Our attack - what's off?

It really pisses me off when people say Bernardo has been off for 15 months. Bernardo is genuinely a world class talent and you all just write him off like this because pep prefers plodders.

Bernardo even this year when you see him play, his class shines his ball retention is not matched by any other player in this team.

City have been best to watch in the CL when he’s been playing Bernardo and Foden.

the problem with Bernardo is the lack of regular game time and a position that he can make his own. And that’s because Pep won’t allow it.

funny because he will allow others to have ten consecutive shit games and still continue to play them.

Some will laugh at what I’m about to say but I would love for pep to try Kevin deep with Foden and Bernardo ahead of him. Imagine the energy, imagine the link up.
 
As I see it we are just far too predictable now, David Silva would do things that were unexpected and would always drive us forward, it would seem that we have no-one capable of replacing him in our squad. Foden has the skill and energy but doesn't get the chance often enough.

My pet hate is Mahrez, he either goes forward and then as soon as a defender comes to him he turns and passes backwards, he will occasionally go forward but will always cut inside to get the ball on his left foot and shoot... all the defenders we play against now know what he's going to do. More often than not he just simply loses possession and puts our defender under pressure from a breakaway. Last season Pep seemed to play him (Mahrez) regularly on the right in preference to Bernardo and this affected his (Bernardo's) confidence badly and he's never recovered.

When Mendy plays he seems to suffer from the same complaint, he either goes forward then passes it back losing all the impetus we've created, or crosses the ball so hard no-one can get near it.

Sterling is going through a dry spell, Jesus is not good enough and with Sergio being injured so much we haven't got anyone who can be relied upon to put the ball in the net on a regular basis... the only one who fully deserves to be played more is Torres but again last night he was kept on the bench.

Sterling/Delap/Torres anyone ?
 
Damanino said:
Maybe they dont pass to Jesus because they dont trust him. I know Jesus is isolated a lot but that excuse cannot go on forever or are we happy to play him as number one striker and having a return of 5 goals in like 30 games from him? Can we afford that? If top6 is the target then maybe yes.

He is so far away from a 20-25 goal striker in PL as he can be.
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Time to go 'balls deep' for a real goal machine, someone who can score from the edge of the box, or 2 yards. Are there any out there... I can think of only one.
On a separate note, how the fuck did the rags get Cavani, we should have stepped in and got him for a season, he would have been in double figures for us by now.
 
Damien10 said:
It really pisses me off when people say Bernardo has been off for 15 months. Bernardo is genuinely a world class talent and you all just write him off like this because pep prefers plodders.

Bernardo even this year when you see him play, his class shines his ball retention is not matched by any other player in this team.

City have been best to watch in the CL when he’s been playing Bernardo and Foden.

the problem with Bernardo is the lack of regular game time and a position that he can make his own. And that’s because Pep won’t allow it.

funny because he will allow others to have ten consecutive shit games and still continue to play them.

Some will laugh at what I’m about to say but I would love for pep to try Kevin deep with Foden and Bernardo ahead of him. Imagine the energy, imagine the link up.
Click to expand...
Ala pirlo
 
Watched the highlights again - the two headers at the end are painful to watch - keeper doesn’t make great saves, they’re hit straight at him. I’m feeling more positive this morning - those chances will be taken soon!
 
Many of our players (and those in other teams) are burned out mentally and physically from playing too much football. In our case it is obvious what has happened to KDB, Sterling, and Bernardo. They have all been flogged to death including a huge number of international matches. They look like spent fighters at the moment. I honestly don't know what the answer to this is and it has affected all teams (or at least those with a lot of international players)
The greed of the FA, UEFA, and the PL has killed the Golden Goose. Some of these burned-out players may never recover their top form again. Mental and physical fatigue has destroyed many careers over the years, especially in youngsters who have been overplayed. I also think Pep (and Klopp) are well aware of this situation and are just managing from game to game. This season is a farce.
 
Agree that he’s picking the wrong personnel. Sterling and Mahrez playing as inverted wingers are simply not prolific or clinical enough for where we want to be. With Aguero out, it’s infinitely more noticeable. Not to mention, neither one of them can deliver in the biggest games.

It’s not a question of form, it’s simply a fact. We can play Sterling and Mahrez in every single game from now until the end of the season, nothing will change.

Rodri and Gundogan in midfield together doesn’t work. David Silva’s verticality is sorely missed. He used to hover at the edge of the penalty area and play those one twos with the wingers and play those difficult passes in to the box. You got tight to him, he’d fuck you. You stood off him, he’d fuck you. This isn’t me slagging off Rodri or Gundogan, but they should be competing for the same number 6 role. Gundogan in the 6 can actually set the tempo very well, he’s wasting his own career playing in the 8 position

We don’t have a competent attacking left back, which makes marking Sterling even easier.

Pep isn’t going to stop playing Gundogan or Rodri together I’m afraid. He’s said about his players at Barca that basically they had done so much for him so how could he drop them? That’s how he’ll view Gundogan (pivotal in home straight in the last title win playing in the 6 position), undroppable.

Why Mahrez gets a pass, and Bernardo and Foden don’t is beyond me. That £60m price tag playing on Pep’s mind? No idea.

I said it yesterday, Pep has us well coached this season in terms of organisation, defending, even transitioning from midfield to attack despite the ponderous midfield. But when we have over 20 shots against West Brom and can only put a few on target, it’s literally a case of shit finishing by the forwards.

We’ve not bought well and I’ve always said Sterling is our Pedro. Pep has Pedro playing well above his level at Barca but when Pep left, Pedro was nowhere near as good. Still decent, but nowhere near as good. If we give Sterling a £400k a week contract and Pep leaves in 2 years time, he’s going to be our Rooney/Ozil.
 
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Let's get Mesut Ozil signed in January. Might as well go full Arsenal as that's our trajectory at the moment.
 
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