City Squad - Form Ladder

[ant london]

I was just thinking about this, inspired by F365's World Cup/Euro England squad ladder.....who is impressing at the moment and who is below par.

I would say that our form table looks something like this:

Performing well
Micah Richards
Joe Hart
James Milner
Gael Clichy
Gareth Barry


Above average
David Silva
Joleon Lescott
Mario Balotelli
Pablo Zabaleta
Sergio Aguero


Average
Edin Dzeko
Nigel de Jong (but moving upwards)
Samir Nasri


Below average
Aleks Kolarov
Adam Johnson


Poor
Stefan Savic
Owen Hargreaves (by virtue of not being able to play much part, disappointing so far)


Doing this showed me a couple of things:
a) our squad is really thin currently
b) we really are missing the drive and stability Vincent and Yaya give us
c) i have no idea how we best should use Nasri, what his best position and role is. He was way too deep at points last night and always seemed generally too far from the ball
d) if some of our talented underachievers start to hit decent form I think we will start to pull away from everyone. It's just a case of getting through the next couple of weeks still in good shape points-wise even if performances aren't great
e) considering that none of our strikers looks that sharp/deadly at the moment, we're not doing half bad and nor are they in terms of goals. If they start to get really into the groove at some point it is a terrifying thought!

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I think you are being really generous to say a few of those are playing above average. But whatever I think the next 3 games are massive but aren't they always when a team is fighting at the top.We simply cannot afford to drop silly points and witrh 2 away games it's crucial we show what we are made of.

Everton away is always a difficult game for us as they raise their game and come out fighting but we have to scrap our way to a win.If we can get 4 wins in the next 5 games at least I think it will go a long way to winning the title as I expect a few points to be dropped by the others.

[Hazy2]

I think you are being really generous to say a few of those are playing above average. But whatever I think the next 3 games are massive but aren't they always when a team is fighting at the top.We simply cannot afford to drop silly points and witrh 2 away games it's crucial we show what we are made of.

Everton away is always a difficult game for us as they raise their game and come out fighting but we have to scrap our way to a win.If we can get 4 wins in the next 5 games at least I think it will go a long way to winning the title as I expect a few points to be dropped by the others.

Everton will jump all over us, It will be a tough ride, Some of our players will have to do more than play they will have to SCRAP IT OUT OR WE WILL BE TURNED OVER.

[sheblue]

your harsh on silva, he has been injured recently and was excellent against spurs. nasri has shown sign of improvement, but he has a lot to do yet. dzeko has been as poor as savic, its just that we don't see the real cost of his mistakes.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

your harsh on silva, he has been injured recently and was excellent against spurs. nasri has shown sign of improvement, but he has a lot to do yet. dzeko has been as poor as savic, its just that we don't see the real cost of his mistakes.

Dzeko's mistake wasnt' scoring away at Wigan and at Liverpool so it must have been not scoring agaisnt Spurs

[Ted Hughes]

Silva imo is playing well below average for his standards but he got there v Spurs. Dzeko apart from his goal & one brilliant pass for a brilliant run by AJ, has just turned in 2 of the worst performances you could ever see from a striker. Utter shite.

Both need to get their acts together immediately or at least one of them does. I'm not sure we can win the title unless one of those two hits top form in the next few games. Whatever tinkering by Bob & excuses made, our away form has been dire for a long period & we were dire up front v Wigan even though we won. Last night was made a bit worse due to the stupid tactics in defence but not that different up front. We are a pale imitation in attack, even at home. We need to get that spark back.

We have lacked consistent quality in attack since the QPR game. The move with which we scored against Spurs, used to be the kind of thing we attempted ten times in a game, rather than once.

PS. I find the criticism AJ gets, considering the kind of scratch teams he usually starts in, absolutely incredible.

[ant london]

PS. I find the criticism AJ gets, considering the kind of scratch teams he usually starts in, absolutely incredible.

I've got a lot of time for your views and opinions Ted but I have to say that whatever you see in AJ well....it truly bamboozles me.

I've can't remember the last time I saw him turn in even a half decent 45 minutes. And I mean consistently decent.

[Ted Hughes]

PS. I find the criticism AJ gets, considering the kind of scratch teams he usually starts in, absolutely incredible.

I've got a lot of time for your views and opinions Ted but I have to say that whatever you see in AJ well....it truly bamboozles me.

I've can't remember the last time I saw him turn in even a half decent 45 minutes. And I mean consistently decent.

I think he was absolutely outstanding v Liverpool in the 1st leg once Nasri came on. He caused them much more trouble than Silva did last night & was rewarded by getting the hook. Previous to that, he stood on the touch line, as instructed, watching Barry etc pass the ball to Joe Hart who kicked it to Liverpool. Exactly what the fuck is he supposed to do about it from the wing ?

It's like he has two choices; be George Best or fuck off. A couple of goals & assists in a game aren't even enough; he still gets slated for one bad pass.

If he starts games with Silva, Yaya, Aguero etc & is consistently shite; he can do one. If he starts games with Barry & DeJong & struggles; it's exactly what I'd expect to happen. I knew he was fucked (& City were fucked) from the moment I saw the team sheet in the 1st leg. Yet when Bob finally admits he's fucked up & Nasri comes on, AJ ends up getting taken off, for no reason.

It's bollocks. Just give him to Liverpool ffs.

[ant london]

Sorry Ted, none of that excuses his performances which have been shite.

As I said at the time in the first leg, he was better once Nasri came on and he started to drift inside. But in no remote was was he "outstanding". Jesus wept.

I'm sure I'm not alone in the fact that I don't expect him to be Cristiano Ronaldo...but what I do want is some effort and application. He's a lazy soft cunt...and on current form he'd be no great loss. I don't want us to bin him but I do want to see him turn in maybe 75 minutes of an performance befitting his quite obvious talents

[Ted Hughes]

Sorry Ted, none of that excuses his performances which have been shite.

As I said at the time in the first leg, he was better once Nasri came on and he started to drift inside. But in no remote was was he "outstanding". Jesus wept.

I'm sure I'm not alone in the fact that I don't expect him to be Cristiano Ronaldo...but what I do want is some effort and application. He's a lazy soft cunt...and on current form he'd be no great loss. I don't want us to bin him but I do want to see him turn in maybe 75 minutes of an performance befitting his quite obvious talents

I think he's a talented player who may not be what we require, but is being juded more harshly than players such as Nasri & Silva. For some reason he is expected to do stuff they don't do & I can't for the life of me understand why. Every time he's moved inside, imo he's looked a better player than Nasri, but he gets told to fuck off back to the wing & track back, which he tries to do.

I don't understand why anyone would expect him to be any better at that than those two, both of whom disappear from the game & become completely ineffective when asked to do the same job. When that happens to them the tactics get changed & they get moved. When it happens to AJ, he gets told not to come inside then taken off.

[ant london]

So we are saying that he is no winger essentially. I don't disagree that he looks better inside and I don't disagree that Nasri goes missing. I still maintain that an off par Silva is worth 3xAJ but I get your basic point.

So where would you play him in our best line-up Ted, and at the expense of who?

Equally...same question as how/where to deploy Nasri

[Ted Hughes]

So we are saying that he is no winger essentially. I don't disagree that he looks better inside and I don't disagree that Nasri goes missing. I still maintain that an off par Silva is worth 3xAJ but I get your basic point.

So where would you play him in our best line-up Ted, and at the expense of who?

Equally...same question as how/where to deploy Nasri

You can't be a winger if you're on the wrong foot, it's impossible, he's just a bloke playing wide. Also we don't have players looking to get on the end of crosses on the whole so most of the best ones are wasted, we need the fullbacks etc to overlap to give players time to move into position.

Start him out wide, but let him drift around like Silva does, but remind him to keep going back out there to stretch the oppo. Same with Nasri. Both AJ & Nasri are miles better when allowed to move around & imo were all over Liverpool doing just that last week until AJ was bizarrely substituted, effectively ruining our team. Those 3 could play a psuedo Barca style imo. AJ would do what Nasri & Silva won't: shoot.

If he can't play that role, THEN get rid.

Just for the record, imo Hughes played a kind of 4 2 3 1 & imo it looked great. He changed to a kind of bogus 4 4 2 & it wasn't as fluid. Bob used to play 4 2 3 1 with Aguero or Balo deeper & it looked great, now we are becoming more like a bogus 4 4 2 with 2 up top & it looks a lot less fluid. Just my opinion.

[brite blu sky]

I hadn't really expected City to start the season so coherent and things going for them with new players coming in.. but I suppose there was just a newness and incentive to just play and impress. I had always thought that there would be a natural dip though.. basically caused by players trying to work on things to fit together - as opposed to just going out there and doing your best and not overly concerning about Mancini specific plans. So for me this is that time, where there is perhaps a bit too much seriousness while individuals work at clicking instead of just going with it. I think it has to happen for any group and the hope is that they work through it as quickly as possible.
The positive is that they will be even better emerging on the other side. Personally I'm not expecting that till very near the end of the season.
It might sound a bit simplistic but it is the difference between 'knowing' how and why they play well together and it just happening without understanding it.
Next season City when they are off form it will be harder to even notice it.. the base level will be that much better.

If that costs us the title this season then so be it, though i don't think it will, the others are just not good enough and City will finish strongly.

[Ted Hughes]

Tbh, I think win the title but if we didn't, the progression is there for all to see & it'll do for me.

I think Nasri will get better & Aguero will get much better. Apart from Silva & Aguero, all the others in the attacking unit, including Mario, are still not certain of a long term City future yet imo. They can't all be replaced quickly, but none have cemented themselves into the core of the team, so all are effectively still on an extended trial.

[stommy]

it is obviously you love the guy, but Mario ABOVE average, give me a break...

[Douglas Higginbottom]

When we play at our best it's all about pass and move and it requires a very good first touch and lots of movement. We don't look for the instant ball but the hope will be that if it's on it gets spotted.

Re AJ it does seem to me he gets slated simply because he is thought of as a winger pure and simple but City don't ask him to play like that.OK occasionally he has a go at the full back and runs him into the area or skins him early but much of the time he is up against 2 defenders and I am sure he is coached to look after the ball and that will usually mean recyling it back and across.

Much of the skill in his game is knowing when to take the full back on,when to go searching,when to make runs inside plus of course the obvious role he has in maintaining possession.I would 100% agree for him to be at his best he needs to be able to roam and the team needs to be able to accomodate that as it does with Silva and Nasri.

Watching the game last night it was evident to me that we have some players who are superb in looking after the ball and some who are not.I though Nasri's first touch and ball retention were very good and what we don't see enough of from him is real attacking intent. Silva is obviously exceptional and even in his average games he still shows a lot of class.I cant quite see why Mancini doesnt give AJ more games where he gets more licence to roam unless he feels he simply loses the ball too often and then uis missing in the defensive shape he demands for the team.

With Mario missing again I would expect to see him given more game time and will watch to see how is allowed to play.

[The Original Special One]

I was just thinking about this, inspired by F365's World Cup/Euro England squad ladder.....who is impressing at the moment and who is below par.

I would say that our form table looks something like this:

Performing well
Micah Richards
Joe Hart
James Milner
Gael Clichy
Gareth Barry


Above average
David Silva
Joleon Lescott
Mario Balotelli
Pablo Zabaleta
Sergio Aguero


Average
Edin Dzeko
Nigel de Jong (but moving upwards)
Samir Nasri


Below average
Aleks Kolarov
Adam Johnson


Poor
Stefan Savic
Owen Hargreaves (by virtue of not being able to play much part, disappointing so far)


Doing this showed me a couple of things:
a) our squad is really thin currently
b) we really are missing the drive and stability Vincent and Yaya give us
c) i have no idea how we best should use Nasri, what his best position and role is. He was way too deep at points last night and always seemed generally too far from the ball
d) if some of our talented underachievers start to hit decent form I think we will start to pull away from everyone. It's just a case of getting through the next couple of weeks still in good shape points-wise even if performances aren't great
e) considering that none of our strikers looks that sharp/deadly at the moment, we're not doing half bad and nor are they in terms of goals. If they start to get really into the groove at some point it is a terrifying thought!

Clichy?