, just for yesterday's game) and I think we would have done better to have stated Keita in his stead.

Think Fabinho got overworked at times and that there was too much space on the rcm of our midield ahead of him and City noticed that and when they attacked they often had Cancelo tucking in from his LB slot to become almost a LCM and then they had KDB dropping back and becoming almost a LAM at times so they were able to create an overload in and around our RCM area. Henderson often got bypassed or he had wondered out of position a bit which then gave Fabinho two players to watch instead of one and all City had to do was make two runs, Fab goes to cover one then he has to try and run after the second player when City went with the other runner instead. They did it a lot and quite often it lead to Fabinho havong to chase shadows.

Think if we had a second player adept at playing against a press, a press proof player as they often get called, that it would have blunted their central press as Keita is excellent against a press and Thiago is as well. However starting against a pressing machine like City with a single "press proof" CM was a risk.

Maybe if Henderson was a bit younger with the ablity to turn a bit quicker or whatever it might have been different. but like I said it is easy to be an expert after the event.

But hat's off to City for the tactics they used. It worked quite well and the same tactic done by a lesser team working less hard than City did yesterday would have seen that team leaving space for us to exploit so hopefully a few of the seven remaing teams we have to face try to copy that tactic with inferior players.

[rudedog]

Watching the game back, for City’s big chances they were allowed way too much time to pick those through balls that caused us the problems.

Hopefully Klopp sorts this out before the cup game.

[Corndog]

Watching the game back, for City’s big chances they were allowed way too much time to pick those through balls that caused us the problems.

Hopefully Klopp sorts this out before the cup game.

There was just too much pressure on the team at times in the defensive third.

That pressure can only be relieved by holding onto the ball better.

City were fast to close down, a level that no other team is at, but still there were times when the ball out of the back was rushed too quickly.

[Irishnev]

Is a worse result for City in that they will feel they should be four points clear today and not just ahead by a single point.

We had a bit of an off day whereas they played well as a unit and we still managed to draw level twice and take a point .


Not too bothered with the whether or not we have a tough run in or if they have an easier one.

We both have the play all the same teams twice and we were not making anything out of us having supposedly easier runs on paper mid season when they had tougher runs, again on paper.


The pressure is still on them, as it is their's to lose now. We are a really really good team when we have something to chase and hunt down. We were 14 points behind them as recently as January and now we are only one point behind with both tems having 21 points up for grabs.

Not many teams of the remaining seven will have the ability to work us over as hard as City did yesterday.

As for the game itself yesterday. It is easy to be an expert in hindsight but my tuppence worth is that we lost it in the press and turnover in the middle. Henderson was not suited to yesterday's game for whatever reason (and that is not a critique of him overall, just for yesterday's game) and I think we would have done better to have stated Keita in his stead.

Think Fabinho got overworked at times and that there was too much space on the rcm of our midield ahead of him and City noticed that and when they attacked they often had Cancelo tucking in from his LB slot to become almost a LCM and then they had KDB dropping back and becoming almost a LAM at times so they were able to create an overload in and around our RCM area. Henderson often got bypassed or he had wondered out of position a bit which then gave Fabinho two players to watch instead of one and all City had to do was make two runs, Fab goes to cover one then he has to try and run after the second player when City went with the other runner instead. They did it a lot and quite often it lead to Fabinho havong to chase shadows.

Think if we had a second player adept at playing against a press, a press proof player as they often get called, that it would have blunted their central press as Keita is excellent against a press and Thiago is as well. However starting against a pressing machine like City with a single "press proof" CM was a risk.

Maybe if Henderson was a bit younger with the ablity to turn a bit quicker or whatever it might have been different. but like I said it is easy to be an expert after the event.

But hat's off to City for the tactics they used. It worked quite well and the same tactic done by a lesser team working less hard than City did yesterday would have seen that team leaving space for us to exploit so hopefully a few of the seven remaing teams we have to face try to copy that tactic with inferior players.

Good post - happy we got out with the draw but our right side was where they were always going to target. Hendo found it tough going and I saw Mo doubling up to help Trent more than him. Hendo was flying around st the start chasing their CBs which I assume was planned but Klopp noticeably pulled him aside once to give him instructions

It wasn’t just him - a lot of the team struggled with them, they are bloody good. Klopp gave a great analogy post game about the boxer - the second you drop your arms you get punched in the nose. Bernardo and KDB are brilliant at picking holes - Cancelo is the same

We dust ourselves off and go again

[Doc_Piptorious]

Good post - happy we got out with the draw but our right side was where they were always going to target. Hendo found it tough going and I saw Mo doubling up to help Trent more than him. Hendo was flying around st the start chasing their CBs which I assume was planned but Klopp noticeably pulled him aside once to give him instructions

It wasn’t just him - a lot of the team struggled with them, they are bloody good. Klopp gave a great analogy post game about the boxer - the second you drop your arms you get punched in the nose. Bernardo and KDB are brilliant at picking holes - Cancelo is the same

We dust ourselves off and go again

And if I can see that and you can see that, then it most be something really really obvious to someone that actually knows the game like Klopp.

I just think that Henderson for this game was a gamble that did not pay off. Keita for breaking the press and getting between the lines would have been the smarter play imo but again it is easy to say in hindsight.

They did to us through the RCM part of our team what I hoped we would do to them had we started Keita.

Tactically Pepe got it spot on, and more so thanks to our starting midfield. Cancelo might play the quarterback FB role very differently to TAA but he is no less effective at coming in pitch to take up a LCM role to play ake from than Trent is at going into advanced wide attacking positions and picking passes.

Henderson's lack of covering allowed Cancelo to squeeze in and every time he did, then KDB (or sometimes Foden) would move into our RCM slot at the same time. They then had an overload situation against us in the middle (4 vs 2) despite them starting the game in a 4-2-4.

It also meant that when Cancelo push in they could press high with a 3-3-4 and sometimes that even became a 3-2-1-4/3-2-5 and they swamped us centrally.

At times they are like watching us or Chelsea to at times.

Three teams that have coaches that have a similar endgame in mind, to utterly overwhelm/swamp the other team in the other team's final third, but prioritising different positions within their own teans as the pistions that trigger a press/swamp type move. And even when those three manager use a similar position as an important cog in their press/attack they use that chess piece differently.

Take the "main" attacking full back with all three teams. TAA, Cancelo and James. All three are a big part of allowing their team to attack from a very deep position but none of the three are used in the same manner.

James is probably the most directly used one and is used like a deep lying winger at times more than as a playmaker.

TAA is basically used as a high level playmaker coming from a full back position. KDB at full back is you will.

Cancelo is almost the most interesting one of the three to watch. He is a left back that comes into the midfield and plays as an offensive creative midfielder. He almost plays like Keita at times when he comes inside as he can pick a pass or he can just go at players as he has the ability to dribble past one or two in the centre of the pitch and just take midfielders out of the game allowing his midfield and forward teammates the luxury of being able to either roam in the free space or to double up on our defenders to draw them out of holding a line.

[BigChief]

Woke up this morning and still can't believe we came away with a point. Of all their chances what was Mahrez thinking at the end? When he missed something crackled in the air.

Don't want to jinx it but so much luck is going our way, there must be a reason to it.

[Mark79]

I didn’t notice this. (It wasn’t given as a corner, was it?)

It we do yet pull off the title, what a moment this becomes.

[ame]https://twitter.com/tactical_times/status/1513460947637227522[/ame]

[Irishnev]

And if I can see that and you can see that, then it most be something really really obvious to someone that actually knows the game like Klopp.

I just think that Henderson for this game was a gamble that did not pay off. Keita for breaking the press and getting between the lines would have been the smarter play imo but again it is easy to say in hindsight.

They did to us through the RCM part of our team what I hoped we would do to them had we started Keita.

Tactically Pepe got it spot on, and more so thanks to our starting midfield. Cancelo might play the quarterback FB role very differently to TAA but he is no less effective at coming in pitch to take up a LCM role to play ake from than Trent is at going into advanced wide attacking positions and picking passes.

Henderson's lack of covering allowed Cancelo to squeeze in and every time he did, then KDB (or sometimes Foden) would move into our RCM slot at the same time. They then had an overload situation against us in the middle (4 vs 2) despite them starting the game in a 4-2-4.

It also meant that when Cancelo push in they could press high with a 3-3-4 and sometimes that even became a 3-2-1-4/3-2-5 and they swamped us centrally.

At times they are like watching us or Chelsea to at times.

Three teams that have coaches that have a similar endgame in mind, to utterly overwhelm/swamp the other team in the other team's final third, but prioritising different positions within their own teans as the pistions that trigger a press/swamp type move. And even when those three manager use a similar position as an important cog in their press/attack they use that chess piece differently.

Take the "main" attacking full back with all three teams. TAA, Cancelo and James. All three are a big part of allowing their team to attack from a very deep position but none of the three are used in the same manner.

James is probably the most directly used one and is used like a deep lying winger at times more than as a playmaker.

TAA is basically used as a high level playmaker coming from a full back position. KDB at full back is you will.

Cancelo is almost the most interesting one of the three to watch. He is a left back that comes into the midfield and plays as an offensive creative midfielder. He almost plays like Keita at times when he comes inside as he can pick a pass or he can just go at players as he has the ability to dribble past one or two in the centre of the pitch and just take midfielders out of the game allowing his midfield and forward teammates the luxury of being able to either roam in the free space or to double up on our defenders to draw them out of holding a line.

Jaco Linders - some analysis there, spot on

[Buzzo]

Good post - happy we got out with the draw but our right side was where they were always going to target. Hendo found it tough going and I saw Mo doubling up to help Trent more than him. Hendo was flying around st the start chasing their CBs which I assume was planned but Klopp noticeably pulled him aside once to give him instructions

It wasn’t just him - a lot of the team struggled with them, they are bloody good. Klopp gave a great analogy post game about the boxer - the second you drop your arms you get punched in the nose. Bernardo and KDB are brilliant at picking holes - Cancelo is the same

We dust ourselves off and go again

sone good posts analysing the game on here, I find it hard to disagree with anything posted.

On Salah. I've never seen Salah work as hard in defence as he did yesterday. It wasnt a typical Salah performance. hard working. Sublime assist. And set up Jota who should have scored at 2-2 (a pivotal moment in the match for us). Jota is so good at scoring goals, positionally incredible, if only he had Firminos touch....