Juanma Lillo leaves to become Al-Sadd Head Coach

Blue Llama said:
Kidd is only there due to sentiment. It looks as though he is ICO cones.
Click to expand...
I think you might find Brian is in charge of more than ICoc. Brian is the arm around the shoulder, the quiet word in you're ear, the guy who cools thing down, the guy who says the right words, the guy who gives you belief, the man who wants you to win.
Brian has more emotion than our no 2 from what I've seen.
Brian Kidd ICOC fuck off, show some respect.
 
jrb said:
People call him. But he’s made us solid at the back. People were calling Pep last season because we were letting in goals left, right, and centre. I might be one of only a few City fans, but I think he has done a great job.

Only 13 goals conceded. If it wasn’t for poor finishing those two draws would have been wins. Take away the 5 goals against Leicester, and we have only let in 8 goals in all the other PL games this season.

0-E764474-B8-F6-41-DB-AA4-E-26-B8-DB987337.png
Click to expand...
Fair point. He took a lot stick earlier in the season, but seems quite probable that he’s played a big part in our new defensive solidity.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jrb
jrb said:
People call him. But he’s made us solid at the back. People were calling Pep last season because we were letting in goals left, right, and centre. I might be one of only a few City fans, but I think he has done a great job.

Only 13 goals conceded. If it wasn’t for poor finishing those two draws would have been wins. Take away the 5 goals against Leicester, and we have only let in 8 goals in all the other PL games this season.

0-E764474-B8-F6-41-DB-AA4-E-26-B8-DB987337.png
Click to expand...
Dias says hello.

Actually having a talker and clear leader of our defence seems to have made the biggest difference. We were garbage at the beginning of the season with a defence that was all over the show.

Take Dias out and then we’ll see how much is structure and how much is a new player. I’m going, vast majority, new player that really knows what he’s doing. Dias has made that big of a difference to me.
 
GBrannan said:
Dias says hello.

Actually having a talker and clear leader of our defence seems to have made the biggest difference. We were garbage at the beginning of the season with a defence that was all over the show.

Take Dias out and then we’ll see how much is structure and how much is a new player. I’m going, vast majority, new player that really knows what he’s doing. Dias has made that big of a difference to me.
Click to expand...
Dias being a talker also helps Stones keep his concentration so less chance of a mistake from him.
 
oldius said:
There is a lot of recent footage showing Stones becoming much more vocal and organisational.
Click to expand...
There’s just a chemistry too that can occur between players on the pitch, but for obvious reasons central defence is one such area. Stones and Dias look great thus far and the sample size is getting bigger by the game.

For me Dias has been the key reason our defence looks like a defence. The fact Guardiola plays him every game, even in the Carabao Cup QF with a stack of upcoming fixtures, says he reckons he’s been pretty instrumental too.
 
I've been saying for a while that it was unfair to pin any of our recent misfortunes on the guy, at least singlehandedly.

For starters we have no evidence of what impact he's actually had in any capacity (same with the others) and there's also the fact that our form took a sharp turn for the better immediately after his arrival. It's likely that he's had some impact, but most of our misfortunes come down primarily to Pep, the players, and certain other factors (eg No CBs last season, fitness issues this season etc)

Now that we're doing better, I'd argue the same but in from the other side. It's likely that he's had an impact on the way things are, but ultimately the buck stops at Pep Guardiola and the players. We might be slightly different in terms of style and shape, but when it comes to it we're really just doing the same things as we've always done.
 
GBrannan said:
Dias says hello.

Actually having a talker and clear leader of our defence seems to have made the biggest difference. We were garbage at the beginning of the season with a defence that was all over the show.

Take Dias out and then we’ll see how much is structure and how much is a new player. I’m going, vast majority, new player that really knows what he’s doing. Dias has made that big of a difference to me.
Click to expand...

Dias has been brilliant. Don’t shout it too loud, he’s our VVD, but he’s *6 years* younger. :-)

Bar Dias, Walker is Mr reliable, bar the odd brain fart. And Stones and Cancelo have improved vastly this season.

But, it’s our defensive formation that has changed dramatically since last season. As soon as we lose the ball we retreat into a compact defensive formation, with what looks like 5 across the back, and 4 or 5 in-front covering midfield. We look a lot more solid. And we don’t leave those spaces and channels that we did last season, and against Leicester at the start of this season.

I also think Pep is happy to take a 1-0 now.

In my opinion, whether Pep will admit it or not, the Lyon defeat in the CL may have been the game that finally changed his footballing philosophy. I think it destroyed him emotionally and personally, and made him question his defensive tactics.
 
jrb said:
Dias has been brilliant. Don’t shout it too loud, but he’s our VVD, but he’s *6 years* younger. :-)

Bar Dias, Walker is Mr reliable, bar the odd brain fart. And Stones and Cancelo have improved vastly this season.

But, it’s our defensive formation that has changed dramatically since last season. As soon as we lose the ball we retreat into a compact defensive formation, with what looks like 5 across the back, and 4 or 5 in-front covering midfield. We look a lot more solid. And we don’t leave those spaces and channels that we did last season, and against Leicester at the start of this season.

I also think Pep is happy to take a 1-0 now.

In my opinion, whether Pep will admit it or not, the Lyon defeat in the CL may have been the game that finally changed his footballing philosophy. I think it destroyed him emotionally and personally, and made him question his defensive tactics.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure.

The only way to tell is to take Dias out which, based on current form, and my lower heart rate since he turned up, I don’t want to experiment with.

I just think we’ve got better performing players in the middle of our defence and it’s made a massive difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.