Are City a better all round team without Haaland?

[richards30]

People said Dias wasn’t at his best but I think we miss him a lot!

Yep! Ruben suffered to pep constantly changing the back line imo.

 

[Thornliebank]

It's the slow build up and the need for 30 passes just outside the opposition penalty box usually from one side of the pitch to the other and back again , and sometimes even all the way back to our own goalkeeper.

 

[Brewster's millions]

Buy a winger with pace who can get to the line and deliver a ball into the box from an angle which is hard to defend. Like we did for 2/3 seasons when we were at our peak.

Try to get the ball to Haaland quickly, rather than lots of lateral and backward passing.

Give Haaland more confidence in him receiving a ball if he makes a run.

Not sure it’s more complicated than that.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Buy a winger with pace who can get to the line and deliver a ball into the box from an angle which is hard to defend. Like we did for 2/3 seasons when we were at our peak.

This part would be of great benefit to both Haaland and us in general as an option.

 

[Brewster's millions]

This part would be of great benefit to both Haaland and us in general as an option.

I understand that all teams need to evolve, but I still find it strange that we’ve moved away from this tactic in such a wholesale fashion given how successful it was in helping us to break teams down.

With the possible exception of Foden, none of our wing players can get to the line and put a cross in now. Even when we had Sterling, Guardiola persisted in playing him on the left over the past couple of years, so it seems he simply doesn’t want wingers to do this now.

 

[Goater=Legend]

Need to get over this false nine mentality we still seem to have. Get it forward and quick, i dont understand why we keep pissing around with it letting the opposition get back into position.

We've gone for a striker that loves to play off the shoulder and is a monster in the box, stop playing it safe.

 

[Dirty Harry]

I understand that all teams need to evolve, but I still find it strange that we’ve moved away from this tactic in such a wholesale fashion given how successful it was in helping us to break teams down.

With the possible exception of Foden, none of our wing players can get to the line and put a cross in now. Even when we had Sterling, Guardiola persisted in playing him on the left over the past couple of years, so it seems he simply doesn’t want wingers to do this now.

He probably has his reasons mate, giving up possession most likely, although I personally think it’s folly to take away such a potent option if that is the case, they don’t particularly need to go past the fullback and to the line either (Rick Holden did it at Oldham for years), just the ball played to them in the right area for them to have or create a bit of space, Haaland will be there 9 times out of 10 I’m sure.

 

[Craig]

He probably has his reasons mate, giving up possession most likely, although I personally think it’s folly to take away such a potent option if that is the case, they don’t particularly need to go past the fullback and to the line either (Rick Holden did it at Oldham for years), just the ball played to them in the right area for them to have or create a bit of space, Haaland will be there 9 times out of 10 I’m sure.

When we played that way though we always dominated possession anyway

 

[langy]

All the problems were present in the last few months of last season aswell. We fucking fell over the line in the League. Its not Haaland, without his goals we would be somewhere close to Chelsea in the League because we've been fucking shite.

This slow tempo, mental formations and constant needless rotation are killing the team stone dead.

We aren't creating enough chances at the moment
Apart from the fa cup against Chelsea we arnt as fluid

 

[Dirty Harry]

When we played that way though we always dominated possession anyway

I think the end result though is that it’s a quicker ball into the box most times so potentially a quicker turn over, I don’t have a problem with that as at least the fullbacks are more likely to be in a position to deal with counter attacks, but I think Pep very likely sees it differently .

 

[Craig]

I think the end result though is that it’s a quicker ball into the box most times so potentially a quicker turn over, I don’t have a problem with that as at least the fullbacks are more likely to be in a position to deal with counter attacks, but I think Pep very likely sees it differently .

I’m just completely baffled by it. Used to be it was safest place to lose the ball dribbling in the final 3rd or into the oppositions box because the team was set to press so well. Or just logically the opposition are so far from goal. Instead we’re just playing slow and sometimes monotonous football. We still lose the ball and get countered as will always be the case for top teams going for a win every week. It’s like he’s after 99% control and it’s impossible.

As shown when Rodri played a poor pass against Everton it happens no matter how good you’re. I’d have preferred Rico to have been playing as a fullback as one he might have been able to get back and 2 he could have linked up more with Mahrez and we know how good he can be when he’s got a player overlapping to provide a decoy. Instead Rico(who looks superb) is in midfield playing 10/15 yard passes probably perfectly to instruction making it even more congested and narrow. Strikes me of worrying too much about largely inferior sides than going for it and it’s simply not working.

 

[TFC]

Maybe? We'd probably be 15 (ish) goals shy of where we are now though, not sure where that would put us in the table and cups.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

People said Dias wasn’t at his best but I think we miss him a lot!

Correct!

 

[Chippy_boy]

We aren't creating enough chances at the moment
Apart from the fa cup against Chelsea we arnt as fluid

Very little to do with Haaland IMO. Much more to do with far too many players being out of form.

Foden has been pretty awful for several weeks now. Cancelo stinks the place out regularly. Walker's performance against Chelsea was an outlier - he's been very, very poor in the games surrounding it. Palmer looks like he's lost the plot. KDB runs his socks off and generally plays "OK" - with perhaps a moment of brilliance here and there - but is a shadow of how he can be. And defensively, we're all over the place, chopping and changing.

None of this is Haaland's fault.

 

[ID70]

We don’t get the ball forward quick or often enough to the centre forward, whoever that is, to truly get the benefit of their strengths. Even at 0-2 last night and with little time left we still pass it religiously back and forth across the back 4 and keeper

 

[Chippy_boy]

We don’t get the ball forward quick or often enough to the centre forward, whoever that is, to truly get the benefit of their strengths. Even at 0-2 last night and with little time left we still pass it religiously back and forth across the back 4 and keeper

And TBF, we've been doing that for years. Before Pep arrived even we were crying out for someone with pace to run in behind... not that there is usually any "behind" to run into with most of the teams we play against.

No, I am just firmly of the opinion that the root cause of our troubles at the moment is very simple: too many players are just playing shite and they need to snap out of it, and fast.

 

[wolviedinho]

We put the cherry on top of the cake but the cake imploded underneath. Now that’s typical city -:)

 

[ID70]

And TBF, we've been doing that for years. Before Pep arrived even we were crying out for someone with pace to run in behind... not that there is usually any "behind" to run into with most of the teams we play against.

No, I am just firmly of the opinion that the root cause of our troubles at the moment is very simple: too many players are just playing shite and they need to snap out of it, and fast.

Too many players are out of form but history has shown in the seasons when we’ve rotated the defence we’ve struggled more compared to those when it’s been more settled…this season there seems to be more unnecessary rotation than needed.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Too many players are out of form but history has shown in the seasons when we’ve rotated the defence we’ve struggled more compared to those when it’s been more settled…this season there seems to be more unnecessary rotation than needed.

I don't disagree with that but I am not sure our frailties in defence can be blamed for our lack of opportunities at the other end of the pitch. In 50% of our away games, we've managed 1 goal or less.

 

[eastmanc]

Very little to do with Haaland IMO. Much more to do with far too many players being out of form.

Foden has been pretty awful for several weeks now. Cancelo stinks the place out regularly. Walker's performance against Chelsea was an outlier - he's been very, very poor in the games surrounding it. Palmer looks like he's lost the plot. KDB runs his socks off and generally plays "OK" - with perhaps a moment of brilliance here and there - but is a shadow of how he can be. And defensively, we're all over the place, chopping and changing.

None of this is Haaland's fault.

Agree with most of that apart from KDB has been OK, at times he's been the worse player on the pitch.