Bad day at the office for Vinny, no doubt! No-one really covered themselves in glory, though, did they?
Vinny SEEMS TO ME to be trying to play too aggressively on the front foot and is being taken by the new breed of forward who is a step quicker, often big and strong or simply can do him for pace. He needs to learn from MDM, that pace and aggression are fine, but when you are the last ,one of defense, your job is SAFETY! Sadly, he gets caught flatfooted, or coming forward against a player who is either moving, or about to move, in the opposite direction. Even Usain Bolt would struggle to catch a decent striker who is moving in the opposite direction at speed, while he has to stop, turn and chase.
Vinny needs to give himself a yard or two to do his work, instead of holding himself to the superhuman standard of taking the ball from the player before it arrives or stopping him, one on one, as he runs towards him. He is making a himself look bad by expecting too much of himself. In short, he is trying to defend like a 21 yr old, instead of a seasoned veteran pro. That is giving confidence to the attacker and destroying his own confidence.
At the start of a game, players weigh each other up. Who is having a good game, who is having a bad game, who is off the pace, who is over committing, etc, etc, etc... After the first 10-15 mins, as a centre forward, I usually knew what I probably could and could not get away with. Today, players have videos made for them on their opposition, so they can their weaknesses before they ever get on the field. From there, you make your plan, as a manager and as an individual player. Unfortunately, the plan for Vinny used to be "go out and make his life a misery." Today, though, it is the centre forward's plan that is causing Vinny problems, because too many are walking on the field thinking, "I can do him for pace every time he overcommits, which is every time the ball comes his way."
Vinny needs to come back to himself and concentrate on his core attributes. He is big, strong, not slow, and has commanded respect from all comers for a few years. He needs to concentrate on safety first, solidity and organization. He needs to stop trying to intercept every ball up to his striker, beating his striker to EVERY ball, and pick his moments when the odds are squarely in his favor. He needs to be as ready to retreat and consolidate as he is to charge forward and attack the ball on his own, often not caring where his support is, because he is so confident he will win the challenge.
City play suicide defending as part of their game strategy. Komapny has openly discussed this in interviews. With him and another top CH, and Joe in goal, we have done OK with it, because not many teams have as much possession as we do, and not many teams have had the personnel to open us up too often. However, one of the things about the Prem is that teams are competitive, they pressurize you,money WILL make chances, and they will expose frailties...even the bad teams do it...and that is where we have been coming undone. We are winning 2-0 and we are looking to make it 3, the 4, then 5. As a fan, I should love it...and I do WHEN WE SHUT UP SHOP AT THE BACK! However, the shop is ALWAYS open, due to kamikaze defending! Sadly, Vinny's current blip, his injuries and a lack of a steady partnership at the back has made that kamikaze defending somewhat comical at times.
A good team is ALWAYS built on a solid defensive platform, as it frees he other 6-7 players in the team to be able to attack with confidence. Today, with a lightweight midfield (what are Nasri, Silva, Sterling and Navas, about 5'7" on average and 10 stone apiece, if you're lucky?!) and a very aggressive, strong and pressurizing opposition, we were overrun at times, and the defensive frailties were magnified for all the world to see.
Today's goals were a defensive howler as long punt not dealt with by anyone and striker runs through and knocks it past on rushing keeper, another one that again carves through the defense with a simple flicked one-two (Vinny shirked the final challenge, but we were still carved open like a hot knife through butter with Kolarov done on the turn), an offside goal where the attacker runs out of play and is 5 yds ahead of the linesman (who was clueless), and perhaps the most damning of all was a simple channel pass that left Vinny for dead in the heart of the defense.
I can only imagine what Joe Hart had to say at half time, let alone Pellegrini!
