Change to the Diamond Formation

[117 M34]

Spot on.
My biggest moan on peps team is silva and kdb playing together.
This should solve the problem if kdb is ok with his new role.
I think he had more influence on the game and he could still bag few goals but he still has a lot to improve on defensive side of his game.
He is younger than silva and can put more mileage.

Bebarbia and berkovic played together and did ok

 

[ancoats]

its always right system when you win and wrong when you lose

pep does have a set plan for each game but also works on eye site watching the game from the line and we are flexible to a point when he changes it if we are not right about 3 or 4 times a half we move the fullbacks or sit deep with yaya and soak up the pressure and hit them on the break so the system is a flexible 4.5.1

what i liked about last night was the movement of the players and each taking roles or running the west ham players out wide and giving silva and aguero big gaps to work in and we was not just working the wings but right across the park and at one point city had 6 forward and right on top of the west ham box giving us 2 or 3 options everytime

 

[Shaelumstash]

I heard the TV gave Silva MotM but all that proves is the pundits got it wrong again. No complaints with Silva's performance and he took his goal brilliantly but Yaya or maybe Sterling should have got MotM. Yaya scored one and made one; won more tackles plus interceptions than all bar Ota; made 95 passes with 95% pass completion - quietly ran the show during his 77 minutes on the park. Indeed, Yaya is simply our best player at the present moment but what is also true is that he and Silva together lift our passing game. Real pity we don't have the option of Nasri because the interplay between him, Yaya, Silva and Aguero would be interesting under Pep.

To be honest mate, I think they got Silva as MOM absolutely spot on. He completely ran the show. I had three blue mates who all watched the game separately who all thought Silva was MoM. Keown gave it him, Ian Wright and Frank Lampard both agreed. The Guardian and Telegraph both based their match reports around waxing lyrical about Silva and said he was the best player on the pitch.

Yaya, Aguero and Sterling were all brilliant, but Silva stood head and shoulders for me last night.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Spot on.
My biggest moan on peps team is silva and kdb playing together.
This should solve the problem if kdb is ok with his new role.
I think he had more influence on the game and he could still bag few goals but he still has a lot to improve on defensive side of his game.
He is younger than silva and can put more mileage.

I'm going to have to politely disagree, mate. The best football I've ever seen from City was the first 10 games of the season when we were playing 433 and Silva and DeBruyne were both playing centrally. They were absolutely brilliant together and complimented each other so well.

It's when he tries to squueze one of them in on the left that if doesn't work for me. Neither are very good there. DeBruyne did a job yesterday playing left of centre, but I don't think he was particularly great to be honest.

It's a conundrum because Silva and KDB look best in a 433, but Aguero looks better with a strike partner, and Yaya looks better with someone next to him so he's not exposed.

We've got options, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a system that gets the very best out of all of our best players.

 

[birchwoodgingerste]

I'm going to have to politely disagree, mate. The best football I've ever seen from City was the first 10 games of the season when we were playing 433 and Silva and DeBruyne were both playing centrally. They were absolutely brilliant together and complimented each other so well.

It's when he tries to squueze one of them in on the left that if doesn't work for me. Neither are very good there. DeBruyne did a job yesterday playing left of centre, but I don't think he was particularly great to be honest.

It's a conundrum because Silva and KDB look best in a 433, but Aguero looks better with a strike partner, and Yaya looks better with someone next to him so he's not exposed.

We've got options, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a system that gets the very best out of all of our best players.

5-0 didn't look to bad to me.

 

[bugsyblue]

Do we reckon this is the way forward for the rest of the reason or a temporary solution to injury and suspension problems?

For me it's the way forward at least till the end of the season. Last night was probably the best we've played since the start of the season and I think that was down to the formation matching the personnel on the pitch. Also worth mentioning; I think Pep stumbled on this setup in the Burnley game after Fern was dismissed and it was just as effective in that game.

It allows us to play De Bruyne, Silva and Toure central and also means that when teams drop off, we can push Clichy and Sagna down the wings and those 3 get the majority of the ball as opposed to leaving our back 4 on the ball passing side to side.

It seems to bring Aguero into the game as well which was becoming a bit of a problem in the 4-3-3 set up, the Liverpool game most recently springs to mind. Might leave our wider players with less opportunities but from what i've seen Sane, Nolito, Sterling and Gabriel Jesus all have the capabilities to play centrally and surely anything to help get Aguero involved is a big positive.

No. We won one game against poor performance from the opposition.

 

[Shaelumstash]

5-0 didn't look to bad to me.

Think you've probably caught the end of a conversation without bothering to read the earlier part. Best not to throw in sarcy comments in those situations. Yes 5-0 looked great to me too.

 

[OB1]

To be honest mate, I think they got Silva as MOM absolutely spot on. He completely ran the show. I had three blue mates who all watched the game separately who all thought Silva was MoM. Keown gave it him, Ian Wright and Frank Lampard both agreed. The Guardian and Telegraph both based their match reports around waxing lyrical about Silva and said he was the best player on the pitch.

Yaya, Aguero and Sterling were all brilliant, but Silva stood head and shoulders for me last night.

I'm aware the popular vote is against me but the stats are with me but that's because Silva's performance was more eye catching but Yaya did more.

 

[Shaelumstash]

I'm aware the popular vote is against me but the stats are with me but that's because Silva's performance was more eye catching but Yaya did more.

Not sure which stats you mean mate, but I don't think there's any way to conclusively say who deserves Man of the Match. It's just down to individual interpretation. Yaya was brilliant, not going to take anything away from him. But I couldn't fault Silva's performance at all either, and I think it was eye catching because he was taking the ball in such tight positions, high up the pitch.

 

[OB1]

Not sure which stats you mean mate, but I don't think there's any way to conclusively say who deserves Man of the Match. It's just down to individual interpretation. Yaya was brilliant, not going to take anything away from him. But I couldn't fault Silva's performance at all either, and I think it was eye catching because he was taking the ball in such tight positions, high up the pitch.

I got stats from whoscored.com; mind you, they made Aguero star man. It is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. Silva and Yaya played the head and base of diamond superbly and everything else revolved around them.