Kolarov

[Tevez City]

Whats wrong with Kolarov as a centre back ?

Good defenders can play anywhere in the back four.

I think you've just answered your own question.................

So you think Kolarov is a bad defender ! emmm I don`t agree.

 

[MCFC BOB]

Clichy and Richards were so good against Wigan opinions will be biased in their favor for the near future. Of course they will be that effective against every team we play, right?

:/



This is Bluemoon.

You do realise that some of us have watched more than one city game in our lives?

This is bluemoon

This is like no other forum. This is Bluemoon.

Amazing slogan, that.

 

[gaudinho's stolen car]

Clichy and Richards were so good against Wigan opinions will be biased in their favor for the near future. Of course they will be that effective against every team we play, right?

:/



This is Bluemoon.

You do realise that some of us have watched more than one city game in our lives?

This is bluemoon

This is like no other forum. This is Bluemoon.

Amazing slogan, that.

I read it in Mancini's accent.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

remember when everyone got behind the whole team and supported every breathing member of our squad? good days bad days...just sayin like.

You get behind your team in the stadium. You discuss them on a forum and with other fans. It isn't complicated .

Let me give you an example. I was desperate for our full backs to be changed all match. I discussed it before and during the game with my mates. But I cheered the team, and the fullbacks, on throughout. I clapped off kolorov even though I was delighted he was subbed.

I'm city square after, and on here this week, I discussed how I believed city should have set up.

Thats how being a city fan works to people like me. If you want to burst into a chorus of blue moon on here go for it. But noones listening.

 

[Comrade Buka]

At home now with the promised answer to your post taco.

Hopefully, I don't abuse anyone for agreeing with each other. Mostly I try for dry humor, but the vagaries of the internet defy that at times.

That wasn't directed at you, but since you bring it up - I do recall something about me not being able to read and something about me having some kind of disability. But hey, I am not the one to hold a grudge.

I've never indicated that Nasri, Silva, et al. would not have passed to fullbacks. My assertion is that it would have been much harder to close down on them if our deep-lying players had (or could or whatever conditional verbiage you wish to use) made more incisive passing.

Had we passed more incisively we would have opened them up? No argument from me there. I do think that Mancini's comment after the game: "We need to pass quicker" was a referral to what you are talking about. I can definitely see how giving up some of that 68% possession for a little more daring passing could have paid off. No argument there. Once again, Bobby's responsibility.

The key to Napoli's demise had to be a combination of set pieces as they were willing to hack down when beaten and pulling them out of position.

I doubt a coach relies on set pieces with the quality of players we have. If you are Stoke, maybe. I do however think we should have done better on our free kicks and corners considering the quality of headers we have in our team.

Pulling them out of position. How do you suggest we should have done that, given how extremely disciplined the Napoli defence was?

I do think these are two very separate points, though, and the long-ball subject really has less to do with the Napoli match than the passing. Also, I'm not trying to blame the performance on anyone. I do think we should have started Clichy, but I'm not sure we would have gotten the ball to them any better. That's unknowable, though.

True. Nothing in life is sure. Especially not tactical changes in a football game. However, not having the option to pass to a player who is not there is probably a 100% failure every time you try and make that pass. While if he is there, he is at least an option. Once again, Kolarov put in a total of two (2) crosses during his 74 minutes. Which is embarrassing at best.

Also, I believe Kompany is more comfortable on the ball, than Lescott. I have to admit I cringe every time Lescott has the ball. He treats the ball like a bomb that he wants to get rid of asap. Somebody mentioned his passing ratio was very high, which of course says nothing, since most of his passes are to Kompany or to Hart. Hard to mispass then.

Unless I'm misremembering, our most successful passing duo was Lescott and Kompany to each other. I would prefer that not to be the case. Sometimes our attacks just ground to a halt and I think if we're going to continue to pursue this style and formation, we need to work out how to accomplish that initial pass to get things started against a team so dedicated to having 11 men sitting fairly deep. We'll need our version of Puyol or Pique to initiate that sequence.

Nobody would be happier than me if we had a Pique-ish player in our team. However, that is an irrelevant point, because we don't. So in essence, the problem you have brought up is not solvable with tactical changes. It is a transfer window problem. And that window is shut. So we have to find other tactical ways with the players we have at our disposal, when we face opponents that play like Napoli did yesterday.

Now, to get back to the width issue. Napoli played with a 3-4-3 formation, with the midfielders dropping back into whatever side was under attack. Since we didn't have any wide players nor any decent overlapping runs from our fullbacks, the weapon of getting around the back was never fully exploited. Well, correct that, Johnson and Clichy came on. And I think it is undeniable we looked a lot more like a team with a purpose once Clichy and Johnson started exploiting those wide areas.

With the players on the pitch from start, one solution would have been to have Silva stay mostly to the left, and have him be the winger on that side, a position he is not unfamiliar with from his time in Valencia. Same thing with Nasri. He looked very weak on the left side since he was forced to cut inside every time he was on that flank. And cutting inside was not useful at all yesterday because of the congestion in the middle of the park. Nasri would've been better utilized on the right wing.

Which gets me to the point about the yellow cards I was making earlier.

I did read your post regarding yellow cards. Tactically, that was a beautiful move on Napoli's part. The moment they were beaten they took the man down.

My point wasn't that Napoli sacrificed themselves to stop attacks. I believe any team would do that. My point was that of the 4 yellow cards they got, 3 of them came on their right side, rendering the RM (Maggio), LCB (Aronica, who came over from his LCB position to the RCB position when Aguero charged down to the byline) and (CCB) Cannavaro yellow cards. All 3 yellow cards were given for fouls in pretty much the same spot on the pitch, left side (for us) and in the same situation - trying to get to the byline. Silva once and Aguero twice. All this before half time.

Keep in mind the RM was dropping into the RB position when we attacked on the left side. Now, as a coach, with three opponents in the defence on yellow cards, the "stand-in" RB an RM, does it seem like a good idea to exploit that weakness? If so, how?

 

[taconinja]

At home now with the promised answer to your post taco.

Many thanks.

Hopefully, I don't abuse anyone for agreeing with each other. Mostly I try for dry humor, but the vagaries of the internet defy that at times.

That wasn't directed at you, but since you bring it up - I do recall something about me not being able to read and something about me having some kind of disability. But hey, I am not the one to hold a grudge.

That was meant as part of that dry humor. There is no Cabal just as there is no Tubthumpers. Yes, some posters come across as overly negative and some as overly positive. There's no conspiracy. Still if offense was given, apologies are offered.

I've never indicated that Nasri, Silva, et al. would not have passed to fullbacks. My assertion is that it would have been much harder to close down on them if our deep-lying players had (or could or whatever conditional verbiage you wish to use) made more incisive passing.

Had we passed more incisively we would have opened them up? No argument from me there. I do think that Mancini's comment after the game: "We need to pass quicker" was a referral to what you are talking about. I can definitely see how giving up some of that 68% possession for a little more daring passing could have paid off. No argument there. Once again, Bobby's responsibility.

Totally agreed.

The key to Napoli's demise had to be a combination of set pieces as they were willing to hack down when beaten and pulling them out of position.

I doubt a coach relies on set pieces with the quality of players we have. If you are Stoke, maybe. I do however think we should have done better on our free kicks and corners considering the quality of headers we have in our team.

Pulling them out of position. How do you suggest we should have done that, given how extremely disciplined the Napoli defence was?

Not relies, but when you have an opponent so organized defensively who are willing to commit fouls and take cards, set pieces are going to be an important factor, and it's not just direct kicks on goal either. There needs to be a plan for when set pieces occur.

I do think these are two very separate points, though, and the long-ball subject really has less to do with the Napoli match than the passing. Also, I'm not trying to blame the performance on anyone. I do think we should have started Clichy, but I'm not sure we would have gotten the ball to them any better. That's unknowable, though.

True. Nothing in life is sure. Especially not tactical changes in a football game. However, not having the option to pass to a player who is not there is probably a 100% failure every time you try and make that pass. While if he is there, he is at least an option. Once again, Kolarov put in a total of two (2) crosses during his 74 minutes. Which is embarrassing at best.

Also, I believe Kompany is more comfortable on the ball, than Lescott. I have to admit I cringe every time Lescott has the ball. He treats the ball like a bomb that he wants to get rid of asap. Somebody mentioned his passing ratio was very high, which of course says nothing, since most of his passes are to Kompany or to Hart. Hard to mispass then.

I find nothing in that I disagree with.

Unless I'm misremembering, our most successful passing duo was Lescott and Kompany to each other. I would prefer that not to be the case. Sometimes our attacks just ground to a halt and I think if we're going to continue to pursue this style and formation, we need to work out how to accomplish that initial pass to get things started against a team so dedicated to having 11 men sitting fairly deep. We'll need our version of Puyol or Pique to initiate that sequence.

Nobody would be happier than me if we had a Pique-ish player in our team. However, that is an irrelevant point, because we don't. So in essence, the problem you have brought up is not solvable with tactical changes. It is a transfer window problem. And that window is shut. So we have to find other tactical ways with the players we have at our disposal, when we face opponents that play like Napoli did yesterday.

Now, to get back to the width issue. Napoli played with a 3-4-3 formation, with the midfielders dropping back into whatever side was under attack. Since we didn't have any wide players nor any decent overlapping runs from our fullbacks, the weapon of getting around the back was never fully exploited. Well, correct that, Johnson and Clichy came on. And I think it is undeniable we looked a lot more like a team with a purpose once Clichy and Johnson started exploiting those wide areas.

With the players on the pitch from start, one solution would have been to have Silva stay mostly to the left, and have him be the winger on that side, a position he is not unfamiliar with from his time in Valencia. Same thing with Nasri. He looked very weak on the left side since he was forced to cut inside every time he was on that flank. And cutting inside was not useful at all yesterday because of the congestion in the middle of the park. Nasri would've been better utilized on the right wing.

Which gets me to the point about the yellow cards I was making earlier.

I don't think it's irrelevant. That's what I mean when I say Mancini needs to do a better job in that instance finding a system that suits the personnel available. I sincerely wish we had no injuries to have dealt with as I think our line up would have been much different.

I did read your post regarding yellow cards. Tactically, that was a beautiful move on Napoli's part. The moment they were beaten they took the man down.

My point wasn't that Napoli sacrificed themselves to stop attacks. I believe any team would do that. My point was that of the 4 yellow cards they got, 3 of them came on their right side, rendering the RM (Maggio), LCB (Aronica, who came over from his LCB position to the RCB position when Aguero charged down to the byline) and (CCB) Cannavaro yellow cards. All 3 yellow cards were given for fouls in pretty much the same spot on the pitch, left side (for us) and in the same situation - trying to get to the byline. Silva once and Aguero twice. All this before half time.

Keep in mind the RM was dropping into the RB position when we attacked on the left side. Now, as a coach, with three opponents in the defence on yellow cards, the "stand-in" RB an RM, does it seem like a good idea to exploit that weakness? If so, how?

It is, but it looked as if the referee was reluctant to give that second yellow and Napoli was only going to make those tackles when they absolutely had to do so.

In the final summary, I think if Milner or De Jong had been healthy we would have played much more to the flanks and I think in that case, Clichy would have started at least. I'm still unsure why Mancini didn't have Nasri and Silva flip sides more often.

 

[Comrade Buka]

That was meant as part of that dry humor. There is no Cabal just as there is no Tubthumpers. Yes, some posters come across as overly negative and some as overly positive. There's no conspiracy. Still if offense was given, apologies are offered.

Like I said, I hold no grudges. Accepted.

Not relies, but when you have an opponent so organized defensively who are willing to commit fouls and take cards, set pieces are going to be an important factor, and it's not just direct kicks on goal either. There needs to be a plan for when set pieces occur.

Agreed.

I don't think it's irrelevant. That's what I mean when I say Mancini needs to do a better job in that instance finding a system that suits the personnel available. I sincerely wish we had no injuries to have dealt with as I think our line up would have been much different.

What I meant is we have no Pique-ish CB in our team, hence the call for better passing from the CB's is not solvable.

It is, but it looked as if the referee was reluctant to give that second yellow and Napoli was only going to make those tackles when they absolutely had to do so.

A second yellow for any of the warned players or reluctance to tackle. Both obvious advantages we should have exploited with more balls played on the left wing.

In the final summary, I think if Milner or De Jong had been healthy we would have played much more to the flanks and I think in that case, Clichy would have started at least.

I am not sure I follow your reasoning there.

I'm still unsure why Mancini didn't have Nasri and Silva flip sides more often.

Hand in glove in regard to the yellow card situation.

Since I was pretty adamant about the, shall we say strange, decision to play Zabaleta and Kolarov instead of Clichy and Richards in the fullback positions I compiled all the crosses from Zab and Kolarov.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab3oW_b4wDU[/youtube]

 

[taconinja]

In regards to my comment about Milner and De Jong, I think that if one of them was playing in place of either Barry or Yaya, we would have seen a different flow of play. De Jong would have freed up the other holding midfielder and protected better on the counters. Milner is very suited to getting the balls out to the flanks from a central position. I'm not saying Barry or Yaya had a bad game, but that their play is more suited to moving the ball through the middle.

 

[Joga Bonito]

He might have got the goal but he's still the weak link. We all know he can't defend but seriously what does he offer going forward as well?

Gives the ball away every time, shoots when he should pass (and that ends up in row Z), can't tackle, always out of position.

Clichy and Zab from now on, give Kolarov a go in the Carling Cup or something.

He's the weak link and we all know it, not good enough for us now.

Hes one of the best weve had, get a grip you whinging tit

This.

Excellent player, Mancini even used him on the left wing instead of full-back last season, now who I am to listen to, a world-class manager or some numpty?

 

[Mancio]

He might have got the goal but he's still the weak link. We all know he can't defend but seriously what does he offer going forward as well?

Gives the ball away every time, shoots when he should pass (and that ends up in row Z), can't tackle, always out of position.

Clichy and Zab from now on, give Kolarov a go in the Carling Cup or something.

He's the weak link and we all know it, not good enough for us now.

Hes one of the best weve had, get a grip you whinging tit

This.

Excellent player, Mancini even used him on the left wing instead of full-back last season, now who I am to listen to, a world-class manager or some numpty?

this.

and add to this that i would like to see which manager in an home game against a defensive italian side where you can expect to get a lot free kicks and corners would renounce to a player with the left foot kolarov has