#26 | Riyad Mahrez - 2019/20 Performances

[Tevez City]

He wasn't our worst player yesterday, I think he was doing better than Sterling ( to be fair with Raheem he was facing more difficult task against Adama )

 

[Gabriel]

The way to play Mahrez seems to be to get the left-back right up against him and be physical with him. He then doesn’t have time to get the ball in front of him, so he’s either facing backwards or inside, and without de Bruyne in there, his options are back to Walker, who doesn’t look as if he wants it, or even riskier back to Otamendi, who doesn’t look fast enough to beat the intercepting forward. Mahrez starts as a winger, but as the game progresses, you can see him being pushed back yard by yard, to the point where his threat is diminished.

Would like to see a comparison of his performances, and ours, with de Bruyne and without.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

The way to play Mahrez seems to be to get the left-back right up against him and be physical with him. He then doesn’t have time to get the ball in front of him, so he’s either facing backwards or inside, and without de Bruyne in there, his options are back to Walker, who doesn’t look as if he wants it, or even riskier back to Otamendi, who doesn’t look fast enough to beat the intercepting forward. Mahrez starts as a winger, but as the game progresses, you can see him being pushed back yard by yard, to the point where his threat is diminished.

Would like to see a comparison of his performances, and ours, with de Bruyne and without.

The difference between KDB in that position and Gundogan is night and day. Its not just about the difference/effectiveness on the ball, chances created etc, its the movements and runs off it. KDB makes driving runs into space, giving his teammates options they simply dont get with Gundogan in that position. Gundogan actually made one KDB like run into the channel at the start of the 2nd half and that was him done then. You have rightly pointed out that with Gundogan there, Mahrez is left with only 2 options, do it all himself or pass back to Walker. Walker is terrible and putting Gundogan in front of him is nothing short of a disaster.

 

[Gabriel]

The difference between KDB in that position and Gundogan is night and day. Its not just about the difference/effectiveness on the ball, chances created etc, its the movements and runs off it. KDB makes driving runs into space, giving his teammates options they simply dont get with Gundogan in that position. Gundogan actually made one KDB like run into the channel at the start of the 2nd half and that was him done then. You have rightly pointed out that with Gundogan there, Mahrez is left with only 2 options, do it all himself or pass back to Walker. Walker is terrible and putting Gundogan in front of him is nothing short of a disaster.

Another factor that follows on from that is that the opposition then knows that we are going to become heavily dependent on attacking down our left. However, with no left-footed player on that side yesterday to threaten the line, we end up sending more and more bodies into that area and the space becomes overly congested. We can see it, Guardiola can see it, and the opposition managers can now see it.

 

[Fame Monster]

Had no support yesterday, was completely isolated and was wrongly subbed. Walker looked terrified to overlap (probably on Pep's instruction) and Gundogan only wanted to go sideways. Rodri doesn't have the passes that Fernandinho has in that position either so the ball hardly went to him.

 

[Project1]

He has improved this season but yesterday was awful back to the dross of last year. Those trying to find excuses for him in Walker and Otamendi are way off the mark. Not once did he attempted to go past the defender. Same old same old get on left foot and come inside. Or pass the ball 20 yards back instead of looking for an attacking option. The highlight yesterday was when walker was looking at sending a pass down the wing for him but instead Mahrez came 20 yards back took the ball of his feet then passed it back to Otamendi. Best to put it down as one of those games where he was truly fucking useless.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

He has improved this season but yesterday was awful back to the dross of last year. Those trying to find excuses for him in Walker and Otamendi are way off the mark. Not once did he attempted to go past the defender. Same old same old get on left foot and come inside. Or pass the ball 20 yards back instead of looking for an attacking option. The highlight yesterday was when walker was looking at sending a pass down the wing for him but instead Mahrez came 20 yards back took the ball of his feet then passed it back to Otamendi. Best to put it down as one of those games where he was truly fucking useless.

Our full backs are a major problem for our wingers. We get away with it in games where Silva and KDB get into the channels and give our wingers options. Silva and Gundogan didnt do this and yesterday Mahrez and Sterling were left with little, to no support. Cancelo did provide some support for Sterling the 1st half and we were better on the left than the right. Walker was twiddling his thumbs as per.

I don't care who our wingers are, they are unlikely to consistently beat 2 or 3 players every time they get the ball and that is what they were up against, because they were given no options by Silva and Gundogan and our not fit for purpose full backs. Look at the support Mane and Salah get from Robertson and TAA. Our full backs step into midfield and play 3 yard passes to our centre backs. They have the easiest job of any players at the club, very little defending to do and don't support the attack and they sometimes struggle to even do this properly.

 

[Dax777]

He wasn't our worst player yesterday, I think he was doing better than Sterling ( to be fair with Raheem he was facing more difficult task against Adama )

I remember arguing once that Adama would make a fantastic RB :)

 

[Dax777]

The difference between KDB in that position and Gundogan is night and day. Its not just about the difference/effectiveness on the ball, chances created etc, its the movements and runs off it. KDB makes driving runs into space, giving his teammates options they simply dont get with Gundogan in that position. Gundogan actually made one KDB like run into the channel at the start of the 2nd half and that was him done then. You have rightly pointed out that with Gundogan there, Mahrez is left with only 2 options, do it all himself or pass back to Walker. Walker is terrible and putting Gundogan in front of him is nothing short of a disaster.

When we play wit Gundogan, it's a base 2 and 1 AM while with Kevin, it's a base 1 and 2AM.

So Gundogan almost never plays Kev's position.

 

[OrigamiNinja]

When we play wit Gundogan, it's a base 2 and 1 AM while with Kevin, it's a base 1 and 2AM.

So Gundogan almost never plays Kev's position.

If hes in a base 2, he is not offering enough defensively and if hes in KDBs position, he is most definitely not offering enough in attack. Either way, he is not doing enough. Almost all of his best performances at City have come as a single 6. Any other position he has been asked to play, he has consistently failed at.