Good article for once in the MUEN.

Boris

What do you think of your goalkeeper, was that one of the worst goalkeeping displays in football's history?

comment by Greg- (U1192)
posted 8 minutes ago
Boris

What do you think of your goalkeeper, was that one of the worst goalkeeping displays in football's history?
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It was dire. We were better off with Pants.

comment by Greg- (U1192)
posted 6 minutes ago
Boris

What do you think of your goalkeeper, was that one of the worst goalkeeping displays in football's history?
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It was ironic that some of the worst displays from City did come from the more experienced players...I wasn't sure why the GK escaped criticism for the 5th goal either.

But I do agree that the BBC have a cheek whinging about City's selection - they did it on the radio too - when the sole reason City's team was as it was was the BBC's insistence on showing the tie at 4pm on the Sunday ahead of a 3-4 hour flight to Kiev.

No, it was one of the most biased commentarys in football history. The BBC were slagging him off before he'd even touched the ball.

Not a classic display by any means but he had 5 kids in front of him who were making their debuts plus Demechelis who's usually worth a goal to the opposition anyway.

I can understand the decision to rest some players for the CL, but to play as many youngsters as he did seemed needless.

And you're playing against Dynamo Kiev...if it was against Barca, PSG, Bayern or Madrid, you could somewhat understand the thinking behind it, but it's fking Kiev.

Pellegrini said that he didn't want to risk certain players for this game in case of injury...but that's a risk in every game.

At the very least, Hart and Kompany (who needs the minutes) should have started, and there should have been Silva and Aguero on the bench if the game was in the balance or to make the game more competitive.

There was a higher chance of City winning the FA Cup than the CL, but now that's out the window.

As it stands, that's three defeats in a row and you're going to Ukraine on the back of a heavy defeat.

Don't forget we play in the COC Final 3 days after we get back from Kiev, then Liverpool away 3 days later.

I can't see Pel putting out a full strength team for any of those games except perhaps the Anfield game if we don't pick up furter injuries.

Pellegrini said City only had 13 fit players.

Kompany is just back from injury. Silva is carrying a knock. Aguero is fragile.

I would have started with Hart if I had the choice.

comment by U2 (U20610)
posted 4 minutes ago
Pellegrini said City only had 13 fit players.

Kompany is just back from injury. Silva is carrying a knock. Aguero is fragile.

I would have started with Hart if I had the choice.
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If that's true then he really had little choice but to play an inexperienced team.

I guess we'll see on Wednesday because surely that extensive injury list won't have recovered within 3 days....

It was funny when they blamed Cabs for their first goal.

comment by U2 (U20610)
posted 5 minutes ago
Pellegrini said City only had 13 fit players.

Kompany is just back from injury. Silva is carrying a knock. Aguero is fragile.

I would have started with Hart if I had the choice.
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That's it, it's not just the players currently out, but those who have just returned/are injury prone and not worth risking. Less than £2m to win the FA Cup, you get 5 times that much just for appearing in the CL. Last season the two finalists made €150m (or close to £120m) between them for their entire CL participation - and that's excluding gate receipts/sponsorships etc, that is just tv and prize money.

The BBC don't want to admit it, because it is all the live football they have, but big clubs don't really care that much about the FA Cup, it is a very distant 4th to PL/CL/getting into next season's CL.

Totally agree Don, as a fan I love the FA Cup and it annoys me that the FA have done nothing to adapt it to suit the way football is organised now.

I thought your young lads looked very good in parts, particularly their passing. That goalie though

I thought your young lads looked very good in parts, particularly their passing. That goalie though

The power of biased commentrary. He pulled off 2 point-blank saves and saved a penalty despite having an 'experimental' back 4 and MF in front of him. He's not Lev Yashin but not as bad as the BBC were determined to make him out as.

They said during the warm up his form was 'erratic', he's the GK that has been a constant in the sides that got us to the COC Final and the 5th round of this cup.

Just a couple of observations.. Pellegrini's remit is to progress in the CL. That means getting through the next round . If that's what our owners want , he had little choice to field the side he did .
After all the negativity about our centre backs this season, the future suddenly looks a bit brighter. Adarabioyo and the return of Denayer for next season seems promising

We had to rest players at some point. This is 1st f 4 games in 11 days. The commentary also made the same comment as above, making out resting for a team like kiev is stupid. Its quite obvious its the journey we have to make that's the problem. Especially with a cup final on the weekend.

Nearly all correct Boris. But the three names you would see in the future, well maybe. But probably not for you.

comment by Samir (U2630)
posted 51 minutes ago

Pellegrini said that he didn't want to risk certain players for this game in case of injury...but that's a risk in every game.

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Not this game. I think that was the point.

Time will tell, I don't think we've invested all that money in the acadamy to give players away as soon as they reach 21.

comment by Boris 'Inky' Gibson (U5901)
posted 9 minutes ago
I thought your young lads looked very good in parts, particularly their passing. That goalie though

The power of biased commentrary. He pulled off 2 point-blank saves and saved a penalty despite having an 'experimental' back 4 and MF in front of him. He's not Lev Yashin but not as bad as the BBC were determined to make him out as.

They said during the warm up his form was 'erratic', he's the GK that has been a constant in the sides that got us to the COC Final and the 5th round of this cup.
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Fair comment

My main gripe is the appalling management of the young players where they've had no game time whatsoever when there has been ample opportunity for them to gain much needed experience
An example is with 10 mins to go in the cup game against Palace when 4-0 up he brought on Demichellis rather than give one of the kids on the bench a run out
Caballero was poor today,there's no escaping that but I thought Demichelis Kolorov and Fernando were at least as poor,in kolorovs case he was wretched

Watched the first 55 mins or so, and from what I saw the youths did alright. The striker looked quite a handful.

While there's an argument that you could have played a stronger lineup ahead of the Kiev game in the knowledge that you could potentially turn around any deficit in the 2nd leg (or wrap it up after the first), I say good on you for picking the lineup you did today.

Liverpool got a Friday night game in the 3rd round ahead of their COC semi-final on the Tuesday, so why couldn't the BBC give you Saturday lunchtime or evening for example?

so its pick on the old hands ,I saw the youth team v MU and they were lacklustre and inadequate especially the midfield players,there was more effort from them today but they still look like they are never going to make the step up ,that's all 3 midfielders who started with Fernando,not good enough never will be

Liverpool got a Friday night game in the 3rd round ahead of their COC semi-final on the Tuesday, so why couldn't the BBC give you Saturday lunchtime or evening for example?

I think Chelsea wouldn't agree to a Friday game because they played in Paris on Tuesday night.

Jeez, they were probably back in London before American Dad started.

Agree with pplf. Pell's handling of the young players has been shocking. Just far too stubborn. The athleticism and effort put in today put some of the lazy senior players to shame