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Man City V Barca


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Lee Dixons normally a decent pundit but he seemed to go back to the 80s tonight in first half....City have to send it over the top, City have to get it down the wings and chuck it in the box....I am sure they might have if they could have got hold of the ball. For a 10 min spell from about 20-30 mins I think City has the ball for about 60 secs. Going in with 2 men in centre mid v Barca was tactical suicide from Pellegrini.

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Greatest league in the world ma erchie...

Greatest league in the world apparently!

More like greatest hyped overpaid league in the world!

Have City bet against themselves as they are totally out classed! However, the pace, tempo & closing down by Barca is superb!

To be fair, at least England has a team in the quarter finals

And, as they say, it is only half-time

Mind you, ManCity@Qatar.com looked like bunny rabbits in the headlights in the first half... maybe they were too busy rubbing themselves against a photo of Messi to forget that they were the home team.

Barca pressed and played the Mancunian wannabe's off the park

Is Messi the new Maradona?

(I really should be a sports journo, I have my file of cliches)

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Messi looked almost at his best tonight was great especially first half. Shame he didnt score the penalty but hes only human. Some of the passing etc from barca was great. The touch Neymar took on the edge of the box to go by the defender was brilliant. I can see barca scoring a few in the return leg, city might get one if they are lucky.

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To be fair, at least England has a team in the quarter finals

And, as they say, it is only half-time

Mind you, ManCity@Qatar.com looked like bunny rabbits in the headlights in the first half... maybe they were too busy rubbing themselves against a photo of Messi to forget that they were the home team.

Barca pressed and played the Mancunian wannabe's off the park

Is Messi the new Maradona?

(I really should be a sports journo, I have my file of cliches)

Lets rephrase that - "The English premier league has a team in the quarter finals" !!!!!!

The 3 teams together cannot muster half a team of English players, then take the fact they are managed by a frenchman, a chilean and a whinging portugese guy and that they are all owned by foreign people or companies - English teams my arse !!!

Heres hoping for another Messi hatrick in the return leg :ok:

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Greatest league in the world ma erchie...

Greatest no, richest possibly but still considerably better than the SPL ;-)

I'd still take the EPL over a two horse race like la liga any day of the week and whilst i think the bundeliga has it as number 1, that particular league is rapidly turning into a one horse race.

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Going in with 2 men in centre mid v Barca was tactical suicide from Pellegrini.

Correct.

I can only assume that he thought by playing Nasri and Silva "wide", that they would tuck in and offer another 2 bodies in there. Although, anyone who's ever seen Nasri and Silva play would've been able to tell him that chasing, harrying and winning the ball back is attributes these guys don't possess.

From their line-up, I assume City thought they were good enough to dominate the ball and control the game. That was never going to be the case though. Teams who've done well against Barca this year are ones who've sat in and hit Barca on the break.

With Nasri, Aguero, Navas and Silva (to a lesser extent), City have the perfect front 4 players to break quickly. I'm bemused as to why they set up the way they did.

Also good to see the myth of Kompany further exposed. Two seasons in a row that home defeats to Barca have been his fault. Last night it was impossible to blame Demichiles though, so Kompany being a liability was attributed to "luck" for Barca :lol:

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I'd still take the EPL over a two horse race like la liga any day of the week and whilst i think the bundeliga has it as number 1, that particular league is rapidly turning into a one horse race.

I don't think its a contest, well maybe for some but it shouldnt be. Being english it's only natural you'll prefer the EPL. Sevilla v Celta for example isn't going to excite most fans out with Spain, much like Stoke v Newcastle for people outside England.

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Remind me.... who are current La Liga champions?

Is it Barca or Real Madrid??

Beat me to it!

:lol:

I can't see anyone bar Chelsea or Man City winning the EPL for the foreseeable future.

In fact celtic, Aberdeen and ICT are closer than chelsea, Man City and arsenal.

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Correct.

I can only assume that he thought by playing Nasri and Silva "wide", that they would tuck in and offer another 2 bodies in there. Although, anyone who's ever seen Nasri and Silva play would've been able to tell him that chasing, harrying and winning the ball back is attributes these guys don't possess.

From their line-up, I assume City thought they were good enough to dominate the ball and control the game. That was never going to be the case though. Teams who've done well against Barca this year are ones who've sat in and hit Barca on the break.

With Nasri, Aguero, Navas and Silva (to a lesser extent), City have the perfect front 4 players to break quickly. I'm bemused as to why they set up the way they did.

Also good to see the myth of Kompany further exposed. Two seasons in a row that home defeats to Barca have been his fault. Last night it was impossible to blame Demichiles though, so Kompany being a liability was attributed to "luck" for Barca :lol:

As you said, they have some great ball players, with pace, in their squad so surely being able to break on Barca would have been a better way to set up last night. And if they wanted a bit physicality up front then Bony would probably have been the better option over Dzeko. Dzeko may have a height advantage over the majority of Barca but Pique and Busquets would and did take care of him without much issue. Besides the rest of their side had as much a look of the Time Bandits about it as Barca traditionally look.

Also, for all their millions spent, if they best they can come up with to play Barca in midfield when Toure is out are James Milner, a decent but average BPL player, and Fernando, another quite limited player, then someone has spent money poorly somewhere along the line.

Iniesta, Rakitic and Busquets just passed round those two easily. And as you said, no real back up to them from Silva and Nasri. Milner would have been better used in the wide role he normally plays, he would have chased back more, he would have provided more support to the centre mid if he was in his normal position but seeing him playing chase ball against 3 of the best possession players in European football, I almost felt sorry for him!

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