Ilkay Gundogan - 2018/19 performances

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mccity said:
Anyway....


If we keep using the 3-5-2, which I have no reason to doubt, and Jesus keeps playing we might see a new form of attacking coming from Gundogan.

Gundogan really loves the give and go attack that he picked up from Dortmund under Klopp. Problem is, is that it hasn't really worked out so far. I don't think Aguero has quite that sort of passing game in his locker (it's a very specialised kind of passing game) and I'm not sure it's a specific one Pep trains either. There were a few times he tried it with Aguero and it had a habit of not paying off. Although it was often when we were looking for a goal with a bit more desperation than a full game strategy. I'm not implying it was always Aguero's fault here, Gundogan got it wrong plenty of times, and there were others too that it didn't work with for Gundogan. But the striker plays a big role, especially at the start of these fast transition attacks and Aguero not being quite that player lowers the odds of it being a successful strategy ie it becomes wasteful, which isn't very Guardiola.

Jesus can play the give and gos excellently though. Especially first time. Watch his Brazil performances prior to Neymar's injury and Tite shoehorning Coutinho into the midfield 3 and you can see that part of his game in abundance. However last season I think he had a problem of balancing the role of false 9 with actual 9, which meant he wasn't as readily available to support the midfield as maybe a player like Gundogan would have liked.


But this season, if Aguero AND Jesus are playing, then Jesus can come deep and play that supporting role that we all expected of him when he first arrived. Because you can trust Aguero to lead a line any day of the week. And if Jesus and Gundogan continue to look as sharp as they both did on the weekend then it MIGHT give Gundogan an opportunity to bring back that element of his game from Dortmund. And just like Mendy has provided a completely new means of attacking, the pairing of Gundogan and Jesus might open up even more too. Plus if they can simply kickstart these attacks between them, the likes of Aguero and co will be able to get much more involved once the space opens up.



For reference, Liverpool tried it a few times against Palace, all to no avail. For starters, as I've stated many times, most of their midfielders don't have the technical and/or the positional game to both play the right passes well and quickly enough, and time their attacking runs too. Plus, neither Salah nor Firmino have the ability to link up at that highest level to make it really work. Which makes sense, because they're no better creatively than the version of Aguero we've got now. Like I said, it takes a very unique link up striker to pull it off (eg Dortmund's Lewandowski).


ps I've just realised that this is a lot of writing for speculation :P
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Lol! I read the whold thing and it was excellent
 
asahartford1 said:
Nev, in every game of football a player plays to a % of his optimum. At City it is rarely a very low %, and often a very high %. To start criticizing players who may have an average or slightly above average game is the "weird" thing.

Some fans choose a player then begin to look for any weaknesses they can find, I am sure you are not one of those.

Some fuckers criticize Jesus for only scoring tap ins, never mind that every top coach in the World would love to have him.
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You are being diplomatic. Nev clearly is one of those dudes :p
 
asahartford1 said:
Nev, in every game of football a player plays to a % of his optimum. At City it is rarely a very low %, and often a very high %. To start criticizing players who may have an average or slightly above average game is the "weird" thing.

Some fans choose a player then begin to look for any weaknesses they can find, I am sure you are not one of those.

Some fuckers criticize Jesus for only scoring tap ins, never mind that every top coach in the World would love to have him.
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My criticisms of Gundogan in recent times are generally about his mobility, which for me, means his efficiency both getting forward & back in respect of his job & his effectiveness in various areas.

For example, if he controlled the game like David Silva does, I could then accept a lack of efficiency getting back & covering and be happy with a 'decent effort' in the same way we accept that from DS ( Silva will never be Nigel De Jong or Gareth Barry defensively & fair enough, he does, what he can).

When the day comes that D.S. can't contribute to the same level without the ball, a decision has to be made, whether the rest of the team compensates as in a Pirlo situation or we have to lose him.

Gundogan, imo, was signed as the kind of player who had the extra sharpness, to be one of the blokes who compensates for others, not someone who others have to compensate for.

Imo, in the Arsenal game he played like an old guy. Jogging & wheezing when running back, without the ball.

Wheras v Huddersfield, imo, he was sprinting back & forcing oppo players to change their plan of attack.

If the Huddersfield performance can be regularly repeated, then imo we have the 'real' Gundogan.

If it can't, then we have a squad player who will be made available once we have a replacement.

The Gundogan at Dortmund was hugely cheered on, as a signing, by me, when it happened.

The player we have mostly seen at City, is not that player. At weekend, he was much more like it.

I am hoping, that was down to Pep giving him a bit of a bollocking, & him pushing himself, rather than him being past it & only able to run, because he can have a huge rest inbeween, vs shit, busparking teams.

Time will tell.
 
50/50 game from him, not as bad as some are making out. Solid retaining possession, won the ball back alot, great cross for the goal. He's not KDB so don't expect him to do what Kev does and you'll appreciate what he does bring to the team.
 
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