Winning without Carlos...

[ayrshireblue]

I've said it before but the fact still remains that Tevez trusts himself more than any other player at the club. He doesn't pass when there is a chance to play someone else in and takes on the Hollywood shot which 9/10 times doesn't come off. Good player that he is I feel we would get on better with someone who plays for the team more than himself. The future isn't so bleak without Tevez as some would have you believe.

[mr_nool]

What a good thread amongst the 15 pages long ones and the ones where we all call each other cunts.

If Tevez indeed has played his last game for us, it will of course hit us hard. The little bugger has been immense this season and has saved us with his goals on numerous occasions.
However, I don't think it will be the end of the world or even of our title chances. Jo and Mario will have to step up to the plate until January, and I believe they can do it. If Yaya, Silva et al play like they did yesterday we can definitely keep up our winning streak until after Crimbo.

The discussion above about Tevez blocking the creativity and "stealing" the space of the attacking midfielder is a relevant one as well. I think this is what happened to Ireland last year (or the season before that was his RSC-ish purple patch). Yaya ure looked well up to filling the hole left when Tevez wasn't there to drop deep.

[Ted Hughes]

Well as we played yesterday & have in quite a few games recently, it's very very naive to start assuming everything is rosy attack wise because it's not. We have been in the lead for most of the time in most of those games against moderate to poor opposition. Lets see how it goes when we ask Jo & Balotelli to break down a packed defence when we're a goal down & whether the oppo catch us on the break when we start pushing players forward, rather than the other way around.

[Lev Bronstein]

I suppose that it's part of Bobby's plan that we never go a goal down.

[Florida Blue]

It is quite obvious that we have relied far too heavily on Carlos all through the 1st part of the season but most of that was played without Mario being available. Had this happened earlier in the season, we would have been royally fucled.
Recently Siva has come more to the fore, meaning that we now have a better chance of service to the front rather than the "having to got and fetch it...do it all myself" of Tevez. Mario has been lauded as the new striker on the block and this is his big chance to "expect to score"
Not as worried about this as I would have been a few weeks ago. We should (hopefully) have far too much in the tank for West Ham and a win with 3pts should be ours.

Again, looking positively at this, I wonder how much Tevez's running and dropping back actually stops other players using the space that he has taken up. With him not there, a chance for others like YaYa, Siva, Barry, to occupy that space, creating more chances.

Well said John. I am not sure if you guys get the exact same ESPN broadcast we get here, but Derek Rae and Macca covered the game, and the comment both made was how smoothly and interchangeable the front four of Mario, Silva, Jo and Yaya played. It was almost as if you could not really define the positions they were playing as they floated from wing-to-center and back. With that kind of flow and movement, you may be on to the drag Tevez is on the free flow up top. Great player, but I now believe he is replaceable, more so than earlier this season.

[Wooders]

I haven't really read this thread but all I would say is

It's probably quite important that we start doing it

oh we already have..

[avoidconfusion]

I haven't really read this thread but all I would say is

It's probably quite important that we start doing it

oh we already have..

Against West Ham... the worst team in the League at the moment.

If we beat Everton or a decent side like Spurs or Chelsea without Tevez then okay...

[Florida Blue]

I haven't really read this thread but all I would say is

It's probably quite important that we start doing it

oh we already have..

Against West Ham... the worst team in the League at the moment.

If we beat Everton or a decent side like Spurs or Chelsea without Tevez then okay...

Rather cynical mate. We were on the road, we TOTALLY dominated. If anything it was the perfect venue for life after Carlos.

[brite blu sky]

Have been banging on about the danger of being over reliant on Tevez for some time. Now the day has come that his boots must filled in a Prem game. Either it will be confirmed that at present at least we struggle without him, or the direct opposite that in fact we have enough fire power and strength of will without him.
Mancini has laid down the challenge, the game is all important as all games are but with the extra incentive to close on our rivals. So the players have to step up at exactly the right time and they know it.
Can there be a bigger incentive to the rest of the team ? - i dont think so. I dont think they will be worried, in fact the opposite and i believe they will relish the space left by Carlito and go about proving a point. There is a big chance here for the squad to take that could be the catalyst to a kick start in the season. The timing is kind of perfect, the heat is on.

This thread was started before the current shit, but is possibly more relevant now. While there remains a good chance that things will get smoothed over for the time being and Tevez will continue to play, at some point sooner or later he wont be here.

This and the fact there are a few articles in the press now saying City have no chance of winning the title now, started me thinking in more detail about the situation without him.

I don't like others think that we should have the view of trying to replace Tevez with another Tevez. While the workrate is class, there are others that will make up for that. On the whole i would say that Tevez has grabbed us goals when we have been pretty poor. As we are improving as a team this is no longer as necessary as it was. If i had any criticism of Tevez it is that he hogs the ball and goes for his own glory of getting goals, thats admirable but it comes at a cost. David Silva has made a career at pulling strings and feeding other players, given more freedom he can do that more effectively i believe. In addition to that other forward mids and mids can get on the ball more and take responsibility of carrying the play forward, individually like Yaya or collectively as Barry did at WH. The arguement is that while effective Tevez also inhibits other players by coming deep and then not being an outlet further forward.

Another effect of this and something a bit difficult to pin down is that it seems to me that a lot of central strikers have trouble playing well with Tevez. Adebayor couldn't get any rhythm going with Tevez, Jo cant, Balotelli while not exactly impressing himself hasn't linked at all with Tevez in the few games they have played. Again the point being while a one man goal machine, he could just as much be fucking up the play of others as anything else.

Sooner or later we have to move on. My own belief is that eventually we will play better football without Tevez, more attractive and more potent.