Our inability to set up properly for big games

[Dax777]

I think Huth won nearly every header from a corner both in attack and in defence

It may seem that way coz he made 3 critical ones. 1 for a goal, one on a corner, and a 3rd on Kolarov's deadly bending freekick. Other than that he won 2 Ariel battles against Aguero and no one on the 5th.

He got beat on Fernando's free header and was horribly out of position on Aguero's goal.

As much stick as Demi has gotten, it will surprise most that he won the most Ariel battles in actual challenges: 6 of 7. Unfortunately he lost the critical one that led to a goal.

That's perception for you.

 

[tonea2003]

We can dickdance around the various tactical scenarios
But two of our midfield didn't have the heart or desire to do the dirty side of their jobs I.e yaya and unfortunately silva
Plus the out of sorts demichelis and kolorov,it's no wonder Leicester won and won easily
Despite what dax May say we were never in any sort of control

 

[Neville Kneville]

It may seem that way coz he made 3 critical ones. 1 for a goal, one on a corner, and a 3rd on Kolarov's deadly bending freekick. Other than that he won 2 Ariel battles against Aguero and no one on the 5th.

He got beat on Fernando's free header and was horribly out of position on Aguero's goal.

As much stick as Demi has gotten, it will surprise most that he won the most Ariel battles in actual challenges: 6 of 7. Unfortunately he lost the critical one that led to a goal.

That's perception for you.

These kind of stats are nonsense imo. Otamendi for example has a great record of 'winning' headers but in reality hardly ever wins anything under a difficult challenge

People on here were conned by this before he arrived. He is good at jumping, thus heading away goalkicks etc, but has no body strength when under any kind of pressure.

Most of the stats used on this forum are of no use imo other than for people to insert into arguments.

 

[Dax777]

These kind of stats are nonsense imo. Otamendi for example has a great record of 'winning' headers but in reality hardly ever wins anything under a difficult challenge

People on here were conned by this before he arrived. He is good at jumping, thus heading away goalkicks etc, but has no body strength when under any kind of pressure.

Most of the stats used on this forum are of no use imo other than for people to insert into arguments.

What kind of stats? That Huth missed 2 critical headers or that Demi won 5-6 challenged?

Already pointed out that Hurh made 3 critical headers. In essence. I am digging deeper into each stat? Rather than just boilerplate expressing each.

But I get the conclusion you were trying to arrive at. But my stats here wasn't the right one to quote.

 

[Neville Kneville]

What kind of stats? That Huth missed 2 critical headers or that Demi won 5-6 challenged?

Already pointed out that Hurh made 3 critical headers. In essence. I am digging deeper into each stat? Rather than just boilerplate expressing each.

But I get the conclusion you were trying to arrive at. But my stats here wasn't the right one to quote.

I just mean in general mate rather than having a go at your specific stats. Stuff like Demi winning x no of headers for instance.
There are so many stats used on here as evidence for this & that but imo all the stats tell us us what happened so many times, but not the whys & wherefores & difficulty involved, conditions etc etc. Stats should be mostly used as the start of a discussion imo but are mostly used on here as an attempt to end one.

 

[Ajm1985]

Our set pieces, both offensively and defensively, need a lot of work as they're awful. There was at least one occasion where we had a free kick around the half-way line. Ten passes later and we still hadn't got the ball in Leicester's half.

There was one on the halfway, where Silva took a quick, short, free kick while Aguero was down after a particularly heavy 'tackle'. I was fuming at the lack of thought

 

[kaz7]

It really is simple,younger yaya in a 2 was ok,this older and less mobile/energetic yaya it does not work and we all say it when we see the team sheet,you can stick the stats as we all have eyes

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

There was one on the halfway, where Silva took a quick, short, free kick while Aguero was down after a particularly heavy 'tackle'. I was fuming at the lack of thought

As much as we all love Silva, I do wonder about his intelligence sometimes. He came over to take a corner in front of 110, an out-swinger which he takes with his left foot. So he puts the ball right on the dead ball line and the ball almost certainly went out initially when he kicked it (which the assistant missed). Did he really not think about placing it a yard up from the goal-line?

 

[Ajm1985]

As much as we all love Silva, I do wonder about his intelligence sometimes. He came over to take a corner in front of 110, an out-swinger which he takes with his left foot. So he puts the ball right on the dead ball line and the ball almost certainly went out initially when he kicked it (which the assistant missed). Did he really not think about placing it a yard up from the goal-line?

That's almost as bad a brain fart as that attempted lob pass against Everton on the half way that nearly led to a counter attacking goal. I hope his recent blemishes are due to injury playing on his mind.

I also hope we stop doing outswinging corners, I hate the bastard things.

 

[davymcfc]

Poor management. It's as simple as that.

 

[BlueAnorak]

I ignored your argument because it was an irrelevant point. Smart sounding, but irrelevant none the less.

It's irrelevant because Stress was not the issue in contention. The claim was about what was the Cause in Fact of the goals. Not whether you could make a colorable argument about some tenous proximate cause. Which by the way if we took the argument to its outer to its limits, it could easily be shown that you couldnt prove a direct causal relationship BTW the goals and a high line. If nothing else we had already conceded the initial set piece goal before we ever moved our back line up.

But it was such a pointless exercise that I chose not bite and derail the thread.

So don't mistake my sidestepping the irrelevant for acquiescing.

And yes, I hope Pep brings all his sport psychology know-how to the table for us. But this has no relationship to whether a supposed high line caused the goals we conceded in a particular match.

What on earth are you going on about?
You clearly didn't read my reply. I stated It loads the dice in favour of a failure. i.e. it makes the probability of a defensive error elsewhere higher.
Your other arguments have been totally destroyed by Prestwich Blue and others.
I'll leave it there. I've got work to do.

 

[Dax777]

What on earth are you going on about?
You clearly didn't read my reply. I stated It loads the dice in favour of a failure. i.e. it makes the probability of a defensive error elsewhere higher.
Your other arguments have been totally destroyed by Prestwich Blue and others.
I'll leave it there. I've got work to do.

Yes, got that. But that's not the issue.

 

[mancity1]

I ignored your argument because it was an irrelevant point. Smart sounding, but irrelevant none the less.

It's irrelevant because Stress was not the issue in contention. The claim was about what was the Cause in Fact of the goals. Not whether you could make a colorable argument about some tenous proximate cause. Which by the way if we took the argument to its outer to its limits, it could easily be shown that you couldnt prove a direct causal relationship BTW the goals and a high line. If nothing else we had already conceded the initial set piece goal before we ever moved our back line up.

But it was such a pointless exercise that I chose not bite and derail the thread.

So don't mistake my sidestepping the irrelevant for acquiescing.

And yes, I hope Pep brings all his sport psychology know-how to the table for us. But this has no relationship to whether a supposed high line caused the goals we conceded in a particular match.

High line or not , when we cannot position yourself to defend properly and you show no desire for the contest its usually going to end one way.

We are not being managed or coached to do the basic things required to help stop the slide in performances and results that has been in this side for a long time now.

You hope that a new manager will get the basics right first and we go from there.

 

[juhanni]

They will not change,,the goal is 60% possession, they maybe can put in a shift to regain possession in 40%,(the rest of the game)..............

 

[tonea2003]

here's a in depth look at the tactics from an independent point of view

http://www.thecoachingmanual.com/articles/news-5697642411589632

 

[bluegaz13]

I am probably one of Pellegrinis critics...hence the original post, however credit where it is due, I thought we started the game yesterday (Spurs) a lot more organised.... Basically always trying to have two banks of four behind the ball......we surrendered the bulk of possession, but never really looked like conceding until that awful penalty decision....although to be fair the team nearly picked itself.

However, I fail to understand why he still wouldn't play 3 in midfield..playing Yaya as an out and out second forward, and then replacing Kolarov with Clichy, who had been excellent..... and then as we went gung ho we started to look vulnerable once again.

Yaya has once again come in for some stick, however he was involved in most of our dangerous moments, although was culpable for their second goal, which probably wouldn't have happened with the initial set up!

 

[domalino]

I am probably one of Pellegrinis critics...hence the original post, however credit where it is due, I thought we started the game yesterday (Spurs) a lot more organised.... Basically always trying to have two banks of four behind the ball......we surrendered the bulk of possession, but never really looked like conceding until that awful penalty decision....although to be fair the team nearly picked itself.

However, I fail to understand why he still wouldn't play 3 in midfield..playing Yaya as an out and out second forward, and then replacing Kolarov with Clichy, who had been excellent..... and then as we went gung ho we started to look vulnerable once again.

Yaya has once again come in for some stick, however he was involved in most of our dangerous moments, although was culpable for their second goal, which probably wouldn't have happened with the initial set up!

I thought Pellegrini got it spot on with his initial set up, Yaya playing off Sergio would have works nicely if Yaya didn't waste a lot of counterattacks with the last ball - but those passes are the kind of thing you expect him to be able to to.

And bear in mind we had no one choice for the lineup really because of injuries. I reckon he'd have gone with silva 10 and Navas on the right if Navas was fit.

The Kolarov substitution was a good call when he decided to send Kolarov off to warm up, because we were getting a lot of joy down the right, and Clichy was unlikely to come up with anything. 9 times out of 10 Kolarov is the more likely LB to produce something in attack.

But, then when Clichy did come up with a decent cross and we equalised, he should have cancelled the substitution

his decision to carry on with the substitution arguably showed confidence to get all 3 points, but ultimately cost us the game as Kolarov did what he always does, got lazy and let Eriksen get away from him for the goal.

 

[Terra Passenger]

I thought Pellegrini got it spot on with his initial set up, Yaya playing off Sergio would have works nicely if Yaya didn't waste a lot of counterattacks with the last ball - but those passes are the kind of thing you expect him to be able to to.

And bear in mind we had no one choice for the lineup really because of injuries. I reckon he'd have gone with silva 10 and Navas on the right if Navas was fit.

The Kolarov substitution was a good call when he decided to send Kolarov off to warm up, because we were getting a lot of joy down the right, and Clichy was unlikely to come up with anything. 9 times out of 10 Kolarov is the more likely LB to produce something in attack.

But, then when Clichy did come up with a decent cross and we equalised, he should have cancelled the substitution

his decision to carry on with the substitution arguably showed confidence to get all 3 points, but ultimately cost us the game as Kolarov did what he always does, got lazy and let Eriksen get away from him for the goal.

+1

For once, I thought Pellers had it spot on. His initial line up and substitutions were all sensible. I'd maybe perfer that he play Silva on the left and Sterling on the right instead... but maybe that's not a big deal.

We deserved a draw - incomprehensible that Clattenburg awarded a penalty on Sterling. But it comes and goes... the ball was clearly out when we played Everton...

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to Pep; Mancini and Pellers often left me baffled as to starting lineup and even more so as to substitutions.

But even more important... under Mancini and Pellegrini both, City have lacked desire; Mancini alienated players while Pellegrini failed to motivate. Time and again I'd see Sergio on a hat trick or Silva at his best substituted with 20 minutes to go; they'd look dejected and slowly walk off the pitch.

Yes, you'd want them not to pick up injuries...and yes.... maybe the applause from the fans is nice... but, for fuck's sake, pulling them off is just killing all desire; IMO a huge mistake.

A motivated Silva, Toure, Aguero, and De Bruyne are unstoppable.