13 Sep 2026 22:22:09
It's impossible to understand the rules of this game anymore.
13 Sep 2026 22:57:40
Ridiculous decision, but so was the one in 2023 when Bruno scored in the same fixture.
Also, 75 minutes against 10 men. I'm worried so much of the post-match reaction is focused on the decision for their goal.
13 Sep 2026 23:40:57
That decision aside, it was mind boggling.
1. Take off the tinted glasses, and Bruno was perhaps lucky to be on the park. Silly of Foden to react.
2. We had our first shot on target against 10 men at 70 minutes.
3. We bring on Sesko (too late), and don't give him any service.
4. We are far, far too slow playing it through the midfield, and City had two well disciplined banks of four set up before we were in position to even think about creating any chances.
We never really looked like scoring, and another concerning stat is the goals on target to attempts ratio. The stat that counts is goals for versus goals against. Possession, the ridiculous Xg, touches in the opposition box, et al, mean zip if the ball is not in the net. To be in the net, it needs to be on target. It seems we have nobody that can put it in the net with the minimal number of chances. Haaland had one clear chance and put it in the bag.
Shocking watch.
13 Sep 2026 23:46:13
Yep. Ridiculous. But we have had many that have gone our way. The more worrying aspect is that we were in a position where it mattered.
Against 10 men, we did not open them up at all.
Look at the City defence. By the time we had moved the ball past half way, they had a double four player bank defending. Too slow and pedestrian, and, decision aside, probably deserved to lose.
14 Sep 2026 00:08:02
Hit the post twice and Mbeumo maybe might have equalized at the death, but you always felt that no one would take the bull by the horns and actually put it in the goal.
The game reminded me of the one against Everton last season when we were a man up from the 13th minute and lost. We are a team that cannot score against a low block. Too slow, too tight, too predictable, and, ultimately, too many mistakes. Their goal came from a failure to address a bouncing ball, a loss of possession in a dangerous position, and that's all it took.
Dalot was awful. Dorgu is not really a left back, and has yet to show any of the ability he was starting to show last season. Mainoo had some very good moments, but also tired badly at the end, and started making errors.
Rashford had some good moments, looked enthusiastic, and gave it his all, but the reality is that we're not getting enough from too many players. Cunha was poor. Bruno created nothing against top quality midfielders. The fact that he wasn't taken off with maybe 1/2 an hour to play in midweek was criminally poor management.
I thought Bruno deserved at least a card for kicking Foden. And I don't see how the offside player wasn't interfering with play when he tries to head the ball in front of Martinez.
That game put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day.
We're still so far behind the top two teams, it's depressing, and if this continues, and we fail to stay in the Champions League places, there's no way we'll ever have the money to get back to the top.
14 Sep 2026 07:13:24
I'm not complaining about the result. They got what they deserved, but I honestly don't understand the rules anymore.
14 Sep 2026 11:22:25
I don't think the rule in this case is difficult to understand, but VAR's interpretation of it was.
Was Fernandez affecting both Martinez's and Lammens' positioning? Of course he was. Without him, Martinez sticks with Haaland at the near post, and Lammens doesn't dive to make the first save.
How VAR can decide otherwise is a shocker.