Aleksandar Kolarov - 2016/17 performances

[St.Pauli support]

Hm, bit of a gamble this.
Maybe Sagna could be the emergency cover.
Pepi will have a plan :)

 

[domalino]

Absolutely. I thought it's common knowledge for some time.
Even more so I couldn't trust my eyes when I saw the line-up at Anfield.
Don't know what Pep's idea was to field Zab and Kola as full backs, should have been Sagna and Clichy.
For me Pep got it completely wrong there, God knows why.

Surely somebody has to share the workload with Clichy. Angelino?
If not, we better play a back 3 with Kola behind a packed midfield.

Hopefully we see Angelino tonight and he has a good game, I haven't been too impressed with him to be honest. Needs to be phased in and kolo phased out at lb. Till we find a permanent solution.

That been said I do believe Clichy with a run of games is a good lb. After a run of 4- 5 even his forward play comes out.

Once Vinny is up and running a back 3 is something we can look at.

Pep has dropped the ball twice. Once at totenham and once at Liverpool.
He obviously wants something I am not sure what it is?

Didnt he play lb against Barca anf iirc, did a fine job. Maybe that,s why Pep still selects him for that role

He didn't really play as a LB against Liverpool, it was more of a withdrawn wing role because we shifted across to a 3 at the back as illustrated in this great breakdown of the game by spieverlagurung:

http://spielverlagerung.com/2017/01/02/klopps-compact-4-3-3-thwarts-guardiolas-game-plan/

And that's how we defended in Peps preferred 3-2 block of 3 defenders and 2 sitting midfielders. And it worked well considering Liverpool's only chance came from the counterattack where the defence was disorganised.

That was Yaya/Kolarovs fault for pissing about st the free kick but the rest of the game they defended well when needed - pretty unfair to say he dropped the ball on selecting Kolarov at LB really.

 

[St.Pauli support]

Absolutely don't want to argue! But I really wouldn't call Kola a winger in that match, at least he didn't have any positive influence on that position, had a lot bad touches (like others, sadly) and didn't put in any pace or energy of a winger to break up Liverpool's defense.

By the way, City did defend quite well, yes, because Liverpool didn't attack! They were very lucky to pick up an early series of mistakes by Yaya, Kola, Sterling, Zab and Kola again. Otherwise both teams neutralized each other, combined with many poor passes.

It was the same tactical game of chess that took place between Bayern and Dortmund back then. Bit booring to watch btw...

Do we at least agree to prefer Aleks as a CB from now on?

 

[Robinho's Subbuteo]

Following on from stating Pep is the best manager in football, Kolarov has the solution ...
"We just need to turn more games into wins".
Thanks Aleks. Can we assume you'll stop fucking jogging back when you lose the ball from now on? Didn't think so.

 

[BlueTG]

Following on from stating Pep is the best manager in football, Kolarov has the solution ...
"We just need to turn more games into wins".
Thanks Aleks. Can we assume you'll stop fucking jogging back when you lose the ball from now on? Didn't think so.

His performance and attitude at Southampton away last season summed him up. No fight in him and he probably didn't care enough to have the nous to say much else.

 

[eversince 76]

His performance and attitude at Southampton away last season summed him up. No fight in him and he probably didn't care enough to have the nous to say much else.

Still a class ahead of Clichy. And able to play as a CB. And actually deliver a pass to a fellow player wearing the same top.

 

[City_Sean]

Still a class ahead of Clichy. And able to play as a CB. And actually deliver a pass to a fellow player wearing the same top.

Clichy is on the wane but he's a much better LB than Kolarov, and has been for his entire City career.

 

[eversince 76]

Clichy is on the wane but he's a much better LB than Kolarov, and has been for his entire City career.

He was in a Mancini team, set up far more defensively. When he had direct covering his back. But under Wenger at Arsenal, Pellegrini and now Pep he is simply a mediocre defender. Kolarov isn't the best either and defensive wise as poor as Clichy. But that's the only part he can just match Kolarov.

 

[Mr HJ]

Still a class ahead of Clichy. And able to play as a CB. And actually deliver a pass to a fellow player wearing the same top.

Mute point really, both are nowhere near good enough to play for Pep's team and will both be gone by next season. Value for money over the five+ years they have been here Clichy at a third of the fee for Kolarov - I know who I think has been better. Sad state of affairs if Kolarov is considered the answer against Spurs - they have far too much pace and movement for poor old jogging Alex.

 

[eversince 76]

Mute point really, both are nowhere near good enough to play for Pep's team and will both be gone by next season. Value for money over the five+ years they have been here Clichy at a third of the fee for Kolarov - I know who I think has been better. Sad state of affairs if Kolarov is considered the answer against Spurs - they have far too much pace and movement for poor old jogging Alex.

So did Arsenal and Barca. Oh wait ...