Up Front

[brite blu sky]

Having got it right and dragged ourselves back into the chase for top spots, Mancini now has his work cut out. As we all know and Bobby knows and the players know, it is all well and good getting results v the top squads it is what happens in between.

If we had a few doubts over some of our players ability to get stuck in and their ability to play as a collective, the progress over the last few games should have put those doubts to bed.

There do remain doubts as to Bobby's ability to set us up to crack open stubborn defensive teams. You could argue that the new players needing some time to settle in and the lack of a fit and decent Striker are the main factors. While we can take those things into consideration the fact remains that it is at the front where there is work to do.

The next two league games are are crucial, but imo they are both teams that will favour us slightly as they will naively try and play football perhaps more than experienced prem teams would.

Still it remains that Mancini must find a combination that is able to pull defences about more than what we have seen so far. The easy answer is Adebayor and it is time for him to get his arse into gear and do something for the team. His presence alone is enough to put doubts in CBs minds if we are throwing in crosses as we did on Sat v Chelsea, he is enough to occupy the mind of one CB and at least one eye of the other.. so leaving the space that the little ones can thrive on.

Mancini has to get Ade wound up and into the team..

[john68]

I never had any doubt that we were a quality side and could compete with the top clubs. Many clubs can get themselvers up for the bigger games and set a standard. The problem we have had in prevous seasons and the one we need to eradicate, is our mentality against the lower clubs and/or those clubs that shut up shop and stop us playing.
It is those games when we find out how much our team has gelled and to what extent.

Not sure about Ade being the man though. We may be looking at Ballotelli as the main man to create the space up front. I also think that Silva (aka Villa) will have the ability to move defenders and create space...Tevez could think it's his birthday.

[brite blu sky]

I never had any doubt that we were a quality side and could compete with the top clubs. Many clubs can get themselvers up for the bigger games and set a standard. The problem we have had in prevous seasons and the one we need to eradicate, is our mentality against the lower clubs and/or those clubs that shut up shop and stop us playing.
It is those games when we find out how much our team has gelled and to what extent.

Not sure about Ade being the man though. We may be looking at Ballotelli as the main man to create the space up front. I also think that Silva (aka Villa) will have the ability to move defenders and create space...Tevez could think it's his birthday.

C'mon we all know Ade can do it, the whole world knows Ade can do it.. whether he will is a different matter and all important. While we are waiting for Balotelli to get fit we need Ade to get his head right and even when Mario is back we could still do with a committed Adebayor.
We put a fair few crosses in v Chelsea and it warrants someone in the box for the CBs to worry about.. then Silva and Tevez can both have birthdays on the same day.

The concern is the need to take the points in the games until Balotelli is able to come and mix it up and young Villa really gets up to his tricky best. imo if Ade doesn't step it up right now he is a gonner, as he is letting the side down.

[Renato_CTID]

We need only one player fit for me to become a more offensive squad: Mario Balotelli!

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Will Balotelli definitely play when he is fit? I assume yes and alongside Tevez in one formation or another. Assuming also that Mancini will also play 2 "holding" players in say Barry and Nigel it leaves just 2 places between Yaya,AJ,Silva and Milner. Interesting times ahead.

[brite blu sky]

Interesting times for sure. I dont imagine that we will ever have a settled first11 under Mancini.. always changing things in reference to the opposition. But it is the lesser teams that we have yet to show clearly that we know how to crack them open.

In some ways being too strong in midfield can hinder us by compressing the opposition a bit too much. In those kind of games surely at some point Bobby will elect to do without deJong, or one of Barry /Yaya and have the extra threat in the oppositions area.

[Lev Bronstein]

Having two fit, attacking full backs will help the cause.

[brite blu sky]

Having two fit, attacking full backs will help the cause.

Boateng is nearly there... might play v Juve. Kolarov cant be that far away from a return to training, he was injured on the 14th August thats 6 weeks ago.

With those two back we are likely to firing even more crosses in.. and while we are sure to convert a few we look like we are still going be waiting for Mario to be the one that defences are going to worrying about.

Has everyone given up on Adebayor ?

[ronk]

Has everyone given up on Adebayor ?

No

[john68]

I don't think anyone has given up on Ade BBs. Maybe Ade has though. He seems to have dropped down the pecking order and I think he can see that and feels the need to go elswhere to revive his career.

Personally, I would be happy for him to stay if he gets back to form and does a job for us but i think the die has been cast and he will eventually go. That may not be a bad thing as with our resources, I can see us going for a top class replacement, if any available, in the Jan window.

How times have changed eh!...Not long ago we would have been worried to death at the loss of a player like Ade. Now we can stand it and probably improve on it.

Good times.

[brite blu sky]

I don't think anyone has given up on Ade BBs. Maybe Ade has though. He seems to have dropped down the pecking order and I think he can see that and feels the need to go elswhere to revive his career.

Personally, I would be happy for him to stay if he gets back to form and does a job for us but i think the die has been cast and he will eventually go. That may not be a bad thing as with our resources, I can see us going for a top class replacement, if any available, in the Jan window.

How times have changed eh!...Not long ago we would have been worried to death at the loss of a player like Ade. Now we can stand it and probably improve on it.

Good times.

That sounds to me suspiciously like having given up on him ;)

Have to say that i agree though and it was only the training report form Friday saying Ade was all but unplayable that made me think, ok maybe he has decided to put the effort in to claw his way back into the side. Tbh it is now or never, as soon as Balotelli shows up Ade is looking like he will just be collecting dust.

[maf]

I've not given up on Adebayor , it just looks like the teams moved on and he's not kept up . I feel it will take some very dedicated performances on his part before he's back in the fold . Tevez has set a benchmark that the rest of team seemed to be following on saturday and I'm not sure Adebayor's heads in the right place to do the same .

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Adebayor has the ability to be a quality player at any level and the rest is in his head. IF he can get his head around not playing all the time AND maybe not being first choice when the big games come along he will be a great player to have around. IF not he might just be a liability in the squad and changing room that Mancini doesnt want around.It was great that Ade looked good in training at the end of last week and I have seen him like that before.I got the feeling that he was desperate to impress and get the call for the Chelsea game.I just hope that being made sub won't have a big negative effect on him.

As for Nigel I think the situtaion is the opposite. I feel he is a definite starter for Mancini for the big games and will only miss games ( be rested)when it is felt we can afford to do without him. No doubt Nigel is happy with that.

[brite blu sky]

After reading the training report on Friday i was thinking the same thing, also that he might get the nod to start, but i was also hoping that he didn't.. and was quite pleased that Bob just put him on the bench.. the reason being that Ade cant just show up in training when he wants to play and then shrink back to 'normality' when he doesn't, that is just not good enough. I hope he sees that and fights like hell for the rest of the week to get a start v Juve. So it is going to be interesting whether he actually does that or not. If he doesn't, he can forget it in my book.

By the way Doug have you spoken recently to anyone concerning Kolarov's injury, progress.. return ?

[DoomMerchant]

Adebayor has the ability to be a quality player at any level and the rest is in his head. IF he can get his head around not playing all the time AND maybe not being first choice when the big games come along he will be a great player to have around. IF not he might just be a liability in the squad and changing room that Mancini doesnt want around.It was great that Ade looked good in training at the end of last week and I have seen him like that before.I got the feeling that he was desperate to impress and get the call for the Chelsea game.I just hope that being made sub won't have a big negative effect on him.

As for Nigel I think the situtaion is the opposite. I feel he is a definite starter for Mancini for the big games and will only miss games ( be rested)when it is felt we can afford to do without him. No doubt Nigel is happy with that.

as you said in your training reports (or someone on your behalf since you were slacking maybe? ;) ) Ade seemed unplayable in the buildup to the Chelsea match. I think given his role in the match we can cue a long several months of transfer garbage. I don't think he'll feature for Mancini because of his attitude no matter how hard he works. This is another case like Bellamy where the quality is there, but for whatever reason the player can't bring himself to either train or play like Mancini is asking, or is so disruptive in the process that it's not worth the risk.

It's a shame because i love Ade. i think he's got bags of talent, and has proven qualities in spades which people only suspect Mario of having consistently. Dunno why everyone is willing to lick Mario's ballsack when he's done fuckall, and Ade's proven himself a Premier League top talent for years on end. Even last season his strike rate was like better than 1 in 2 matches he started wasn't it? Who could complain about that? But many on here do...stunning to me.

Yes, Ade can go missing in matches when he gets muscled out by a strong CB or isn't getting service. Many top forwards are erratic when they and/or their teammates are off their game. Nothing revelatory about that.

cheers

[AlpsMaster]

I don't want to give up an Ade as I've got his name on my shirt!

[Ted Hughes]

We need 1 of two things re strikers: Ade to get his shit together & figure regularly or Ade to fuck off out of the way & be replaced by another srtiker. We can't run Tevez into the ground like we did with him & Bellamy last season, he needs resting regularly to keep him sharp for the big late season games. Balotelli can be fantastic but we still need more players involved as the Prem is hard work.

The crosses we put in on Saturday btw, wouldn't have been any use if we'd had Wyn Davies stood on Joe Royle's shoulders, they were, as always, a piss poor waste of time. The only decent cross was Milner's near post one to Tevez, which Terry blocked. That's something else we need to sort out as we are by far the worst in the league at delivering any kind of ball from wide. Even Arsenal do it better than us now. It's a crucial part of English Prem Lg football.

If we get 3 or 4 functioning strikers, we can play 2 or even 3 of them v the lesser teams & rotate the midfield to suit. Balotelli is more than just a centre forward, as is Tevez, so there's no reason 3 can't play together in some games in a genuine 4-3-3 with Barry Milner, Nige, or Yaya etc behind & 2 attacking fullbacks. We can also play Balotelli on the left of an attacking 4-2-3-1, with Silva/AJ, Tevez, Ade, SWP. It's purely a matter of attitude. At the moment we're being deliberately cautious in every way. Hopefully in the future we'll change tactics, line-up depending on the quality of opposition & start attacking the lesser teams.

[Dameerto]

Chelsea seemed to outjump us every time they had a setpiece against us too, which was causing me some concern.

[Ted Hughes]

Chelsea seemed to outjump us every time they had a setpiece against us too, which was causing me some concern.

They were going into the spaces between our defenders & getting free headers, a problem we've passed on from one manager/defence/system to another. Rags, Everton, Spurs, Stoke etc etc score against us every year with similar moves as did Chelsea in the past.

[Blue Since 76]

Think we're struggling against lesser teams as we've been missing 5 attacking options - kolarov, boateng, balotelli, adebayor and silva. The line up has therefore looked overly defensive in some games. Silva is now looking up to pace, ade is fit and boateng is nearly there. Hopefully, we'll see a difference, as we have 4 very winnable league games in October