linwood wrote:Looks like the mong's on this site have identified another boo boy in De Jong.
I think you will find the 'mongs' on this site already have their boo boy in Richards and they are being very quiet seeing as he had a good game today. I have seen the game twice now, currently watching it again and there are some positives in de Jong's play, but the overwhelming negatives cannot be ignored.
Could let stats do the talking here, as I understand it, De Jong's job is to protect the back 4 and break up play to stop attacks from developing right?
Arsenal had 20 shots and 53% of the game was spent in City's defensive third. We let in 2 goals whereas in 4 games prior we had let in none. (I realise at this point people will point out that RVP, Cesc etc are better than anyone we have faced.) Of course the answer is simple, De Jong, Barry, Ireland midfield is SUPPOSED to be more defensive to counter the increase in quality opposition. We didn't need to be as defensive against Wolves, Pompey and Blackburn so we put in SWP, Ireland and Barry and it was the right level of defensive midfield qualities. Today Hughes put in Barry, Ireland and De Jong in order to bolster us. We were unable to cover the defensive requirements of the game.
Which of course means either De Jong didn't do his job right OR Hughes got it tactically wrong. I will let you choose.