Jorginho

[goalmole]

I don't know. They should have been much better able to deal with the attack. He was unable to offer the defender any help. Beaten badly for pace and then just tries to throw himself ala Otamendi. Walker frequently goes wandering up the pitch leaving the right-hand side exposed. He'll probably be pretty good when we're in possession, which is most of every game that we play. It's just in those tough games, particularly against teams that counter quickly, where he may struggle. A lot is made of how he might improve us against Liverpool when in possession, but how about when we don't have possession? Liverpool have so many quick players that you need your CDM to seriously contribute in stopping the attacks. It is conceivable that next season they could go forward with Salah, Mane, Firminho, Keita, Fekir and Chamberlain. Given that we play with both De Bruyne and Silva, neither of which is strong defensively, we should be bringing in someone with a bit of pace and a physical presence who can defend competently.

You make it sound as though Liverpool are the only team we'll be playing next season.
Those 3 defeats at their hands seem to have traumatised a lot of our fans.

 

[City Raider]

I don't know. They should have been much better able to deal with the attack. He was unable to offer the defender any help. Beaten badly for pace and then just tries to throw himself ala Otamendi. Walker frequently goes wandering up the pitch leaving the right-hand side exposed. He'll probably be pretty good when we're in possession, which is most of every game that we play. It's just in those tough games, particularly against teams that counter quickly, where he may struggle. A lot is made of how he might improve us against Liverpool when in possession, but how about when we don't have possession? Liverpool have so many quick players that you need your CDM to seriously contribute in stopping the attacks. It is conceivable that next season they could go forward with Salah, Mane, Firminho, Keita, Fekir and Chamberlain. Given that we play with both De Bruyne and Silva, neither of which is strong defensively, we should be bringing in someone with a bit of pace and a physical presence who can defend competently.

Jordan Henderson maybe

 

[cjn]

Interesting photo selection by our man Ben here. Any other player I'd assume this was a coincidence, but Mendy is a world class troll after all...

 

[sky_blue]

I don't doubt that he is a great player, but what I feel having seen him play multiple times is that he can't just slot into the 4-3-3 we have right now. He's really bad at winning aerial duels and I think we all know how those second balls haunted us during the 16-17 season. I think he'll be a tactical player unless he improves in the sense that their will have to be significant changes to our current setup whenever he plays. I've no idea how Pep intends to do it, but we could see Gundogan playing the role of Allan at Napoli when Jorginho starts ahead of Dinho. That would leave KdB in the 3 man midfield as the primary playmaker. Feels very different from what we saw this season. Our current midfield setup is very similar to that of Barca under Pep and I've grown to trust that over other alternatives.

 

[TRUE BLUE NO1]

I've been watching full Napoli games the last few days when listening to various podcasts. I've watched 4 games vs Lazio, 1 vs Torino and 1 vs Crotone. Obviously fully concentrating on Jorginho

• His passing is clearly excellent and extremely progressive. Will be huge vs parked buses. We will play even more beautiful football at times, which is hard to imagine.

However...

• His defensive ability in terms of winning duels is very, very bad. I don't expect a Regista to be particularly good at winning duels but honestly I'm quite shocked at just how bad he is here. Too many times you think he's favourite to win a tackle but he somehow manages to lose it. He also often struggles to complete interceptions, tho he isn't called upon to make them that much - whether this is due to him being too slow to make up the ground or his cutting off of passing lanes is good as to not need to make them I'm not sure, I'm no expert. Might explain the relatively low fee. If he was better defensively he'd probably be nearer double the price.

I'm not that concerned tbh as I always saw him as a weapon vs parked buses rather than our next 38 PL games a season/permanent DM

Nice break down mate.....I guess his ball winning or lack of, is the concern for me but clearly Pep has a role in mind and his track record shows, he knows what he's doing!;) I agree, his passing is excellent, might be one of the best in Europe in that area of his game but difficult to see him being a replacement for Fern, as that guy is everywhere, non-stop motor and wins alot of balls , which is important in the Prem....I was hoping for someone more defensive to sit in front of the back 4 but looks like we going for 200 goals instead next season!;)

 

[Silva_Spell]

Didn't watch all of Italy tonight as I didn't know they were playing but what was evident was how stifled he was by the Italy players in front of him. There was hardly anyone making good runs or showing for the forward pass.

Not a problem he'll have at City

 

[Silva_Spell]

Nice break down mate.....I guess his ball winning or lack of, is the concern for me but clearly Pep has a role in mind and his track record shows, he knows what he's doing!;) I agree, his passing is excellent, might be one of the best in Europe in that area of his game but difficult to see him being a replacement for Fern, as that guy is everywhere, non-stop motor and wins alot of balls , which is important in the Prem....I was hoping for someone more defensive to sit in front of the back 4 but looks like we going for 200 goals instead next season!;)

Yea it's evident from the targeting of Mahrez and Jorginho, as well as his various comments towards the end of the season, that Pep is more concerned about the likes of Southampton, Huddersfield, Brighton, Newcastle et al sneaking draws off us than anything else

 

[Marvin]

Didn't watch all of Italy tonight as I didn't know they were playing but what was evident was how stifled he was by the Italy players in front of him. There was hardly anyone making good runs or showing for the forward pass.

Not a problem he'll have at City

I watched it too. Very exciting game apart from maybe the last 15 mins. Balotelli made a lot of great runs.

I thought he was a bit disappointing to be honest. But then again it was a game France dominated. Mbappe, and their forwards were outstanding. This Italian team might be weaker than those of the past, but it's not often you see them so thoroughly beaten.

 

[SkyBlue17]

I watched it too. Very exciting game apart from maybe the last 15 mins. Balotelli made a lot of great runs.

I thought he was a bit disappointing to be honest. But then again it was a game France dominated. Mbappe, and their forwards were outstanding. This Italian team might be weaker than those of the past, but it's not often you see them so thoroughly beaten.

I disagree. France only looked dangerous on the counter really. Italy controlled large periods of the game and probably should have tied it at 2-2 early in the second half. Not much they could have done on any of the goals tbh.

The Italian midfield handled a very strong France midfield well in my eyes. Kante & Tolisso were pinned back quite a bit and conceding a lot of fouls, and Pogba was abysmal. Thought Jorginho actually played pretty well, the way he breaks the press, or moves the ball up the pitch quickly with one pass that goes overlooked a lot. Early in the first half when France was actually pressing high up the pitch, he was making little one touch passes that completely relived pressure on Italy's backline. Also keep in mind he had a 21 year old, and a 20 year old on either side of him, so a lot of the attacking & defensive onus was on him, along with organization. The fullbacks let him down though, he likes to spray quick balls out to the flanks, but De Sciglio and D'Ambrosio were very stagnant throughout, leaving a big disconnect between the midfield and the wingers & Balotelli wasn't dropping deep enough or making enough runs to use the middle effectively.

 

[MillionDollarDream]

There’s absolutely nothing to take away from these first 3 Italian games under Bobby Manc. He’s just trying to get a feel for what he has at his disposal, this was much of a chopped up B/C team versus a strong France team. He wanted a lot of the younger/first time players to be tested because come Euros they should be in their prime and have a lot more chemistry. 4 out of the 11 were U23 and a 3rd choice GK.