As a decision it was pretty much suicide. You don't have to rotate players every game. It was extremely important that Clichy played left back yesterday. The choice of Delph left yaYa in the middle who leaves too much space for appointments.I disagree. Delph at Left-wing was a tactical move to help nullify Mahrez. It didn't work, but the tactical choice was fine. Clichy/Kolarov is really touch and go. Seen both play well and poorly. Since Clichy played 4 days ago, it was no surprise Kola got the start.
THIS.its not just his inability that bothers me...its the fact that we all know (as do the opposition) of what he is going to do....you can bet your life that the next 7 days spurs will be looking at attacking our weaknesses that are on display week after week cause most of the time MP sets up the same way (even with different players).....
Will MP and the team look at the significant threats that spurs possess and look at ways of stopping those.....I seriously doubt it...we all know the spaces for instance that Errikson will want to get into (those huge ones infant of our back 4)...will MP do anything to stop this? If it was me I would spend a large proportion of time drilling fernando and ferna in filling those areas and to be making sure that one of them at least is always sat infant of our back 4.
Id also play clichy at fullback and sanga centre half with Otto (think Kompany would be a risk) MDM legs have gone and will be run ragged by spurs attack
we need to be more compact
I mean we can play compare the manager if you like but a) he is gone in June so why bother and b) if we are going to bother you pick Mark fucking Hughes?
Don't get me wrong, I'll have played Sagna myself at CB. But just coz I'd have made that choice, doesn't mean a different choice is wrong. Playing a CB at CB over a converted RB isnt really a wrong choice. It is a fair choice. I might have done something different, but that's neither here nor there.I suppose I was one wishing for those positional selections but I thought the obvious need for energy and movement at the back was enough to risk Sagna at CB. I'd have been happier with Fernando along side Ferna with Silva central and I'd have played Iheanacho. I thought Clichy was an obvious choice for this one too.
The inherent error often made here, by the anti Pellars crowd, is to wait and see what he did not do, then claim that would have worked had he done it.
Well he wouldn't have the players we currently have, but if he did, he'd play to the strengths of the players we have who are fit and available and he'd have taken away the weapons of the opposition, so:
No high line defending (Vardy major strength taken away), Possibly Sagna at CH (Depends if he thought MDS was fit enough to start 2 games in 3 days). Clichy at LB (Mahrez strength when on RW considered). 3 DMs (Delph, Fernando and Fernandinho). YaYa on the bench (he played the previous game). Sit deep defend and hit on the break. (Aguero, Kelchi, Sterling). Silva as a pass master to play in front of the back 3 and set the whippets up fo rthe canter up field.
hell he'd probably play this formation every game coz it's the only way we are going to get anywhere in teh CL.
Don't get me wrong, I'll have played Sagna myself at CB. But just coz I'd have made that choice, doesn't mean a different choice is wrong. Playing a CB at CB over a converted RB isnt really a wrong choice. It is a fair choice. I might have done something different, but that's neither here nor there.
As for LB, Clichy started midweek, so did Sagna, that they were both rested at the weekend is just common good sense. We have fullbacks of similar quality on both sides, it makes sense to play one group midweek, and rest that group at the weekend. That folks got all turned around by this decision is strange. Sure, he could have played Clichy in 2 straight. But why risk overplaying an injuring the guy.
Yet (read back a few pages and there are 2 fans arguing Pellars runs his players into the ground). Even in the face of these obvious balancing and resting act that he does.
You can see why I often shake my head at some of the comments here.
As for who you'd have started, I too would have made different choices here and there. But I can't pretend not to understand the choices that were made. Or even argue my choices would have worked better.
The inherent error often made here, by the anti Pellars crowd, is to wait and see what he did not do, then claim that would have worked had he done it.
But there is no proof this is true. A good example is the 'Only play Yaya' as a sub' argument. This ignores the fact that one of our best victories came with Yaya starting at AM away to Sevilla, and Similarly our best perfomance in a loss invilved Yaya starting away to Tothenham.
Similarly, the 'Don't play Yaya in a 2' argument can be easily debunked, by pointing to the 1st four games of the season. Yes, I wouldn't play Yaya in a 2 either, but thats coz the facts suggests he is better at AM
The point I'm trying to make here is this, none of these hard held beliefs or claims by a large swat of our fan base, holds up under any serious scrutiny.
Ok, let me do a quick hindsight analysis here. R ell me the 11 you'd have played. And I'll use preexisting facts to show you how it would have been the wrong 11. It is extremely easy to do. And that's what most fans do here.Fair point but Delph out wide , A midfield two with Yaya and Ferny and MDM and Oti against quick players on the break that can counter attack and there is a big chance you get what we got on Saturday.
One down at half time and you make two subs once you are two down at out of the game altogether.
It was a bad day for us and for MP a shocking one in truth given the circumstances and we were rudderless on and off the field.
He is too stubborn and we lack nous off the field to see that this set up is destined for failure.
Leicester are efficient put very predictable and the fact we knew this and didn't nothing about it until it was too late is again a reason why MP should have gone 12 months ago.
The players do not buy into his game plan whatever that is and if he doesn't make the necessary changes Spurs will sink the final nail into our coffin on Sunday.
Comebacks from this loss and preytell another one against a side after the title would make it 3 points in 8 games against top six sides.
Think about 3 points from a possible 24 , there is no coming back from that we will be lucky to finish in fourth place going backwards at a huge rate of knots with a manager who hasn't got a clue how to make us competitive from game to game.
Its very disappointing how bad City have become under this man's watch but if you don't learn to adapt from the mistakes he and the players continue to make how can we be surprised that we put in performances like we did on Saturday and no doubt will again until we get a hard edge and rid ourselves of the soft underbelly we have on and off the field.
No I didn't miss those.You clearly missed the three one-on-one saves Joe made v Vardy (the other was vs Drinkwater). Thank goodness joe is so good at them it would have been a humiliation if he wasn't good at them.
Yes, I agree. And Leicester is in the Prem, and the game is at home. Why would anyone assume we play differently?Pellers always tries to play possession in the Prem but not always we don't. Or did you miss the Sevilla (A) game? You play to your strengths to the players who are fit.
Ok, let me do a quick hindsight analysis here. R ell me the 11 you'd have played. And I'll use preexisting facts to show you how it would have been the wrong 11. It is extremely easy to do. And that's what most fans do here.
It all game theory gone amok. They pick a conclusion, I.E. Pellars sucks, then work backwards finding justifications for an opinion already held.
To answer your questions though.
Delph out wide? Yes, specifically to slow down Mahrez. Which he failed at. But he outside of Dihno was the best choice for that role of policing Mahrez
Yaya, Ferny, Oti and MD against quick players? I'll answer this in part. Simply put we only have 2 CBs available, so it really doesn't matter who we are playing, those 2 would start.
That is a function of our injury situation. Sure Sagna is a cute shout. But he really is a RB who can manage at CB, and not some great difference maker.
Yaya and Ferny at CM? Why not, we won our first 5 games doing this. Add a hardworking Delph on the left to help neutralize Mahrez, and tactically, its a good plan. Execution on the other hand was poor. Delph was poor checking Mahrez and rightly got pulled for it. MD was poor on dead balls and we conceded 2 from that. But I doubt Sagna would have stopped Huth on either goal.
1. It wasn't extremely important Clichy played. Ffs Clichy is a role player at best. Not to mention Kolarov was fine playing these same players on their own patch, but all of a sudden his choice has been turned into this egregious error.As a decision it was pretty much suicide. You don't have to rotate players every game. It was extremely important that Clichy played left back yesterday. The choice of Delph left yaYa in the middle who leaves too much space for appointments.
Suicide is painless...
1. It wasn't extremely important Clichy played. Ffs Clichy is a role player at best. Not to mention Kolarov was fine playing these same players on their own patch, but all of a sudden his choice has been turned into this egregious error.
I'm sorry, bit most of these personnel complaints are laughable.
Yes, Kolarov played poorly. But that's an after the fact analysis. The pre game analysis will suggest he held his own very well against this very same players a month and a half ago. And he was the fresher of our 2 leftbacks.
Even worse still is the fact he was mostly poor on offense. Defensively, he was average. About where Clichy would have been.
But none of these facts matter. I get it. I'm beginning to sound like the Grinch here. Messing up the ' Pellars sucks' party with facts. So I'm going to stop.
Let the party continue
Pellar sucks, he never changes tactics, he is clueless etc. Carry on folks :)
What goal were you talking about?Team defending , you don't let someone get goal side of you from that distance.
How we let that goal in still staggers me.
The first four games of the season are a distant memory.
Yaya and Ferny don't work against most sides least of all Leicester who have no fear ( mind you no side does anymore ) going to our place in the form they are in.
When we win midfield we rarely lose the game.
It hear and now and Yaya is a spent force , I would rather we bring in youth if we have to we have little to lose but it was nailed on we were cactus with that line up on Saturday and we will again this Sunday if we do likewise with Fernando replacing Silva.
We are better off sticking ten behind the ball as we did against Sunderland for much of the game rather than go with a midfield of Yaya and Ferny against Spurs.
Poor management and a lack of a plan which even if there were rudiments of one the players either don't know it or refuse to implement.
Silva was a lame duck after 30 minutes and probably shouldn't have played ( we would have done as well with 10 men on the pitch closing down space which again it seems we are incapable of because we lack a work ethic and some of our players lack speed of mind and foot ) so take him off and bring on one of the youngsters or pack the midfield FFS.
Look, as a coach your decisions have some effect on the outcome. But by and large, talent and performances by those talent is far more important.Its more that he is managing us poorly and we see this reflected in the results.
3 points from 21 against top 6 ( most likely to be 3 from 24 after Sunday ).
Is our squad that bad or that lacking in depth and all this conjecture that we have the best squad in the premiership just a falsehood?
The fact is we are playing well below our capabilities and its a number of factors including MP making poor decisions before and during the match or in some cases doing nothing at all when changes are needed.
What goal were you talking about?
You can't say Yaya and Ferny doesn't work when it in fact has? That is just arguing against facts. I'd grant you that it is suicide doing it when we have multiple games a week. But notice how Yaya has been consistently subbed early in this period. The goal is to save his aging legs.
Again, take Sunderland for example we started with what most fans here wanted. If you remember the ' 'play Kelechi' whinning from our fans. So he did. We looked shaite and he quickly pulled Kelechi at half and inserted Fernando.
Sunderland was a galant effort to win, but that was actually very poor work from Pellars. His decisions against Leicester were superior, and how we played showed that.
What goal were you talking about?
You can't say Yaya and Ferny doesn't work when it in fact has? That is just arguing against facts. I'd grant you that it is suicide doing it when we have multiple games a week. But notice how Yaya has been consistently subbed early in this period. The goal is to save his aging legs.
Again, take Sunderland for example we started with what most fans here wanted. If you remember the ' 'play Kelechi' whinning from our fans. So he did. We looked shaite and he quickly pulled Kelechi at half and inserted Fernando.
Sunderland was a galant effort to win, but that was actually very poor work from Pellars. His decisions against Leicester were superior, and how we played showed that.
The problem with claims like yours here is that there is nothing to hold on too. Outside of don't start Yaya.The first.
it doesn't work against sides who are quick , press and and counter attack with speed and there are quite a few of them in the premiership.
As I said it hasn't worked for the past 6 months and it ain't going to work in the last 13 either its not arguing against facts.
Will be get hammered by a far better ball moving side than Leicester if we persist with the wrong personnel some of them in the wrong positions on Sunday.
Blind faith that something that was good once will come good again when all the evidence suggests otherwise is naive at best.
Yaya is spent , so bring him on after 70 minutes as opposed to taking him off when the game is already gone so he can have 20 minutes to make an impact.
I tend to think the opposite , putting men behind the ball was a good strategy as it gave us the best chance to hold on to a lead even though it was fodder we were against.
All this talk about tired legs and too many games etc can be addressed by bringing in youth.
The player that created our best move of the game was on the field for 13 minutes.
We were going nowhere with that line up on Saturday put we still had time to address it at half time but no we concede a second and then ring in the changes (LOL).
Shocking management , the stuff novices wouldn't even do.
He should have come on at half time at the latest.
The problem with claims like yours here is that there is nothing to hold on too. Outside of don't start Yaya.
Can you tell me what lineup and tactics will best serve us to start the game? We can then memorialize that, and hopefully if we ever use it, we can hold you to it.
By the way, there was nothing wrong with Ferny and Yaya in the middle. Until their 2nd goal were at 70% possession. Were doing just fine with Yaya and Ferny. We just lost on individual efforts by Demichelis.