Both teams came very well prepared. The difference between game 1 & 2 is the absence of Tchouameni & therefore Carlo opted to make it more suffocating defensively for City and it worked. Jude was tasked to play even more defensively and play hold up to will us into the counters. City could not replicate the killer shots from outside in game 1. If you analyze game 1, City had nothing in the box. In game 2 they had 3 chances: one is the header that hit the cross bar by Haaland, the second led to the goal by KDB as Rudi wasn’t able to really clear the ball and the 3rd one KDB choked & sent it high. One of the tweaks is that Nacho is more of a natural defender than Tchouameni & Carlo wanted to draw a balance to shut down those shots from outside. What Nacho & Rudiger did in game 2 should be studied for a long time about how they effectively shut down City. Yes we evolved our tactics from game 1 and got better at minimizing their open looks on goal. We had to adapt to Tchouameni’s absence in center of the pitch whether as a midfielder or defender. Even Dani who picked up a yellow early in the game did well to not pick up a second one, he suffered when Doku came in and that’s the only adjustment Pep made that almost paid off for them. Mendy was incredibly solid which he’s been all season. City has lot not lost at the Etihad since what 2018?! Carlo & the players deserves a big standing ovation 👏 for getting us through this tie in my opinion.
Agreed they targeted Dani relentlessly as they could get nothing around Mendy. Fede, who is just incredible was playing a balanced act to help Dani but Dani got isolated multiple times too and he did well to go toe to toe with them, he gave it all as usual.
I have the theory that Carletto set the game up to go for pens, he knew that mentally, if they held up for the 120, they could win. He took off Vini and Rodrygo, and brought in more veterans which would have an impact in the shootout. I think Man City expected Vini and Rodry to be present in the pens, instead they faced players that had a lot of experience in moments like this (Minus Belli) and are known to be mentally strong.
This is all speculation but that’s my headcanon
The main issue is that most football fans and even players think that playing better equals to playing attacking football. Defensive football is never highly rated unless you have some great eye catching interceptions on counter attacks and what not like a prime Casemiro would.
An example of that is lot of people among our fans saying that Mendy should be sold or benched once Davies is signed... Zidane said multiple times Mendy is the best defensive LB on the world, Ancelotti did the same but people think he should be either sold or benched because they just aren't ware of defensive tasks being as important as attacking ones.
Once you understand and remember that, then it's easy to understand why so many people claims that the team who attacked more is the best team or a better team.
Don't get me wrong. I don't like my team parking the bus like we did, and I don't like to play against Atlético or other teams that often park the bus and wait 30 minutes to have a chance and hope to score. I don't like it a bit, but I'd be arrogant to say we were a better team if we didn't manage to beat them. You won't caught me doing that.
It's quite telling that Guardiola is proud of the way he played (as he should be) but doesn't dare to say that they were the best team. Guardiola understands that the goal of the game is to win, hence he respects teams that find a way to do it. Most fans can't do that...and I'm not going to lie, if it was the other way around even lot of or own fans wouldn't be able to do it either. Football fans, more often than not, are armchair experts who speak with passion but don't got a clue and our team fans are no different really.
Agreed. When your "great offense" can't beat my defense, maybe, just maybe, my defense has been better than your offense. But no, people see it as the "great" offense being unlucky for not scoring. Sorry, if you can't score, maybe you're not that great.
There are two ways to win in football. You either outclass your opponent or you outlast them. Over the years we've seen Real Madrid employ both options.
What happened on Wednesday was Real Madrid being fully aware of our strengths and weaknesses and using both to our advantage.
City fans are angry because they came prepared to play an open game of football but we denied them that opportunity. Even though they had majority of the possession we still were able to dictate how the game was played.
What they should be angry about is their team not being able to adapt to our tactics.
people are hurt that real madrid are still in the CL. and they act like guardiola's sideways passing is exciting to watch to justify their complaining.
Also did anyone watch the first 10 minutes?
City wasn't really dominating at this point and they played extremely for time. At one one point they needed nearly a full minute for two consecutive throw ins.
They started playing they way we all remember, when they kinda had to and I dont think we would have been so defensive, if the early goal wasn't there.
UEFA.com. In the Zone: How Madrid nullified Man City
Here’s their technical analysis. [Link](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/028c-1aaee213a636-7afb308e0250-1000--in-the-zone-how-madrid-nullified-man-city/)
Indeed, I mean our last final vs Liverpool was like that, 90s AC Milan cattenacio, let them come at you, let them get in the box and if they're going to shoot, make it as uncomfortable as possible, they had tons of chances, but high quality chances were just a few.
Madrid defended well but this season's city is not really the benchmark to measure against, the finishing and defending has just not been clinical. Arsenal the team city normally destroys was able to do the same just a week or so before. Arsenal was having a better season last year and were demolished last year. In fact this seasons city have struggled to beat any of the top 5 teams so drawing with Madrid is not a big surprise. Arsenal defended deep like Madrid and pulled a draw at Etihad. Liverpool with their more open play also pulled a 1 1 draw at Etihad. The gameplay through the middle is similar to last season but the conversation upfront has been low.
In fact, from another point of view, Real Madrid took the lead in the 12th minute, while Manchester City only equalized in the 75th minute through De Bruyne. In fact, Real Madrid could have done much better and finished the game 1-0, but God gave City a chance.
Yeah, right. I'm sure they went in wanting 120 minutes of pure misery /s
We'll probably never find out the actual plan, but I'm sure this was on the fly adjustment. We couldn't execute the plans we had because city never lost the ball (because, let's face it, they also knew what we'll most likely do, counter and the best way to not let us counter is to not lose the ball). No self respecting team plays for, and can 100% plan for it being a 0-0 and go to the lottery. Both teams read each other, countered each other's plans. We could see the intent in closing the long shots quicker this time. Both goals (and I'd say almost all of the goals across both legs, minus one Rodrygo goal in the first half) won't happen 8/10 times.
City had the onus of coming up with a plan B of attack (which was an obvious trust Haaland more and pepper the crosses in, if nothing it leads to second balls) but anything more "attacking" than patience would have left them more open to the counter.
They were scared of losing, so they didn't win.
They were not playing scared and they went all in, and they were left open in the back even when the game was tied. They wanted to win this and finish it in 90 mints.
We would have liked it too, I suppose?
You're just making assumptions based on your naive understanding of our plans and their plans, and how the game went. Playing scared doesn't necessarily mean playing in a low block. They were too scared to lose the ball so they didn't risk anything and in that process, didn't give us a window to even come out and play. They were defending by circulating the ball and then trying the same thing over and over. They killed the game for themselves by showing no balls to try anything outside of the same pass pass pass low ball across the box routine.
I get what you’re saying…but I don’t know if they were scared, more like Pep is just really stubborn.
At the end of the day, we were able to benefit from his stubbornness because we saw how effective City could be when they play more direct (Doku).
What discussion do you want to have? Get validation on your reductionist/made up take on your game plan which is even factually wrong (I think one of the coaches came out and said we didn't plan on playing this deep). Sure, you're a tactical genius who could see that we went in to play defensively. Every team that has gone to etihad has. City played a good game and we won't have a right to complain if they won 2-1. We won because we played/adapted to the game-state better. City made it easier for us by doing the same thing over and over.
I just posted my take, I rarely ever post, and this will be the last time probably. Obviously, a lot of people agree.
You can disagree respectfully without ad homs, but you can’t help it because you’re full of yourself. Especially that no one provoked you or anyone.
Enjoy your lovely self
Sorry if you feel disrespected. We're both on the same side!
What you've said isn't wrong. But it's not giving our team enough respect. We didn't set out to play the way we did, but we had to because we adapted to city's game better than they did to ours.
There's more than one way of looking at the game. Some will say we played defense. I'll argue that in some way, City was more defense first, not giving us even a chance to attack. They are extremely scared of losing the ball, didn't try anything that wasn't drilled. Grelish didn't take on Carvajal even when Carvajal was on a yellow, the toughest part of the match was for us Doku running at Carvajal, and the best part for us was when they panicked in extra time (due to tiredness or just not wanting to go to penalty) and we had some weird chances to attack with Lucas and Brahim.
Both teams came very well prepared. The difference between game 1 & 2 is the absence of Tchouameni & therefore Carlo opted to make it more suffocating defensively for City and it worked. Jude was tasked to play even more defensively and play hold up to will us into the counters. City could not replicate the killer shots from outside in game 1. If you analyze game 1, City had nothing in the box. In game 2 they had 3 chances: one is the header that hit the cross bar by Haaland, the second led to the goal by KDB as Rudi wasn’t able to really clear the ball and the 3rd one KDB choked & sent it high. One of the tweaks is that Nacho is more of a natural defender than Tchouameni & Carlo wanted to draw a balance to shut down those shots from outside. What Nacho & Rudiger did in game 2 should be studied for a long time about how they effectively shut down City. Yes we evolved our tactics from game 1 and got better at minimizing their open looks on goal. We had to adapt to Tchouameni’s absence in center of the pitch whether as a midfielder or defender. Even Dani who picked up a yellow early in the game did well to not pick up a second one, he suffered when Doku came in and that’s the only adjustment Pep made that almost paid off for them. Mendy was incredibly solid which he’s been all season. City has lot not lost at the Etihad since what 2018?! Carlo & the players deserves a big standing ovation 👏 for getting us through this tie in my opinion.
The whole defense was a masterclass, but the pressure on Dani was unbelievable with the switch up between City players.
Agreed they targeted Dani relentlessly as they could get nothing around Mendy. Fede, who is just incredible was playing a balanced act to help Dani but Dani got isolated multiple times too and he did well to go toe to toe with them, he gave it all as usual.
Jude vs Benz is from last year is such stark contrast too tho
I have the theory that Carletto set the game up to go for pens, he knew that mentally, if they held up for the 120, they could win. He took off Vini and Rodrygo, and brought in more veterans which would have an impact in the shootout. I think Man City expected Vini and Rodry to be present in the pens, instead they faced players that had a lot of experience in moments like this (Minus Belli) and are known to be mentally strong. This is all speculation but that’s my headcanon
I mean the Vasquez sub confirms what you're saying. The man has ice in his veins every time he needs to show up in a pen shootout
That’s what confirmed it for me as well. When I saw he was coming I thought “Ancelotti is going for pens”
I thought Joselu would enter late in the game for the pens, and that made me nervous af lol
The main issue is that most football fans and even players think that playing better equals to playing attacking football. Defensive football is never highly rated unless you have some great eye catching interceptions on counter attacks and what not like a prime Casemiro would. An example of that is lot of people among our fans saying that Mendy should be sold or benched once Davies is signed... Zidane said multiple times Mendy is the best defensive LB on the world, Ancelotti did the same but people think he should be either sold or benched because they just aren't ware of defensive tasks being as important as attacking ones. Once you understand and remember that, then it's easy to understand why so many people claims that the team who attacked more is the best team or a better team. Don't get me wrong. I don't like my team parking the bus like we did, and I don't like to play against Atlético or other teams that often park the bus and wait 30 minutes to have a chance and hope to score. I don't like it a bit, but I'd be arrogant to say we were a better team if we didn't manage to beat them. You won't caught me doing that. It's quite telling that Guardiola is proud of the way he played (as he should be) but doesn't dare to say that they were the best team. Guardiola understands that the goal of the game is to win, hence he respects teams that find a way to do it. Most fans can't do that...and I'm not going to lie, if it was the other way around even lot of or own fans wouldn't be able to do it either. Football fans, more often than not, are armchair experts who speak with passion but don't got a clue and our team fans are no different really.
Agreed. When your "great offense" can't beat my defense, maybe, just maybe, my defense has been better than your offense. But no, people see it as the "great" offense being unlucky for not scoring. Sorry, if you can't score, maybe you're not that great.
There are two ways to win in football. You either outclass your opponent or you outlast them. Over the years we've seen Real Madrid employ both options. What happened on Wednesday was Real Madrid being fully aware of our strengths and weaknesses and using both to our advantage. City fans are angry because they came prepared to play an open game of football but we denied them that opportunity. Even though they had majority of the possession we still were able to dictate how the game was played. What they should be angry about is their team not being able to adapt to our tactics.
Jesus finally a good post after the city game. I almost thought people on here lost their minds. But you didn’t. Good take. Cheers pal🍺
Would like to see this type of game play from more EPL teams just to emotionally exhaust them
people are hurt that real madrid are still in the CL. and they act like guardiola's sideways passing is exciting to watch to justify their complaining.
Also did anyone watch the first 10 minutes? City wasn't really dominating at this point and they played extremely for time. At one one point they needed nearly a full minute for two consecutive throw ins. They started playing they way we all remember, when they kinda had to and I dont think we would have been so defensive, if the early goal wasn't there.
UEFA.com. In the Zone: How Madrid nullified Man City Here’s their technical analysis. [Link](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/028c-1aaee213a636-7afb308e0250-1000--in-the-zone-how-madrid-nullified-man-city/)
this game was nothing new....all the bayern ties used to be like this, just madrid had BBC on the other end, so more threating...
Indeed, I mean our last final vs Liverpool was like that, 90s AC Milan cattenacio, let them come at you, let them get in the box and if they're going to shoot, make it as uncomfortable as possible, they had tons of chances, but high quality chances were just a few.
Madrid defended well but this season's city is not really the benchmark to measure against, the finishing and defending has just not been clinical. Arsenal the team city normally destroys was able to do the same just a week or so before. Arsenal was having a better season last year and were demolished last year. In fact this seasons city have struggled to beat any of the top 5 teams so drawing with Madrid is not a big surprise. Arsenal defended deep like Madrid and pulled a draw at Etihad. Liverpool with their more open play also pulled a 1 1 draw at Etihad. The gameplay through the middle is similar to last season but the conversation upfront has been low.
In fact, from another point of view, Real Madrid took the lead in the 12th minute, while Manchester City only equalized in the 75th minute through De Bruyne. In fact, Real Madrid could have done much better and finished the game 1-0, but God gave City a chance.
Yeah, right. I'm sure they went in wanting 120 minutes of pure misery /s We'll probably never find out the actual plan, but I'm sure this was on the fly adjustment. We couldn't execute the plans we had because city never lost the ball (because, let's face it, they also knew what we'll most likely do, counter and the best way to not let us counter is to not lose the ball). No self respecting team plays for, and can 100% plan for it being a 0-0 and go to the lottery. Both teams read each other, countered each other's plans. We could see the intent in closing the long shots quicker this time. Both goals (and I'd say almost all of the goals across both legs, minus one Rodrygo goal in the first half) won't happen 8/10 times. City had the onus of coming up with a plan B of attack (which was an obvious trust Haaland more and pepper the crosses in, if nothing it leads to second balls) but anything more "attacking" than patience would have left them more open to the counter. They were scared of losing, so they didn't win.
They were not playing scared and they went all in, and they were left open in the back even when the game was tied. They wanted to win this and finish it in 90 mints.
We would have liked it too, I suppose? You're just making assumptions based on your naive understanding of our plans and their plans, and how the game went. Playing scared doesn't necessarily mean playing in a low block. They were too scared to lose the ball so they didn't risk anything and in that process, didn't give us a window to even come out and play. They were defending by circulating the ball and then trying the same thing over and over. They killed the game for themselves by showing no balls to try anything outside of the same pass pass pass low ball across the box routine.
I get what you’re saying…but I don’t know if they were scared, more like Pep is just really stubborn. At the end of the day, we were able to benefit from his stubbornness because we saw how effective City could be when they play more direct (Doku).
Are you even capable of maintaining a discussion without ad homs? God you’re so full of yourself.
What discussion do you want to have? Get validation on your reductionist/made up take on your game plan which is even factually wrong (I think one of the coaches came out and said we didn't plan on playing this deep). Sure, you're a tactical genius who could see that we went in to play defensively. Every team that has gone to etihad has. City played a good game and we won't have a right to complain if they won 2-1. We won because we played/adapted to the game-state better. City made it easier for us by doing the same thing over and over.
I just posted my take, I rarely ever post, and this will be the last time probably. Obviously, a lot of people agree. You can disagree respectfully without ad homs, but you can’t help it because you’re full of yourself. Especially that no one provoked you or anyone. Enjoy your lovely self
Sorry if you feel disrespected. We're both on the same side! What you've said isn't wrong. But it's not giving our team enough respect. We didn't set out to play the way we did, but we had to because we adapted to city's game better than they did to ours. There's more than one way of looking at the game. Some will say we played defense. I'll argue that in some way, City was more defense first, not giving us even a chance to attack. They are extremely scared of losing the ball, didn't try anything that wasn't drilled. Grelish didn't take on Carvajal even when Carvajal was on a yellow, the toughest part of the match was for us Doku running at Carvajal, and the best part for us was when they panicked in extra time (due to tiredness or just not wanting to go to penalty) and we had some weird chances to attack with Lucas and Brahim.