Hero-of-Time Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 Liverpool match was boring as hell but the Manchester derby has proved entertaining. City really should have wrapped things up in the first half but Utd came out swinging in the second half. Gonna be interesting to see how it finishes....
Hero-of-Time Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 3 minutes ago, Emerald Emblem said: From 2-0 down United are 3-2 up. It's crazy! I honestly think City switched off after half time due to how they dominated in the first. They now look completely shell shocked.
Happenstance Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 (edited) That was a bad call from the ref. Definite penalty. Edited April 7, 2018 by Happenstance
Hero-of-Time Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 That's a blatant pen and card! Shocking decision.
Julius Posted April 7, 2018 Posted April 7, 2018 11 minutes ago, Emerald Emblem said: From 2-0 down United are 3-2 up. Guardiola really should have kept quiet about being approached by Raiola for Pogba...
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 8, 2018 Author Posted April 8, 2018 What the fuuuuuuuuuck?! We just spent 10 days in Italy and @Eenuh booked this trip a while back. I basically let her book everything because she's better at that sort of organisation than I am and I didn't twig that we would be coming back on the same day as the Manchester Derby. I only found out about 2 weeks ago. We visited Milan, Florence and Rome and what's also crazy is that we could have gone to the Milan derby had we just rejiggled our schedule slightly. Plenty of tickets available! I did a tour of the San Siro a few days before and it was awesome, but we were in Florence on the day of the derby. We were flying at the EXACT time that the match was on. It was insane. Our plane took off before kick off and would land in stoppage time, so I could find out the final score but would have no way of checking up on the game. In all honesty, I was expecting us to get pumped about 4-0, especially when it became apparent that this would be the game that would win City the title mathematically. I was sat next to a Pompey fan of the plane and we were talking about football the entire time. It was bluddy agony not being able to check the game. As soon as our plane hit the tarmac, I switched off airplane mode and checked up. Couldn't believe my fucking eyes. Then, I was just constantly refreshing live text from about the 85th minute onwards. Just caught up with the De Gea save and the Sterling miss. Couldn't believe it. @Eenuh also likes to be careful with planning and so we had a five hour or so wait before our National Express coach! So, I missed Match of the Day, as well. We were on the coach at the time of the programme, so I couldn't even check the highlights on that! I figured that I could watch the whole match in its entirety online somewhere, so I waited until this afternoon to do so. I watched the entire 90 minutes, including the pre-match stuff. I tried to play some kind of Jedi mind trick to erase all knowledge of the game. The first 15 or so minutes were ok. We weren't spectacular, but I thought we looked tight and didn't really do an awful lot wrong. From about the 20th minute onwards, we were poor. Awful after the first goal for the rest of the half and should have conceded about 4 more. Young, Bailly and Smalling were awful and I had basically sold Smalling at half time. So much space left for City to run into and we didn't look like we had a hope in hell. It looked like a very typical away performance from us against a top 4 side, which we've performed badly in all season. Only player who I thought played well in that half was Herrera. He was the only one pressing and trying to do something, Matic occasionally helped but nothing else aside from that. Couldn't believe the second half. Right from the whistle, we were on it. Sanchez grew into the game and was one of the best players on the pitch in the second half. Pogba finally looked like the player we thought we had bought and was playing much higher up in the pitch. A Roy Keane type of performance from him and Herrera. Amazing play for the first goal and you could see the nerves starting to creep into the City side. We had them by the balls. I've been wanting to see United perform like this all season and it finally seemed like the bigger players (Pogba and Sanchez) were comfortable wearing the shirt. Delighted with that second half performance and just an incredible result. I loved it in the second half when the City players started to lose their cool and the handbags started coming out. It was a real and proper derby game. De Gea's save in the second half was class! Sterling had enough chances to score about 6 goals himself, but he fluffed all of them. It just didn't happen for him today. Luck was on our side, especially with those penalty decisions. Young had a poor game and was our worst player by quite some distance. But, it's the overall team result and performance that matters, so I'm delighted. 1
Hero-of-Time Posted April 9, 2018 Posted April 9, 2018 This mornings paper talk has us down as targeting Fellaini. I hope this isn't true as i've always hated him. He's such a dirty player and I don't see how he would fit into our squad.
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 9, 2018 Author Posted April 9, 2018 2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: This mornings paper talk has us down as targeting Fellaini. I hope this isn't true as i've always hated him. He's such a dirty player and I don't see how he would fit into our squad. Honestly, Fellaini gets a bad deal and more often than not he's just clumsy. He's tall, with a strange frame and he doesn't always seem to have grace when he strides around on the pitch. In a similar way to Peter Crouch, who I guess also has a similar frame to him. This season, we've seen players like Kane and Alli put in bad tackles (the City game, where both should have been sent off) and do all sorts of nasty stuff, but they never get anywhere near as much bad press as Fellaini does because they're media darlings and England's golden boys. He does do some stupid stuff, but I wouldn't say it's just exclusive to him. I remember going to Old Trafford last season to watch our game against Chelsea. Herrera got all the plaudits after the game for man-marking Hazard for the entire 90 minutes, but Fellaini was one of the best players on the field that day. He arrived at Old Trafford to a lot of criticism, but he's won the fans around and has become a sort of cult hero at the club.
Hero-of-Time Posted April 9, 2018 Posted April 9, 2018 1 hour ago, Fierce_LiNk said: He arrived at Old Trafford to a lot of criticism, but he's won the fans around and has become a sort of cult hero at the club. You can keep him. 1
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 9, 2018 Author Posted April 9, 2018 6 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said: You can keep him. I hope he signs for you guys now, just so I can seem the meltdown. 1
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 10, 2018 Author Posted April 10, 2018 Predictions for tonight? Before the Manchester Derby, I would have said that I still think City were still in this tie. But, after seeing how easily they conceded in the second half at the Etihad, I can definitely see Liverpool scoring tonight. I think City will score 3 goals, but Liverpool will also score at least 1, too. So, final score...3-1 to City, but 4-3 to Liverpool on aggregate. I just don't see City stopping Liverpool from scoring tonight. I also think that they'll be a bit frail after the derby defeat and also because of the reverse fixture last week. In addition to all of that, I just don't feel that the Etihad has the same kind of atmosphere or ability to rise to the occasion to pull the players through like stadiums such as Anfield, Old Trafford or the Nou Camp. In those stadiums, the fans really act as an additional influence and drive the players on. We saw what happened last week at Anfield, even before the game. I think City will win the game, but lose the tie overall on aggregate. There will definitely be goals tonight and City have to play for a big win, so I'm expecting lots of attacking football from them.
nekunando Posted April 10, 2018 Posted April 10, 2018 4 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said: Predictions for tonight? Before the Manchester Derby, I would have said that I still think City were still in this tie. But, after seeing how easily they conceded in the second half at the Etihad, I can definitely see Liverpool scoring tonight. I think City will score 3 goals, but Liverpool will also score at least 1, too. So, final score...3-1 to City, but 4-3 to Liverpool on aggregate. I just don't see City stopping Liverpool from scoring tonight. I also think that they'll be a bit frail after the derby defeat and also because of the reverse fixture last week. In addition to all of that, I just don't feel that the Etihad has the same kind of atmosphere or ability to rise to the occasion to pull the players through like stadiums such as Anfield, Old Trafford or the Nou Camp. In those stadiums, the fans really act as an additional influence and drive the players on. We saw what happened last week at Anfield, even before the game. I think City will win the game, but lose the tie overall on aggregate. There will definitely be goals tonight and City have to play for a big win, so I'm expecting lots of attacking football from them. I think we'll concede a penalty and a red card inside 5 minutes, which we'll concede from, and end up trying desperately to hang on for the last 85 minutes. Salah will go off with his groin injury early also. I did think we'd LOSE 3-0 last week, though, so maybe I should have a little more faith!
Hero-of-Time Posted April 10, 2018 Posted April 10, 2018 I wouldn't be surprised if we bottle it. I won't be watching or checking any scores until it is over.
nekunando Posted April 10, 2018 Posted April 10, 2018 11 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: I wouldn't be surprised if we bottle it. I won't be watching or checking any scores until it is over. This is definitely a Liverpool fan mentality
Julius Posted April 10, 2018 Posted April 10, 2018 (edited) 4 hours ago, Fierce_LiNk said: Predictions for tonight? Before the Manchester Derby, I would have said that I still think City were still in this tie. But, after seeing how easily they conceded in the second half at the Etihad, I can definitely see Liverpool scoring tonight. I think City will score 3 goals, but Liverpool will also score at least 1, too. So, final score...3-1 to City, but 4-3 to Liverpool on aggregate. I just don't see City stopping Liverpool from scoring tonight. I also think that they'll be a bit frail after the derby defeat and also because of the reverse fixture last week. In addition to all of that, I just don't feel that the Etihad has the same kind of atmosphere or ability to rise to the occasion to pull the players through like stadiums such as Anfield, Old Trafford or the Nou Camp. In those stadiums, the fans really act as an additional influence and drive the players on. We saw what happened last week at Anfield, even before the game. I think City will win the game, but lose the tie overall on aggregate. There will definitely be goals tonight and City have to play for a big win, so I'm expecting lots of attacking football from them. I'm going to say 4-1 to City, with Liverpool going through on away goals. Like you, I don't see City shutting Liverpool out, but I also find it incredibly difficult to imagine City and Guardiola not reacting in a strong and positive way to losing twice in a row, and it looks like they're setting up a 3-4-3 variation (probably a 3-4-3 diamond) judging from the line-up. As a neutral for these games (and as someone who just loves Klopp's and Guardiola's tactical styles anyway), I have to admit that I want City to go through more than Liverpool, and that's nothing against Liverpool [as a Chelsea fan]. I just think Guardiola's City - having more or less won the league already - would be in a much better position to progress in the competition than Klopp's Liverpool would; Guardiola's tactical style is designed for wins into the later stages of knock-out competitions and is already a tried method against the top European teams over the Channel, whereas Klopp's tactical style (especially against the likes of Real, Barca and Bayern) is only there to be taken advantage of by such opposition. Not to mention that Liverpool are, by all means, still fighting for as high a position as possible in the league to qualify for the Champions League next season without the need to go through qualifying rounds. Edited April 10, 2018 by Julius Caesar
Happenstance Posted April 10, 2018 Posted April 10, 2018 26 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: I wouldn't be surprised if we bottle it. I won't be watching or checking any scores until it is over. Im right there with you
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 10, 2018 Author Posted April 10, 2018 28 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said: I wouldn't be surprised if we bottle it. I won't be watching or checking any scores until it is over. Watch the game, maaan. Even if you lose, it's still a hugely important game. It's a bit of history being made right now.
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 10, 2018 Author Posted April 10, 2018 I may be wrong, or the sound mixing on my stream might be off, but the atmosphere sounds incredible at the stadium. I may have to eat my words regarding what I said earlier.
Fierce_LiNk Posted April 10, 2018 Author Posted April 10, 2018 That City lineup tonight! I don't even know what formation that is! 3-2-4-1? I can't even tell where De Bruyne is playing. I don't think I've ever seen a more attacking lineup. It's like something you'd try in FIFA to take the piss.
Emerald Emblem Posted April 10, 2018 Posted April 10, 2018 (edited) Wow, offside flag saves Liverpool there. City also hit the post just before as well, the question is can City repeat this in the second half? Edited April 10, 2018 by Emerald Emblem
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