Yeah, because there the kind of questions he'll answer at a fans Q&A.
It's actually one of the things I like about him, the fact he gives nothing away. I appreciate that as fans we want to know the ins and outs of what's going on, but knowing whatever's said will get twisted anyway it's best he keeps shctum!
That,s your take on it. Have you thought there might be other interpretations of that
Fitness levels my arse. He ran DeBruyne into the fucking ground a few weeks ago when it suited him.
Champions Lg/protecting own arse/doesn't especially give a fuck about losing to Liverpool if we can pick up the points later/ doesn't give a fuck about us.
This is the job that Silva does so well without needing to be told to do it. Tbh I would have expected KdB to have similar footballing intelligence so it was disappointing that he failed to pick up on that.Yaya isn't a defensive midfielder so why do people think he is? He's a deep lying play-maker. He takes the ball off a defender or defensive midfielder, turns and gives it to the forwards. He's the pivot around which our attack revolves. What Liverpool dd was ensure that, when he got the ball, he couldn't turn. If it's one player pressuring you then you can usually turn but when there are two then it's almost impossible and the chances are you'll lose it. So he just played the ball back to the defenders, who were then pressed themselves.
When it was clear what was happening, we should have brought Sterling, Navas and de Bruyne deeper so that they could take the ball off Toure quickly, as they can't have two players on everyone simultaneously. So when he gets the ball with his back to goal, there are options either side who are facing the Liverpool goal and can take the ball forward or play Aguero in behind their back four. That failure can certainly be laid at Pellegrini's door. Having Delph or Fernandinho alongside him to do that would have been even better. The problem with that (assuming Fernando isn't the one sacrificed) is that Sterling or Navas has to be, which means less cover against their full-backs going forward.
But even having said all that, their first three goals came from our players losing the ball when they shouldn't have done. Sagna for the first (I don't believe it was a foul and even if it was, play on instead of standing there waving your arm around). Then for the second, both Demichelis and Mangala should have made the ball safe instead of surrendering possession to a Liverpool player who wanted it more plus I think Kolarov could have got a tackle in. For the third, we seemed to have three players around the ball but they allowed Milner to come away with it. Then, for that Can backheel, Sagna was ball-watching and again more interested in trying to claim offside than track his man. So you can certainly ask questions about MP's approach but the players have to shoulder much of the blame.
Be reasonable, he doesn't have many choices at the moment.
He has to play Demichelis, and in the absence of Silva and Nasri, we need someone to feed the forwards hence Toure has to start.
When Kompany, Silva, Mangala are back it will be n entirely different team - one that can defend one on one, and attack at will.
At the moment we can't attack for fear of exposing Demichelis, and we can't just sit deep and defend the penalty box, because against the best teams, they will usually score if you do that. Really difficult. We need a break like we had at Sevilla, when everyone was at their best, and we got the benefit of an early goal.
Yaya isn't a defensive midfielder so why do people think he is? He's a deep lying play-maker. He takes the ball off a defender or defensive midfielder, turns and gives it to the forwards. He's the pivot around which our attack revolves. What Liverpool dd was ensure that, when he got the ball, he couldn't turn. If it's one player pressuring you then you can usually turn but when there are two then it's almost impossible and the chances are you'll lose it. So he just played the ball back to the defenders, who were then pressed themselves.
When it was clear what was happening, we should have brought Sterling, Navas and de Bruyne deeper so that they could take the ball off Toure quickly, as they can't have two players on everyone simultaneously. So when he gets the ball with his back to goal, there are options either side who are facing the Liverpool goal and can take the ball forward or play Aguero in behind their back four. That failure can certainly be laid at Pellegrini's door. Having Delph or Fernandinho alongside him to do that would have been even better. The problem with that (assuming Fernando isn't the one sacrificed) is that Sterling or Navas has to be, which means less cover against their full-backs going forward.
But even having said all that, their first three goals came from our players losing the ball when they shouldn't have done. Sagna for the first (I don't believe it was a foul and even if it was, play on instead of standing there waving your arm around). Then for the second, both Demichelis and Mangala should have made the ball safe instead of surrendering possession to a Liverpool player who wanted it more plus I think Kolarov could have got a tackle in. For the third, we seemed to have three players around the ball but they allowed Milner to come away with it. Then, for that Can backheel, Sagna was ball-watching and again more interested in trying to claim offside than track his man. So you can certainly ask questions about MP's approach but the players have to shoulder much of the blame.
Yaya isn't a defensive midfielder so why do people think he is? He's a deep lying play-maker. He takes the ball off a defender or defensive midfielder, turns and gives it to the forwards. He's the pivot around which our attack revolves. What Liverpool dd was ensure that, when he got the ball, he couldn't turn. If it's one player pressuring you then you can usually turn but when there are two then it's almost impossible and the chances are you'll lose it. So he just played the ball back to the defenders, who were then pressed themselves.
When it was clear what was happening, we should have brought Sterling, Navas and de Bruyne deeper so that they could take the ball off Toure quickly, as they can't have two players on everyone simultaneously. So when he gets the ball with his back to goal, there are options either side who are facing the Liverpool goal and can take the ball forward or play Aguero in behind their back four. That failure can certainly be laid at Pellegrini's door. Having Delph or Fernandinho alongside him to do that would have been even better. The problem with that (assuming Fernando isn't the one sacrificed) is that Sterling or Navas has to be, which means less cover against their full-backs going forward.
But even having said all that, their first three goals came from our players losing the ball when they shouldn't have done. Sagna for the first (I don't believe it was a foul and even if it was, play on instead of standing there waving your arm around). Then for the second, both Demichelis and Mangala should have made the ball safe instead of surrendering possession to a Liverpool player who wanted it more plus I think Kolarov could have got a tackle in. For the third, we seemed to have three players around the ball but they allowed Milner to come away with it. Then, for that Can backheel, Sagna was ball-watching and again more interested in trying to claim offside than track his man. So you can certainly ask questions about MP's approach but the players have to shoulder much of the blame.
I agree with all this, especially what you say about Ya Ya. I would also say that the great problem of Saturday was the great problem at OT last season and the great problem that underlies all of our "poor" performances - and that is the problem of transition. Navas, Sterling and De Bruyne were so far forward on Saturday that, if we had any shape at all it was that of an elongated sausage, and our front four were irrelevant most of the time. I would also say that when Ya Ya was pressed and unable to turn his choice of who to pass backwards to was severely limited because Fernando was too far forward as well. Mangala, MdM, Ya Ya and Fernando all had bad games, but I do have some sympathy because they faced an impossible task since an enlarged midfield area was a no go area for most of the City team. At half time Fernandinho added a body (and a lot of ability) but Delph for Ya Ya didn't increase the numbers in midfield and the improvement we were supposed to have seen was short lived to say the least - in face we resorted to knocking it long to try and avoid being outnumbered and overrun. Saturday wasn't a good day for Pellers - or anyone else. We made it difficult for ourselves but we couldn't pass it to a blue shirt, we couldn't keep possession any other way and we never had the numbers to stop Liverpool stroking it about at will. I'm struggling to think of a team we could have beaten on Saturday and it's ridiculous to hold Ya Ya uniquely to blame.
I agree with all this, especially what you say about Ya Ya. I would also say that the great problem of Saturday was the great problem at OT last season and the great problem that underlies all of our "poor" performances - and that is the problem of transition. Navas, Sterling and De Bruyne were so far forward on Saturday that, if we had any shape at all it was that of an elongated sausage, and our front four were irrelevant most of the time. I would also say that when Ya Ya was pressed and unable to turn his choice of who to pass backwards to was severely limited because Fernando was too far forward as well. Mangala, MdM, Ya Ya and Fernando all had bad games, but I do have some sympathy because they faced an impossible task since an enlarged midfield area was a no go area for most of the City team. At half time Fernandinho added a body (and a lot of ability) but Delph for Ya Ya didn't increase the numbers in midfield and the improvement we were supposed to have seen was short lived to say the least - in face we resorted to knocking it long to try and avoid being outnumbered and overrun. Saturday wasn't a good day for Pellers - or anyone else. We made it difficult for ourselves but we couldn't pass it to a blue shirt, we couldn't keep possession any other way and we never had the numbers to stop Liverpool stroking it about at will. I'm struggling to think of a team we could have beaten on Saturday and it's ridiculous to hold Ya Ya uniquely to blame.