I mean, Fatbloke saying 'authoritatively' that others except Yaya can do something they've all collective failed to do shows the very bias I speak of. None of those mentioned have shown a consistent capacity to pressure effectively. And claiming they don't because they fear Yay wouldn't cover for them, is ridiculous at best. Seeing as their pressure requires no necessary cover from Yaya or anyone else for that matter. You simply need to close down your player before the ball comes to him and negate him as an option for the defender on the ball. If all 3 forward players do this in concert, the player on the ball is forced to punt it forward and just hope.
Fernandinho and Delph played against Stoke City, please what happened?The difference is all those with maybe the exception of Aguero (in the short term because of the hamstring injuries) are capable of playing a high pressing style, Yaya hasn't got the energy levels, agility or mental desire and to my mind it causes others to hesitate because they feel like they can't trust him to cover them if they get beaten.
I personally would go with two holding in Fernandinho and Delph with a three of De Bruyne, Silva and Sterling interchanging behind Aguero. Let Fernandinho and Delph set the tempo, be more aggressive, be quicker to the second balls and just don't let other teams play. We're too soft and easy to get at especially on the counter attack, the extra pace and energy would limit our chances of getting caught. In possession we've already seen Fernandinho is more than capable of getting into the box and scoring goals when the shackles are released and Delph makes some very good runs off the ball and creates space for Silva by doing so. The whole mentality changes if you have two naturally aggressive ball winners, just look how the fans have taken to Zabaleta, he's not the best right back in terms of ability but I wouldn't swap him for anyone.
Toure is the perfect player to bring on because he can kill the pace of a game with his passing against tired teams and equally if we're struggling to break a team down he could give us a different option but I just think playing him from the start is absolutely killing us against either high pressing or possession based teams and its only going to get worse the older and more tired he gets through a tough season.
Fernandinho and Delph played against Stoke City, please what happened?
Good point even if it was the 2 Ferns.Fernandinho and Delph played against Stoke City, please what happened?
Good point even if it was the 2 Ferns.
Against Swansea he was involved in plenty of passing. He was going deep right to the central defenders feet, picking up the ball and distributing it, but our defenders can pass the ball. He wasn't influencing the game where it matters, and his work off the ball is non-existent.
City don't press as a team. We could if Pellegrini so wished. Our midfield minus Toure is made for it, but that has to come from the manager and I don't think he wants us to play like that. But Barca do that relentlessly when they lose the ball.
I doubt Pellegrini is going to change City's style at this point in the season. We will just carry on in the same style which admittedly has done so well for us. But players age and you can't find replacements for Toure (Sissokho at Newcastle impresses in a poor team though). You have to use what we have and we're missing a trick at the moment not using the running power of Delph, Fernando and Fernandinho to its max. We could have a formidable midfield without Toure but we just carry on playing the same style with or without him. If that's the way we are going to approach the games we might as well play Toure as he is still the best passer at the club. We need a couple of changes in the Summer.
I know we can do it and have the players to do it.We can press as a team and have done successfully recently both against Sevilla and BMG. Have a look at the BMG again and watch Silva, his pressing is brilliant but the most impressive bit was directing everyone else where and when to press. All three of our forward players were pressing, along with Fern and Delph behind them. That meant that Yaya didn't need to press, much the same way Barca do it with Busquets sitting in behind the pressing players.
I know we can do it and have the players to do it.
I don't think your example of BMG is very good. They decided to sit back and defend in the 2nd half and preserve what they had. If we are instructed to press the ball, then we do it really badly despie having players that are made for it (minus Toure)
Spot on.Yaya played at Seville away and we played very effectively there with a much deeper back line and compact shape, not leaving so much space between defence and midfield. He played against BM as well and again we played well 2nd half with a much higher back line but with still the compact shape. He was an ever present during our flying start to the season. He really isn't the problem and his absences should have shown that we aren't a better team without him.
I'd be interested in hearing how you think we should play (with or without Toure). We won't be an effective pressing team (with or without Toure) because it isn't only Yaya not doing it, it's half of the team.
Yaya played at Seville away and we played very effectively there with a much deeper back line and compact shape, not leaving so much space between defence and midfield. He played against BM as well and again we played well 2nd half with a much higher back line but with still the compact shape. He was an ever present during our flying start to the season. He really isn't the problem and his absences should have shown that we aren't a better team without him.
I'd be interested in hearing how you think we should play (with or without Toure). We won't be an effective pressing team (with or without Toure) because it isn't only Yaya not doing it, it's half of the team.