What will work against us?

[Corky]

Get pass to a decent strikers running between the two centre backs.
Draw a foul off a corner.
Cross to the back post.
Long ball into the box to tempt the keeper.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

its nothing to do with tac tic's that will beat us it will be the ref even yesterday he was looking for anything to book the city players and could not wait to send of nolito and only book there player i can see teams coming to kick us of the park and getting away with it

I've thought for a good few seasons that there is the clearest disparity in the application of yellow cards between us and the opposition. We get cards often for the first offence whilst assassini get away with a series of tackles that had we perpetrated them it would have been a card. Fatty Moss yesterday was the latest in quite a long line of refs who just did not display the impartiality and even-handedness with the application of sanctions.

 

[big gaz]

The main thing that will work against us is Refs not protecting our players, then booking/sending off/retrospectively not seeing incidents.... Injuries and suspensions that result from poor refereeing will eventually fck us over.

I said this yesterday in the pub after the game, keep the refs out of the equation and we should be ok.

 

[aguero93:20]

I've thought for a good few seasons that there is the clearest disparity in the application of yellow cards between us and the opposition. We get cards often for the first offence whilst assassini get away with a series of tackles that had we perpetrated them it would have been a card. Fatty Moss yesterday was the latest in quite a long line of refs who just did not display the impartiality and even-handedness with the application of sanctions.

Wilshere getting away with an out of control lunge and then a blatant shove in the back in the space of 2 or 3 minutes yesterday was swiftly followed by Kolarov being booked for his first 'foul' of the game, a fair challenge in which he won the ball.

 

[BringBackSwales]

Sly sports and bt sports will continue to work very hard against us

 

[BigOscar]

Think we are there to be countered if we have Kolarov and Otamendi at CB like yesterday. Someone as quick as Joshua King, but not completely useless at football could have had Otamendi in real trouble three or four times yesterday with just fairly aimless balls in the channel. With Stones in then that will be harder, but either CB can be isolated because we push so many players forwards

 

[aguero93:20]

Think we are there to be countered if we have Kolarov and Otamendi at CB like yesterday. Someone as quick as Joshua King, but not completely useless at football could have had Otamendi in real trouble three or four times yesterday with just fairly aimless balls in the channel. With Stones in then that will be harder, but either CB can be isolated because we push so many players forwards

Bravo should sweep a fair portion of those balls up as he adjusts to the team and league.

 

[BigOscar]

Bravo should sweep a fair portion of those balls up as he adjusts to the team and league.

True, but it's the ones where they are able to clear the ball so the guy can race our CB from just inside our half that could be a problem, because we are so high up that there is always going to be a pretty large gap between our keeper and defence. King yesterday drove with the ball a couple of times from almost the halfway line only for Ota to get last ditch lunges in, but it's a risky tactic and even riskier if the player isn't some useless rag reject (jesus, just looked up his stats, a goal every 10 games in the Championship for a striker? Bloody hell)

 

[aguero93:20]

True, but it's the ones where they are able to clear the ball so the guy can race our CB from just inside our half that could be a problem, because we are so high up that there is always going to be a pretty large gap between our keeper and defence. King yesterday drove with the ball a couple of times from almost the halfway line only for Ota to get last ditch lunges in, but it's a risky tactic and even riskier if the player isn't some useless rag reject (jesus, just looked up his stats, a goal every 10 games in the Championship for a striker? Bloody hell)

Yeah I think against certain teams we'll have to keep Dinho or someone similarly pacy in the deepest line, if Vinny gets back fit he'll sweep those up all day against anyone that doesn't have Walcott style pace. It's a risk but every tactical system has them and a high line/possession system will always have some vulnerability to the counter attack.

 

[Metalartin]

So the true test of Pep is against Liverpool now? ;)

I do hope we beat the dippers we always seem to not play to our best against them while they save their best for us. They are beatable though and our best form trumps their best easily IMO.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

Is it ok to get carried away, or not? We've looked sensational, but it's also true that 4 of our 5 games have been against the current bottom 4! It's mad the way that we're playing. I hope we can still play like this when we face the top teams. Unreal football so far!

 

[aguero93:20]

Is it ok to get carried away, or not? We've looked sensational, but it's also true that 4 of our 5 games have been against the current bottom 4! It's mad the way that we're playing. I hope we can still play like this when we face the top teams. Unreal football so far!

We've beaten everyone we've gone up against with a degree of style so confident wouldn't be overdoing it tbf. We've 4 trickyish to hard away games in a row now followed by a home game against Everton who are flying, if we stretch our winning run to 13 I'll definitely be getting carried away :)

 

[Danish Blue]

Any team can beat us, if they have a system, all their players understand their rile and they have a good day. There is no magic, we all lnow what Pep is doing, at the moment, due to great coaching, preperation, motivation and some very talented players we are proving too good for what we have xome up against.
A big physical team with discipline and structure could knock us off balance if they had a blinder but in the premier league at present i am.not sure there is one. As a result our greatest threat in the league is most likely Liverpool at present, although at this point i would fancy our chances against anyone, of course this can change in an instant.
I t must be said with the talent we have at our disposal we should be doing rather well, and whilst i am enjoying the football I would advise a few to rein in the hyperbole until we have at least made it through a dozen games.

 

[Cityfan]

We've beaten everyone we've gone up against with a degree of style so confident wouldn't be overdoing it tbf. We've 4 trickyish to hard away games in a row now followed by a home game against Everton who are flying, if we stretch our winning run to 13 I'll definitely be getting carried away :)

I agree that it would be daft not to be confident after how we have performed so far you can't ask for anything better but I do think the confidence should be tempered a little bit by the quality of the opposition that we have faced, even the result against the rags looks less impressive from a form guide after their subsequent performances, a bit like Chelsea last season.
Our European performances have been excellent though. I do remain slightly concerned about our defense , we don't look anything like as mean as we did with our best spells under Mancini when we could go games with barely giving a chance.

 

[aguero93:20]

I agree that it would be daft not to be confident after how we have performed so far you can't ask for anything better but I do think the confidence should be tempered a little bit by the quality of the opposition that we have faced, even the result against the rags looks less impressive from a form guide after their subsequent performances, a bit like Chelsea last season.
Our European performances have been excellent though. I do remain slightly concerned about our defense , we don't look anything like as mean as we did with our best spells under Mancini when we could go games with barely giving a chance.

We weren't half as dangerous to the other team with and without the ball under Mancini as we are now. I agree that we'll probably concede more often from attacks where the opposition make it into our half in any sort of numbers than we did in those days, but it'll be offset by the fact that (a) we'll face less of those attacks as we're strangling the opposition in their own half and they're struggling to make it out in any size and shape and (b) we're going to score quite a few goals by winning the ball high up the pitch as we did for goals one and three yesterday. We could have scored after 15 seconds or so from Sterling closing down their centre half if KDB had put a little more direction on the shot.

 

[Cityfan]

We weren't half as dangerous to the other team with and without the ball under Mancini as we are now. I agree that we'll probably concede more often from attacks where the opposition make it into our half in any sort of numbers than we did in those days, but it'll be offset by the fact that (a) we'll face less of those attacks as we're strangling the opposition in their own half and they're struggling to make it out in any size and shape and (b) we're going to score quite a few goals by winning the ball high up the pitch as we did for goals one and three yesterday. We could have scored after 15 seconds or so from Sterling closing down their centre half if KDB had put a little more direction on the shot.

We definitely press better and generally I agree our attack is more potent but we racked up some pretty decent sores under Mancini as well against Spurs United and Norwich to name a few. We also had a wider selection of strikers if one was not firing with Dzeko Balotelli and Tevez all playing their part.
None of these comments are intended as criticism of what we are doing now, I'm happy as Larry, but there are much sterner tests to come.

 

[MCFC1993]

In the league I think Liverpool are best suited to play against us, due to their energy and their pressing, outside of them it'll just be the pure quality of the top Champions League teams.

Away fixtures will still be tricky, crowds getting on the refs back and what have you.

Pep won't get complacent though, he'll be well aware of the challenges ahead, we've started well, still a long way to go though.

 

[ono]

Think Liverpool will give us our toughest game in the league and obviously Barca will be very hard to get anything from.

 

[Proy]

With my tin hat on, I thought yesterday was as poor and well as we have played so far.

We didn't press as well, and I think that was down to Bournemouth who are a very good footballing side and got inbetween our lines once or twice.

On the other side of the coin, it's the best we have defended our box/byline all season. We had to because they got behind our back line more than any other team this season.

In respect of the question I think the answer to getting anywhere near beating us is pace. Zaba and Sagna don't have the legs. It's why I'm looking forward to Maffeo and Angelino coming through next season. Wilson reached the byline a couple of times yesterday.

 

[lostgalaxy]

Pep seems to be more open minded now and has a new idea for every match so its very hard to second guess him. But a day will come when the opponent is simply too good and lucky.