Our attack - what's off?

[TheCentralScrutinizer]

The big threat yesterday consistently came from Mane..his pace and strength gave Walker, who had been playing so well in previous games, big problems.
For City, you don’t see anyone with that pace or strength.
jesus was our striker and took his goal well, but most of the time was never up there. He drops off, he tries to link play, he runs himself into the ground. still feel he would be more of threat coming in from the left.
But we desperately need a strong quick No 9,

Mane did fuck all yesterday apart from throw himself to the ground when Walker breathed on him

 

[Corky]

Apart from the fact they literally are not.

Silva's record season was with in his late city career and his average is almost identical at either club.

You just clearly making things up for whatever reason.

 

[Colin Bells Boots]

Mane did fuck all yesterday apart from throw himself to the ground when Walker breathed on him

Mane and Salah have both perfected the art to a very high level.

 

[Withnail]

We need Pep to sign a new contract, peak the interest of agents and get someone who’s absolutely mustard in midfield.

Aour would be a great signing for us.

 

[Marvin]

This is being debated in various different threads and I thought it deserves its own one. We've been known as one of the best, if not THE best, attacking side in the premier over the last few seasons. However last year we saw our attack stutter at certain times and it seems that trend has continued into this season. We are still more than capable of beating a poor side by 4 or 5 goals on our day but against the more organised and better teams we seem to falter. Arguably Liverpool and Chelsea now seem more clinical in attack than us.

So why is that? Why do we seem devoid of ideas going forward? Why have we lost our fluidity and dynamism? Is it fitness? Player injuries disrupting our forward three? Have teams become accustomed in how to defend against us? Or is it something else?

Thoughts blues.

Injury to Aguero and Jesus and KDB not 100%.

No reason why City's goal-scoring wont pick up as Jesus and Aguero return.

 

[cleavers]

Sterling needs to get off that left hand side.

Needs a break full stop for me.

 

[knuckles]

For me its pace and quick breaking in numbers, we just don't break out as quickly as we used to. Width is also a bit of a problem, we struggle to get round the back of teams and instead now try and play through the middle of teams with no plan B. It doesn't help that our finishing has also been a problem of late!

 

[blightee]

KDB and Sterling aren't playing well, no center forward available until recently (Jesus still needs match fitness)
Sterling gets very timid very quickly if he thinks the opposition fullback can cover him for pace, and he isn't as quick as he used to be. KDB is making too many mistakes and making the wrong decisions during counter attacks. Our midfield and forward lines are really static, often our best (only?) movements come from Cancelo & Walker. We're moving the ball too slowly at the back, our midfield pivots are marked out of the game, or they lack the movement to create enough space for themselves to get the ball moving forward. Our wingers/striker rarely threaten in behind the opposition defense, means they can condense the space leaving us very little room to play between the lines.
When we do have the opposition held back in their own third, we move the ball too slowly to find any space on the wings, and when we do create any 1v1 situations our wingers aren't good enough to create goal scoring opportunities


tldr; key players in poor form, static, slow passing, easily countered, no confidence & no striker options.

 

[Dax777]

Slow tempo in the midfield.

Everything is going through KDB so all the workload is on him which is tiring him out.

The creativity needs to be shared with someone else but it’s hard to do that when it’s Rodri and Gundo you’re playing with since they play deeper.

The slow tempo us not just in midfield. It's everywhere. Cancelo is the only player who seems naturally in a hurry.

Part of it has to be Pep's drilling keeping possession, which forces everyone toake safe passes. But part of it is just players showing no dynamism or urgency.

It's quite annoying to watch

 

[blueju]

Inve

KDB and Sterling aren't playing well, no center forward available until recently (Jesus still needs match fitness)
Sterling gets very timid very quickly if he thinks the opposition fullback can cover him for pace, and he isn't as quick as he used to be. KDB is making too many mistakes and making the wrong decisions during counter attacks. Our midfield and forward lines are really static, often our best (only?) movements come from Cancelo & Walker. We're moving the ball too slowly at the back, our midfield pivots are marked out of the game, or they lack the movement to create enough space for themselves to get the ball moving forward. Our wingers/striker rarely threaten in behind the opposition defense, means they can condense the space leaving us very little room to play between the lines.
When we do have the opposition held back in their own third, we move the ball too slowly to find any space on the wings, and when we do create any 1v1 situations our wingers aren't good enough to create goal scoring opportunities


tldr; key players in poor form, static, slow passing, easily countered, no confidence & no striker options.

Inverted wingers , too predictable and easily defended against.