#8 | Ilkay Gündoğan - 2020/21 Performances

[Craig]

need more than pretty little passes to make a difference in this team. He's a decent bench back-up when you have stars ahead of him who actually make a difference.

Who would you have ahead of him?

 

[eastmanc]

Rodders isn`t fantastic in that role I agree.

Fern is still better than the pair of them In that position.

 

[Dax777]

Fern is still better than the pair of them In that position.

No he is not. He is a great backup to have for them.

 

[r.soleofsalford]

Fern is still better than the pair of them In that position.

I agree

 

[eastmanc]

No he is not. He is a great backup to have for them.

Not for me but it is all about opinions.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

No he is not. He is a great backup to have for them.

I don’t know how any City fan can say Rodri is better than Fern in his old position, even now with Fern at 36 years of age. Rodri has been underwhelming ever since joining, Fern doesn’t even look like he’s gained a few years.

 

[Dax777]

I don’t know how any City fan can say Rodri is better than Fern in his old position, even now with Fern at 36 years of age. Rodri has been underwhelming ever since joining, Fern doesn’t even look like he’s gained a few years.

We should probably fire Pep then. He must be an idiot.

 

[Platt Lane 59]

Think Fern, at his best, was a major reason we won back-to-back titles.
His ability to break up opponent's attacks and launch an instant counter-attack meant we caught out teams.
Neither Rodri and Gundo do this. Perhaps that is due to Pep becoming more cautious over the last 18 months e.g. they will receive the ball with their back to the attacking goal.
Also having the two defensive midfielders in tandem, we only have KDB and our centre forward (which has included Sterling &Torres who are inexperienced #9's) in central attacking positions.
This means the outlet ball usually goes to our wide men. As we currently have inverted wingers, they often check back, to their favoured foot. How many times does Mahrez or Sterling push the outlet ball forward and immediately cross it ?
We now seldom play "risk football", unfortunately it looks like Pep will continue to be cautious and our style of football will be less exciting...

 

[Dax777]

Think Fern, at his best, was a major reason we won back-to-back titles

That's not factually accurate. Albeit it has been repeated ad nauseum. Dihno was good, and in 2017/18 (like practically most of our players) and I'll list them for accuracy. Dave, Kevin, Bernado, Sterling, Aguero, Sane, Ederson, and Otamendi were all playing at or near their absolute peaks. That's 9 different players including Dihno. This (credit to Pep) and good luck was the catalyst for 17/18 dominance. Dihno was a part of that. But 'a major reason' is only true in so far as it's true for 8 other players at least.

In the other 2 league trophies we won. Dihno wasn't even a part of the run in. I.e the critical games we had to win to hold off Liverpool. Both in 13/14 (when he was benched for Garcia) and in 18/19 (when he got injured and was kept as 2nd fiddle to Gundogan in that run in).

Time and time again, folks gloss over these factual realities.

His ability to break up opponent's attacks and launch an instant counter-attack meant we caught out teams.
Neither Rodri and Gundo do this.

Gundogan does it better with intercepting the ball in dangerous areas and restarting an attack. While Dihno does it better with closing down the player receiving the ball and tackling him. There methods are different. The results are eerily similar. Albeit one of them don't get credit for his style of ball retrieval.

Rodri is a mix between the 2. But not as good as either. But I can give you examples of him doing both to start goal bound attacks. Mahrez goal at Burnley immediately springs to mind. But I digress...

Perhapspspspspsps that is due to Pep becoming more cautious over the last 18 months e.g. they will receive the ball with their back to the attacking goal.
Also having the two defensive midfielders in tandem, we only have KDB and our centre forward (which has included Sterling &Torres who are inexperienced #9's) in central attacking positions.
This means the outlet ball usually goes to our wide men. As we currently have inverted wingers, they often check back, to their favoured foot. How many times does Mahrez or Sterling push the outlet ball forward and immediately cross it ?

Here we have some agreement. Pep's style is ball loss adverse, which makes it risk adverse.

However, I think the issue isn't really about a formation change ( i.e 2 DMs vs 1) as you've diagnosed it, rather I think it's a form change issue. Players who were playing great (17/18) are now playing average. Kev, Sterling, Bernado, Aguero (albeit his is expected). Also Dave losing form before he left also left a void.

We now seldom play "risk football", unfortunately it looks like Pep will continue to be cautious and our style of football will be less exciting...

Agreed on the lack of risky football. It's why I love seeing Cancelo on the field, he is one of the few who doesn't play cautiously.

 

[Manchester_lalala]

We should probably fire Pep then. He must be an idiot.

Don’t really understand what you mean by that, I’m not calling Pep an idiot. Fernandinho was always going to be hard to replace. A unique player that had pretty much everything needed to be a DM/pivot. Rodri is a good player, he’s just not Fernandinho, but we have to be realistic and accept it’s difficult to sign players with similar qualities.