Champions League

[SuperBrfc]

The game was a lot closer than people were expecting and I suspect Inter will be kicking themselves for not going at them more than they did. City weren't at their best, but did enough to get over the line.

I thought Inter pressed and defended quite well for large parts of that game. They looked the more comfortable side in the first half and had City on edge at times.

Ederson didn't look his usual self to me, had a couple of shaky moments, misplaced passes etc, but then produced a couple of key saves later on. The pressure of the game was evident on the City players, I thought. Fair play for winning it though.

It's odd seeing them win it and personally feeling nothing much about it. Would I want Klopp to be there instead, celebrating a trophy win tonight? Certainly not. Ten Hag? No chance.

With City though it's a case of 'Oh. Nice. Have we signed anybody yet?'.

[frosty]

8 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

It was tactical game and Inter was too defensive for me

 

Were they? As expected with his cup record, I thought Inzaghi got his tactics spot on for a huge one-off game against City. Have you ever seen City have so few sights of goal? Haven’t seen many teams press City so high like Inter did in the first half in particular either.

So yep I think Inter played it perfectly and had the game’s best chances, but you still need that little bit of luck/to take those chances to beat City.

[Upside Down]

What's truly amazing is that City have just won the treble and the response from many people is little more than a shrug of the shoulders. 

[wilsdenrover]

Alvarez has had a good year.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, frosty said:

Were they? As expected with his cup record, I thought Inzaghi got his tactics spot on for a huge one-off game against City. Have you ever seen City have so few sights of goal? Haven’t seen many teams press City so high like Inter did in the first half in particular either.

So yep I think Inter played it perfectly and had the game’s best chances, but you still need that little bit of luck/to take those chances to beat City.

first half didn't created anything do they? 

Haaland and Foden had 2 great chances and I expected both to score them. 

Yes Inter pressing high was impressive to be honest and I thought they played better than I expecting since I haven't seen them play for years or under him

[den]

2 hours ago, frosty said:

Were they? As expected with his cup record, I thought Inzaghi got his tactics spot on for a huge one-off game against City. Have you ever seen City have so few sights of goal? Haven’t seen many teams press City so high like Inter did in the first half in particular either.

So yep I think Inter played it perfectly and had the game’s best chances, but you still need that little bit of luck/to take those chances to beat City.

I agree Frosty. Inter won the tactical battle hands down. They stopped City dead in their tracks. 
 

 

[Ewood Ace]

A dark day for football that a nation state have finally bought the Champions League.

For all the love Kevin de Bruyne gets from the media very in the big games for City it is usually the likes of Gundogan, Silva & Rodri who produce them. 

3 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Alvarez has had a good year.

Wasted at Man City though if he played for practically any other club in Europe he'd start every week

[Ewood Ace]

10 hours ago, SuperBrfc said:

It's odd seeing them win it and personally feeling nothing much about it. Would I want Klopp to be there instead, celebrating a trophy win tonight? Certainly not. Ten Hag? No chance.

With City though it's a case of 'Oh. Nice. Have we signed anybody yet?'.

As I said the other day they are a Frankenstein's monster of a club there is nothing real or authentic about them. They were just fortunate that the deputy Prime Minister of the UAE (who attend his 2nd game in 13 years last night) wanted to promote his country to a global audience which the Premier League has & chose them to do it.

It was a dark day for football though that a nation state owned club has finally managed to buy the Champions League and sadly it will be far from the last time.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

A dark day for football that a nation state have finally bought the Champions League.

Manchester City => UAE.

Newcastle United => Saudi Arabia.

I think Sheffield United are (or were) owned by Saudi Arabia, too.

And now we have Qatar attempting to purchase Manchester United, seemingly with some help from Paris Saint-Germain's Qatari owners.

Being married to a foreigner and living abroad, I'm no xenophobe, but it's little wonder there is a general feeling of disaffection from football if you're not privy to all the oil money that buys you the best players in the world. That's why Man City's treble and the ridiculous tears and "emotions" that go with it are boring and soulless.

Rovers' success under Walker, even if relatively short-lived, will never be repeated. A local supporter who made it in the steel industry pumped it all back into the club he loved. We are so lucky to have had what we had, and I bet City supporters (even proper ones) will never ever feel what we felt.

Times change...

Edited June 11, 2023 by goozburger

[roverandout]

How good has John stones become since he's moved into midfield.  He's become like beckenbauer. His footwork to get out of tight spaces was immense last night. I thought he was city's best player.  If only we had enough quality centrebacks for England for him to play that role

[wilsdenrover]

57 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

Wasted at Man City though if he played for practically any other club in Europe he'd start every week

I don’t disagree but he’s played in 49 matches (average appearance of 51 minutes) which is more than I thought it would be.

[DE.]

4 hours ago, Upside Down said:

What's truly amazing is that City have just won the treble and the response from many people is little more than a shrug of the shoulders. 

Well, it's a bit like when you start a game of FM and give yourself unlimited funds. You can win everything, but the sense of accomplishment is somewhat diminished. There isn't much to say about the achievement, because with the amount of resources available it was bound to happen at some point.

[Norbert Rassragr]

Good analogy DE. Man City fans are obviously loving it, but I bet even a few who've been there when they fell to the third tier, or were a middling Premier League team in the 90s feel like the success is a bit easy now. Once they've done a Real Madrid and become serial Champions League winners, it may feel a bit plastic and hollow. You can have too much of a good thing.

[Gav]

I know loads of City fans, all been going for decades watching shite and always stayed with them as loyal fans do. I’m made up for those fans, they deserve it.

[Ewood Ace]

As talented and influential a manager as Guardiola is both of his trebles have question marks hanging over them. In City's case its 115 charges from the Premier League and in Barca's case payments to refs from 2001-2018 (which covers Guardiola's entire tenure). 

Also worth pointing out that City would not have been in the Champions League this season if they had not have won their CAS appeal. But it's also worth pointing out that CAS did not find them 'completely innocent' as Guardiola has previously claimed, in fact they were proven innocent of nothing it was just that the most serious of charges were time barred but CAS did find them to have contravened FFP regulations for a second time.

But when it comes to the Premier League charges neither CAS or a time can save them.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Ewood Ace

[Wheelton Blue]

I don't get this 'City fans deserve it' nonsense.

They don't deserve any more than say Wolves fans who watched fourth division football, or Bury fans who are now following their side around the non league, or for that matter, any other set of fans who follow their side come what may.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Im glad an English team won it.

Citeh have probably the best Club Manager in the World atm,add an unrivalled huge spending power and it all points to success.

Compare what Monsuor has done for Citeh to Venkys lame efforts..would swap in a heartbeat.

[Ewood Ace]

2 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Im glad an English team won it.

Citeh have probably the best Club Manager in the World atm,add an unrivalled huge spending power and it all points to success.

Compare what Monsuor has done for Citeh to Venkys lame efforts..would swap in a heartbeat.

Mansour is the deputy PM & Vice President of a nation state, his brother is President. He has the backing and wealth of an entire nation behind him what he has done has not been for City it has been for him to promote his nation to a global audience which the Premier League has.

The people who deserve the most credit at City are the commercial team who between 2010 & 2016 achieved extraordinary things. Not least how they managed to upwardly renegotiate the UAE's national airlines naming rights of the stadium 4 times between 2013 & 2016. 

[Exiled_Rover]

7 hours ago, Upside Down said:

What's truly amazing is that City have just won the treble and the response from many people is little more than a shrug of the shoulders. 

They have a stranglehold on English football, it's not very enjoyable. 

Hopefully that Champions League win was the thing that Guardiola needed and he now moves on. 

[Gav]

1 hour ago, Wheelton Blue said:

I don't get this 'City fans deserve it' nonsense.

They don't deserve any more than say Wolves fans who watched fourth division football, or Bury fans who are now following their side around the non league, or for that matter, any other set of fans who follow their side come what may.

They've got the best club side in the world, of course they deserve it, the fact they've been shit for decades and remained loyal just adds to the fact.

[Ewood Ace]

Just imagine if Nathan Jones had taken the easy option stayed in his Welsh mining community, taught PE and married a nice Welsh girl then City may well have done the quadruple.

[lraC]

All I can say about this really, is it could have been us, not Luton heading to their place next years for a huge mauling.

The teams now owned by states, seem to be growing, no fun in it for me anymore.

I might be too sentimental, but I grew up when Villa, Forest, Leeds and Liverpool, all got to the final or won it, but as the Champions, not because the finished in the top 4.

The game at the very top has been ruined. 

Edited June 11, 2023 by lraC
Typo

[Darrenbot]

3 hours ago, Gav said:

I know loads of City fans, all been going for decades watching shite and always stayed with them as loyal fans do. I’m made up for those fans, they deserve it.

My brother in law is one of those,been a City fan since the early 80s,they have had decades of living in United's shadow,like you said not all their fans are bandwagoners

[Mattyblue]

All fans ‘deserve’ success.

We all keep the faith year in year out hoping for the tide to turn, and eventually it does for some sides - so fair play for those supporters that have got lucky enough to support a club on the up… and commiserations to the ones that don’t get said luck -but hope springs eternal and one day it might be their club too.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Gav]

1 hour ago, Darrenbot said:

My brother in law is one of those,been a City fan since the early 80s,they have had decades of living in United's shadow,like you said not all their fans are bandwagoners

Look at those Blackburn Rovers fans, limited success for decades until that steel guy bought them and look what happened.

Bandwagon jumpers? I bet they had a few, but they also had a loyal fan base, tremendous history and those fans and town deserved it.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Gav