Is Pep ever going to address the defensive side of our game?

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We have also tried Nastasic, Demichelis, Mangala, Otamendi and Stones in recent years and by and large it has changed very little, we still haven't looked as solid at the back as we should have done.

Not sure where you're going with this.

Nastasic, Demichelis and Mangala arguably underwhelmed, were liabilities and are gone. Otamendi is fairly solid and even his detractors admit can do a job, but he can hardly carry the back four. Stones is young, talented and sadly error-prone, but is very much part of the long term project at City.

What's the connection between all of these signings? They either flopped or, at the very least, didn't provide the immediate fix that was required to City's backline.

As I said, personnel is an issue, I'm not denying that but if we think it is the only issue, I think we are wrong.

Personnel is the only issue and it's what every argument on this subject ultimately comes back to. You can't maintain there's some invisible undercurrent in the club that detracts from overall defensive output when we continue to throw Gael Clichy and Alex Kolarov out every week. We have who we have and it hasn't been good enough and it's still not good enough.

If you don't think that's set to change then you haven't been paying attention.

Plus as per my original point, can Txiki et al buy a top notch defender because they haven't managed it for a while.

That doesn't mean he can't. City have literally unlimited resources and buying world class defenders isn't an impossibility in the slightest. The problem has been scouting and decision making, but it's clear Pep has his own ideas who he wants and the club will oblige.
 
Think ali is defenitly 1 to take over from silva in a couple of years just what we need someone arriving late in the box to get on the end of all the crosses we put in!
 
Probably not, well not to the level that we would all like. Heres the thing, Pep likes his teams to dominate possesion for 90 minutes and work hard to get the ball back at all times. If you can do that and score goals then you don't really need a good defence as such because your entire team is both your defence and attack. If you look at how high our defensive line is when we have the ball its clear to see that as far as Pep is concerned you have a team of 11 players who have 100% responsibility to cover all aspects of the game not just their specific role. It is an interesting concept and one that is new to many but in theory it should work. When we were losing Pep never put the blame on his defensive line and instead pointed the finger at the attackers inability to put the ball in the net and make that possession count. In Spain and Germany there were lots of easy games where you could get away with defensive mistakes, in the PL you get punished and I think Pep has learned that now. Interesting though isn't it that since Bravo has been dropped we are winning again lol

Pep will buy some defenders in the summer but he certainly won't be looking at them just for their defensive ability so I wouldn't be surprised to see some interesting buys.

Exactly what I was going to say.
 
full backs and a keeper are the priority for me. two fast young full backs who can attack and defend. not sure who though. in terms of a keeper and a centre back id go for laporte to play next to stones and pickford at sunderland.
 
Its difficult during the season to see how Pep can improve the defence without limiting the creative and attacking options which should not be required.

We are not watching teams create chance after chance against us as we invariably dominate posession of the ball and win the ball back high up the pitch or force the opposition into rushed clearances.

Sadly its the continual poor positioning, poor goalkeeping and individual errors costing us rather than watching a side continually overrun and dominated. The personnel is responsible for this which is not that surprising most have been here dince 2011, now past their best, but the failings in the transfer market dictate they still regularly play.
 
Its difficult during the season to see how Pep can improve the defence without limiting the creative and attacking options which should not be required.

We are not watching teams create chance after chance against us as we invariably dominate posession of the ball and win the ball back high up the pitch or force the opposition into rushed clearances.

Sadly its the continual poor positioning, poor goalkeeping and individual errors costing us rather than watching a side continually overrun and dominated. The personnel is responsible for this which is not that surprising most have been here dince 2011, now past their best, but the failings in the transfer market dictate they still regularly play.
I don't agree. Whilst we are no doubt making individual errors - a much higher percentage of opposition attacks end up as goals not because our defenders are weak, but because they have no defensive cover. When we have jesus, and KDB etc, do we really need 6 attacking players in the team?

If you put Cahill in the City team, instead of Stones, or Kolarov, we'd still leak goals. I am sure to an extent you could improve on the goals conceded by a small percentage, but the biggest factor is that City have a team that is inbalanced between attack and defence at the moment. I'd be looking to replace the fullbacks in the Summer for sure, but No.1 target would be a defensive midfielder. Perhaps we should try Fernando in the remaining weeks of the season with Fernandinho. I know Fernando is not great on the ball, but now that hopefully the goal scoring has improved we should look at the biggest remaining weakness in the team
 
pickford at sunderland
Whatever happens with goalkeeper it won't be Pickford. He is the ultimate kick it long keeper. It could be who he plays for I suppose but he has shown nothing to show he'd be a Pep ball playing goalkeeper. Even if it's not Bravo any replacement will need to be proven with his feet.
 
Whatever happens with goalkeeper it won't be Pickford. He is the ultimate kick it long keeper. It could be who he plays for I suppose but he has shown nothing to show he'd be a Pep ball playing goalkeeper. Even if it's not Bravo any replacement will need to be proven with his feet.

some of pick fords passing is brilliant. yes some of it is long balls but they usually always reach the players feet. hes very good with the ball at his feet. with our manager and style he would be perfect. unless we just want a keeper who can only pass to players right in front of him.
 
He is working on it daily imo. His teams rely on the team working as a unit and all being comfortable on the ball. At the moment the biggest hinderence to this are the full backs, hence trying Fern at right back at the weekend. Once we get that sorted, the balance will be better and we will have a better defence.
Just look at Barca and Bayern, once he got the system right, players who would not work in a traditional defence looked excellent - Mascherano, Dante, Boetang etc.. i think it's too simplistic to say buy a centre back, buy a defensive mid, I don't think they are the areas that are weak at the moment
 
imagine our side with precisely the same defensive tactics (judge them how you will) but with better personnel, particularly at full back, and we've probably got another 10 pts straight off the bat.
 
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