The mancityfans.net football forum

Not a knee jerk thread by any means BUT our defensive woes cost us yet again last night contributing to our 8th PL loss , this is totally unacceptable for a club of our stature and needs to be addressed ASAP. Major overhaul of our defence will require imho Mendy Stones Zinchenko Cancelo being sold this summer , a top quality CB and LB brought in and same with a RB . Major overhaul indeed but imperative if we are to move forward .

Pep only cares about midfielders though so don’t expect anything revolutionary

Wooders wrote:Pep only cares about midfielders though so don’t expect anything revolutionary

One of the best midfielders in the world playing cb all season suggests you are absolutely right .

I really think that Garcia is one in a generation.
He reminds me of oldschool sweeper from the 90s, calm as fuck under pressure.

Look at Phil. He was played this season and delivered a lot because he got games.

I think our left side is really something we need to solve. Mendy and Zinch are not what we need.

Hopefully Garcia has a run alongside Laporte for the rest of the season. We know Otamendi and Stones are not good enough so no need to play them unless Laporte/Garcia need a rest.

I'd like to see Fern back in midfield when Laporte/Garcia are playing together. I know Fern is in the final stages of his career with us but we've massively missed his presence in midfield this season. We want to push on and target the FA Cup and Champions League and he can make a big difference for us there.

I mentioned in another thread but I think we should look at Alaba at Bayern this summer, potentially tying him into a deal for Sane. He can play CB or LB, he's played under Pep before, and he only has 1 year left on his contract. He's only turned 28 recently too so still has a few years left for a defender.

We keep looking at spending tens of millions on finding a world class left back. Why don’t we just look at a left back that’s decent and can do the job? Look at Liverpool with Robertson. United have that Williams coming through.

Don’t spend £80 million on Ben Chilwell ffs. Our scouts need to earn their money and just recommend someone that can do the job.

Playing Fern CB just to force Rodri in the team has been Pep’s biggest downfall this season btw.

Mase wrote:
Playing Fern CB just to force Rodri in the team has been Pep’s biggest downfall this season btw.

This.
That was the reason he was sent off so much this season also.

Old school thought. Play a settled back four. The players will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, when to cover, when to go forward, make angles for the pass etc. Playing with different personnel every single game does not help, indeed its to the detriment of the side

nottsblue wrote:Old school thought. Play a settled back four. The players will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, when to cover, when to go forward, make angles for the pass etc. Playing with different personnel every single game does not help, indeed its to the detriment of the side

It’s a difficult one to keep a settled back four as we are usually fighting on all fronts which means loads of games and absolute need to rotate. Bin dippers chuck a couple of cup tournaments to focus on PL and CL and basically play the same 11 or 12 players week in week in out because their squad is piss poor and lacks depth. TAA and Robertson deffo drug cheating with the miles they clock up !

zinchenko is a shadow of the player he was last season. mendy is hopeless. i agree we just need an ok/competent replacement for both, not a world beater.

Koulibaly for £72m according to reports today.

ENIAM NAM wrote:Koulibaly for £72m according to reports today.

Like him he has the tools.

Mase wrote:We keep looking at spending tens of millions on finding a world class left back. Why don’t we just look at a left back that’s decent and can do the job? Look at Liverpool with Robertson. United have that Williams coming through.

Don’t spend £80 million on Ben Chilwell ffs. Our scouts need to earn their money and just recommend someone that can do the job.

Playing Fern CB just to force Rodri in the team has been Pep’s biggest downfall this season btw.

Rodri hasn't filled Fernandinho's boots at all, needs to sharpen up, everything is too laboured with him.

As much as the defence is a problem the intensity is just not there across the board, we're being countered on far too easily.

Foreverinbluedreams wrote:

Mase wrote:We keep looking at spending tens of millions on finding a world class left back. Why don’t we just look at a left back that’s decent and can do the job? Look at Liverpool with Robertson. United have that Williams coming through.

Don’t spend £80 million on Ben Chilwell ffs. Our scouts need to earn their money and just recommend someone that can do the job.

Playing Fern CB just to force Rodri in the team has been Pep’s biggest downfall this season btw.

Rodri hasn't filled Fernandinho's boots at all, needs to sharpen up, everything is too laboured with him.

As much as the defence is a problem the intensity is just not there across the board, we're being countered on far too easily.

Agreed. Like a knife through butter. Its down to Fern not being in DM and making those “tactical” fouls that other fans moan about. He breaks up the play brilliantly.

Rodri has shown glimpses. I’m more than happy to give him another season - if you look at Fred now he’s got used to the Prem he’s not a bad player for United. So I’m hopeful for Rodri. My worry is though that’s he’s more of a Barry type player, and Barry could get away with it because he had De Jong next to him. That DM position for us leaves the person doing it vulnerable

Where is Garcia?

Laporte
Koulibaly
Garcia
Walker
Zinch
New LB
Otter as 4th choice

Although we could be doing much better at the back, i don't think the problem rests solely with the personnel. We commit to many men ahead of the ball high up the field, leaving the field wide open if we lose the ball. We used to combat this with the little pull backs to stop the flow but we are now getting instant yellow cards for that.

Pep will see the solution to either drop the defenders a bit deeper and if the full backs push on a midfielder drops deeper, something similar to what liverpool do, or improve the quality of the midfielders so that we dont turn the ball over so often, something similar to what Barca used to do, but they were kings of the cynical foul!

Alaba is a good shout as were are going to do business with those cnuts . Garcia needs to play alongside Laporte for the remainder of the season and put Fern back in the middle. I'd keep Cancelo but he needs to play. We have had some shocking defensive buys and that CB at Napoli would be another risky one.

I wouldn't mind seeing Garcia at defensive midfield at some point. Not yet though.

Tokyo Blue wrote:I wouldn't mind seeing Garcia at defensive midfield at some point Not yet though.

Good shout.

Mase wrote:

Tokyo Blue wrote:I wouldn't mind seeing Garcia at defensive midfield at some point Not yet though.

Good shout.

+1