LAWRO / CITY fragile and easy to beat

[mcfc_nick]

With our history, anyone who bets against us is a fool!

(and so is anyone who bets on us)

so you're backing a draw then!

 

[mcfc_nick]

I don't know why everyone has written us off. I know the table doesn't lie but i honestly think if you take out Gerrard, Torres (and to some extent Carragher and Reina) you've got a team about as good as West Ham, or Fulham. With Gerrard and Alonso missing I really think we can get something.

As Hughes rightly pointed out, they aren't going to sit back at home, and with space behind the defence to exploit I really think we will make a fair few chances. Not having the presence upfront shouldn't matter too much, Carragher is pretty slow for a centre back, so one through ball played through their high line to Bellamy, Robinho or SWP will lead to a clear cut chance for sure.
I think this is going to be our best chance to get points away against any of the bigger teams in the premiership, I'm going for a city victory. If we do get annihilated then I'll stop voicing my opinion.

But I think we're going to do well away from home on Sunday (I know that claim sounds pretty riduclous).

swp suspended!

 

[The GO4T]

5-0

 

[DIEHARDMCFAN]

Having no physical presenece up front is a poor excuse in my opinion ...... how much height or physical presence up front did the all conquering Brazilian side of 1970 have ?

Yet they had little trouble did they ?

Or in maintaining a 'presence' up front ...... because their skilful players were both diminutive and elusive ..... and they merely played to their strengths!


It's all about moving the ball at speed on the floor , running positively OFF the ball , accurate first-time passing , knowing when to release the ball , and playing to your strengths ....... you don't need height to do that , but you do need skill and good judgement ...... and it's that what City lack , we don't have enough of it ...... that's why far too many of our passes go astray , and far too many of our forward moves break down !

Liverpool may well get the better of us .... even if we match them for effort , their superior passing movements might well wear us down ....... but City really need to wake up or we'll never win an away game anywhere , ever again!

A lack of focus , and a lack of concentration cost us bigtime both at Fratton Park , and in Copenhagen last night ....... Hughes says he was 'happy' with the draw , but he sure as hell didn't look to be on the telly ....... it's an excuse , like all the others , and he's got to sort this lot out!

To be honest you beat me to a similar thought I had, just reading the OP. Our main problem isn't defence OR attack, it's the middle. Believe it or not(and believe me I can't believe I'm saying this, but...) we could do with a *choke!* Joey Barton type player willing to drive through midfields and take the battle to teams, rather than keep playing possession sideways to right backs or left backs that tend to pass it inside to CBs who then either pass it to the keeper or pump it forward themselves!! What's the fooking point of that happening all the time??

Kompany, De Jong and, to some degree Zabaleta, are all SIMILAR type players in the middle of the park. It's frustrating to watch. It's only Zabs, of late, that has made the effort to cross in the opposition's last third. That's not good enough.

If Hughes WANTS his two def mids, then he'll have go 3 at the back and allow a creative mid in front of the def mids, cos he HAS to get more creative up front, in my eyes. Ireland or Elano for that position.

Bigga wrote:
To be honest you beat me to a similar thought I had, just reading the OP. Our main problem isn't defence OR attack, it's the middle. Believe it or not(and believe me I can't believe I'm saying this, but...) we could do with a *choke!* Joey Barton type player willing to drive through midfields and take the battle to teams, rather than keep playing possession sideways to right backs or left backs that tend to pass it inside to CBs who then either pass it to the keeper or pump it forward themselves!! What's the fooking point of that happening all the time??

Kompany, De Jong and, to some degree Zabaleta, are all SIMILAR type players in the middle of the park. It's frustrating to watch. It's only Zabs, of late, that has made the effort to cross in the opposition's last third. That's not good enough.

If Hughes WANTS his two def mids, then he'll have go 3 at the back and allow a creative mid in front of the def mids, cos he HAS to get more creative up front, in my eyes. Ireland or Elano for that position.



Agreed ..... i do like Kompany , he was argueably our best player last night , and is excellent at breaking up play , and he plays a mean pass too on occasion .

Zabaletas move to midfield has been a revelation ..... he gave Copenhagen problems all night with his moves into their territory , and he's given us an extra dimension when we go forward ........ although , as with kompany , some of his passing can be wayward at times.

It's all about creating the right combination in midfied , and we really need to be going to places like Anfield with a midfield trio that both compliment each other , and are totally comfortable with each other ...... and most of all that they have the confidence to actually DO what they are good at ...... because that's all that Brazilian midfield did in that great 1970 side , and it's all that the rags do now ....... players like Carrick and Scholes just do the simple things well , but most of all they rarely waste a ball!

Too many sideways or backwards passes at a place like Anfield will eventually land up with you getting caught out ....... City need to move the ball forward with precision and pace before Liverpool manage to break up our play , or snap into the tackle ........ and with the players that liverpool have , and the way they play , we're gonna really need our midfield on song ....... they'll most likely be needed to both provide the odd chances that may fall our way , and also to protect what's likely to be a very busy City back line!

Excellent posts from both of you.

But I've always been optimistic for every games we had been playing since late 70's even though most of the time we were so bad and at the end we lose but as always, thinking of that we can pull it off.

Hopefully, we can replicate 3:1 win at Maine Road back in 81 or 82, not sure of that : )
Reeves, Hartford and Francis scored on that day. How's about Superman, Bell and Robbie on Sunday.

So, Keep the faith and believe till I die.

C'mon City

 

[kippax neil]

5-0

I would of thought that this would have been one game that a rag would actually want us to win.

 

[ancoats]

any info on the ref for the game

this could be the key to us giving them a game
and we need to keep 11 player on the pitch this time

but you just know that they will get every thing being the home team and a top 4 club

sometimes you have to beat the ref in games like this
stay on your feet and dont dive in keep your cool

 

[Falling Star]

any info on the ref for the game

this could be the key to us giving them a game
and we need to keep 11 player on the pitch this time

but you just know that they will get every thing being the home team and a top 4 club

sometimes you have to beat the ref in games like this
stay on your feet and dont dive in keep your cool

Phil Dowd apparently.

He's had his moments with Liverpool but I don't think it has to be a top 4 club that gets decisions as you say, its just a fact that the team that does most of the attacking and has most of the possession will inevitably win more free kicks etc, surprised you can't see that. Unfortunately its the main reason why the rags are famous for getting a lot of decisions, they usually have the ball a lot more than their opponents although they do seem to get an uncomfortably large amount of strange decisions than they probably should. I admit that the chances of a pen at the Kop end are probably more likely than at the Anfield Road End but I don't know the stats and Liverpool teams have long since chosen to attack the Kop during the 2nd half so the stats would be misguided anyway. Every team has their own 'divers' and Liverpool are no different but if you're suggesting they 'will get everything being the home team' then surely the same happens when City play at COMS?

Its been a while since I came on this excellent forum (grovel grovel) and I will promise to come back on tomorrow night whatever the result. I think the game could be very close and City have a chance of picking up a point or maybe even more with Gerrard injured and Alonso suspended, both big misses for Liverpool. I expect City will have a lot more possession than they would normally expect in this fixture so maybe the foul count will be closer than usual and it could well depend on how they use that extra time with the ball. May the best team win

 

[Falling Star]

Lol, I just love Lawrenson being proved wrong! Fair result in my opinion really despite Liverpool having the better of the territory, possession, goal attempts etc, you'd expect that from a home side supposedly chasing the title (ho hum). I thought the best chance and even the best move of the game was Ireland and Robinho's crossfield link-up that resulted in Irelands unfathomable back-pass to Reina when every man and his dog expected the net to be shaking! I thought City competed well although lets not forget that Stoke, Hull, Fulham and West Ham have all grinded out a point at Anfield this season. good Luck for the rest of the season, especially the derby ;-)

Just one more thing. Despite grovelly stating that this was an excellent forum (which it is) it really would make sense to have a single pre-match and post-match thread for each match, don't you agree? admin could easily make it the official match thread and sticky it until the day after the game and that would stop casual users like me having to trawl through page after page of repeat thread subjects. Just a thought..........

 

[Bigga]

Well, in spite of not exactly using a creative midfielder in the role that myself and Black Mamba talked of, the second half proved how correct we were!

I really should be an advisor/ manager!!

 

[ancoats]

how wrong was lawro (fragile and easy to beat) well that must be the report about liverpool

even without SWP we played very well

good thing are starting to happen at man city

the next couple of weeks we could have petrov back aswell

think it would be so great to see two wingers playing