Bournemouth v City post match

[BillyShears]

Consistently is the key for Razza,a la David Silva.......home & away,game after game after game.

Here's hoping !!

He's been our most consistent player this season which is why he's literally undroppable at present.

 

[The Pink Panther]

The whole team was a bit ragged at times. Some great stuff some of the time and then really ragged at others; our passing out of defence in the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half was out and out dreadful, and Bournemouth getting tight quickly on Ya Ya was probably key to that.
The one man who rose above it all was Silva, who was sensationally good from start to finish, as good a performance as I've seen from any City player this season

It's interesting that you think our passing out of defence was dreadful - Kola completed 52 of 55 passes and Stones 67 of 74.

I actually think we were defensively great. Both centre halves, Sagna and Ferna, and the entire midfield, all did their bit to limit Bournemouth to almost nothing. We're at a stage where at our best we're such a dominant force, that when that drops a little and we allow the opposition onto us it feels like we're playing really badly. To me it felt more or less like we were happy to be a bit deeper and invite pressure closer to our box to have more space to counter attack. Again, on another day we score more than the 2 goals we did score.

The key is the balance. The balance of this set up is perfect. I said in the Silva the thread that the buy in from him and KDB with regards the positional side of their game is key to this working. Was noticeable how deep at times they were and also how much running KDB in particular did just to close players down from a defensive position. It's the kind of classic Barcelona press which we haven't seen enough of IMO this season.

EB, I disagree about our passing out from the back and am with Billy on this one
At times it looked like we had boxed ourselves into a corner, yet almost every time we played our way out with a one two, or the ball going back to Willy to chip over the top. I was very impressed with the way we worked the ball out from back to front but really disappointed that we never actually scored from any of these passages of play.
Fernandihno made a huge difference to the way we moved the ball out on the left hand side. Always making himself available and his midfield passing ability working wonders. Even as Quinn commented on "the defense splitting throw in"
That 20 minute spell in the second half came from Bournemouth not allowing Toure time on the ball. We got through that spell though totally unscathed and without the opposition causing any real problems
Winning 2-0 away from home with the opposition only having one serious attempt on goal which was a twenty yard effort, is a great result

 

[higgi1p]

In commentary both commentators thought Sane was probably fouled in first half and should have been a penalty, and yet half time in studio it never got a mention, all they did was analyse foul on Stones hoping to find the ref wrong. Sad twats

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

It's interesting that you think our passing out of defence was dreadful - Kola completed 52 of 55 passes and Stones 67 of 74.

I actually think we were defensively great. Both centre halves, Sagna and Ferna, and the entire midfield, all did their bit to limit Bournemouth to almost nothing. We're at a stage where at our best we're such a dominant force, that when that drops a little and we allow the opposition onto us it feels like we're playing really badly. To me it felt more or less like we were happy to be a bit deeper and invite pressure closer to our box to have more space to counter attack. Again, on another day we score more than the 2 goals we did score.

The key is the balance. The balance of this set up is perfect. I said in the Silva the thread that the buy in from him and KDB with regards the positional side of their game is key to this working. Was noticeable how deep at times they were and also how much running KDB in particular did just to close players down from a defensive position. It's the kind of classic Barcelona press which we haven't seen enough of IMO this season.

There was a sustained spell at the start of the 2nd half where I thought we overplayed coming out of our own area and ceded possession straight back to Bournemouth repeatedly, enabling them to keep us under pressure. Not necessarily Stones and Kolarov though as much as the midfield players.
I agree about the effectiveness of our defending. Considering the lack of height in our side we've barely conceded anything this season from set pieces. Compare with last year when I lost count of the number of times opponents would be totally unmarked at corners or able to run through on free kicks and head the ball at Hart from point blank range with the entire City back line routed to the spot on the edge of the area. It's been a huge improvement. Most of our problems have come being caught short handed with opposition players running at us in oceans of space, but I guess that's the trade off for having a front 6, who are all natural attacking players rather than natural destroyers.

 

[waspish]

Sane played great last night, I would of loved him when he had a 1 on 1 to run at him skin him shoot at goal he seemed to always be looking for a pass on 1 on 1 unless that was his orders from pep for the second half

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Basing it on effort in the small amount of time Jesus had on the pitch,he didnt give the their back line a moments peace.Contrast that to Aguero,who gave them all the time in the world.
He may well have asssited our second but that isnt a sole attribute of a world class striker,the amount of opportunities we create will always present goal scoring chances for a player that gets in the right place.Its the other stuff - the cohesion,the intelligence,the industry,the link play,the desire.....that separates,and i dont think he shows enough.

That was very noticeable, and I think Kun is certainly going to have to up his game if he is to stay at the club (much as I love him) beyond the summer. He looked like he was trying too hard with the ball last night, whilst not doing enough without it. Maybe losing half a stone would help?

 

[Tim of the Oak]

A great team performance last night. I thought all the lads played well and Kun got more into the match as the game went on.

Very pleased for Willy and the defence we kept another clean sheet.

I promised to let on to Mark Hayes whose from the Denton area but now lives in Bournemouth. It was good to sink a few pints with you in the Sir Percy Florence.

 

[Marvin]

It's interesting that you think our passing out of defence was dreadful - Kola completed 52 of 55 passes and Stones 67 of 74.

I actually think we were defensively great. Both centre halves, Sagna and Ferna, and the entire midfield, all did their bit to limit Bournemouth to almost nothing. We're at a stage where at our best we're such a dominant force, that when that drops a little and we allow the opposition onto us it feels like we're playing really badly. To me it felt more or less like we were happy to be a bit deeper and invite pressure closer to our box to have more space to counter attack. Again, on another day we score more than the 2 goals we did score.

The key is the balance. The balance of this set up is perfect. I said in the Silva the thread that the buy in from him and KDB with regards the positional side of their game is key to this working. Was noticeable how deep at times they were and also how much running KDB in particular did just to close players down from a defensive position. It's the kind of classic Barcelona press which we haven't seen enough of IMO this season.

The passing out of defence is outstanding. That for me is the biggest reason why Kolarov is in there. He does that really well, but we are vulnerable to teams counter-attacking us. This has happened repeatedly all season and I am not comfortable that it has been resolved. If we play a Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea etc they have players who are abolsutely clinical. We can monopolise possession, have the opponents on the back foot for 80% of the game, and then they break with hazard, Willian etc by pass our midfield and they are one on one with pedestrian defenders.

Chelsea have pedestrian defenders but they have industrious Kante and Matic prtecting them. We are still unbalanced. We have a team of passers, but no tacklers and players who can harry and close down in midfield.

 

[Marvin]

There was a sustained spell at the start of the 2nd half where I thought we overplayed coming out of our own area and ceded possession straight back to Bournemouth repeatedly, enabling them to keep us under pressure. Not necessarily Stones and Kolarov though as much as the midfield players.
I agree about the effectiveness of our defending. Considering the lack of height in our side we've barely conceded anything this season from set pieces. Compare with last year when I lost count of the number of times opponents would be totally unmarked at corners or able to run through on free kicks and head the ball at Hart from point blank range with the entire City back line routed to the spot on the edge of the area. It's been a huge improvement. Most of our problems have come being caught short handed with opposition players running at us in oceans of space, but I guess that's the trade off for having a front 6, who are all natural attacking players rather than natural destroyers.

Exactly. Do we need to have 6 attacking players now that the front 3 are all tearing their defenders apart. Time for Guardiola to tinker?

 

[Indaparkside]

Not sure why you say over the last few weeks pal, I have found him like that the entire time he has worked for Sly Sports

Sorry meant years

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

EB, I disagree about our passing out from the back and am with Billy on this one
At times it looked like we had boxed ourselves into a corner, yet almost every time we played our way out with a one two, or the ball going back to Willy to chip over the top. I was very impressed with the way we worked the ball out from back to front but really disappointed that we never actually scored from any of these passages of play.
Fernandihno made a huge difference to the way we moved the ball out on the left hand side. Always making himself available and his midfield passing ability working wonders. Even as Quinn commented on "the defense splitting throw in"
That 20 minute spell in the second half came from Bournemouth not allowing Toure time on the ball. We got through that spell though totally unscathed and without the opposition causing any real problems
Winning 2-0 away from home with the opposition only having one serious attempt on goal which was a twenty yard effort, is a great result

Yeh, I should have clarified. I was talking about that period when there were frequently a dozen or so players inside our area and we kept half clearing it to just outside the box and then promptly turned over possession again, not when we were deliberately working the ball back to Willy to draw them on to us. As regards the latter we've gotten far better at it as the season progressed. The difference between Spurs away and last night was vast. Still not for the feint-hearted though, and it still makes me shit myself about 3 or 4 times per match!

 

[Blue Mist]

For me last night ended the Hart v Bravo debate. Cabby was brillaint, he pinged balls all over the park and all but a couple went to a Blue shirt. He dealt with crosses easily and when called upon he made 2 very good saves. he has grown enormously and gives the back 4 confidence. He has fully taken on Peps philosophy and I think he deserves his starting place ahead of either of the other two.

Oh and the rest also played well

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

That game could have gone either way and Bournemouth really put in the effort.

I really do think Yaya is running on empty and needs a rest now.

For the first 25 minutes, I thought we looked very uncomfortable under their press and that limited our options with the out ball because they did a good job of stopping Yaya dropping in to collect and turn with the ball.

Stones looked very shaky during that time, but thankfully Silva carried the team and the responsibility of trying to get us further upfield.

This new deeper position really has given him a new lease of life. De Bruyne continues to be on the fringes for me, and needs to provide more of a meaningful impact over the course of games, not just looking for that moment when his incredible technique will catch the eye.

The last ten minutes was a joy to watch and will continue to go over the heads of most pundits in this country, who have never come across a team in England who can retain possession and yet work the ball with a real method.

Aguero looked like a fish out of water, trying to run his heart out, but it just doesn't look right and it reduced the numbers we could actually have in the box when we attacked from wide.

 

[Chippy_boy]

The passing out of defence is outstanding.

I'd say it needs work. We got away with it last night, with some needless shaky moments. The reason I say "needless" is because too often there's a simple pass on, to a City player in acres of space, but for whatever reason - lack of confidence, lack of practice, unfamiliarity with the system, whatever it may be - the player on the ball dicks about and allows time for the opposition players to press, and then ends up making a hurried pass to a City player under pressure, who makes another hurried pass under pressure. All of that could be avoided if we passed it sooner. I've lost count of how many times we've done this, but it's many times per game where we invite pressure when there should have been none.

 

[East Level 2]

Not read all the thread as I got back about ten to four, had a kip and I'm off to work soon, but I thought we were well worth the three points and really should have won by a greater margin. Sergio's blast over in the first half was criminal and perhaps Sane should have done better when he hit the bar.
Willy make a couple of good saves at 1-0, Sane was excellent, and that bit of trickery from Silva in the first half was unbelievable.
I'm a bit bothered about Vinnie staying on the bench as he's still our best defender.
Hard to pick an MOTM for City but overall it has to be Jordan Ibe as he's much better than Sterling according to the self-proclaimed "most knowledgeable supporters in the land".
And the chicken and mushroom pie in the ground was good.
And Sky are a set of ****s for giving us a midweek game when Wet spam and Chavs were already scheduled for midweek.
As are the clowns involved in a crash on the M3 which meant we had to go through Winchester in the rush hour. Unless they were Blues in which case I hope they and their vehicles are OK.

 

[Tugay One Cup]

De Bruyne continues to be on the fringes for me, and needs to provide more of a meaningful impact over the course of games, not just looking for that moment when his incredible technique will catch the eye.

His workrate has gone through the roof this season and he was still busting a gut heading into injury time. Our best players this season (Silva, Sterling and Fernandinho, for me) have all upped their effort massively since the summer and their consistency has been due to the fact that they're contributing to the team even in those games when they're wasteful or uninspired on the ball.

 

[BillyShears]

Most of our problems have come being caught short handed with opposition players running at us in oceans of space, but I guess that's the trade off for having a front 6, who are all natural attacking players rather than natural destroyers.

For me that was about the players, especially the midfield three, understanding their responsibilities in a positional system like the one Pep employs. It's very noticeable that that's becoming less prevalent and we're becoming more and more solid as the midfield begins to understand their roles. Defending as Pep keeps saying, starts from the front. If that front six do their work then we give up very few chances as per the last few games.

 

[waspish]

Yaya did ok last night but he needs to have a rest to refresh him. At times he looked like he was running in treacle.

 

[Neville Kneville]

That game could have gone either way and Bournemouth really put in the effort.

I really do think Yaya is running on empty and needs a rest now.

For the first 25 minutes, I thought we looked very uncomfortable under their press and that limited our options with the out ball because they did a good job of stopping Yaya dropping in to collect and turn with the ball.

Stones looked very shaky during that time, but thankfully Silva carried the team and the responsibility of trying to get us further upfield.

This new deeper position really has given him a new lease of life. De Bruyne continues to be on the fringes for me, and needs to provide more of a meaningful impact over the course of games, not just looking for that moment when his incredible technique will catch the eye.

The last ten minutes was a joy to watch and will continue to go over the heads of most pundits in this country, who have never come across a team in England who can retain possession and yet work the ball with a real method.

Aguero looked like a fish out of water, trying to run his heart out, but it just doesn't look right and it reduced the numbers we could actually have in the box when we attacked from wide.

Aguero looked startlingly inferior to GJ by comparison imo, & strangely, less physically strong, very strange when you consider it's something he's known for.

But he was doing ok once he settled down & was getting into scoring positions rather than sitting in a deck chair on the edge of the box.

DeBruyne, imo, has turned from Frank Lampard to Neil Macnab, in front of goal. No composure or accuracy. If he gets that back, we could run up cricket scores.

 

[FCBarca]

Yaya did ok last night but he needs to have a rest to refresh him. At times he looked like he was running in treacle.

I saw something last night I hadn't before with Yaya being easily dispossessed playing it out of defense. Age catches up to all of us eventually