Lack of pace on the wings

HorlocksWalk said:
Does "Typical City" ever end? We add a phenomenal world class striker to our team and end up worse.
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Don't forget Julian Alvarez, another potential 'phenomenon' who won't want to play second fiddle to the likes of Grealish, Mahrez and Palmer for too long. Pep has to work out how to fit him into this season's misfiring team as soon as possible.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Alvarez sold off at a huge profit off the back of his World Cup exploits. To be honest, it wouldn't come as any shock to me if that was the club's plan when he was signed (like with Ferran Torres)

Tactically, it seems that Pep + strikers may not necessarily be a good mix.
 
Tricky_Trev said:
If anything, is Bellingham the eventual KDB replacement? With Gundo & Bernardo leaving soon, it’s easy to think Jude would be replacing one of them, but considering how few risky players Pep is happy to field at once, plus the declining energy of KDB, signing and energetic midfielder that doesn’t really offer control like Gundo or Bernardo kind of feels like Kevin’s replacement. Just with a handover period of a few years.
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I think it more than likely. He's more a Robson-type player, running in to the box and playing a short pass on the 18-yard-box.

The good thing is his appetite and physicality to get back on the cover, so perhaps he covers a few attributes we need?
 
Cityinmyheart said:
Pep went From Robben & Ribbery at Bayern (both fast) to Sane and Sterling (Both fast and integral part to our unforgettable centurian season where I believe we played our best football under Pep albiet chaotic but entertaining nonetheless) to Mahrez and Grealish ( total cost of £160 million, slow and with no x factor as the wingers mentioned above). Will never understand why.
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Fear of the counter attack is the only thing I can think of. Also maybe not having the ideal full backs ?? Clutching at straws tbh me!
 
How do people see Cole Palmer's prospects? But for some poor finishing, I thought he was very good against Liverpool. He is 21 in May and you can't help but feel he's getting to make-or-break time. I'd hate to think he won't make it with us.

He's quicker than Mahrez and Grealish and plays out wide. Is his inferior ball retention holding him back?
 
Rammy Blue said:
I find it utterly bizarre that we’ve left ourselves in this current situation, was it just negligence because we were so concentrated on getting Erling through the door?

Gomez, waste of time, may as well cut our losses and shift him out to a CFG team and at least get an experienced left back through the door until we have time to spend big on a decent young left back.

Gundo coming to end of career, we are talking about pace in this thread, so no way can we carry Kev and Gundo in a midfield 3 any more, certainly can’t be starting games. Out of contract in summer.

Bernie wants to go, seems like we may be getting a period of not playing to max now as way of ensuring he definitely gets his move.

Kev has to be managed, ridiculous to have expected him to play these 3 games in a week, but we should have players around him freeing him up.

Mahrez, no chance of getting rid, but he should just be a bench player for us.

Grealish, imo, looks and will continue to look average until we get a proper let back so that he can come inside and stop hugging that left touchline.

Need to let a couple of the centre halves go, hopefully Laporte will go to Spain so we can get decent money for him, then we need to get someone like Gvardiol in.

Some serious work on the squad to be done to get pace and energy into the side - I think we need to let Gundo and Bernie go, get Bellingham in.

Top of list also needs to be a rapid winger, hopefully the rumours about Leao are true.
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I have a really bad feeling that if both Bernardo and Gundogan go one of their replacements might be Maddison of Leicester. The way Pep talks about him is the same way he talked about Grealish when Grealish was at Villa.
 
I think Madrid has affected pep alot more than we think, hes constantly wanting/talking about transitions that's why he plays Grealish and Mahrez as wingers so we can control play. So he doesn't want to take those risks of a team breaking with their counter attack.
 
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Tricky_Trev said:
If anything, is Bellingham the eventual KDB replacement? With Gundo & Bernardo leaving soon, it’s easy to think Jude would be replacing one of them, but considering how few risky players Pep is happy to field at once, plus the declining energy of KDB, signing and energetic midfielder that doesn’t really offer control like Gundo or Bernardo kind of feels like Kevin’s replacement. Just with a handover period of a few years.
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Bellingham's one of worst trait is his passing and vision. he is nowhere close to being KDB's replacement. that would be foolish thing to do.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Agreed. I also think the Club are making a decision on Laporte.

I do like Henry at Brentford. He always seems to have a decent game?

If we are not careful, we will get caught dozing at the wheel if Arsenal can add to their young mix and the likes of Chelsea going balls out on Nkuku and Fernandez?

Irony, the way we play, Rice would be more suited alongside Rodri than Bellingham?
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rice is shit sorry. man literally hides from the ball. that last person to think of as a pep midfielder.
 
We’re currently second on foot of an extremely disjointed season and we happen to be up against an Arsenal side that has hit their straps early and are full of confidence but doom and gloom levels are off the charts.

Seems like a lot of supporters have short memories, Pep has constantly changed our team as other clubs have adapted to us. He has so far always managed to stay well ahead but there are far too many on here who seem to know better.

We lost to Brentford while our entire squad was looking at Qatar, we dropped points to Everton, playing poorly in miserable conditions. I see KDB is being moved towards the knackers yard for a poor game despite the fact he should have had 2 assists (Stones and Rodri).

Our team is in a bit of flux at the moment, we miss Dias leadership, Walker’s pace, we have few players in the departure lounge and so far haven’t mixed control with intensity but we’ve been champions 4 times in the last 5 seasons. We have the muscle memory of winners, we just need a little spark. Hopefully that comes on Thursday.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Would like to think so, but the media hype has died down since the World Cup ended.
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In: Gvardiol - leao - Bellingham - Perrone
A left back (dont know) maybe Hernandez
Out: one maybe to centerbacks - Bernie:-(
Gundogan - let mahrez PLAY the cup games… move foden central - PLAY palmer
PLAY with alvarez too
 
Gumzy97 said:
I think Madrid as affected pep alot more than we think, hes constantly wanting/talking about transitions that's why he plays Grealish and Mahrez as wingers so we can control play. So he doesn't want to take those risks of a team breaking with their counter attack.
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We have, and always will be susceptible to transitions and counters. It happened against Everton, no matter how we line up and how much we setup to keep the ball, its literally impossible to keep it for 100% of the time. The most annoying thing is that Everton were not built to counter us, he made changes to get some pace on so they could do just that. But if Pep had setup to use some width and even have and attacking fullbacks to overlap, more than likely we would have been a couple goals up at least. He wants control, which i understand, but surely its better to get the goals and then go for control to close the game out. The less we talk about Pep complaining of only being able to use 3 subs (even though he can use 5 now) and then not using fucking any of them till 85th minute, the better.
 
pavelsrnicek said:
We’re currently second on foot of an extremely disjointed season and we happen to be up against an Arsenal side that has hit their straps early and are full of confidence but doom and gloom levels are off the charts.

Seems like a lot of supporters have short memories, Pep has constantly changed our team as other clubs have adapted to us. He has so far always managed to stay well ahead but there are far too many on here who seem to know better.

We lost to Brentford while our entire squad was looking at Qatar, we dropped points to Everton, playing poorly in miserable conditions. I see KDB is being moved towards the knackers yard for a poor game despite the fact he should have had 2 assists (Stones and Rodri).

Our team is in a bit of flux at the moment, we miss Dias leadership, Walker’s pace, we have few players in the departure lounge and so far haven’t mixed control with intensity but we’ve been champions 4 times in the last 5 seasons. We have the muscle memory of winners, we just need a little spark. Hopefully that comes on Thursday.
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Very well said.

When you are as successful as we have been (and make no mistake, we have raised the bar in English football to stratospheric new heights), it is so easy to catastrophise everything that doesn't meet those high standards. We have been here before and come through similar challenges. We need good leadership but also to trust ourselves and what made us good in the first place. I think we'd all agree that we haven't been playing consistently well since probably Southampton at home, but some of our football prior to that was scintillating.

We have a few issues around the balance of the squad and the potential for big changes in the midfield in the coming year or so. Nevertheless, we have a magnificent scouting setup, an academy that is starting to bear fruit, and owners with unrelenting ambition to be the best.

Arsenal, to their credit, have been pulsating this season. They have a record of W14, D1, L1. Most seasons would see them top of the league with a record like that. If they win it, they deserve it. We can't, and won't, win it every year.

But remember this - we've chased and hunted before. When all has seemed lost, we've gone on ball-busting runs that have catapulted us to success. We can do it again. We can.
 
applejuice said:
We started Mahrez Palmer Grealish and Alvarez and we had a fast and entertaining match vs Chelsea...

It is really not about the wingers.

We started Foden vs Brentford and it was bad as well.

As long as we start 3 CB at the back with 1 reverted fullback it really does not matter who is on the wing...
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I'm not a fan of this inverted FB either. I personally think it's a needless gimmick. Pep is hell bent on doing this so get used to it. Call it whatever but it basically amounts to playing a FB in midfield in a 3-4-3 or a 3-2-2-3. If you're going to do that why not just play a real midfielder as the extra guy in the middle of the park? Teams have seen it and it doesn't seem to have troubled anyone with any great effect. It has kept us from keeping clean sheets, that I can say...
 
A reporter commenting on Arsenal's win at Brighton said "Arsenal, from the first whistle came out of the blocks like a house on fire" didn't we play like that once?
 
Gumzy97 said:
I have a really bad feeling that if both Bernardo and Gundogan go one of their replacements might be Maddison of Leicester. The way Pep talks about him is the same way he talked about Grealish when Grealish was at Villa.
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I'd be happy with that. Maddison is the best available, has great vision, passing and dead-ball delivery.
Why would you not be happy with that; what gives you a bad feeling about him?
 
stan bowles said:
Grealish is perfect for the risk averse style we've adopted. Defences are happy for him to have as many touches as he likes as he very rarely threatens and his finishing is weak. It's a tough watch against a low block.
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Agreed that's how it looks, but paying £100m for a player who receives the ball on the touch line, shields it a little and rolls it back to a full back.... bit strange all round - i never thought he had that much more in him. At Villa he ran a bit with it, but he hardly scored..or assisted, hey hardly scored..came in at an age when a £100m player should be a world beater - he isn't and wasn't..hardly got an international cao..£100m seems a really really strange buy...great agent though
 
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