tactics / haaland

[KinkyKinkladze]

I'll tell you one thing and I absolutely hate to say it because I love him but rodri really does stunt our play. When it was fern there we had a passing ability with him. One of our best attacking moves was the ball played back to fern, sterling/aguero running through and fern popping it delicately through/over the top to run on to. Fern also snapped into a tackle. Rodri isn't like any of that, he plays like an old school Italian sweeper if anything, he can marshall a game but hasn't got a killer pass in him.

Slowly over the years our attack minded midfield threat has been lost. Yaya, Silva, ferna, sane, kev, even sterling. All we have left now is kev. Possibly gundo.

That dynamism has been replaced with Riyad, rodri and jack. Love them all but they're slow and rely on time and space. Kev is the only one left who can pull something out of his arse when nobody else can.

Haaland was made for city 3 or 4 years ago. We need to find the players to rebuild like we used to play, build around haaland.

Probably talking shite but that's how I see it.

[Tokyo Blue]

Haaland has developed a really bad habit of running behind defenders. I think his intention is to burst forward into the space, but it’s making him look like he’s choosing to hide. Also, every time we get to the by line he runs to the back of the goal behind the defender.

Aguero used to attack the front post so often and I don’t see Haaland do that.

Who am I to judge though? It’s just my observation.

You’re a City fan. You’ve got every right to say what you think, lb2.

I agree with Mase above. It is as if Pep feels it was too easy playing how we should do. Perhaps Pep wants it to be more about him. Maybe at the arse end of the season when the players are really knackered we will take “the easy route”. It needs doing now, while everything is on our hands. They can do it. To me the real mystery is why they aren’t.

Edit: maybe Pep is playing 4d chess and doesn’t want other teams to work that system out. I am overthinking things a tad, perhaps.

[sheblue]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

[Mase]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

It’s Jack’s fault?

[sheblue]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

...........and last week at Forest. Key moment in the game as it turned out

Last night Haaland made lots of good runs, as he does most games. He's constantly ignored as we always pass back or wide. One for Pep I would say - sort it out!

I was talking about the start of the season. Not last week.

[sheblue]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

It’s Jack’s fault?

No I wouldn't say that. Simply Foden at his best is just better. But of course his form has not been great of late.
It's peps job to get the best out of his best players, unless of course the player doesn't want to. I doubt that's the case here.

[BlueinBosnia]

I think one thing that hasn't been mentioned enough re our setup with Haaland is the fact that the other 9 outfield players are tiring faster (and the opposition tiring less), and we're not as threatening in the last 15-20 minutes of a game. I'd like to see a few games with Alvarez starting, with Haaland being brought on at around the 60-minute mark. I think this would bring out the best of both worlds: us passing the ball around, tiring the opposition, and getting the odd goal, with Haaland coming on to deliver the finishing blow.

[Mase]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

It’s Jack’s fault?

No I wouldn't say that. Simply Foden at his best is just better. But of course his form has not been great of late.
It's peps job to get the best out of his best players, unless of course the player doesn't want to. I doubt that's the case here.

Jack at Villa ran at players, forced the opposition to come to him to draw them out of position, had shots on goal. He’s adapted to what Pep wants him to do. we’ve actually seen that with Foden the last few games. He’s not gone forward, he’s come back and done the easy pass. Against Liverpool he failed to test a 67 year old Milner.

It’s Pep’s tactics and what the players have been instructed to do, not the players.

[stupot]

As well as being shocking against an old man in Milner he was the same against an equally old Ashley Young.
Jack's been playing better and better.

[stupot]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

Phil was in the team for the Brentford game just before it. No Jack. Worst performance of the season.

[carl_feedthegoat]

As well as being shocking against an old man in Milner he was the same against an equally old Ashley Young.
Jack's been playing better and better.

Foden is Miles better than Grealish in the attacking the goal and actually scoring department - there is not even an argument against that .

It’s easy to focus on his poor (for him ) form and forget what he’s done for this club since he came into the first team - I’m
Just as guilty .

Grealish , for whatever reason , was embarrassing last season but everyone gave him a bye !! this season he’s playing well but he’s still average to shit in front of goal and cannot be relied on to actually win us a game by him scoring the winning goal - Foden , when on form , can.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

Phil was in the team for the Brentford game just before it. No Jack. Worst performance of the season.

Shall we name the worst performances of the season that Jacks had ?

Both on form - Foden gets in the side ahead of Grealish every single time .

[stupot]

As well as being shocking against an old man in Milner he was the same against an equally old Ashley Young.
Jack's been playing better and better.

Foden is Miles better than Grealish in the attacking the goal and actually scoring department - there is not even an argument against that .

It’s easy to focus on his poor (for him ) form and forget what he’s done for this club since he came into the first team - I’m
Just as guilty .

Grealish , for whatever reason , was embarrassing last season but everyone gave him a bye !! this season he’s playing well but he’s still average to shit in front of goal and cannot be relied on to actually win us a game by him scoring the winning goal - Foden , when on form , can.

Foden is miles better at scoring. Jack's been playing miles better. There's not an argument about that.
Sterling scored more than Foden. He still played shit for 2 years.

[stupot]

Get Phil back in the team get him back playing well. At the start of the season the two of them had a great understanding.

I’m afraid you have a short memory. Phil chose to ignore a few simple passes to Haaland at the beginning of the season.

I haven't looked back at the goals but I remember Phil assisted some of them.
They were all guilty of not passing in their heads they were still playing the false 9.
Anyway phil was in the team before the wc and the two of them did well, post wc Jack came in and it hasn't been the same.

Phil was in the team for the Brentford game just before it. No Jack. Worst performance of the season.

Shall we name the worst performances of the season that Jacks had ?

Both on form - Foden gets in the side ahead of Grealish every single time .

I was making the point that before the WC Phil wasn't on form.
I'd have them both in the team on form

[carl_feedthegoat]

As well as being shocking against an old man in Milner he was the same against an equally old Ashley Young.
Jack's been playing better and better.

Foden is Miles better than Grealish in the attacking the goal and actually scoring department - there is not even an argument against that .

It’s easy to focus on his poor (for him ) form and forget what he’s done for this club since he came into the first team - I’m
Just as guilty .

Grealish , for whatever reason , was embarrassing last season but everyone gave him a bye !! this season he’s playing well but he’s still average to shit in front of goal and cannot be relied on to actually win us a game by him scoring the winning goal - Foden , when on form , can.

Foden is miles better at scoring. Jack's been playing miles better. There's not an argument about that.
Sterling scored more than Foden. He still played shit for 2 years.

True.

I will push for Grealish more when he starts winning games for us - those games when we expect a 100 million pound player to step up the plate, above other players , and win a must win game for us.
He hasn't got to that stage for us yet and after nearly 2 seasons , I'm not sure he ever will , especially if hes not allowed to express himself more ( which translates into bombing forward into the penalty area instead of sideways and backwards passing )

As Mase says , maybe this is all down to PeP and his ' do not lose the ball or your fucked' attitude.................I remember when Foden came onto the scene and he was electric as he just played his own game........then PeP obviously hammered into him to not lose the ball , hence playing the ball sideways and backwards for more games than I care to remember.

[Mase]

It’s 100% down to Pep. There’s no way all these attacking players join us and just all decide to stop attacking.

But these tactics have won us trophies. So it’s finding the balance of working to player’s strengths whilst retaining the ball as well. We did it agains the Rags at home so it is doable.

[Nigels Tackle]

the haaland situation is very much linked to how boring to watch we've become(viewtopic.php?f=119&t=56931).
i can count on one hand the number of games i've really enjoyed watching this season. granted, a lot of it comes down to opposition tactics with the 'low block', 11 men behind the ball etc... but surely pep needs to adapt our game plan to counter these negative set ups? looking back at the possession stats, most of our enjoyable games are when we have less than 60% possession... should pep fall on his ball retention sword and allow the weaker opposition to play a bit more?

[Dubciteh]

We dont play to his strengths.

But he doesnt play to our strengths.

We have won loads playing our way so shouldnt need to adjust for one player.

We either try someone else there or go through this painful period trying to find a new system that works for all? It might mean a drought on the trophy front in the short term though.

Im pretty sure the squad we had last season walks the league this year.

Its a problem though and a pretty big one for us at the moment.

[Mase]

We dont play to his strengths.

But he doesnt play to our strengths.

We have won loads playing our way so shouldnt need to adjust for one player.

We either try someone else there or go through this painful period trying to find a new system that works for all? It might mean a drought on the trophy front in the short term though.

Im pretty sure the squad we had last season walks the league this year.

Its a problem though and a pretty big one for us at the moment.

He’s a striker though mate, he’s not a “false 9”. We shouldn’t buy a class player and then try and make them something they’re not. If we wanted a false 9 we could have bought Felix. We obviously don’t want one so we’ve bought a proper striker.

I can guarantee we wouldn’t buy Messi and try and use him as a winger, so why try and force Haaland to be something he’s not?

Pep used Lewandowski as a proper striker for Bayern. No false 9 expecting him to run back to our own box. It worked. He can play with a striker.

[blues2win]

The fault is with other players. They need to find him more. Not sure why not. On one occasion on Wednesday he made a great run and inexplicably Gundogan didn’t make the pass. He doesn’t even need a perfect pass. He’s good at feeding off scraps.