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

Status
Not open for further replies.
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

That is fine to disagree. Its rarely sides have opened us up this year or we have not had enough cover it players making mistakes or performing poorly in individual situations.

Off the top of my head I can think of Clichy against Lukaku
Otamendia against Hazard
Bravos positioning against William and poor positioning of full back
Bravo drop against Ivrahimovich
Stones back pass against Southampton/ Everton/Leicester
Weak headed clearance for Leicester second and poor keeping
One ball over the top with kolarov and Otanendi not tracking the runners.

All those goals were not the fault of the system but a consequence if poor individual play.
 
Pick a settled back four and let them get used to playing with each other instead of making 2-3 changes every game
 
That is fine to disagree. Its rarely sides have opened us up this year or we have not had enough cover it players making mistakes or performing poorly in individual situations.

Off the top of my head I can think of Clichy against Lukaku
Otamendia against Hazard
Bravos positioning against William and poor positioning of full back
Bravo drop against Ivrahimovich
Stones back pass against Southampton/ Everton/Leicester
Weak headed clearance for Leicester second and poor keeping
One ball over the top with kolarov and Otanendi not tracking the runners.

All those goals were not the fault of the system but a consequence if poor individual play.
Accepted. No one is perfect. I am sure our defenders could improve individually, and ultimately we might if we bought well improve on them, but I still think if you expose a defender one on one eg Kolarov against Vardy, they will be made to look poor and will make mistakes.

Staying on the leicester example, their back 5 are the same players as far as I am aware. Last season looked very strong, this season they look terrible. Alonso at Chelsea struggled at Bolton. Not struggling now. I bet if you put Cahill in City's defence now, it would make no difference whatsoever. We keep buying expensive defenders - no improvement. A big part of a strong defence are players like barry and De Jong who protect a defence. We don't have those players in our team now. It's probably a % of individual error & a % of the wrong mix in midfield, and it's hard to prove.
 
Pick a settled back four and let them get used to playing with each other instead of making 2-3 changes every game
I don't know. I hear a lot of people say that. It is a very common criticism, but these guys play together in training. Must by now be familiar with the set up. I forget who it was, possibly pat Nevin who I heard on radio saying that City would not be a title contender because of the weakness in midfield....that's where I got this theory from. I've been thinking about it for a bit, and it chimes with the problems I saw last season under Pellegrini when our midfield was non-existent defensively. We had a huge long running saga about Toure. It's not so much an issue this season as he's lost weight, but I still think that that is a big part of our weakness without the ball. We just have too many attacking ball players in our team, and not enough players who can do the defensive side.
 
I think most city would agree with op in so far as its obvious that the balance of the team isn't right yet.

Peps teams press high up the pitch to win the ball back as quickly as possible - requiring fast, mobile, skilful footballers in virtually every position. I don't think he is going to put Fernando in as he doesn't have these attributes.

One player who I thought may feature under pep was Delph, he has good technique, is very mobile and can tackle as well as pass. Maybe now he is fit, we will see him paired with Fernandinho in some of the bigger games, to stop us getting caught out on the counter quite so often.

Toure has been in great form recently, he has been dictating our play brilliantly, but he has never been mobile and simply can't cover the ground to get back when the opposition counter's.

I think Pep recognises it's an issue - hence trying zabs in midfield and experimenting with Fernandinho at right back - with mixed results.
 
I think there's a lot of drama about nothing with our defence. We press very well at times, we win possession back quickly and we're solid 90% of the time.

The thing that's catching us out is the lack of pace and intensity in the fullback positions and in midfield when Fernandinho is missing. The lack of pace and intensity means there's not enough pressure on the ball in the first phase which gives people time and space to pick the perfect pass. After that the same issues mean we haven't got the same sort of recovery speed which got Micah Richards out of so many shitty situations.

A couple of new younger fullbacks and a younger Fernandinho to allow for rotation would fix any so called issues.
 
Ok, next question. Is there anyone at the club who is able to find better defenders because it seems to me that people have been saying "we just need better defenders" for a few years now, we've bought a fair few for a lot of money and we are still saying the same thing. Obviously the better calibre of defender we have, the better our defence will perform but I'm not convinced it is only about personnel. I think we could have had Baresi in his prime in the team under Pellegrini and we'd have still not been tight enough defensively because the defensive system was fucking poo. I assume Pep has more about him and will be able to get us sorted defensively but it isn't just about who is in the back four or back three, it's also about the overall defensive system and to some extent the philosophy. I know people talk about how good Pep's teams have been in the past in terms of goals conceded but I don't think it would be a ridiculous thing to suggest he's more into the attacking side of the game than organising a back four. I reckon other managers would probably be able to knock the defenders we have into a decent unit, if that was their main priority, probably Pep could.
Unfortunately, no. But that's my personal opinion. However we should expect an upgrade on our defenders in the near future, because the main problem with our defenders boil down to age and declination. I don't even think Pep is a great judge of defenders. I believe part of his defensive philosophy is down to the team's ability to keep the ball. I don't expect our team to evolve into the best defensive side in the league or world over time, unlike what most people here are crying for, because I don't think Pep can bring that. But we can expect the team's defence to become solid enough to challenge for Champions League.
 
Valid point.

We will have issues again this summer with home grown by the looks of things, with Hart, Clichy and Delph out the door.

Ali is someone you have to try for, if available IMO.
Ruli Real Sociadad £7m £50.000
Sidebi Monaco £30m £75.000
Laporte Ath Bilbao £50m £90.000
Stones
Rose Spurs £50m £125.000
Weigl Dortmund £50m £80.000
Sterling
Alex Garcia
Gundagun
Dino
Ali Spurs £60m £125.000
Sane
KDB
Silva
Jesus
Aguero
Yaya 12 month contract
Mafeo
Kompany
Zabaletta 12 month contract
Brahim
Willy 12 month contract
Otamendi
Zinchenko
Roberts
Sancho



Spend £237

Sagna free
Kolarov £4m
Clichy free
Adarabioyo loan (championship)
Iheanacho loan (premier league)
Nalito £3m
Bravo £ FREE
Nasri £15m
Hart £15m
Fernando £7m
Delph £7m
Navas £3m
Bony £15m
Mangala £15m

Sold £80m??? Wages £1.2m a week

Net spend £150m
wages saved £500.000 a week
 
Ruli Real Sociadad £7m £50.000
Sidebi Monaco £30m £75.000
Laporte Ath Bilbao £50m £90.000
Stones
Rose Spurs £50m £125.000
Weigl Dortmund £50m £80.000
Sterling
Alex Garcia
Gundagun
Dino
Ali Spurs £60m £125.000
Sane
KDB
Silva
Jesus
Aguero
Yaya 12 month contract
Mafeo
Kompany
Zabaletta 12 month contract
Brahim
Willy 12 month contract
Otamendi
Zinchenko
Roberts
Sancho



Spend £237

Sagna free
Kolarov £4m
Clichy free
Adarabioyo loan (championship)
Iheanacho loan (premier league)
Nalito £3m
Bravo £ FREE
Nasri £15m
Hart £15m
Fernando £7m
Delph £7m
Navas £3m
Bony £15m
Mangala £15m

Sold £80m??? Wages £1.2m a week

Net spend £150m
wages saved £500.000 a week
Ali for 60M is optimism, as are his weekly wages.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.