Our biggest weakness....

[DD]

I totally agree with the OP, it's pace and power that the midfield is desperately crying out for.

Yaya Toure has tried to bring this to the team over the last few weeks but in games like this it doesn't work because it's not something he's been used to over the years. it's a case of round pegs in square holes.

What our midfield does not seem to have the ability to do is to up the ante, to camp down in the opponents half rather than our own. That's where your likes of Gerrard and Lampard are fantastic. They drive the midfield forward as a unit by the ability to just burst forward a few yards, scatter players and make space, allowing the rest of the team to flood up alongside them. They will also overlap the front players creating a much more fluid attacking set-up.

At the moment, we don't have this fluidity. The midfield is the midfield and the forwards are the forwards. Until we get another midfielder in who can move us forward to be played alongside Toure and one of De Jong or Barry, then we'll continue to have games like last night where we are stuck in our own half and never pressure the opposition.

 

[nijinskybell]

I totally agree with the OP, it's pace and power that the midfield is desperately crying out for.

Yaya Toure has tried to bring this to the team over the last few weeks but in games like this it doesn't work because it's not something he's been used to over the years. it's a case of round pegs in square holes.

What our midfield does not seem to have the ability to do is to up the ante, to camp down in the opponents half rather than our own. That's where your likes of Gerrard and Lampard are fantastic. They drive the midfield forward as a unit by the ability to just burst forward a few yards, scatter players and make space, allowing the rest of the team to flood up alongside them. They will also overlap the front players creating a much more fluid attacking set-up.

At the moment, we don't have this fluidity. The midfield is the midfield and the forwards are the forwards. Until we get another midfielder in who can move us forward to be played alongside Toure and one of De Jong or Barry, then we'll continue to have games like last night where we are stuck in our own half and never pressure the opposition.

We have been doing exactly that, especially in the last 5-6 games or so but, and it really showed last night, we desperately miss Silva to link in and around the last third - that's why we didn't have any cohesion going forward and we lost the ball too often and too quickly.

 

[the--dud]

Got a feeling this will be a long post but I'll let it rip ;)


There's a lot city fans (not just on bluemoon) and people in general who seems to misunderstand our formation. Mancini has preferred a formation that is compact, defensively solid and in two "bands". It's not something he's dreamed up - it's a tried and tested formation, perhaps most popular in Italy.
People seems to be of the misconception that NDJ is the lone defensive midfielder, then Barry and Yaya (more advanced) as midfielders, with two attacking wingers and a central striker. This is the way Barca plays, we don't.
Others seems to think NDJ and Barry are in-line but as vague "midfielders-but-defensive" and then Yaya as an attacking midfielder who's in-line with the two wingers, then a central striker infront of the three. Roma plays this way (Arsenal and Liverpool under Benitez has used it too).
Though this is very close to how we play I feel it's not QUITE accurate :)
We play:
- Back four (Obviously)
- NDJ and Barry as defensive midfielders, who can venture forward but only when they don't leave back four exposed. You can easiest see this if you notice what happens if a defender moves forward. It's not the side midfielders (we don't have these) or wingers who covers for them. NDJ drops in and covers right side space, Garry does the same on the left.
- Now on to Yaya (yes this annoys me) - his plays a BOX-TO-BOX role. By definition a player who both defends and attacks, who covers a lot of ground, and is integral to a team if used properly. I don't know if many people live in a Premier League bubble but as far as I know Yaya has been considered one of the best box-to-box players ever since his Monaco days.
Our (real) front three, the two wingers and one striker, is very dynamic. Often switching sides, drifting into space and helping to defend when needed. Tevez often drops deep as this seems natural to his game plus we often have to start attack from deep due to playing two defensive mids.

In conclusion: It's wrong to say Barry is the weakness as he's essentially the only left-footed player in the team who can do his job. For the record I think he does it brilliantly. I think this formation is great and Mancini is doing a fantastic job.
We're unbelievably hard to beat and when we click we can be as much of an attacking treat as anyone else.


Then my 2nd point. I know we're all just sharing ideas of what we'd ideally like but you have to keep in mind where we've been the last 10-15 years. Then Hughes signed a shit load of expensive players on very high wages which were intended to be used in with completely different tactics and formations.
We can't sign 10 world-class players each transfer window and expect to improve. We need to take it bit by bit and always maximum utilise the players we have to achieve our goals.
It's not as easy as Football Manager where you can just shaft Barry and Milner off to the reserves, sign Gurcouff and Pastore then change the formation completely with any implication on the team or the players.
Mancini knows that if we're going to challenge in the Premier League with our current squad we need to use a steady and defensively solid formation.
Yes we sometimes have to play "too" defensively to gain 1 point instead of none but it's not the bloody end of the world! We won't do it very often so we should all be able to deal with it.
Jose did the same thing when Inter played Barca in the Champions League and that was said to be a brilliant move.


One last thing that annoys me. A lot of people seem to think we can suddenly play a Barca style 4-5-1 once we've signed Dzeko. NDJ as lone defensive player then Yaya and Silva as midfielders with Balotelli/AJ and Tevez as wingers, then Dzeko on top by himself.
Firstly and most importantly we then lose the protection NDJ and Barry offers the back four. De Jong is amazing but it's a bit rich to expect him to cover BOTH full backs when they move forward. Barca can play like this because they have better quality and quicker full backs, plus most teams are in total fear of their attackers so they will sit back more.
Another point is that Silva would be wasted if asked to sit too deep and diciplined - he needs a free attacking role. He does help out defending but he needs freedom to move into space.
Tevez isn't very effective out wide (as seen over at the swamp), he also seems to hate playing out wide. He wouldn't stay out wide either so he'd clog up Silva and Yaya's space.




That's it rant over. I'll be hiding in my atomic fallout shelter if anyone wants to argue (discuss)! ;)

 

[blumoonrisen]

There's a guy at Cardiff...

 

[samharris]

My opinion, our biggest weakness is a distinct lack of pace in our 'attacking' players. To play Mancini's way effectively at the Emirates, OT, etc. you need to pose some sort of a threat on the break, but without pace, it's difficult to do, and you end up defending for large parts of the match. Of course that in itself, with our squad's ability to defend, isn't that big a deal, however when I look through the top squads in Europe it's something they all have, possibly with the exception of Chelsea...

With the transfer window open, it's worth pondering and possibly addressing...

i agree, adam is no slouch though yet bob picks jo, weird!

shop window. ;)

 

[SkyBlueLion79]

Our biggest weakness in my eyes is the quality we have on the bench & in reserve. Balotelli & Silva get injured & we end up with Jo & Milner as replacements. A lot has to be said for the fact that this team has only been together for a short while. the Rags, Yids, Chelsea & Arsenal have all been together as a team for a few years with the odd change here & there. I honestly dont think we'll see the best that we can offer consistantly for a few years yet. In a couple of seasons we'll be able to handle anything that any team throw at us, until then it's gonna be a lot of ups & downs that we can all enjoy.

 

[NZBlue]

i agree, adam is no slouch though yet bob picks jo, weird!

shop window. ;)

if that was the plan it has just backfired- who'd buy him after that showing?

 

[julio jordio]

This is extremely controversial to say but quicker players tend to be less intelligent footballers. Sweeping generalisation, I know. One thing I've really noticed about Mancini is his insistence that his players follow his detailed instructions to the very minor detail. Just a thought.

 

[st. blue]

our biggest weakness?

no presence in the box......hang on a minute

 

[mammutly]

This is extremely controversial to say but quicker players tend to be less intelligent footballers. Sweeping generalisation, I know. One thing I've really noticed about Mancini is his insistence that his players follow his detailed instructions to the very minor detail. Just a thought.

And a good thought it is.

It is also the reason Jo is in the side.