Piccsnumberoneblue wrote:Our team set up as it is now is NOT creative. We created very little against Chelsea. I appreciate that few teams do, but neither did we at Sunderland or Wigan. That surely has to change. I would have utilised Ade, SWP and Johnson more, maybe even Jo. As we are at the moment we have seven of our ten outfield players essentially defensively minded,arguably eight depending on how you view Milner. On Saturday the only two genuine flair attacking players were Tevez and Silva. That being the case we can't be that surprised that we look so blunt most of the time. Tevez is without doubt a bigger danger when he has somebody to play off.
Piccs you might have a look at the Up Front thread.. as that is a debate about what is missing right now.
There are a lot of good responses here to your concerns and i cant really add any significant new ones. Personally i always take circumstances into account and Mancini since arriving has been shoring up our weaknesses.. initially in the 'crisis' of the half season and since more in the way that he wants things. If you ask me you are kind of wanting to run before you can walk.. and i would cite two things that suggest Mancini knows and understands your point.
One is the players he has bought, imagine the team with Boateng, Kolarov, Yaya, Silva and Balotelli all firing! then realise only one of those is really kind of up to speed.
The second point is what Bobby has said, that he wants an attacking team with 2 or even 3 up front. Now he isnt just going to say that for the hell of it, he is too experienced for that as everyone would hold him to it and he would be making a rod for his own back, he is not going to do that in the face of the fans and the English press.. no way.
We can't cite the Sunderland or Blackburn games as evidence of very much, we dominated but were not up to speed and got our feet caught in the cobwebs.
We can only start to judge what Mancini actually wants when he has the players he wants on the pitch and has shown the rest of the team what they are therefore expected to try and do, then we will know for sure and will have seen it.
All that aside i do share your ultimate concern that Bob's idea of attacking football is not what a lot of us might think is attacking football. Many times i have highlighted on here how uninspiring it can be watching a team like Barca totally dominate oppositions and kind of go through the motions of what they do best.. like robots ( albeit good ones ). If Mancini is trying to build a system that ultimately is going to compete with the very best in Europe then he may be taking some cues from Barca.. my concern is that we end up a bit like them and are unable to mix it up when it matters. That fear is allayed a bit by the idea that it wont work in the Prem and Mancini one way or another will be forced to adapt and will learn as Ted is calling for more direct football.
That concern is only a fear though and it is just as possible that Mancini already knows this and when he is able and has got the team able to play the pass and move game expertly, he will look to mix it up with the best traditions of the English game. He did after all also buy AJ and Milner and didnt let SWP move on.
If you think about it when all is settled we will have Boateng, Kolarov, AJ, Milner, Mario and SWP who are all capable of getting to the byline or inswinging a cross. Then Barry, Silva and Yaya who can all ping the floated ball in.
Players who can run directly at defences are, Tevez, Mario, Silva, Milner, AJ, SWP, Yaya, Kolarov, Ade (when he want to).
Getting it right in the final 3rd especially when we are dominating teams is probably the hardest part for the players to get, it will take a bit of time, but we will get there and i rekon we will see some sublime football at times. I hope that Balotelli is good with his head as it is as Ted is saying something we are desperately short of and with the ability we have to get the ball into the center we need that capacity in there. ( if Ade doesn't step up he is gone and then we can get someone who really wants to feast on the potential we have ).
So dont worry yet mate it is going to be good.
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