carl_feedthegoat wrote:Indianablue wrote:I agree, PSG are a well balanced team playing at a pace. City aren't well balanced, we dont really attack at pace and our attack is one dimensional. Our wide players need to inject pace and beat players on the outside as well as inside but mostly they need to not slow the attack down. Too many check backs allow defenders to organise. We were much better to watch several years ago. Today we are leaden footed. The youngsters we have bought need to be played properly before we indoctrinate them into Pep's possession play. Every player needs to be drilled more in shooting, from any distance , any angle, because we are relatively poor at this as well. . Finally, Alvarez is a great player, playing international football for a great footballung nation and a winner. Tbe posters who thought he was shit for us ( i don't) should think about why. Haaland has gone backwards for us since he hit the 50 goal record. Why? Because we dont play him to his strengths . Next season will be Pep's last.Apart from a proper RB he has the players but can he adapt his style?
Spot on IB !. City are way too slow and predictable these days and have been for longer than I care to remember — and here are some lovely stats to back it up:
We average 5.1 passes per move and progress the ball at 1.4m/s — slowest team in the league. PSG move quicker AND still control games. It’s not just “Pep style” — it’s a choice to crawl forward.
We’ve had 650+ ten-pass sequences this season... but what do we do with them? Most of the time, fuckall and bore the fans in the process.
High press? We lead the Premier league in high turnovers (300+)... but only turn 13% of them into shots !!. Compare that to Bournemouth who do better with half the talent.
Long shots? We’ve scored just 8 goals from outside the box across all competitions.The dippers have 33 !!. Is it any wonder why most teams camp in the box when we attack ?? — we’re just not a threat from range....fact.
As IB stated above , Haaland’s goals have dropped every year:
22/23: 50 goals
23/24: 42 goals
24/25: 34 goals
Thats not because hes suddenly going downhill— we’ve just stopped playing to his strengths and its somthing the manager has not or cannot rectify.
As for Alvarez, at Atleticio he is smashing it — 9 goals, 9 assists in 28 games. Turns out he wasn’t “shit” after all … he was just misused.
We’re 14th for crosses into the box, 17th for progressive carries down the right hand side. That’s on PePs system, not the players.
At the end of the day we have the tools, but Pep’s current setup ( not so current actually , more the norm ) is draining any urgency out of the team. If next season’s his last, he has to adapt — or this stale,boring, sideways shit will be what defines his final year.
Unfortunately Carl, not everyone seesit this way.
