Nasri Out for 3 to 4 weeks

[City64]

Milner just wasn't a threat at all when he was on , at least Navas got crosses in the box.

INCORRECT. NAVAS DID NOT MAKE ONE SUCCESSFUL CROSS INTO THE BOX. 18 FAILED CROSSES.

Jesus Navas's game by numbers vs. Arsenal:

18 failed crosses
0 take-ons completed
1 key pass
74% pass accuracy.

Don't know if relevant but the official Arsenal possession stats of just 35% yesterday was there lowest since 2004 !

[AntMcfc]

Yeh, that's what Sky Sports said. Barely any of that possession was in a threatening area though, Arsenal allowed our CBs+CMs to have the ball because they posed absolutely no threat.

[City64]

Yeh, that's what Sky Sports said. Barely any of that possession was in a threatening area though, Arsenal allowed our CBs+CMs to have the ball because they posed absolutely no threat.

We had plenty of the ball but never really tried to get it to Aguero,s feet . Arsenal were out on there feet then Pellegrini took Navas off who was our only real threat . Game had gone by then and it was probably the only time I couldn't see us ever scoring in a game , an absolute numbing shambles from start to finish . Work to be done for Pellegrini before Yaya and Nasri return .

[AntMcfc]

Navas wasn't, and isn't a threat. He's the most predictable player in the league. Milner is much more effective.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Navas wasn't, and isn't a threat. He's the most predictable player in the league. Milner is much more effective.

Milner more effective ? at fuckign what exactly?.....Milner didn't get any crosses in yesterday....fuckall that I can recall.
If you think Navas was shite then that would make Milners contribution a fuckign abortion of all abortions.

[Ted Hughes]

Milner just wasn't a threat at all when he was on , at least Navas got crosses in the box.

INCORRECT. NAVAS DID NOT MAKE ONE SUCCESSFUL CROSS INTO THE BOX. 18 FAILED CROSSES.

Jesus Navas's game by numbers vs. Arsenal:

18 failed crosses
0 take-ons completed
1 key pass
74% pass accuracy.

Don't know if relevant but the official Arsenal possession stats of just 35% yesterday was there lowest since 2004 !

With 70% pass accuracy, & 18 failed crosses, the rest of his game in possession must have been fucking immaculate almost 100% pass success rate. Add that to rescuing Zabba on more than one occasion when Arsenal would have been clean through & legging it up & down the pitch for 70 odd minutes & running wide, which SHOULD make space for others, then even if he kicked every cross into the stand, he still did a job for the team.

But you see, I have a perfect view of the angle of Navas putting the ball in, & I know for a fact, the rest of the team were not sharp enough and taking up good enough positions to score when he got on the ball, & had they done so, he would have got a couple of assists.

His crossing wasn't great. But a couple were and that should be enough.

If Shaun Goater or even Blobby Fowler had played, he would have found them more than once. Ironically, we were miles better at taking up positions in the box, when we had no strkers.

[Moonchesteri]

Can't believe its only 10 days since these news. Seems like its been ages since he got injured. fingers crossed he will be back for hull

[AntMcfc]

FFS, disgusting timing, what a blow. We are rubbish when Milner and Navas are in the same side. We'll play a possession based game with 4-5 players in the side who are not possession footballers. Honestly expecting to drop points in both games now unless Aguero completely carries us with a couple of amazing performances.

Do you want to have a rethink about 'rubbish with Milner and Navas' ?

Since Kun and then Edin got injured,we have won most games and drawn two.

The results and performances contradict your comments.

Ban this lad.

[Original Dub]

FFS, disgusting timing, what a blow. We are rubbish when Milner and Navas are in the same side. We'll play a possession based game with 4-5 players in the side who are not possession footballers. Honestly expecting to drop points in both games now unless Aguero completely carries us with a couple of amazing performances.

Do you want to have a rethink about 'rubbish with Milner and Navas' ?

Since Kun and then Edin got injured,we have won most games and drawn two.

The results and performances contradict your comments.

Ban this lad.

Definitely a ban coming I'd say...

[Foreverinbluedreams]

Milner just wasn't a threat at all when he was on , at least Navas got crosses in the box.

INCORRECT. NAVAS DID NOT MAKE ONE SUCCESSFUL CROSS INTO THE BOX. 18 FAILED CROSSES.

Jesus Navas's game by numbers vs. Arsenal:

18 failed crosses
0 take-ons completed
1 key pass
74% pass accuracy.

I distinctly recall at least one ball across the face that both Aguero and Jovetic could've got something on, I guess that's not a succesful cross.

There was one the other day too that Silva just had to let hit his head and he would've scored, I guess that's not a succesful cross either.

[Im_Spartacus]

Milner just wasn't a threat at all when he was on , at least Navas got crosses in the box.

INCORRECT. NAVAS DID NOT MAKE ONE SUCCESSFUL CROSS INTO THE BOX. 18 FAILED CROSSES.

Jesus Navas's game by numbers vs. Arsenal:

18 failed crosses
0 take-ons completed
1 key pass
74% pass accuracy.

I distinctly recall at least one ball across the face that both Aguero and Jovetic could've got something on, I guess that's not a succesful cross.

There was one the other day too that Silva just had to let hit his head and he would've scored, I guess that's not a succesful cross either.

Surely a failed cross was one that hit the first man, or just an aimless punt into the box dealt with by the defenders. Blaming him for the forward not anticipating the path of the ball when passed across the face of goal (a think that was the arsenal game) seems rather churlish

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

Milner just wasn't a threat at all when he was on , at least Navas got crosses in the box.

INCORRECT. NAVAS DID NOT MAKE ONE SUCCESSFUL CROSS INTO THE BOX. 18 FAILED CROSSES.

Jesus Navas's game by numbers vs. Arsenal:

18 failed crosses
0 take-ons completed
1 key pass
74% pass accuracy.

I distinctly recall at least one ball across the face that both Aguero and Jovetic could've got something on, I guess that's not a succesful cross.

There was one the other day too that Silva just had to let hit his head and he would've scored, I guess that's not a succesful cross either.

Surely a failed cross was one that hit the first man, or just an aimless punt into the box dealt with by the defenders. Blaming him for the forward not anticipating the path of the ball when passed across the face of goal (a think that was the arsenal game) seems rather churlish

Navas's game suffers from this. Our forwards rarely gamble either on the near post or far post. If he simply goes past the player and crosses most of the time there is no one anticipating it. The only time it does work is when we hit teams on the break, which rarely happens.

[Ted Hughes]

I've mentioned this many times on here & it's a key factor imo, not just now, but particularly under Mancini.

I not long ago had one no nowt gobshite on here telling me I was wrong about people 'gambling' by making runs into dangerous areas in case the ball came in (which I know for a fact I'm right about as all the best goalscorers advocate it, which is why I'm advocating it) but it was actually reinforced by both Lineker & Shearer just the other day.

Both agreed that the ball should come in early, which Navas can be faulted on, but both agreed that strikers should gamble & attack that area in order to get on the end of anything which may come in, & Navas does regularly get balls in there which are not finished off. The only difference was that Shearer said that if the ball doesn't come in ever, you can lose the inspiration to attack the area, whereas Lineker said you go in there every time, just in case.

In either case, if a City striker followed the routine of either Shearer or Lineker, then even now, they would score a certain number of goals from Navas' crosses. That has the effect of encouraging him to do it whenever possible. If he does it & he can see there is nobody getting on the end of it, he will stop doing it.

I don't understand, with the quality of our strikers, why they are not getting this right. Shearer, Lineker showed several examples of Falcao being in, near post, gambling for crosses which never came, & how he was right to be there. If he had been playing for City, Navas' crosses which count as failed attempts for us now, would be right at him & he would probably flick a few in.

From where I.m sat, I can see what Navas has to look at when he gets the ball, & it's often nothing at all, just opponents & nobody running in.

[iwasthere2012]

I've mentioned this many times on here & it's a key factor imo, not just now, but particularly under Mancini.

I not long ago had one no nowt gobshite on here telling me I was wrong about people 'gambling' by making runs into dangerous areas in case the ball came in (which I know for a fact I'm right about as all the best goalscorers advocate it, which is why I'm advocating it) but it was actually reinforced by both Lineker & Shearer just the other day.

Both agreed that the ball should come in early, which Navas can be faulted on, but both agreed that strikers should gamble & attack that area in order to get on the end of anything which may come in, & Navas does regularly get balls in there which are not finished off. The only difference was that Shearer said that if the ball doesn't come in ever, you can lose the inspiration to attack the area, whereas Lineker said you go in there every time, just in case.

In either case, if a City striker followed the routine of either Shearer or Lineker, then even now, they would score a certain number of goals from Navas' crosses. That has the effect of encouraging him to do it whenever possible. If he does it & he can see there is nobody getting on the end of it, he will stop doing it.

I don't understand, with the quality of our strikers, why they are not getting this right. Shearer, Lineker showed several examples of Falcao being in, near post, gambling for crosses which never came, & how he was right to be there. If he had been playing for City, Navas' crosses which count as failed attempts for us now, would be right at him & he would probably flick a few in.

From where I.m sat, I can see what Navas has to look at when he gets the ball, & it's often nothing at all, just opponents & nobody running in.

I made the point recently, in one of the other threads, that people watching the match on television (I include myself in that), only get a very narrow view of the game. Even watching live in different parts of the ground people can come away with completely different views of how a player played. Certainly in Navas's case there seems to be a polarisation of supporter views. I don't think you can criticise him solely without looking at the whole attacking strategy and indeed his function in the team as a whole. Personally I've watched mostly on TV but also live and at times found him frustrating like the rest of you. But on the whole I've thought that he covers a hell of a lot of work in a game besides getting wide and putting in crosses, which he does. Quite often I've seen him be picked out with a long ball only to find himself isolated waiting for someone to put it in to. He ends up holding up the play and waiting for the rest of the forwards to catch up.
Generally, I don't like singling out any player and pinning the reason for playing shite on him and him alone. Football is a team game and although individuals can make fuck ups, it takes more than one to throw away team form. And we can all moan, as is our prerogative, on here or in the pub, but I really don't get anybody going along to a match and shouting abuse at our own players from the sideline.
Some people react to different stimuli but in general, I think you get more out of people, in football as in life, by encouragement rather than haranguing.

[Im_Spartacus]

I think it's the old problem for us at City, of having to pick our team around Silva and Toure, and the entire shape of the midfield / attacking third being unbalanced as a result.

With Silva and Toure, we can't accommodate the lampard or ljungberg type of player who had a knack of arriving late into the box to give the winger an extra option, Silva in particular when he does get in a space passes the fucking thing rather than breaks the net!

It's almost as if city's central midfielders expect each individual ahead of them to do something amazing, and midfield player absolves their responsibility to finish the move once they have passed, preferring to stand and admire their handy work.

Lampard is something like the top 5 goalscorer of all time in the premier league, making a career on making those gambling runs ted talks about above, or offering an option other than the forwards. Nasri did it at arsenal, but we stick him
on the fucking wing most of the time to accommodate toure and silva

I suppose all I'm saying is that if we are gonna play with wingers, commit to that tactic and all it entails, wheras at the moment we really seem to just have navas out there for swinging crosses in that will never find anyone and a mishmash of a tactical approach.

It works fine against most inferior teams, but he essentially becomes a spare part against a decent side and we end up down to 10 men effectively

[Sparklehorse]

I think Nasri is absolutely vital to our current set up. It is very noticeable that our great run in Nov-Dec was due to Nasri's good form, in the main, for the following reasons.

a) Toure clearly performs at a higher level when he's linking with Nasri and it is also very clear that they have a great understanding as they instinctively know where each other are and hardly need to look up when trying to find the pass
b) this scenario leaves Silva to be a lot more creative as he has been absolutely magnificent during the period when the above two were on the pitch and even on occasions without Toure as in the CL
c) Nasri and or Toure absent = lack of ideas and too much onus on Silva who needs a certain level of freedom to fully express himself

I have been a critic of Nasri in the past, but since his op and some game time he has been the main man for me even without a goal scoring contribution.

Come back soon please....any news on the recovery anyone?

ps are there any Man City fans out there from the south wales area particularly Swansea? I tend to watch matches on Now TV by buying the daily or weekly pass for my pad. I used to do pubs but I'm usually surrounded by rags or scousers or gooners and I can't hack it, but would like to be in the company of City fans if you gather in a particular pub. Let me know please....

[Ted Hughes]

Nasri as well as Navas, would benefit from strikers playing together.

What i've found strange at City, is how our strikers seem to avoid any kind of complimentary play, no matter which pair you choose. Tevez & Aguero kind of linked up, but it was hardly a partnership. Any other pairing, involving Dzeko or Balotelli alongside anybody, was just a pair of individuals who barely even looked at each other.

Negredo (& Pellegrini) seemed to start changing that last season & Even Dzeko was starting to run into complimentery areas (got himself a few near post goals) & play the occasional pass to a fellow striker, but it all seemes to have gone now. Jovetic tries dead hard to get that kind of stuff going, but they just ignore him (unfortunately it seemed like it was working just before Aguero's injury but has now gone again).

I don't understand what i so difficult about it. If one of you goes far post, the other go near post. If one hangs back, the other sprint into the six yard box, etc.

It seems that if one takes up a goalscoring position, the other goes & stands outside the box or at the far side, hidden, where only a random series of events & bad defending will get the ball to him, or both stand outside the box & nobody takes up a close in goalscoring position. Simple things like near post & far post seem to have disappeared. Players going outside the far post to give the option of a floated cross which they nod back into the danger area, like Niall Quinn, Tommy Booth etc used to do, or just to pull a defender out of the centre.

Also, why can't one striker just touch the ball on, to the other, spin round the defender for a return pass like Sturridge/Suarez were doing, or Cole/Yorke used to? Filck a little near post header on to his partner behind like Keegan would? What is so difficult about it ?

So many things in football & at City, have progressed, but there is loads of stuff in the modern game which has gone missing & stuff at City which Brian Kidd or Joe Royle, Quinn, Walsh, Rosler etc did better than Aguero or Dzeko do now, which shouldn't be the case, at all.

I think we are missing Nasri big btw (back to theme.)

[DoomMerchant]

Nasri as well as Navas, would benefit from strikers playing together.

What i've found strange at City, is how our strikers seem to avoid any kind of complimentary play, no matter which pair you choose. Tevez & Aguero kind of linked up, but it was hardly a partnership. Any other pairing, involving Dzeko or Balotelli alongside anybody, was just a pair of individuals who barely even looked at each other.

Negredo (& Pellegrini) seemed to start changing that last season & Even Dzeko was starting to run into complimentery areas (got himself a few near post goals) & play the occasional pass to a fellow striker, but it all seemes to have gone now. Jovetic tries dead hard to get that kind of stuff going, but they just ignore him (unfortunately it seemed like it was working just before Aguero's injury but has now gone again).

I don't understand what i so difficult about it. If one of you goes far post, the other go near post. If one hangs back, the other sprint into the six yard box, etc.

It seems that if one takes up a goalscoring position, the other goes & stands outside the box or at the far side, hidden, where only a random series of events & bad defending will get the ball to him, or both stand outside the box & nobody takes up a close in goalscoring position. Simple things like near post & far post seem to have disappeared. Players going outside the far post to give the option of a floated cross which they nod back into the danger area, like Niall Quinn, Tommy Booth etc used to do, or just to pull a defender out of the centre.

Also, why can't one striker just touch the ball on, to the other, spin round the defender for a return pass like Sturridge/Suarez were doing, or Cole/Yorke used to? Filck a little near post header on to his partner behind like Keegan would? What is so difficult about it ?

So many things in football & at City, have progressed, but there is loads of stuff in the modern game which has gone missing & stuff at City which Brian Kidd or Joe Royle, Quinn, Walsh, Rosler etc did better than Aguero or Dzeko do now, which shouldn't be the case, at all.

I think we are missing Nasri big btw (back to theme.)

i mentioned it half-casually in another thread, but we can't be without Yaya AND Nasri and expect to win.

I believe we will lose every match until we get one of them back.

Talk about Frenchy BFFs having too much of an impact. We are shit without them. Absolute dogshit.

And for the record i think Navas works his bollocks off tracking back and defending too...can't believe the stick he's getting. If he played with anyone who seemed to actually give a fucl he'd be leading the Prem in assists by a cricket score.

cheers

[ENIAM NAM]

Nasri as well as Navas, would benefit from strikers playing together.

What i've found strange at City, is how our strikers seem to avoid any kind of complimentary play, no matter which pair you choose. Tevez & Aguero kind of linked up, but it was hardly a partnership. Any other pairing, involving Dzeko or Balotelli alongside anybody, was just a pair of individuals who barely even looked at each other.

Negredo (& Pellegrini) seemed to start changing that last season & Even Dzeko was starting to run into complimentery areas (got himself a few near post goals) & play the occasional pass to a fellow striker, but it all seemes to have gone now. Jovetic tries dead hard to get that kind of stuff going, but they just ignore him (unfortunately it seemed like it was working just before Aguero's injury but has now gone again).

I don't understand what i so difficult about it. If one of you goes far post, the other go near post. If one hangs back, the other sprint into the six yard box, etc.

It seems that if one takes up a goalscoring position, the other goes & stands outside the box or at the far side, hidden, where only a random series of events & bad defending will get the ball to him, or both stand outside the box & nobody takes up a close in goalscoring position. Simple things like near post & far post seem to have disappeared. Players going outside the far post to give the option of a floated cross which they nod back into the danger area, like Niall Quinn, Tommy Booth etc used to do, or just to pull a defender out of the centre.

Also, why can't one striker just touch the ball on, to the other, spin round the defender for a return pass like Sturridge/Suarez were doing, or Cole/Yorke used to? Filck a little near post header on to his partner behind like Keegan would? What is so difficult about it ?

So many things in football & at City, have progressed, but there is loads of stuff in the modern game which has gone missing & stuff at City which Brian Kidd or Joe Royle, Quinn, Walsh, Rosler etc did better than Aguero or Dzeko do now, which shouldn't be the case, at all.

I think we are missing Nasri big btw (back to theme.)

i mentioned it half-casually in another thread, but we can't be without Yaya AND Nasri and expect to win.

I believe we will lose every match until we get one of them back.

Talk about Frenchy BFFs having too much of an impact. We are shit without them. Absolute dogshit.

And for the record i think Navas works his bollocks off tracking back and defending too...can't believe the stick he's getting. If he played with anyone who seemed to actually give a fucl he'd be leading the Prem in assists by a cricket score.

cheers

I would work my bollocks off if I played for City. Unfortunately, I think my decision making and final ball would be as bad as his..!

[blues2win]

Couldn't agree more about getting bodies into the box particularly on the break when defenders have lost their shape. Personally I am disappointed that Fernadinho doesn't attempt this more often when playing with Fernando. Certainly the wide men should make the far post run when the ball is likely to come in from the opposite flank. If not them it ought to be the full backs. Sometimes this happens with Zaba and Milner but not enough imo.