The mancityfans.net football forum

Ok ok , a few on here getting a tad wound up about our strikers . A stand out stat this season is that we have only scored 7 goals away from home the EPL , 3 of which were in the win at WBA on the opening weekend of the season plus another 2 at Everton shortly after . Its now coming to the half way stage of the season , Aguero has hardly played through injuries and Bony has his critics shall we say , Nacho,s late late winner got us 3 points at Palace early in September so its just one away goal since then for us in the drubbing at White Hart Lane ! We have always operated with 3 or 4 strikers in our recent successful seasons , Aguero , Dzeko and Balloteli then Aguero , Dzeko , Negredo and Jovetic . Now we are just operating with Aguero (mostly injured) and Bony plus a few cameos from the very young Iheaniacho . Coincedence we are struggling to hit the highs of past seasons with the current strikeforce we have ?

Debate .....

I feel like, although we are undoubtedly weaker in attack than maybe since 2011 (in terms of strength in depth) this is too simplistic an argument to explain our problems.

Silva, Yaya, de Bruyne and Sterling are all capable of double figures in goals. If we go direct and press as a pack, with the likes of Delph and F1 rather than F2 or Yaya at the heart of the team, we should force enough mistakes to give the four mentioned plenty of chances, and that's not to mention the excellent strike rates of Bony and Nacho.

However, we have rarely shown the willingness to do this and I don't think Pellegrini actually plans to do it. He would rather keep the ball, which is admirable but more often than not ineffective when the other team expects it.

Our form is the issue not just the away form. It's just that we haven't been scoring away and losing compared to at home where have managed to score and win without really deserving to.

It's interesting that teams have done better away from home on average this season than in any season since the premier league began. We arguably should be better away from home than at home, as teams park the bus at our place and are more likely to make a game of it on their own patch, which should open up space for us to exploit.

It seems other teams are almost certainly becoming more adventurous at our place and exploiting our own weaknesses better than ever before, and particularly in the champions league where we have shipped 2 goals at home in each of our last 5 games.

That we haven't managed to exploit this changing phenomenon away from home, yet other teams increasingly are doing better away from home, is a cause for thought - albeit I wouldn't say it's a concern at the moment.

For me it's all down to the setup in the midfield - Silva's extended absence is likely to be a factor, as is our continued inability to control midfield effectively and protect the defence - thus giving a solid platform to build attacks

EPL?

Scatman wrote:EPL?

English Premier League .........

It's in England !

4 clean sheets from 6, if only we could put them away at the other end, neither of our two first choice strikers have scored away in the league this season.

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:4 clean sheets from 6, if only we could put them away at the other end, neither of our two first choice strikers have scored away in the league this season.

Stop pissing about with this screening the defence that only leads to us being powder puff in attack.
Go all out and blow teams away again. We play The Ferns and Jack Duckworth and still look shaky as fuck defensively.

City64 wrote:

Scatman wrote:EPL?

English Premier League .........

It's in England !

As opposed to the IPL you could have been mistaken for referring to had you just called it the premier league.

Scatman wrote:

City64 wrote:

Scatman wrote:EPL?

English Premier League .........

It's in England !

As opposed to the IPL you could have been mistaken for referring to had you just called it the premier league.

IPL ?

City64 wrote:

Scatman wrote:

City64 wrote:

Scatman wrote:EPL?

English Premier League .........

It's in England !

As opposed to the IPL you could have been mistaken for referring to had you just called it the premier league.

IPL ?

Cricket. Indian Premier League. T20 tournament

There is only Leicester who have scored more than us (home and away) this season. We have been fortunate with a couple of home wins this season so it's not just the away form for me. Yes, the injuries are a factor but so is the hopeless team set up (eg Stoke) and the recruitment over the last couple of years. Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko and Balo - we are nowhere near that now. Nigel De Jong or Fernando? Lescott or Mangala?

Do you believe we'd have bought the players you mention if we'd had no financial restrictions? I don't. I think we'd have spent 40-50 million a player and got the very best.

Tokyo Blue wrote:Do you believe we'd have bought the players you mention if we'd had no financial restrictions? I don't. I think we'd have spent 40-50 million a player and got the very best.

I think so too.

Tokyo Blue wrote:Do you believe we'd have bought the players you mention if we'd had no financial restrictions? I don't. I think we'd have spent 40-50 million a player and got the very best.

If you look at the accounts Mangala cost just over £40m, for a centre half! Even without financial restrictions you would struggle to pay more than that for a defender.

South Stand Balti wrote:

Tokyo Blue wrote:Do you believe we'd have bought the players you mention if we'd had no financial restrictions? I don't. I think we'd have spent 40-50 million a player and got the very best.

If you look at the accounts Mangala cost just over £40m, for a centre half! Even without financial restrictions you would struggle to pay more than that for a defender.

Any proof for that statement?

We could have paid the same for someone else but been able to offer a better player higher wages. And what about the rest?

nottsblue wrote:

City64 wrote:

Scatman wrote:

City64 wrote:

Scatman wrote:EPL?

English Premier League .........

It's in England !

As opposed to the IPL you could have been mistaken for referring to had you just called it the premier league.

IPL ?

Cricket. Indian Premier League. T20 tournament

T20?

I'm still trying to get my head around WTF has cricket got to do with a Man City football forum ????????

Lol