Closed Man City 3-0 Chelsea

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Mourinho has run out of ideas. He has run his course with this team as he has nothing to offer us anymore. There's a reason why he's been a short term fix his entire career. Anyway, these were my thoughts after the loss to Arsenal a few weeks ago. Still rings true now.

What have we seen so far that we DIDN'T see in the 2nd half of the season? Or for majority of the 2013/14 season? Against big sides, specifically in the CL?

* Is it hopeful lobs to no one in particular? Or wingers playing as fullbacks, spending more time in the opposition half?

* Or 3-4 passes in our "built attacks" then a player hoofing it to no one in particular? Or passing it to Ivanovic to cross the ball to no one in particular? Or ZERO shots on target for over 70 minutes?

* Or Ramires being an automatic, unjustified starter? Or Hazard receiving the ball in bad positions, before being crowded out?

I can go on. Gone are the days we actually play well in both halves. When we do well in one half, the team becomes defensive in the other or vice versa.

This was all predictable to anyone who knows quite a bit about football and the history of Jose Mourinho, the manager. No signs of practicing organised attacks, instead a brief period of dominance then an overreliance on individual brilliance of 1 player. Whether it's Drogba, Milito, Ronaldo, now Hazard. When the team became "defense + Hazard" for the 2nd season in a row, I knew we were headed in the wrong direction.

We all wanted to blame it on "fatigue", but that was only part of the problem. The bulk of our problems lies at the feet of the manager. The technical quality of most of our players has gone down the drain. We now rely on instictive talents of our attackers to win us games instead of anything coached on the training ground. That might work against smaller, weaker teams, but against stronger sides, it won't.

I know many people in this thread will start blaming individuals again, I won't because I know better. Our players are MUCH better than they have shown today. I know what they are all capable of and I know why they've played the way they did today. I refuse to blame any of them.

I'm not that surprised Roman has failed to back Mourinho in the transfer market. Signings will have been a temporary solution to a permanent problem. We will be lucky to scape 3rd place this season. CL? forget about it. At the first sight of a big team, we will park the bus and be humiliated again like against PSG and Atletico. We might win the FA cup, but that's about it. Time to wake up. This team is already on the decline under this manager.

[1chelsea 864]

Hope the signing start rolling in

[dmode 113]

First half was awful. Chelsea actually did pretty well in the second half and closed down Aguero and Sterling. Created a few chances too. Zouma coming on made the back line solid. Needs to be a starter going forward. Costa should see the bench IMO. Such a drama queen. He loses possession in the final third, breaks our attack that leads to a dangerous counter. Ivanovic- not sure what to say. Seems everyone except the board knows that he needs to go

[Thor 2,690]

Better now than later in the season. We aren't going to sit back and do nothing about it. Clearly the push for Stones will intensify now, and that backline will be fixed. Mou also needs to get Azpi on the right and drop Ivanovic. He is terrible. Having the opposite footed player on the wings works great for the wingers and midfielders, but not so great for the backs who need to cross the ball in. I can't remember the last time Azpi crossed the ball in. I could sit here for an hour and think about it and nothing would spring to mind.

The problems for this team really aren't as big as people are making it out to be. A few fixes at the back and we will be fine again. A midfielder would be great too.

[xPetrCechx 13,569]

Where is the person that said that i don't need to take seriously pre-season games?

0 Win till now! 0!!!

Disgraceful performance.

[Pizy 18,864]

Don't know why people are talking about panic buys as if it's a negative.

If we panic buy top players then so be it. Just do SOMETING! And not just Baba and Stones. We need about 4 players.

[The Skipper 20,609]

err. because we played a high line in the second half for which jt does not have the pace.

Nor does Cahill really. JT makes up for his lack off pace with his excellent positional sense and leadership at the back.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Thing is, had Ramires wrongly disallowed goal stood or Hazard scored. We would probably be talking about a 1-1 draw right about now. Football, eh?

[iseah100 5,612]

Chill, it's only the third official game of the season

0-1-2. 2 goals scored with one own goal.

This is awful.

[bethos1 802]

Thing is, had Ramires wrongly disallowed goal stood or Hazard scored. We would probably be talking about a 1-1 draw right about now. Football, eh?

Or if Fernandinho got a red card for that foul on Costa

[dmode 113]

We won't win the league simply because hazard looks below sterling as a player this season and fucking ivanovic is our second captain lol.

Stop playing fabregas in big games

Stop playing fabregas in big games

Stop playing fabregas in big games

Stop playing fabregas in big games

This makes no sense. Hazard and Fabregas were the better players today. It's not their job to defend against Aguero

[zolayes 14,489]

FUCK just realised that last city goal cost me a perfect prediction

[Stats 7,142]

Only positive I take from this is that if pre-season and our opening game against Swansea did not wake the board up, this game certainly has. Even when you are champions by a clear distance in a league like this and other rivals are spending, you cannot just stay still and think the squad does not need strengthening. We need some more quality in the squad. Whole team was awful. I will exempt Hazard as he was the only one trying, linking up with players and causing a threat and Cuadrado bar the 3rd goal actually showed signs of encouragement

Costa was beyond awful. Not only did he he get handled, he went down at every opportunity and did not battle like the warrior he usually is and what annoyed me even more is that he did not even play to the whistle. He instead chose to complain when he could have easily tried to fight back for the ball on 2 occasions. As strange as it sounds, I think we would have got ripped apart even more with Terry in the team. The 2 goals we conceded were not our CB fault tbh. But, wow we really need to improve. Fabregas was beyond awful too. His passing, positioning and everything was just poor.

Worrying thing is the signs we saw creeping towards the end of last season have shown no signs of improvement. I know in a few weeks/months time we hopefully will overlook this result and talk about the dramatic change in form. Champions come back stronger and never lie down.

[LukakutoStamford 779]

To add insult to injury City signed Otamendi

[yuvala 2,167]

Don't know why people are talking about panic buys as if it's a negative.

If we panic buy top players then so be it. Just do SOMETING! And not just Baba and Stones. We need about 4 players.

Because a panic buy would be someone like Cuadrado rather than someone who'll actually make an impact.