Sterling’s finishing

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We are almost a perfect football team;
Our keepers are are solid & Eddie can at times be a playmaker from the back.
Our central defence is about as solid as any central defence can be.
Our full backsare defenders, midfielders or wingers, depending on what the phase of play calls for.
Our official midfield is mobile, fluid and extremely creative.......then
Then we come to the three ballerinas....Sterling, Mahrez & Jesus.

Occasional glimpses of magic, particularly from Mahrez are offset by all them seeking perfection. The perfect shot that never comes. The perfect opening that immediately gets closed down. All of them need that unecessary extra touch that then seems to need a 2nd and/or a 3rd & 4th extra touch, all ensuring that any chance has gone.
Our ballerinas act as a self imposed road block to many of our attacking moves.
Conclusion; they will score and for many, that seems to paper over the cracks, but time and time again they block chances.

Spot on John
I would only add that those 3 ballerinas can kind of get away with tippy toesing around for most of the games IF they deliver just the once for a goal. But that just masks how expensive they are to the team generally. Gab and Sterling do contribute in work rate to be fair.

Last night with all three on at once just highlighted their defects in creating chances. Not going past defenders despite having the pace, not keeping the play moving enough due mainly to not good enough decision making fast enough. They are regularly underperforming from their best.
Can Pep continue to improve that out of them ?

Also Kev helps them when he plays as he glues them all together with his passing and vision and speed of thought.

For me all three of them need to go back to getting the basics right, starting with positioning, like someone pointed out about Foden giving himself a little space to get a start.

We completely smothered them last night, Sterling and Jesus are integral to that high press. On the ball Jesus was fine apart from his dithering when he did brilliantly to intercept that pass and create a chance for himself, Sterling was piss poor with the ball last night but we need to look at the bigger picture, yes criticise for where they went wrong but recognise the qualities they bring too.

[carl_feedthegoat]

We are almost a perfect football team;
Our keepers are are solid & Eddie can at times be a playmaker from the back.
Our central defence is about as solid as any central defence can be.
Our full backsare defenders, midfielders or wingers, depending on what the phase of play calls for.
Our official midfield is mobile, fluid and extremely creative.......then
Then we come to the three ballerinas....Sterling, Mahrez & Jesus.

Occasional glimpses of magic, particularly from Mahrez are offset by all them seeking perfection. The perfect shot that never comes. The perfect opening that immediately gets closed down. All of them need that unecessary extra touch that then seems to need a 2nd and/or a 3rd & 4th extra touch, all ensuring that any chance has gone.
Our ballerinas act as a self imposed road block to many of our attacking moves.
Conclusion; they will score and for many, that seems to paper over the cracks, but time and time again they block chances.

Spot on John
I would only add that those 3 ballerinas can kind of get away with tippy toesing around for most of the games IF they deliver just the once for a goal. But that just masks how expensive they are to the team generally. Gab and Sterling do contribute in work rate to be fair.

Last night with all three on at once just highlighted their defects in creating chances. Not going past defenders despite having the pace, not keeping the play moving enough due mainly to not good enough decision making fast enough. They are regularly underperforming from their best.
Can Pep continue to improve that out of them ?

Also Kev helps them when he plays as he glues them all together with his passing and vision and speed of thought.

For me all three of them need to go back to getting the basics right, starting with positioning, like someone pointed out about Foden giving himself a little space to get a start.

We completely smothered them last night, Sterling and Jesus are integral to that high press. On the ball Jesus was fine apart from his dithering when he did brilliantly to intercept that pass and create a chance for himself, Sterling was piss poor with the ball last night but we need to look at the bigger picture, yes criticise for where they went wrong but recognise the qualities they bring too.

We are busy slating his shit qualities at the moment.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Pep Guardiola warned his forwards that Manchester City must kill teams off more efficiently in the Champions League despite swatting away Borussia Monchengladbach.

'We were not clinical enough up front,' Guardiola said. 'Not clinical enough in the actions one against one with the keeper and defenders. We have to be better."'

'It's something we have to improve in this competition. We don't have much margin in Europe. When you are one on one, three on two, you have to at least the keeper make a save.We created a lot of chances in the final third, we committed their central defenders and we have to finish better.'That (the defensive unit) is why we have won 19 games in a row,' Guardiola added. 'Today we did everything good but didn't dribble and shoot [properly] and that's what we have to improve in the next three days.'

[john68]

We completely smothered them last night, Sterling and Jesus are integral to that high press. On the ball Jesus was fine apart from his dithering when he did brilliantly to intercept that pass and create a chance for himself, Sterling was piss poor with the ball last night but we need to look at the bigger picture, yes criticise for where they went wrong but recognise the qualities they bring too.

I agree with all of that......but their prime responsibilities are to ensure that we score goals and/or they feed someone who will.
From defence through midfield our team works tirelessly to seek out openings and move the ball into positions we can create chances from.
It is when the ball reaches our 3 ballerinas that far too often moves break down.

Far, far too often we have got the ball into the final 3rd only for moves to stop or break down.
The dithering, not only of Jesus, but all three of them is at the point that they are employed to take up their prime responsibilities.

A bit like Eddie being able to kick long balls upfield to feed our strikers but being unable to do his own required job of saving shots.

[carl_feedthegoat]

We are almost a perfect football team;
Our keepers are are solid & Eddie can at times be a playmaker from the back.
Our central defence is about as solid as any central defence can be.
Our full backsare defenders, midfielders or wingers, depending on what the phase of play calls for.
Our official midfield is mobile, fluid and extremely creative.......then
Then we come to the three ballerinas....Sterling, Mahrez & Jesus.

Occasional glimpses of magic, particularly from Mahrez are offset by all them seeking perfection. The perfect shot that never comes. The perfect opening that immediately gets closed down. All of them need that unecessary extra touch that then seems to need a 2nd and/or a 3rd & 4th extra touch, all ensuring that any chance has gone.
Our ballerinas act as a self imposed road block to many of our attacking moves.
Conclusion; they will score and for many, that seems to paper over the cracks, but time and time again they block chances.

Spot on John
I would only add that those 3 ballerinas can kind of get away with tippy toesing around for most of the games IF they deliver just the once for a goal. But that just masks how expensive they are to the team generally. Gab and Sterling do contribute in work rate to be fair.

Last night with all three on at once just highlighted their defects in creating chances. Not going past defenders despite having the pace, not keeping the play moving enough due mainly to not good enough decision making fast enough. They are regularly underperforming from their best.
Can Pep continue to improve that out of them ?

Also Kev helps them when he plays as he glues them all together with his passing and vision and speed of thought.

For me all three of them need to go back to getting the basics right, starting with positioning, like someone pointed out about Foden giving himself a little space to get a start.

We completely smothered them last night, Sterling and Jesus are integral to that high press. On the ball Jesus was fine apart from his dithering when he did brilliantly to intercept that pass and create a chance for himself, Sterling was piss poor with the ball last night but we need to look at the bigger picture, yes criticise for where they went wrong but recognise the qualities they bring too.

Just read PePs comments for fucks sake......hes pointing out the obvious that some of us have already pointed out.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

We completely smothered them last night, Sterling and Jesus are integral to that high press. On the ball Jesus was fine apart from his dithering when he did brilliantly to intercept that pass and create a chance for himself, Sterling was piss poor with the ball last night but we need to look at the bigger picture, yes criticise for where they went wrong but recognise the qualities they bring too.

I agree with all of that......but their prime responsibilities are to ensure that we score goals and/or they feed someone who will.
From defence through midfield our team works tirelessly to seek out openings and move the ball into positions we can create chances from.
It is when the ball reaches our 3 ballerinas that far too often moves break down.

Far, far too often we have got the ball into the final 3rd only for moves to stop or break down.
The dithering, not only of Jesus, but all three of them is at the point that they are employed to take up their prime responsibilities.

A bit like Eddie being able to kick long balls upfield to feed our strikers but being unable to do his own required job of saving shots.

That's fair John, balanced.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Pep Guardiola warned his forwards that Manchester City must kill teams off more efficiently in the Champions League despite swatting away Borussia Monchengladbach.

'We were not clinical enough up front,' Guardiola said. 'Not clinical enough in the actions one against one with the keeper and defenders. We have to be better."'

'It's something we have to improve in this competition. We don't have much margin in Europe. When you are one on one, three on two, you have to at least the keeper make a save.We created a lot of chances in the final third, we committed their central defenders and we have to finish better.'That (the defensive unit) is why we have won 19 games in a row,' Guardiola added. 'Today we did everything good but didn't dribble and shoot [properly] and that's what we have to improve in the next three days.'

How many times? We do have a finishing problem THIS season, I repeat,we do have a finishing problem THIS season.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Pep Guardiola warned his forwards that Manchester City must kill teams off more efficiently in the Champions League despite swatting away Borussia Monchengladbach.

'We were not clinical enough up front,' Guardiola said. 'Not clinical enough in the actions one against one with the keeper and defenders. We have to be better."'

'It's something we have to improve in this competition. We don't have much margin in Europe. When you are one on one, three on two, you have to at least the keeper make a save.We created a lot of chances in the final third, we committed their central defenders and we have to finish better.'That (the defensive unit) is why we have won 19 games in a row,' Guardiola added. 'Today we did everything good but didn't dribble and shoot [properly] and that's what we have to improve in the next three days.'

How many times? We do have a finishing problem THIS season, I repeat,we do have a finishing problem THIS season.

We also had a finishing problem in many games last season...PeP said so...he also repeated it many times.
Are you saying he is wrong ? its just this season ?

Just for clarification.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Pep Guardiola warned his forwards that Manchester City must kill teams off more efficiently in the Champions League despite swatting away Borussia Monchengladbach.

'We were not clinical enough up front,' Guardiola said. 'Not clinical enough in the actions one against one with the keeper and defenders. We have to be better."'

'It's something we have to improve in this competition. We don't have much margin in Europe. When you are one on one, three on two, you have to at least the keeper make a save.We created a lot of chances in the final third, we committed their central defenders and we have to finish better.'That (the defensive unit) is why we have won 19 games in a row,' Guardiola added. 'Today we did everything good but didn't dribble and shoot [properly] and that's what we have to improve in the next three days.'

How many times? We do have a finishing problem THIS season, I repeat,we do have a finishing problem THIS season.

We also had a finishing problem in many games last season...PeP said so...he also repeated it many times.

Yep, it was a lot worse last season than previous seasons (as I've also acknowledged previously). Tickle has been banging this drum for years now, just because we're struggling in this regard now doesn't mean Tickle was right all along, like he seems to believe it does.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Pep Guardiola warned his forwards that Manchester City must kill teams off more efficiently in the Champions League despite swatting away Borussia Monchengladbach.

'We were not clinical enough up front,' Guardiola said. 'Not clinical enough in the actions one against one with the keeper and defenders. We have to be better."'

'It's something we have to improve in this competition. We don't have much margin in Europe. When you are one on one, three on two, you have to at least the keeper make a save.We created a lot of chances in the final third, we committed their central defenders and we have to finish better.'That (the defensive unit) is why we have won 19 games in a row,' Guardiola added. 'Today we did everything good but didn't dribble and shoot [properly] and that's what we have to improve in the next three days.'

How many times? We do have a finishing problem THIS season, I repeat,we do have a finishing problem THIS season.

We also had a finishing problem in many games last season...PeP said so...he also repeated it many times.

Yep, it was a lot worse last season than previous seasons (as I've also acknowledged previously). Tickle has been banging this drum for years now, just because we're struggling in this regard now doesn't mean Tickle was right all along, like he seems to believe it does.

See it wasn't hard was it !!!

Once we get a decent striker in we can take any responsibility away from Sterling so that he can focus on passing the ball instead of trying to fuck up a goal scoring chance.
Jesus just needs to be sold or be our 3 rd choice forward - Delap needs his chance at number 2 forward IMO.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

I've said it numerous times before Carl, perhaps if you stopped frothing and read you'd be aware of that.

I don't think we need to get rid of Jesus, just have to get him back finishing like he was when he first came.

[carl_feedthegoat]

:lol:

I've said it numerous times before Carl, perhaps if you stopped frothing and read you'd be aware of that.

I don't think we need to get rid of Jesus, just have to get him back finishing like he was when he first came.

You literally just said... ''we have a finishing problem THIS season....I repeat THIS season"" hahahhahaha.

Hes been here 4 years and hes gotten worse.

[Foreverinbluedreams]

:lol:

I've said it numerous times before Carl, perhaps if you stopped frothing and read you'd be aware of that.

I don't think we need to get rid of Jesus, just have to get him back finishing like he was when he first came.

You literally just said... ''we have a finishing problem THIS season....I repeat THIS season"" hahahhahaha.

Hes been here 4 years and hes gotten worse.

Yep, I don't know how many times I need to say this. Our finishing was worse last season than it was in previous seasons, I have said this before, it started to become an issue for us last season and it has gotten worse this season with Debruyne joining those that get the yips in front of goal.

[stupot]

Total over the top bollocks being spouted about Jesus.
He missed 1 easy chance last night, he scored 1. He played well in my opinion and also in Martin Samuels if you read his ratings.
His Champions League goal record with us is 16 in 27 games and as already pointed out on here he's scored in all 5 last 16 games he's played in.
Why must wanting Haaland mean getting rid of Jesus.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Total over the top bollocks being spouted about Jesus.
He missed 1 easy chance last night, he scored 1. He played well in my opinion and also in Martin Samuels if you read his ratings.
His Champions League goal record with us is 16 in 27 games and as already pointed out on here he's scored in all 5 last 16 games he's played in.
Why must wanting Haaland mean getting rid of Jesus.

MS - Best sports writer out there
Cannot miss easy chances at this level.....PeP bangs on about this all the time.
Maybe getting rid of JG is to balance the financials but I also said we could keep him but also allow Delap to be allowed to compete for the number 2 spot next season.

[Hazy2]

Jesus is frustrating but at 23 binning him no not for me, his work rate is there and flashes of top class work for us.

[PeterParker]

I wonder what Brazil did wrong when they went from Romario & Ronaldo to Jesus & Firmino

[carl_feedthegoat]

I wonder what Brazil did wrong when they went from Romario & Ronaldo to Jesus & Firmino

Looked up some stats .

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Say what you like, but in the next 12 months Raheem will almost certainly be on the list of top 10 all time great goalscorers for City amongst exalted company like club legends Gillespie, Bell and Lee. That affords him a certain amount of respect.

[Hazy2]

Say what you like, but in the next 12 months Raheem will almost certainly be on the list of top 10 all time great goalscorers for City amongst exalted company like club legends Gillespie, Bell and Lee. That affords him a certain amount of respect.

100% this. I would add he has been nothing short of incredible since he left the vermin to join us. I hope we seem here for a long time, warts and all.