Time to put sentiment aside, back-line needs an overhaul.

[greasedupdeafguy]

I actually thought the back line was decent yesterday and Demichelis looks a very good buy. Lescott was okay but he is so poor in possession and will obviously be moved on in Jan or summer at the latest.

We just need to get Kompany fit imo

Zab..........Kompany...............Demi..................Clichy

Would like to see this as our regular backline

 

[bobmcfc]

Ah right, so your post was just another unnecessary and snide dig at the current manager. No worries ... and don't worry, I won't be telling you to "fuck off and support Chelsea". I believe everyone's entitled to their opinion on Bluemoon, even if it is one I find stupid ... ;)

When have I ever told you to F off and support Chelsea ?

My point is it's totally ridiculous to spend millions on defenders when all that's needed is the right defensive coaches to utilise the perfectly decent defenders we already have . We have been stunning for three years in that department so why not fix the real issue instead of just papering over it

You are a proper drama queen sometimes

Says one of the biggest drama queens the last 24 hours has seen! Haha, it's alright Bob, I like you and I forgive you whatever blinkers you currently have on.

So we're clear as well, you've never told me to fuck off and support Chelsea. But many others did last season for wanting the manager sacked. The same people who are now wanting the current manager sacked after he's been in charge five minutes.

Anyway give me a shout when you're done drama queening and want a proper chat about the current state of affairs at the club. :)

You didn't mind sticking to your beliefs and principles when you didn't think things were right under Mancini after six games yet I'm a drama queen ? Your doubts came because you didn't like the "Italian style" yet you call me out for feeling less than satisfied with results away from home and position in the league. Why are we any different in these situations ? Why can you question a manager yet I can't ? Why are you always right and everyone else wrong ?

 

[Anonymous]

You didn't mind sticking to your beliefs and principles when you didn't think things were right under Mancini after six games yet I'm a drama queen ?

You're entitled to stand by whatever beliefs and principles you have, just as I'm entitled to disagree with them Bob. It's all good.

Your doubts came because you didn't like the "Italian style" yet you call me out for feeling less than satisfied with results away from home and position in the league. Why are we any different in these situations ?

I've hardly "called you out" ... seems a bit of a drama queeny thing to say. A bit of mild banter is how I'd put it. Which is a nice amongst so much wanton misery!

Why can you question a manager yet I can't ?

You can question the manager. By all means. Let me know when you ask a relevant question though so I can at least try and answer it ... ;)

Why are you always right and everyone else wrong ?

Generally in life or specifically about football managers ?

 

[El Mago]

Who has the best defence in England in the last 3 years ?


I think its City :)

 

[bobmcfc]

You didn't mind sticking to your beliefs and principles when you didn't think things were right under Mancini after six games yet I'm a drama queen ?

You're entitled to stand by whatever beliefs and principles you have, just as I'm entitled to disagree with them Bob. It's all good.

Your doubts came because you didn't like the "Italian style" yet you call me out for feeling less than satisfied with results away from home and position in the league. Why are we any different in these situations ?

I've hardly "called you out" ... seems a bit of a drama queeny thing to say. A bit of mild banter is how I'd put it. Which is a nice amongst so much wanton misery!

Why can you question a manager yet I can't ?

You can question the manager. By all means. Let me know when you ask a relevant question though so I can at least try and answer it ... ;)

Why are you always right and everyone else wrong ?

Generally in life or specifically about football managers ?

I would say in general that you aren't that tolorant of views you don't share and you enjoy fierce debate rather a little bit too much. But forgetting that for a second id like your opinion on the defenders

I think we could spend cash on a defender because we need good cover for Vincent but I think with work we could get that defence back to where it was without needing to completely overhaul it. I think the coaches in that department are not earning their pennies ?


Do you think we should sell them all and start again or look deeper at what's suddenly gone wrong ?

 

[Anonymous]

I think we could spend cash on a defender because we need good cover for Vincent but I think with work we could get that defence back to where it was without needing to completely overhaul it. I think the coaches in that department are not earning their pennies ?


Do you think we should sell them all and start again or look deeper at what's suddenly gone wrong ?

I think that the focus at City is now on attacking rather than on defending, and therefore in defence we are going to need top quality players because they are going to have much more pressure applied on them than they did under the previous set up.

Have a read of my post in the Pellegrini thread in reply to Cheesy - i think it's sort of relevant to this discussion.

In terms of where I think we can improve, I think we need a new first choice left back and right back, and we need another top class centre half. Over the next two transfer windows I suspect we'll sign two new full backs and two new centre halves so I'm sure it'll get addressed.

 

[sh249]

The key change that Pellegrini is trying to adopt is getting us higher up the pitch and on the front foot.

Under Mancini, we had the best defence 3 years running. But that was achieved by a deeper position of the team on the pitch.
Thus far, we have not got the results away from home. However, the performances in 4 of the 6 games have been good. West Ham, Chelsea very good, Villa + Cardiff - good enough. We have also had 2 poor performances including yesterday.

We tend to judge results first and assume everything from that. Just because we haven't got the results so far, does not mean that you have to change the philosophy that you have.

One of the key things being missed by a lot of people. The idea that we could have continued to defend in the manner we did under Mancini, but at the same time witness the improvement we've seen in the attacking (barring yesterday) is unrealistic. To play the way Pellegrini (and Txiki, presumably) wnats us to play, we have to press higher and defend higher, and that takes a lot of getting use to. Not that I expected us to struggle quite as badly as we have at times. But Lescott, for example, is very good at defending his own area, was excellent for us in 2011/12 and in the Euros in 2012, when England never left their own box, but struggles more when he's 40-50 yards from goal. Whether he can adapt I'm not sure, probably not, not least because he won't get the game time. Richards was poor yesterday (though not quite as horrific as many are making out, and for me wasn't at fault for the goal), but he needs games under his belt after so long out. Kolarov is Kolarov, decent going forward, crap defensively. Clichy has been struggling but is a class act and will come good.

A top class centre half should be a priority in the coming months, though probably the summer (difficult in January). But I don't think we need an entire cull just yet.

 

[hgblue]

I've been banging on about the need to strengthen defensively since before a ball was kicked. Talk about stating the 'bleeding abvious'. I'll throw in the need for a deep lying playmaker as well. Rodwell's always injured and Garcia isn't good enough. We need that extra body in midfield away from home, and I'd expect Pellegrini to realise this quite soon....

 

[NipHolmes]

Mancini may have had us defending well but that was because the team defended as a whole and our attacking aspect of the team was a secondary thought. We set up to be strong and relied on individual quality. Now we play more attacking and our defensive weaknesses are exploited as consequence.

The call is for better quality players because with us being an attacking outfit we need to not only have a defensively sound back-line but they need to be able to play too.

I don't know why on earth people ckmpare Mancini to Pellegrini, it's like comparing Spain with Italy. One is attacking and one is defensive. As a whole I believe we are playing well but paying dearly for lapses of concentration, poor passing, poor positional play or a collection of these. Hart has been dropped for calamities that have cost us, Lescott is poor under pressure in a passing sense, Clichy has not attacking outputs, Kolarov is poor defensively, Richards half the player he was.

Only Zabaleta, Kompany, Nastasic, DeMichellis. Pantimilon and possibly Clichy survive imo. Rekik adds to the squad in summer but we are one World Class CB short and we need a top LB too imo.

What Pellegrini has tried to do is continue gelling the team whilst the defense sort itself out with injuries. Once they play together confidence, understanding and form will grow and then we should click. However we are still short of quality compared to elite teams. That's why we play deep in our half against strong teams.

 

[Damanino]

The manager should get the best out of the defenders. And if the best of them is not enough then improve on it, sell some of them and buy better ones.

Thats my problem and it was the same with MAncini he couldnt get the best some of the players and wanted to spend again.

Pellegrini should get the best out of Nastasic, Clichy, Richards as they can perform better, lot better then they are doing it now. Or we get better players then them but we wont have anyone to get the best out of them as well...

Credit to Mancini he got some fantastic performances out of our defenders also Hart for a long time...