Swansea (H) Pre-Match Thread

[Tbilisi]

Willy

Zabba Ota Stones Kolarov

Dinho Yaya

KDB Silva Sane

Aguero

Komps to come on,Sterling to have a breather then come on as played a lot this season
Jesus to come on,still adjusting,easy does it and Aguero needs games
Kolarov for his crossing,better than Clichy
Would like to see Sancho on the bench too

 

[supercity88]

I would never ever for any reason in any game drop De Bruyne. I find the notion pretty ridiculous to be honest (and I know Pep's done it before).

For one reason only - balance. Against Palace we didn't use him and the side was well balanced. We created a fair few chances, we also didn't concede too many opportunities and certainly not too many clear cut opportunities like we did time and time against Everton for instance. With Yaya, Silva and De Bruyne we're not well balance for certain games. Like I said, long ball teams we can press their defence to stop them getting a decent ball forward and mop possession up. You don't need that extra man in there really.

Swansea will play a more "purist" style than this. They'll look to get the ball on the ground and find space. They're good enough to pass out from the back, it's been their way for many years. If we push up and they do manage to find space, as Sigurdsson in particular will look to, behind our midfield then we might have problems.

Spurs managed to score by sucking our defence out of position because we didn't have midfield cover. You can point the finger at our defenders (Otamendi in particular) but the fact is they felt drawn out because Yaya's trying to get back but isn't defensively covering well enough. We need to get in a habit of stopping conceding such "easy" opportunities for the opposition to get into goal scoring positions.

Having Fernandinho in there to cover the ground defensively will help us eliminate the potential to be torn open so easily. Yaya, Silva, Sterling, Sane and Jesus will create opportunities. De Bruyne is excellent and in certain games they can all work in the same team, but I'd leave him out of this one to start with. In other games I'd have him in ahead of Silva but I like Silva's ability to manage the game in terms of its pace. He dictates whether we want to make the opposition chase the ball for a ten minute spell, suck them out of position and get at them, or play direct and attack quickly. I feel like De Bruyne still needs to develop that control, he's always 100% geared on going forwards and trying to create a scoring opportunity. In doing so we can lose the ball and be exposed so Pep will want us to always be in control of the pace of the game. It's less tiring chasing the ball and when you have Silva and Yaya on the pitch they can do with playing at their own pace!

 

[Manchester_lalala]

Willy

Zabba Ota Stones Kolarov

Dinho Yaya

KDB Silva Sane

Aguero

Komps to come on,Sterling to have a breather then come on as played a lot this season
Jesus to come on
Kolarov for his crossing,better than Clichy
Would like to see Sancho on the bench too

I'd like to see sancho on the bench, won't happen though. Not got many injuries at the minute.

 

[supercity88]

Gylfi is a quality player and can understand your reasoning for that switch if we were say away but we are the home team her vying for the top 4 and they are away fighting relegation, I think it will be more the case of Paul Clement finding a way to try and stop De Bruyne rather than Pep thinking negatively and a way to stop Gylfi.

We play the same formation and personnel as Wednesday and there is no reason why we wont dominate and win regardless of a new found Swansea and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

Only change I would even consider is Kompany for one of the centre halfs

I don't see it as a negative move. You stop Swansea being able to play it into Sigurdsson and you force them into finding different options and that makes them uncomfortable and forces them into mistakes. Pep made it clear he wanted West Ham to have no chance of time on the ball to play an accurate pass to Carroll. De Bruyne was therefore needed to chase down the ball.

De Bruyne can still play, if he does we might just make the front three press and have De Bruyne sat off a bit. He's a quality player and either way we should win the game. It's my personal preference to see City build confidence defensively so I'd prefer a 2-0 win than a 3-1 win and I think Fernandinho for De Bruyne would help with defensive balance, though some may disagree!

 

[BillyShears]

For one reason only - balance. Against Palace we didn't use him and the side was well balanced. We created a fair few chances, we also didn't concede too many opportunities and certainly not too many clear cut opportunities like we did time and time against Everton for instance. With Yaya, Silva and De Bruyne we're not well balance for certain games. Like I said, long ball teams we can press their defence to stop them getting a decent ball forward and mop possession up. You don't need that extra man in there really.

Swansea will play a more "purist" style than this. They'll look to get the ball on the ground and find space. They're good enough to pass out from the back, it's been their way for many years. If we push up and they do manage to find space, as Sigurdsson in particular will look to, behind our midfield then we might have problems.

Spurs managed to score by sucking our defence out of position because we didn't have midfield cover. You can point the finger at our defenders (Otamendi in particular) but the fact is they felt drawn out because Yaya's trying to get back but isn't defensively covering well enough. We need to get in a habit of stopping conceding such "easy" opportunities for the opposition to get into goal scoring positions.

Having Fernandinho in there to cover the ground defensively will help us eliminate the potential to be torn open so easily. Yaya, Silva, Sterling, Sane and Jesus will create opportunities. De Bruyne is excellent and in certain games they can all work in the same team, but I'd leave him out of this one to start with. In other games I'd have him in ahead of Silva but I like Silva's ability to manage the game in terms of its pace. He dictates whether we want to make the opposition chase the ball for a ten minute spell, suck them out of position and get at them, or play direct and attack quickly. I feel like De Bruyne still needs to develop that control, he's always 100% geared on going forwards and trying to create a scoring opportunity. In doing so we can lose the ball and be exposed so Pep will want us to always be in control of the pace of the game. It's less tiring chasing the ball and when you have Silva and Yaya on the pitch they can do with playing at their own pace!

You make a strong case for it but I'm inclined to not drop our most important creative midfielder against Swansea at home no matter how good Gylfi is!

 

[cibaman]

I'd drop De Bruyne for Ferny for one reason - Gylfi Sigurdsson. He's a key cog in Swansea's play and he'll look to get into space behind our midfield and in front of the defence. With Yaya on his own in there he'll find more opportunities to influence the game. Swansea will not look long as often as Palace/West Ham do, they'll look to get the ball into Gylfi and he'll try and find space between the lines.

For that reason you keep the front three who will chase all game still, you keep Silva in for his ability to control the pace of the game. You allow Yaya the role to dictate play from deep without having to cover too much ground by getting Fernandinho (or Delph) on to make sure Sigurdsson is marked out of the game. Stop him and you stop Swansea in my opinion. We've got plenty of attacking threat to win the game still. Ideally we can be a couple of goals up and make some changes around 60 minutes.

Defensively it's tough. Kompany is too good not to play regardless of the mid week result, but it depends on doctors orders. I don't trust Clichy at all so perversely I'd play him in this one, rest Kolarov as Clichy just can't seem to cope at all with defending or passing these days.

I'm not so sure that Sigurdsson is such a threat but do think that being caught on the break is the biggest risk we face. But resting Yaya and bringing in Fernandhino should adequately cover that risk. We should have enough attacking threat without Yaya, and in this type of fixture he does have a tendency to slow down the game too much. I dont think we need both Yaya and Fernandhino playing deep.

 

[shemnel]

I'm not so sure that Sigurdsson is such a threat but do think that being caught on the break is the biggest risk we face. But resting Yaya and bringing in Fernandhino should adequately cover that risk. We should have enough attacking threat without Yaya, and in this type of fixture he does have a tendency to slow down the game too much. I dont think we need both Yaya and Fernandhino playing deep.

certainly we dont need both on Sunday, but neither will need resting due to the following 8/9 day break.
Perhaps Pep will pick Dinho for that slight extra fitness edge but honeslty i think YaYa's passing and form warrant him a start

 

[cibaman]

certainly we dont need both on Sunday, but neither will need resting due to the following 8/9 day break.
Perhaps Pep will pick Dinho for that slight extra fitness edge but honeslty i think YaYa's passing and form warrant him a start

It doesnt really matter that they get an 8/9 day rest after this game, if Yaya is caught out in this game. For a player of his age and physique he's played a played quite a few games recently.

 

[Callum Ramsey]

I don't see it as a negative move. You stop Swansea being able to play it into Sigurdsson and you force them into finding different options and that makes them uncomfortable and forces them into mistakes. Pep made it clear he wanted West Ham to have no chance of time on the ball to play an accurate pass to Carroll. De Bruyne was therefore needed to chase down the ball.

De Bruyne can still play, if he does we might just make the front three press and have De Bruyne sat off a bit. He's a quality player and either way we should win the game. It's my personal preference to see City build confidence defensively so I'd prefer a 2-0 win than a 3-1 win and I think Fernandinho for De Bruyne would help with defensive balance, though some may disagree!

To be fair the team is yet to lose with a midfield 3 consisting of de bruyne and silva in the 8 roles and either yaya or fernandinho sitting playing a 4-3-3 formation. There's been 13 games this season that instance has happened throughout the whole season and its been 12 wins and a draw (spurs game). The team has pretty much dominated all games with that setup both in chances created and possession and only conceded very few chances. So while on paper it might look like it lacks balance having both silva and de bruyne in the center, actually plays best to the way pep wants the team to play and benefits the players most as the team is tasked to defend from the front foot which de bruyne and silva can do perfectly and also happens to be best suited to the defenders in the team. In fact every time pep's deviated from both that setup and system by either playing too many defensive minded players in the centre of the field, there's less balance to the performance and the team looks more exposed at the back and you only need to look at all the league defeats to see that.

Personally I feel the teams best setup going forward will be

Willy
Sagna Kompany Otamendi Kolarov/Clichy
Fernandinho(Yaya)
De bruyne Silva
Sterling Aguero/Jesus Sane

That team will win 9 out of 10 games against any side as long as the many chances that it creates are taken as that is the only thing that I can see would prevent this setup from getting results. They defend front the front and attack with pace once the ball is won and very few if any teams would be able to deal with it as tottenham found out not long ago.

 

[shemnel]

It doesnt really matter that they get an 8/9 day rest after this game, if Yaya is caught out in this game. For a player of his age and physique he's played a played quite a few games recently.

and i think that is what it will come down to as well, Dinho to start based on physical assessment rather than form, in this instance