LoorLas

4D chess

Do you reckon there's a bit of a gap growing over the last couple of seasons with the way the Premier League has gone? I don't watch loads of other leagues, but it certainly feels like most UCL games are much more about football than aggression and set pieces compared to what we see week in week out

He's a funny guy, Pep. For a guy who, generally, is all about midfield and possession, he really has it in him to just give up on it in random big games.

Doku, by miles, the closest thing City have to a MotM tonight.

Well, focus turns to West Ham. They'll need to shake this one off.

I certainly wouldn't be forcing any of the main guys into close to a full 90 in the return leg. League, domestic cups more important to concentrate on at this point.

It’s both. Nunes did nothing to get dropped. Pep goofed. Savinho has done nothing to start. Pep goofed.

Didn’t hate Pep’s selection when I saw it. You can see the logic of some of his calls.

But his failure to fix it at HT / in the 2nd half just isn’t good enough. How is Reijnders (?!?) your first sub. Lamentable.

Doesn’t fix the midfield hole in transition. How ropey we’ve looked at FB… FFS.

Yeah, they don't have it in them to run that midfield alone. Way too much space to cover, and then Bernardo's having to run and cover at the back on top of that...

That save slightly makes up for it from Gigi. Slightly.

Our corners remain one of the best chances for any team we play to score...

The system takes some blame, sure, but a couple of key, reliable players have had proper stinkers today too

The midfield (or lack of) looks scarily like last season

Has to score. No idea how the ref saw a foul there, either.

That's certainly a choice...

At least Doku's looked fairly effective. Trent needed double backup.

On the one hand, they're bad and there for the taking, so I didn't mind it on paper. Someone actually attacks those balls from Doku and maybe it's a different story. Problem came as soon as they got the first, panic seemed to set in a bit. Arguably should have made changes already, but it's Pep...

Big second half, lads – there are tickets to sell!

I do wonder if there's a bit of a divergence between Premier League football and the game everywhere else. You probably don't get away with Arsenaling every set piece in this competition, and the teams aren't set up with big lads playing industrial football.

I'd also probably not put a winger in off the back of one (1) fairly flukey performance

We've got no midfield...

Has to make changes – maybe should have already.

Didn't mind the idea too much, but seems fairly clear we need to go back to a more familiar setup.

They've lost the plot

Well, that really got away from us quickly

Christ

Twice!

Still not got anyone attacking those balls across the goal face...

Overall quite exciting, but I'm wary of how bad we've looked on occasion when we've gone without Nunes.

Oof, not fun. Definitely a noticeable number of away fans at those fixtures these days, which is obviously far worse than some random tourists.

Meanwhile, FA Cup means the Pool fans are going to be right above me again...A few pelters to the head the year we kept playing them and Chelsea in cups.

Looks like it's at least £50 a pop for this one, still a few thousand available!

City v Real Madrid Etihad Stadium Tuesday 17 March Season Ticket Members can now purchase an additional two tickets (three in total) for our Champions League game against Real Madrid.

The Madrid shine's worn off already, then?

Or the club still keeps getting tickets wrong.

Keep having discussions in the South Stand where we're all baffled how they think they're going to fill the new tier without selling actual season tickets again.