Teams who sit back against us

[Original Dub]

I think we all know this is a problem for us and as I said in another thread, we're gaining experience of this for the first full season, so we will improve on it.

However, everyone seems to be missing the important thing about today.... Swansea didn't get behind the ball until after an hour or so and they had tired.

These cunts' style of football should have been our wet dream, if the defensive teams are our nightmare.

No, we got it arse about face today. We sat back when they were attacking us the whole first half instead of taking them on blow for blow. There is no doubt that Bob's plan was to wait for them to tire, but for fuck sake, that's what you do with a superior team.

We were attack attack attack from the start of the season and then Napoli and Bayern happened and it scared Bob. Fair enough, do not do this against the top sides.

But this was Swansea, no matter how much the media try to drill it in to our heads that its Barcelona.

[bluechester]

hate to say this but would like yo have seen tevez come on as sub, away game, you know he would give 100% might of been the ideal game for him

[Original Dub]

hate to say this but would like yo have seen tevez come on as sub, away game, you know he would give 100% might of been the ideal game for him

Well I suppose its covered in another thread, but he's a different kind of attacking threat to everything we have, so I suppose it would be silly to think he definitely wouldn't make a difference.

Mancini will use him if he's match fit for games against teams that have shut up shop.

As someone mentioned, he might end up saving mancini's job. I'd still want him gone in the summer, but I'm sure Bob has the same views on getting tevez available asap as I do.

[Ted Hughes]

Bob got the team wrong & waited too long to change it.

Tbf to him though, it shouldn't matter. Barry, DeJong, Yaya, Nasri, Silva & Balotelli should be good enough to pass the ball around & cause Swansea problems. The fact that he had to drop Yaya back into midfield to get us passing just shows how shit most of them played. Silva got off 8 successful passes 1st half. Balotelli got off 11 & he was playing up front on his own & marked. Unacceptable from Silva.

Silva & nasri should have been taking the ball from Barry & Co & building attacks, running the game. That's what they are for. The pair of them were fucking abysmal.

Re teams sitting back; what Napoli, West Brom & now Swansea did especially was to block the middle area edge of the box. It's desperate but it works. They know we have no conventional wide players so the danger will mostly come through the middle unless the fullbacks get free & even if they do; they are fullbacks.

I demand that Bob fixes that by the start of next season. If he doesn't I will become a Mancini outer.

Edit: just thinking about it though, Blackburn tried to do that & Bob pushed AJ right out wide on the right & Aguero and others took turns to be out wide on the left. Yaya kept swithcing the play & it pulled them to pieces. Why the fuck didn't Bob do that today ?

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

I agree with your point on today - but disagree with the teams sitting back issue. Many times this season we've gone on to hammer teams who have sat back after finding that first goal.

The real issue is the inability to play like we do at home away from home. Since the derby it's been well documented that the away form is lower midtable standard. Sunderland sat back yes, but WBA, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton did not. We had chances in these matches but lacked a ruthlessness in front of goal and got punished. Sunderland was a particular sickener.

Today we were just gash full stop. In a way it's a little easier to take, as we deserved it. But then it's more frustrating because they were so abject.

We need to resolve the away issue if we're going to have a chance of winning this thing. Away games left are Stoke, Arsenal, Norwich, Wolves, Newcastle. Can you see us getting more than 6 points out of these?

[Ted Hughes]

There's very little chance of beating Newcastle or Arsenal playing like this. We either up our game or we finish 2nd.


Tevez could cause the others to do exactly that though, even if he doesn't play that brilliantly himself.

[KinkyKinkladze]

We've lost our flair ever since management were whingeing about us conceding the odd goal in 3 or 4 goal routs. Something I've noticed anyway, don't know about anybody else. We started the season not caring about conceding as we would put 4 past the opposition, but we suddenly started worrying about giving away needless goals. Since then we've played way too much within ourselves.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I wouldnt agree that Swansea were anything like there for the taking in the early stages.Their whole game plan is about passing but it's also about getting plenty of men behind and around the ball.

We shouldnt have a massive problem with that but we do and whether it's at home or away it is what we will face against every team.Today like plenty of other days we have players ( and not just the odd one) who are out of form and have a bad game.That tends to show itself in a lack of belief and strangely a lack of movement with us going for the safe option nearly all the time.

With the movement so poor today the passing was slow and ponderous.We just lacked energy from the start.

[DoomMerchant]

we've been historically shit away since the takeover.

You don't win the league when you play like fucktards away from home. Simples.

Bobby knows this. Yet he sets up away teams like he's fucking gambling in Vegas. Maybe he just likes making this hard for himself. Maybe he's not preparing properly. Maybe this is just the best he can do. I dunno. But in any case, teams "sitting back against us" is not the main problem with our poor form away imho.

As someone else said in this thread, we are sometimes being overrun in midfield and leaving so much space that we look tactically inept, as in today, and when we get the chances in the box we're playing a shitty ticky tack game. Everyone bar Mario seems afraid to take a goddam shot until the opposition magickally makes space and a heavenly bridge opens goalbound and we can escort the fuclin ball into the net on a soft, cloudy pillow bridge flanked by harp-playing angels.

cheers

[Tokyo Blue]

He set up with five midfielders (well four plus Nasri, whatever the fuck he was supposed to be) and we still couldn't keep the ball. Yes, the bald cunt of a ref gave them a lot of possession, but the players are responsible for much of what didn't happen yesterday. I just hope they learn from what they failed to do.

At least there is plenty for the video analysis team to work on with the players.

[kinkylola]

pretty sure that mancini expected swansea to come out and not be afraid to attack, so we set up with 5 in midfield. Those 5 should have been able to control the game but silva's passing was as poor as I have ever seen it. ever. He was not connecting with anyone and everything he tried came off very poorly. Yaya didn't seem to be able to drive past anyone, and when he did there was another wave of defenders infront of him and no one to pass to. Nasri looked slow and cumbersome in possession and didn't do much off the ball ... even less on it. There were times when yaya, silva, and nasri were all bunched up in one part of the field, but with no one really making a forward run and nothing happening. You'd think with those 3 players they could make something happen in the mid, but no one did.

I think mancini's plan was to sit back in the beginning and absorb pressure, while controlling the game from midfield with the passing and runs of yaya, silva and nasri. With balotelli putting in runs to unsettle their D and drag out of position. I don't think it is a bad game plan to start out with away to Swansea, or away to anyone really. That's a talented midfield and attack we had out there. Something is happening and for the last few games they have just not been clicking. Is it tinkering? is it tiredness? I dunno but people who look at it and say Mancini out and it's simple and dry like that ... I just don't see it that way and I don't really understand.

To me we have been lining up with a pretty clear plan and the players have not been executing at all. Maybe the problem is the plan is too predictable? That being the case, I would still think it's safe to assume that of Barry, silva, yaya, nasri or balotelli there should be someone with the ability to unlock a defense or change the came with some creativity ... but we don't see any of that.

I think tactics are only going to take a team so far, but if the players don't perform the players don't perform. Barry was horrible last night and I don't think I can say anything positive about anyone on the team. I thought balotelli looked like our most dangerous player in attack, but even when he was recieving the ball he had at least 2 players in front of him, most times 3 or 4 ... with no one else bothering to make the defense uncomfortable at all. Maybe I am seeing it incorrectly, and admittedly, I do have to watch the game from the TV, no choice in that matter. Still, I can't believe how unbelievably poor our players have been recently and while Mancini will get his blame, and perhaps some/most of it is merited ... I really feel that a large portion of these poor results are directly caused by poor player performances. even aguero coming on looked nearly invisible. Nasri was invisible, and silva would have been too if his passing hadn't been so atrocious as to draw attention his way.

just poor poor poor all around.

[ashton287]

It was glaringly obvious yesterday. They packed the middle. We ran into it over and over again.

All we needed was AJ on-silva off. AJ on the right, nasri on the left (he played shit but he can cross the ball better than anyone else we have) dzeko in the box. CROSS THE BALL. Aguero and balo drop back and fucking shoot. If they have 8 men on the 18 yard line the keepers visibility is severely reduced FFS so shooooot.

Bob over thinks this. The simple option just doesn't exist in is world.

[Ted Hughes]

It was glaringly obvious yesterday. They packed the middle. We ran into it over and over again.

All we needed was AJ on-silva off. AJ on the right, nasri on the left (he played shit but he can cross the ball better than anyone else we have) dzeko in the box. CROSS THE BALL. Aguero and balo drop back and fucking shoot. If they have 8 men on the 18 yard line the keepers visibility is severely reduced FFS so shooooot.

Bob over thinks this. The simple option just doesn't exist in is world.

We need to sign at least one player who can naturally beat a man & go outside him rather than always looking for a tactic of coming inside with a fullback overlapping. It's something I would expect Silva & Nasri to do at times but they don't do it very often. AJ is the only player who does but then he has to cross with his wrong foot.

[freshie]

We need to sign at least one player who can naturally beat a man & go outside him rather than always looking for a tactic of coming inside with a fullback overlapping. It's something I would expect Silva & Nasri to do at times but they don't do it very often. AJ is the only player who does but then he has to cross with his wrong foot.

Eden Hazard?

[Rag_hater]

Teams do it more when they come to our place.We have quite a good record there.
I think we need to do what we do it home when we are away.
Playing without wingers(apparently) works at home so all this stuff about us needing width is a bit off

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Micah offers us something wide but I can't recall him getting forward during the game.

[ayrshireblue]

Micah offers us something wide but I can't recall him getting forward during the game.

Apart from when he stayed offside and thought he'd equalised.

[Wonderwall]

This is the team that we played v swansea and beat them 4-0 earlier this season

Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, DeJong (Aguero 60mins), Barry, Yaya Toure, Silva (Milner 81mins), Dzeko, Johnson (Savic 74mins)

look familiar?

[Hazy2]

1st Goal is crucial, we get it plan A has gone for teams.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

This is the team that we played v swansea and beat them 4-0 earlier this season

Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, DeJong (Aguero 60mins), Barry, Yaya Toure, Silva (Milner 81mins), Dzeko, Johnson (Savic 74mins)

look familiar?

Johnson offers width and surely Mancini could have learned from that evening. We looked pretty shit for sixty minutes, coincidentally when a second striker was introduced.