Is the defence more composed with Willy?

Bluekiwi

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Living in NZ I only get to see City on TV or video clips. But I get the impression that the back four seem more composed / confident with Willy behind them. Or I am reading too much into the recent spate of clean sheets?
 
You're not reading too much into it, its more composed, but I think its more down to the formation we are playing.

He has us lining up in a 1950's/60's formation, which is an incredibly fluid formation, that is effectively a 2323, but adapts to virtually any other formation depending on how the game is going.

Kolarov looks comfortable as CB, and far better than when he's forced to be LB, last night was a prefect example.

Stones Kolarov
Sagna Yaya Fernandhino
Silva de Bruyne
Sterling Jesus/Aguero Sane

It adapted through the game, but its now 3 or 4 games playing that way, and we look good.
 
Living in NZ I only get to see City on TV or video clips. But I get the impression that the back four seem more composed / confident with Willy behind them. Or I am reading too much into the recent spate of clean sheets?
City are playing better but I think that coincided with Sane and Jesus more than anything else. I think Bravo got taken out because media were focusing on him and that's not healthy. Willy made a mistake against Swansea and nothing was said - probably because it didn't cost us in the end.

When team is winning, whole team plays with confidence so impossible to say. I remember 12 months ago around time of League Cup Final, a lot of fans were saying willy must not play in league cup, he'll cost us the game, and now it's the other way around.
 
City are playing better but I think that coincided with Sane and Jesus more than anything else. I think Bravo got taken out because media were focusing on him and that's not healthy. Willy made a mistake against Swansea and nothing was said - probably because it didn't cost us in the end.

When team is winning, whole team plays with confidence so impossible to say. I remember 12 months ago around time of League Cup Final, a lot of fans were saying willy must not play in league cup, he'll cost us the game, and now it's the other way around.

Willy has been excellent. That's just a fact and nothing to do with the media. Willy has saved several one on ones. I can't recall Bravo saving any of these type of situations.

Willy was mocked by the media for his performance against Chelsea in the Cup and he came back a stronger keeper. Every keeper makes mistakes but Swansea's offside goal isn't a good example of one.
 
You're not reading too much into it, its more composed, but I think its more down to the formation we are playing.

He has us lining up in a 1950's/60's formation, which is an incredibly fluid formation, that is effectively a 2323, but adapts to virtually any other formation depending on how the game is going.

Kolarov looks comfortable as CB, and far better than when he's forced to be LB, last night was a prefect example.

Stones Kolarov
Sagna Yaya Fernandhino
Silva de Bruyne
Sterling Jesus/Aguero Sane

It adapted through the game, but its now 3 or 4 games playing that way, and we look good.
Teams are all having to set up to counter our setup every week, rather than focusing on playing their way. This means games are panning out on our terms and ultimately the opponent will be chasing us tactically for 90 minutes without giving their own attacking much thought.

I noticed late on in Monday's game that Kolarov (once Otamendi was on which saw Kolarov move to inside left wing back-ish) got into an extremely advanced position on at least two occasions, seemingly per instructions, as he carried the ball to the edge of their box which pinned their defence entirely in their box. If this is the intention from Pep, I guess his thinking is that if we can overload their box, the quality of KDB & Silva will work in those tight spaces to fashion chance after chance.
 
City are playing better but I think that coincided with Sane and Jesus more than anything else. I think Bravo got taken out because media were focusing on him and that's not healthy. Willy made a mistake against Swansea and nothing was said - probably because it didn't cost us in the end.

When team is winning, whole team plays with confidence so impossible to say. I remember 12 months ago around time of League Cup Final, a lot of fans were saying willy must not play in league cup, he'll cost us the game, and now it's the other way around.

Correct.
 
It's easy to read too much into, but the stats do add up, you can look at it either way.

But one thing that I'm sure does play a part, is Caballero now has a decent grasp of the language. I know a few of the Spanish speaking lads opted not to learn English since they've arrived. I know Bravo didn't speak much if any when he got here, will definitely play a part in the control and communication of the defence.
 
It's a number of things.

We're more aggressive with our high press, this is mainly down to the young front 3 which Pep had been saying for while that we were not defending from the front well enough.

The back 4 are looking more confident under the current tactics and appear to now understand what is expected of them.

Willy has been at City for a few years and no doubt having a healthy grasp of the language and having played with most of the defense for a couple of years helps.

I'm pretty sure Bravo will come good in the end, it takes a foreign keeper a while to settle in the Premiership. De Gea's first season was a disaster and a lot worse than Bravo's currently is, even Courtois had a few shockers his first year.
 

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