ctid
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ctid on Mar 11, 2012 20:42:19 GMT 1
First of all...hello again everyone! The last year has been pretty chaotic for me so didn't get chance to get on the old forum at all barely! I'm really glad a new one has been started though and it looks absolutely brilliant so congrats to Bluemoon for setting it up. I'm going to hopefully get on here much more often now and contribute more.
Onto todays match...well what a disaster that was! We hear week in week out from Mancini and the players how every match from now until the end of the season is a final....well it hasn't looked that way in the last 2 games, they've not looked bothered. Back to the old ways of just swanning about passing sideways and backwards really slowly. If they cant get up for these games where the Premiership title is on the line then what can they get up for?
The formation in the second half today I didn't understand either, we had Mario on the left, Aguero on the right and then nobody in the middle...what was going on? Then we get a corner in the last seconds of the game, Mancini tells Hart to go up and they play a short corner!!!!! Unbelievable how thick they really are.
Finally...Nasri! This guy is an absolute waste of space, I've seen him have 2 good halves of football this year, both of which were against Tottenham. He is useless, he picks up the ball, turns around a couple of times then passes about 2 metres sideways, he then proceeds to run to another man on our team and stand behind him so he doesn't get the ball passed back to him again. He seems scared to death of actually taking a man on and just wanders through games, he then spends his time off the pitch by Tweeting about how he wants Arsenal to win every game etc... I actually hate him and i really hope he leaves at the end of the season!
...feels good to rant!
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eaststand
Squad Member
We are Man City, The only football team to come from Manchester!
Posts: 329
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Post by eaststand on Mar 12, 2012 22:21:04 GMT 1
Good to see you back mate. Definitely agree, I'd start Johnson, i still think we miss the pace and directness bellamy brought to the side. I know he's not popular with many but i really like Lennon, i think he's brilliant at what he's does; he's never going to deliver like beckham but he gets to the touchline and cuts it back better than anyone and i don't think it's any coincidence that Spurs form has dropped since he's had to sit out with injuries. He maintains their width so it allows their modric, bale and VDV the space to play and i think he could do much of the same for us. With us playing Nasri and Silva i think it sends us very narrow, we make some pitches look smaller than they are at times.
Having said that, all i think we need to do is just pick up the tempo of our play again and we'll be unplayable home and away again
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ctid
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ctid on Mar 12, 2012 22:25:30 GMT 1
Ye i agree! Tempo is key, we've lost it all and we need to get it back, then we'll be brilliant again. Im not so sure on Lennon really, he is fast there's no denying it but i just think his end product is terrible, only maybe 1 out of 10 actually goes to somebody.
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Post by geemcfc on Mar 14, 2012 9:38:25 GMT 1
Good to see you again CTID.
I agree with Nasi. Johnno is so much better at getting the ball to the line then across the face of goal. Also, he is very lethal when he cuts in on his right foot for a snap shot at goal!
I didn't agree with what Mancini did at the back. As soon as I saw Savic was playing, I though that there was no way we were going to win that game. The kid is a liability at the moment!
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Post by trautmansdropkick on Mar 14, 2012 9:56:22 GMT 1
With injuries to Kompany, Lesscott and Zabaleta, then with Boyata out on loan, Onuaha at QPR and Wabara still a bit young and inecperienced, I don't think we had much more choice - although, peronally, I'd have pit Savic at RB and Richards in the centre.
I've expressed my thought on Nasri on another thread but I do agree that our tempo, at times, seems far too slow and, with Silva, getting less space these days we seem short of imagination with our passing as well and seem to go back to the Hughes days of trying optimistic through balls that are all too easily intercepted by defenders.
Johnson has improved his defensive tracking substantially this season and I'd like to see hm given some more time in games like this one with Swansea but, overall, I'm still optimistic that we will regain our early season form very soon.
AND ........... good to hear from you during this new Century, ctid ;D
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Post by geemcfc on Mar 14, 2012 10:05:43 GMT 1
I forgot about Boyata! I think we need him back to provide the cover as he has essentially done very well for us when he has played, bar a couple of silly mistakes. But Savic has made too many mistakes for my liking. Should have sent Savic out on loan instead!
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ctid
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ctid on Mar 14, 2012 10:46:04 GMT 1
With injuries to Kompany, Lesscott and Zabaleta, then with Boyata out on loan, Onuaha at QPR and Wabara still a bit young and inecperienced, I don't think we had much more choice - although, peronally, I'd have pit Savic at RB and Richards in the centre. I've expressed my thought on Nasri on another thread but I do agree that our tempo, at times, seems far too slow and, with Silva, getting less space these days we seem short of imagination with our passing as well and seem to go back to the Hughes days of trying optimistic through balls that are all too easily intercepted by defenders. Johnson has improved his defensive tracking substantially this season and I'd like to see hm given some more time in games like this one with Swansea but, overall, I'm still optimistic that we will regain our early season form very soon. AND ........... good to hear from you during this new Century, ctid ;D haha thanks tdk! I thought the same thing about Richards at CB, i'd definitely do that against Sporting if Lescott isnt back, Richards with Toure in the middle and Savic at RB, he is less of as liability there if he makes a mistake. |
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Post by trautmansdropkick on Mar 14, 2012 11:21:37 GMT 1
If one didn't know that the bird off the soap on the right above, had spells of being "loopy" you'd think she'd be worth a night or two, wouldn't you?
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ctid
New Member
Posts: 10
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Post by ctid on Mar 14, 2012 11:44:04 GMT 1
If one didn't know that the bird off the soap on the right above, had spells of being "loopy" you'd think she'd be worth a night or two, wouldn't you? She'd be worth a night or two even if she tried to eat my leg! |
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Post by Bluemoon on Mar 15, 2012 20:38:59 GMT 1
Welcome back mate.
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eaststand
Squad Member
We are Man City, The only football team to come from Manchester!
Posts: 329
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Post by eaststand on Mar 18, 2012 16:30:47 GMT 1
I can see what you mean about lennon. But i think our, not so much problem but an issue, is we need options on the bench that are different to those they are replacing on the pitch. IMO thats what you need to win a title because you need differing players that can be put together in different combinations for each game Dependant on the players/defenders your playing against. I think by having those options it is a lot harder for other teams in the prem to 'work you out' because you have far more ways of setting up against them, not only at the start of the game but how you can change that during the game. I think you look at our team at the moment and theres only one way/style that we can play - which is tight, narrow and compact passing football. I'm not pretending it is easy to defend against but when teams manage to disrupt our tempo and prevent us from dominating possession, as swansea did and as Sporting did away from home, then we are struggling to effect the game because essentially there is no plan B.
You look at our options on the flanks;
- Silva
- Nasri - Who has so far just looked a poor mans silva. I still think he looks the best when he's breaking free of the defensive line. I don't think he's made enough of those clever 10 yard runs that takes him the goal side of the defenders that he made a habit of making at arsenal
- Johnson - Our only real winger. But due to our style of play this season, we really don't get the ball out wide to him quick enough and often enough.
The one thing they all have in common is none of them possess real pace and i think there is definitely room for a lennon type player who gets to the touchline very quickly and cuts the ball back or smashes it across goal, well and frequently and i think if you watch Lennon when he play, he does that and he also leaves defenders on the back foot when their team is on attack. I think today if anyone watched the wolves game, the effect valencia had on the game was exactly what we need and i think Lennon or someone in the same mold could do that for us.
One thing that is for certain; We won't get the absolute best out of Edin Dzeko until we find a winger that prefers to go round the outside than cut inside constantly.
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Post by geemcfc on Mar 19, 2012 11:14:33 GMT 1
Milner and Johnson should be used on the wings when we need width. This would be more effective on smaller pitches and if they keep switching to find the most effective solution. On the larger pitches, I think we can afford to play more compact as we would have more space to move the ball in tighter areas.
We really lacked width against Swansea and this I felt showed in the result, as we could not get the ball to the by-line.
The options are there for us, but we definitely would not have the cover if both Johnno and Jimmy are out! We don't have any right footed wingers that I can think of! However, could there be a solution in bringing back Vladimir Weiss?
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eaststand
Squad Member
We are Man City, The only football team to come from Manchester!
Posts: 329
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Post by eaststand on Mar 19, 2012 13:01:17 GMT 1
I still think the problem lies that we still lack genuine pace. For me Milner has to play in the middle, it's where he's most effective and i think the problem with him playing out wide is the same as with Nasri and in some instances Silva, he's the type to pass round a player rather than to beat him with a trick/piece of skill with the ball at their feet because they all lack to pace to get away from their man once they've opened them up to knock it round them. Even i Adam Johnson, he doesn't really possess any pace, just that agility and skill to beat the man with a reasonable amount of acceleration over 5-8 yards, i think it shows when he beats some of the quicker full backs, that if he beats them too deep, they end up catching him around the box/by-line and he has to beat them again.
Yeah i think we play football the right way, that is successful 9/10 times, but sometimes when we are up against well drilled teams that are holding their shape and formation well (Like Everton and Stoke this year and last, sporting at home and swansea away) because they aren't committing too much forward, you need a couple of players capable of what johnson does because by beating a man you can break that shape of the opposition and if they don't shift across fast enough thats where the openings come from. As a result, we over-commit forwards and get him on the break. Think we're those points we blew vs everton and sunderland would have seen us now.
At the moment we aren't getting the ball out to Johnson enough in those situations and as a result we are forcing our strikers to be feeding off 1-2 half chances a game that Silva manages to squeeze out and that kind of pressure on the strikers means we're relying just as much on their quality as luck. I can accept that sometimes things just don't go our way, but i think if we where playing a little differently in some of the tougher situations we've found ourselves in, with another pacey option on the flanks, we wouldn't have dropped as many points as we have done when we've dominated games away from home. I may be wrong but i genuinely think that that is the difference between us comfortably winning the title and it coming down to the wire.
I'm just hoping that the two goals Aguero got against Sporting will reignite him and he can help lift the rest of the team to regain that confidence and swagger we had for about 6 months.
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