Silva injured now?

[vintiz]

He wouldn't be out for too long ?

 

[ONTHERUNWITHTHAKSIN]

If Silva is out I would push Yaya further forward and bring in Rodwell at the side of Fernandhino, would also have Jovetic Left Navas Right and Aguero lone CF.

 

[Marvin]

The makeshift centre-back pairing has absolutely nothing to do with how open we are. All it means is that when we are attacked we are more vulnerable and against Hull, Lescott was useless at bringing the ball out of defence as he couldn't play with the ball on his right foot

That whole paragraph is completely illogical. Makes zero sense to me. Sorry.

I am not convinced by Navas. He was brilliant against Newcastle, but pretty useless against Cardiff and Hull. I'd use him as we used AJ. As an option and a game-changer.

Another terribly weak and knee jerk comment to make. He won't be used like AJ so you should get used to him being in the team almost every week. He's that good.

The formation has changed because instead of having 4 central midfielders, Tevez half and half and Aguero up top, we now have two out and out strikers, Navas out wide. We've gone from having 5 in midfield to 3 and that means the likes of Silva can't play his give and go, and it means that when we lose the ball high up the pitch, teams can just break on us and get straight into the heart of our defence

Wrong again. When you say we used 4 central midfield players, I presume you're referring to Silva/Nasri drifting inside. How many games did Tevez start in our title winning season? Could you tell me who make this mythical fifth midfield player in that season. Every reading you have of how things unfolded last season or the season before in comparison to the three games we've played this season is just wrong.

I see changes in the marking systems, tempo and pressing game. I like the latter two, but you'll never get Yaya Toure to press. That's why Toure left Barca. That and the emergence of Busquets. You cannot get a huge man like that to quickly close down opponents as soon as you lose the ball

More wrongs. Saying Yaya is incapable of pressing is like saying Silva is incapable of running. He didn't leave Barca because he couldn't press. He left because City made him a fantastic offer which meant regular football - whereas at Barca he was behind Busquets, not because Busquets is the better player, but because Busquets is a Catalonian and came through their ranks. Guardiola is on record as saying he never wanted Yaya to leave and tried to convince him to stay.

Of course I agree that to an extent the players will get better in the new set-up, but I think we'd be far better off employing the new players in Mancini's narrow system, with Navas used as a variation. if he starts, it's imperative that we only have one up top, otherwise we will be wide open.

Never going to happen so it's pointless repeating it. Managers don't use the previous managers methods, because if the previous managers methods were so effective those managers wouldn't have been sacked.

Utd tried at the start of last season to play Kagawa and wingers and it didn't work. They abandoned it. Pellegrini will have to abandon it too. if he keeps faith with it, we will be out of the title race before you know it.

You're on drugs if you think Pellegrini is going abandon his footballing ideas having been at City for two months and having played only 3 competitive games.

These are your comments to which I was responding

We are more open so far - but even a casual football watcher can see that this is in large part due to a makeshift centre back pairing which has changed three different times for the three league games we've played so far. Our formation is the same as last season, yet you've said repeatedly that Pellegrini's changed formations. He hasn't, our style of play is evolving to one with a higher tempo, a higher press, and a higher defensive line. But so far no change in formation.

I repeat again in simple terms, how does a makeshift centre-back paring make us more open? By open, I mean having no midfield protection. It means that when we lose the ball in attack, a team can counter-attack and get straight at our defence with little difficulty. The quality of our central defence makes absolutely no difference to how open we are, it just affects how capable they are of dealing with attacks when caught one on one.

I can not understand how you can seriously claim that City have not changed formation.

We have been playing Navas. He is a winger. Last season we were narrow. We also have lost Tevez who was a deep-lying forward who spent a lot of time in midfield. These two changes alone mean that the City team has been unable to dominate midfield in the way we used to, and it means that when our attacks break down, it's much easier to get at our defence

Those are facts. It's not really arguable. Yet you do, and you are relying on nothing other than blind faith in Pellegrini. An objective argument about what is happening now would be more persuasive.

Yaya Toure's game is about power. He will never ever develop the stamina to be able to play a high tempo pressing game. You have seen how long it takes for him to recover from one of his trademark runs upfield.

I know Navas is a good player, but Spain use him almost exclusively as an impact sub. They can play with a wide man because they always have midfield control because they play 1 forward at the most and often none. Pellegrini must make a choice between a narrow team that plays through Silva, or width. You can't expect Silva to boss games if you have 2 forwards and Navas. Our best hope is that Jovetic plays in behind the forward in the Tevez hole and that that will help Silva and the midfield out.

 

[Rammyblues]

Bleedin internationals :-(

 

[davymcfc]

We are very unlucky with injuries but this is a great chance for jovetic to step in.

 

[Marvin]

We are very unlucky with injuries but this is a great chance for jovetic to step in.

if he's ready.....was a unused sub for Montenegro at the weekend and missed most of our pre-season. I can't really see him starting. But then I didn't think Aguero would start against Newcastle for much the same reasons, and he did

He's the player that may make us tick. Be interesting to see how Pellegrini will use him. There are several possibilities

 

[sam-caddick]

We are very unlucky with injuries but this is a great chance for jovetic to step in.

if he's ready.....was a unused sub for Montenegro at the weekend and missed most of our pre-season. I can't really see him starting. But then I didn't think Aguero would start against Newcastle for much the same reasons, and he did

He's the player that may make us tick. Be interesting to see how Pellegrini will use him. There are several possibilities

I said in the Jovetic thread that if he comes into team, plays on the left and ends up scoring goals alongside Sergio and Dzeko/Negredo he will end up keeping Silva out of the team.

Silva is one of our best players as his build up play at times is sublime, but for me he doesn't score enough goals and his assists are not as regular as they were in the title winning season.

Jovetic is going to be perfect competition for Silva in my opinion.

 

[grim up north]

We are very unlucky with injuries but this is a great chance for jovetic to step in.

if he's ready.....was a unused sub for Montenegro at the weekend and missed most of our pre-season. I can't really see him starting. But then I didn't think Aguero would start against Newcastle for much the same reasons, and he did

He's the player that may make us tick. Be interesting to see how Pellegrini will use him. There are several possibilities

I said in the Jovetic thread that if he comes into team, plays on the left and ends up scoring goals alongside Sergio and Dzeko/Negredo he will end up keeping Silva out of the team.

Silva is one of our best players as his build up play at times is sublime, but for me he doesn't score enough goals and his assists are not as regular as they were in the title winning season.

Jovetic is going to be perfect competition for Silva in my opinion.

Silva will play a different role when Jovetic is fit

 

[BLUEMATT23]

Maybe recall Sinclair?

 

[Chippy_boy]

We are very unlucky with injuries but this is a great chance for jovetic to step in.

if he's ready.....was a unused sub for Montenegro at the weekend and missed most of our pre-season. I can't really see him starting. But then I didn't think Aguero would start against Newcastle for much the same reasons, and he did

He's the player that may make us tick. Be interesting to see how Pellegrini will use him. There are several possibilities

I said in the Jovetic thread that if he comes into team, plays on the left and ends up scoring goals alongside Sergio and Dzeko/Negredo he will end up keeping Silva out of the team.

Silva is one of our best players as his build up play at times is sublime, but for me he doesn't score enough goals and his assists are not as regular as they were in the title winning season.

Jovetic is going to be perfect competition for Silva in my opinion.

I said much the same thing recently - cant remember on which thread.

I think Jovetic can be like another Silva - always in space, linking up play - but crucially, a massively bigger goal threat. Not only will Jovetic score goals, he'll frighten defenders and open up space and goal opportunities for our strikers.

I think we will be a much better team with Jovetic playing.