Blend.

[getdressedmctavish]

As thick a post as you could hope to find from Zc. What's eating you, silly chap?

[Ted Hughes]

I can accept Wednesday as there was little to play for and in the team selection, it was clear that we weren't that bothered.

However, some of the issues from Wednesday have been there all season, including against Spurs. Yaya offers very little defensive cover and Fernandinho is not a Barry or de Jong. He's trying, but I'm not sure just sitting is his thing and trying to get involved pulls him out of position. Spurs looked the better side for much of the period before we scored our second and the defence was exposed a number of times again, but fortunately they're poor up front.

With Aguero and Negredo, we get away with a lot due to their work rate, but we could be in trouble if anything happens to either of them - we saw what Aguero and Dzeko can do together on Wednesday and against Bayern.

On the grounds we're not going to drop Fernandinho or Yaya and the system is unlikely to change, the defence is going to be busy for the rest of the season.

This is kind of the main point for me: I don't believe we can play this system, with Yaya, Fernandinho etc, with these defenders. It's another version of what Hughes was trying to do & it was a similar problem imo. If we'd had Aguero & Co then, many of his draws would have been wins, but we would still have had a defensive problem which was likely to rear up at any time & likely to cost us.

If we're not going to play a proper, def mid & are going to attack all the time, we need really great 1v1 defenders who can deal with fast, high quality players running at them imo. We may well get away with it & still win the league, but every game is a gamble.

When we find a player who can take on Robben 1v1, without me shitting myself watching, then I'll tend to think we are on the right track.

[zuricity]

I agree, he's worse.

No he isn't, people choose what they want to see. For some time people on here were on Gareth Barry's case, wondering what he did. Cleaning up the mess of others in midfield, reading the oppositions play so well that he didn't need to make rash tackles , just take the ball away. Garcia does a lot of this too . Garcia gets the blame when others in midfield screw up.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

No he isn't, people choose what they want to see. For some time people on here were on Gareth Barry's case, wondering what he did. Cleaning up the mess of others in midfield, reading the oppositions play so well that he didn't need to make rash tackles , just take the ball away. Garcia does a lot of this too . Garcia gets the blame when others in midfield screw up.

Thing is though I wasn't. Barry lacked pace but made up for it with hard work and intelligence. Garcia has never had a 7/10 game in his city career. He doesn't add steel, we don't keep clean sheets with him and he adds nothing to our build up.

I'm not after a boo boy, he's just really rubbish.

[zuricity]

Thing is though I wasn't. Barry lacked pace but made up for it with hard work and intelligence. Garcia has never had a 7/10 game in his city career. He doesn't add steel, we don't keep clean sheets with him and he adds nothing to our build up.

I'm not after a boo boy, he's just really rubbish.

However, it's a team game. He isn't rubbish, but he does have a style of running , like Kolarov, it lacks pace and looks ungainly. Compare his style of running to Silva or Kun , who look so fluent when moving and running.

There were few if any,of the goals we have conceded this season, even when he played cb, that could be blamed on Garcia directly.

[Nigels Tackle]

Thing is though I wasn't. Barry lacked pace but made up for it with hard work and intelligence. Garcia has never had a 7/10 game in his city career. He doesn't add steel, we don't keep clean sheets with him and he adds nothing to our build up.

I'm not after a boo boy, he's just really rubbish.

However, it's a team game. He isn't rubbish, but he does have a style of running , like Kolarov, it lacks pace and looks ungainly. Compare his style of running to Silva or Kun , who look so fluent when moving and running.

There were few if any,of the goals we have conceded this season, even when he played cb, that could be blamed on Garcia directly.

when garcia and dzeko play, they curdle our style. neither have the skill/touch/football brain that's required for the kind of football that the count wants to play.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

However, it's a team game. He isn't rubbish, but he does have a style of running , like Kolarov, it lacks pace and looks ungainly. Compare his style of running to Silva or Kun , who look so fluent when moving and running. There were few if any,of the goals we have conceded this season, even when he played cb, that could be blamed on Garcia directly.

Sorry you're wrong. He loses the ball, he loses his man, he is obviously a square peg in a round hole at city.

I can't comment on how he'd go in another league, but in the premier league he's rubbish.

Watch him jog back the other day against Pilzen as they hit us 4 on 3. For someone who offers zero attacking quality I really do expect a desire to stop the opposition scoring. De Jong was a prefect example. Very rarely offered much going forward, but he would bleed to stop a goal.

[zuricity]

However, it's a team game. He isn't rubbish, but he does have a style of running , like Kolarov, it lacks pace and looks ungainly. Compare his style of running to Silva or Kun , who look so fluent when moving and running. There were few if any,of the goals we have conceded this season, even when he played cb, that could be blamed on Garcia directly.

Sorry you're wrong. He loses the ball, he loses his man, he is obviously a square peg in a round hole at city.

I can't comment on how he'd go in another league, but in the premier league he's rubbish.

Watch him jog back the other day against Pilzen as they hit us 4 on 3. For someone who offers zero attacking quality I really do expect a desire to stop the opposition scoring. De Jong was a prefect example. Very rarely offered much going forward, but he would bleed to stop a goal.

I disagree with you , i guess you are talking about their first goal ? where all the defense were 'jogging' back because there seemed to be little danger - but it was a cracking strike ! They counter attacked well after we gave the ball away too easily towards the half way line. Garcia was caught in space, like others, on that move. perhaps Kolarov could have moved quicker ? ( mmh , perhaps not).

I expect all midfielders to do defensive work when not going forward , that is their job. Who lost the ball anyway that lead to their first goal ?