Makes Pep look rather silly with Joe Hart being wasted away at Torino for this guy.

Clrnc wrote:

USArsenal wrote:

ugh...   yeah, Cech's kicking (especially from the ground) is crap...

It was obvious the moment we signed him. Makes me appreciate Szczesny's kicking a little.

You must be joking.
Szczesny's kicking was a pre-assist for the opposition.
His dribbling was a full assist.
Meanwhile 
[size=medium][font=Impact]Petr Cech has completed more take-ons (2) in the league this season than Cristiano Ronaldo (1).[/font][/size]
http://www.punditarena.com/football/jmurphy/squawka-drop-absolutely-mental-petr-cech-vs-cristiano-ronaldo-stat/

Segway wrote:

Makes Pep look rather silly with Joe Hart being wasted away at Torino for this guy.

It's crazy. He's an absolute mess. People on this forum were defending him earlier in the season but he's done nothing to back up their claims that he's good.

Stones is a mess too. Another massively overrated young English player. Way out of his depth tonight.

Only saw highlights of the City game, of course, but on several occasions Stones was absolutely shocking defensively. Nothing new there.

a hattrick, an assist(kind of) and a penalty won...messi. city defence though..

Qwiss! wrote:

Segway wrote:

Makes Pep look rather silly with Joe Hart being wasted away at Torino for this guy.

It's crazy. He's an absolute mess. People on this forum were defending him earlier in the season but he's done nothing to back up their claims that he's good.

Stones is a mess too. Another massively overrated young English player. Way out of his depth tonight.

joe hart would've been no worse than bravo has been so far, for sure. but probably not much better either. the way pep has set his team to play out from the back, i could see hart dropping his share of clangers as well

Joe Hart would have been much worse for them. Much much worse.

No he wouldn't. Hart isn't top class but he isn't terrible either. Bravo is abysmal.

He would've. Guardiola's brand of football requires a keeper with ball playing skills. Hart was terrible with ball to feet. Just wouldn't have worked.

i'm glad their former and current keeper are shit.

we should ask them for 30m+ for ospina next summer.

I think the idea of a ballplaying goalkeeper is very overrated personally. It's an extreme extension of the tiki-taka ideology. van Gaal was the same at United, and I just can't see the huge benefit. We're talking about a few occasions per game maybe where a goalkeeper with the instruction to play it short would pick a difficult pass over hoofing the ball up the field to escape pressure, and in return the risk is so much greater. The math doesn't add up.

The top keepers who are truly good with their feet - Buffon, Neuer, etc - are also outstanding goalkeepers, and that's always going to be their big contribution to the team. The rest is a marginal bonus, comparable to how centrebacks who are good on corners tend to head in a few goals every season. No one has ever bought a defender because he's a mean goalscorer though. Barca might get away with a clown like Bravo in goal because no team will ever press their defensive line anyway, and they concede so few shots, but what does he honestly bring to the table? He has already cost City more points this season than I've ever seen a goalkeeper win a team simply by playing 3-4 extra short passes per game.

The CL needs to return to terrestrial TV and Sky. UEFA got greedy by flogging it to BT Sport and they've totally ruined it.

General wrote:

The CL needs to return to terrestrial TV and Sky. UEFA got greedy by flogging it to BT Sport and they've totally ruined it.

They're terrible. Watched the highlights show after our game and McMannaman on commentary is like a piss take. His stupid scouse accent is worse than Carraghers. Then its back to the studio to listen to Rio say something dull in his annoying muppet voice. Then its over to the worlds most boring dimwit, Michael fucking Owen.

Personally I thought the worst part of yesterday was seeing Man City's uniforms against Barcelona.

Looked like Barca vs their own B team.

well it would have looked like that even if they were wearing sky blues.

Klaus wrote:

I think the idea of a ballplaying goalkeeper is very overrated personally. It's an extreme extension of the tiki-taka ideology. van Gaal was the same at United, and I just can't see the huge benefit. We're talking about a few occasions per game maybe where a goalkeeper with the instruction to play it short would pick a difficult pass over hoofing the ball up the field to escape pressure, and in return the risk is so much greater. The math doesn't add up.

The top keepers who are truly good with their feet - Buffon, Neuer, etc - are also outstanding goalkeepers, and that's always going to be their big contribution to the team. The rest is a marginal bonus, comparable to how centrebacks who are good on corners tend to head in a few goals every season. No one has ever bought a defender because he's a mean goalscorer though. Barca might get away with a clown like Bravo in goal because no team will ever press their defensive line anyway, and they concede so few shots, but what does he honestly bring to the table? He has already cost City more points this season than I've ever seen a goalkeeper win a team simply by playing 3-4 extra short passes per game.

Top post.

The whole ball playing goalkeeper concept is ridiculous. A goalie's main purpose is to make sure the ball stays out of the net. The rest is absolutely secondary.

Hipsters like Pep trying to re-invent the role won't change that fact.

What next, play with 11 outfielders and no goalie?? Wouldn't surprise me if some jumped up manager tries to introduce something like that. 

Bravo passes it to Suarez of all people, then proceeds to save the shot with his hands outside his area and gets sent off. Absolutely brilliant.

It's like poetic justice for over thinking a simple role in the sport. A penny for Joe Hart's thoughts?  

Epic stuff.

Oh and Messi is the best footballer of all time, period. 

Klaus wrote:

I think the idea of a ballplaying goalkeeper is very overrated personally. It's an extreme extension of the tiki-taka ideology. van Gaal was the same at United, and I just can't see the huge benefit. We're talking about a few occasions per game maybe where a goalkeeper with the instruction to play it short would pick a difficult pass over hoofing the ball up the field to escape pressure, and in return the risk is so much greater. The math doesn't add up.

The top keepers who are truly good with their feet - Buffon, Neuer, etc - are also outstanding goalkeepers, and that's always going to be their big contribution to the team. The rest is a marginal bonus, comparable to how centrebacks who are good on corners tend to head in a few goals every season. No one has ever bought a defender because he's a mean goalscorer though. Barca might get away with a clown like Bravo in goal because no team will ever press their defensive line anyway, and they concede so few shots, but what does he honestly bring to the table? He has already cost City more points this season than I've ever seen a goalkeeper win a team simply by playing 3-4 extra short passes per game.

I agree that the whole concept of a ballplaying goalie is a bit pointless, it's certainly gotten a lot more important for keepers to be able to distribute the ball properly but not to the extent that a club like Barca should get a keeper like Ter Stegen whose only redeeming feature is his (formerly) accurate kicking and passing

Disagree about Bravo. He dropped a couple clangers early in his City career and his confidence is now shattered. He used to be top class for Barcelona not that long ago, one of the best in Europe just 2014.

Yeah, certainly much better than Joe Hart. We'll see if he can show that again once he gets used to the PL.