Swansea - Post match thread

[teddykgb]

Sure, if we need him in the centre, play him there. But we didn't improve in that area when we made the change & we weakened the rb position.

Barca might have thought that about Mascherano at cb. But it became a way of getting more quality into the team. If Fernandinho got his shit together on the ball, he's a whole world better than most fullbacks we could find, who are usually deeply flawed & very expensive, some are slow & skillful, some are fast & shit, some are skillful fast & stupid, some can attack but not defend, etc etc.

There is no guarantee that the fulbacks we sign, will turn out better than the ones we have already. We just hope they will.

Having players who can solve potential problems is a godsend & is what Pellegrini should have been doing with the squad, & the kids, for 3 years.

I don't mind either way, but I'm sure Fern can learn that role & probably be as good as anyone else, is my point.

I thought he really struggled to find positioning in addition to the passing. Swansea had almost none of the ball when he was playing RB so he did very little defending. But if you use Clichy's positioning as a proxy for where Fernandinho should have been, Fernandinho was often 10 yards or so deeper and wasn't using the touchline to protect himself the way a natural wide player does. This would be my primary concern with this idea ... if you're going to play a position on the pitch you need to play it with confidence and move appropriately because your teammates will expect it. Fernandinho being so deep was a sign of not being sure and wanting to make sure he didn't get caught up the pitch. Admirable in the sense of sacrificing for the team but a sign that he wasn't comfortable in the role. But if he's going to be in wide positions as a full back he's going to need to learn the correct body shape and common movements of a full back in order to maximize his midfielder skills. I didn't think he did a good job of using the touchline or using his body positioning to open up options or create space yesterday.

 

[supercity88]

Well Vinny was fully fit and didn't get a look in last Wednesday or on Sunday. Kolarov played ahead of him as a CB. Should pretty much tell you which way the wind is blowing.

The best defensive performance from any City player this season was Kompany v Palace. He was a rock. He had them in his pocket all game. He organised the team and for a first start in donkeys, at a ground he got injured on it was an incredible performance.

I think his not starting is largely to do with his injury history and making sure he has time to recover rather than over playing and being out for months again. I doubt Pep doesn't rate him highly. I actually think he's ensuring he stays fit for bigger games, as much as Pep said he rated Swansea before the game, he didn't think we needed Kompany for that game as much as we might v Monaco.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Well Vinny was fully fit and didn't get a look in last Wednesday or on Sunday. Kolarov played ahead of him as a CB. Should pretty much tell you which way the wind is blowing.

I don't care how many trophies he's won or how much stick I get for saying this. If Pep thinks a fit vinnie isn't as good as otamendi, stones or kolarov then he should be embarrassed. If he thinks vinnie wouldn't be a good defender for his system then his system is shite. I'm going to choose not to believe either of those things and hope there's another reason why he didn't pick him because I do think a lot more of Pep than that, for instance that he still has question marks over his ability to get through 90 mins. In which case I'd understand his thinking even if I personally would have liked to see him given the chance to prove his fitness.

 

[Father Paul]

That sums it up.....Toure bossed the first half, De Bruyne, Silva were fantastic.....all three of these faded badly when Swansea turned up the pressure after half time. Didn't seem to be an anchor in the midfield second half....must be a mental thing, played second half like a team then went in 4-0 up and could afford to switch off......dominated the first half enough to be 4-0 up, just without scoring the goals..... Would agree about the captain comment above, nobody was running the show second half....

Maybe Yaya and Silva ran out of steam Kev looked tired when he came off as well. Not sure any side can keep up the intensity we showed in the first half all game never mind all season.
It seems to me that Pep is embarking on a very high risk project it will be amazing if he pulls it off but the odds may be against him

 

[TBooksbluearmy]

That was a very good 1st half performance, with everyone playing as a team. Swansea just couldn't cope with our movement and passing, we should have scored more than the 1 goal we scored. However what went wrong with that 2nd half performance we were slow all over the pitch and were chasing shadows. Lucky Gabriel Jesus scored a 2nd goal for us to give us the win, which we were lucky to get.
If we play the way we played the 2nd half against Monaco like we did against the Swans, we will be getting knocked out well before the 2nd leg. Pep has got to sort it out and fast, this is not the 1st time that we have had a very poor 2nd half after a very good 1st half. This is probably the 4th/5th time that it has happened this season.

 

[teddykgb]

Swansea found a way to stop the passes between the lines. We were killing them with passes through their midfield to Silva and KDB. I didn't really catch what they changed tactically but they seemed to take both Dave and KDB out of the match completely and it really nullified our approach quite a bit. Probably some version of man marking on someone (I know someone suggested they focused toure out, maybe that was it).

 

[Chippy_boy]

I don't care how many trophies he's won or how much stick I get for saying this. If Pep thinks a fit vinnie isn't as good as otamendi, stones or kolarov then he should be embarrassed. If he thinks vinnie wouldn't be a good defender for his system then his system is shite. I'm going to choose not to believe either of those things and hope there's another reason why he didn't pick him because I do think a lot more of Pep than that, for instance that he still has question marks over his ability to get through 90 mins. In which case I'd understand his thinking even if I personally would have liked to see him given the chance to prove his fitness.

Maybe he's thinking that for the moment at least, Kompany is a luxury to be used only sparingly, and only when really needed? Maybe he figured, we are at home, playing well and we should be able to beat Swansea at home - a team that hasn't beaten us at home for something like 70 years - without risking an injury to VK? The last thing we want to do is to rush him back, play him constantly and then have him break down before crucial and much more difficult games come along?

 

[Lancet Fluke]

Maybe he's thinking that for the moment at least, Kompany is a luxury to be used only sparingly, and only when really needed? Maybe he figured, we are at home, playing well and we should be able to beat Swansea at home - a team that hasn't beaten us at home for something like 70 years - without risking an injury to VK? The last thing we want to do is to rush him back, play him constantly and then have him break down before crucial and much more difficult games come along?

Yes, I would be able to understand that, unlike a scenario where he doesn't rate him. That I would not be able to get my head round at all.

 

[Fat Chance]

Toure's dominance in the first 35mins was not matched after he got a knock and had a little sit-down

 

[BillyShears]

The best defensive performance from any City player this season was Kompany v Palace. He was a rock. He had them in his pocket all game. He organised the team and for a first start in donkeys, at a ground he got injured on it was an incredible performance.

I think his not starting is largely to do with his injury history and making sure he has time to recover rather than over playing and being out for months again. I doubt Pep doesn't rate him highly. I actually think he's ensuring he stays fit for bigger games, as much as Pep said he rated Swansea before the game, he didn't think we needed Kompany for that game as much as we might v Monaco.

I think that Pep is absolutely NOT going to 'rest' a player only for 'big' games. Pep wants players he can rely on. If he can't rely on Vinny he won't get selected and eventually he'll get sold. C'est la vie.

Feel free to come back and quote me if he suddenly is parachuted in for a 'big' game. I don't see it.