Flat track bullies.

[GaudinoMotors]

Third in the table having only beaten crystal palace and Watford in the top half.

Semi of the league cup. Okay fair enough. Though we are yet to play a decent side.

Topped our champions league group is a positive. However the underlying factor that we lost home and away to the only genuine "elite" side in our group doesn't bode well.

Calling us flat track bullies is more than justified.

A fair synpsosis.
Unless of course you only like to quote stats and not evaluate.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Just about the most positive post I've seen from him. We're shit, the managers a **** etc, etc, etc...

I thought you had to have over 100 posts on here before you could start threads? I note that the OP hasn't (read into that what you will......)

 

[Saddleworth2]

Sad to say but there are a lot of blues who can't handle the pressure of challenging for trophies, were 3 pts off top, in semi's of LC topped CL group and its december ffs.

Completely agree, I was pretty happy with the performance last night. We are in a good position and will win the title if we can avoid being injury ravaged in the second half of the season and showing a similar work rate to last night.

 

[flb]

I don't know about the whole hours thing but I'd really question what actually gets done in training because we just do not change. This to me is our biggest problem, we setup the same every week and offer nothing new. We even make the exact same substitutions, I wish to god I could bet on the exact minute Silva and Aguero would be hauled off, I'd be a millionaire every week!

I wanted Pellegrini to change something tonight when it wasn't working like to take a risk and put Zabba down the left and move Kolarov into midfield, just something different that might offer a new kind of danger to the opposition. Instead he took off Silva who is ALWAYS going to be dangerous and he put in Navas down the side we were getting no joy down. It is almost robotic behaviour rather than reading the game for what it is. Also Kolarov was the biggest threat in the first half but butchering our central midfield for more width in Navas and an extra striker meant he had to stick back.

Is it any wonder after the substitutions we failed to create a single chance?

I agreed with taking off Aguero who was completely ineffective but taking off Silva and Sterling was total madness, I'd understand if it was to bring Messi on but he was just adding strikers into the box in a game where you have zero control from midfield, it's just total naivety at best. I'm afraid Pellegrini just has no ideas on how to reinvent the way we play and until we start playing well again, we have to accept it is going to be extremely difficult to play against the better teams and managers.

Totally agree mate, we are used to it now though and collectively it appears we are all looking forward to another manager coming in who knows how to manage properly in this league and get more out of the players at his disposal, will anybody be actually pissed off if we don't win the league, in light of the ever increasing strong rumours that Pep is coming in. A fair few had Manuels number 18 months ago, after his first season he's flattered to deceive.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

We are relying too much on quality, and individual quality. We seem to think that if Vinny is in the back four then the defence will be solid; if Sergio is up front the goals will flow!

We aren't playing badly but we haven't mauled enough teams that we expect the quality would deliver. We are streets ahead of most teams in possession but we aren't getting the end product the possession should provide. No alternative plan when A stutters and stalls.

 

[blueinsa]

Until we instill the right mentality and pace into our play, we will continue to see the struggles we are having right now.

Imagine that front 4 of ours playing at the pace of Leicester last night going forwards?

It would be a cricket score yet we have almost every player in the side happy to slow it down and pass it around for the sakes of it at times and defences at this level are too organised for us to trouble them like that.

Thats the managers job and one he just doesn't seem able to grasp right now.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Third in the table having only beaten crystal palace and Watford in the top half.

Semi of the league cup. Okay fair enough. Though we are yet to play a decent side.

Topped our champions league group is a positive. However the underlying factor that we lost home and away to the only genuine "elite" side in our group doesn't bode well.

Calling us flat track bullies is more than justified.

It is almost the epitome of flat track bullies.

 

[jay_mcfc]

It all comes from the manager. Friends of mine in Spain said from the start that he's a very good manager but often comes unstuck in the big games. That is exactly how his tenure has unfolded.

We're so obvious in our style of play, it's bordering on boring. When we come up against good teams who know how to defend the middle of their area we look lost. Our whole team at the moment just looks like it's waiting for a bit of magic from one of the stars rather than any significant contribution from the manager with tactics and strategy.

 

[BillyShears]

It all comes from the manager. Friends of mine in Spain said from the start that he's a very good manager but often comes unstuck in the big games. That is exactly how his tenure has unfolded.

We're so obvious in our style of play, it's bordering on boring. When we come up against good teams who know how to defend the middle of their area we look lost. Our whole team at the moment just looks like it's waiting for a bit of magic from one of the stars rather than any significant contribution from the manager with tactics and strategy.

I think the frustrating thing is we don't have full backs good enough to provide when the middle is packed. It's something which can't really be underestimated. When you're operating at the level we are and so many teams are going to be playing with 9 or 10 players behind the ball,all sat very narrow and very deep, the full backs become the most important creative outlets because they are the players who will find space. The paucity of an attacking threat from Kolarov and Sagna is at times incredibly frustrating.

Whether or not we're flat track bullies is open to debate, but overall I'd hazard a guess there isn't a manager in the league with a better big game record than Pellegrini.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

if the front 4 played 90%+ of the rest of the season together, we'd win nearly every game and win most of the big matches.

The only reason we didn't win last night was because they haven't gelled together effectively yet.

If we played like we did last night on a regular basis, and cut out the silly 10 minute spell before half-time, then we'd win the league comfortably.

It's up to the players to show that level of energy and authority from the start of each game, not just when they fancy it.