Piccsnumberoneblue wrote:bigblue wrote:I firmly believe that Pep tells Mahrez to play more direct and take more shots than the other players because of Mahrezs ability in the final 3rd. If that wasn't the case he'd be hooked after 20 mins.
I'd agree with this. And being as though we go nuts at Silva for not shooting enough, maybe we need somebody who has a pop a little more often. Also I don't see Fern get the same criticism for some of his frequent 'speculative efforts'.
I don't care for Mahrez, I dislike his cutting inside consistently, but I thought yesterday he mixed it up a little more.
I'd also agree with the point somebody made about playing a left footed player on the left to be more effective.
By Jack Gaughan
Riyad Mahrez is a man desperate for minutes — but not these minutes. Not on a field of mud, not up against lower league defenders who have no qualms letting him know they are around.
What else could Manchester City do, though? Choosing not to play their £60million record signing, who last started a Premier League game on December 30, would have been some statement. Just get out there and get on with it.
A hostile Rodney Parade in difficult conditions for flair players is not the environment somebody of the Algerian’s ilk relishes. Yet that should not really matter. Mahrez’s destiny is in his own hands.
It is up to him whether he forces a way into Pep Guardiola’s plans. At the moment, he is nowhere close. More than a few around the club are querying why they committed so much money on him last summer rather than spend extra on a central midfielder or left back.
There are reasons for that — the debacle surrounding Jorginho, for one — but bog-standard displays like this will do nothing to silence those doubters. A goal for Mahrez in stoppage time, with the Premier League champions already leading 3-1, should not change that feeling.
Guardiola claimed before this FA Cup tie that Mahrez has done nothing wrong, just that those in front of him are in superior form. It is hard not to feel for the 27-year-old. To watch young Phil Foden seemingly mentor him as City headed into the break goalless was striking. This is a man who has lifted the PFA Player of the Year award, remember.
Choosing not to play their £60million record signing would have been some statement
A Rodney Parade in difficult conditions for flair players is not the environment he relishes
If that was an eye-opener, so too was the look of exasperation David Silva wore after the pair fluffed a routine free-kick.
What painted an even clearer picture of exactly where Mahrez stands at the club came as City broke at pace before half time — four men pouring forward, only to find their outlet on the left 10 yards behind where Guardiola would demand. The move faltered.
Perhaps this was further evidence of why Mahrez currently sits down the pecking order.
