Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 2)

[SkyBlueUSA]

Question, did Pellegrini run his traditional 4-4-2 against Plzen or did he switch over to a 4-2-3-1?

 

[uwe rosler 28]

Question, did Pellegrini run his traditional 4-4-2 against Plzen or did he switch over to a 4-2-3-1?

Don, t really no what formation he played fernsndinho seemed to sit in front ov the center backs yaya was more advanced nssri seemed to have a free role as did aguero navas kept out wide dzeko on the last man and kolarov playing as a virtual left winger as nasri was allowed to roam with really 4/5 players having set positions!!!!<br /><br />-- Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:16 pm --<br /><br />

Question, did Pellegrini run his traditional 4-4-2 against Plzen or did he switch over to a 4-2-3-1?

Don, t really no what formation he played fernsndinho seemed to sit in front ov the center backs yaya was more advanced nssri seemed to have a free role as did aguero navas kept out wide dzeko on the last man and kolarov playing as a virtual left winger as nasri was allowed to roam with really 4/5 players having set positions!!!!

 

[cibaman]

Regarding the mythical quote where Pellegrini is supposed to have said that the CL was the priority. Nobody other than the Daily Mail ran the quote to my knowledge - which suggests they either made it up, or did some editing gymnastics to put two quotes together to make it sound like something it wasn't. I always expected that after the game Pellegrini would clear it up and he did. The CL isn't the priority. Challenging on two fronts is.

Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?? The knee jerkers will find something else to get their knickers in a twist about soon enough...

The problem is that if anyone associated with the clubs suggests that one competition is a priority, its assumed that that competition is the be all and end all, that other competitions don't count.

If we get knocked out of the CL at the QF/SF stage, say beaten 4-3 on aggregate by Barca, then win the PL, will anyone criticise Pellegrini for not achieving our priority? Of course not.

Likewise if we'd played our strongest team at Stoke and sent the reserves to Plzen, would those who say we should prioritise the PL have been happy? Of course not (although some would repeat the mantra that we should play our strongest team every match).

Any sensible, nuanced debate about priorities seems to be too difficult for some.

 

[daxman]

Question, did Pellegrini run his traditional 4-4-2 against Plzen or did he switch over to a 4-2-3-1?

Regular 442.

 

[FantasyIreland]

Question, did Pellegrini run his traditional 4-4-2 against Plzen or did he switch over to a 4-2-3-1?

Regular 442.

Why was Yaya in advance of Fernandinho and who played wide left then?
Aguero also seemed to be attacking from deeper?

 

[Shaelumstash]

Question, did Pellegrini run his traditional 4-4-2 against Plzen or did he switch over to a 4-2-3-1?

Regular 442.

Why was Yaya in advance of Fernandinho and who played wide left then?
Aguero also seemed to be attacking from deeper?

The offensive shape definitely changed in the second half, no doubt about it. Nasri was still responsible for defending the left flank, but for the vast majority of the second half, he and Yaya were playing centrally in front of Fernandinho.

 

[daxman]

Regular 442.

Why was Yaya in advance of Fernandinho and who played wide left then?
Aguero also seemed to be attacking from deeper?

The offensive shape definitely changed in the second half, no doubt about it. Nasri was still responsible for defending the left flank, but for the vast majority of the second half, he and Yaya were playing centrally in front of Fernandinho.

It was still a 442. And as you have rightly pointed out, what gives it away, is how they lineup once they fall back defending.

Silva has been doing that for a while now. Play on one wing, but has the freedom to roam a bit. As much as Nasri came into the middle to work quick plays with Yaya, He still was the guy on the left. When Kolarov advanced the ball, it was Nasris who gave him support on the left. When we were defending, it was nasri who picked up the RB for Plzen when he came forward. So he was the leftmid. He just didn't play it hugging the line.

in essense this is how we lined up

Hart
Zab/Komp/Nasty/Kola

.............Fernandihno...............
Navas.......Yaya...........Nasri...
.................Aguero..................
..............>Dzekko....................

He interchanged with Dzeko, Aguero and Yaya sometimes, moving inside of them and they moving outside of him every now and then, was just intelligent movement to help confuse the defense.

 

[Shaelumstash]

Why was Yaya in advance of Fernandinho and who played wide left then?
Aguero also seemed to be attacking from deeper?

The offensive shape definitely changed in the second half, no doubt about it. Nasri was still responsible for defending the left flank, but for the vast majority of the second half, he and Yaya were playing centrally in front of Fernandinho.

It was still a 442. And as you have rightly pointed out, what gives it away, is how they lineup once they fall back defending.

Silva has been doing that for a while now. Play on one wing, but has the freedom to roam a bit. As much as Nasri came into the middle to work quick plays with Yaya, He still was the guy on the left. When Kolarov advanced the ball, it was Nasris who gave him support on the left. When we were defending, it was nasri who picked up the RB for Plzen when he came forward. So he was the leftmid. He just didn't play it hugging the line.

in essense this is how we lined up

Hart
Zab/Komp/Nasty/Kola

.............Fernandihno...............
Navas.......Yaya...........Nasri...
.................Aguero..................
..............>Dzekko....................

He interchanged with Dzeko, Aguero and Yaya sometimes, moving inside of them and they moving outside of him every now and then, was just intelligent movement to help confuse the defense.

I am not saying you are wrong, I wasn't there and it's never possible to fully evaluate the shape unless you have a decent view of positioning off the ball while in the stadium.

From what I could make out, Navas was much further forward than Nasri in the 2nd half, and Nasri and Yaya appeared to be playing in front of Ferna, in a tradition 433 shape. Those two dominated possession in the middle.

I would have to see Aguero's positioning off the ball to evaluate it properly whether we changed shape, and as I've asked on other threads, it would be great if someone who was there could shed any light on this. If he moved out to the left channel, it's likely we changed to 433.

I appreciate Nasri continued to defend the left flank, but if you remember Lampard at Chelsea in Mourinho's first spell, he was the left of the midfield 3 and was responsible for defending the left flank.

As I say, I'm not suggesting we definitely switched to 433. I'm just saying the way Yaya, Nasri and Ferna played in the 2nd half had all of the hallmarks of 433 (lots of triangles and movement between the lines keeping possession) but it's not easy to evaluate on the TV without the benefit of seeing players positioning off the ball.

 

[BlueAnorak]

It's taken 7.5 games including the last 3 pre-season games for Pellegrini to get YaYa moved forward! Well done Manuel! You can spot the master of the bleeding obvious,

Next Up in no particular order:
[1] Drop the high defensive line back 5 yards or so before it kills us.
[2] Higher tempo + Counter attack as quickly as you can.
[3] Continually look for space and move into it when we are attacking - to give our guy an option.
[4] Get those up front to press properly when we lose the ball then if the ball isn't won back in 2.5 secs quickly get behind the ball or pick up a runner attacking us from deep.
[5] More shots from City players from the edge of the box rather than trying to walk the ball in.

 

[blueinsa]

Amazing how quickly this thread died down following just 90 mins of football.