Mahrez/Bernardo on the left, Sterling on the right

[Jag]

One of the main reasons we have struggled to break teams down is because Pep has forced Sterling to play on the left ever since Sane's injury. This is problematic for several reasons. Firstly, this means that both our wingers are cutting inside towards the opposition and often run into several defenders. It is way too easy to defend against. Secondly, if you play with inverted wingers, your fullbacks must be capable of overlapping and providing crosses into the box with precision. At the moment, none of our fullbacks have this quality (apart from the out of form Mendy). As a result, this leaves our fullbacks too high up the pitch and the team susceptible to counter attacks.

The team is clearly struggling at the minute and most of our success has come from when Sterling has played on the right (and Sane on the left). This allows them to make deadly runs into the box and precise crosses into the strikers. I'm getting tired of Bernardo cutting inside and providing a high cross into the box for one of our miniature attackers. Gone are the days when a low fizzing cross would be played into the box for an easy tap-in

Does anyone else think that this may be the short term solution to our current problems?

 

[Delphinho]

League’s gone so it would be fun to play Braaf on the left, Sterling on the right and Bernardo in midfield or as a false 9

 

[hcblue95]

Raz was playing on the left before Sanés injury. I think pep is stubborn and changed a winning formula. Don't want to seem ungrateful for what pep's done, but I wouldn't be upset if he left at the end of the season.

 

[Kennedy_probably_has]

You mean the right footer on the left and the left footer on the right isn’t working? Constantly putting aimless crosses into the heads of big centre halves doesn’t seem to work at home either, not sure why.
Then all these teams seem to have pace on the counter and we keep being undone because we can’t get near anyone to get the ball back.
Not sure why it isn’t working, it’s only happened about 8 times this season.

maybe its time for a rethink, a fucking big one

 

[Carver]

Teams are playing deeper and know that they have to attack quickly on the break, like the old East German teams etc used to. By playing deep and committing the LB and RB to defend and not letting our players get into the area between the side of the six yard box and side of penalty area they are cutting out the pull backs and low balls from the side, especially from KDB.
We managed to score from a corner yesterday, after how many attempts? Teams with dominating defenders don’t see our corners as a threat and as long as they are playing facing up the pitch our high balls in are wasted. They also know to not let the inverted wingers run at them, keep close and don’t dive in when they are on the better foot.
Pep’s tactics have been sussed out, teams realise that they can’t just park the bus, the midfielders have to press and make themselves available when they win the ball with a quick pair of attackers who support one another on the break.

He’s got to stop the opposition breaking out until their forwards tire. If he’s not going to play with 2 defensive mids he’s got to put Fernandinho back screening the defence.

He used to swap the wingers over to conventional and back several times a game, this happens rarely at the moment.

He’s also got to start making changes earlier when it’s not going well, waiting for 60 minutes then making a like for like substitution and the same tactics isn’t going to shake things up.

All of the above might be a load of crap and I can’t claim to know the first thing about football management, coaching and tactics, but my eyes and brain are telling me that something has got to change.

 

[waspish]

Yeah after yesterday with slow Shaw on the right and Pep still wouldnt switch them no chance in that happening.

 

[WallyA]

League’s gone so it would be fun to play Braaf on the left, Sterling on the right and Bernardo in midfield or as a false 9

Would be fun to see if Bernardo can emulate even 75% of false 9 messi. Dont like him out wide personally, it's not end game and we should be setting up players in their end game positions.

 

[Carver]

Pep must be reading this.
Started Sterling on the right Foden on the left. Dropped Walker and Mendy back and gave Kev free range higher up. Bit of a problem at first til he got the defence to adjust then bam bam, great work off Jesus on left to find Kev then 2 nil up, with Sterling scoring a bit of a tap in with his dodgy left foot.
Switched them later and before Arsenal could adjust Foden over runs it and Kev makes it 3.
Sterling goes on to to the left, they show him inside, block after block by the no. 21 Chambers, only successful shot was when he dragged it back to his left foot and dragged it wide. Mahrez on later ineffective on right, got crowded out all time by 3 players and not on form.

Keep switching it Pep, keep them guessing.

 

[Dirty Harry]

I think your points are valid mate, the over-lapping fullbacks are essential, the most frustrating thing for me though is that Mendy especially never seems to fully commit to it, he generally has acres of space to drive into, yet checks back more often than not or slows the pace down and takes the play inside losing the opportunity, like he's staying in the "comfort zone".

This changed against Zagreb hugely (less so against Arsenal) and I think the reason being that Foden was so far in advance of Mendy, he had no option to catch up and commit to the move being played, ergo making him more dangerous, I'm sure fitness and confidence also play a part so hopefully, as the season moves on, we'll see more of the Mendy when he first came.

 

[DATOIA]

I am talking about this with my friends and fellow city fans for the last two years.. It has become nightmare..

I curse the day - when PEP started playing with the Sterling on the left and with the Bernardo on the right.. What a fucking mistake....

--------
He started playing with the wide wings in the second half of the 16/17 season.. And it was the huge success, comparing to the first half of the season. After that "Monaco Away" game, I remember matches - when we already new, that this team was going to win the League..

In 2017/2018 he played 3-5-2 at the beginning and team was playing really bad, then if I remember correctly against crystal palace he returned to "Wide Wings" and team started playing phenomenally... Until the end of that season - he used that tactics and as a result team got 100 points..

In 2018/2019 he started with 3-5-2, then with "Inside Wings" and team started playing bad as well. I remember the match against Lyon. Then somehow Sane returns, he scores in the first minute and until like January team plays with Wide wings.. Without even debruyne city manages to win all the matches, even against Liverpool and unfortunately since February we start playing with this Shitty tactics again, which continues until now and I don't know why this happens..

Should be Idiot not to understand that
1) City doesn't have good enough wingers to play "Inside Wings".. Robben / Messi / Neymar needed
2) City has more than good enough wingers to play 'Wide Wings".. Sane and sterling are the best fucking wingers to play that tactics.

Why PEP WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ?