The Inverted Fullback Conundrum

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Rhapsody in Blue

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Manchester City
Just why do we keep on doing it? Will it be Pep’s ultimate downfall?

- Klopp’s two assistants on board, that saw Robertson/Tront getting assists for fun playing the traditional way

- Grealish two assists yday, now when more space is freeing up

- Our wingers not able to produce neither goals nor assists as there is no space.

Now must be the time to change?
 
Rhapsody in Blue said:
Just why do we keep on doing it? Will it be Pep’s ultimate downfall?

- Klopp’s two assistants on board, that saw Robertson/Tront getting assists for fun playing the traditional way

- Grealish two assists yday, now when more space is freeing up

- Our wingers not able to produce neither goals nor assists as there is no space.

Now must be the time to change?
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Spot-on. Teams have learned to stop this tactic. All great teams have to change and evolve to stay at the top. Our treble team played totally differently to the Centurions. Now Pep has to find another solution.
 
Arrogance is why we continue to do it. Love Pep and yes he believes in his system but at this point its just arrogant to keep pushing ahead with it. Admit its not working and try something else ffs. Watching Grealish get two assists was rubbish, he is a far better footballer than Doku or Savio. We sacrifice creativity for this set up.
 
I am surprised even Ait Nouri is doing it. I hoped he will come and give us something he was great Wolves, those dangerous runs down the left, some good crosses, also to give the left winger and option and help. makes hell of a difference if Doku is up against two or he has a LB making a sprint next to him and gives headache to defenders.

we could get prime Roberto Carlos and not use his pace and attacking skills and have him do short passes tucked in. and does it make us better defensively? no. but also takes away from going forward.
 
Died a death 2 years ago.

It was fun when it was brand new, but with the amount of pace and power and counter attacking teams in the game now, you get caught and it's one long ball into the channels for the opposition winger to run onto and you are doomed.
 
We've gone from having arguably the fastest right back in world football to not having a single orthodox right back in the squad.

No problem whatsoever if we're playing well and still beating the top teams when it really matters

Amateurish bordering on farcical otherwise
 
Think the 'full back' issue is a red herring.....the bigger issue is still the M/F and wings. Nico is not a replacement for Rhodri, plenty of teams below us, wouldn't want him, he's so limited......and despite looking/being a very good player, Tjanii is nowhere near prime KDB/D.Silva or Gundogan level. The best teams have 3/4 players, a level above the 'good' players....we currently only have Foden, who produced that level for 1 season, and Cherki, who MAY be able to get there.
 
southamptonblue said:
Think the 'full back' issue is a red herring.....the bigger issue is still the M/F and wings. Nico is not a replacement for Rhodri, plenty of teams below us, wouldn't want him, he's so limited......and despite looking/being a very good player, Tjanii is nowhere near prime KDB/D.Silva or Gundogan level. The best teams have 3/4 players, a level above the 'good' players....we currently only have Foden, who produced that level for 1 season, and Cherki, who MAY be able to get there.
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I get what you’re saying, but players like KDB, d silva and Rodri are nigh on impossible to replace. There genuine once in a generation talents. We need to be patient with our new signings and expect a season of transition
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
I get what you’re saying, but players like KDB, d silva and Rodri are nigh on impossible to replace. There genuine once in a generation talents. We need to be patient with our new signings and expect a season of transition
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Agree, and the main problem, is the overall standard of player is very low at the moment (generally, not specifically ours) .....that's what makes it hard to replace them. I don't get paid to find them, but most of our recent signings are more 'top 10 side' players, nothing more. No one can convince me that there were not better options than most of them.
 
He was innovative when coming up with this and proved successful. He now needs to innovate again and find solutions to current problems. It is worrying we have started the season with that tactic and high line, with the expectation of different results - insanity.
 
Cheadle_hulmeBlue said:
I get what you’re saying, but players like KDB, d silva and Rodri are nigh on impossible to replace. There genuine once in a generation talents. We need to be patient with our new signings and expect a season of transition
Click to expand...

You missed out Philips, Grealish and Zinchenko off that list, was it just an oversight ?

:)
 
I don't understand the correlation between just this element and our results. And trying to say Robertson and TAA are proof that it no longer works. We could counter that and say that inverted full backs have won 6 out of the last 8 titles? Didn't TAA drift into midfield anyway?

Is it inverted full backs, is it playing out from the back, is it the high line, possession and positional play is dead..??

I think just looking at solely the tactics as the reason for our fall off is over simplifying things. Are the players doing what they've been asked? Are they playing with full confidence, are they taking the extra touch, looking for the easier pass?
As I see it, we have always been susceptible to counters, but we have always scored goals and looked dangerous. We have become too predictable up front, too slow in our passing and too easy to defend against. Whatever system and tactics you employ, you have to do it at pace and I think we are too pedestrian at the moment
 
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