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Negredo has been more like a timid little lamb in recent weeks rather than the beast we all know and love, but why??

I know he hurt his shoulder at West Ham a few weeks back but he has played several times since then without getting anywhere close to his best.

Is he fully fit? Does he need a rest? Is he missing Aguero?

Whatever the problem is I hope it is resolved soon because he can't continue to be a passenger in games like he was yesterday.

He has lost his fight. Doesn't chase the ball anymore. Doesn't use his strength and just let's himself be pushed of the ball. Doesn't get back to help the midfield. Doesn't make the runs that got him most of his goals.

First season in the prem which is the most competitive league in the world and he has played week in week out with barely a break. He needs a long rest, a good few weeks or we won't see him anywhere near his best again this season.

I thought he was anonymous yesterday and it was only when he gave a foul away that I noticed he was on the pitch. To be fair to him, the quality of the teams we have been playing of late haven't helped. Barca speaks for itself but when you look at what other teams we've played they starve the CF of any room whatsoever. Chelsea, Norwich and Stoke all swamped their box when we had possession giving little room for manoeuvre. Combine that with not having Aguero dragging teams out and having two similar players falling over each other for some sort of space then it's very hard to look the business.

Beefymcfc wrote:I thought he was anonymous yesterday and it was only when he gave a foul away that I noticed he was on the pitch. To be fair to him, the quality of the teams we have been playing of late haven't helped. Barca speaks for itself but when you look at what other teams we've played they starve the CF of any room whatsoever. Chelsea, Norwich and Stoke all swamped their box when we had possession giving little room for manoeuvre. Combine that with not having Aguero dragging teams out and having two similar players falling over each other for some sort of space then it's very hard to look the business.

I think we have reached the stage of the season like we did under Mancini, where the style of play of both the opposition and in fact ourselves, are now almost cancelling each other out. The earlier tactics in the season are being broken down and dealt with by opposition managers, and we are struggling to find a plan b.

The easiest plan B is to up the intensity of the games like we did with Chelsea, but I think that's easier said than done when a few players have most likely been running on empty the last few weeks due to injuries and lack of ability to rotate.

I really think this will improve across the board with Samir, Milner, Fernandinho and Aguero all being fit in the weeks ahead

In recent weeks we have lost the intensity. When we quickened the passing yesterday Stoke couldn't live with us. I hope we play a high tempo game in the League Cup final.

Equally plan B is to rely on someone to pull something special out of the bag - YaYa did it in our title season against the likes of Newcastle. We have a lot of big matches and need to see ourselves through this period until the end of the season picking up as many points as possible & that's where those on the sidelines / bench need to produce a performance - as Garcia did briefly yesterday

As for Negredo if I felt that I could trust Dzeko I'd rest him until Aguero is fit, but honestly you have to go with the pair and that's worrying as both are off form. Negredo has had a brilliant first season but whether, injury, fatigue or a CBA attitude he isn't firing at all - I'm not suggesting anyone is writing him off but think he probably misses Aguero as much as the rest of us do

.

He is carrying an injury according to Pellegrini, but the reason behind all of this is the same in many of the subjects which crop up; fatigue. Not just physical, but mental too; they run out of ideas.

People keep going on about us not resting players & how we should always play our strongest side, etc etc.

Is it not clear yet to everyone that these are not the same players you were watching earlier ? It's not just Negredo or Dzeko, it's all of them. It may be more obvious with Negredo because he was such a 'beast' but they are all struggling like fuck.

No plan 'B' ? What about plan 'A' ? Where is that ? We don't need a plan 'B' when we play at our best, because it's already there in plan 'A', we do EVERYTHING going forward, there is nothing left.

Where are all the crosses now, which set this team apart from Mancini's ? Look at how few we got in v Stoke, & look at what happened when we did get one in. Stoke didn't do anything extra to stop crosses, we just didn't get forward quick enough. Zabba stopped on pretty much evey forward run he made with the ball; didn't have the legs.

We are fucked, as a team, & it's because we have not had the chance to rest enough players.

Going for 4 trophies flat out, we are running a strong risk of missing all of them. If the Sunderland game hadn't been called off, I recon we would have likely dropped points there, lost to Chelsea again, & drawn with Stoke.

Hopefully, the week off will give us enough energy to play at Wembley. Yesterday's showing would have lost us the Cup final.

Breks wrote:In recent weeks we have lost the intensity. When we quickened the passing yesterday Stoke couldn't live with us. I hope we play a high tempo game in the League Cup final.

We will, we've got a week off now.

Beasts form fell away after Xmas, before the shoulder injury, although he was still scoring and having some good touches which hid it a little. Maybe that was just natural and he had been in the firm of his life before and bound to tail. Then the injury and having to play all the time because of Aguero and Jovetic either being out or not up to 90 mins aggravated it. Let's hope he's beastly again soon.

Im_Spartacus wrote:

Beefymcfc wrote:I thought he was anonymous yesterday and it was only when he gave a foul away that I noticed he was on the pitch. To be fair to him, the quality of the teams we have been playing of late haven't helped. Barca speaks for itself but when you look at what other teams we've played they starve the CF of any room whatsoever. Chelsea, Norwich and Stoke all swamped their box when we had possession giving little room for manoeuvre. Combine that with not having Aguero dragging teams out and having two similar players falling over each other for some sort of space then it's very hard to look the business.

I think we have reached the stage of the season like we did under Mancini, where the style of play of both the opposition and in fact ourselves, are now almost cancelling each other out. The earlier tactics in the season are being broken down and dealt with by opposition managers, and we are struggling to find a plan b.

The easiest plan B is to up the intensity of the games like we did with Chelsea, but I think that's easier said than done when a few players have most likely been running on empty the last few weeks due to injuries and lack of ability to rotate.

I really think this will improve across the board with Samir, Milner, Fernandinho and Aguero all being fit in the weeks ahead

Hopefully mate as they've had a bit of a rest. This week will be a God send for all the team, they've been running non-stop week-in/week-out for the last 2 months. Since the turn of the year we've played 14 games in 53 days, averaging 2 games per week. That's one hell of a strain on those first teamers that we cannot do without.

Although we go on about the physical side of the game, we also have to take the mental fatigue into account as well. Every game for us is a big game but when you are in all 4 competitions and playing the likes of Barca and Chelsea (twice) over such a short period then it's inevitable that things begin to slip a little. Not being quick enough to what looks like a 50/50 or not quite reading the game like you normally do. All signs of mental and physical fatigue.

What's also got to be considered is the 'expectation', not only on themselves but all us fans and the media to boot. The pressure to sustain a winning habit becomes greater and greater and the further you go in competitions the more it takes its toll. This is where the manager earns his corn and must get them in the correct frame of mind, and shape, for each and every game, not just the so called 'harder games'; those 'easier games' need to be won as well.

The pressure will be on us to win this weekend and Sunderland can just go out and play their football. That will be the story leading up to the game and it will be down to us to respond in the right manner. I'm confident we will.

Probably not a popular opinion, but I think Negredo hit a bit of a purple patch at the beginning of the season. He came to a new great club with great players around him and he thrived because of it.

Negredo is a beast when in form, but also when the rest of the team is in form. He's nit the sort of striker who gets involved with the link up play and creates chances did himself and others. He's physically stronger and more ruthless infront of the goal than Dzeko, but Dzeko is actually the better footballer.

It would be great to have a mix of them, but then we're looking at absolute world class players.

He's been a beast at home only, not in away games where hes frequently disappeared.

He's spent his career getting a winter break but this year hasn't had one; like Ozil at Arsenal, hes hit a wall and needs a break. Negredo's been poor for over a month yesterday he was anonymous.

He misses Kun simple as

Yaya Toure is a LAD wrote:He misses Kun simple as

I miss him, too. Can I get a run out in the Premier League then?

Bollocks.

Yaya Toure is a LAD wrote:He misses Kun simple as

Certain amount of truth in this but there is probably more to it than just missing kun. He has played his best alongside Aguero where he gets more space but he looks a little jaded too and were told he is carrying an injury. There has been a lot of hard games in a short period of time, that intensity takes its toll and it is a big step up from La Liga.

Tbh he's been the worst out of our strikers recently. Sure Dzeko is missing chances but Negredo is not even getting in the position to miss chances. I'm not even kidding when I say when after half an hour of the game against Stoke I checked the teamsheet to make sure he was playing.

He looks tired, both mentally and physically. As does Navas and as has Silva at this point for the previous two seasons. Maybe it's something about Spanish players.

He's just injured. It's hard to be at your beastly best when you are not right.

I'm really hoping Negredo and others find their second wind soon. It happened in 2011/12, but very nearly too late. The problem once again seems to be fatigue, and as before it's down to the thinness of the squad. We simply don't have a reliable back up of five or six players who can be put into the team together who will then get a job done, so we're having to field people who injured, out of form or needing a decent rest. I thought the abandonment of the Sunderland game would help, but it doesn't seem like it. Now we have an international break coming up, but flying hither and thither apparently causes still more tiredness.

Or maybe the above are just excuses and a few of these players are just fair weather good time boys.

I hope he scores on Sunday and beasts the lot of you.