It's Quiet thread 14 - 'do one' edition

[Neville Kneville]

I think teams have figured out how to beat us, just sit back and counter attack like leicester did. Peps got to change tactics or something.

If you look at the goals we usually concede though, 90% of them would not be goals against other teams.

Sort out the back 4 & we will sort out most of our problems imo & that has always been the case since Pep arrived & played Kolarov at cb & Sané at wingback.

 

[BillyShears]

I disagree here.

we’ve undone something with our dealings and it needs to be rectified.

Walker and Mendy can only work like this when there are players with speed in front of them (and at DM).

Pep has been buying Busquets clones. He thinks a quick release can unlock all, but it’s proven absolutely useless against counters.
With a Sane, Jesus or even a Navas in Pep’s first season, we could get back fast and help the defense.

right now we’ve only Sterling and Foden capable of that.

Rodri and Gundogan are the biggest culprits, but we need to put better legs into this team and it’s not a coaching thing for me.

I disagree because fundamentally we need to be able to score goals and create chances more importantly than we need to be able to defend counter attacks. Too much emphasis is being placed on a defence which hasn't had a stable partner for Laporte almost since he joined.

Our attacking play has been too patchy for too long and we are too quickly frustrated by a low block. One of the big reasons that we are suddenly so susecptible to goals on the counter is that we can't fucking score or create at the other end. City are at their worst, their most weak, when they aren't threatening the opposition goal.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Only if you're crowbarring him in at left back.

He's pretty shit in midfield too imo.

 

[BufordUSABlue]

Never thought would hear that last sentence whilst Pep at the helm, but you’re dead right, we looked completely unprepared on sunday

I agree to some degree but bear in mind that the team is still 3 weeks off full fitness, with 4 problem positions and a pile of injuries on top...... no wonder we struggled against a decent side like Leicester who looked fitter and more organized.

 

[ami]

I’m surprised the club hasn’t announced Otamendi leaving yet? He left a day ago.

 

[BillyShears]

We reinvented the team when we didn't have to. Sane and Raz on the wings were unstoppable. We decided to buy Mendy and Mahrez and went away from something that was working brilliantly to something that has become a big issue. The only reinventing we need to do is backwards but good luck finding someone to replace Sane.

14 on the bounce at the end of 18/19 season suggests that we could attack just fine without Leroy when we wanted to. Our general approach play has been disintegrating since then.

That's not a defence of Mahrez either, because I think he was a very bad buy. One driven by Pep. Also Sane was basically driven out the door by Pep. So on both counts it's a difficult one to know what to do with because I'd have Pep as a coach over any individual player.

 

[Barcon]

I’m surprised the club hasn’t announced Otamendi leaving yet? He left a day ago.

Might have something to do with covid and when he can have a medical.
Just guessing though.

 

[Neville Kneville]

I disagree because fundamentally we need to be able to score goals and create chances more importantly than we need to be able to defend counter attacks. Too much emphasis is being placed on a defence which hasn't had a stable partner for Laporte almost since he joined.

Our attacking play has been too patchy for too long and we are too quickly frustrated by a low block. One of the big reasons that we are suddenly so susecptible to goals on the counter is that we can't fucking score or create at the other end. City are at their worst, their most weak, when they aren't threatening the opposition goal.

Teams are defending better against us than anyone & we are defending worse agsinst them than anyone.

The goals we let in, are often amongst the worst conceded by anyone, each matchday.

It has wrecked the confidence of the team.

One decent opposition attack & our standard drops immediately, because we are expecting disaster. It was clear v Wolves.

You can't keep swaggering around backheeling the ball to each other & flicking it over the keeper, if you think one wrong move means a shot on goal at the other end.

The defence is destroying the attack.

 

[BufordUSABlue]

We reinvented the team when we didn't have to. Sane and Raz on the wings were unstoppable. We decided to buy Mendy and Mahrez and went away from something that was working brilliantly to something that has become a big issue. The only reinventing we need to do is backwards but good luck finding someone to replace Sane.

Some good points here, but in Sane, we clearly didn’t want him to leave and he even more clearly wanted to go back home and to his beloved Munchen Rags. We sold him when we could to realize some value before he simply sat on his arse and left for free !

 

[Marvin]

I disagree because fundamentally we need to be able to score goals and create chances more importantly than we need to be able to defend counter attacks. Too much emphasis is being placed on a defence which hasn't had a stable partner for Laporte almost since he joined.

Our attacking play has been too patchy for too long and we are too quickly frustrated by a low block. One of the big reasons that we are suddenly so susecptible to goals on the counter is that we can't fucking score or create at the other end. City are at their worst, their most weak, when they aren't threatening the opposition goal.

We went from pipping Liverpool by 1 point with 98 points / 95 goals in 2018/19 to scoring 102 last season and finishing a very distant 2nd...