***Official: Blackburn v City Match Thread***

[Beefymcfc]

I think some people are just being knit-picky now. 7 wins and 1 draw in the league so far with how any goals scored, is this something we should be questioning?

CL is different and Mancini admitted he got it wrong. We could have been a couple up if the ref hadn't been under instruction and the problems came from changing a winning CB pairing. After that, well, it's all just a blur. This is what should be questioned if anything and seems to have been put to bed due to the incident during the game.

Beefy - but there is a difference between raising some thoughts and 'questioning' and 'criticising'............

Hopefully what I have brought up is more of a musing to add to what we have and my comments are certainly not meant to come across as criticism. I just thought that I am seeing a theme that could become a flaw costing points in the future - it is all about having the ability to vary approach to break through if your preferred approach is not getting there

In that (extremely hot and sweaty) crowd there were lots of people starting to get concerned that 'lowly' Blackburn might just hold out for the 0 - 0 that they were obviously set up for - and in the end it took a moment of brilliance from AJ to break through. Those sort of shots from outside box do not often go in - but special thanks from me as before the match I put a tenner on him to be 1st goal-scorer at 10/1 - but if Blackburn had been able hold out for a little while longer it would have been very tense in this thread I guess

I am not seeking to detract from our good win, just raise a topic for discussion / attract views.

Fair points mate but like I say, I believe it's about the teams we play and their set-up that seems to dictate our play. As has been mentioned, we used to have current players who would run at and take on defences so if that has changed, which I'm not sure it has, then it is a tactic of the manager rather than the players themselves.

[brite blu sky]

I think some people are just being knit-picky now. 7 wins and 1 draw in the league so far with how any goals scored, is this something we should be questioning?

CL is different and Mancini admitted he got it wrong. We could have been a couple up if the ref hadn't been under instruction and the problems came from changing a winning CB pairing. After that, well, it's all just a blur. This is what should be questioned if anything and seems to have been put to bed due to the incident during the game.

Absloutely yes we should question it. We are nowhere near as good as we can be yet. Not even close.

Not even close is spot on.

Just started i would say, new players to integrate, learning about each others strengths and learning about the system we are playing.

By the end of the season we should be close to being drilled into an outfit. Just because we may well be good enough to win stuff along the way doesn't mean for a minute that we have arrived where Bob or the club wants us to be.

Good points earlier about the direct running with tail runners following up, I'd like to see that happening within the next 10 games or so. More occasional direct balls too wouldn't hurt. We have started to bring in more crosses generally though. But quick spurts by Dzeko or Balo to meet a direct ball would mix it up no end. We ought eventually to have defences shredding their nerves just trying to second guess what type of attack... and where, is next.

I have a feeling that Bob is going to stick to the basics until they are confident of winning the ball back quickly within the oppo's half, when a move breaks down, pass intercepted ect. At the moment we still look vunerable when that happens due to various things, poor positioning and lack of concentration on what is about to happen.