Missing pace in the side!

[Dax777]

Chelsea haven't anyone who runs at defenders and terrorises them with their pace and yet they seem to have done pretty well over the last few seasons, but the difference is that Chelsea move the ball around at pace

Malouda, Cole, Anelka. Pace throughout that side

Micah is faster than Cole. Balotelli is faster than Anelka. Adam Johson is as fast as Malouda. So is Yaya on his runs.

This pace discussion i a nonstarter. What we lack is pace moving the ball. The whole Dynamo Kiev team lacked individual pace. None could even clearly burn a slow Kolarov. Yet they broke often on counters with quick well structured and rehearsed passes. That is what we lack. Pace of play, and not player pace.

 

[Danamy]

Malouda, Cole, Anelka. Pace throughout that side

Micah is faster than Cole. Balotelli is faster than Anelka. Adam Johson is as fast as Malouda. So is Yaya on his runs.

This pace discussion i a nonstarter. What we lack is pace moving the ball. The whole Dynamo Kiev team lacked individual pace. None could even clearly burn a slow Kolarov. Yet they broke often on counters with quick well structured and rehearsed passes. That is what we lack. Pace of play, and not player pace.

Spot On

We don't switch play quick enough and it takes about three passes to get the ball to where it should of been in one.

It's player movement and picking the right pass at the right time that costs us.

 

[Dax777]

Page 6 of this thread is where the BM knowledge is at.

Where's the pace in Manyoo's team or Arsenals or any other team in the premiership for that matter. It's not about how fast you can run, it's about how fast you can think.

I whole heartedly agree.

We are unbalanced because we've got players who can put a foot on the ball and steady things ie Barry, Yaya and Viera. They don't move the ball quick enough.
We've only got one player who can consistently pick a pass out in Silva.

I slightly disagree. Yaya can pick out passes with the best of them, But he doesnt have the shiftiness of Silva. Thus unlike Silva, he can't move side to side waiting for other players to get open, or create the opening for them. Rather if you move quickly and intelligently, Yaya would find you on a rope. But he never gets credit for it. Instead you hear moans when his pass goes astray. But unfortunately most ignore the fact that the players around him are not moving decisively to get open. Yaya makes Silva better, coz he moves intelligently. Even Vs Kyiv, I remember a Sequence in which Yaya turned around, slipped it to Silva, and in a flash was already on the other side of Silva for a return. This move opened up the left lane for a Yaya pass to Kolarov for a shot from wide left. had the shot not been deflected, it might have been our equalizer. Yaya does this with utmost ease. Yet he gets moaned all day, and called 'mercenary' by fans who think charging at players on defense and getting "stuck in" is the only way of showing team passion. Yes I agree Yaya can do more defensively. But he does so much work hekping keep possesion and ochestrating distribution when compared to the likes of De Jong, Barry, Milner, AJ or SWP, that it is a bit hypocritical to judge passion strictly on what they do most. Sure Yaya could put in some more effort defensively. But so could Barry and De Jong offensively, and Milner & AJ in trying to keep possession.

Silva was poor against Dynamo Kiev, probably the worst he's played for us. Everyone's entitled to an off day. That was the difference between us and DK. They got the ball forward quickly and the ball dropped in our area twice and they scored because they didn't allow our defence to close it down.

Agree! AAnd they didn't use any speedy Gonzalez es to accomplish this.

Although we played better we didn't get the rub of the green because we don't MOVE THE BALL FORWARD quick enough and that's why there's no space for our attackers. It's happened numerous times this season and it's our achilles heel.

The biggest problem is located in defense. We are often dangerous when Kops distributes from the back, or brings it up the middle. But often timid, when Kolarov, Lescott, Kolo, or Zab slap it around in the back, or get it to Tevez too early and then he slows things down.

 

[blueju]

The best Premiership teams perform at a high tempo and constantly have the opposition on the back foot. All the footballing cliche's like defending from the front are true. I dont know how they do it but the rags always have someone out wide unmarked who always recieves the ball then bombs forward with their fullbacks bursting their lungs to get past him. They make it look simple but obviously it isnt as we struggle to pass it further than our nearest player. Compare the amount of short passes we are making at the moment in midfield when we attack before it goes wide to the amount scholes and his buddies make before they hit the wings.
Another problem we have is when the ball does go wide, we then start knocking little short balls backward and forward along the line. Most other teams would have the ball in the box after the second pass. They would have the ball whipped in but our players are happy to play keep ball on the line, whilst the whole of the opposing team stroll back into position and mop up whatever is eventually played into the box.

 

[Dax777]

The best Premiership teams perform at a high tempo and constantly have the opposition on the back foot. All the footballing cliche's like defending from the front are true. I dont know how they do it but the rags always have someone out wide unmarked who always recieves the ball then bombs forward with their fullbacks bursting their lungs to get past him. They make it look simple but obviously it isnt as we struggle to pass it further than our nearest player. Compare the amount of short passes we are making at the moment in midfield when we attack before it goes wide to the amount scholes and his buddies make before they hit the wings.
Another problem we have is when the ball does go wide, we then start knocking little short balls backward and forward along the line. Most other teams would have the ball in the box after the second pass. They would have the ball whipped in but our players are happy to play keep ball on the line, whilst the whole of the opposing team stroll back into position and mop up whatever is eventually played into the box.

Like I said on a thread in the Transfer column, very few City players can put in a consistent cross.

 

[remoh]

Lots of very good points made on this thread. It's clear that many of us can see our problems on the pitch very clearly; it's all so obvious and has been this way for so long now. Why can't Mancini see what is so obvious to all of us?
We need a new manager.

 

[Niall Quinn's lovechild CTID]

Is this Mancini's failing? He is used to the Italian bore fest football played at one pace.

So far not one of his signings has blistering pace, Johnson and Balo are ok but we don't have any pace out wide or up front.

IF we manage top 4 this needs to be addressed badly.

Johnson ok?? Who do you want Usain Bolt on the wing?

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Johnson is a world class England winger, starts for England. Surly that means he has pace! Also Yaya toure is rapid when he gets going...

 

[blueju]

Johnson is quick enough but we use him wrongly. The use of him on the wrong side worked occasionally but how many wingers perform to their utmost cutting in? We also had him playing too deep as we over relied on him protecting the fullback. Again i'll use the rags as the benchmark, how much defending did Giggs, Kanchelskis, Tranny or even Valencia have to do? They are usually found level with the last line of defence ready to set off .

 

[Akira]

We don't need to buy or have someone with pace. It isn't individual pace that our team lacks, it is our passing pace and tempo that have to be addressed.

 

[jsteward]

The midfield lacks change of pacing, it's always at the same speed (Barry-Vieira-DeJong are always rather slow, for example).

But the big mistake is the lack of proper off-the-ball movement. Only two or three of our guys are moving around in attack positions, the rest stay in a sport in case a backpass is needed.