Ageing team

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

There was a constant theme on BBC Manc after the match that the present players are not performing the way they did and that Pellers has ruined the team that Mancini built. Well, those players are upto six years older than the point where Roberto built the team. Some of them are at their peak now, but some, we never like to witness the day, may well be past their peak. The mental rapport that Silva had with his strikers seems to be an historical thing and Yaya certainly over the last season is not the player that dragged us through the last two games of the last title winning team. We are now up against young, highly athletic and pacey players at the top AND bottom end of the PL. It's beginning to tell!

 

[supercity88]

We've been fooling ourselves and believing that this City team was on the brink of greatness. The team most would have picked as their best 11 at the start of the season (and how hard was it to pick one?!) - well now there are few that I'd have at the club next season. It might sound dramatic but I seriously think we need to build a team, as Spurs have, with young talent (though better than theirs of course) and then really set up a team that can dominate for years to come. We need to get the average age down to about 24. We can't cope with any side that has a powerful or pacey midfield.

Out of the side that started yesterday, Aguero, Sterling, Silva, Kompany, Fernandinho, Hart are the only ones I'd be looking to keep in the first team. Clichy and Zabaleta are good enough for squad place without a doubt. Otamendi, considering his price and age has been poor. Hopefully he can step up and be an important squad player.

Our shape was awful yesterday. You could see all game the lack of width and lack of balance. In terms of average positions Sterling, Silva, Yaya were all in similar space. Pellegrini just isn't addressing our lack of shape. He's just putting the big names on a team sheet and hoping that wins through.

 

[Dribble]

Yes and you can add no conviction , physicality and mental toughness either.

They are poorly managed and given up an easy goal at home after equalising sums up this team to a tee , they are disorganised and not up for a fight.

I would add Sagna and Delph to that list as well.

Massive overhaul needed but it will probably take 2-3 windows to do it.

This is our worst season since the takeover all things considered.

Our team are bereft of organisation and fight and this decline has been slow and steady for the last 2 years. On paper we still have by far the strongest squad, but this season has proved we are far from being an effective team even with injuries being factored in.

The players will ultimately be blamed, but the management must also shoulder a big portion of any criticism. It took us 3 years to build a rock solid, organised outfit and 2 1/2 seasons to dismantle it and neither the manager nor the players seem to know who or what we're supposed to be anymore.

One poster summed it up perfectly yesterday when he said we'd lost our aura. Team used to shit themselves into a coma at the though of facing us, now they just respect us as a potentially dangerous opponent who are beatable. I was shocked to see our lack of desire and fight until we had an unjust penalty awarded against us, but my question is this....... Where was that fight and desire when we needed it earlier on?

There was a time if a team had the temerity to raise the tempo against us we'd match and better it and our superior players would then prove to be the difference. Yesterday we were pedestrian at best and being given the run around at home by Spurs. I sat there with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach waiting for inspiration from the sidelines, from our leaders on the pitch for the team to react to Spur's tempo, but nothing came until after the penalty and it proved too little too late.

There was a time when under-performing players would have been hooked before half time or at half time if they weren't putting in the required work rate, but sparing their feelings for the sake of squad unity seems to be more important than getting the desired performance and result. As the pundits pointed out, Pochetino has extracted more than the sum of the parts available to him for his young hungry side to the point where rumour has it the Dark Lord of Salford would rather see him replace the Tactical Turtle than Maureen.

I said before yesterday's game that I feel like I've had the life sucked out of me this season and that I couldn't see anything changing any time soon. Yesterday just reinforced that horrible gutted feeling I've had for ages that we're seeing the final dismantlement of what we once had and I don't see it as easy as ABC 123 that Pep can come in and wave a magic wand and bring us back to where we used to be. I fear its going to be a longer process than some may think but I'm positive we'll get back there over time.

 

[bugsyblue]

Age myth rearing its ugly head again.

We could quite feasibly play this 11 under Pep.

Hart 28

Otamendi 28, Kompany 29, Mangala 25

Nasri 28, Fernandinho 30, Delph 25, Sterling 21

De Bruyne 24

Aguero 27, Ihenacho 19

Denayer is probably the most promising young centre back in world football at 20 and when we sell Yaya and Demichellis who are both in their thirties the average age is normal.

Absolute non starter.

I like that team! Although Nasri doing defensive duties, I'm not so sure. Even with that side though and obviously that formation, we'd need to ship out Clichy, Kolorov, Demi, Yaya, Bony, Fernando. I'd keep Silva, Sagna and Zab as squad players. But we'd still need another GK, centre back, another midfielder and a cover striker. However perhaps this could be feasible:

Hart
Otamendi Kompany Stones
Pogba Dinho Delph Sterling
De Brunye
Aguero Nacho

Subs: New GK, Denayer, Zab, Nasri, Silva, Mangala, Inaki Williams

 

[Wafty Cranker]

Right this bollocks has to stop.

Number 1 - when did a formation become a system? Bollocks



Number 2 - no formation in the world ever made a shit player better

Number 3 - players that can't implement a formation for one manager are very likely going to fail to implement another managers formation

Number 4- guardiola hype, what the fuck? He's a decent manager but the way some on here are going on, he's already won us everything, improved all our players and approved the good transfers

Get a grip

Right this bollocks has to stop.

Number 1 - when did a formation become a system? Bollocks

Number 2 - no formation in the world ever made a shit player better

Number 3 - players that can't implement a formation for one manager are very likely going to fail to implement another managers formation

Number 4- guardiola hype, what the fuck? He's a decent manager but the way some on here are going on, he's already won us everything, improved all our players and approved the good transfers

Get a grip

1) I never mentioned formation, I said system, and by that I mean the style of play we'll adopt next season.

2) I disagree. A formation can be set up to suit a player's strengths and therefore make a player have a much more positive impact on the game. An example would be someone like Benteke. Villa's formation and system played to his strengths, where as the way Klopp sets up Liverpool is the opposite and Benteke doesn't even make the team these days.

Another example would be by setting up like United do makes the centre halves look like some of the best in the league, when in reality their formation of having two holding midfielders protects them and makes their jobs simpler for them.

3) If your third point were true then why would so many clubs change their managers so frequently?

4) We've confirmed the appointment of a great manager and he'll have at his disposal a great squad and means to add to it as he sees fit. I think some fans see the potential in our current squad, and see Pep as the man to enable them to fulfill that potential, hence the hype on here around his arrival.

 

[NPBlue]

Our team are bereft of organisation and fight and this decline has been slow and steady for the last 2 years. On paper we still have by far the strongest squad, but this season has proved we are far from being an effective team even with injuries being factored in.

The players will ultimately be blamed, but the management must also shoulder a big portion of any criticism. It took us 3 years to build a rock solid, organised outfit and 2 1/2 seasons to dismantle it and neither the manager nor the players seem to know who or what we're supposed to be anymore.

One poster summed it up perfectly yesterday when he said we'd lost our aura. Team used to shit themselves into a coma at the though of facing us, now they just respect us as a potentially dangerous opponent who are beatable. I was shocked to see our lack of desire and fight until we had an unjust penalty awarded against us, but my question is this....... Where was that fight and desire when we needed it earlier on?

There was a time if a team had the temerity to raise the tempo against us we'd match and better it and our superior players would then prove to be the difference. Yesterday we were pedestrian at best and being given the run around at home by Spurs. I sat there with an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach waiting for inspiration from the sidelines, from our leaders on the pitch for the team to react to Spur's tempo, but nothing came until after the penalty and it proved too little too late.

There was a time when under-performing players would have been hooked before half time or at half time if they weren't putting in the required work rate, but sparing their feelings for the sake of squad unity seems to be more important than getting the desired performance and result. As the pundits pointed out, Pochetino has extracted more than the sum of the parts available to him for his young hungry side to the point where rumour has it the Dark Lord of Salford would rather see him replace the Tactical Turtle than Maureen.

I said before yesterday's game that I feel like I've had the life sucked out of me this season and that I couldn't see anything changing any time soon. Yesterday just reinforced that horrible gutted feeling I've had for ages that we're seeing the final dismantlement of what we once had and I don't see it as easy as ABC 123 that Pep can come in and wave a magic wand and bring us back to where we used to be. I fear its going to be a longer process than some may think but I'm positive we'll get back there over time.

It was interesting to listen to an informed reporter the other day say that sources within the club (players) are seriously concerned about their fitness levels. They don't feel they are doing enough.

When you cast your mind back a few years when Mancini had them in twice a day and we regularly blasted teams into oblivion, and our slow but steady decline since then, it was food for thought.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is there may be more than a grain of truth to it.

We have the strongest squad in the league by far, yet we are not at the races when facing top opposition, and that showed in particular when we played Leicester.

They were fitter, stronger, faster, mentally and physically, and they blew us away, traits we had in abundance when Mancini was our manager.

 

[Dribble]

It was interesting to listen to an informed reporter the other day say that sources within the club (players) are seriously concerned about their fitness levels. They don't feel they are doing enough.

When you cast your mind back a few years when Mancini had them in twice a day and we regularly blasted teams into oblivion, and our slow but steady decline since then, it was food for thought.

My opinion, for what it is worth, is there may be more than a grain of truth to it.

We have the strongest squad in the league by far, yet we are not at the races when facing top opposition, and that showed in particular when we played Leicester.

They were fitter, stronger, faster, mentally and physically, and they blew us away, traits we had in abundance when Mancini was our manager.

And you've hit the nail on the head. We seem so much more lethargic in our approach when we were led to believe it would be the opposite because Manuel's teams play a high line, high tempo pressing game. The spine of the team is still one he inherited and its now 3 years older, but still the drop off in our physicality is alarming and exposes us time and time again and the report you highlighted (if true) goes a long way to explaining what's happened to us. I'd be interested in a link to the report you mention if you can supply it.

Before Manuel, I can rarely think of matches where we were out fought especially in the league, we just seem to have lost those additional gears we used to have that enabled us to match and raise anything the opposition used to throw at us.

 

[TRUE BLUE NO1]

You have to ask yourself why this hasn't been addressed 18 months to 2 years ago?.

I agree mate.....no surprises that we seeing the decline of some of these players. Players like Yaya and Kolarov should have been shipped out last season......mistakes have been made but I'm not sure whether we didnt make more changes because management didnt see it coming or because they were waiting for Pep to arrive and allow him to mold the team the way he wanted......We had a great transfer window last summer but 12 months on I think we'd all agree that its more about the players we didnt try to sign than the ones we did sign....You could argue that a replacement for Yaya and an upgrade over Kolarov would have made a bigger impact on the squad...

 

[DJBusinesscake]

Leicester and Tottenham have so much pace and energy and I feel that is the key to their success this season, we look sluggish and tired, aging players may be the cause of this. I don't think that is a massive fix however, only need 2-3 new players for that average age to drop. The massive task Pep will have is putting a hunger and passion back into this lacklustre team.