1st sentence is the one thing a lot of fans forget. I wish we would drop this "doomed without Rodri" mindset, he's only played 45 min against Brentford and 20 min against Arsenal, that's on top of other key absences and we haven't lost yet.
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Newcastle United (A) | PL | Post Match Thread
- Thread starter MCFC1993
- Start date
Matt Diablo
Well-Known Member
All day long. We are way too soft in the middle of park atm. I dread the ball being above hip height we lose out almost every time alsoSeems pretty clear to me that opposition teams will be more physical against us this season.
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Matt Diablo
Well-Known Member
Gundog should be a backup only even if Rodri is outExplain where he fits in midfield.
When Kevs fit Kev will play
When Gundo is fit Gundo will play
When Kovacic is fit Kova will play due to Rodri injury and Kovacic is our only recognised 6.
Foden played last season since we had no Gundo so we could play a midfield of Foden and Kev when Kev returned. But Gundo is here this season.
I’d like to be proved wrong, as Foden is one of our best players. But I just don’t see Pep dropping none of Gundo or Kev for Phil in midfield, maybe out wide
Rammy Blue
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Thing is, proper quandary now for Pep, as he won’t start both Kev and Phil in midfield, no chance without Rodders. He didn’t even like starting them together in midfield when Rodders was available!Of course he will
But Savio is our best winger, imo, but needs to play on the right, which is where Pep needs to play Phil if he’s going to accommodate both Phil and Kev in the starting line up.
Pep might even have to be brave enough to properly play a 3-2-4-1 where instead of an inverted fullback it’s actually a double pivot in front of a 3.
We could then for example try to play:
Eddie
Akanji
Dias
Gvardiol
Kova
Bernie
Savio
Phil
Kev
Jack
Erl
I’d be interested to see it given a whirl, certainly against lesser opposition. No chance he’d play that against a top 6 side.
Matt Diablo
Well-Known Member
Totally disagree. We were a different threat when Phil came on for Gundog who was utter shite yesterdayExplain where he fits in midfield.
When Kevs fit Kev will play
When Gundo is fit Gundo will play
When Kovacic is fit Kova will play due to Rodri injury and Kovacic is our only recognised 6.
Foden played last season since we had no Gundo so we could play a midfield of Foden and Kev when Kev returned. But Gundo is here this season.
I’d like to be proved wrong, as Foden is one of our best players. But I just don’t see Pep dropping none of Gundo or Kev for Phil in midfield, maybe out wide
Gaz (FMwkdsoul)
Well-Known Member
we were but i can still see his point on Pep using the more senior Gundo/Kev over a Foden/Kev pairing. It was always gonna be on the cards as soon as Gundo was coming back regardless of fans preference. Pep has his favourite toys.Totally disagree. We were a different threat when Phil came on for Gundog who was utter shite yesterday
mick10
Well-Known Member
It was the same with both Rodri incidents last week though. Hard to see from most angles but he got a deliberate dig in the ribs in the very first second, very clear and totally undisputable if you get to see a view from the camera behind our goal. Same with the one that crocked him, very innocuous but deliberate and obvious when you see the right camera angle. I know the ref can't see those, but VAR can and I thought that was the whole
It used to be you may, on match of the day or the big match a look at a dive…maybe. We’re now capable of seeing events from all sorts of angles, when I say we I mean them we still get at best 2 options but usually one. Var could almost referee a game and the man in the middle would or could be told to blow, the slight delay would be no worse or different from the post delay on analysing we have now. However that’d be rubbish as we’ve all grown up to see the game from 2 teams a ref and linesmen, so let’s keep that format but we’ll put var in to reinforce the decisions and actually let you see the call at times is f**king nonsense but that’s what you’re getting because we are just infallible. That’s maybe a bit ott but I just cannot get this Var carry on for anything other than offside. It’s not that’s is a bad or poor tool to have it’s just not being used properly by those who are using it. Or maybe it is.It was the same with both Rodri incidents last week though. Hard to see from most angles but he got a deliberate dig in the ribs in the very first second, very clear and totally undisputable if you get to see a view from the camera behind our goal. Same with the one that crocked him, very innocuous but deliberate and obvious when you see the right camera angle. I know the ref can't see those, but VAR can and I thought that was the whole point?
johnnytapia
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Ha ha ha that centurion season was fucking bonkers! 55?from 57 points - was it the Everton home game we drew?Think it's fair enough to look at games 1-19 as the period when Pep works out his best formation and then around January/February we hit on a particularly strong combination that we stick with until May/June time.
Our record after 19 games vs 38 games in each Pep season tells basically the same story over and over. If we're still looking a bit disjointed and toothless around the time the CL comes back we can start to worry but until then...
16/17: 39 points, 39 points (finished on 78)
17/18: 55 points, 45 points (finished on 100)
18/19: 44 points, 54 points (finished on 98)
19/20: 38 points, 43 points (finished on 81)
20/21: 41 points, 45 points (finished on 86)
21/22: 47 points, 46 points (finished on 93)
22/23: 42 points, 47 points (finished on 89)
23/24: 40 points, 51 points (finished on 91)
Out of the eight full seasons Pep has completed at City, five of them have seen us pick up more points in games 19-38 than we do in games 1-19. All five occasions that this has happened have come in the last six years.
Safe to say we've got a big hurdle to overcome this season with Rodri not being available, but by December we won't be looking at games and thinking "If only Rodri was here" because it'll be up to the world class players we have to get the job done.
Platt Lane 59
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Don't think it's just a case of Gundo being one of "Pep's pets".we were but i can still see his point on Pep using the more senior Gundo/Kev over a Foden/Kev pairing. It was always gonna be on the cards as soon as Gundo was coming back regardless of fans preference. Pep has his favourite toys.
Gundo is obviously more experienced than Phil, but he is also more accustomed to keeping the ball and better defensively.
Both KDB and Phil try to create something special or magical.
Unfortunately, Pep will seldom if ever play KDB and Phil together in midfield, with Rodri injured.
Pep doesn't have the same faith in Kova to be the only defensive midfielder, as he did with Rodri...