Post by eaststand on Jan 1, 2012 18:43:16 GMT 1
I am coming round to TDK's way of thinking in the sense that i think more and more that if RM gets his own way, AJ won't be wearing a city shirt much longer, even more so by the increasing rumours that Viola are now willing to let Alessandro Cerci go. Personally i don't think Cerci can cut it in the prem but RM has made it pretty clear he'd like to sign him.
Today we saw Mancini screaming at AJ to stay wide at least 4 times on camera, so we can assume it was more than that. He's complained on air when asked about AJ that he doesn't listen, that he needs to improve, that he is our only out and out winger and when he plays him he plays him to play the flanks, to get to the touchline and beat players and put a delivery in as he did from day #1 as a city player; not completely ignore instruction and just keep coming further and further infield.
He frustrates me so much, clearly like he does the City management staff. He's got the ability but he clearly isn't content with playing a role in the team by carrying out his assigned instructions. He's played to give us width, because usually with nasri and silva on the pitch the game gets very narrow and cuts off the space for silva making it easier to contain him. The reason he brought nasri off instead of johnson was so johnson could add width to the game, if he stays wide, even without receiving the ball then sunderland have to choose between either staying in their tight, narrow row of 4&5 and leave johnson wide right in space or the defender has to come out and meet him, which creates a little more space for silva, yaya and aguero to exploit. However Johnson doesn't appear to be able to get this into his thick skull and i think RM's patience is wearing very thin.
If AJ needs proof for how poor his contributions to the team have become in premier league games and not in the premier leagues reserve team carling cup, all he needs to do is look at his first 12 months at City and compare them to his last 12 months. The first 12 months he was getting to the touchline frequently, taking up his starting position right on the chalk, beating players with ease with a roll of the hips and a flick of his left foot. The second 12 months he has spent cutting inside way before he's at the 18 yard box, taking up starting positions 15 yards inside the touchline like he's trying to emulate david silva. The first 12 months got him in the england team, 11 assists 4 goals. The second has seen him get 9 goals and only 5 assists with only one of those coming this season and is being overlooked for the England squad in a position where his competition are hardly player well, let alone on fire.
Doing some 2+2=5 journo assumptions based on little evidence; i think he spent the summer, including pre-season, getting pissed in America, in the pre-season games he had the jaded look of a sunday league player that went on the piss the night before, pulling a whitey and sweating out the beer whilst trying to do minimal work. On top of that i always get mates who are out in town texting me saying they've just seen AJ out in town and pictures with him on FB are a dime a dozen. He looks to have lost a yard of pace (which was never all so great), a yard and a half/2 yards in acceleration a huge amount of fitness (of which wasn't excellent to start off with).
I really don't see this as an over-reaction because playing a narrow game on a pitch like ours at the Etihad is a non-issue because Richards and Clichy provide the width. Whereas on tight pitches like The Hawthorns and SOL it doesn't invite that space for the full backs to bomb on without the winger and the full back occupying the exact same space and essentially canceling each other out. It also cuts off the option to make an over-lapping run beyond the winger, which Richards has been so successful with this season. The games we have struggled in are the games on the tight pitches.
Just on a foot note, it seems harsh to critises Aguero, but how many of those little chances has he been given that have fallen to him via a deflection etc in and around the 6 yard box and he's completely fluffed!
Today we saw Mancini screaming at AJ to stay wide at least 4 times on camera, so we can assume it was more than that. He's complained on air when asked about AJ that he doesn't listen, that he needs to improve, that he is our only out and out winger and when he plays him he plays him to play the flanks, to get to the touchline and beat players and put a delivery in as he did from day #1 as a city player; not completely ignore instruction and just keep coming further and further infield.
He frustrates me so much, clearly like he does the City management staff. He's got the ability but he clearly isn't content with playing a role in the team by carrying out his assigned instructions. He's played to give us width, because usually with nasri and silva on the pitch the game gets very narrow and cuts off the space for silva making it easier to contain him. The reason he brought nasri off instead of johnson was so johnson could add width to the game, if he stays wide, even without receiving the ball then sunderland have to choose between either staying in their tight, narrow row of 4&5 and leave johnson wide right in space or the defender has to come out and meet him, which creates a little more space for silva, yaya and aguero to exploit. However Johnson doesn't appear to be able to get this into his thick skull and i think RM's patience is wearing very thin.
If AJ needs proof for how poor his contributions to the team have become in premier league games and not in the premier leagues reserve team carling cup, all he needs to do is look at his first 12 months at City and compare them to his last 12 months. The first 12 months he was getting to the touchline frequently, taking up his starting position right on the chalk, beating players with ease with a roll of the hips and a flick of his left foot. The second 12 months he has spent cutting inside way before he's at the 18 yard box, taking up starting positions 15 yards inside the touchline like he's trying to emulate david silva. The first 12 months got him in the england team, 11 assists 4 goals. The second has seen him get 9 goals and only 5 assists with only one of those coming this season and is being overlooked for the England squad in a position where his competition are hardly player well, let alone on fire.
Doing some 2+2=5 journo assumptions based on little evidence; i think he spent the summer, including pre-season, getting pissed in America, in the pre-season games he had the jaded look of a sunday league player that went on the piss the night before, pulling a whitey and sweating out the beer whilst trying to do minimal work. On top of that i always get mates who are out in town texting me saying they've just seen AJ out in town and pictures with him on FB are a dime a dozen. He looks to have lost a yard of pace (which was never all so great), a yard and a half/2 yards in acceleration a huge amount of fitness (of which wasn't excellent to start off with).
I really don't see this as an over-reaction because playing a narrow game on a pitch like ours at the Etihad is a non-issue because Richards and Clichy provide the width. Whereas on tight pitches like The Hawthorns and SOL it doesn't invite that space for the full backs to bomb on without the winger and the full back occupying the exact same space and essentially canceling each other out. It also cuts off the option to make an over-lapping run beyond the winger, which Richards has been so successful with this season. The games we have struggled in are the games on the tight pitches.
Just on a foot note, it seems harsh to critises Aguero, but how many of those little chances has he been given that have fallen to him via a deflection etc in and around the 6 yard box and he's completely fluffed!
