Discuss Pellegrini (Pt 4)

[Didsbury Dave]

I agree. In the form Nasri's in I think it's a no brainer.

It also gives Yaya and Fern better license to make forward runs, as was seen in the second half today.

Tough on Beast but with the amount of games played over the next few weeks it'll make sense imo to start the rotation a little.

Let's see what he does. He might think having Vinny back he can play the same way as at home. As I say though for me it's a no brainer.

How good was Nasri today. I really think moving him central is the future.

If I was a betting man that's what my money would be on: 4222 against west brom and 451 at Southampton. You could argue that the beast's substitution suggests he will start at west brom.

These two games are psycologically huge. I'm desperate for the whole six points to take into the arsenal game, along with a full strength team.

 

[Rammy Blue]

I agree. In the form Nasri's in I think it's a no brainer.

It also gives Yaya and Fern better license to make forward runs, as was seen in the second half today.

Tough on Beast but with the amount of games played over the next few weeks it'll make sense imo to start the rotation a little.

Let's see what he does. He might think having Vinny back he can play the same way as at home. As I say though for me it's a no brainer.

How good was Nasri today. I really think moving him central is the future.

As much as I'm over the moon for Sami, he still isn't a patch on Merlin, imo.

If we were to play "one in the hole" then it would be Dave, all day for me.

Not a bad back-up though!

 

[bobmcfc]

Vinny being back is of course a big plus, but it doesn't have a massive bearing on the space at the back of our midfield. He steps out and intercepts well but in general his inclusion helps more with organisation and distribution from the back (both of which have been better the last month anyway). To look solid it takes an extra player in there like we did at Chelsea.

Will he? Won't he?

I can see your point and it's totally his decision, not an easy one at that. If you play one up front then you have to decide who out of kun and Alvaro who is most affective as a lone striker because if you get that wrong then it Turns into a thankless task. I'm all for having a solid defence but with the way we have been playing it might be at the expense of our attacking flair which was something that was levelled against Mancini and big gripe with some posters on here. I'm starting to see that we don't have to play it too safe away from home if we can just see that home confidence the players show in abundance.

Lol, call me greedy Dave but I kind of feel like I Wouldn't want to sacrifice our attacking approach that we have all been spoiled with lately, I bloody like it when we stick 5 past the opposition ;) so I think we should stick with two up front as usual but you are right in regards to having a man sit in front of that back four so my obvious choices are either Yaya or fernandinho but who ? Yaya is strong but not as mobile but fern is mobile but not as strong so I need a little guidance from the more tactically minded posters on the forum . As long as it's not Garcia of course

After that then I would be more inclined to have Milner in the wing for his defensive attributes .

Excuse me if I'm talking shite though. What I'm trying to say is I trust our back line more than I used to. I think taking joe out of the firing line has benefited the team

This time of year you need to rotate and with Dzeko not firing on all cylinders it makes sense to alternate your star players and utilise 2 or 3 of your squad players.

You can play Negredo and Kun with a holding midfielder but it means two of Silva, Nasri or Navas have to sit out, but in some games you need that killer instinct more than pretty passing.

Pellegrini has to be sensible and pick up wins, it's clear that we're far too open, even at home and that it needs tightening up. I don't believe it would be detrimental to our attacking prowess much at all because I have full faith in everyone from midfield up to be able to contribute to the attacking play. With a holding midfielder in there it allows the likes of Fern to join in more and he's very proactive and talented.

It's why somebody like a Lars Bender is top of my list for January, because I think he can hold and box to box, whereas Fern is a lot keener to box to box than sit, so I think having somebody like a Bender would allows to play 2 or 3 at the drop of the hat, and have someone of suitable quality so that you can rest Fern or Yaya, which we need to be doing as our star players who haven't been injured yet are starting to play too many games and there are a hell of a lot of fixtures coming up, we're playing midweek as well pretty much through to the new year now, and we have to be sensible when it comes to setting up with our squad players involved as they have limitations.

Good post and I will have a good look at bender. If I was to sacrifice a player then the obvious choice would be Navas in an away game but I do agree though we do have to protect our strikers especially with dzeko not on form and jovetic injured. It's not worth thinking about losing aguero or Negredo

 

[hgblue]

It also gives Yaya and Fern better license to make forward runs, as was seen in the second half today.

Tough on Beast but with the amount of games played over the next few weeks it'll make sense imo to start the rotation a little.

The only slight disagreement I have is that we get the best out of Yaya when he pushes on, and we don't need 2 of them in there doing that job. It's actually a bit over cautious imo, which may sound a bit strange coming from me. I'd go 4-1-4-1:
---------------------Fernandinho------------------
Navas----------Yaya--------Nasri----------Milner
--------------------Aguero---------------------
With Silva coming in for Milner when he gets fit.

Yeah, I wouldn't play yaya deep when we try to shore things up. Play him where he's more effective.

...................fernandinho...Milner

........nasri...............yaya..............aguero

..........................beast

But he won't do that. If he does go for a three it will be Garcia next to fernandinho

I've just spat my coffee all over my screen. Thanks for that ;).

 

[simon23]

I just look at it from the point of view that if we are going to win things eventually we are going to come up against much better teamms where IF we allow them these chances they will take advantage...give them too many and that will mean we will lose games.....noone wants this....

as a team we should always be looking at how to improve and this is one area we can improve on....if we want to be the best we can be then it has to happen.....this is not a slaggin off of the manager, this is an observation an dhow to make OUR team even better than it is!!!!!!

But it is horses for courses fella.. you dont set out at home against Swansea as you would for say Arsenal..

Before todays game If id said draw 0-0 or win 4-3 what would you have said ??

1 point and dont conceed any goals or 3 points and concede 3 goals??

Conceding isnt great,but the win is far more important..

Swansea gave us more of a game than the Scum or Spuds yet they are better teams than Swansea..
you dont know how a team will play until the game starts,and by then(as a manager) youve made yer choices.

That's the point this guy doesn't seem to get. To go 451 against Swansea at home would be ridiculously cautious, given the proven chemistry between our attacking players. I think he made a subtle change at half time, when he instructed yaya and fernandinho not to bomb forward willy nilly, and the centre halves to step out more into the hole when their players drifted there.

It gave us a total stranglehold on the game. You're always going to leave space with this 442 and with yaya in there. Bit if you are blasting 4 and 5 goals a game it doesn't matter.

Samharris - totally agree on horses for courses.....i wasnt suggesting 451 today....more of a compact midfield when defending...this is down to.him instructing the players in training and drilling them in it. It seems that in the last cpuple of games its taken a half time talk to grt this across to them

He has made mistakes in the past and not gone horsrs for courses as u correctly suggested (most noticeably vs munich) ....it now remains to be seen if he can do it away from home where pragmatism msybe needed for a while until the team are fully versed in what they need to do

Dd - i just find your way of putting things on here as slightly insulting so i cannt be arsed debating with you....<br /><br />-- Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:42 pm --<br /><br />

Seeing that the games are going to be coming thick and fast I think I'd be tempted to go 4-2-3-1 on Weds and Sat, knowing full well of course that we can switch it up should it be required.

...................Yaya............Ferny..................
.....Navas...............Nasri.................Jimmy....
...........................Sergio............................

I agree. In the form Nasri's in I think it's a no brainer.

It also gives Yaya and Fern better license to make forward runs, as was seen in the second half today.

Tough on Beast but with the amount of games played over the next few weeks it'll make sense imo to start the rotation a little.

Agree with the above formation as well...maybe silva for milner when silva is fit (silvas defensive work often goes unnoticed and his ball retention certainly helps as well)

 

[Danamy]

It also gives Yaya and Fern better license to make forward runs, as was seen in the second half today.

Tough on Beast but with the amount of games played over the next few weeks it'll make sense imo to start the rotation a little.

Let's see what he does. He might think having Vinny back he can play the same way as at home. As I say though for me it's a no brainer.

How good was Nasri today. I really think moving him central is the future.

As much as I'm over the moon for Sami, he still isn't a patch on Merlin, imo.

If we were to play "one in the hole" then it would be Dave, all day for me.

Not a bad back-up though!

100% agree Rammy

He's having a great season and he's now playing like the player we thought we were getting from Arsenal but he's not the same player when Merlin plays, that's not a dig, just an observation.

 

[hgblue]

Let's see what he does. He might think having Vinny back he can play the same way as at home. As I say though for me it's a no brainer.

How good was Nasri today. I really think moving him central is the future.

As much as I'm over the moon for Sami, he still isn't a patch on Merlin, imo.

If we were to play "one in the hole" then it would be Dave, all day for me.

Not a bad back-up though!

100% agree Rammy

He's having a great season and he's now playing like the player we thought we were getting from Arsenal but he's not the same player when Merlin plays, that's not a dig, just an observation.

Because he gets moved to accomodate Silva.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Let's see what he does. He might think having Vinny back he can play the same way as at home. As I say though for me it's a no brainer.

How good was Nasri today. I really think moving him central is the future.

As much as I'm over the moon for Sami, he still isn't a patch on Merlin, imo.

If we were to play "one in the hole" then it would be Dave, all day for me.

Not a bad back-up though!

100% agree Rammy

He's having a great season and he's now playing like the player we thought we were getting from Arsenal but he's not the same player when Merlin plays, that's not a dig, just an observation.

I think he's been playing superbly with silva this season. Silva makes players look better and his constant movement into space opens up options for nasri.

But I agree with you both that silva is a more dangerous player. But nasri is doing well most weeks now.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

As much as I'm over the moon for Sami, he still isn't a patch on Merlin, imo.

If we were to play "one in the hole" then it would be Dave, all day for me.

Not a bad back-up though!

100% agree Rammy

He's having a great season and he's now playing like the player we thought we were getting from Arsenal but he's not the same player when Merlin plays, that's not a dig, just an observation.

Because he gets moved to accomodate Silva.

Partly that, but because he has to take the mantle up all by himself, whereas with Silva in the team there are 2 creative outlets and he supplements Dave.

Nasri's output doubled at Sunderland compared to West Ham when he played with Silva, but nobody covered Nasri's previous output, which is partly why we struggled.

 

[Danamy]

As much as I'm over the moon for Sami, he still isn't a patch on Merlin, imo.

If we were to play "one in the hole" then it would be Dave, all day for me.

Not a bad back-up though!

100% agree Rammy

He's having a great season and he's now playing like the player we thought we were getting from Arsenal but he's not the same player when Merlin plays, that's not a dig, just an observation.

Because he gets moved to accomodate Silva.

And so he should, which is why i agreed with Rammy, Merlin gets the nod all day long