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Given his age, I wonder if Guardiola sees Fernandhino dropping back into central defence, not necessarily straight away but at some point in the future, as a way of extending his career.

Dameerto wrote:We'd lose more in midfield than we'd gain in defence by shifting him, it doesn't make sense to me.

I see that, but Ferna, has ran the show for 3 seasons ran miles covering, I think Pep sees a lot of himself in Ferna, He also converted Lahm into a CM player, dropping back when required. Martinez has learned to play DM with Bayers from Centre half position. When we lost Liverpool and the scum last season, I said it was down to shape, we had none when high pressing teams jump on us, CC final we sat back and countered a counter attack manager/Team. Txiki a great player in his day and all time Barca Great could be behind this after some of our arse kickings last season, which Pellers sat and watched

watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

I dont think we have any one who can do it. I actually think fern is the most underrated player in the prem. Delph has the energy but is now where near the level of fernandinho

The prospect of seeing him in midfield with gundogan is rather exciting

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

I think we'll see City playing "differently" a number of times this season, irrespective of whether, or not, Fernandhino is in the side.

I suppose it will depend on who we are up against and things will be changed around to ensure that when the opposition think they've found a way to counteract our formation, Pep will alter/modify matters to ensure we continue to outflank them.

Mind you, that doesn't answer your question as to who will stand in for Fernandhino when he might not be available, but I'm sure Pep will have ideas and players in mind that we, as fans, would never consider. For instance, who's to say that Kolarov couldn't do this job, after we've already seen the way that Pep has galvanised that player in the few games so far.

I also seem to recall a suggestion that NottsBlue made in a post a short time ago, words to the effect that he thought, in the future, Stones would have a midfield role at some point. Pep might consider Stones for the Fernandhino role.

Who knows, but if we don't then the opposition most certainly don't know either.

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

That's actually a very good question. Yaya could definitely do the dropping deep in the build-up phase and has frequently done so over the last few seasons. The problem is that he doesn't have the legs to close the opposition down if we lose possession and are hit on the break. Fernando has the legs, but not the composure or the passing game required.

I agree with Mike J that we don't have anyone that can do the same job to the same effect at the moment and will probably be forced to play another system if Fern1 is not available. That said, i expect us to deploy several different systems anyway. Pep is anything but predictable.

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

Aleix Garcia? Id try him in the second leg, yaya could do it too...

Dubciteh wrote:

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

Aleix Garcia? Id try him in the second leg, yaya could do it too...

That's an interesting call about Garcia.

I'd like to see him, myself, in the second leg.

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

Why can't you see Gundogan playing it? He's more than capable. He has superior passing and vision to Fernandinho imo, that's not a dig at Ferna btw.

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

Why can't you see Gundogan playing it? He's more than capable. He has superior passing and vision to Fernandinho imo, that's not a dig at Ferna btw.

do you reckon that could be why pep signed him?

Nigels Tackle wrote:

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

Why can't you see Gundogan playing it? He's more than capable. He has superior passing and vision to Fernandinho imo, that's not a dig at Ferna btw.

do you reckon that could be why pep signed him?

That's what I thought but interested to hear why Phips isn't keen given he's likely watched him a lot more than I have.

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:

Nigels Tackle wrote:

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:

phips wrote:watching him again today in his new role got me wondering:
who else do we have that can play that role? Fern will likely be rested and/or injured at some point. surely its not Yaya or Fernando. Delph? Gundogan? i can't see either of them being effective dropping back between the 2 center backs. or will we play differently when Fern is not in the side?

Why can't you see Gundogan playing it? He's more than capable. He has superior passing and vision to Fernandinho imo, that's not a dig at Ferna btw.

do you reckon that could be why pep signed him?

That's what I thought but interested to hear why Phips isn't keen given he's likely watched him a lot more than I have.

phips is american, mate. my 23 month old daughter knows more about football than him.

Mike J wrote:I dont think we have any one who can do it. I actually think fern is the most underrated player in the prem. Delph has the energy but is now where near the level of fernandinho

The prospect of seeing him in midfield with gundogan is rather exciting

Thing is who is going to the bench if we play them both?

Will one of them play at the inverted fullback role so they can push into centre midfield? Unless you plan to sit Silva or KDB, or have one of those two play out wide, where I suspect Pep prefers them not to be, and drop Nolito or Sterling or eventually Sane?

Tell you what. If we are fit team we sure have a lot of options.

PrezIke wrote:

Mike J wrote:I dont think we have any one who can do it. I actually think fern is the most underrated player in the prem. Delph has the energy but is now where near the level of fernandinho

The prospect of seeing him in midfield with gundogan is rather exciting

Thing is who is going to the bench if we play them both?

Will one of them play at the inverted fullback role so they can push into centre midfield? Unless you plan to sit Silva or KDB, or have one of those two play out wide, where I suspect Pep prefers them not to be, and drop Nolito or Sterling or eventually Sane?

Tell you what. If we are fit team we sure have a lot of options.

It will all depend on who we are playing and the formation/style of play Pep wishes to deploy in that particular match. Factors such as game management, rotation, injuries, trying out new tactics, suspensions and possible suspensions will all come into play. It will be a long season and there will be plenty of game time to go round.

Thinking about it, zaba could do that role easy.

Dubciteh wrote:Thinking about it, zaba could do that role easy.

He could, except I think the defensive midfielder needs to have enough pace to get back to when we lose the ball to other teams with pacey attackers.

PrezIke wrote:

Mike J wrote:I dont think we have any one who can do it. I actually think fern is the most underrated player in the prem. Delph has the energy but is now where near the level of fernandinho

The prospect of seeing him in midfield with gundogan is rather exciting

Thing is who is going to the bench if we play them both?

Will one of them play at the inverted fullback role so they can push into centre midfield? Unless you plan to sit Silva or KDB, or have one of those two play out wide, where I suspect Pep prefers them not to be, and drop Nolito or Sterling or eventually Sane?

Tell you what. If we are fit team we sure have a lot of options.

im thinking it's gotta be Nolito is everyone is fit. maybe Pep sees its differently and values the wide areas and would then be okay sacrificing Silva because Ilkay could do his role.

phips wrote:

PrezIke wrote:

Mike J wrote:I dont think we have any one who can do it. I actually think fern is the most underrated player in the prem. Delph has the energy but is now where near the level of fernandinho

The prospect of seeing him in midfield with gundogan is rather exciting

Thing is who is going to the bench if we play them both?

Will one of them play at the inverted fullback role so they can push into centre midfield? Unless you plan to sit Silva or KDB, or have one of those two play out wide, where I suspect Pep prefers them not to be, and drop Nolito or Sterling or eventually Sane?

Tell you what. If we are fit team we sure have a lot of options.

im thinking it's gotta be Nolito is everyone is fit. maybe Pep sees its differently and values the wide areas and would then be okay sacrificing Silva because Ilkay could do his role.

Didn't Gundogan play as a deep lying playmaker for Dortmund? He filled Sahin's role, didn't he?

Anyhow, this is what Gundogan said that Pep said to him

"He told me that he needs a player like me as a central midfielder

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong but that suggests to me that he has him earmarked for the role Fernandinho is currently playing.

pep might have 4-2-4 in mind for certain games

Wooders wrote:pep might have 4-2-4 in mind for certain games

Shades of Brazil (and Peru) circa 1970 !!

That would be interesting.