New Formation

Didsbury Dave said:
I think Pep has us playing in a new formation. I think we saw it an Ipswich and again today. It’s hard to describe without a tactics board but I’ll try. He’s abandoned the whole inverted fullbacks thing and has us set up with 2 centre halves, two full backs who hog the touch line and push forward right up the pitch like wing backs. We have two holding midfielders like a classic 4231 but with Bernado dropping back to join the two to make it a 3 when we are playing out from the back. Our attacking wide players (today Mamoush and foden) tuck in closer to Haaland leaving the wings for the full backs. It worked a treat, stretching Chelsea and giving us options when we sprung their high line with a ball over the top. I’m going to try to draw it here.

Ederson
New guy Akanji
Kovacic. Gundo
Nunes Bernardo Guardiol
Foden. new guy
Haaland

I liked it a lot and it was the perfect way to play Chelsea’s system. A masterclass from the master himself.
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Well said, Pep.
 
uwerosler28 said:
No arguement that he's not doing a good job but there is still a needs for a specialist in my opinion, hence the chase for cambiaso.
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If we got Cambiaso tomorrow, I think he would play RB leaving Josko where he is.
 
117 M34 said:
Bernardo was very deep in the 1st half. Almost playing centre half
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He’s done that a few times for us, most prominent in my mind was away at United (Grealish; Fernandes, Rashford 2-1 defeat game).
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I think Pep has us playing in a new formation. I think we saw it an Ipswich and again today. It’s hard to describe without a tactics board but I’ll try. He’s abandoned the whole inverted fullbacks thing and has us set up with 2 centre halves, two full backs who hog the touch line and push forward right up the pitch like wing backs. We have two holding midfielders like a classic 4231 but with Bernado dropping back to join the two to make it a 3 when we are playing out from the back. Our attacking wide players (today Mamoush and foden) tuck in closer to Haaland leaving the wings for the full backs. It worked a treat, stretching Chelsea and giving us options when we sprung their high line with a ball over the top. I’m going to try to draw it here.

Ederson
New guy Akanji
Kovacic. Gundo
Nunes Bernardo Guardiol
Foden. new guy
Haaland

I liked it a lot and it was the perfect way to play Chelsea’s system. A masterclass from the master himself.
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Indeed, spot on that DD.

Pundits and fans of other clubs say he’s not been able to coach us out of our slump, but he’s brought fresh tactics to us again.
 
Mad Eyed Screamer said:
It was like watching Wimbledon today! Hoof it up to Haaland - and boy did it work!
Route one here we come!
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It's a no brainer v anyone with a high line. Gundo, Bernado and Kova should be able to dink/loft a ball 25 yards to Haaland, Marmoush, Kev or one of the full backs. I'm a happy clapper, but after 10 mins yesterday it was patently obvious this was the tactic, and I might have shouted such a few times from SS2!
 
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I told Pep weeks ago that he had to go 'back to basics' to settle the wobble
That included full backs concentrating on fullbacking and not pissing about in midfield. I pointed out to him that we have a massive, strong centre forward and some long balls wouldn't go amiss. We were to predictable and the opposition wouldn't expect it.
if the players are unsure and short of confidence then keep things simple for them.
 
Honestly route one to Haaland is just lethal. He's absolutely unplayable when he has a defender isolated against him. I'm all for it. Despite the success it's brought us I've never personally liked the short passing slow build up style. Fast transitions are much more entertaining to watch.

Would be very interesting to see what a full send Savinho-Marmoush-Haaland-Doku front 4 would look like. I wouldn't fancy it as an opposition defender anyway!
 
Loving this punt and jump Wimbledonesque style with some cultured football thrown in every now and again to surprise the opposition. Pep needs to start wearing his flat cap again -and needs to buy himself a whippet.
 
I did notice this shape but I wonder if it had much more to do with the personnel available to us than "trying something new". No Savinho or Doku meant that we had to do something else to create width.

But it was quite novel and ended up in the crazy situation for our first goal where the two full-backs were combining like centre forwards.

Also, a lot has been made of the "route one" football - as if that is now what we're going to be doing all the time. But the key to making that work is the variety. Playing both direct and possession-based football dependent on the situation is a nightmare to defend against. We've done this plenty of times before. We're not suddenly becoming an up-market Stoke.
 
The Chelsea game was a big result and one of our best performances of the season but I foresee a problem in replicating that. I anticipated that Marmoush would play as a wide forward in the Mahrez role but instead he played like an inside forward. Against Chelsea we used full-backs for width but are our full-backs good enough for this role?

Gvardiol was brilliant vs Chelsea, but he did his best work cutting inside and bursting through the centre. He isn't very good in my opinion at overlapping on the left. He is too slow to do it.

At right back, Nunes is also substandard. He can not defend properly. He switches off, and offensively he doesn't know when to attack the box. He's been a very poor signing and is still struggling. He was more prominent against Chelsea because we were playing with full backs but ask yourself whether he excelled defensively, or offensively, and the answer was he did neither. He simply featured a lot in the play.

Khusanov looks very raw. He's very fast. I noticed that on one recovery run in the 2nd half but can he attack a penalty area overlapping on the right? We have no idea. Probably not.

City's squad is still not fit for purpose because it does not give Pep the flexibility to change systems if he wants to, and i question the wisdom of signing 2 young players in Khusanov and Reis. It may work in the long term but what can they give us this season? I can't see either substituting for Kyle Walker as a right back. I think Khusanov's role will be as central defensive cover. That is something but it's a bit unrealistic to expect either player to contribute much this season. If they do, it will be because Stones gets injured again.

The next league game is Arsenal (a). They have Martinelli and Trossard on their left. I think Pep would be brave / foolhardy to play Nunes and Khusanov as right sided defenders against them.
 
I'm all for anything that stops defenders dithering on the ball in midfield. Akanji, Walker and Lewis were the worst at this. And when they invariably lost the ball through a hospital pass there was no defense behind them.

Against Chelsea Akanji dithered and nearly lost a goal from it. So it's still there.

Imo the secret to our success is our attack. And the secret to our attack is defensive players who move the ball fast and intelligently... especially for great runs. Our defenders have choked creativity for too long. Either play the best attack minded defenders or instruct them to huff because pretending to be able to pass is pointless ... I mean 0 points
 
Marvin. said:
The Chelsea game was a big result and one of our best performances of the season but I foresee a problem in replicating that. I anticipated that Marmoush would play as a wide forward in the Mahrez role but instead he played like an inside forward. Against Chelsea we used full-backs for width but are our full-backs good enough for this role?

Gvardiol was brilliant vs Chelsea, but he did his best work cutting inside and bursting through the centre. He isn't very good in my opinion at overlapping on the left. He is too slow to do it.

At right back, Nunes is also substandard. He can not defend properly. He switches off, and offensively he doesn't know when to attack the box. He's been a very poor signing and is still struggling. He was more prominent against Chelsea because we were playing with full backs but ask yourself whether he excelled defensively, or offensively, and the answer was he did neither. He simply featured a lot in the play.

Khusanov looks very raw. He's very fast. I noticed that on one recovery run in the 2nd half but can he attack a penalty area overlapping on the right? We have no idea. Probably not.

City's squad is still not fit for purpose because it does not give Pep the flexibility to change systems if he wants to, and i question the wisdom of signing 2 young players in Khusanov and Reis. It may work in the long term but what can they give us this season? I can't see either substituting for Kyle Walker as a right back. I think Khusanov's role will be as central defensive cover. That is something but it's a bit unrealistic to expect either player to contribute much this season. If they do, it will be because Stones gets injured again.

The next league game is Arsenal (a). They have Martinelli and Trossard on their left. I think Pep would be brave / foolhardy to play Nunes and Khusanov as right sided defenders against them.
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Interesting take.
All entitled to our opinions but I’ll trust Pep at this moment in time. He’s not infallible but he’s just switched our system/formation based on available players and we’re looking better for it.
We have more injured players coming back.
We look stronger defensively, though admittedly still susceptible to fast transitions.
We genuinely look like a ‘team’ once again. Look at the support to Khusanov, the last ditch tackles, defensive blocks and the desire to get back in position when out of possession. Small shoots of progress but progress all the same.
In our worst season since Pep’s first season we’re 4th, still in FA Cup and Champions League.
Like I said, I trust and put my faith in Pep.
CTID
 
We looked much better for it but we really need to start being better with the ball. All season, without Rodri we have been giving the ball away needlessly. Sometimes it's from running straight into the opposition - Kovacic more often than not, which then leaves us completely exposed defensively. Other times it's due to the CBs bringing the ball forwards and then playing a pass that's only going to lead to trouble. Akanji into Marmoush which Chelsea then slotted straight through the middle for Palmer.

Minor niggles and hopefully it gets better in time. With that last error, Khusanov stepped back playing Palmer onside which is forgiveable considering he is new to the team. What was positive though is the pace he showed to get back and block the cut back from Jackson.

The benefit of the system is that we crowd an area we are weakest in covering energy wise and keep the opposition guessing with the movement off the ball. Gvardiol, Nunes, Marmoush and Haaland were all played in with balls in behind and defensively we were a lot more solid than we have been. Bernardo looked back to his best in that role too.
 
Marvin. said:
It was 4-4-1-1. Good comment though because I definitely noticed a big change in the City tactics vs Chelsea.

Instead of playing with width from 2 wide forwards, we got the width from the 2 full backs. This is why Gvardiol and Nunes were so prominent in the game.

These tactics worked against Chelsea. Gvardiol was able to burst through their high line. I am not sure it will work against most sides. Nunes is playing much better this season if we ignore some mistakes. However, if we played a 442 vs a Crystal Palace or a deep lying defensive side, I don't think it would work. We need specialist full-backs to make this system work. I think Nunes and Khusanov might be able to play right backs but not optimally. I think this is a temporary variation. I could be wrong but definitely one of the major talking points from the Chelsea game.
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Also helped us close down and hunt in packs in central positions..like City used to do
 
supercity88 said:
We looked much better for it but we really need to start being better with the ball. All season, without Rodri we have been giving the ball away needlessly. Sometimes it's from running straight into the opposition - Kovacic more often than not, which then leaves us completely exposed defensively. Other times it's due to the CBs bringing the ball forwards and then playing a pass that's only going to lead to trouble. Akanji into Marmoush which Chelsea then slotted straight through the middle for Palmer.

Minor niggles and hopefully it gets better in time. With that last error, Khusanov stepped back playing Palmer onside which is forgiveable considering he is new to the team. What was positive though is the pace he showed to get back and block the cut back from Jackson.

The benefit of the system is that we crowd an area we are weakest in covering energy wise and keep the opposition guessing with the movement off the ball. Gvardiol, Nunes, Marmoush and Haaland were all played in with balls in behind and defensively we were a lot more solid than we have been. Bernardo looked back to his best in that role too.
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Ball retention is key. Kova wasn't meant to be the main man in CM but more a foil to Rodri.. now he has more responsibility without the talent to play there. Akanji doesn't half make some odd decisions.. love his attitude mind
 
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Marvin. said:
The Chelsea game was a big result and one of our best performances of the season but I foresee a problem in replicating that. I anticipated that Marmoush would play as a wide forward in the Mahrez role but instead he played like an inside forward. Against Chelsea we used full-backs for width but are our full-backs good enough for this role?

Gvardiol was brilliant vs Chelsea, but he did his best work cutting inside and bursting through the centre. He isn't very good in my opinion at overlapping on the left. He is too slow to do it.

At right back, Nunes is also substandard. He can not defend properly. He switches off, and offensively he doesn't know when to attack the box. He's been a very poor signing and is still struggling. He was more prominent against Chelsea because we were playing with full backs but ask yourself whether he excelled defensively, or offensively, and the answer was he did neither. He simply featured a lot in the play.

Khusanov looks very raw. He's very fast. I noticed that on one recovery run in the 2nd half but can he attack a penalty area overlapping on the right? We have no idea. Probably not.

City's squad is still not fit for purpose because it does not give Pep the flexibility to change systems if he wants to, and i question the wisdom of signing 2 young players in Khusanov and Reis. It may work in the long term but what can they give us this season? I can't see either substituting for Kyle Walker as a right back. I think Khusanov's role will be as central defensive cover. That is something but it's a bit unrealistic to expect either player to contribute much this season. If they do, it will be because Stones gets injured again.

The next league game is Arsenal (a). They have Martinelli and Trossard on their left. I think Pep would be brave / foolhardy to play Nunes and Khusanov as right sided defenders against them.
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We have been absolute shite at times this season. Play the same system we have been and Arsenal will turn us over. I see a much bigger advantage in using this system. Of course there are weaknesses but there's more potential to it with the players available than there was in sticking with one so clearly reliant on Rodri.

Haaland terrifies defenders and we don't use him enough at times. Allowing him to attack space stretches the opposition and keeps them guessing. Salina and Gabriel would love him stood in front of them knowing we will never play the ball in behind. Now, not only do they need to worry about that they need to track Marmoush, or Gvardiol or Nunes which means their full backs need to switch on too.

Results might remain mixed, but it's a lot more fun to watch at least! As for the new signings, part of a bigger rebuild. They've got a free pass for the rest of the season, then the CWC and we will add some more in the summer and challenge again next year with Rodders back.
 
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