Centre-back

[jauganaut]

Swap with Barry to Napoli and Cannavaro to MCFC?

Fabio Cannavaro? Yes.
His rather slow and inferior brother who will be no better than lescott when we play a highline ? No

 

[Jimfv1]

After today's defensive disgrace it's quite clear we need a center back to back up/ rotate Nastasic, Lescott simply cannot cope with this high line system Pellegrini want to implement.

Kompany, Nastasic, Zabaleta, Micah and even Boyata have looked decent using the high line system.

Lescott, Kolarov and I think Clichy have struggled with adaptation, and it's that left hand side that seriously needs looking at.

I totally agree,....and a highline system will be suicidal if the defenders cannot get to the ball first, as was shown in Milan's three goals, and again against Arsenal. I only hope Pellegrini sees the weaknesses and changes things for the better. It was discussed in the pub yesterday that almost all the Premier League sides are capable of beating each other on their day, which is different in Spain, where the top 6-8 will mostly beat the clubs in the bottom half of the table. I hope Pellegrini doesn't underestimate the strength and speed which clubs can counterattack in the Prem.

If all reports are true, then Pellegrini is a very astute tactician and will solve the problems our squad have, he doesn't have too long to sort this out now, and we have seen the failings in some of our players for the past eighteen months, whereas he has only been with us a couple of months. This season may be more of a transitional one for us, but hopefully the new management and the guys running the club will produce the team and football we all want to see.

 

[City_Sean]

We do need one, lescotts okay against stoke or west ham, but against fast opposition we need quick CB's who are comfortable on the ball, I'd look at N'Koulou, Sahko or Pepe.

 

[Mr. Aguia]

We're quite fortunate we don't face any of the pacy squads early in the season. It will give us time to gell and get Nasty back healthy. Even so, I am desperatly hopefull we bring in someone.

 

[Joe Hart's Dandruff]

We're quite fortunate we don't face any of the pacy squads early in the season. It will give us time to gell and get Nasty back healthy. Even so, I am desperatly hopefull we bring in someone.

I'd say Newcastle are pretty pacy, with Ben Arfa and Remi on the flanks and Cisse through the middle

 

[Jimfv1]

We're quite fortunate we don't face any of the pacy squads early in the season. It will give us time to gell and get Nasty back healthy. Even so, I am desperatly hopefull we bring in someone.

I'd say Newcastle are pretty pacy, with Ben Arfa and Remi on the flanks and Cisse through the middle

Yes, just how Pardew will want to play,.........Most of the teams in the Premier League can counter attack with pace, remember QPR in the 3-2. They almost got relegated but both their goals came from quick counters. Most teams in the league would be happy to put everyone behind the ball and let us pass it around, but they will always be looking to hit us on the break, it's how the lesser teams play against the top sides in the Prem.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Did anybody actually watch the game ?

It was on fact Clichy once & Kompany twice who were caught out both positionally & for pace/reaction speed, so can just one of you explain why Lescott is being singled out ?

Re this high line that Lescott in particular can't hold, can someone explain why Kompany was 15 yards further back playing the Arsenal striker onside for the 3rd goal & exactly what Lescott did wrong to force him into that unfortunate position.

 

[kun]

Did anybody actually watch the game ?

It was on fact Clichy once & Kompany twice who were caught out both positionally & for pace/reaction speed, so can just one of you explain why Lescott is being singled out ?

Re this high line that Lescott in particular can't hold, can someone explain why Kompany was 15 yards further back playing the Arsenal striker onside for the 3rd goal & exactly what Lescott did wrong to force him into that unfortunate position.

Ramsey's goal was Lescott's fault and one of the poorest pieces of defensive play I have seen in a while.

 

[Jimfv1]

Did anybody actually watch the game ?

It was on fact Clichy once & Kompany twice who were caught out both positionally & for pace/reaction speed, so can just one of you explain why Lescott is being singled out ?

Re this high line that Lescott in particular can't hold, can someone explain why Kompany was 15 yards further back playing the Arsenal striker onside for the 3rd goal & exactly what Lescott did wrong to force him into that unfortunate position.

I actually think Kompany ends up trying to cover for Lescott a lot of the time and then gets caught out. If Lescott was aware of any threat then he would be in a better position. Watching the highlights, because I couldn't get a stream of the game, the first two goals were scored by the attacker running through the left centre defensive channel, which is where Lescott should be. In all three goals Lescott can be seen jogging back into position after the goals gone in. I agree the third goal looked like Kompany was more to blame, but the defence should be working as a team, with each player being responsible for their own specific areas.

The cup final was a shocker in that not one defender or holding midfielder helped Clichy out, who got turned everytime by a push and run merchant but no one was behind him to act as a secondary line of defence. That was pretty basic stuff for anyone to see. There is some work to be done with our defence, and the so called holding midfielders, should be helping out as well.

We kept reading when Mancini was sacked that the Dortmund and Bayern Munich way of defending would come to City, in that we would try to win the ball back as soon as it was lost, but I haven't seen any evidence of this so far, in fact we seem to be playing much the same as last year only with more pace on the right wing when Navas is there, and the players seem happier. I know it's only pre-season but we have a relatively easy start to the League and this should hopefully give Pellegrini time to sort out his team and get his tactics working.

 

[Mr. Aguia]

We're quite fortunate we don't face any of the pacy squads early in the season. It will give us time to gell and get Nasty back healthy. Even so, I am desperatly hopefull we bring in someone.

I'd say Newcastle are pretty pacy, with Ben Arfa and Remi on the flanks and Cisse through the middle

But Remi is out.