Champions League - Semi-finals 1st Leg
- Thread starter fletcherpost
- Start date
We’ll see what happens tonight but this spring’s iteration of City is better than their centurions team IMO. Nobody has laid a glove on them since they got rid of Cancelo and moved Stones into midfield.
I was just thinking that this team is so much more confident than previous iterations. Even last week when the scoreline flattered Madrid they seemed so confident. Now at home, they're flying.
Kroos really half-assed his pinch in to cover the defender pressing up on the man with the ball.
Madrid not even looking to break on the counter. This is bleak. The best thing I can say about their game so far is that it's only a 1-goal deficit.
It's really a much simpler and more solid system than past iterations, plus a much more physical side. Three athletic defenders and two very physical defensive midfielders to collectively snuff out counterattacks, two inverted wingers who are excellent at retaining the ball and cutting inside to create, a battering ram Viking freak of a striker, and two brilliant veteran attacking midfielders, one of whom is a generational player. None of this constantly tinkering with the formation and the squad or intricate overload plans with Cancelo popping up anywhere. Its keeping it simple and relatively predictable (at least by Pep's standards) and daring anybody to come up with a way to stop it. Nobody has so far.
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You can't bury Madrid in UCL until the final whistle, but they need something here to change drastically. It should start with Kroos and include Militao as well. No good reason why Rudiger is on the bench.
DeBruyne and Haaland looking a bit off in their connection, for all the good it is doing for Madrid.
And more importantly when your aging squad finally can't compete with a fast, physical, and hyper-technical opponent. 30-yard stinger aside, Kroos (and even Modric) look well off the pace.
City still look dominant, but in this first ten minutes look a bit more susceptible to a punch in the mouth, if Madrid can find one.
I can't get over the fact that Rudiger isn't in the game. I've always thought that Militao was over overrated, but even if you think he's great, he's not nearly as good as Rudi.
Ha! And Rudi comes on.
Likely shifting to a 3-4-3, but why take off Modric instead of Kroos?!?? I'll take Modric on a bad day over ze German.
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Very odd selection especially since he had a great game against Haaland in the first leg.
Modric and Kroos now both off. Madrid look much more lively and physical in the MF as a result. Even Benz looks sluggish today.
After some games where they didn't quite look like they were jelling, City are now just a machine. Carlo could have played rudiger, Godzilla, and a fleet of Humvees and it would not have made a bit of difference. City are going to get their treble and it won't be close.