CityWatch Podcast Ep 18: The Sword of Damocles

Good stuff. Especially liked the defence of Sterling as feel he's been getting a raw deal. Also agree with what was said about managing the crowd. We're normally flat as a crowd until a big tackle goes in or the ref is a bit poor.

Said after the Leicester game that we've got a huge gap between midfield and defence but would be interested to hear what you think about the midfield supporting the attack as I think we've been poor at that recently. We don't support the ball player when we are attacking. There is little movement ahead of the ball
 
Cheers for the kind words guys, had a lot of fun doing it. We recorded two at once, the next one being a Q and A session from Twitter. Not sure when that's coming out.

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Damocles said:
Cheers for the kind words guys, had a lot of fun doing it. We recorded two at once, the next one being a Q and A session from Twitter. Not sure when that's coming out.

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I really enjoyed listening Damo, it puts it into perspective when you go to games and read some of the comments flying around this very site that city do have some sane fans.

I especially appreciated the comments regarding Raheem, I feel like I spend so much time defending him at games from the usual finger pointers. No one seems to have picked up on the improvement on his Left foot, from the start of the season when he would never use it to the Spurs game he has come on immensely.

Thinking about the conversation surrounding the Gareth Barry role so to speak, it got me thinking with a fit squad could Otamendi do that role, he is quick enough, can pass the ball and Loves a challenge, he would also know what to do to drop into fill the gap.
 
g180aj said:
Thinking about the conversation surrounding the Gareth Barry role so to speak, it got me thinking with a fit squad could Otamendi do that role, he is quick enough, can pass the ball and Loves a challenge, he would also know what to do to drop into fill the gap.
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The Gareth Barry point was a bit about how triangles don't form as often in the attacking sense because I think we lack somebody who will be the "backend" of it if you will. Barry used to be able to go towards the wings where the full back and Nasri/Silva were and provide an easier option if we get a bit lost. Otamendi would be challenging because he'd have to cover both wings which would further increase our defensive disorganisation.

When we're on a wing now, we have the fullbacks who charge up and the winger then somebody moving in from a more attacking central area to help them out. The problem with this is that because they're still at the top of the pitch, the opponent's defence doesn't try to move out as much. When we had Barry, the ball would be a bit more towards the centre mid line which would mean that their forward line would start pressing and their midfield would drop out a little bit. Barry would then try to switch the play through passing to one of the defenders then the other wing.

I think we're lacking the man who does that in our team now and getting from one side of the pitch to the other isn't quick enough so well drilled defences like we're coming across more in the Premier League just slide across and keep their shape.
 
I really enjoyed it Damo and your tactical awareness opened my eyes to a few things I didn't really appreciate. Keep up the great work and I am looking forward to the next one.
 
Damocles said:
Ahsan invited me to join him and Scott from Goal UK to have a bit of a chinwag about City and the Spurs game from this past week and it has just come out.

As it's my first podcast appearance I would love to hear any thoughts or reactions. And the title wasn't my idea!

It's online here

http://www.mcfcwatch.com/2016/02/17/city-watch-podcast-e18-the-sword-of-damocles/
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After listening to you three I'm not sure how we managed a win at all and if we'll ever do it again.
 
George Hannah said:
After listening to you three I'm not sure how we managed a win at all and if we'll ever do it again.
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Well we didn't manage to win against Spurs or Leicester, which were the main topics of the hour.

To be honest I thought we were pretty positive throughout
 
Do any of the podcasters go to the games though? The host doesn't sound like he's been to a match
 
ChrisJC said:
Do any of the podcasters go to the games though? The host doesn't sound like he's been to a match
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Ahsan is a regular matchgoer yeah, as am I and Scott.

Having thought that this was a strange comment, I do enjoy it when people out themselves as under a new username. All you had to do was keep quiet. That's always their problem.
 
Damocles said:
Ahsan is a regular matchgoer yeah, as am I and Scott.

Having thought that this was a strange comment, I do enjoy it when people out themselves as under a new username. All you had to do was keep quiet. That's always their problem.
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It's an excellent pod mate. @BillyShears has done fantastic with it, the one you did was very positive and the analysis was brilliant. You'll always get some people with criticism.
 
City_Sean said:
It's an excellent pod mate. @BillyShears has done fantastic with it, the one you did was very positive and the analysis was brilliant. You'll always get some people with criticism.
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Cheers mate. I think the second hour/the Q&A part is coming out today. It's a bit different from the last one which turned out more of a consensus, and me, Ahsan and Scott spend an hour disagreeing with each other over various tactical and player issues and ideas though it's a little more jokey too.
 
Damocles said:
Ahsan is a regular matchgoer yeah, as am I and Scott.

Having thought that this was a strange comment, I do enjoy it when people out themselves as under a new username. All you had to do was keep quiet. That's always their problem.
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He is far from being alone........

Good work.
 
Well done Damo. You showed those old fellas how to do it!

I found the podcast very interesting in terms of the relationship between Hart, the defensive line and the midfield. As you said Damo it's an experimental structure and when Otamendi pushes up it seems to confuse the two Ferns as to where they should position themselves. The other interesting comment was about Hart as sweeper keeper. That definitely doesn't come naturally to him, and his inclination is always to drop back to the line. I think there is an argument to be had that he should be developing his role as a sweeper keeper, in order to close the distance between him and the defensive line.

The other scary aspect is the rebuilding job that needs to take place in the midfield. Dinho is the only one that I would have confidence could adapt to the Pep model for midfielders. So to me we need at least two quality replacements for Fernando and Yaya (I am not sure Delph has the requisite technical skills for Pep's purposes, but I am assuming he will be retained). I am not sure which one of you said it but we probably do need 5 new first team players to refresh and regenerate the team.

I don't think we can underestimate the challenge that Pep has next season. A lot will depend on who we can shift out, and who comes in over summer.
 
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