Our attack - what's off?

[FantasyIreland]

One more post for 20k!

Where have the years gone?

Replaced by wrinkles and sagging man breasts.

 

[wolviedinho]

You have answered your own question.

Pep won't do it differently. It's a complete crock the current narrative he is adapting this term by playing two holders in midfield - we have been playing Rodri and Gundo together for more than 18 months!!

Pep is all about repetition until it becomes second nature - it doesn't really legislate for the opponent - it is always about what his teams do first and foremost.

The matra remains the other team can't hurt you if we have the ball.

Changing it like you say could never be a consistent thing for Pep - he is wedded to his ideas - it has brought us the most success.

Sadly, we have also bought a group of players who are supposedly most-aligned with what he wants.

Asking a long-distance runner to suddenly become a 100m sprinter isn't going to fly.

City, as an organisation, have made the biggest mistake a club can ever do, make the manager bigger than the club.

Ask United or Arsenal fans.

We have spent a lot of money on supposed top players and if you start changing formations, you suddenly have to ask why did we buy wingers if we are going to play 3-5-2?

As for Angelino, he looks great in the delivery phase but he is becoming better with each passing week in some eyes?

He is a horrible defender - as bad as Mendy at defending the first cross - which is why he didn't make ten games for us in the end last year.

His performances in the first-halves against United at our place and away at Anfield, absolutely no words necessary...

Pretty much sums up the state of play.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Will the club go against the Manager? How far do when need to fall before the situation is addressed?

Navigating this potential crisis will take KAM/Mansour level interference.

 

[Scottyboi]

I don't know pal, we're not paid £20m per year to come up with the answers, even if many of us can see there have been fundamental areas that have not been properly addressed for a couple of years.

I can't believe we are stood here after four plus years of Pep and we are having to talk about a refresh of the squad when we have supposedly paid big for the long-term?

It's very poor recruitment. We need two top bracket players for midfield and up front. It will cost a lot of money, but it has to be done.

I also believe, short-term, Messi would solve a lot of issues in the final third we are having, certainly if that is backed up by a world class, energetic midfielder.

Aouar looks like he will be going PSG, we should be all over it.

 

[@BluePhil8]

One more post for 20k!

Where have the years gone?

Make your next one a good one lol

 

[GBrannan]

I don't know pal, we're not paid £20m per year to come up with the answers, even if many of us can see there have been fundamental areas that have not been properly addressed for a couple of years.

I can't believe we are stood here after four plus years of Pep and we are having to talk about a refresh of the squad when we have supposedly paid big for the long-term?

It's very poor recruitment. We need two top bracket players for midfield and up front. It will cost a lot of money, but it has to be done.

I also believe, short-term, Messi would solve a lot of issues in the final third we are having, certainly if that is backed up by a world class, energetic midfielder.

And a left back. Please, a proper top quality left back option.

 

[MCFC-Carl-88]

There’s so many things wrong with our attack it’s hard to pin point it to one thing.
Starts with Rodri being so slow, playing 2 def mids and changing to inverted wingers.

Then our passing is slower and more side ways than ever before, no one ever ups the tempo with 2/3 quick passes.

Having Jesus upfront isn’t helping, he works hard and closes down centre backs but doesn’t ever look like scoring! Last night did he even have a sniff? Sergio was on pitch for 20 mins and he managed to get a chance and that’s cause he’s a top striker that’s always in the right place. Jesus doesn’t have that knack and don’t think he ever will.

Pep needs to do something to shake it up, it needs a spark and if we can find one then I’m sure we would be fine but at the moment it’s drifting.

 

[Keeper!]

Absolutely zero credit being given to other teams when it comes to evolving their own tactics to combat us over the past two seasons.

Nobody presses Ederson anymore, they know it's a waste of time.

It will always look like park the bus, but even teams like Norwich and Palace last season were tweaking stuff to make sure they doubled up out wide, tried to prevent the cut backs and force City to play across the pitch.

Teams still need to get lucky or have a lapse on our part in front of goal or in our own defending, but the gist is that Pep has been here long enough for teams to have studied the best way to get a result.

They know which players to let have the ball - Rodgers thought he did when Leicester tried to shut us out in our 2019 win.

That's why they let Vinny advance the way he did...oops!

Let Rodri have the ball, let Walker and Mendy have the ball, let them run-up three-quarters on the pitch, knowing they have to chuck one in or pass it back inside.

More pertinently, move the ball to feet and quickly on our breakdown, we don't have a peak Fernandinho anymore or midfielders quick enough to put out the fires.

It all adds up to a difficult way to get a result for us.

That post should have been your 2000, it would be very fitting, sums up everything that is wrong.

I have felt for sometime Pep is bigger than us and IF Messi came it would become unbearable, we would be Messi FC.

Our owner and Chairman have a lt to think about in the coming weeks.

 

[Sergio<3]

One more post for 20k!

Where have the years gone?

Hopefully the 20k post will be you doing some sort of YouTube video clue to us signing Haaland

 

[Blu1]

I think the engine room in midfield would sort our problems. Asking Kev to do all the creativity whilst he has two people behind him playing sideways triangles that don’t seem to progress into anything threatening.

Fernandinho is gone at the end of the season and I imagine the buy back clause for Douglas Louis will mean he will be back here for a modest fee. I’d get Grealish in if Villa would sell, can run, can create and put a tackle in a lot more than what we currently have.

I have been saying grealish is perfect for us for 12 months now. I just don’t see it happening

 

[jrb]

We've stopped getting 4, 5, 6 players inside the box when we attack. We get 1, 2, perhaps 3 players inside the box when we attack.

Last night was a prime example. We had the ball out wide on either wing, passing into the middle and back out wide again relentlessly. While we were doing this, West Brom had 6 players inside the 18 yeard area, whilst we only had 1 or 2 players inside the 18 yard area at the same time. There we times when West Brom had almost 10 players inside the 18 yard area, and we still only had 2 or 3 players inside the 18 yard area, with 5 players just outside it, and 2 players further back defending.

That aside, our build up play is so slow and predictable that it allows opposing teams to get back and to set up their defensive positions, time and again.