Manuel Pellegrini (cont)

[flb]

Apologies to all if I display tactical naivety but just a comment about James Milner.

There seems to be a feeling that from a pure football point of view he is not in the same class as some of our 'stars'. Yet he appears to be valuable to the team for his tireless work rate.

If this is the case my question is why the other players cannot work in a similar way. We saw all the Barca players working tirelessly when they lost the ball recently so perhaps I should be asking why all our players seem unable to be as hard working ?.

Bingo

 

[robbieh]

While I agree with his shaking up/refreshing of the team for the Leicester game and also going 4-4-2 for the game (we shouldnt need to defend that much against the bottom of the league team) I think tonight highlighted how in fact weak our 4-4-2 set up is as Leicester on a number of occasions had far too much space to run into in front of our back 4......if Leicester can do it then better teams will and have certainly punished us.....we dont have the players to play 4-4-2 against decent opposition...fine against the likes of Leicester as we should still overpower them but not against the bigger teams and here in lies the criticism of Pellers - he doesnt adapt at all to the opposition in front of him hence why we struggle against better teams.......

intresting that tonight that once we went 4-5-1, Leicester didnt have one opportunity that i can remember to run straight at our two centre halves....it happened on 2-3 occasions in the first half however.

it happened in the second half too we was too open yaya is not a def midfielder he should be further up with silva n nasri n keep the two ferns infront of the back four

it did happen in the second half you are right but not after we went to 5 in midfield...the only chance then was when they hit the post which was all down to a dreadful Kolorov clearance from a hopeful cross from the right hand side...

It used to do my head in when needing another goal Mancini just used to put another forward on. Texez, Kun, Balo and Edin all getting in each others way. While Leicester are a weaker team than most and come to park the bus, it is not playing an extra striker that will break them down, especially as ours normally don't connect that well. We are a team where midfield is key. No surprise that even playing Milner up front we created plenty of chances in December with a 5 man midfield.

There is no point playing 2 strikers in any game. Especially as for us this usually means carnage defensively.

 

[flb]

There seems to be something going on in the background at City, or so it appears.

Baffling squad selection last night as many have said, Navas out Navas in, Ditto Fernandinho & Nasri

And the biggest one for me is Kolorov over Clichy- i will never ever understand how that lazy cigar smoking shit pulls on a blue shirt ever regardless of who we are playing.

Its not having a dig at Manuel here but what the fuck is he doing?

There was nothing baffling at all. All straightforward. It was just a matter of time before we broke down a very poor but very defensive side

The only thing slightly different was that Bony played right up front and Aguero dropped deeper. I'm not sure that worked for Aguero but it certainly worked for Bony who could have scored a few. He didn't have his shooting boots on, but with a bit of confidence he could have bagged a few.

The only downside of the night was that Bony did not score and that the other teams at the top all won

The game was fifty fifty until Silva's goal, they had there moments Marvin like the Bony penalty that could so easily have been given-they are a very poor side but they waltzed through our midfield at times, made worse by Kolorov ambling back after he had put yet another shit ball into the box and lost possesion putting more pressure on the defence.

 

[simon23]

it happened in the second half too we was too open yaya is not a def midfielder he should be further up with silva n nasri n keep the two ferns infront of the back four

it did happen in the second half you are right but not after we went to 5 in midfield...the only chance then was when they hit the post which was all down to a dreadful Kolorov clearance from a hopeful cross from the right hand side...

It used to do my head in when needing another goal Mancini just used to put another forward on. Texez, Kun, Balo and Edin all getting in each others way. While Leicester are a weaker team than most and come to park the bus, it is not playing an extra striker that will break them down, especially as ours normally don't connect that well. We are a team where midfield is key. No surprise that even playing Milner up front we created plenty of chances in December with a 5 man midfield.

There is no point playing 2 strikers in any game. Especially as for us this usually means carnage defensively.

yeah i was thinking that but it also worked ok tonight with the two strikers.....i did think that maybe fernandihnio would have been a better choice than fernando purely becuase he is also capable of picking a delicate pass out when needed whereas fernando isnt and I knew that Leicester would pack the defense ....bony gave us an aerial threat and a hold up /link as well so not too bothered witht he two striker approach for this game....in other games though i completely agree with you

 

[flb]

Changes are going to be made this summer and some big names are going to be upset.

They possibly already know, hence them not ripping up many trees of late?

I just think it's a natural evolution mate. Teams work in cycles, and this team has been together for a quite a few years now. They are also getting on in age as well. It sort of makes sense that they aren't quite as hungry as consistently as they have been previously. And also it's worth baring in mind that a lot of what we're currently seeing was there in Mancini's title winning season too. This group of players has always had the capacity, even the top ones including Kun and Silva, to pick and choose when they want to put the work in.

For me I think there will be a rebuild this summer, but I think that it's something that will suit everyone involved including the players who are moving to new pastures for new motivations.

Agree completely, especially the comment on Silva for whom no matter how good he is, can switch it on and off like a tap sometimes.

If anyone affords the luxury of switching on and off at times its him and Kun, they are the only real consistent players the club has who put the effort in week in week out.

 

[blueinsa]

I just think it's a natural evolution mate. Teams work in cycles, and this team has been together for a quite a few years now. They are also getting on in age as well. It sort of makes sense that they aren't quite as hungry as consistently as they have been previously. And also it's worth baring in mind that a lot of what we're currently seeing was there in Mancini's title winning season too. This group of players has always had the capacity, even the top ones including Kun and Silva, to pick and choose when they want to put the work in.

For me I think there will be a rebuild this summer, but I think that it's something that will suit everyone involved including the players who are moving to new pastures for new motivations.

Agree completely, especially the comment on Silva for whom no matter how good he is, can switch it on and off like a tap sometimes.

If anyone affords the luxury of switching on and off at times its him and Kun, they are the only real consistent players the club has who put the effort in week in week out.

I get what you are saying but to go on and become a truly great side, there can be no passengers at all. For me there must be a frustration for players like Kun and Merlin at the moment though having to play with players not giving everything or in a few cases, unable to due to not being good enough.

 

[flb]

Agree completely, especially the comment on Silva for whom no matter how good he is, can switch it on and off like a tap sometimes.

If anyone affords the luxury of switching on and off at times its him and Kun, they are the only real consistent players the club has who put the effort in week in week out.

I get what you are saying but to go on and become a truly great side, there can be no passengers at all. For me there must be a frustration for players like Kun and Merlin at the moment though having to play with players not giving everything or in a few cases, unable to due to not being good enough.

Perhaps they are fed up of doing more than the lions share of work?

It all comes down to pressing fella, some do some dont.

 

[flb]

Its for these reasons that they should give Milner what he wishes, Navas bless him presses well and covers the overlapping fullbacks its just he's limited going forward.

2 top drawer midfielders would do for starters-would transform this team and its whole outlook.

 

[blueparrot]

Its for these reasons that they should give Milner what he wishes, Navas bless him presses well and covers the overlapping fullbacks its just he's limited going forward.

2 top drawer midfielders would do for starters-would transform this team and its whole outlook.

2 top drawer midfielders would prevent Milner getting what he wants, a regular start in a central position.

 

[flb]

Its for these reasons that they should give Milner what he wishes, Navas bless him presses well and covers the overlapping fullbacks its just he's limited going forward.

2 top drawer midfielders would do for starters-would transform this team and its whole outlook.

2 top drawer midfielders would prevent Milner getting what he wants, a regular start in a central position.

he may still get his wish-all depends on the upcoming window, depends who goes, Manuel keeps saying he wants him to stay and keeps playing him.