Hovagod Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 1 hour ago, BShearer said: i guess a long drawn out EL run and matches every Thursday would not help us much to fight for top4-top5 in PL while some rivals have none of those games like Spurs, United, Chelsea. also can give us multiple injuries and less time to relax. dont forget not having much of a fixture nightmare last season helped us a lot to finish 4th. on the other side a great EL would be fun, dont underestimate teams there, they often fight for their life, and Thursday-Sunday tempo is quite hard when you play late on Thursday then a big game on Sunday. but we could be favourites in most of those games unlike vs quality CL opponents in group of death. also EL trophy guarantees CL qualification albeit that is far from easy to clinch. I think teams that drop down from CL do have one extra round of EL games, like Barca failing in group stage last year had to play United while teams like Arsenal had a free round in EL and did not play only from next round. The way I see it City, Arsenal, Pool are more certain to get top3 places. Us and United, Chelsea, Spurs will fight it out for 4-5th places. 2 of these clubs will not be in CL. (5th only worth CL is English clubs do well this season on coefficient country list, top2 we England need to hit I think, usually thats doable eg if City goes very far in CL and Pool goes very far in EL while the rest also do decent...) I cannot see us getting much in Paris, we beat them fairly at home, but that looks like a one off, as the 3 three performances were not great. Albeit where I think we mostly played as an underdog was the Milan away one but got a good result. Can see Milan getting something vs Dortmund, so chances are we either need to beat Milan at home for 3rd or dont lose to them. having said that I hope before the game our lawyers grill them over the Tonali mess haha. You write well and I enjoy your posts but why do you always refer to Man Utd as ‘United’? It’s seriously annoying Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
timeEd32 Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 59 minutes ago, Dandy Man said: Thought Miggy moved more central for a bit? Things were fairly chaotic at that stage so hard to say really It was definitely hard to work out but it kind of seemed like Joelinton joined Gordon in a front two. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Izakaya Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 It is what it is. At least we aren't getting pumped 6-0 like Celtic. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Duper Branko Strupar Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Bit annoyed they've got 6 points off us, they haven't really looked all that in either game. Better than us on the day obviously. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanegg Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 31 minutes ago, timeEd32 said: It was definitely hard to work out but it kind of seemed like Joelinton joined Gordon in a front two. Think it was hard to work out for the players too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheInfiniteOdyssey Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Difficult match, but proud of the team’s resilient performance at this level, particularly considering all the injury issues we’re dealing with. Some excellent technical quality on show from us, passing and moving the ball in tight spaces, Livramento was brilliant. However, we’re missing a genuine goal-threat. Joelinton’s chance was a pivotal moment but never felt like we were going to get a goal tonight. It’s a shame we haven’t really been able to showcase our full strength in this fixture. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smal Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 41 minutes ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said: Bit annoyed they've got 6 points off us, they haven't really looked all that in either game. Better than us on the day obviously. I think they’ve been excellent against us tbh. They play a bit like us but have been a level above in our games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave s Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 was a decent second half all things considered, just missing that final clear cut chance for a goal. caught on the break for the second. shame, but at least we had a go under difficult circumstances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Duper Branko Strupar Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 4 minutes ago, Smal said: I think they’ve been excellent against us tbh. They play a bit like us but have been a level above in our games. They've played us well definitely. But they've hardly looked like world beaters. If we'd have been sharper and a bit more creative we could have easily come away with at least 2 points. Their goal at St James' was very poor from us, their first tonight was near comical pin ball with a lack of calmness and awareness from us, and the second was a counter. I dont mean to say they werent good, but I think a better us, not even a best us, takes points from both games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0cafella Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 3 minutes ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said: They've played us well definitely. But they've hardly looked like world beaters. If we'd have been sharper and a bit more creative we could have easily come away with at least 2 points. Their goal at St James' was very poor from us, their first tonight was near comical pin ball with a lack of calmness and awareness from us, and the second was a counter. I dont mean to say they werent good, but I think a better us, not even a best us, takes points from both games. Without a doubt, they have caught us at the worst possible time for us. We are just too stretched at present. We can’t even rotate our squad to prepare better as everyone is injured. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Their midfield has done us both games. Watching through pissed eyes only Tino played anywhere near a 7/10. Frustrating as fuck Paris gave Milan a sniff otherwise you’d happily drop into the UEFA Cup IMO. What an away day though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Happy Milan won personally. Rather the group was wide open than settling for playing for the dropout route. Even if that means ultimately finishing bottom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 2 minutes ago, ponsaelius said: Happy Milan won personally. Rather the group was wide open than settling for playing for the dropout route. Even if that means ultimately finishing bottom. Spot on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BullyDogs Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 Disappointed but its the fine margins when youre playing the elite teams in these competitions its like playing a top 6 team every week and that is where we lack the technical skillset predominantly. As much as we love our squad and its attitude and application if we are all being honest we only have around 3 or 4 elite players. Dont get me wrong the rest are good players but they arent of that elite level that you need to compete in this competition against the rest of europes top teams on a regular basis It will come though it took City years to establish themselves as regular CL business end players. The difficult thing we have is ensuring we are in the competition to compete year in year out Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
samptime29 Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 I had a good view live, very central from opposite the Yellow Wall. Dortmund have a strong CB's. I felt our wide attacking just didn't create enough. Big Joe chance was big but apart from that, we weren't a threat from a wide positions. They took their big chances. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDog Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 4 hours ago, Nobody said: Really hope we manage to get third, could do with the added coefficient points if we get far in it. Exactly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
McDog Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 1 hour ago, ponsaelius said: Happy Milan won personally. Rather the group was wide open than settling for playing for the dropout route. Even if that means ultimately finishing bottom. You want to play whatever route raises the most prestige and cash toward FFP. As @Nobody said, it raises the coefficient. Why would we say "Piss on that, let's just leave?". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanji Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 (edited) Said it before and I’ll say it again, not seen a match we played in that every single bounce or deflection ended up at their feet in stride so they could do something with it. Brandt could walk on water tonight as every disguised pass was inch perfect. Sabitzer is a class player in German teams like - he was everywhere today and caused us problems constantly. Just felt from 1st minute we were 1-2 paces off. Two days ago we left it all out on the pitch to beat Arsenal at home. It’s no surprise our stretched squad looked tired today. not even upset one bit. Edited November 8, 2023 by Kanji Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlies Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 It is what it is. 20odd month ago we were looking doomed to a third season in the championship, I’ve seen us play Milan, spank PSG & us playing infront of some of the most respected & well liked fans for atmosphere in Europe this season. I wish we played better obviously, but perspective and all that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregon_Geordie Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 (edited) I just got in from work and watched the first half at Lunch. not much between the two teams other than us having our entire spine and most probable CL quality (Isak, Tonali, Botman) out, as well as the entire team shagged. It is what it is, Injuries are looking bleak right now. We definitely need some reinforcements in Jan or our season could fall away. Proud of the lads, they're running on empty...Keep the faith! Edited November 8, 2023 by Oregon_Geordie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stottie Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 A disappointing performance and result, but perhaps the rubber finally hitting the road with our base level, current injuries, and poor luck with hard-game fixture congestion Dortmund are a physically strong team and play with nous and skill, so no embarrassment in the result, just a little frustration in that we couldn't be at our best and lose to them in a less "what might have been" way. Tonali was a next-step-up signing for us and bought for games like this, so again frustration that we can't play him. None of our injuries so far have proved that costly, the train has continued rolling along fine, and I hope that's also the case for Dan Burn. With Targett already out, it may cost us more than those who do not rate Dan Burn might suspect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingArthur Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 Sadly I think these games show why we need to upgrade on players like Almiron, Longstaff, Willock and Joelinton (as up top). They just don't offer enough goal threat. Lots of hard work yes, but that is the bare minimum when you don't have the skill set to score or create. Then you run until you cannot anymore. Miggy does that better than anyone, but I just don't want to see him on the pitch when we are needing a goal. These players are good to have in rotation, but when you compare our wide players to other team's wide players in this group... We need players in midfield who can shoot from distance, wingers who can go past their man 1v1 (not saying we need Maxi, but still someone like him) and we need striker who can create opportunities for himself or hold up the ball better than Wilson. But we all knew our squad is nowhere near CL material yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0cafella Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 1 minute ago, KingArthur said: Sadly I think these games show why we need to upgrade on players like Almiron, Longstaff, Willock and Joelinton (as up top). They just don't offer enough goal threat. Lots of hard work yes, but that is the bare minimum when you don't have the skill set to score or create. Then you run until you cannot anymore. Miggy does that better than anyone, but I just don't want to see him on the pitch when we are needing a goal. These players are good to have in rotation, but when you compare our wide players to other team's wide players in this group... We need players in midfield who can shoot from distance, wingers who can go past their man 1v1 (not saying we need Maxi, but still someone like him) and we need striker who can create opportunities for himself or hold up the ball better than Wilson. But we all knew our squad is nowhere near CL material yet. We are competing in the champions league and smashed PSG, what do you mean the squad is nowhere near CL material? Your take here is quite surface level to be frank; it’s clear to most that injuries have forced us to rotate less than we would like which is causing sluggish performances at times. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERTOON Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 Against top teams, particularly away from home, I think we need a lot more technical quality. Players who aren’t afraid to have the ball in difficult areas, only really Bruno who does that currently. It’s the next stage in our development imo and what we will hopefully focus on in the summer window. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infatuation Junkie Posted November 8, 2023 Share Posted November 8, 2023 Full squad. No injuries. We win this group. We are hanging onto a bare squad man. We still have a chance of top three Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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