Garcia vs Demi

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Two things about that goal and picture.

1st look at where zaba is, now I'm not home to throw and and watch the replay, but in the shot it looks like he's talking up zabas position while he's out of it.

2nd what I clearly remember is Kolarov seeing a player in his spot and instead of running to the only free player runs at Vinny for no reason what so ever. Shocking decision and if anybody gets the blame for the goal it's him.

[zuricity]

Thought Demi was just an mobile (immobile) as Garcia but looked at bit more assured on the ball.

Demi made a few great tackles to win the ball back that you wouldn't expect anyone to make. But he also let Hazard and a few other drift around him very easy. Part of the problem was that in his position, he wasn't supposed to go against people running at him at full speed. We gave the ball away in bad areas too often, with too large of a gap between Demi and the defense, leaving him stranded.

Basically he wouldn't have looked so out of place if we kept the ball better and got the strikers more involved (so we didn't lose it in bad areas).

That is why Mancini played Barry most of the time.

[branny]

Why not play Vinny in that role and put Demichelis at center back ?,he played this role at Hamburg,and he is a better option in that role than the aging Demichelis.For me it was ludicrous playing him there last night.

Was saying this today. Two cb's with Vinny in front. Not ideal from a defensive point of view but with every other central midfielder injured he may be the next best option, after all he's fast and mobile enough and has played there.

[Wonderwall]

Why not play Vinny in that role and put Demichelis at center back ?,he played this role at Hamburg,and he is a better option in that role than the aging Demichelis.For me it was ludicrous playing him there last night.

Was saying this today. Two cb's with Vinny in front. Not ideal from a defensive point of view but with every other central midfielder injured he may be the next best option, after all he's fast and mobile enough and has played there.

Thats a good shout, a very good shout at a time when we needed to change things up.

I think Mr Pellegrini missed an opportunity to change the game (as he likes to say), lets hope he learns from it.

Also why was Demi on the 1/2 way line for almost every corner we had and not only that he was marking Hazard???? Doesn't make sense, why not have Navas marking hazard, which will cut out the threat of speed and put Demi in the box which gives us a better attacking presence at a set piece?

[Ted Hughes]

Why not play Vinny in that role and put Demichelis at center back ?,he played this role at Hamburg,and he is a better option in that role than the aging Demichelis.For me it was ludicrous playing him there last night.

Was saying this today. Two cb's with Vinny in front. Not ideal from a defensive point of view but with every other central midfielder injured he may be the next best option, after all he's fast and mobile enough and has played there.

Thats a good shout, a very good shout at a time when we needed to change things up.

I think Mr Pellegrini missed an opportunity to change the game (as he likes to say), lets hope he learns from it.

Also why was Demi on the 1/2 way line for almost every corner we had and not only that he was marking Hazard???? Doesn't make sense, why not have Navas marking hazard, which will cut out the threat of speed and put Demi in the box which gives us a better attacking presence at a set piece?

Did Hazard get past Demichelis from any corners or did he have to pass the ball ?

If so, who was he passing to, & who was picking them up ?

[Hazy2]

GAzBaz when we needed him.

[Dicky Dunne]

I think defensively Demi played well, made severall good tackles and interception. What annoyed me about him was the amount of time he dwelt on the ball, over and over again he took 4 and 5 touches were 2 would have done hence allowing Chelsea to get into a defensive position and pretty much shut down the pitch. As i said though its hardly his fault as he's not an accomplished midfielder and not playing in his natural position

[Breks]

I honestly thought Demi did ok. Must just be me.

I thought he did ok. Made some decent interceptions and tackles. Passing was good, overall he did ok to say he isn't in his prime and not a midfielder.

[Ted Hughes]

I think defensively Demi played well, made severall good tackles and interception. What annoyed me about him was the amount of time he dwelt on the ball, over and over again he took 4 and 5 touches were 2 would have done hence allowing Chelsea to get into a defensive position and pretty much shut down the pitch. As i said though its hardly his fault as he's not an accomplished midfielder and not playing in his natural position

Unlikely Rodwell or Garcia would do much better v a hardworking team, or Barry or Nige for that matter. They would just offload the ball to someone else to do the creative stuff.

Fernandinho is one of the best players in the world, & he makes stuff like that look easy. It's not a simple task to replace him.

[Wonderwall]

Why not play Vinny in that role and put Demichelis at center back ?,he played this role at Hamburg,and he is a better option in that role than the aging Demichelis.For me it was ludicrous playing him there last night.

Was saying this today. Two cb's with Vinny in front. Not ideal from a defensive point of view but with every other central midfielder injured he may be the next best option, after all he's fast and mobile enough and has played there.

Thats a good shout, a very good shout at a time when we needed to change things up.

I think Mr Pellegrini missed an opportunity to change the game (as he likes to say), lets hope he learns from it.

Also why was Demi on the 1/2 way line for almost every corner we had and not only that he was marking Hazard???? Doesn't make sense, why not have Navas marking hazard, which will cut out the threat of speed and put Demi in the box which gives us a better attacking presence at a set piece?

Did Hazard get past Demichelis from any corners or did he have to pass the ball ?

If so, who was he passing to, & who was picking them up ?

My point is Ted, from a set piece who is more dangerous and likey to impact the play to our advantage?
Do you think Demi or Navas is more suited to snuffing out a counter attack when Hazard is the attacker?

[Dicky Dunne]

I think defensively Demi played well, made severall good tackles and interception. What annoyed me about him was the amount of time he dwelt on the ball, over and over again he took 4 and 5 touches were 2 would have done hence allowing Chelsea to get into a defensive position and pretty much shut down the pitch. As i said though its hardly his fault as he's not an accomplished midfielder and not playing in his natural position

Unlikely Rodwell or Garcia would do much better v a hardworking team, or Barry or Nige for that matter. They would just offload the ball to someone else to do the creative stuff.

Fernandinho is one of the best players in the world, & he makes stuff like that look easy. It's not a simple task to replace him.

Agreed, as i said its not his natural position but i still felt he took too long on the ball, even when he released it to Yaya, Silva, Navas etc he tended to take that extra couple of touches which slowed the game down, to be fair to Chelsea their front 3 worked incredibly hard and pressed very high up the pitch

the absence of Fernandinho was the big reason we underperformed for me, he makes us tick and links defence to midfield and even midfield to the forwards

[Ted Hughes]

Why not play Vinny in that role and put Demichelis at center back ?,he played this role at Hamburg,and he is a better option in that role than the aging Demichelis.For me it was ludicrous playing him there last night.

Was saying this today. Two cb's with Vinny in front. Not ideal from a defensive point of view but with every other central midfielder injured he may be the next best option, after all he's fast and mobile enough and has played there.

Thats a good shout, a very good shout at a time when we needed to change things up.

I think Mr Pellegrini missed an opportunity to change the game (as he likes to say), lets hope he learns from it.

Also why was Demi on the 1/2 way line for almost every corner we had and not only that he was marking Hazard???? Doesn't make sense, why not have Navas marking hazard, which will cut out the threat of speed and put Demi in the box which gives us a better attacking presence at a set piece?

Did Hazard get past Demichelis from any corners or did he have to pass the ball ?

If so, who was he passing to, & who was picking them up ?

My point is Ted, from a set piece who is more dangerous and likey to impact the play to our advantage?
Do you think Demi or Navas is more suited to snuffing out a counter attack when Hazard is the attacker?

Demichelis by 100%. If the ball comes free in the air, as it often does, Demichelis will head it straight back into their penalty area. If it comes on the ground, he will be right up Hazard's arse & if neccessary wil knock him on his face.

Navas will be beaten in the air or dive in, miss the ball & leave Hazard half the length of the pitch.

The point I am trying to illustrate is that the problem is not Demichelis, it's everyone else. Hazard is not going to leave Demi on his arse & run 80 yards, he will need other players.

Who is picking up the other players ? Answer on many occasions v many teams, irrespective of who plays in City's team= nobody. They are running free. So Hazard doesn't need to beat Demichelis at all, just lay it off. Same with Watford's players.

This is City's problem in a nutshell & isn't a fault in Demichelis or Pellegrini, it's a fault in the squad; they need to be more alert & work harder off the ball. It washappening under Mancini too even when we were supposedly 'tight'.

It is just being shown up a bit more now that we are more attacking minded.

To play like Barca/ Bayern or even Chelsea did v us; the players have to work harder.

Then, it works.

[Wonderwall]

My point is Ted, from a set piece who is more dangerous and likey to impact the play to our advantage?
Do you think Demi or Navas is more suited to snuffing out a counter attack when Hazard is the attacker?

Demichelis by 100%. If the ball comes free in the air, as it often does, Demichelis will head it straight back into their penalty area. If it comes on the ground, he will be right up Hazard's arse & if neccessary wil knock him on his face.

Navas will be beaten in the air or dive in, miss the ball & leave Hazard half the length of the pitch.

The point I am trying to illustrate is that the problem is not Demichelis, it's everyone else. Hazard is not going to leave Demi on his arse & run 80 yards, he will need other players.

Who is picking up the other players ? Answer on many occasions v many teams, irrespective of who plays in City's team= nobody. They are running free. So Hazard doesn't need to beat Demichelis at all, just lay it off. Same with Watford's players.

This is City's problem in a nutshell & isn't a fault in Demichelis or Pellegrini, it's a fault in the squad; they need to be more alert & work harder off the ball. It washappening under Mancini too even when we were supposedly 'tight'.

It is just being shown up a bit more now that we are more attacking minded.

To play like Barca/ Bayern or even Chelsea did v us; the players have to work harder.

Then, it works.

Agree if its in the air 100% Demichelis wouldbeat Eden Hazard. However, we left him (on a Yellow card) to mark Hazard who he would need to foul to stop him. As far as I am concerned that is not a smart move. incidentally, when Chelsea had their 4 on 1 attack, it was Demichelis who dived and gave the ball away which left Nastasic on his own back pedalling against 4 of them

Demichelis would be a greater threat for us in the box at those set pieces but he wasnt allowed.

Regardless of your point about other players needing to work harder, we were 1-0 down and left one of our best headers of a ball on the half way line for set pieces? As far a I am concerned it lacks any sense.

[Ted Hughes]

My point is Ted, from a set piece who is more dangerous and likey to impact the play to our advantage?
Do you think Demi or Navas is more suited to snuffing out a counter attack when Hazard is the attacker?

Demichelis by 100%. If the ball comes free in the air, as it often does, Demichelis will head it straight back into their penalty area. If it comes on the ground, he will be right up Hazard's arse & if neccessary wil knock him on his face.

Navas will be beaten in the air or dive in, miss the ball & leave Hazard half the length of the pitch.

The point I am trying to illustrate is that the problem is not Demichelis, it's everyone else. Hazard is not going to leave Demi on his arse & run 80 yards, he will need other players.

Who is picking up the other players ? Answer on many occasions v many teams, irrespective of who plays in City's team= nobody. They are running free. So Hazard doesn't need to beat Demichelis at all, just lay it off. Same with Watford's players.

This is City's problem in a nutshell & isn't a fault in Demichelis or Pellegrini, it's a fault in the squad; they need to be more alert & work harder off the ball. It washappening under Mancini too even when we were supposedly 'tight'.

It is just being shown up a bit more now that we are more attacking minded.

To play like Barca/ Bayern or even Chelsea did v us; the players have to work harder.

Then, it works.

Agree if its in the air 100% Demichelis wouldbeat Eden Hazard. However, we left him (on a Yellow card) to mark Hazard who he would need to foul to stop him. As far as I am concerned that is not a smart move. incidentally, when Chelsea had their 4 on 1 attack, it was Demichelis who dived and gave the ball away which left Nastasic on his own back pedalling against 4 of them

Demichelis would be a greater threat for us in the box at those set pieces but he wasnt allowed.

Regardless of your point about other players needing to work harder, we were 1-0 down and left one of our best headers of a ball on the half way line for set pieces? As far a I am concerned it lacks any sense.

It may well be Demichelis who took on the responsibility.

I think the point about players needing to work harder & be more alert is much more important though tbh.

It's a constant thing which transcends managers rather than a one off instance. If Luiz was left to look after 3 or 4 City players in 30 yards of space, like Demi often was, he would struggle. Likewise Schweinsteiger or Martinez or Busquets or Xabi Alonso.

The whole team need to be awake to problems, & bust a gut to retrieve the ball. If they can't, then we will gradually replace them with people who can.

[Wonderwall]

My point is Ted, from a set piece who is more dangerous and likey to impact the play to our advantage?
Do you think Demi or Navas is more suited to snuffing out a counter attack when Hazard is the attacker?

Demichelis by 100%. If the ball comes free in the air, as it often does, Demichelis will head it straight back into their penalty area. If it comes on the ground, he will be right up Hazard's arse & if neccessary wil knock him on his face.

Navas will be beaten in the air or dive in, miss the ball & leave Hazard half the length of the pitch.

The point I am trying to illustrate is that the problem is not Demichelis, it's everyone else. Hazard is not going to leave Demi on his arse & run 80 yards, he will need other players.

Who is picking up the other players ? Answer on many occasions v many teams, irrespective of who plays in City's team= nobody. They are running free. So Hazard doesn't need to beat Demichelis at all, just lay it off. Same with Watford's players.

This is City's problem in a nutshell & isn't a fault in Demichelis or Pellegrini, it's a fault in the squad; they need to be more alert & work harder off the ball. It washappening under Mancini too even when we were supposedly 'tight'.

It is just being shown up a bit more now that we are more attacking minded.

To play like Barca/ Bayern or even Chelsea did v us; the players have to work harder.

Then, it works.

Agree if its in the air 100% Demichelis wouldbeat Eden Hazard. However, we left him (on a Yellow card) to mark Hazard who he would need to foul to stop him. As far as I am concerned that is not a smart move. incidentally, when Chelsea had their 4 on 1 attack, it was Demichelis who dived and gave the ball away which left Nastasic on his own back pedalling against 4 of them

Demichelis would be a greater threat for us in the box at those set pieces but he wasnt allowed.

Regardless of your point about other players needing to work harder, we were 1-0 down and left one of our best headers of a ball on the half way line for set pieces? As far a I am concerned it lacks any sense.

It may well be Demichelis who took on the responsibility.

I think the point about players needing to work harder & be more alert is much more important though tbh.

It's a constant thing which transcends managers rather than a one off instance. If Luiz was left to look after 3 or 4 City players in 30 yards of space, like Demi often was, he would struggle. Likewise Schweinsteiger or Martinez or Busquets or Xabi Alonso.

The whole team need to be awake to problems, & bust a gut to retrieve the ball. If they can't, then we will gradually replace them with people who can.

And this is up to manager to instil this philosophy and tactics into the team ethic. Its also up to the manager to manage the in game play and not make stupid decisions which make no sense. Especially when you know its (DM) a problem position at the moment and your player is on a yellow card and likely to walk if he dives in, then it just compounds the problem.

[Ted Hughes]

I don't see demichelis at the corner situation as any kind of problem at all, as it wasn't one.

Had it been a problem, then I would be saying "yes, it was a problem" but it actually wasn't.

What was a problem, was 4 or 5 players running away from our players, which happened quite often.

So I mentioned it.

[Wonderwall]

I don't see demichelis at the corner situation as any kind of problem at all, as it wasn't one.

Had it been a problem, then I would be saying "yes, it was a problem" but it actually wasn't.

What was a problem, was 4 or 5 players running away from our players, which happened quite often.

So I mentioned it.

I am not disagreeing the point that you make regarding the chelsea players work rate and movement and our tactics to try and counter this were poor.

I dont see how you dont think Demichelis would have been a threat at set pieces? Are you saying it was a good decision to leave him on the half way line?

[Ted Hughes]

I don't see demichelis at the corner situation as any kind of problem at all, as it wasn't one.

Had it been a problem, then I would be saying "yes, it was a problem" but it actually wasn't.

What was a problem, was 4 or 5 players running away from our players, which happened quite often.

So I mentioned it.

I am not disagreeing the point that you make regarding the chelsea players work rate and movement and our tactics to try and counter this were poor.

I dont see how you dont think Demichelis would have been a threat at set pieces? Are you saying it was a good decision to leave him on the half way line?

I'm saying it was done for a reason which we don't know. It could equally have been because they know Mourinho will have been watching our corners, so had a man detailed for Demichelis. If I watch a video, it wouldn't surprise me if Demichelis suddely appears at a corner kick after pretending he was going to stay at the halfway line. It may well be yet another clever piece of set piece play by Pellegrini.

Either way, it's not something I'm worried about. They saw something which made them do it. I'll trust them on it.

[Wonderwall]

I don't see demichelis at the corner situation as any kind of problem at all, as it wasn't one.

Had it been a problem, then I would be saying "yes, it was a problem" but it actually wasn't.

What was a problem, was 4 or 5 players running away from our players, which happened quite often.

So I mentioned it.

I am not disagreeing the point that you make regarding the chelsea players work rate and movement and our tactics to try and counter this were poor.

I dont see how you dont think Demichelis would have been a threat at set pieces? Are you saying it was a good decision to leave him on the half way line?

I'm saying it was done for a reason which we don't know. It could equally have been because they know Mourinho will have been watching our corners, so had a man detailed for Demichelis. If I watch a video, it wouldn't surprise me if Demichelis suddely appears at a corner kick after pretending he was going to stay at the halfway line. It may well be yet another clever piece of set piece play by Pellegrini.

Either way, it's not something I'm worried about. They saw something which made them do it. I'll trust them on it.

that explanation could be used for anything, If Demichelis went up, the likelihood is one of Terry/Cahill would have marked him as he is a big aerial threat, but he didn't so it left them free to take another one of our threats.... the more threats we have the more chance we have of scoring, we weren't exactly using the short corner tactic.

[Ted Hughes]

I don't see demichelis at the corner situation as any kind of problem at all, as it wasn't one.

Had it been a problem, then I would be saying "yes, it was a problem" but it actually wasn't.

What was a problem, was 4 or 5 players running away from our players, which happened quite often.

So I mentioned it.

I am not disagreeing the point that you make regarding the chelsea players work rate and movement and our tactics to try and counter this were poor.

I dont see how you dont think Demichelis would have been a threat at set pieces? Are you saying it was a good decision to leave him on the half way line?

I'm saying it was done for a reason which we don't know. It could equally have been because they know Mourinho will have been watching our corners, so had a man detailed for Demichelis. If I watch a video, it wouldn't surprise me if Demichelis suddely appears at a corner kick after pretending he was going to stay at the halfway line. It may well be yet another clever piece of set piece play by Pellegrini.

Either way, it's not something I'm worried about. They saw something which made them do it. I'll trust them on it.

that explanation could be used for anything, If Demichelis went up, the likelihood is one of Terry/Cahill would have marked him as he is a big aerial threat, but he didn't so it left them free to take another one of our threats.... the more threats we have the more chance we have of scoring, we weren't exactly using the short corner tactic.

Or I could be right & perhaps he did that & they didn't pick him up, either way it could quite easliy be something they worked on or it could be for another reason that Demichelis was there. The point I'm making is, that you don't know why they decided to do it & there could be a perfectly good plan behind it, other than the obvious one.

I didn't mention by the way, that the criticism of Demichelis for their 4v1 situation is totally wrong. If not for him, they would have had a clean run at our defence. Negredo passed the ball straight to their player with most of our team wrong side of the ball & Demichelis made a great sliding challenge to win the ball; it was from that challenge the ball went to a Chelsea player, not because of a mistake by him.

It was one of several instances where he may have saved a goal by delaying their move.