Starting XI for next season, your prediction.

[birchwoodgingerste]

Erm...Johnson? Why is it right wing where we have a problem? I'd say it was the left side where we have a few issues seeing as Silva is not a winger.

I have just noticed that just about every post has Sanchez starting there, so what is the alternative that those people have if he is off to Barcelona? By no means am I saying Johnson would not work there, but I want to here what people have to say about the matter since no clear alternative has emerged to Sanchez.

I think Hazard, Cazorla or Mata will be a good shout out right.

yes hazard dax carzola plays on the left mainly though but cud play right no doubt and matta is better in a free role id say hazard ,or nasri and pastore for attacking mid.

 

[CityFootball]

Erm...Johnson? Why is it right wing where we have a problem? I'd say it was the left side where we have a few issues seeing as Silva is not a winger.

I have just noticed that just about every post has Sanchez starting there, so what is the alternative that those people have if he is off to Barcelona? By no means am I saying Johnson would not work there, but I want to here what people have to say about the matter since no clear alternative has emerged to Sanchez.

I think Hazard, Cazorla or Mata will be a good shout out right.

I was also thinking Hazard, it seems he played more at the centre forward position but I think he could adapt to playing on the right side better than a lot of other targets.

Cazorla- I heard rumours City had interest in him near the end of the January transfer window. He shows a lot of potential. What do you think he would be valued at?

 

[LoveCity]

Cazorla was linked on the same day as Matt Jarvis in January, when we were considering a panic buy because Johnson got injured. Nothing since then though.

 

[Dax777]

I have just noticed that just about every post has Sanchez starting there, so what is the alternative that those people have if he is off to Barcelona? By no means am I saying Johnson would not work there, but I want to here what people have to say about the matter since no clear alternative has emerged to Sanchez.

I think Hazard, Cazorla or Mata will be a good shout out right.

yes hazard dax carzola plays on the left mainly though but cud play right no doubt and matta is better in a free role id say hazard ,or nasri and pastore for attacking mid.

Nah, Carzola played mostly on the right when they are in a 442. Cazorla (right) Valero and Bruno (middle) and Cani (left). They used that formation predominantly. But when the play a 4312 with Valero behind the strikers Carzola does start in left Center mid. But he played more often on the right than left.

That said my thinking is having 3 free role guys who only start out on the right, center or left only on paper but really just drift across the attacking 3rd and bringing up the fullbacks for width.

 

[Tevez City]

Before I sleep, lets hope and dream what our starting eleven will be next season:

----------------Hart---------

VDW----Kompany---Richards----Enrique

---------------Yaya---------------

--------Pastore-------Silva---------

AJ-------------Tevez---------Hazard

 

[Dax777]

I have just noticed that just about every post has Sanchez starting there, so what is the alternative that those people have if he is off to Barcelona? By no means am I saying Johnson would not work there, but I want to here what people have to say about the matter since no clear alternative has emerged to Sanchez.

I think Hazard, Cazorla or Mata will be a good shout out right.

I was also thinking Hazard, it seems he played more at the centre forward position but I think he could adapt to playing on the right side better than a lot of other targets.

Cazorla- I heard rumours City had interest in him near the end of the January transfer window. He shows a lot of potential. What do you think he would be valued at?

I don't watch much french Ligue, so my hazard knowledge is from internationals and the French Cup. But reviewing his statistical qualities, I am certain he will be a gem. His vision correlation stat is higher than Pastore, Silvam Cazorla or Mata's. And he plays in the french ligue 1.

But Hazard according to my research plays predominantly where Villa plays for Barca, Left forward. Lille copies the Barca system. Gervihno(right) Sow(Middle) and Hazard(left) that is there basic set. With Gervinho and Hazard switching sometimes.

That said I believe he would be good on the right of a 3. The kid at Sochaux Marvin Martin, should also be looked at if we can't pull off Pastore. His stats are off the charts. And watching him for France a few days ago, you could see the intelligence in his pass and movement.

 

[niall_mcfc]

I think Hazard, Cazorla or Mata will be a good shout out right.

yes hazard dax carzola plays on the left mainly though but cud play right no doubt and matta is better in a free role id say hazard ,or nasri and pastore for attacking mid.

Nah, Carzola played mostly on the right when they are in a 442. Cazorla (right) Valero and Bruno (middle) and Cani (left). They used that formation predominantly. But when the play a 4312 with Valero behind the strikers Carzola does start in left Center mid. But he played more often on the right than left.

That said my thinking is having 3 free role guys who only start out on the right, center or left only on paper but really just drift across the attacking 3rd and bringing up the fullbacks for width.

Even though that sounds good and would work going forward we would struggle when defending. If you watch Silva last season when he started on the wing and then drifted in we got caught out with the oppositions full back pushing on leaving our full back with a 2 on 1 situation or we had NDJ come over to cover one of the wide players leaving someone free in the middle.

 

[Lmarkham-blueblood]

..............................hart.........................
Richards..kompany..lescott..contrão
............................de jong....................
.....................toure........Silva...............
........balotelli.........................Mata.....
..............................tevez .....................

 

[Dax777]

yes hazard dax carzola plays on the left mainly though but cud play right no doubt and matta is better in a free role id say hazard ,or nasri and pastore for attacking mid.

Nah, Carzola played mostly on the right when they are in a 442. Cazorla (right) Valero and Bruno (middle) and Cani (left). They used that formation predominantly. But when the play a 4312 with Valero behind the strikers Carzola does start in left Center mid. But he played more often on the right than left.

That said my thinking is having 3 free role guys who only start out on the right, center or left only on paper but really just drift across the attacking 3rd and bringing up the fullbacks for width.

Even though that sounds good and would work going forward we would struggle when defending. If you watch Silva last season when he started on the wing and then drifted in we got caught out with the oppositions full back pushing on leaving our full back with a 2 on 1 situation or we had NDJ come over to cover one of the wide players leaving someone free in the middle.

I understand your reservation, but in practice it is not really much of a problem.
Balo, SIlva and Yaya did it quite akwardly for a few games. They are not naturally predisposed to this. Spanish players are.

When we attack and lose it before it concludes in a shot, throw in, goal kick or goal, we get caught out anyways. Players move forward and move around when they have the ball and can't do anything about losing possession via interception or tackle. They get caught out. Whether you stayed on the right, left or Center when this happens is often irrelevant as you are quickly caught behind the ball. Where behind the ball you are positioned is perfuntory. The issue here is how do you deal with counter attacks, and mostly this has little to do with how you execute your attack.

The best way to deal with counters is to either track back from the zone you are already in, or Play the Barca trap. Barca uses the 10 second trap defense. When they lose possession, they attack the ball holder and try to trap him with multiple players, forcing him to either lose the ball or go backwards to find space. Both actions result in giving Barca the opportunity to reconfigure into their defensive stand.

City often doesn't deal with Counters well, regardless of if they are switching around in the attacking 3 or not.

Presumably, part of the problem is the mentality to defense that is pervasive in the English league. It is a glorifies the individual tackle. Getting stuck in, putting in hard tackles, being aggressive are all mantras in the English footballing lexicon. However the problem with this is that it is often individualistic in nature. Rather than following a system that will dispossess the opposition of the ball 85 percent of the time if everyone sticks to their duties, English football glorifies winning the ball back by individual effort.

A system that is grossly less effective than group defending. 1) each player is playing individually attempting to win a duel, 2) it is reactive as you have to see if the first guy fails to determine the next move.

Anyway, since City is also predisposed to the individual tackling philosophy the best way to do it, would be for the mids to just track back down the line of where the find themselves in relations to the other 2 attacking Mids when the loss of possession occured.

Thus, the farthest left assume the role of Left mid and tracks that line the most Central assumes the role of the Central mid and tracks that line and the most right assume the role and duty of the RM and tracks that line. Balo, Silva and Yaya did that well enough while moving around. Even Dzeko joined in one game and tracked the left lane as he was out there when the dispossesion occurred.

But overall, a seamless offensive Mid 3 aids your ability to break the opposition down by confusing the opposing defense, but really has little to no negative effect on your ability to defend on lost possessions. One might even argue it aids your defense by making it harder to lose possession in the first place

Structured movement is much more key for when defending, but not so much when attacking. The more structured you are offensively, the easier you are to defend most of the time.

 

[persvenality cult]

yes hazard dax carzola plays on the left mainly though but cud play right no doubt and matta is better in a free role id say hazard ,or nasri and pastore for attacking mid.

Nah, Carzola played mostly on the right when they are in a 442. Cazorla (right) Valero and Bruno (middle) and Cani (left). They used that formation predominantly. But when the play a 4312 with Valero behind the strikers Carzola does start in left Center mid. But he played more often on the right than left.

That said my thinking is having 3 free role guys who only start out on the right, center or left only on paper but really just drift across the attacking 3rd and bringing up the fullbacks for width.

Even though that sounds good and would work going forward we would struggle when defending. If you watch Silva last season when he started on the wing and then drifted in we got caught out with the oppositions full back pushing on leaving our full back with a 2 on 1 situation or we had NDJ come over to cover one of the wide players leaving someone free in the middle.

Agreed, it's a very difficult balance to achieve. The narrow midfield and the assignment of who covers the fullback caused many problems. One way to deal with it is to occupy their fullback so he is less likely to charge forward with impunity. Look at Everton away. Silva won all the plaudits but from memory he didn't so much as look at the left wing (his nominal starting position). Their goals came when their RB realised he had the freedom just to go forward again and again.