A lack of width

[carl_feedthegoat]

Thought there was a lot more width tonight, and more importantly when Micah and Gael did get forward there was the fluidity of the forward player from Silva, Nasri, Herman and Sergio that there was someone to pass to inside.

I hate to be negative about anything tonight, especially Gael as he was excellent, just wish Gael had closed those crosses down. A minor complaint though

I also have a minor complaint...Lescott was slightly shit...I wish he would have been less shit today but Long had him in his pocket..we were fortunate that the other defenders were on the ball.

Im not taking the piss btw.

[Grob]

Thought there was a lot more width tonight, and more importantly when Micah and Gael did get forward there was the fluidity of the forward player from Silva, Nasri, Herman and Sergio that there was someone to pass to inside.

I hate to be negative about anything tonight, especially Gael as he was excellent, just wish Gael had closed those crosses down. A minor complaint though

I also have a minor complaint...Lescott was slightly shit...I wish he would have been less shit today but Long had him in his pocket..we were fortunate that the other defenders were on the ball.

Im not taking the piss btw.

He let a couple of balls bounce that he shouldnt have, bundled over Long clumsily once, and sliced a couple of clearences.

Spells lack of concentration to me. When the pressures on, he always stands up to be counted to give him is due.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

If Spurs miss out on CL it is definitely worth testing their resolve for Bale. He's the man we need. A cheeky 40 million bid with Ade thrown in may tempt them.

[Ted Hughes]

If Spurs miss out on CL it is definitely worth testing their resolve for Bale. He's the man we need. A cheeky 40 million bid with Ade thrown in may tempt them.

Agree.

Throw them Savic plus an extra £5 mil as well.

Re Lescott comments above: I was in the ground early & Lescott isn't fit. I was watching him closely & he was having special treatment/exercises & was clearly in pain with his lower back/hip area.

They are patching him up.

Forgot to mention, two superb crosses from AJ on the left, very Bale-like. Then he got moved away from there to fill the hole left by Silva & it all stopped.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I also have a minor complaint...Lescott was slightly shit...I wish he would have been less shit today but Long had him in his pocket..we were fortunate that the other defenders were on the ball.

Im not taking the piss btw.

You're fucking blind.

Lescott may have not been at the races100%, but Long didn't even have lint in his pocket today.

Did he have a single moment of attack or even good hold up play?

[Ted Hughes]

I also have a minor complaint...Lescott was slightly shit...I wish he would have been less shit today but Long had him in his pocket..we were fortunate that the other defenders were on the ball.

Im not taking the piss btw.

You're fucking blind.

Lescott may have not been at the races100%, but Long didn't even have lint in his pocket today.

Did he have a single moment of attack or even good hold up play?

No but he has one hell of a leap on him. Best in the league, even better than Cahill. Won a lot of headers v us for Reading last season.

[bobby brows]

I also have a minor complaint...Lescott was slightly shit...I wish he would have been less shit today but Long had him in his pocket..we were fortunate that the other defenders were on the ball.

Im not taking the piss btw.

You're fucking blind.

Lescott may have not been at the races100%, but Long didn't even have lint in his pocket today.

Did he have a single moment of attack or even good hold up play?

According to the guardian's jamie jackson he did and Lescott was embarrassed!

The new manchester football correspondent has written two borderline scandalous articles about is in 2 days....so nothing new

[Vhero]

The whole world and its donkey knows we needed width...thats everyone bar Mancini.

[the_georgian_genius]

Mancini knows we need width, it is why we were after Sanchez all summer. I feel he was told to get on with what he had.

As for Adam Johnson, how many times, he can't play on the f*****g left!!!!

[brite blu sky]

What was interesting v WBA was even though they had 8 or even 10 lined up at the edge of their area they couldn't prevent themselves from being pulled around. So it looked like we had more width, whereas in reality imo it was more to do with the defenders trying to cope with the front 4 moving around. They seemed intent on covering each of our front 4 with two of their players just to make sure. This left only one on Micah or Clichy with no cover. I'm sort of convinced that having 4 tricky difficult to stop players all milling around is too much to cope with for sustained periods for even 6 defending players ( assume 2 more to cover the wings ) Only really top class defenders could do the job with less manpower.
So playing that front 4 would pull the defences in whatever way you would want, The only trouble is that 4 are all small, so any width potentially exposed to pass wide and cross is kind of redundant - unless they instructed Barry or Yaya to steam in at the right moment.

That just seems all a bit unnecessary if those 4 are playing well enough anyway as they will eventually turn the defence in knots.

The overall plan B problem is that it basically requires a totally different set up. eg Spurs. fast wingers and tallish strikers to nod in in or down. City would basically have to take 3 off and bring 3 on. If we just bring Dzeko on then we lose a bit of passing domination and continuity (as we have seen) and have to be prepared to cover loss of possession more with the knock on effect. Imo that is why they just put Dzeko up top and pass through the center to him to play a counter attacking style when the oppo is chasing. When City are chasing it hardly ever works as Dzeko is usually left on his own to challenge in the box and is usually outnumbered badly.
The only real way a proper plan B involving crossing would work imo is that Bob would have to sacrifice someone else, which if we are desperately chasing a game then is fine by me. So that would be someone like Micah, Yaya or Kompany to play along side Dzeko and at least give the oppo defenders something else to worry about.

Other than that we may as well forget it and just concentrate at getting that good at plan A that we never need plan B. Or we find a Dzeko height player who can play like Nasri and co.

[Ted Hughes]

Almost all of the best teams in this country & most other countries have had the option of width & strikers who can play football as well as get on the end of crosses.

It's not some kind of bizarre impossible thing, it's normal & natural.

The way people are overcomplicating football is beyond a joke. Barca have great players & the greatest player; that's why their style works. Take Messi out & they would need a plan b too even now. They may do anyway in the near future. They are being caught.