Fernandinho needs to go back into midfield

[ninjamonkey]

Rodri was superb against Burnley. Last night against the scum he played too far forward instead of sitting back and protecting our woeful defence against their fast counters.

Rodri was superb against Burnley because they played to his strengths, or more accurately didn’t play to his weakness. They played long balls with back to goal trying to outmuscle Rodri and dominate him physically, that’s an area he excels in and looks the beast of a player he looked against Burnley when he’s up against that. Everybody else has simply been ignoring Rodri, bypassing him completely with a bit of pace which is something he clearly can’t deal with and no amount of time to settle is going to make him faster. We have 3 options, we either realise he’s not Fernandinho and change our style and formation quite dramatically to accommodate his lack of pace, we get somebody else in with the physical attributes needed to do the role asked of Rodri or we carry on having opponents walk through our midfield at ease and see these kind of results every few weeks.

Even when Laporte is back nothing changes, Pep will pair him with Fernandinho at CB and yes the defence won’t look as much of a liability as it currently does but it’s not going to change what’s happening in front of them and our defence will continue to be exposed constantly.

 

[Marvin]

Difference with Rodri is he is better creating but no where near as good as Fernandinho defensively.

To quantify this how many times a game does he commit a tactual foul to stop the opposition breaking on our defence? Fernandinho used to commit dozens every game

Rodri is too nice and needs to beast up a little from a defensive point of view!

The problem with Rodri is that he sometimes does not play just the sitting role. He starts to do other stuff because the team is struggling. When everyone is capable and is doing their job suddenly every player looks individually far better.

 

[Marvin]

Rodri was superb against Burnley because they played to his strengths, or more accurately didn’t play to his weakness. They played long balls with back to goal trying to outmuscle Rodri and dominate him physically, that’s an area he excels in and looks the beast of a player he looked against Burnley when he’s up against that. Everybody else has simply been ignoring Rodri, bypassing him completely with a bit of pace which is something he clearly can’t deal with and no amount of time to settle is going to make him faster. We have 3 options, we either realise he’s not Fernandinho and change our style and formation quite dramatically to accommodate his lack of pace, we get somebody else in with the physical attributes needed to do the role asked of Rodri or we carry on having opponents walk through our midfield at ease and see these kind of results every few weeks.

Even when Laporte is back nothing changes, Pep will pair him with Fernandinho at CB and yes the defence won’t look as much of a liability as it currently does but it’s not going to change what’s happening in front of them and our defence will continue to be exposed constantly.

Rodri doesn't need to be able to out-run opponents to play that role well. I do agree he's slow. We must have known that when we bought him.

Play Rodri in front of Laporte and Stones with KDB and Bernardo/Foden in front of him, I think he and City would look far better.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Rodri doesn't need to be able to out-run opponents to play that role well. I do agree he's slow. We must have known that when we bought him.

Play Rodri in front of Laporte and Stones with KDB and Bernardo/Foden in front of him, I think he and City would look far better.

I agree he doesn’t necessarily need the pace to make things work here, I mentioned that earlier in this thread and pointed to gareth Barry as an example of how you can make it work. however, you do need pace to perform the role Fernandinho has done for the last few years and Pep is currently asking him to perform the same role. It’s similar to when we constantly misused dzeko by asking him to perform the Aguero role despite having very different attributes. It needs tailoring to account for his lack of pace. Whether that’s doing something as drastic as inverting the midfield triangle which would change the way we play, or dropping 10-15 yards as an entire unit in/out of possession or changing our pressing game, I don’t know, that’s down to pep to figure out but as it is now, it’s clearly not working and slight personnel changes around that position isn’t going to be enough to fix it in my opinion.

 

[simon23]

I agree he doesn’t necessarily need the pace to make things work here, I mentioned that earlier in this thread and pointed to gareth Barry as an example of how you can make it work. however, you do need pace to perform the role Fernandinho has done for the last few years and Pep is currently asking him to perform the same role. It’s similar to when we constantly misused dzeko by asking him to perform the Aguero role despite having very different attributes. It needs tailoring to account for his lack of pace. Whether that’s doing something as drastic as inverting the midfield triangle which would change the way we play, or dropping 10-15 yards as an entire unit in/out of possession or changing our pressing game, I don’t know, that’s down to pep to figure out but as it is now, it’s clearly not working and slight personnel changes around that position isn’t going to be enough to fix it in my opinion.

spot on

what i noticed is thatits affecting KDBs game as well

At some poits he was level with Rordi defending, picking the ball up and then passing into midfiled.....essentially to where he should be

 

[hilts]

Judge the results. Utd had 30% possession but looked likely to score every time they attacked. it was the same at Newcastle. Fernandinho just retreats and doesn't sense danger.

He's not Pep's 1st choice. Stones and Laporte are. Then we tried Otamendi. That didn't work so in came Fernandinho. He's been no better. I wanted him to give Garcia a chance but perhaps Pep thinks he's not ready. If he makes mistakes it could be very damaging for his development.

We went into this season having lost Kompany and losing laporte to injury killed us. Nothing we have done has worked and now we look vulnerable and I think we will continue to look vulnerable until Laporte returns. Fernandinho, David Silva and Aguero are all in their 30s and their game is not as good as it was. Aguero will probably continue for another 12 months. In my opinion we should look to the future now and bring through young replacements where possible. We haven't done that very well.

Even when Laporte is back and has a few games to get match fitness we still need a decent partner and left back. We need to try something new between now and hopefully a transfer in January. Dinho needs to get back in midfield especially against certain teams.

 

[nmc]

spot on

what i noticed is thatits affecting KDBs game as well

At some poits he was level with Rordi defending, picking the ball up and then passing into midfiled.....essentially to where he should be

I think we need someone like Fabian Ruiz in the summer to refresh our midfield.

 

[kaz7]

@MCFC1993 i dismissed this thread yesterday,apologies

This is breaking my heart seeing dinho struggling like this,he doesn't deserve to end his city career like this

I can see the point in emergencies but to do this with no vinny or eric nect to him is unforgivable

He ahould be rotating with rodders,teaching him everything he knows,dinho has the dirty side to his game that you need in this league and rodders needs to learn it

I like rodders a lot,he is 23 and new,i can't help but think pep is selling him short education wise

We have a gaping hole in the middle,it's not really fair to blame the midfielders for it,pep is setting them up,we are weak where we have had always had a master in there

Dinho is a legend,it's out of fucking order that this is how he is being made to do this,he is still the best dm and i'll wager he will leave and play another season or 2 in his position

When he goes i don't want to remember him as miserable and struggling

 

[tolmie's hairdoo]

Fern needs to go out on his shield, not being forced to cower under one.

FFS, he only has two bookings all season, which tells its own story.

Thankfully, he will be signing a new deal shortly, but put him back in with Rodri and drop Silva.

 

[Phil Mitchell Foden]

Rodri is toilet.

Positionally he's completely all over the place, he's one paced and weak, get routinely beaten in the challenge and has opposition players strolling past him at will all the time. Was getting nutmegged and turned for fun yesterday and it's embarrassing to watch.

In possession he varies from so-so to poor, we have a better footballer at centre half in Laporte.

He has a good strike on him, knows how to get his laces through it but that's about it. Not fit to take over Fernandinho's mantle.

This is a key position and he's not good enough.