mr_nool wrote:OK, Pep the Messiah is here and he has converted Kolarov to a - before last night at least - half decent centre back and has got Sterling to once again find his Liverpool form and beyond. But isn't there the faintest feeling of déjà vu in the air?
Last season we also started fabulously in an attacking sense and blew all teams away - until KDB got injured.
We were frail in defense and struggled when teams closed us down, but it was OK as long as we scored more goals than the opponents.
This season, we have brought in some attacking reinforcements (of which Gundo and Sane still are not really contributing), but Stones is the only real addition in the back-line (not counting Bravo). Is Pep's magic strong enough, or will we be found out once again, when teams realise that there is something to get if you only put us under pressure? It was to some degree there to see in the league game against Swansea, and last night it was glaring obvious.
The next two league games to in-form teams will be huge. If we succumb to pressure and let the opposition pressure us into making defensive mistakes, it might show that the Pep way isn't the right way in England - at least not with the limited quality we got at the back ...
[putting my helmet on and go sit in the corner waiting for the abuse]
No need to don your helmet and there's no need for any abuse, for what was a thoughtful post, Mr Nool.
I've never agonised about City having a fragile defence, as long as we're scoring freely and, in any event, we're now 'stuck' with the defenders/players we have, or at least until the January window arrives.
In order to continue the excellent start we've had to the season, the main thing we need to work on, to my mind, is the attacking side of the equation. We're not scoring enough, by comparison to our approach play and the number of chances we're creating overall.
Last night, I feel we could/should have scored one or two more goals and, if we had, perhaps this thread, although completely valid, would have assumed a more academic aspect. Moreover, if we're going to adopt a high pressure pressing game, we can't expect other teams not to do the same to us and defensive and midfield ball playing skills (which we have in abundance) will be of paramount importance to overcome such opposition tactics. We've just got to be better at it than other sides.
Moreover, it's still early days in our attempts to play the 'Pep way' and, as the season progresses, our growing experience and confidence in this particular style and approach will see us surely prevail. Don't forget, sides such as Spurs and Liverpool have had a head start on us, with regard to the pressing approach, having both used it for last season under their respective managers so, in a way, we're playing catch up with some of our rivals.
We've come a surprisingly long way already, in a short space of time. We're going to improve further and when Sane and Gundogan are up to speed, we won't miss players such as KDB, when they're out injured and we have a big enough and talented enough squad anyway.
As I said previously, we just need to work on our attacking play to make us even more deadly and increase the fear factor further, in all our opponents.
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