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just a heads up, hes on 4 yellow cards, one tommorrow will put him out for the Stoke game, the game where we need him most.

For as much as I love De Jong I do wonder whether him being out of the side may force Mancini's hand and play more attacking football.

At Barca YaYa Toure played as a deep lying midfielder who would drop in to make three central defenders when the full backs had bombed forward. Now that Kolarov and Boateng are fit this would be an ideal way to play. For me our full backs this season have been too defensive with Zaba being the best at making passes in the opposition half. Looking at the Guardian chalkboards AShley Cole make 70 - 80% of his passes in the opposition half whereas Bridge, Lescott and Richards have made 35 - 45% of passes in the oppostion half. The system Mancini wants to play with inverted wingers relies on attacking full backs. At the same time the Full backs have to be confident that when they go up the pitch there is cover in case the move breaks down.

De Jong being suspended would also allow Milner to go into the centre of midfield rather than up top where his lack of pace is exposed.

pieboy wrote:For as much as I love De Jong I do wonder whether him being out of the side may force Mancini's hand and play more attacking football.

At Barca YaYa Toure played as a deep lying midfielder who would drop in to make three central defenders when the full backs had bombed forward. Now that Kolarov and Boateng are fit this would be an ideal way to play. For me our full backs this season have been too defensive with Zaba being the best at making passes in the opposition half. Looking at the Guardian chalkboards AShley Cole make 70 - 80% of his passes in the opposition half whereas Bridge, Lescott and Richards have made 35 - 45% of passes in the oppostion half. The system Mancini wants to play with inverted wingers relies on attacking full backs. At the same time the Full backs have to be confident that when they go up the pitch there is cover in case the move breaks down.

De Jong being suspended would also allow Milner to go into the centre of midfield rather than up top where his lack of pace is exposed.

We shouldn't need the loss of Nige due to suspension to prompt Bobby to field a more attacking line up. The exclusion of Barry from the starting line up, due to lack of contribution, would do that.

I imagine Nigel is one of the 1st names on the teamsheet when he is available and i couldn't argue with that. Has been one of our best players this season and I would rather see Barry hooked or Yaya.

pieboy wrote:For as much as I love De Jong I do wonder whether him being out of the side may force Mancini's hand and play more attacking football.

At Barca YaYa Toure played as a deep lying midfielder who would drop in to make three central defenders when the full backs had bombed forward. Now that Kolarov and Boateng are fit this would be an ideal way to play. For me our full backs this season have been too defensive with Zaba being the best at making passes in the opposition half. Looking at the Guardian chalkboards AShley Cole make 70 - 80% of his passes in the opposition half whereas Bridge, Lescott and Richards have made 35 - 45% of passes in the oppostion half. The system Mancini wants to play with inverted wingers relies on attacking full backs. At the same time the Full backs have to be confident that when they go up the pitch there is cover in case the move breaks down.

De Jong being suspended would also allow Milner to go into the centre of midfield rather than up top where his lack of pace is exposed.

The loss of deJong coincided with the worst football and performances we have had all season, so i hope you are right if it comes to it and Mancini has learnt from what happened last time.

De Jong is a greatly improved player this season and I reckon we would miss him against anyone. I do think he would be missed less against Stolke than some though, they don't play the ball through the middle very much they either run it down the wings or more commonly hit long balls over the top for their forwards or occasionally wingers to get. Midfield is often by passed so de Jongs skills in tackling and breaking up play here would be missed less than against teams who play it more through midfield.

Can he take Barry with him? Cheers.