Technical ability of the squad isn't good enough.

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MCFC1993

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Feels like the obvious point to me.

I dont know when or why we started to move away from the style of passing teams to death, but, in the last 3-4 years we have bought players that aren't good enough on the ball to challenge for the title consistently.

Pep mentioned pre-Brighton that we need to get back to 1000 passes a game, but watching them yesterday, some of the players could barely make a 10-15 yard pass without it bobbling, or putting the receiving player in a worse position. Beyond the passing, the control of the ball was even worse, just bouncing 5-10 yards off of our players.

I say it's the technical ability because passing and controlling the ball allows us to control the game on and off the ball.

A previous version of City 1 nil up yesterday, they would have had Brighton running themselves into the ground trying to get the ball back.

Compare to any team we've had in the last 10 years.

Technical ability 2017/18 v 2025/26 (yesterday):
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Stones = Stones
Otamendi = Khusanov
Delph = Ait Nouri
Fernandinho < Rodri
David Silva > Reijnders
De Bruyne > Bernardo
Sane > Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Sterling = Bobb

1 player in the starting XI better than on the ball than what we had 8 years ago

It's the same if you go back 4 years too.

2021/22 v 2025/26:
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Laporte = Stones
Dias = Khusanov
Cancelo > Ait Nouri
Rodri = Rodri
Bernardo > Bernardo
De Bruyne > Reijnders
Sterling = Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Mahrez > Bobb

Arguably none better.

Now we may disagree on the odd placement of player's technical ability, but as a whole we are way down across the board.

Players press better now, it is harder to pass but I look at the modern game and players like Aguero, David Silva, a peak KDB would still take the piss and find time and space.

Might seem like a bit of a flap but we aren't going to get better until we start picking an XI that can pass opponents off the park.
Do we have such an XI capable? Not sure we do.
 
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Completely agree!! “A thousand million passes” that’s what Pep says he wants yet for three years we have slowly been selling all of the players capable of keeping the ball and replacing them with players who can’t do it.

Now these players are good players in their own right. Let’s take Trafford he played well against Brighton and made some great saves but is he good enough with his feet to play the Guardiola way. I don’t think he is and Donnarumma definitely won’t be either and you can see how shakey we are playing it out from the back. Khusanov another good defender but didn’t look comfortable under pressure particularly playing on the left.

Even Haaland when we had 10 players to carry the burden of keeping the ball it was fine cos as a goalscorer he is incredible. Now in a team with less quality to keep the ball his lack of ability to hold onto the ball becomes more obvious.

We have managed to put together a squad for the manager with the clearest way of wanting to play the game that contains too many players not capable of keeping the ball. I think it has been an incredible down turn in recruitment.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Feels like the obvious point to me.

I dont know when or why we started to move away from the style of passing teams to death, but, in the last 3-4 years we have bought players that aren't good enough on the ball to challenge for the title consistently.

Pep mentioned pre-Brighton that we need to get back to 1000 passes a game, but watching them yesterday, some of the players could barely make a 10-15 yard pass without it bobbling, or putting the receiving player in a worst position. Beyond the passing the control of the ball was even worse, just bouncing 5-10 yards off of our players.

I say it's the technical ability because passing and controlling the ball allows us to control the game on and off the ball.

A previous version of City 1 nil up yesterday, they would have had Brighton running themselves into the ground trying to get the ball back.

Compare to any team we've had in the last 10 years.

Technical ability 2017/18 v 2025/26 (yesterday):
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Stones = Stones
Otamendi = Khusanov
Delph = Ait Nouri
Fernandinho < Rodri
David Silva > Reijnders
De Bruyne > Bernardo
Sane > Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Sterling = Bobb

1 player in the starting XI better than on the ball than what we had 8 years ago

It's the same if you go back 4 years too.

2021/22 v 2025/26:
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Laporte = Stones
Dias = Khusanov
Cancelo > Ait Nouri
Rodri = Rodri
Bernardo > Bernardo
De Bruyne > Reijnders
Sterling = Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Mahrez > Bobb

Arguably none better.

Now we may disagree on the odd placement of players technical ability, but as a whole we are way down across the board.

Players press better now, it is harder to pass but I look at the modern game and players like Aguero, David Silva, a peak KDB would still take the piss and find time and space.

Might seem like a bit of a flap but we aren't going to get better until we start picking an XI that can pass opponents off the park.
Do we have such an XI capable? Not sure we do.
Click to expand...
There is some truth in this but we also lack energy in the last 20 minutes. We keep getting over-run in midfield and shipping late goals. It is a pattern for two years now.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Feels like the obvious point to me.

I dont know when or why we started to move away from the style of passing teams to death, but, in the last 3-4 years we have bought players that aren't good enough on the ball to challenge for the title consistently.

Pep mentioned pre-Brighton that we need to get back to 1000 passes a game, but watching them yesterday, some of the players could barely make a 10-15 yard pass without it bobbling, or putting the receiving player in a worst position. Beyond the passing the control of the ball was even worse, just bouncing 5-10 yards off of our players.

I say it's the technical ability because passing and controlling the ball allows us to control the game on and off the ball.

A previous version of City 1 nil up yesterday, they would have had Brighton running themselves into the ground trying to get the ball back.

Compare to any team we've had in the last 10 years.

Technical ability 2017/18 v 2025/26 (yesterday):
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Stones = Stones
Otamendi = Khusanov
Delph = Ait Nouri
Fernandinho < Rodri
David Silva > Reijnders
De Bruyne > Bernardo
Sane > Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Sterling = Bobb

1 player in the starting XI better than on the ball than what we had 8 years ago

It's the same if you go back 4 years too.

2021/22 v 2025/26:
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Laporte = Stones
Dias = Khusanov
Cancelo > Ait Nouri
Rodri = Rodri
Bernardo > Bernardo
De Bruyne > Reijnders
Sterling = Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Mahrez > Bobb

Arguably none better.

Now we may disagree on the odd placement of players technical ability, but as a whole we are way down across the board.

Players press better now, it is harder to pass but I look at the modern game and players like Aguero, David Silva, a peak KDB would still take the piss and find time and space.

Might seem like a bit of a flap but we aren't going to get better until we start picking an XI that can pass opponents off the park.
Do we have such an XI capable? Not sure we do.
Click to expand...
Very good point, I noticed last season how often we gave the ball away and its continued this.

Its a killer with our high line, when you misplace a pass you are fooked.
 
If you were to try and join a training session with our current team I think you'd be amazed at the individual ability under no pressure. Like most professional sports people they would seem light years ahead of us mere mortals. The issue for me is we have gone from players who had that but more importantly had the footballing smarts to make the game on a real match day seem effortless. That is what separates those who are truly great - David Silva for example seemed to have time, space and was always in the right place to receive and distribute telling passes, same with Kev. What we have now is younger players like Lewis, O'Reilly, Bobb etc who individually have talent but lack the nous needed to be elite.

So many times we watch in despair as teams (often not as good as us) attack at will with acres of space - that is because some of our team cannot predict where a problem is going to develop and charge into areas on the pitch that leaves space and then you're entire backline looks lost. When we had our best years you seldom saw teams like Brighton & Spurs having 3 v's 1 in transitions - that is about having players that have an uncanny ability to be in the right place at the right time - the drop off has been huge. Silva again would understand by constant assessing where a threat would be and that intelligence meant he didn't have to make last ditch tackles because he was already there to nip in and nullify the opposition - Ferna was also the master at that as well as having the added ability to win 50/50's at will.

It worries me that our academy is producing more & more of these types and when we do buy players who are a bit different the coaching wants to change that. We are not a solid team now and we have to find a way to have players in who have football smarts - Nunes for example is a prime case - great ability but no inbuilt football intelligence.

In summary we need to change our tactics or return to buying players who do these things naturally without panic.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Feels like the obvious point to me.

I dont know when or why we started to move away from the style of passing teams to death, but, in the last 3-4 years we have bought players that aren't good enough on the ball to challenge for the title consistently.

Pep mentioned pre-Brighton that we need to get back to 1000 passes a game, but watching them yesterday, some of the players could barely make a 10-15 yard pass without it bobbling, or putting the receiving player in a worst position. Beyond the passing the control of the ball was even worse, just bouncing 5-10 yards off of our players.

I say it's the technical ability because passing and controlling the ball allows us to control the game on and off the ball.

A previous version of City 1 nil up yesterday, they would have had Brighton running themselves into the ground trying to get the ball back.

Compare to any team we've had in the last 10 years.

Technical ability 2017/18 v 2025/26 (yesterday):
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Stones = Stones
Otamendi = Khusanov
Delph = Ait Nouri
Fernandinho < Rodri
David Silva > Reijnders
De Bruyne > Bernardo
Sane > Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Sterling = Bobb

1 player in the starting XI better than on the ball than what we had 8 years ago

It's the same if you go back 4 years too.

2021/22 v 2025/26:
Ederson > Trafford
Walker > Nunes
Laporte = Stones
Dias = Khusanov
Cancelo > Ait Nouri
Rodri = Rodri
Bernardo > Bernardo
De Bruyne > Reijnders
Sterling = Marmoush
Aguero > Haaland
Mahrez > Bobb

Arguably none better.

Now we may disagree on the odd placement of players technical ability, but as a whole we are way down across the board.

Players press better now, it is harder to pass but I look at the modern game and players like Aguero, David Silva, a peak KDB would still take the piss and find time and space.

Might seem like a bit of a flap but we aren't going to get better until we start picking an XI that can pass opponents off the park.
Do we have such an XI capable? Not sure we do.
Click to expand...
Even in our pomp, players such as Sterling, Walker, and even de Bruyne had weaker touch and close control than say Zinchenko, Fernandinho, and Gundogan. We signed Haaland to add the cutting edge, which he did, but then the football subsequently became more open, frantic, and less controlled. Never understood how that squared with Guardiola’s philosophy.
 
bobbyowenquiff said:
There is some truth in this but we also lack energy in the last 20 minutes. We keep getting over-run in midfield and shipping late goals. It is a pattern for two years now.
Click to expand...

Lack of energy in the last 20mins because aren't good enough to keep hold of the ball, there were signs of it in the 2023/24 season too.

I agree there's definitely other things going on but we have to get back to basics of keeping hold of the ball.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Pep mentioned pre-Brighton that we need to get back to 1000 passes a game, but watching them yesterday, some of the players could barely make a 10-15 yard pass without it bobbling, or putting the receiving player in a worst position. Beyond the passing the control of the ball was even worse, just bouncing 5-10 yards off of our players.
Click to expand...
Said this in the match thread yesterday. Passes were going behind players, forcing them to turn and allow the opposition to press, or going to feet when they're in motion, forcing them to stop and lose momentum. Obvious passes not being seen and made. How the hell have we regressed so much?
 
I wrote in another thread that what is baffling is that we have gone from the best possession based football in the world to being able to handle the ball like it is a soap in a hot shower. Teams like Brentford and Everton are able to handle the ball better under pressure. Thousand passes is only possible if we can actually make thousand passes. Today we struggle to string together 5, let alone 10.
 
Prestwich_Blue said:
Said this in the match thread yesterday. Passes were going behind players, forcing them to turn and allow the opposition to press, or going to feet when they're in motion, forcing them to stop and lose momentum. Obvious passes not being seen and made. How the hell have we regressed so much?
Click to expand...

There just seems to be a genuine lack of quality on the ball, happened for too often last season too. Players half arsing their passes and not putting any real effort into what happens when the receiving player gets it or how they get it.

Every 3rd or 4th pass yesterday somehow ended up in the air either via a bad pass or poor control.

Rodri was the only player in the front 6 or 7 passing with any purpose.
 
Added to this - I'm not sure many players are thinking more than the next pass ahead - a couple of times yesterday we allowed possession to be funnelled to a completely isolated Ait Nouri high up on the wing. They dispossessed him and broke. He has an absolute mare, but nobody took responsibility for helping him out

The patterns seem to have broken down and the relationships just aren't there. The Marmoush ball through to Haaland early on was about the only one I can remember that was played with the receiver's preferences considered.
 
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