City v Liverpool

[Hesperus]

I think we'll stumble  through to the end of the season but will still finish in the top 4. The manager has had nearly 2 seasons to impose his style and philosophy on the team and in my opinion we have regressed significantly. I've made my mind up, I want him and Tixki out and a fresh start next season with someone who has a style of play for the modern game.

[goat]

what i dont get is what the fuck happened

the spanish were claiming the team will play 4-3-3 , not seen it once
pelle was meant to play a fast, high pressing game in spain, see it now and again
he was meant to have a few formations and tactics up his sleeve, nope

did the right bloke turn up?

[Hesperus]

Spot on.  The high pressing game we were all sold on has really never materialised. We gift teams possession, stand off and let them play. The best teams hunt in packs when they don't have the ball we just don't do that.  Zab was so exposed by Sterling today and the manager didn't even try to double up on him. It was embarrassing how naive we were in the second half.

[Ludo]

There's no problem playing 4-4-2 so long as you have the right personnel.Two pacey wingers, two disciplined central midfielders and a well organised back four.

We have none of the above.

What we do have have area couple of decent forwards, three number 10's and a few headless chickens.

[goat]

There's no problem playing 4-4-2 so long as you have the right personnel..

and are still in the 1980s

with pretty much every top club playing with 5 in midfield these days we would be over run pretty quickly, especially if one of the 2 is fernando or yaya. there was a phase a year or so ago with everyone lining up in a similar way to barcelona, mancini copied it and won the league

still found out in europe tho

[Ludo]

Well it served the rags well for 25 years and they got two champs leagues out of it.

It's not solely about formation but the personnel and how disciplined they are using it.

[goat]

that would probably need another pile of cash thrown at the team, safe bet this midfield isnt that disciplined


saying that, if pelle told navas to run down blind alleys, fernando to take his time and yaya to jog around i wouldnt be too shocked

[Ludo]

Agreed. So it's obvious to all except Pellegrini that are current malaise is down to formation.

When we won the league with Mancini we played more 4-2-3-1 and we have arguably a squad more suited to that.

[goat]

im not a fan of that formation but it does give more options

if aguero is upfront have nasri and silva wider feeding the ball through, if bony is up can drop aguero deeper to run on to flicks, if dzeko is upfront we can all do something else

[Neil Mcnab]

Yaya is a liability, I dont believe he can do a full game. He was poor and it should have been at least 4-1 had Liverpool been more clinical, down to his poor play. If he is having such a bad game, he needs to be taken off. One or two good passes dont make up for gifting the ball to the opposition or leaving acres of space.
A central midfield player who is creative and can defend is the number one priority in the summer.

In my opinion the league and the chumps league have gone. Need to stick in the top four, cant even take that for granted.

As for the manager, who is the outstanding manager to replace him? Guardiola/Simeone? Either that or its a punt on an up and coming manager. If the very best arent available, is it worth binning him off.

[goat]

klopp plays the way we were meant to be under pelle, i dont think his season now has made him a bad manager overnight

[Zabba]

Yaya is a liability, I dont believe he can do a full game. He was poor and it should have been at least 4-1 had Liverpool been more clinical, down to his poor play. If he is having such a bad game, he needs to be taken off. One or two good passes dont make up for gifting the ball to the opposition or leaving acres of space.
A central midfield player who is creative and can defend is the number one priority in the summer.

In my opinion the league and the chumps league have gone. Need to stick in the top four, cant even take that for granted.

As for the manager, who is the outstanding manager to replace him? Guardiola/Simeone? Either that or its a punt on an up and coming manager. If the very best arent available, is it worth binning him off.

Only 7 points clear of 5th place Liverpool who rolled over us today with ease.

[Neil Mcnab]

Would Klopp walk away? Or will he want to put them back to the top. Cant be easy having to sell your best players every year, mainly to your biggest rival.

[Ludo]

He'd find it fairly easy having to sell some of ours.

[reddishblue]

Yaya is a liability, I dont believe he can do a full game. He was poor and it should have been at least 4-1 had Liverpool been more clinical, down to his poor play. If he is having such a bad game, he needs to be taken off. One or two good passes dont make up for gifting the ball to the opposition or leaving acres of space.
A central midfield player who is creative and can defend is the number one priority in the summer.

In my opinion the league and the chumps league have gone. Need to stick in the top four, cant even take that for granted.

As for the manager, who is the outstanding manager to replace him? Guardiola/Simeone? Either that or its a punt on an up and coming manager. If the very best arent available, is it worth binning him off.

Only 7 points clear of 5th place Liverpool who rolled over us today with ease.

It really is hard to accept that. Not good enough.

[goat]

Would Klopp walk away? Or will he want to put them back to the top. Cant be easy having to sell your best players every year, mainly to your biggest rival.

would he have the choice? the way chairman bin managers based on the last half hour might fuck him right up

[Rowley Birkin QC]

what i dont get is what the fuck happened

the spanish were claiming the team will play 4-3-3 , not seen it once
pelle was meant to play a fast, high pressing game in spain, see it now and again
he was meant to have a few formations and tactics up his sleeve, nope

did the right bloke turn up?

Yes - I've been wondering where all that had got to - especially the "fast, high pressing game" we were consistently told about when Pellegrini's name first came up...

Spot on.  The high pressing game we were all sold on has really never materialised. We gift teams possession, stand off and let them play. The best teams hunt in packs when they don't have the ball we just don't do that.  Zab was so exposed by Sterling today and the manager didn't even try to double up on him. It was embarrassing how naive we were in the second half.

Spot on indeed. This is what I mean when I talk about us being a 'lazy' team. A bit of a generalisation I know, but too many of our players seem content to allow opponents space, to let them turn with ball, we don't rush them into making hasty passes. And it's just as bad when we have the ball. City players walking around (literally), just watching their team mate with the ball - expecting him to pull a rabbit out of the hat and do it all while they remain half interested spectators. On the Australian TV pre-match show even that numpty Bosnich managed to demonstrate how poor our movement off the ball is with a couple of video clips. Cringe worthy stuff. Even Mark Bosnich can spot what's wrong with us...

[silvablue]

We play as very talented individuals relying on moments of brilliance and have no real team ethos.

[lee]

dogshit

[silvablue]

The tactics, performance of players and lack of commitment were embarrassing. I do not mind losing, it happens, but in this way!