Our team struggles because the players are to short.

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Challenger1978

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Consciously looking at problems from different ang
Personally i think we need to totally rethink the setup of our team. We need a great box to box midfielder as others have suggested on this site. As there's hardly ever any support coming from the middle of the pitch as its all down the wings.

Also and in my opinion and more importantly we need to get some bloody height in to our team as well as we literally have a team of short arses. Thats whats costing us against teams like Everton, Stoke & Wigan as we just don't win anything in the air against these teams. In fact I'd even say that was the problem of ours last season as well.

Think about the game against FC Midtjylland last year in the UEFA cup that we only beat because of a penalty shoot out. It wasn't because they are a great team, IMO it was in part because every single one of there players was 6 foot odd. They played very compact at the back and won near enough everything in the air . Also because they where big fuckers they could out muscle our players when the ball was played on the ground. Now that was a description of the FC Midtjylland game last year but it could of easily been a description of the Stoke or Everton games this year.

To back up my point look at the target man situation at city. We keep crying out for a target man and then complaining like fuck when we get one and they struggle. Now for me this is just madness, what the hell do we expect when every single high ball is punted to the same big guy every time as he's the only one that can compete in the air.

If i was the opposition manager I'd just stick my best bloke in the air against our target man. To nullify him so my team could totally dominate the aerial battle on the pitch as we can't compete anywhere else. Which is why IMO are target men are so hit and miss sometimes they win the battle sometimes they don't. With us having no other options on the pitch but to punt the high balls to the target man really limits the team IMO.

Honestly look at our team from the midfield forward.

Barry 6'0"
Vieira 6'3" (far to slow)
Nigel 5'8"
Ireland 5'8" (out of form)
M. Johnson 6'0" (always injured)
A. Johnson 5'9"
Petrov 6'1" (wont use his head are even try to tackle)
SWP 5'5" (out of form)
Robinho 5'8" (stroppy twat and he's not here)
Bellamy 5'9"
Tevez 5'8"
RSQ 6'02" (always injured)
Ade 6'3" (keeps getting banned)
Kompany 6'04" (played mainly in defense)
Pab Zab 5'10" (Utility man not an out and out midfielder)

So from the midfield onwards most of the time we line up like this.

----------Nigel---Barry------------
SWP/Johnson---------------Bellamy
-----------Tevez------------------
----------------Ade/RSQ----------

So when we punt the ball forward as Barry's playing so deep we only have either Ade or RSQ that have any height. RSQ still isn't match fit because of all his injuries and Ade keeps getting banned for fuck all, so we really are struggling for any height at all when going forward.

Things are just as bad at the back as well when it comes to defending from set piece and crosses as we don't really have that much height at the back and we have to rely heavily on our short arse midfielders and attacking players to defend the high balls. We've got Kompany, Lesscott, RSQ and Ade that are over 6'0" IIRC and Barry and Toure at 6'0". Everyone else IIRC is 5'10" and below. So against tall teams like Stoke we just don't have enough height in the team to cover them all.

So bluemooners how do we fix this problem ? Do we change the system around and move players into different positions ? Or do we sign some taller players and try to change the balance of the height of our team ?
 
Challenger1978 said:
Personally i think we need to totally rethink the setup of our team. We need a great box to box midfielder as others have suggested on this site. As there's hardly ever any support coming from the middle of the pitch as its all down the wings.

Also and in my opinion and more importantly we need to get some bloody height in to our team as well as we literally have a team of short arses. Thats whats costing us against teams like Everton, Stoke & Wigan as we just don't win anything in the air against these teams. In fact I'd even say that was the problem of ours last season as well.

Think about the game against FC Midtjylland last year in the UEFA cup that we only beat because of a penalty shoot out. It wasn't because they are a great team, IMO it was in part because every single one of there players was 6 foot odd. They played very compact at the back and won near enough everything in the air . Also because they where big fuckers they could out muscle our players when the ball was played on the ground. Now that was a description of the FC Midtjylland game last year but it could of easily been a description of the Stoke or Everton games this year.

To back up my point look at the target man situation at city. We keep crying out for a target man and then complaining like fuck when we get one and they struggle. Now for me this is just madness, what the hell do we expect when every single high ball is punted to the same big guy every time as he's the only one that can compete in the air.

If i was the opposition manager I'd just stick my best bloke in the air against our target man. To nullify him so my team could totally dominate the aerial battle on the pitch as we can't compete anywhere else. Which is why IMO are target men are so hit and miss sometimes they win the battle sometimes they don't. With us having no other options on the pitch but to punt the high balls to the target man really limits the team IMO.

Honestly look at our team from the midfield forward.

Barry 6'0"
Vieira 6'3" (far to slow)
Nigel 5'8"
Ireland 5'8" (out of form)
M. Johnson 6'0" (always injured)
A. Johnson 5'9"
Petrov 6'1" (wont use his head are even try to tackle)
SWP 5'5" (out of form)
Robinho 5'8" (stroppy twat and he's not here)
Bellamy 5'9"
Tevez 5'8"
RSQ 6'02" (always injured)
Ade 6'3" (keeps getting banned)
Kompany 6'04" (played mainly in defense)
Pab Zab 5'10" (Utility man not an out and out midfielder)

So from the midfield onwards most of the time we line up like this.

----------Nigel---Barry------------
SWP/Johnson---------------Bellamy
-----------Tevez------------------
----------------Ade/RSQ----------

So when we punt the ball forward as Barry's playing so deep we only have either Ade or RSQ that have any height. RSQ still isn't match fit because of all his injuries and Ade keeps getting banned for fuck all, so we really are struggling for any height at all when going forward.

Things are just as bad at the back as well when it comes to defending from set piece and crosses as we don't really have that much height at the back and we have to rely heavily on our short arse midfielders and attacking players to defend the high balls. We've got Kompany, Lesscott, RSQ and Ade that are over 6'0" IIRC and Barry and Toure at 6'0". Everyone else IIRC is 5'10" and below. So against tall teams like Stoke we just don't have enough height in the team to cover them all.

So bluemooners how do we fix this problem ? Do we change the system around and move players into different positions ? Or do we sign some taller players and try to change the balance of the height of our team ?
Click to expand...

There's no way Petrov's 6'1" and Johnno's only 5'9".

We have Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Barry, Vieira, Santa Cruz and Adebayor who are all big enough to compete with the more physical sides, add the steel of De Jong and Zabba and the mental Bellamy and Tevez and we should be fine.
 
Lengthy post but short answer....

Lack of pace and mobility in Centre Mid effects us I think. Gaz Baz and Nige are good at what they do but lack a burst of speed in my opinion.
 
Too short, too short, have you measured 'em all yourself, have they all been round and stood against your kitchen doorway and you've marked 'em off with a pencil???
 
I dont tink height has anything to do with it. its Support coming from the midfield is wat we need. we have height just need a bit more quality
 
Height was a major problem last season (or size at least) with SWP, Robbie, Stevie and sometimes Elano in the team we were just too lightweight most of the time.

Luckily Hughes noticed the height problem (he was always banging on about physical presence) and signed the towering Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy to compliment the talented but vertically challenged individuals we already had...

This season our problem hasn't been height, at least when Ade or RSC are available and Vince and Lescott are at the back as they give us a good strong backbone. This season our problem has been mobility in the centre of midfield
 
The Fat el Hombre said:
Height was a major problem last season (or size at least) with SWP, Robbie, Stevie and sometimes Elano in the team we were just too lightweight most of the time.

Luckily Hughes noticed the height problem (he was always banging on about physical presence) and signed the towering Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy to compliment the talented but vertically challenged individuals we already had...

This season our problem hasn't been height, at least when Ade or RSC are available and Vince and Lescott are at the back as they give us a good strong backbone. This season our problem has been mobility in the centre of midfield
Click to expand...
Yes i agree with you totally
 
sqblue said:
arsenal are oompah loompahs, and they seem to do ok.
Click to expand...

thanks for the laugh on my birthday...speaking of which that's what i'm doing for my birthday, watching the city v wigan game!
 
Challenger1978 said:
Personally i think we need to totally rethink the setup of our team. We need a great box to box midfielder as others have suggested on this site. As there's hardly ever any support coming from the middle of the pitch as its all down the wings.

Also and in my opinion and more importantly we need to get some bloody height in to our team as well as we literally have a team of short arses. Thats whats costing us against teams like Everton, Stoke & Wigan as we just don't win anything in the air against these teams. In fact I'd even say that was the problem of ours last season as well.

Think about the game against FC Midtjylland last year in the UEFA cup that we only beat because of a penalty shoot out. It wasn't because they are a great team, IMO it was in part because every single one of there players was 6 foot odd. They played very compact at the back and won near enough everything in the air . Also because they where big fuckers they could out muscle our players when the ball was played on the ground. Now that was a description of the FC Midtjylland game last year but it could of easily been a description of the Stoke or Everton games this year.

To back up my point look at the target man situation at city. We keep crying out for a target man and then complaining like fuck when we get one and they struggle. Now for me this is just madness, what the hell do we expect when every single high ball is punted to the same big guy every time as he's the only one that can compete in the air.

If i was the opposition manager I'd just stick my best bloke in the air against our target man. To nullify him so my team could totally dominate the aerial battle on the pitch as we can't compete anywhere else. Which is why IMO are target men are so hit and miss sometimes they win the battle sometimes they don't. With us having no other options on the pitch but to punt the high balls to the target man really limits the team IMO.

Honestly look at our team from the midfield forward.

Barry 6'0"
Vieira 6'3" (far to slow)
Nigel 5'8"
Ireland 5'8" (out of form)
M. Johnson 6'0" (always injured)
A. Johnson 5'9"
Petrov 6'1" (wont use his head are even try to tackle)
SWP 5'5" (out of form)
Robinho 5'8" (stroppy twat and he's not here)
Bellamy 5'9"
Tevez 5'8"
RSQ 6'02" (always injured)
Ade 6'3" (keeps getting banned)
Kompany 6'04" (played mainly in defense)
Pab Zab 5'10" (Utility man not an out and out midfielder)

So from the midfield onwards most of the time we line up like this.

----------Nigel---Barry------------
SWP/Johnson---------------Bellamy
-----------Tevez------------------
----------------Ade/RSQ----------

So when we punt the ball forward as Barry's playing so deep we only have either Ade or RSQ that have any height. RSQ still isn't match fit because of all his injuries and Ade keeps getting banned for fuck all, so we really are struggling for any height at all when going forward.

Things are just as bad at the back as well when it comes to defending from set piece and crosses as we don't really have that much height at the back and we have to rely heavily on our short arse midfielders and attacking players to defend the high balls. We've got Kompany, Lesscott, RSQ and Ade that are over 6'0" IIRC and Barry and Toure at 6'0". Everyone else IIRC is 5'10" and below. So against tall teams like Stoke we just don't have enough height in the team to cover them all.

So bluemooners how do we fix this problem ? Do we change the system around and move players into different positions ? Or do we sign some taller players and try to change the balance of the height of our team ?
Click to expand...
Your "to" was too short but we all understood, only midfield where we're lacking height but lacking so much more than that, that it's the least of our worries.
 
Thats a very simple solution to a key problem at present with our team

You are correct in saying that there is no support coming from the central midfield area. However it has nothing to do with the lack of height in the team

Stoke are a huge team but Id rather the city players that you mention than the stoke ones

The problem with our midfield is two fold but linked

Firstly we arent set up right in my opinion.....we have two (sometimes 3 defensive minded players playing centrally.....dejong is not creative, neither is zab when played there and neiter is barry (though he can be but he isnt at present...whether thats cause of the tactics or he is just not playing that well at the moment is open to debate).......none of these players are ones that are going to create or join in the attack to any great effect.......

There is no need whatsoever to play with 3 defensive minded players in most games.....or even two in some games....liverpool played with one yesterday in Mascherano....with gerrard playing the box to box role.....now here is the second problem....Mancini doesnt have a box to box midfielder.....(in my opinion Ireland could play this role if asked and would be good at it).

hence no support from the central midfielders....it was noticeable that while ireland was on the pitch against everton he played a number of great passes (noteably the one to tevez when the keeper brought him down) before ireland got injured.....mancini either doesnt realise that ireland would be able to play this role or just doesnt think he could.....probably that he doesnt think he could play the role.

If we are going to play 4-4-2 we need a gerrard type player, a box to box midfielder to support the two forwards and wingers.....

if we are playing 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 you cannt play 3 defensive minded midfielders as mancini has been doing and expect the forwards to get support from midfield.......it is clear for everyone to see that when we play with this system that the 3 forwards end up isolated......at this point you need to play either ireland or tevex in the hole

team set up: 4-4-2

gk

back 4

winger---holding mid---- box to box midfielder ---- winger

2 forwards

*in this set up we dont have the player to play the box to box role (though i think Ireland is capable of it if given the time to develop it.

4-5-1

Mancini has gone like this i think in a number of games

gk

back 4

winger--zaba--dejong---barry---winger

tevez

when attacking this becomes a 4-3-3 with the two wingers supporting tevez....however the other 3 sit (esp dejong)....and even when they do join the attack they arent creative players and offer little to no threat....this leaves the front 3 very isolated and a huge gap appears in teh centre of the pitch when the attack breaks down

This system may also rely on attacking full backs to get up and help - we dont really have those players....richards and bridge are ok but not as effective as the likes of cole or evra in attacking and supporting the attack

In my opinion if he is going to play 4-5-1 it should be this more like this (a 4-4-1-1

Gk

bACK 4

Winger----dejong----ireland----Winger

tevez

ade

In this system you have tevez in the hole defending from the front and ade up there to act as a player to hit who can hold the ball up

dejong would just sit and gold infront of the back 4. Ireland plays box to box...he certainly has the engine to do this....he is a great tackler and is also very creative...what he does lack is probably the physical strength of someone like gerrard to play the role.

With wingers like bellamy and swp you have two players who will run their asses off to help defend as well as being very good on the attack (Im not sure whether you could play Johnson in that role...ive not seen much of his defensive side yet)

Thats my take on it anyway
 
kenzie115 said:
Challenger1978 said:
Personally i think we need to totally rethink the setup of our team. We need a great box to box midfielder as others have suggested on this site. As there's hardly ever any support coming from the middle of the pitch as its all down the wings.

Also and in my opinion and more importantly we need to get some bloody height in to our team as well as we literally have a team of short arses. Thats whats costing us against teams like Everton, Stoke & Wigan as we just don't win anything in the air against these teams. In fact I'd even say that was the problem of ours last season as well.

Think about the game against FC Midtjylland last year in the UEFA cup that we only beat because of a penalty shoot out. It wasn't because they are a great team, IMO it was in part because every single one of there players was 6 foot odd. They played very compact at the back and won near enough everything in the air . Also because they where big fuckers they could out muscle our players when the ball was played on the ground. Now that was a description of the FC Midtjylland game last year but it could of easily been a description of the Stoke or Everton games this year.

To back up my point look at the target man situation at city. We keep crying out for a target man and then complaining like fuck when we get one and they struggle. Now for me this is just madness, what the hell do we expect when every single high ball is punted to the same big guy every time as he's the only one that can compete in the air.

If i was the opposition manager I'd just stick my best bloke in the air against our target man. To nullify him so my team could totally dominate the aerial battle on the pitch as we can't compete anywhere else. Which is why IMO are target men are so hit and miss sometimes they win the battle sometimes they don't. With us having no other options on the pitch but to punt the high balls to the target man really limits the team IMO.

Honestly look at our team from the midfield forward.

Barry 6'0"
Vieira 6'3" (far to slow)
Nigel 5'8"
Ireland 5'8" (out of form)
M. Johnson 6'0" (always injured)
A. Johnson 5'9"
Petrov 6'1" (wont use his head are even try to tackle)
SWP 5'5" (out of form)
Robinho 5'8" (stroppy twat and he's not here)
Bellamy 5'9"
Tevez 5'8"
RSQ 6'02" (always injured)
Ade 6'3" (keeps getting banned)
Kompany 6'04" (played mainly in defense)
Pab Zab 5'10" (Utility man not an out and out midfielder)

So from the midfield onwards most of the time we line up like this.

----------Nigel---Barry------------
SWP/Johnson---------------Bellamy
-----------Tevez------------------
----------------Ade/RSQ----------

So when we punt the ball forward as Barry's playing so deep we only have either Ade or RSQ that have any height. RSQ still isn't match fit because of all his injuries and Ade keeps getting banned for fuck all, so we really are struggling for any height at all when going forward.

Things are just as bad at the back as well when it comes to defending from set piece and crosses as we don't really have that much height at the back and we have to rely heavily on our short arse midfielders and attacking players to defend the high balls. We've got Kompany, Lesscott, RSQ and Ade that are over 6'0" IIRC and Barry and Toure at 6'0". Everyone else IIRC is 5'10" and below. So against tall teams like Stoke we just don't have enough height in the team to cover them all.

So bluemooners how do we fix this problem ? Do we change the system around and move players into different positions ? Or do we sign some taller players and try to change the balance of the height of our team ?
Click to expand...

There's no way Petrov's 6'1" and Johnno's only 5'9".

We have Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Barry, Vieira, Santa Cruz and Adebayor who are all big enough to compete with the more physical sides, add the steel of De Jong and Zabba and the mental Bellamy and Tevez and we should be fine.
Click to expand...

According to the clubs website they are.<br /><br />-- Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:12 pm --<br /><br />
The Fat el Hombre said:
Height was a major problem last season (or size at least) with SWP, Robbie, Stevie and sometimes Elano in the team we were just too lightweight most of the time.

Luckily Hughes noticed the height problem (he was always banging on about physical presence) and signed the towering Nigel de Jong and Craig Bellamy to compliment the talented but vertically challenged individuals we already had...

This season our problem hasn't been height, at least when Ade or RSC are available and Vince and Lescott are at the back as they give us a good strong backbone. This season our problem has been mobility in the centre of midfield
Click to expand...

lmao, i actually thinks its a combination of both height and mobility thats our problem thats why i agree we need a box to box.
 
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