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in some games this season i have noticed that we are trying to walk the ball in the goal, now im not having a go but why dont some of our players have a go if they are 20-25 yrds out, i know that if we have 10-15 passes and score from 10yds out it will look great, but sometimes i wish a player would have a go

Unfortunately that player that has a go only ever seems to be yaya, oh except for johnson and aguero and dzeko

It's easy to get the balance wrong when you have so many talented players. Bob has to get them focussed on actually scoring & sometimes putting the ball into dangerous areas rather than trying to be perfect all the time.

From what I remember from MOTD last night (after several beers ) Balo appeared to have several goes from distance? Also Dzeko isn't afraid to try from far.

CTID Hants wrote:From what I remember from MOTD last night (after several beers ) Balo appeared to have several goes from distance? Also Dzeko isn't afraid to try from far.

But in the 1st half we were just knocking the ball around without much purpose, being nice & neat but ineffective. They told the players to use the width of the pitch & move the ball quicker 2nd half & we looked much better.

I think so far we have seen Aguero, Dzeko, Barry, Hargreaves and hargreaves score from outside the area.

Silva and yaya shoot alot, i wish yaya wouldn't though.

Milner and balo both do aswell when there on the pitch.

Well it depends who's shooting. If there's better options then it's silly to shoot from far. However yesterday for the Nasri goal, Silva really should of shot beforehand.

It's called keeping the ball.

If the shot isnt quite on, keep the ball up that end, put pressure on, draw free kicks, mistakes, penalties, corners etc.

I'm all for it. Although I know what you mean, sometimes it has felt like we don't just shoot, but infact, we do!

Is it overplaying or is it being patient? The only situation where i think we overplayed yesterday was the Nasri goal but even then on looking at it again I thought Silva was probably right to pass again rather than try to nutmeg Robinson which looked like his othere option.
The first half pass and pass stuff i think was all about being patient but unfortunately lacked the pace it needed.I felt from the start of the 2nd half we upped the tempo a little and it made the difference even though it needed 2 pieces of high skill to bring the first goals.

I have to say actually.....and this feels quite odd.....but its a pretty big sign to me of just how much we have developed as a side that we look entirely comfortable in (as DH says) being patient and playing our style of football and gradually imposing it on the game and getting control.

At no point in the first 50 minutes did I think that the goal wouldn't come (and, equally that when it did come that others wouldnt follow).

Even against Bayern, if we had got the goal our first 30 minutes warranted I am convinced that the result would have been vastly different.

As a City fan it's difficult to have the faith that we have the plan and personnel to do the above but increasingly I am confident that we do and will.

One thing we have changed and changed in a big way (I was whining about this to a mate of mine and then the next game it all seemed to just stop !) is Hart passing the ball to a City player instead of booting it up field......he does this 90% of the time now I'm happy to see.

Over time they need to learn to mix it up some. Looks to me that they are learning a basic method for a base pattern of play. i'd expect them to bolt on more stuff to this over the course of this season.

First half and in other games, they look almost trying to be too careful.. like they are learning something by getting it right. When told they don't need to and speed it up and open it up, they looked more relaxed and spontaneous and better.

My guess is they are aware they are still learning this so to speak and soon enough we will see it faster and more mixed up with other plays, more crosses and cut backs, more direct balls perhaps, and more running at defences and through defences.. i hope.

brite blu sky wrote:Over time they need to learn to mix it up some. Looks to me that they are learning a basic method for a base pattern of play. i'd expect them to bolt on more stuff to this over the course of this season.

First half and in other games, they look almost trying to be too careful.. like they are learning something by getting it right. When told they don't need to and speed it up and open it up, they looked more relaxed and spontaneous and better.

My guess is they are aware they are still learning this so to speak and soon enough we will see it faster and more mixed up with other plays, more crosses and cut backs, more direct balls perhaps, and more running at defences and through defences.. i hope.

The trouble with the so called 'patient' stuff 1st half was that it wasn't actually patient, it was just unimaginitive. Almost all of the moves ended up with a really shit 'hit it & hope' pass. When we played quick one twos out wide, we nearly scored two goals. The so called patient stuff was, imo, down to a lack of ideas & just passing because they couldn't think of anything else to do.

Ted Hughes wrote:

brite blu sky wrote:Over time they need to learn to mix it up some. Looks to me that they are learning a basic method for a base pattern of play. i'd expect them to bolt on more stuff to this over the course of this season.

First half and in other games, they look almost trying to be too careful.. like they are learning something by getting it right. When told they don't need to and speed it up and open it up, they looked more relaxed and spontaneous and better.

My guess is they are aware they are still learning this so to speak and soon enough we will see it faster and more mixed up with other plays, more crosses and cut backs, more direct balls perhaps, and more running at defences and through defences.. i hope.

The trouble with the so called 'patient' stuff 1st half was that it wasn't actually patient, it was just unimaginitive. Almost all of the moves ended up with a really shit 'hit it & hope' pass. When we played quick one twos out wide, we nearly scored two goals. The so called patient stuff was, imo, down to a lack of ideas & just passing because they couldn't think of anything else to do.

To me, the potency is quality balls into the box, Nasri has provede this, Clichy isn't quiet as good but defo better than Karolov crossing, on the right, where still weak, when Yaya's playing more advanced we seem to do better.....So the RHS is where we need to improve. One things for sure, quality balls into the box with this team will produce quality goals

While it can occasionally look like we are over complicating things, lets not forget that we have scored 19 in 6 so far so whatever we are doing, it is working. More and more teams are going to park the bus making direct football nigh on impossible. The fact that we have scored as many as we have despite teams like everton playing five at the back with midfielders dropping in to make it 6 or 7 shows the benefit of a more patient approach.

BobbyDazzler wrote:While it can occasionally look like we are over complicating things, lets not forget that we have scored 19 in 6 so far so whatever we are doing, it is working. More and more teams are going to park the bus making direct football nigh on impossible. The fact that we have scored as many as we have despite teams like everton playing five at the back with midfielders dropping in to make it 6 or 7 shows the benefit of a more patient approach.

ooooooooooor we have scored 23 in 7, you do know we played yesterday, right?

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:Is it overplaying or is it being patient? The only situation where i think we overplayed yesterday was the Nasri goal but even then on looking at it again I thought Silva was probably right to pass again rather than try to nutmeg Robinson which looked like his othere option.
The first half pass and pass stuff i think was all about being patient but unfortunately lacked the pace it needed.I felt from the start of the 2nd half we upped the tempo a little and it made the difference even though it needed 2 pieces of high skill to bring the first goals.

Defo agree with this,rather have the ball and be patient than rush it and lose possession.
We should have kept the ball for 90 minutes against Munich,if only.

In the last three games it has been more apparent, there were moment in the Fulham game where had someone just taken the plunge and shot on sight it might have made us three points and not one. Balo likes to take a pop though!!!

I hate to 'do a Rag Hater' here and talk about statistics ......... but ALL the statistics available prove that all the top teams in European football (including the premier league) are the teams who keep possession in the final, attacking third of the field. So, in that respect, we are doing the right thing.

I would agree though that we need to 'mix it up' occasionally to stop our opponents second guessing us. And I would definitely agree with other posters in this thread that we need to play our one and two touch stuff less ponderously.

I'd rather keep possession and score 4 goals than lose possession and concede 2.