City v Chelsea post match

[domalino]

That's a great observation, also. We don't actually tackle opponents?

We attempt plenty of little toe-ends in a bid to recycle the ball, so it stands to reason it also goes against us when the ball stays within the field of play and breaks to an opponent.

Arsenal have had this problem for over a decade.

In a well functioning Pep team, we should have ourselves set in a good defensive shape for when that ball breaks to an opponent, whether it's from a ricochet in the box, a tackle, a misplaced pass - however they get the ball we should be set up to defend, and win the ball back quickly.

It's one of the key parts of his style of football, and it's been talked about a lot - the 15 pass rule to ensure his teams shape is correct before attacking.

For some reason, we aren't doing that and we look like conceding every time we lose the ball.

 

[flb]

The difference being that if Guardiola's remit was simply to match and better Pellegrini's stats game by game then the comparison would be valid and he'd appraoch games differently; however he's been brought in to completely overhaul us and that's going to cause initial bedding in difficulties.

Peps making the mistake of thinking this squad can do as he wants consistently, the whole back 5 is a shambles regardless of formation or personnel and until we have a DoF who can address this long standing issue we will flatter to deceive for the big prizes,its a player overhaul we need and that includes midfielders, Delph, Fernando are sub standard.

He seems to be putting his footballing principles first at and its costing us points, it wasn't the Chelsea game that pissed me off it just gave me clarity that this has been going on for longer than it should be without tweaking it to suit our personnel, its going to be a fine dividing line this season to finish top four in my opinion and its simply not good enough with the tools we have at the club.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

In my opinion, we stopped playing Pep football quite a few weeks ago.

At present, Bravo's sweeper qualities aren't even being utilised anymore. Most of the goals he is conceding now, he is practically stood on his line and isn't get a sniff of saves as a result.

We don't try and pass out from the back as much as we were doing, and Gundogan should have been the man dropping into the back line to come and turn and get us out.

Teams are quite happy these days to stop pressing us and ask questions of our defenders to play out. We desperately need proper attacking full backs.

Pep has his vision, he's an intelligent man, so hopefully, like the Barca home game, he can realise it's not going to work for a lot of games in this league.

Even a Dzeko would have given us plenty more options this season.

Totally agree and said the same to my son a couple of weeks ago. IMO not only are we not passing out as much as we were but I don't think we are shifting the ball around with the same quick, one touch tempo we were doing a couple of months ago and we aren't pressing and winning the ball back in the final third with the same intensity and organisation that we were doing. After a few weeks of the season I really felt like you could see huge changes from last season, it wasn't always working but you could really tell that we had a definite new style and you could see what we were trying to do. We have just slowly drifted back to being like we were last season. When I was having that conversation with my son, my main question was whether it was a deliberate decision on Pep's part to change things or whether the players just aren't doing what is being asked of them.

 

[domalino]

Totally agree and said the same to my son a couple of weeks ago. Not only are we not passing out as much as we were but I don't think we are shifting the ball around with the same quick, one touch tempo we were doing a couple of months ago and we aren't pressing in the final third with the same intensity and organisation that we were doing. After a few weeks of the season I really felt like you could see huge changes from last season, it wasn't always working but you could really tell that we had a definite new style and you could see what we were trying to do. We have just slowly drifted back to being like we were last season. When I was having that conversation with my son, my main question was whether it was a deliberate decision on Pep's part to change things or whether the players just aren't doing what is being asked of them.

Perhaps it's just down to tiredness?

The players are being asked to run 50% more, and most of them had very short or non existent pre-seasons due to international competitions. With a very hectic schedule perhaps they just can't do it for months on end this season.

 

[OB1]

Totally agree and said the same to my son a couple of weeks ago. IMO not only are we not passing out as much as we were but I don't think we are shifting the ball around with the same quick, one touch tempo we were doing a couple of months ago and we aren't pressing and winning the ball back in the final third with the same intensity and organisation that we were doing. After a few weeks of the season I really felt like you could see huge changes from last season, it wasn't always working but you could really tell that we had a definite new style and you could see what we were trying to do. We have just slowly drifted back to being like we were last season. When I was having that conversation with my son, my main question was whether it was a deliberate decision on Pep's part to change things or whether the players just aren't doing what is being asked of them.

Don't know but I often wondered if Pellegrini had problems with getting the players to do exactly what he wanted?

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Don't know but I often wondered if Pellegrini had problems with getting the players to do exactly what he wanted?

Certainly looked that way for most of the season .

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Perhaps it's just down to tiredness?

The players are being asked to run 50% more, and most of them had very short or non existent pre-seasons due to international competitions. With a very hectic schedule perhaps they just can't do it for months on end this season.

Maybe. When they weren't really match fit at the start of the season they were doing the right things (pressing relentlessly, playing with high tempo in possession) for an hour and then slowing down visibly in the last half hour. We were by and large getting games won in that first hour though, I think. Now it just seems that we aren't even really attempting to play with that same intensity at any point. I'll be honest, as someone else has said, I can't see a huge amount of difference between us currently and us last season which is absolutely bizarre when I think about what the way they were approaching games a couple of months ago.

 

[Akiva]

Peps making the mistake of thinking this squad can do as he wants consistently, the whole back 5 is a shambles regardless of formation or personnel and until we have a DoF who can address this long standing issue we will flatter to deceive for the big prizes,its a player overhaul we need and that includes midfielders, Delph, Fernando are sub standard.

Why exactly do you blame Pep for this? I'm genuinely interested.

He clearly wanted Laporte and the player's change of heart at the 11th hour was a major spanner in the works. Further, he wanted Bonucci but for various reasons that one will have to wait too. It's obvious Pep is dissatisfied with the personnel available but he has what he has.

Smacks of looking for something to blame on Pep.

Totally agree and said the same to my son a couple of weeks ago. IMO not only are we not passing out as much as we were but I don't think we are shifting the ball around with the same quick, one touch tempo we were doing a couple of months ago and we aren't pressing and winning the ball back in the final third with the same intensity and organisation that we were doing. After a few weeks of the season I really felt like you could see huge changes from last season, it wasn't always working but you could really tell that we had a definite new style and you could see what we were trying to do. We have just slowly drifted back to being like we were last season. When I was having that conversation with my son, my main question was whether it was a deliberate decision on Pep's part to change things or whether the players just aren't doing what is being asked of them.

It's going to take time. It was always going to take time. It was said before he came in that his system takes, for even world class players (ala Barca), a full season to adjust to. It's a completely different style of thinking and play than what comes natural.

There's going to be hiccups, but Pep's revolution is only beginning. Kolarov may never be a tiki taka player, but the young talent we are bringing in is laying the foundation for a Pep team and, again, it only makes sense that show some patience.

 

[BillyShears]

In my opinion, we stopped playing Pep football quite a few weeks ago.

At present, Bravo's sweeper qualities aren't even being utilised anymore. Most of the goals he is conceding now, he is practically stood on his line and isn't get a sniff of saves as a result.

We don't try and pass out from the back as much as we were doing, and Gundogan should have been the man dropping into the back line to come and turn and get us out.

Teams are quite happy these days to stop pressing us and ask questions of our defenders to play out. We desperately need proper attacking full backs.

Pep has his vision, he's an intelligent man, so hopefully, like the Barca home game, he can realise it's not going to work for a lot of games in this league.

Even a Dzeko would have given us plenty more options this season.

I disagree slightly in that i don't think it's as black and white as that we simply stopped playing Pep football a few weeks ago. I think that have since the first game of the season struggled to play for 90 minutes the Pep way. We seem to fluctuate between only managing it for 10/20 minutes in really bad games, and getting to almost an hour in our best games.

However for me if we're talking about Saturday, we lost because we continue to not be able to finish teams off when we're creating chances and are on top of the contest. In this league nearly everyone has a match winner in their squad so a one goal lead, hell a two goal lead, isn't 'safe'. Nobody would've bet on Kun/KDB missing the number of chances that they have missed in the last month or two. Those two need their killer instinct back asap. We need to defend better there's no doubt that our problems begin and end with our attackers being woefully short of form.

For all those pragmatists who think that the solution is to get a goal head and then retreat and hold on. This City side has shown time and time again that the one thing it can't do is hold onto a result when being put under pressure. Therefore makes far more sense to kill games by attacking than by defending. Also worth mentioning that Mourinho's record in the last two months shows that trying to defend a one goal lead isn't the answer either.

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Also valid, although there must be a degree of pragmatism towards the current personnel, as some can't get it or aren't good enough, and won't be going on this long-term journey, next season.

There were very few signs, even by Pep's own admission, of bedding-in difficulties in the opening ten games.

That must be down to a physical drop-off and teams tailoring their plans to suit.

I'm all for the vision and ideal, but not at the expense of treading water (which we have done for two years) and other teams being emboldened enough to win in the immediacy.

My own take is that Pep already knows he is going to have to find new ideas, and that's exactly why he is excited by the prospect, but he is still trying to find the key.

I didn't see much of a drop off on Saturday - but I did see glaring individual errors - I guess it's whether you either apportion blame on the player or think the manager can make a silk purse out of the deficiencies.
Before the season started I didn't think we would even tread water to be honest and I'm afraid I do expect more teams to get results against us in the short term. I can see the plan but there are too many players that will struggle over the season and I do have concerns about the depth quality of the squad.
Last paragragh spot on.