Our attack - what's off?

[blue ranger]

When this question was raised on here before about 90 percent said foden was ready made to fill silvas shoes . No one will ever fill the those shoes and now we’re seeing this . Very concerned about Bernardo as he doesn’t seem to be kicking on .,

Bernardo has been poor last season and first couple of months of this season. This cannot be down to form. All I can think is Pep needs to give him a consistent run of games in 1 position.

 

[chickaroon]

I would fuck Mahrez and Gundog off and cash in Sterling,then go big on a striker.

Haaland.

 

[mccity]

When this question was raised on here before about 90 percent said foden was ready made to fill silvas shoes . No one will ever fill the those shoes and now we’re seeing this . Very concerned about Bernardo as he doesn’t seem to be kicking on .,

Whilst Foden isn't currently fully ready to fill Silva's shoes, he might do eventually. Maybe not, but never seems too extreme with a player of Foden's potential talent.

 

[Marvin]

My post might have been too narrowly focussed. It's not solely the attacking players that are the problem. Let me give you a specific example of what we are missing:



This is an attacking move from the back. One touch football, possessions based, quick distribution, fluid movement. If you mark this as 10/10 we're running at 5/10 or 6/10 at best!

We haven't seen us play like this against a top side in awhile. That has nothing to do with Aguero being injured or KDB not 100%. Sadly, it's something bigger than that.

A contrasting example was how Walker ran from his own half deep into Liverpool's backline before being tackled. I remember a lot of blues in the match day forum championed that - they saw someone driving at Liverpool's defence - yet what it showed me was the lack of movement and passing options he had.

Maybe this is down to fitness and I'm worrying unnecessarily but there's fundamentally something gone from our attacking play. I don't quite know what or why but we aren't at the level we were at two seasons ago. Maybe we set the bar so high it's unrealistic to expect us to hit that every season?

That's a good post. I agree that we have not seen the quick one touch play we are familiar with for all but the odd 45 minutes but I think we're capable of it providing we can get our best players fit and we can field Jesus / Aguero. If we don't have a striker then there is no focus and the play just goes round the houses.

I'm quite happy with our squad and their potential. I think it's a combination of injuries, and fatigue/fitness.

 

[Marvin]

Jesus what?

The angel gabriel

 

[Stelea]

What is strange is that after the lockdown return in June we were battering teams (and David wasn’t playing them all).
This season there are many problems.
1. Left hand side with 2 right foots
2. Sterling’s complete loss of form.
3. Sterling’s awful indecision on his left foot
4, Mahrez (enough said)
5, Not having a striker for the majority of games
6, Snail like Midfield with Rodders and Gundog not recycling the play quick enough
7, The ‘press’ has gone
8, Peps reluctance to play Foden and Bernardo who are both energetic and forward thinking
9, KDB stop/start season
It’s also strange how in 4 cup games we have scored 3 each time.

 

[ancoats]

the biggest thing is injury to key players jesus and aguero even KDB not having that target to hit with his magic feet
it has made him change is game to suit the team without a striker and he is looking well off the mark

also losing david silva is a big blow because he knitted the whole of the forward line with the midfield
he understood the role better than anybody else. its shown this season that without david silva and add injuries to aguero jesus that is a big loss to manchester city going forward and the goals are just not there

many had included me phil foden as a straight forward replacement for silva but boy how wrong was i ?
yes phil foden is a special player but its for the future and he his not the finished article in what we need right now

but am going to add a plus and say its coming we are not that far off and its just a lucky break or goal and will can all start to believe again so hang in there

 

[Paul1970]

Bernardo has been poor last season and first couple of months of this season. This cannot be down to form. All I can think is Pep needs to give him a consistent run of games in 1 position.

Hope so because I still think he is one of our top guys

 

[jaiguruKun]

When you can't pick up a second ball from your defence, it's hard to attack quickly. The two holding midfielders aren't quick enough to turn the other team around, especially in games like yesterday. The space was behind their 4 but we didn't pick up enough second balls when our defence cleared it to set us off the other way. A complete lack of acceleration or sharpness in Gundogan and Rodri is killing us. It means we have to attack the way we do in games against teams who sit with 10 behind the ball.

Sterling needs to get off that left hand side. We need to put Foden out there and tell Sterling to get chalk on his boots on the right. Make the pitch bigger like we used to. Narrowing our wingers and making them cut inside is making the game easier for our opponents.

Foden's shit on the left, needs to be in the middle or on the right so he can cut in on his left!

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Why are we scoring much less often?
1) We're setting up more defensively now; 2 holding mids are common.
2) Jesus and Aguero have both been injured;
3) The loss of David Silva is having a big impact on us;
4) Luck - or should I say bad luck. We're creating a bunch of chances that just don't end in goals

Too, we didn't improve as much as we might have in the last window due to unique circumstances:
1) COVID-19 created a strange transfer window - we probably would have spent much, much more to improve our side save for lack of quality in potential signings brought about in large part to the strange window;
2) Pep may (or may not) leave us next year - this further complicates our ability to attract top signings.