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I was thinking before kick off that we were more 'safety first' than we needed to be. But on reflection I was wrong
I did think that maybe playing away to Madrid, Barca, Chelsea or Munich that the two Ferns were maybe an evil worth putting up with. But they don't even make us more secure at the back. All they do is curtail any attacking threat we might have. They haven't got a creative pass between them. Today's game was lost with that team selection. Preferably Jovetic, but even Lampard, would have at least allowed us to believe we might score a goal.
I am a definite Pellers Licker but he got that horribly wrong today, we never looked capable of scoring
Never play them together again, especially with Milner and a terrified Navas as our other forwards
Let's do what we do best and attack ffs.

I don't think it worked today, & those two plus Milner & Navas is a far less inventive midfield than you associate with a City side, but imo the big mistake, with hindsight, was starting Aguero on his own. When he's not match fit, he is a good but not great striker. Then asked to lead the line; absolutely hopeless. Doesn't even challenge half tge time. We played 45 mins basically with 10 men and were overworked because of it.

Incidentally. We have lost yet again playing one striker. Happens quite a few times. Why do people put so much faith in it ?

After the Roma game it was said that this is the way forward. Didn't work today but come on lad. Let's not jump the gun.

I am not gonna blame Seeg. We created fuck all. He had nothing at all to work with. Not even scraps.
The only really creative player was Dave. He can't be expected to do it alone. One def midfielder is enough. They don't even shore things up

london blue 2 wrote:After the Roma game it was said that this is the way forward. Didn't work today but come on lad. Let's not jump the gun.

we had nasri vs roma
...and he had his one in twenty great games great performance

Piccsnumberoneblue wrote:I am not gonna blame Seeg. We created fuck all. He had nothing at all to work with. Not even scraps.
The only really creative player was Dave. He can't be expected to do it alone. One def midfielder is enough. They don't even shore things up

A fully fit Aguero would have had more than scaps. He was off the pace & difficult to feed.

Bony could lead the line on his own I think but we'll see. Not sure what else we could do. Jovetic isn't comfortable there really and Milner?

blues2win wrote:Bony could lead the line on his own I think but we'll see. Not sure what else we could do. Jovetic isn't comfortable there really and Milner?

Imo we have found and lost a fantastic system, when we had no choice but to play without a striker. When we did that, we pushed the whole midfield onto the oppo's penalty area to compensate, & crushed them. If we could replicate that with a striker or two in the team we would be better than Barca imo. But we don't seem to play like that with a genuine striker on the pitch. Obviously without Nasri, Yaya, it is probably not on, but if we could get that game working & accomodate Aguero & or Bony, we would still win the league by a distance imo. Both Ferns could play in that if needed, with 3 creative mids & a striker. But with only Silva it wouldn't work.

I fear we will never see it again.

Ted Hughes wrote:

blues2win wrote:Bony could lead the line on his own I think but we'll see. Not sure what else we could do. Jovetic isn't comfortable there really and Milner?

Imo we have found and lost a fantastic system, when we had no choice but to play without a striker. When we did that, we pushed the whole midfield onto the oppo's penalty area to compensate, & crushed them. If we could replicate that with a striker or two in the team we would be better than Barca imo. But we don't seem to play like that with a genuine striker on the pitch. Obviously without Nasri, Yaya, it is probably not on, but if we could get that game working & accomodate Aguero & or Bony, we would still win the league by a distance imo. Both Ferns could play in that if needed, with 3 creative mids & a striker. But with only Silva it wouldn't work.

I fear we will never see it again.

This.

We actually replicate the Barcelona system, but we did it in our way, like a weird octopus. Barcelona did it after they decided to push Messi, who was a winger, up front. The key in our system that we had Yaya and Nasri fully fit, while Jimmy and one of the Ferns had to cover back and they did it fantastically.

If you ask me, that system, the one from above, it can't be done. Not with our current 3 strikers. Sad to say it, but it might had worked if we had Shrek.

Ted Hughes wrote:Incidentally. We have lost yet again playing one striker. Happens quite a few times. Why do people put so much faith in it ?

If you have the full quote of talented midfield players with ideas,movement,skill etc it works fine but without it ,like today we can look sterile

Milner was the only willing runner from midfield yesterday so The Count hauls him off.

Madness,Play the fucker in centre midfield and he will get goals and provide the bite and forward nature we need.



Awful.

lets all have a disco wrote:Milner was the only willing runner from midfield yesterday so The Count hauls him off.

Madness,Play the fucker in centre midfield and he will get goals and provide the bite and forward nature we need.



Awful.

I agree he should have been central, but I also agreed with him going off in that system. He was running, but he was making it dead obvious where & it led to dull, obvious football. We solved it second half & had it right, then he fucked it up bringing on Lampard & moving Jovetic wide.

Douglas Higginbottom wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Incidentally. We have lost yet again playing one striker. Happens quite a few times. Why do people put so much faith in it ?

If you have the full quote of talented midfield players with ideas,movement,skill etc it works fine but without it ,like today we can look sterile

Well yesterday imo was mainly down to picking Aguero, more than the system; it was stil 4222 really but with Silva instead of a striker. He isn't especially good when injured/returning from injury. If he comes on for ten minutes, he's fine, but when he starts, he's not got it. He needs a second striker. In effect, Silva was playing that job, but with only a half fit Aguero to work with, it just meant we struggle to produce quality. We changed to 4231 for a while when Jovetic came on & suddenly Aguero perked up, but then we brought on a 36 year old cm & the game was over.

But it's still another game where we started with one striker on the pitch, & lost. We may get some good results with it, but It's also possibly our most 'lossy' system, along with 3 at the back.

People suggest it as if it's a no brainer at times, & the Count is some kind of idiot for not playing it, yet when we do play it, we lose quite a bit. That seems to go unnoticed, & I'm just sticking it on the record again.

Fernando-Fernandinho wasn't the problem, the problem was Milner and Navas as wide-men. It's fine having a solid, uncreative base if you're compensating for it elsewhere, but playing those two wide players absolutely kills our style of play. We're a possession based side with 5-6 players who don't want to play possession football. Milner and Silva wide would have been fine. The best this City side has ever looked has always been when Nasri and Silva both start wide.

AntMcfc wrote:Fernando-Fernandinho wasn't the problem, the problem was Milner and Navas as wide-men. It's fine having a solid, uncreative base if you're compensating for it elsewhere, but playing those two wide players absolutely kills our style of play. We're a possession based side with 5-6 players who don't want to play possession football. Milner and Silva wide would have been fine. The best this City side has ever looked has always been when Nasri and Silva both start wide.

They aren't solid and it's not fine. That line up never had a goal in it. And so we were never going to win. That's it.

It didn't have a goal in it because we have two wide men who don't score or create. Replace Milner and Navas with Reus and Sterling for instance and that's a whole different game.

Ant,
The secret behind successful wide men is to use them as a fast outlet and get the ball wide to them early. We do it after pissing about in the middle. Defences are allowed to get set and by the time our wingers/full backs send the ball over, it's into a packed organised defence.

email mate? please Ta.

Lol, get the ball to Navas early and watch him ruin every fucking attack. Brilliant.

AntMcfc wrote:It didn't have a goal in it because we have two wide men who don't score or create. Replace Milner and Navas with Reus and Sterling for instance and that's a whole different game.

Have a read of the table in that article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... eague.html