UCL Semi Final: Manchester City vs Real Madrid

pogba would definitely be an upgrade. just not sure who to replace with.

Also this is one of the games where isco or james would have been good... if their attitude matched what was expected of them.

why is it isco and james have to be such shits this late into the season. if we had isco of the decima year, we would make mancity look like getafe. this current isco alongside james disgust me.

Please Valk, remove Casemiro and watch Fernando and Fernandinho look like prime Scholes and Roy Keane. The young man gave us real muscle in the midfield and while he is limited (he is), the man performed quite good imo minus the sloppy stuff here and there.

Kroos was poor. Really expected more from him today and he just did not do anything of any note. Even his set pieces were just awful.

Actually the defence played much better than usual. Pepe won(almost cleanly) all his one-on-one and considering that he was facing Aguero...that's impressive.

We still have this tie in our hands, when we started attacking Man City really could not handle us anymore. It gonna be like that in SB. I think we will go to the final especially since we will welcome back CR7 and Benz.

Even towards the end in the 2nd half when we pushed forward, City still didnt create. They were playing long balls to Kun who faced Casemiro, Ramos and Pepe lol. Against a LaLiga team i agree we might concede but we always step it up in CL. But against this lethargic City side meh.

Imagine Barca playing with Neymar, Munir and Sergi Roberto. They would probably not have created a single chance. People who are unhappy have waay too high expectations of us. No offense

Argh! I'm so furious with this game. The game was there for us to take, we just threw it away. We had only three shots on goal and they were all set-pieces...

@Doc wrote:Please Valk, remove Casemiro and watch Fernando and Fernandinho look like prime Scholes and Roy Keane. The young man gave us real muscle in the midfield and while he is limited (he is), the man performed quite good imo minus the sloppy stuff here and there.

Kroos was poor. Really expected more from him today and he just did not do anything of any note. Even his set pieces were just awful.

Casemiro was one of our best players tonight, I know that, especially defensively. But we can upgrade on him. I like him, he always plays his heart out.

also friendly reminder I told you casemiro is more than enough for the likes of the inferiors called aguero and de bruyne. bloody nobodies they are.
and to think some peeps wanted to replace benz with aguero of all losers. top kek.

I prefer aubameyang atm. and with benzema's declining technical ability, maybe now is the time to sign a new cf.

I'll give you guys an example... Juve. They went from Marchisio to a DM in Lemina since Marchisio got injured. Granted, players like Marchisio don't grow on trees. But you see the massive difference in how the team functions.

having a DM is great... but you need one who can really move the ball at least AND surround him with dynamic players. Modric is dynamic. Kroos is not.

Casemiro is the LEAST of our concerns. Kroos is a bigger one. Isco needs to get his shite together so that he can take up one of the spaces either side of Casemiro. Modric and Kroos are so allergic to the box its unreal

you want isco to take modric's place ?

This is a Semi Final, Man city were underdogs against PSG and qualified. Just one mistake could end it all.
This man city is a very average team. They could not create nothing.
We have the upper hand
- they played their full squad and were average.
- Half of our team didn't play today (Ronaldo)
- we have the home advantage

But just one mistake.

Expect a similar game at the Bernabeu.
Zidane will try to play it safe and hope Ronaldo will do some magic, I hope he does.

@halamadrid2 wrote:
DoC you still think City can go through after their display tonight?

What upsets me is the fact that we blew our chance to kill the tie in the first leg. You, just like me and everybody else, saw how mediocre City is. We didn't play against an elite team tonight; we played against a toothless, technically and tactically limited team. We should've gotten our away goal. Cowardly tactics and complacency, we were waiting for the opponent to score so we can get our act together and start playing like a proper team. Loser mentality if you ask me.

Do I think City can still go through? Football is unpredictable, and they'll most definitely play their away-goal card, park the bus and hit us on counters. If they score, we'll have an even tougher uphill battle than Wolfsburg's.

Maybe if I pray hard enough, Kroos can magically turn into 2014 Di Maria.

Lucas, Marcelo and Bale put in a great shift tonight. Very proud of the whole team, they really played their hearts out.

@Doc wrote:Maybe if I pray hard enough, Kroos can magically turn into 2014 Di Maria.

If it works, send me that prayer

I just pray that CR and Benz are healthy... we need them fit.

Isco and James are both gone in the summer hala...

@sportsczy wrote:Isco and James are both gone in the summer hala...

not so sure about isco. james clearly. zidane seems to like the spaniard.

@Valkyrja wrote:
you want to attack with that scrub Benzema who's not making any difference even when he is fit and Lucas, who, with all due respect, he works hard and i love him, is not made for this kind of games (he was good in the first half though, and he as always put in a great shift) . We need Ronaldo next week.

PS: and we should never hear "build around benzema" or "ronaldo is overshadowing him" and shit like that. he's not worth to lick ronaldo's boots as far as i'm concerned.

Even without Ronaldo, I still think we should've attacked. In the second half, we carved out two clear-cut chances 3 minutes after we had started attacking. The personnel we had up front was good enough to score against City. There was absolutely no excuse to park the bus for 45 minutes against a team like City. None.

I also have to admit that I agree with you about the Benzema bit. He never was held back by Ronaldo; he just doesn't have what it takes to lead the team by himself. That's just an excuse to help his die-hard fans sleep at night.

I agree with Demon of Carthage.
This team never steps up until they are a goal down.
I was honestly hoping for City to score cos I knew it would spur us to life.
Losers mentality.
Cowardly tactics.

Pogba is the answer to that midfield and we need Morata back

Marcelo screed up so many attacks

Bale was the best player on the pitch imo

@The Demon of Carthage wrote:I can't believe we haven't taken advantage of the away goal rule. Now every time City scores at the Bernabeu, we'll have to score two.

What? We just have to win out right.. Could of been worse

The Portuguese striker is now a serious doubt for next week's second leg, on Wednesday 4 May. According to Spanish radio station Onda Cero the player could have a mild hamstring tear meaning he would be unlikely to take any part in the match at the Bernabéu.

Cristiano though was caught by Antena 3 claiming: “The strain is still there. I'll wait for the next game. If it was a final, I'd give it a try”.

Source: Link.

Now you see. If ronaldo does not play, we are screwed. 1-1 at most..rubbish

From Z's post-game conference:

We're going to try and get them [Ronaldo and Benzema]fit for [the second leg], that's our plan but I can't assure you of anything right now. We obviously want them back.

my take....i don't like the result, i'm happy we didn't lose, but nil nil is still tough, and an alright result for city. i don't blame zidane for being a bit cautious earlier on; in a big game like this, teams usually get cautious, nobody gets gong-ho unless they have to, especially when u're up against a forward like aguero who can take advantage of space. i was surprised the defense didn't do anything foolish, and i wish it was an attacking player that the pepe chance fell to, but it was a good save from hart

Hart is getting a lot of praise for his 2 major saves. I honestly don't think he did anything spectacular. He did well to react fast and put out his leg for Jese's header, but both the header and Pepe's shot went straight at him.