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Nothing happened yesterday that we didn’t expect or know already. Our weaknesses cost us and city were better, without really getting out of first gear.
The goals were disappointing because they were avoidable It hurt. It’s them. But it doesn’t change where we’re heading if we back Erik and it didn’t determine the success of the season. We’ve done well and if we get 3-4 players in we need then we’ll improve again. We’re not bridging the gap with them overnight. It’s taken them 15 years to get to this point and that’s with ceaseless money and relentless cheating. We just have to keep focusing on improving, bit by bit. Simple as that. |
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City have more quality than us, they didn't play within themselves, they may not have reached whatever fantasy you all have about their peak performance, but neither did we. |
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I don’t think they were in 2nd gear at all. We made it difficult for them to create good chances, as we have often done to teams this season. When City can’t penetrate the block, they don’t panic but just keep recycling it, patiently. It might appear they are toying with teams but they just have the discipline to persevere with it. Sometimes, they don’t break through. They’re not unbeatable. As others have said, albeit ifs and buts, we were missing several starters and considering we don’t even have a £#%&!ing striker, I think it’s not as much of a stretch to suggest we’re perfectly capable of beating them or getting closer to them. Squad depth is the killer.
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Finding 30-40 more goals will be a more difficult task. Liverpool overcame the gap by plucking Mane / Salah from relative obscurity - who were good for 40+ between them. Anthony needs to up the stakes big time in terms of goal contributions when fit; if its not Kane up front, then the club need to do a similarly strong job on identifying a 20-goal-a-season striker. |
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I’m not saying they CHOSE to, I’m saying they didn’t need to. They weren’t at their best and they didn’t need to be. |
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Total minutes played Bruno 5165 K de B. 3649 Rashford 4304 Haaland 4041 Our first team has too much pressure on them as City are bringing in Laporte we are bringing in Maguire. Rashford is also having to play wide at times as there is no depth. |
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If that were Martial we'd all rightly be fuming |
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Rashford signed off for this season when he got his injury. Has been less than average since his return. That incident yesterday was ridiculous. |
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They have better players than us obviously but yesterday they also worked harder than us. The difference in work rate and commitment off the ball was £#%&!ing stark. City lost the ball and they £#%&!ing sprint back into shape and defend compact if they can't win it quickly. We have the ball at the back and they press and harass us until we pass back to De Gea who duly launches a nice aimless punt for rashford to watch sail over his head. That's without getting into the amount of time and space we allow teams every week though. Huge gaps in midfield which opposition players just gallop into, carrying the ball 60 yards. Watching Fred follow De Bruyne about like a lost toddler and fail to make any discernible impact on him just about summed the gap between the two sides up. De Bruyne had a whale of a time pulling that idiot all round the pitch and leaving a chasm for John Stones to continually step into in midfield. Say what you will about Guardiola but his standards are impeccably high and the minute any of them aren't grafting their arses off, they're either benched or £#%&!ed off out the club. |
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They are a complete squad with more or less no weaknesses
We’re still a squad of players that is a mish mash of players from different managers and styles of play The good news is we can now compete with City on the pitch Beat them earlier this year at OT and probably should have taken that match into extra time yesterday and out xG’d City in both games despite them clearly being a better team This with a team with obvious clear weaknesses in it that can easily be improved Replace Dave with a top modern keeper, Eriksen with a younger more mobile player and sign an actual centre forward because we’ve done all this without one this season Get those 3 signings right and we’ll make huge progress next season |