our midfield

[Thaksins Love Child]

I wish we could start all again. I regret us buying most of our English players, overpriced wastes of huge amounts of money. The only midfielders I'd keep right now are De Jong and Silva. I'd completely rebuild the midfield around them. Maybe Milner as we've not seen him playing central for us yet, but he was overpriced as well.

In some ways I think it's great that we have so many current English players. But when you compare England to most other European teams, we are so far behind technically it's emarrassing. Even the likes of Serbia, Bosnia, Czech Republic.

Our midfield is too slow and static, Silva apart.

 

[LoveCity]

In some ways I think it's great that we have so many current English players.

I agree...d a few months ago when England had 6 of ours on the pitch at once. An English spine! But it has become clearer and clearer to me that this sentimental attitude isn't resulting in much on the pitch as most of our English players are our weaknesses, with the exception of Hart, Johnson, and occasionally Barry.

We should focus on training our English academy players with the best coaches we can find and creating our own English stars that way I think. In the meantime, we should buy/play who is best irrespective of nationality and hope some of our English players (well, Hart is a certainty) like Milner and the Johnsons are good enough to keep up.

 

[Tevez City]

We are strong in the middle , but weak on the sides.

We lack wingers and creative midfielders, apart from Silva and Johnson.

 

[simon23]

silva is a great player

aj is decent but a lot ot learn

swp still has a lot to offer in my opinion

dejong is jst getting better and better - he was always good defensively but his distribution has improved hugely

barry - does the basics really well

milner - really average - just dont rate him at all either outwide or centrally - hoping he will improve

viera - should never start a game but good to bring on with a few mins left to shore upt the defence when needed

yaya - great one moment, awful the next though i think this is because he is being asked to play a more attacking game than he is capable of

we lack pace and drive in midfield...we have the creativity of silva and aj/swp but that and the solidity of dejong. yaya needs to get upto speed asap but milner for me is a huge disappointment at present

 

[Anonymous]

i think dejong is class, i think barry is a waste of time (i've thought this ever since we signed him, and he hasn't proved me wrong)

silva is obviously brilliant, but is going to left wanting with no support

milner looks shit, and ya ya - well, i think enough has been said about him

all in all, not the best midfield in the league, no.

 

[Thaksins Love Child]

In some ways I think it's great that we have so many current English players.

I agree...d a few months ago when England had 6 of ours on the pitch at once. An English spine! But it has become clearer and clearer to me that this sentimental attitude isn't resulting in much on the pitch as most of our English players are our weaknesses, with the exception of Hart, Johnson, and occasionally Barry.

We should focus on training our English academy players with the best coaches we can find and creating our own English stars that way I think. In the meantime, we should buy/play who is best irrespective of nationality and hope some of our English players (well, Hart is a certainty) like Milner and the Johnsons are good enough to keep up.

Off the top of my head the only young english player who is comparable to the top Spanish or French players is Wilshere who is an outstanding talent. Maybe Ramsey too (I know he is Welsh). Both at Arsenal with Wenger working every day with Nasri, Arshavin, RVP, Fabregas, Song, Rosicky. All fantastic technical players.

I guess/hope this is the long term plan at City. Just need some patience to get there.

 

[dennishasdoneit]

Extremely average.

NDJ getting better all the time but needs a player who can pass like Alonso or drive like Gerrard along side him.

Barry is a carthorse but steady.

Yaya is a lardarse who is at least a stone overweight.

Silva is a magician.

AJ has let it all go to his head and needs knocking down a peg or two.

Milner hasn't had the best of starts but needs to play centrally and we will see him improve.

Vieira is class but legs have gone.

In summary we need a creative player who can knock 40 yard passes about and/or a player with drive who is capable of drawing players to him in order to create space.

Just been looking at the Arsenal midfield and tbh its a fooking mile better than ours, certainly more technically gifted..... we have silva as our main creative player check this out.

Fabregas
Nasri
Wilshere
Ramsey
Arshavin
Diaby
Rosicky
Denilson
Eboue
Song

What a talented midfield this is.Stick De jong in that midfield and wow!!

All cost nowhere near what our midfield cost. Fcuking unbelievable tbh.

Tech.gifted yes, but i wouldn,t say they are miles ahead of our midfield,given that none of them have ever won anything with Arsenal-whilst the medals on show in our midfield would put many teams to shame.

Arsenal,s midfield looks great when in full flow-all playing to a settled team pattern and established style of football.this season they may come good and win the league..what does that say about OUR midfield who have played together for all of 13 games and have helped city to within 4 points of Arsenal?

Milner has more assists than most midfielders in the league.End product is usually more important than style,certainly when it comes to winning.The best midfielders i,ve seen play for city are ali,eyal and lake.none of them won anything at city.pains me to say it,but i prefer our current midfield-come january they will be playing as a cohesive unit...i look forward to comparing them to Arsenal then.

 

[Red Wings]

I think the top 4(from last season) and Everton currently have better midfields than City.

 

[Marvin]

Arsenal have an outstanding midfield. That is their strength as a squad

City have good players in midfield but maybe Barry, De Jong, and Yaya are all more comfortable playing just in front of the back 4. Yaya Toure is technically the most accomplished of our players, and has played some fantatsic passes, but he hasn't been able to play the box to box role that he has been asked to play in some games

But I think mancini will play a midfield diamond and that will suit our players a lot more

Still very early days

 

[1fingerwillie]

Not impressed to be honest, Silva is class but I class him as a forward. If I were put in charge of hiring and firing Michael Johnson & Milner would be the only two I'd keep!

glad you aren't in charge of hiring and firing. you realize de jong is a midfielder don't you?<br /><br />-- Wed Nov 17, 2010 9:25 pm --<br /><br />

Arsenal have an outstanding midfield. That is their strength as a squad

City have good players in midfield but maybe Barry, De Jong, and Yaya are all more comfortable playing just in front of the back 4. Yaya Toure is technically the most accomplished of our players, and has played some fantatsic passes, but he hasn't been able to play the box to box role that he has been asked to play in some games

But I think mancini will play a midfield diamond and that will suit our players a lot more

Still very early days

Marvin knows what he is talking about. The rest of you are clueless. Wait until Bobby has the pieces to put his midfielders in situations where their talents can shine and you will be pretending you never said the garbage that has been said in this thread (the only ones to really have that chance so far are De Jong and Silva and they have looked great).