Clown car defending

[manimanc]

Is Pellers any better at defensive coaching than Martinez? That's the question.

Another question is are you a wum? Fishing at its worst, great try though pal.

 

[malg]

Apparently we have the 4th best defence in the country, so you are all imagining it.

That's the thing about stats, you can cover up all manner of shite, or use it to 'prove' nonsense. I know what I watch, and by heavens we are very, very fragile at the back.

I fucking hate those optima stats that get displayed on the second tier. People have started to use that nonsense as absolute proof of things now. I'm a fan of Mangala, but I don't think he's our best on the ball, however on the fucking optima stats, he was our most accurate passer of the ball in the first half v Stoke (96%). Just nonsense.

 

[MSM]

Is Pellers any better at defensive coaching than Martinez? That's the question.

Two peas from the same pod mate.
They both inherited teams with rock solid defences and within two seasons the respective defence is utterly shambolic.
From the highly organised, well drilled, tactically coached defence we had with Mancini to the Keystone Cops operation we have now is nothing short of criminal
and we have also spent Gods knows how much as well. If it wasn't so painful to watch it would actually be funny. Pellegrini and the DoF together have some very serious questions to answer.
The exact same with Martinez. He got lucky with the defence and formation that Moyes had built and has totally destroyed it in less than two seasons.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I'm not disputing that mate, but our youth team defenders have been doing it for three years now, and are still nowhere near the first team.
Denayer will be 21 in June, but I'd love to know how he feels when he sees Otamendi making those mistakes, outlined by the OP.
In an ideal world, Guardiola will see the potential of Denayer, and along with Iheanacho, our Academy progress will start to take shape.
In the meantime, our current defensive strategy is a total shambles.

Apparently it's all Txiki's fault, forcing Pellegrini to loan out Denayer & use Demichelis instead & to buy Otamendi.

I think only Denayer & Maffeo would have been realistic options as defenders this season tbf to Manuel (although Shay Facey would certainly make a better fist of defending v Southampton than Kolarov did, even out of position) but in other positions I think we have a shitload of pkayers we could have used over the past year. Even if they didn't stay at the club.

I recon City's best 5 or 6 players with 5 or 6 of the best kids, would fucking hammer the side we put out yesterday minus Fernandinho & Kelechi.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

You take the piss but it's almost ironic that my esteemed friend was slating Pellegrini on one thread and starting a thread here that points out the difficulties he faces with this set of players: it doesn't matter who he picks or how much he has drilled them - or hasn't - they keep fucking up.

We have conceded far too many goals this season, particularly by allowing teams to easily rack up scores like yesterday's four but I think it is because the team has made too many costly errors that have undermined a lot of good work.

They are though his set of players and his job is to coach them. They are in my view equally culpable, but I am loathe to believe that this squad would defend so badly so often under any other manager in the PL

 

[MSM]

They are though his set of players and his job is to coach them. They are in my view equally culpable, but I am loathe to believe that this squad would defend so badly so often under any other manager in the PL

In that case the only conclusion to reach is that the players are simply not good enough.
Therefore both the DoF and the Manager (who we assume are responsible for recruiting them) have screwed up?

 

[Neville Kneville]

That's the thing about stats, you can cover up all manner of shite, or use it to 'prove' nonsense. I know what I watch, and by heavens we are very, very fragile at the back.

I fucking hate those optima stats that get displayed on the second tier. People have started to use that nonsense as absolute proof of things now. I'm a fan of Mangala, but I don't think he's our best on the ball, however on the fucking optima stats, he was our most accurate passer of the ball in the first half v Stoke (96%). Just nonsense.

Otamendi is a prime example. He has a good leap on him so wins loads of headers, probably as many or more than Kompany & Lescott used to do. But they are enormous, rock hard, brick shithouses & he's just a middleweight with tattoos & a beard. So as we saw with Van Dijk, when he comes up against a proper big monster he can't even get close half the time. Add to that the number of times he fails to pick a player up. Those things aren't in the stats as half the time he doesn't even get close enough to constitute a challenge.

When he wins 5 tackles then goes missing for the 6th or sits on his arse or charges to the halfway line & the oppo score. The stats show he's won 75% of tackles.

He can be directly responsible for 3 goals but if there isn't a direct stat for it, he's the best player on the pitch.

 

[Le Havre Oswald]

I was watching Otamendi in particular last week, and he is the one 'marshalling' - he checks where his defenders are, he'll shout for the line to move up etc etc.

Despite this, he is the one who routinely leaves his line and goes and commits to a flying tackle on the half way line.

The whole backline is just pretty brainless without Vinny.

He reminds me of the Monk from mean machine. Complete mad bastard.

 

[Le Havre Oswald]

excellent post John. I can't wait to start next season. I bet mancini is watching from afar and thinking wtf.

Yeah, I'm counting the days until the season is over. Can't wait until that clown leaves.

 

[OB1]

They are though his set of players and his job is to coach them. They are in my view equally culpable, but I am loathe to believe that this squad would defend so badly so often under any other manager in the PL

Oh I think they would under some. I am quite certain Pellegrini could produce better defensive stats if he chose to sacrifice more attacking intent - he obviously thinks so because he has said as much on numerous occasions. I think we would both agree that he should have done that more frequently and that he has not got the balance right often enough.

You know I'm not exonerating Pellegrini from his failings or poor decisions but much as I would expect Pep to get more out of this bunch, I think he needs several changes making to the squad to help avoid some of the crap we see. What I do expect of Pep compared to Pellegrini is better movement particularly in respect of players being closer together and moving in unison.