City v Swans post match thread

[ninjamonkey]

You better get a chair Mr Kneville because i too agree with this. The primary reason we lose games is because of the lack of work as a team. Yaya has been inspired the last couple of games like a dog with a bone at times. Unfortunately others don't take up the mantle when they lose the ball...I'd get slated on here if i mentioned the main culprits but its their on the replays. One thing i love about following City is when the players get up for it the crowd are absolutely buzzing.

What games have you been watching? The last couple of games i can distinctly remember watching opposition players make a relatively straightforward run into or around the edge of the box and Yaya just walks as they run past him. None of these instances have actually cost us a goal or anything but that's beside the point. Yaya is the worst culprit but he isn't the only one who does this, it's a team problem, it's easier to name the players that do track runners. This is something that's down to the manager.

 

[gary dickinson]

Defensively we are a shambles,missing Vinnie terribly need to sign some quality in January otherwise we will not win the league and the champions lge could be embarrasing conceding a soft home goal and losing overall on away goals. Hopefully Kun will be fit and well in 2016 otherwise we will need striker cover also

 

[Neville Kneville]

I don't think City can afford to rest players, and certainly can't afford to play "the kids". Our injury list is long and has kept some of the most important members of the team out for much of the season. It would be naive to believe that either Vinnie or Sergio will be back and in top form any time soon. The same players have to keep on and Pellegrini is right to say that the most important thing is to get the three points. This is going to be more difficult against more in form sides than the Swans, especially away from home. United found out what can happen when you "use the kids" yesterday. They had no choice but their back line of three (relative) youngsters and a DM who needs more experienced heads to keep him in positionn were given the run around by a Bournmouth team who had been round the block a few times. Yet there are still posters on here who prefer to change the old saying to "If you're young enough you must be good enough"! United dropped three points in a match that they would have marked down as a banker.

Defensively we do look fragile to say the least and Swansea adopted the same ploy of playing with no out and out striker as Stoke and Liverpool. Routledge caused problems as they moved with pace towards our box and we were grateful again to Joe. When their substitutes - including two real forwards with real pace - came on we conceded quickly. Mangala and the rest of the back fourwere clearly not blameless but when we concede the same way week after week we are entitled to as why defenders who are so obviously in difficulty are not given more help. Gomis scoed with a quite stunning shot that screamed past Joe, but he had turned Mangala and outpaced him after a ball from midfield played by a Swansea lad under no challenge or pressure whatsoever. When Mark Hughes got the sack we were complaining that after buying Kolo and Joleon City still couldn't defend any kind of cross into our box and we seemed hopeless at defending corners. Roberto Mancini took the fairly simple step of ensuring we had more men in our box to defend corners and we weren't so Kamikaze in open play. Improvement came straight away. Pellers tells us endlessly that he wants to play attacking football and score goals. Great, but at the moment it isn't working. Yesterday was a case in point. I didn't get there until after we had scored, but I knew we needed another if we were to win! I think the problems are obvious and twofold; we defend too high a line against anyone with real pace and we commit too many bodies forward. The result is that our full backs overlap, no one drops in behind, BOTH our CM's are stranded up field and our CB's are left trying to hold the 18 yard line against players running at them with time and space. This hasn't worked and it could fail spectacularly against the pace Walcott and, possibly, Sanchez and the guile of Özil and Ramsey. I think Pellers has to devote more attention to how we play when we don't have the ball. Pellers tells us that defence is about more than the back four, and I believe it's time he took his assertion seriously.

There are few people suggesting starting kids.
Yet people such as yourself keep saying there are Why is this ?

 

[Neville Kneville]

I agree, so it begs the question, who's getting it wrong, the players or the manager ?

Both imo.

But I would like us to have a manager who sorts that out rather than making it worse.

 

[Quad]

I'd give couple kids a chance only 1 way to see if there good enough or not

 

[dickie davies]

What they really need this week is not a "pre-season" its a rest, to recover, why are people ignoring Pellegrini on this ? Some of the players who are playing are walking wounded.

Why do you think ? He isn't fit enough to do more than an hour, in an ideal world he wouldn't be playing at all yet.

A number of the players are knackered, because we've been unable to rotate them due to the injury situation.

He managed a full 90 in midweek!

 

[BlueTG]

A player up front who "defends from the front" such as Tevez galvanises the team.

Although when we do press, we lose our shape immediately and we become easier to walk through. We're not coached to do it as a team and that should change. Teams in Europe and top teams over the last few years have done it better than us and it's shown in results.

 

[waspish]

A player up front who "defends from the front" such as Tevez galvanises the team.

Although when we do press, we lose our shape immediately and we become easier to walk through. We're not coached to do it as a team and that should change. Teams in Europe and top teams over the last few years have done it better than us and it's shown in results.

Agree about defending from the front and Negrado was the same working his socks of up top unlike Bony who is ponderous

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

Me, the guy who has been begging Pellegrini to rest players more all season & if necessary use some kids at the end of games as he is going to fuck them all up, is ignoring Pellegrini, telling me they are struggling ?

Neville, I quoted "use the kids" when you actually wrote "use some kids" though you did specify "at the end of games". This seems to ignore the actual experience of the last couple of months and my questions are, which and how many kids would you have used and when exactly? Yesterday's match was in doubt until the last kick, on Tuesday we were 1-2 down with ten minutes left and only had some breathing space at the top of the group from the 86th minute on. Against Hull we were 1-0 up with 10 minutes left and only made the game safe in those last 10 minutes. The game after Hull was the debacle at Stoke and the games before were Southampton (won 3-1) and Juve, L'pool, Villa and Seville away. These followed the home win against Norwich. The defeats by Stoke and Liverpool were so humiliating that it is impossible to see any benefit to young players at any time while Juve was too important and too tight to risk. At home to Southampton we got the third on the 70 minute mark, but they always looked likely to get back in the game. It's too big a risk to our title hopes and to the kids to chance them. Even against Norwich it was 1-0 with 10 minutes to go, they equalised and we only won it with a last minute penalty. My point is that you can't put a kid on - and our kids are considerably younger than those used by United yesterday - or kids either when we're getting hammered or when you have to tell them, "No pressure, but we need 3 points here so any mistake might cost us the title or the cup or might land us with Barcelona in the last 16 again." This is City's problem and it has been ignored by some. We had people at the end of last season saying the last few games should be used to play the kids, and on poster even said this should be done even if it cost us a place in the top four! He MAY have been a rag, but others aren't. I haven't kept a count but there is a constant demand that we play "the kids" regardless of circumstances. I can only suppose it's because their rag mates follow the Daily Fail to taunt them the we didn't have 10 academy products in the team a week after the CFA opened!

 

[Neville Kneville]

As I have said before, this would have started ages ago i Mancini's time. Kids who have now gone would have been used, even if they weren't good enough long term, just to take the weight off. Then I would now have an idea of which ones were more suited to fast tracking & which were not ready.

The League Cup would have been ideal but also some of the games where we have been winning easily. I would ALWAYS have some kids on the bench.

This season, Jason Denayer would be in the squad as cover for cb, right back & def mid. George Evans would be regularly used as cover for midfield. Brandon Barker for wide mid. Pablo Maffeo for right back or to cover in midfield when we need to close down or rest sonebody, Kean Bryan would he a regular. All of these would be ahead of Patrick Roberts, Garcia, Tosin, Humphries etc, most of whom are not really any use to the squad from a practical point of view.

Denayer would have become a regular in the team, in several roles.

The player who was used last season, Pozo, was further away from the required level than any in that list yet the manager was willing to risk him but jt's too much of a risk to ever use any of the others.

It's bullshit. He has no plan for these kids & no idea if they can be used or not & neither do we, because we never see any of them. A proper manager would know by now. He jyst spends money to solve problems, that's all he does.