Fuzzmaster101 said:
GranthamBlue said:
Dzeko is truly a great guy. A skillful worker and a dedicated City player.
But he is not a Tevez. City's mighty achivements last season were built on the foundation of one mighty player. If we count on Dzeko to fill his shoes then we will be sorely disappointed.
I hope I'm wrong.
Clearly not a City fan. Yes Tevez is a great player, our achievements were however not built on just Tevez. Notable games we played without Tevez were a 4-0 win against Aston Villa, an easy 2-0 stroll away at West Brom and of course a 1-0 win against Ushited in the FA cup semi-final. There were a couple of defeats (away at Chelsea and Wolves) but we are very effective without him as we've shown. Kompany, De Jong, Hart, Yaya and Silva (amongst many others) were all equally as important in our successes, and if it wasn't for Dzeko we wouldn't even have been in the FA cup semi-final, let alone won the thing!
You have to take Grant's comment in context. City like it or not has a personality. And that personality determines the effectiveness of our players in the system. For examples, City's predominant method of scoring comes from individual skill. About 28% of our goals were a result of this, and if you add Freekick goals and Penalty goals that were the sole result of an infringement on an individual effort, it rises to about 33%. So literally 33% of our goals come from a player taking on defenders himself, and getting the job done, or getting a foul to achieve the goal. To this effect it makes sense that a skilled striker like Tevez/Balotelli are able to be more successful, than a team oriented player like Dzeko.
There is a lot of talk about Dzeko improving, and some of that will happen just coz his been around longer, but analytically we have to ask the question whether he is a good fit? Or would we be better off with the Sanchez, Lacezzis and Zarates of this world. Players who go get the goal from individual effort. But often fail attempting.
On a personal note, just from eyeballing CIty games my instinct tells me we need more ball movers and visioned passers. But with rumors of targets like Sanchez, Lavezzi and Zarate, it seems more likely than not, that City is actually gets these players, we will be embracing the individuali skill philosophy. Which frankly is at present one of the central characteristics of our attacking play.
But lets watch and see what we haul first though, and then we can determine what it seems Mancini is trying to do.