Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 4)

[taconinja]

As a general note, when I stated that scoring 6 wasn't shocking to me, that's a compliment to the squad and manager and those that put it together, not an expectation.

 

[squirtyflower]

Bollocks ?

In 40+ years of watching City live, I've probably seen us score 6 two or three times live, in the last 3 matches I've attended, we've averaged 6, how much better do you think we could be playing ?

Its a serious question, and I know about the away form and all, but we are playing football like I've never seen, just not every game yet, he has only been here 18 games.....

exactly what I was saying to the kids on the way out from the game yesterday
it reminds me of the early 70s when we used to regularly put teams to the sword, and we weren't always brilliant away from home then either

It might be a football fetish type of thing in which some people would rather go back to the Pearce season when we only scored 10 all season?

very much a mancunian trait, joy division, the smiths etc although i don't know if bob's a manc do i could be doing him a disservice

 

[Ducado]

Bollocks ?

In 40+ years of watching City live, I've probably seen us score 6 two or three times live, in the last 3 matches I've attended, we've averaged 6, how much better do you think we could be playing ?

Its a serious question, and I know about the away form and all, but we are playing football like I've never seen, just not every game yet, he has only been here 18 games.....

exactly what I was saying to the kids on the way out from the game yesterday
it reminds me of the early 70s when we used to regularly put teams to the sword, and we weren't always brilliant away from home then either

It might be a football fetish type of thing in which some people would rather go back to the Pearce season when we only scored 10 all season?

It's more to do with a poster who is desperate to be right, I can't understand it myself

 

[OB1]

Bollocks ?

In 40+ years of watching City live, I've probably seen us score 6 two or three times live, in the last 3 matches I've attended, we've averaged 6, how much better do you think we could be playing ?

Its a serious question, and I know about the away form and all, but we are playing football like I've never seen, just not every game yet, he has only been here 18 games.....

Bob didn't want Pellers at City.

Did you?
Was he on the big list everyone did on here in feb/march on who they wanted here

I don't think one person mentioned him

I've said several times that he wasn't in my top few picks but he would have been in my top ten options. I was / am happy with his appointment; Bob wasn't and still isn't, as far as I can tell.

 

[squirtyflower]

exactly what I was saying to the kids on the way out from the game yesterday
it reminds me of the early 70s when we used to regularly put teams to the sword, and we weren't always brilliant away from home then either

and even then 4 was good !

So far this season I've seen 4 4 1 3 3 7 5 6, that's 33 goals in 8 games, luckily I've avoided all the bad results, apart from Bayern, and a couple of decent ones too.

it was just so entertaining and exhilarating
on the replay of the first goal on the screen there was a perceptible 'wow' from the crowd

walking home on cloud nine and fed up you dumped sky sports so you couldn't watch it all again

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

Oh and on the subject of yesterday's tactics, I'm amused that Pellegrini insisted during interviews beforehand that we would never play with 10 men behind the ball... which we did very effectively yesterday at times.

Which is a positive sign that he can be pragmatic when required and not 'gung ho' when away from home. Even though my comments don't carry much intellectual weight compared to Bluemoon's very own lexicographers what I am trying to say that Manuel Pellgrini can now fully concentrate in solving our away form from now until the start of the Champions League knock out stages.

Yesterday certainly raised some interesting issues about how City played. It was billed as the clash of the best attack and the best defence, but there was no mention of Spurs also being the bluntest attack (after Crystal Palace). City played 4-4-2: Spurs 4-2-3-1.

The impact of the first goal, so early, is hard to assess. They certainly didn't panic and they were not short on confidence at all. I think they still believed they could get a result, and they had an extra man in midfield. They were praised for their positive response and this is deserved up to a point. They kept the ball and their extra midfielder meant they could work it into our defensive third. Their 65% possession did frustrate us and when we got the ball we tended to be over hasty and give it away cheaply through misplaced passes. On the other hand, we showed that we could slice through them: Sergio should have scored (Zaba certainly would have) and it took a last ditch “intervention” to stop Nasri. It was also clear that Spurs build up was so laboured and slow that we had no trouble getting men back, and this may well account for our more “pragmatic” approach. Spurs lacked penetration completely, and this meant the match was never likely to represent a test for our defence. Their extra man in midfield was never a real problem: this was Spurs not Bayern! City were able to launch attacks from much deeper than is normally the case, and this was helped by Walker's and Vertonghen's obsession with getting forward. When their attacks broke down Sergio, Nasri and Navas ran riot down the wings, Ya Ya and Ferna had little trouble in finding space against a retreating Spurs shawn of their fullbacks and Negredo found space intelligently without ever straying far from his partner in crime. Taking Holtby off simply meant we found it easier to carve through their midfield and AVB had to bring on Dembele for Soldado to try and stem the tide.

Ultimately City won because man for man, all over the pitch, and collectively we were simply miles too good for Spurs. The difference between this and our away performances seems to be that at home we go out to commit opponents, give them no hiding place and show that we are better than they are: away we're much more cautious, play more sideways and backward passes and this means we invariably play at a more relaxed tempo to keep possession. We need a much higher tempo and to take a few more risks in attack away from home.

 

[OB1]

What also got on my tits is all the bollocks about 'football like you have never seen before' as if we had been playing Fat Sam's 'punt it long game' prior to Pellers and co showing up. You couple the rhetoric with the reality and ever shifting sands of excuses and people understandably get a bit testy.

Bollocks ?

In 40+ years of watching City live, I've probably seen us score 6 two or three times live, in the last 3 matches I've attended, we've averaged 6, how much better do you think we could be playing ?

Its a serious question, and I know about the away form and all, but we are playing football like I've never seen, just not every game yet, he has only been here 18 games.....

exactly what I was saying to the kids on the way out from the game yesterday
it reminds me of the early 70s when we used to regularly put teams to the sword, and we weren't always brilliant away from home then either

Happy days.

 

[TGR]

As a general note, when I stated that scoring 6 wasn't shocking to me, that's a compliment to the squad and manager and those that put it together, not an expectation.

It is a compliment to the people involved for sure. The only potential issue being is the expectation to put 5 or 6 past every team that turns up at the Etihad is growing with each game we play. I noticed it at the ground yesterday when one pass, yes one single solitary pass went astray the moaning & groaning immediately started. God knows what it will be like if we actually loose a match at the Etihad sometime soon?

 

[cleavers]

The only potential issue being is the expectation to put 5 or 6 past every team that turns up at the Etihad is growing with each game we play.

This is a potential downside I agree, expectations can get too high.

 

[Ray78]

Oh and on the subject of yesterday's tactics, I'm amused that Pellegrini insisted during interviews beforehand that we would never play with 10 men behind the ball... which we did very effectively yesterday at times.

Which is a positive sign that he can be pragmatic when required and not 'gung ho' when away from home. Even though my comments don't carry much intellectual weight compared to Bluemoon's very own lexicographers what I am trying to say that Manuel Pellgrini can now fully concentrate in solving our away form from now until the start of the Champions League knock out stages.

Yesterday certainly raised some interesting issues about how City played. It was billed as the clash of the best attack and the best defence, but there was no mention of Spurs also being the bluntest attack (after Crystal Palace). City played 4-4-2: Spurs 4-2-3-1.

The impact of the first goal, so early, is hard to assess. They certainly didn't panic and they were not short on confidence at all. I think they still believed they could get a result, and they had an extra man in midfield. They were praised for their positive response and this is deserved up to a point. They kept the ball and their extra midfielder meant they could work it into our defensive third. Their 65% possession did frustrate us and when we got the ball we tended to be over hasty and give it away cheaply through misplaced passes. On the other hand, we showed that we could slice through them: Sergio should have scored (Zaba certainly would have) and it took a last ditch “intervention” to stop Nasri. It was also clear that Spurs build up was so laboured and slow that we had no trouble getting men back, and this may well account for our more “pragmatic” approach. Spurs lacked penetration completely, and this meant the match was never likely to represent a test for our defence. Their extra man in midfield was never a real problem: this was Spurs not Bayern! City were able to launch attacks from much deeper than is normally the case, and this was helped by Walker's and Vertonghen's obsession with getting forward. When their attacks broke down Sergio, Nasri and Navas ran riot down the wings, Ya Ya and Ferna had little trouble in finding space against a retreating Spurs shawn of their fullbacks and Negredo found space intelligently without ever straying far from his partner in crime. Taking Holtby off simply meant we found it easier to carve through their midfield and AVB had to bring on Dembele for Soldado to try and stem the tide.

Ultimately City won because man for man, all over the pitch, and collectively we were simply miles too good for Spurs. The difference between this and our away performances seems to be that at home we go out to commit opponents, give them no hiding place and show that we are better than they are: away we're much more cautious, play more sideways and backward passes and this means we invariably play at a more relaxed tempo to keep possession. We need a much higher tempo and to take a few more risks in attack away from home.

Agreed and also a better work ethic and the gaffer has a couple of months to solve it until we have to start balancing our season again.