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

[paulchapo]

Battering Palace come on!
The only chances we created fell to Rodri our DM and Jesus' goal was offside so why would it of stood.

We never looked comfortable yesterday and Palace looked likely to catch us on a break at any time which they did twice.

Hopefully just a 1 off yesterday but we were shit (quality of players considered) and got what we deserved.

I was at the game and in my opinion there was a 25 minute spell where we battered them and that was with one less player. A few crosses whizzed across the box, shots were blocked, Rodri missed a good chance and Palace were rocking. We "scored" in that spell and I didn't say the Jesus goal should have stood. The sending off was debatable however as the almost identical situation in the Leicester v Arsenal game proved. We weren't shit we were beaten by two errors by Laporte and conceding a late breakaways goal which is always a danger when pushing for an equaliser with minutes left against one man more

 

[samarasra]

It shouldn't have been though. We should have been strong enough with 10 men to beat a side like Palace.
We were never at the races yesterday. Too many heads went down after the early goal and the sending off just put a lid on a bad performance.

I don't think any heads went down until their second goal at which stage our energy levels had dropped. Absolutely arrogant to think we can roll over "a team like" Palace even with 11 players. If Pep or our players ever adopt that entitled attitude we will end mid table or worse, because that's the type of thinking that ruins teams and has rarely been our habit over the past 10/12 years.

 

[ysmsa]

I was at the game and in my opinion there was a 25 minute spell where we battered them and that was with one less player. A few crosses whizzed across the box, shots were blocked, Rodri missed a good chance and Palace were rocking. We "scored" in that spell and I didn't say the Jesus goal should have stood. The sending off was debatable however as the almost identical situation in the Leicester v Arsenal game proved. We weren't shit we were beaten by two errors by Laporte and conceding a late breakaways goal which is always a danger when pushing for an equaliser with minutes left against one man more

We rallied a little bit but the creating of chances just isn't there in some games. It looked really hard work to create anything of note yet Palace 2 breaks 2 goals.
When we go a goal down at home it looks hard work to turn it around.

Think we need Raz to rediscover form and get into those positions for the tap ins like he used to and maybe introduce Palmer.

Need to try something different up front, something for the midfield and attacking full backs to look for.

Out of 16 games this season we have't scored in 6 of them, that is a concern for a side looking to win stuff. Strange because in some of the other games we've bagged loads, feast or famine as they say.
Must be due a bagful next weekend!

 

[Lavinda Past]

I don't think any heads went down until their second goal at which stage our energy levels had dropped. Absolutely arrogant to think we can roll over "a team like" Palace even with 11 players. If Pep or our players ever adopt that entitled attitude we will end mid table or worse, because that's the type of thinking that ruins teams and has rarely been our habit over the past 10/12 years.

I don't think it's an 'entitled attitude' at all, and I didn't say anything about 'rolling over' a team.

The simple fact is that, on form, this City team SHOULD be able to beat any team, particularly at home. Obviously there will be occasional blips when we drop points against good, well organised teams, but Saturday wasn't a blip. It was a collective shambles by eleven players who lacked the basic ability to kick a ball towards the goal.

The team is beginning to look like Wenger's Arsenal side, playing for the perfect goal and delaying the final move.

It's Pep's desire for perfection that influences / directs play, and conceding a poor goal means that perfection hasn't been achieved. You can see the impact on the bench - How Pep reacts immediately affects the whole team.

The problem is that we lacked a genuine leader on the pitch. Someone who will drag the players back to their feet by example, like Kompany used to.

Ilkay Gundogan was that leader for us last season. He never gave up and battled to score. He led by example, and we succeeded. Where were the men of character on Saturday? We didn't have any. Heads went down after Palace scored and, other than the unluckily offside goal, we never looked like getting back into the game

The character of the leader determines the character of the team. Pep's obsession with perfection feeds through to the team - He needs to cut down on overcoaching the team and get back to basics like shooting and tackling. He needs to accept that unexpected individual flair can be an important part of his armoury.

Let great players play their own games rather than coaching it out of them.

 

[blueparrot]

Cornet will be off somewhere much better next summer. As will the likes of Raphinha.

That's not the point though the way Burnley play, most teams play any decent striker will make them better as a team. The way we play there are very few strikers that make us better as a team and most strikers would make us a less effective team. So we we need to wait and get the right striker. which we will.

 

[City Spirit]

We lack a striker. FACT. We have 2 teams(Liverpool and Chelsea) who are going to be challenging us all the way this year and I just feel it could have been a lot more straightforward had we signed a striker in the summer. Instead, when we are playing the likes of Southampton and Palace we are having to rely on one of our midfielders or defenders to come up with the goods. I agree that against certain opposition it is prudent to have no recognised striker, as it gives us more strength in midfield and a better chance of retaining the ball. However, we are not playing the top 6 week in week out. Even having a striker on the bench, ready to unleash when needed would be better than what we have currently. We spent too long in the summer pursuing Kane, when we should have been prepared for a plan B.

 

[lancs blue]

I just want to see us have a different option available when our regular tactics aren't working. At present all we can do, if we're struggling to break teams down at 60/65 mins, is change the personnel but not the system and if that fails we're fucked. Just altering the focal point of the attack would at least give the opposition something to think about. Keeping us out looked too easy at times for Palace.

 

[schfc6]

No, no striker has t been an issue for us before and hasn’t this season. Scoring isn’t a problem. We’ve thumped mid table Brighton just 2 weeks ago. We’ll thump plenty.

The main problem is, too many players off form. Mahrez, Sterling and De Bruyne aren’t performing. Grealish is occupying a key role in the front line and is offering nothing in terms of goals & assists. Basically Jesus, Foden are our only really consistent attacking threat. Gundogan has been injured. Torres too. So our goals output has been effective.

We were the best team in the World by a distance last season with no striker. But for the main part Mahrez, Sterling, Gundogan, De Bruyne etc were scoring plenty.

 

[hampshireblue]

Maybe we need to actually play a few more players in the positions they are best in. Jesus springs to mind. I prefer Phil on the left where he cuts in as he did against Liverpool, but that give an issue with Mahrez. Getting Gundog fit will help as he often arrives late in the box.

 

[City Raider]

86 points last season, probably something similar this at this rate. We’re just way off where we were and winning the title papered over the cracks as ridiculous as that sounds. The games against Chelsea highlighted the problems.

How a club of our stature, with the resources we have, be in this position up front is a shit show. But there is another factor. There had to be impact after El Mago left us. The master of the pass before the assist in crowded areas. We dont score those far post tap ins anymore from crosses after the magician split a stacked defence.

Step forward Phil Foden