Fulham v City Post Match Discussion Thread

[coulsonblue]

I was at yesterdays game and what stood out for me was the weakness in our defensive midfielders for me Yaya Toure is a huge threat going forward but when a counter attack is on you might as well ask Moonchester to cover him. If anybody should have been substituted yesterday for me it was him. Hopefully de jong wont be too far from a return.

Though I am sure plenty will disagree it is after all only my view.

No I agree with you. Yaya Toure looked tired and on both goals they were allowed to work the ball onto the edge of the area too easily, and Toure appeared to be just watching rather than pressuring.

Also, Zabaleta charged into the box on the 2nd goal when he didn't need to, and then he was too far away to close down murphy. Zabaleta does tend to watch the ball and charge towards it rather than assess the danger.

 

[The game 161]

Hope this result doesn't comeback to haunt us

 

[Marvin]

Re: Re: Fulham v City Post Match Discussion Thread

Why are people on here obsessed with real or barceloa dropping points ?

I know. It's bizarre. May as well add Shamrock Rovers as well. The teams we need to drop points are the rags & Chelsea.

It's irritating me too. Almost as much a red herring as "Remember where we were a few years ago"

A couple of reasons why it's relevant:

1) Some blues are still unconvinced that City have really changed - so the fact that the best teams lose from time to time is a good reminder

2) The proximity of the Napoli game is relevant. Real Madrid lost at Levante, and there were several sub-standard performances by teams in the Champions League eg Arsenal & Utd

"And remember where we were a few years ago" is always worth thinking about. Enjoy where we are instead of constantly worrying / moaning.

 

[Blue Elmo]

I was disappointed by yesterdays performance , but I wasn't angry . I thought the days were gone where we surrendered the lead from a commanding position , and that is why I was disappointed in us. It is still early days and we have yet to be beaten , so all is not lost . The rags and other teams will drop unexpected points throughout the year , just like we did. I think yesterdays performance outlines the fact that we are at times too open . It is all well and good when we are going at teams , but when we are hit on the break , we don't have enough men back to help . We play a basic form of 4-4-2 , and when we go forward the midfield onwards attack , but when we lose the ball , only the central midfield players track back, the rest launder about and take their time. We have a good team and the formation we play is all well and good when we are at home against the weaker teams , but when you play the big teams or when you play away from home , the formation we have is exposed . I am looking forward to Nige's return , because when he does come back , will Mancini look to solidify the midfield again ? or will he carry on with this new attacking approach ? I would like to see a mix of attacking teams being played then others where we add another midfield player in there to sure things up . If there was that mix of formation and style , I think we could exceed expectations this year . But looking back on our start to the season , and not looking at what other teams have done , I am happy . We have played some good stuff , not lost yet , won the majority of games , and sit happily in second.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

I'm not sure that Silva should have been the one to come off but I can totally understand why he wanted to bring Zabaleta on as our midfield was getting totally overrun in the 10-15 mins prior to the substitution. I would have liked to have seen Tevez brought on at the same time too, defending from the front. I don't think it was the subs that cost us though tbh, it was the shocking defending for their first goal. How Zamora had all that space 10 yards from goal I'll never know. Who was supposed to be picking him up VK or Lescott?

 

[Blue Elmo]

I'm not sure that Silva should have been the one to come off but I can totally understand why he wanted to bring Zabaleta on as our midfield was getting totally overrun in the 10-15 mins prior to the substitution. I would have liked to have seen Tevez brought on at the same time too, defending from the front. I don't think it was the subs that cost us though tbh, it was the shocking defending for their first goal. How Zamora had all that space 10 yards from goal I'll never know. Who was supposed to be picking him up VK or Lescott?

Zamora was Vinnies man , I was shocked by the amount of room Vinnie gave him

 

[Lancet Fluke]

I'm not sure that Silva should have been the one to come off but I can totally understand why he wanted to bring Zabaleta on as our midfield was getting totally overrun in the 10-15 mins prior to the substitution. I would have liked to have seen Tevez brought on at the same time too, defending from the front. I don't think it was the subs that cost us though tbh, it was the shocking defending for their first goal. How Zamora had all that space 10 yards from goal I'll never know. Who was supposed to be picking him up VK or Lescott?

Zamora was Vinnies man , I was shocked by the amount of room Vinnie gave him

He's not quite looked himself at times this season has he? He needs to hit the form of last season asap really. The return of De Jong will be important too, he makes a massive difference to the defence imo. As soon as we tighten up a little at the back I'm confident we'll get back to winning ways and stay right in the title race because I think we'll continue to score plenty.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Re: 576 passes completed vs Fulham

We had 500 and odd passes v Napoli. Look where that fuckin' well got us. I'm waiting for the match where the passes and goals are reversed. Three passes and 500 goals.

 

[ccr]

Re: 576 passes completed vs Fulham

Hoof it. You get nowhere with all this passing. I didn't get on Didsbury Dynamoes 4th eleven playing pretty pretty football.

 

[Andouble]

Re: 576 passes completed vs Fulham

Tippy-tappy shite. ;)

I think when you look at the last 2 matches it is an easy comparison to say that we are playing too Arsenal'ish, trying to walk the ball into the net.

But then I sit back and look at the table and aside from that other lot no other team in the division has even half the amount of goals we've got.

We were unlucky not to win against Napoli - 2 crossbars, an uncharacteristic giveaway, Nasri/Dzeko/Aguero going close countless times, but the only time I would describe our play as 'tippy tappy shite' is half of the second half yesterday. And goodness me, it still took a wicked deflection off our defender to beat us. We should've put it to bed much earlier but to Fulham's credit they didn't bend over like 15 or so teams in the Premiership would 2-0 down 46 minutes through.

Overall we've been playing a clever passing style reminiscent of the Arse glory days/a mild Barcelona, very clinical (on the scoresheet), and a couple individual mistakes have cost us.

If there's one thing that most have faith with Mancini in it's shoring up the defence, and I think once NDJ comes back hopefully next week or so we'll have our balance and get back to firing on all cylinders.

Rant over