So easy to play through

[Marvin]

I can't remember how many games they played together but if that is the case, then the question should be; why ? What is it about Negredo's game which suits Aguero ?

Movement? I am not sure, the whole Negredo affair was very confusing. City were at our peak in that period. Unplayable

I think we were that good at that time, any semi-competent forward would have scored bucketloads. I agree about Bony although I think he has allowed his head to go down too easily. He was effective against Utd and perhaps should have started although he has really struggled of late. There's probably more to it than his own form. We don't play to his strengths and I think pellegrini is very reluctant to play 2 forwards as it means we lose control in midfield. There was a time when he'd start 2 up top whatever.

What has changed is the capacity of our players in midfield and that is no one's fault but age, however the manager carries the can for insisting that we can carry on regardless when self-evidently we cannot

 

[bobom]

Aguero had a bad game against Utd. He put a huge amount of effort in coming deep and going wide but he got it wrong in front of goal. I agree he should have passed to Bony on a couple of occasions.

However I am not sure I agree that he is a difficult player to play with. He formed a great partnership with Negredo until Negredo's game fell apart.

Bony had a decent game. I think the problem with Aguero is that he no longer has faith in his supply and feels he has to do it all himself. I hope this will change when KDB comes back, but I'm not sure we can pin all our hopes on him...

 

[Neville Kneville]

Movement? I am not sure, the whole Negredo affair was very confusing. City were at our peak in that period. Unplayable

I think we were that good at that time, any semi-competent forward would have scored bucketloads. I agree about Bony although I think he has allowed his head to go down too easily. He was effective against Utd and perhaps should have started although he has really struggled of late. There's probably more to it than his own form. We don't play to his strengths and I think pellegrini is very reluctant to play 2 forwards as it means we lose control in midfield. There was a time when he'd start 2 up top whatever.

What has changed is the capacity of our players in midfield and that is no one's fault but age, however the manager carries the can for insisting that we can carry on regardless when self-evidently we cannot

The manager doesn't take into account balance, age, fitness, form, mental fatigue, pace, opposition tactics, the pitch, height, build, wind, or basically fucking anything regarding either attack, defence or midfield. Just puts out a team which he fancies, in his head, irrespective.

Negredo was a battering ram, with pace, who closed down & ran his balls off. If your system requires a player like that, then why wouldn't you go balls out to sign one once he'd gone ? If you want to play two in midfield, why wouldn't you sign players specifically to do that, ones who are athletes who can both attack & defend ? If you want to play a high line, why the fuck would you get rid of a kid with lightning pace, & sign a cb with no pace ?

City's signings this year screamed out 'counter attack'. Then you see them stuck out wide in a plodding team with slow cbs & an ageing midfield & a big fucking hole in the middle getting caught out time & again on the counter attack.

We line up 4231. Except 5 mins in, we find out Silva is stood next to Aguero we have two wide players & a big hole in the middle. Ah it wasn't 4231 after all. Everything he does, ends up looking the same. But instead of Silva or Bony, the oppo used to have to deal with Negredo. Bit different.

 

[Itsaar]

Excellent post backed up with examples. So why can't our charming imbecile not see it and if he does why doesn't he fix it in game. I'm so fed up of setting my watch by his 60 min sub, a sub that usually makes no sense what so ever. His constant, reliable, fool hardiness of playing players that don't fit his system or are even so out of form it hurts to watch (Bony). He has gone from setting records and being held in high regard to a stumbling has been, bye bye Pellers.

 

[The Black Shed]

4th ???????????

Soz - in future I shall proof-read before posting.

 

[Dax777]

It seems to me that you have been finding ways to excuse the two in the middle system when it's been exposed, by saying it's down to this that & the other, rather than it basically doesn't work with this group, & then on the occasions we have done something different & it's worked, have claimed it's not because of the change of system.

If I am mistaken then I apologise but that's how it has appeared to me.


Edit: and reading now, it seems you are doing it in this thread.

Utd didn't play anything like City at all. Not even close, yet you are claiming they did & it's 'the same system'. No it isn't. That is computer geek talk not real football. That's like saying Brain Horton & Tony Pulis play the same system because on paper it looks the same.

I meant the same formation. 451. Both had 2 base CMs and 1 attacking AM. 2 wide AMs and 1 striker up top.

From a formation stanspoint, what did you see?

 

[Neville Kneville]

I meant the same formation. 451. Both had 2 base CMs and 1 attacking AM. 2 wide AMs and 1 striker up top.

From a formation stanspoint, what did you see?

In reality our formation is almost always 4222, no matter what the starting positions suggest on paper. When Fernandinho played wide in the final etc it changed to more of a 433 feel without the ball, he was often dropping into centre mid. He would have been right in front of Rashford had that been the cup final. When Navas, Sterling or Silva try to do that, it doesn't happen. Almost always, one of our midfielders is up front in the 2nd striker position. Sometimes they take turns at who does it. Silva, DeBruyne, Yaya, Sterling have all tried it. Ironically I think Nasri has probably done it better than any when given that job. There's the front 2. Then we have the 2 wide players. Then the big hole in centre mid, with 4 or 5 oppo players v 2 or often 1 or 0 of ours, depending on the flow of the game. When Fernando came on, he tended to stay there so we had a consistent 1 & of course we were chasing the game; the absolute situation we wanted to avoid vs Van Gaal, but we were much the better team with a genuine holding mid. Had we started with 3 mids in there, Utd would probably not have got out of their own half & Rashford would have ended up being subbed so they could whack it at Fellaini.

 

[Marvin]

The manager doesn't take into account balance, age, fitness, form, mental fatigue, pace, opposition tactics, the pitch, height, build, wind, or basically fucking anything regarding either attack, defence or midfield. Just puts out a team which he fancies, in his head, irrespective.

Negredo was a battering ram, with pace, who closed down & ran his balls off. If your system requires a player like that, then why wouldn't you go balls out to sign one once he'd gone ? If you want to play two in midfield, why wouldn't you sign players specifically to do that, ones who are athletes who can both attack & defend ? If you want to play a high line, why the fuck would you get rid of a kid with lightning pace, & sign a cb with no pace ?

City's signings this year screamed out 'counter attack'. Then you see them stuck out wide in a plodding team with slow cbs & an ageing midfield & a big fucking hole in the middle getting caught out time & again on the counter attack.

We line up 4231. Except 5 mins in, we find out Silva is stood next to Aguero we have two wide players & a big hole in the middle. Ah it wasn't 4231 after all. Everything he does, ends up looking the same. But instead of Silva or Bony, the oppo used to have to deal with Negredo. Bit different.

Very true.

 

[Chippy_boy]

The manager doesn't take into account balance, age, fitness, form, mental fatigue, pace, opposition tactics, the pitch, height, build, wind, or basically fucking anything regarding either attack, defence or midfield. Just puts out a team which he fancies, in his head, irrespective.

Negredo was a battering ram, with pace, who closed down & ran his balls off. If your system requires a player like that, then why wouldn't you go balls out to sign one once he'd gone ? If you want to play two in midfield, why wouldn't you sign players specifically to do that, ones who are athletes who can both attack & defend ? If you want to play a high line, why the fuck would you get rid of a kid with lightning pace, & sign a cb with no pace ?

City's signings this year screamed out 'counter attack'. Then you see them stuck out wide in a plodding team with slow cbs & an ageing midfield & a big fucking hole in the middle getting caught out time & again on the counter attack.

We line up 4231. Except 5 mins in, we find out Silva is stood next to Aguero we have two wide players & a big hole in the middle. Ah it wasn't 4231 after all. Everything he does, ends up looking the same. But instead of Silva or Bony, the oppo used to have to deal with Negredo. Bit different.

Have to agree with others, that is a top post mate. It does my head in how we can buy players with known skillsets, play them in COMPLETELY the wrong way and then when the inevitably underperform, we write them off as being shit. We bought Navas and Sterling to be pacey wingers to bring some width and pace (two attributes we'd lacked for years). Makes sense when you are facing (as we used to) teams with 11 men behind the ball. We needed to inject some urgency into our play and stretch defences.

So what do we do? We play our usual ponderous game and have Sterling and Navas drifting inside and playing the ball backwards. Both look lost, although Navas tries hard at least. But these are not bad players, we just aren't using them right.

 

[ono]

@Millwallawayveteran1988