Are we clearly suffering from a lack of striker this season? Have midtable sides figured us out?

[spiny]

Strikers hit the ball early Our players take a touch or pass to a player in a less threatening position. Ronaldo's last rag goal on the volley is a prime example as goalkeepers do not have time to react.

The only players we have to shoot early with a strikers instinct are Foden, Torres and Palmer. The rest swing a leg that is easily blocked in a packed defence.

David Silva was the master of give and go be it himself or others into the penalty area. Now we seem to prefer to pass back with players hanging back without the short one two that got us through tight defences.

No doubt Pep knows this.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Given that we won 3 from the last 4 PL seasons, it's not a particularly important stat. Obviously, it's not easy to score first against City and the consequences for the league campaign are not big when it happens. Also, this team has won highly important games this year or has avoided losses this season after conceding first: Dortmund, Paris, Liverpool.

To think that Palace had as beaten as soon as they scored is to exaggerate. If we can score twice at Anfield after being down twice, we can do it at the Etihad against any team in the world, great, good or average.

I'd like to see the real stats for our games at the Etihad when we concede first. I'm sure they are not that bad (1:10) anyway.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we looked beaten as soon as Palace scored. If you look back at the matchday forum on here, quite a few people were saying just that.
While I appreciate that isn't probably the most reliable forum to refer to, it does give a snapshot of what people were thinking at the time, rather than having had time to reflect.
Thankfully, it doesn't happen very often, but it's definitely a habit worth avoiding!

 

[alexmcity]

I think we'd find that it's probably Pep who gets nervous if/when we go behind in a game. It means his game plan has gone wrong.

City are obviously a very close knit unit. Pep clearly wears his heart on his sleeve, and it's likely that his mood will transfer to the players.

He gets too wound up sometimes - it's only natural. The problem is that, in virtually any line of work, if the staff see the manager 'lose it', things don't tend to go well afterwards.

Not conceding first can't be the game plan vs a team like Palace. The game plan is to play as good as possible, and not to stop the opposition to score first.

We don't concede first very often simply because we are very strong. Pep's tactics is nearly perfect for league football, less so for CL football. City 17/19 won more points and had better GD in the PL than Barca 09/11 in La Liga, and the latter are widely regarded as the best team ever. Pep achieved it with guys like Otamendi and Delph/Zinchenko in defence. It's absolutely incredible. Last sason we had a very bad start but went on a fantastic run: 13th in November and almost champions in March. Tactics and game plans are our least problem.

 

[spiny]

For me the issue is we never look like scoring a late or Aguero goal because we are set up to dominate rather than threaten. Pep plays the odds.

 

[spiny]

Not comparing and no criticism of Pep, but Mancini always looked for a late goal threat.

 

[jamesha]

I think the team are suffering from a collective malaise in terms of goal scoring. Some players like Sterling look like they will never score again and others like Mahrez and Grealish just seem not to be a threat against organised defences.

I think there is something in the "fear factor" of playing against established in form strikers. Liverpool have this with Salah and Mane. We have lacked it for a couple of seasons now.

It is frustrating how difficult it is now for us to sign strikers. It seemed easy a decade ago when we signed the likes of Adebayor, Tevez, Kun, Dzeko, Mario and Negredo in the space of a relatively short period. Any one of those signings would transform our play if they were available now (obviously at the age they were when they originally signed).

 

[Fiftyyearsandcounting]

Strikers hit the ball early Our players take a touch or pass to a player in a less threatening position. Ronaldo's last rag goal on the volley is a prime example as goalkeepers do not have time to react.

The only players we have to shoot early with a strikers instinct are Foden, Torres and Palmer. The rest swing a leg that is easily blocked in a packed defence.

David Silva was the master of give and go be it himself or others into the penalty area. Now we seem to prefer to pass back with players hanging back without the short one two that got us through tight defences.

No doubt Pep knows this.

There must have been two or three occasions against Palace when a City player received the ball in the penalty area where I spotted an open gap for a shot. Easy enough to see from a distance but perhaps less obvious when in the thick of it. Each time, the player simply passed it left or right and the ball eventually cleared. I think a dedicated goal scorer instinctively goes for a shot.

 

[Lavinda Past]

Not conceding first can't be the game plan vs a team like Palace. The game plan is to play as good as possible, and not to stop the opposition to score first.

We don't concede first very often simply because we are very strong. Pep's tactics is nearly perfect for league football, less so for CL football. City 17/19 won more points and had better GD in the PL than Barca 09/11 in La Liga, and the latter are widely regarded as the best team ever. Pep achieved it with guys like Otamendi and Delph/Zinchenko in defence. It's absolutely incredible. Last sason we had a very bad start but went on a fantastic run: 13th in November and almost champions in March. Tactics and game plans are our least problem.

To be fair, not conceding at all should be part of the game plan whoever we're playing!

I think we have to accept that we're not as good as we were in 2018-19. Our run last season was amazing but I honestly can't see us (or anyone else) repeating it.

Our main problem is player recruitment, everyone knows that, apart from the transfer team apparently. That leads to another growing problem... Pep's system puts great pressure on individual performances, and some of our older players seem now to be struggling to keep pace with expectations.

Two seasons ago,we had two top class players for each position and rotation worked almost perfectly. That's no longer the case, and we are in danger of overplaying individuals to cover 'weak areas'. The tactics and game plans need to be flexible to accommodate weaker players in some areas.

We need a striker (plus a decent back up), a couple of wingers, a dominant midfielder, and at least one left back. We can then start getting back to that 17-19 form.

 

[roy.or.r]

I think we are clearly suffering from a lack of a deadly striker this season. Last season was an anomaly, not a norm. There is a reason that most top teams have top class strikers. We didn’t break scoring records in 2017-2019 by playing a false 9. Admittedly, KDB was in the form of his life but we had Aguero who just gave us that fear factor. If I am the manager of a midtable team, I would rather see City play false 9 than an Aguero. Strikers can score goals out of nowhere when things are going tough. Right now, I feel like our system would work way better with an actual goalscorer, something the oppositions haven’t seen for a long time from us, atleast in the league. Also we don’t stretch our play like we used to.

 

[alexmcity]

To be fair, not conceding at all should be part of the game plan whoever we're playing!

I think we have to accept that we're not as good as we were in 2018-19. Our run last season was amazing but I honestly can't see us (or anyone else) repeating it.

Our main problem is player recruitment, everyone knows that, apart from the transfer team apparently. That leads to another growing problem... Pep's system puts great pressure on individual performances, and some of our older players seem now to be struggling to keep pace with expectations.

Two seasons ago,we had two top class players for each position and rotation worked almost perfectly. That's no longer the case, and we are in danger of overplaying individuals to cover 'weak areas'. The tactics and game plans need to be flexible to accommodate weaker players in some areas.

We need a striker (plus a decent back up), a couple of wingers, a dominant midfielder, and at least one left back. We can then start getting back to that 17-19 form.

Maybe you are right, time will tell about this team. I'm optimistic. Right now this team looks better against stronger teams than against average teams. ( Bodes well for the CL :)) Much depends on whether Kevin will regain form and when. Will be very difficult to win big trophies without a striker, without Kevin in good form and with Sterling in a very poor form. If/when Kevin regains form we'll be good enough.