Tippy Tappy

[TueartsOHK]

It's all about having a variety to your attack, I said a few months ago there's 4 ways to score in football:

1. Through the middle (e.g. Barcelona style)
2. Down the wings (e.g. Scum style)
3. Counter attacks/Ball over the top (e.g. Dortmund style)
4. Set pieces (e.g. Stoke)

Since Mancini took over we've been great at 1 & 4 but if you only have two main attacking threats then it becomes very predictable and easy to defend against. Hopefully the signings of Fernandinho & Navas will give us the pace and width to use the other styles (2 & 3) when necessary.

Last season we struggled against teams who parked the bus because we had absolutely no width so it took a moment of individual brilliance to get that first goal or a set piece, obviously we played through teams because of how good we are at times but in general we looked lethargic and lacking a Plan B.

We also struggled against teams who pressed us high because we didn't have any pace to be able to play a ball over the top because Silva, Nasri, Tevez and Aguero all prefer coming short for the ball to feet rather than running onto a through ball. Now with Navas and hopefully Pellegrini playing to Dzeko's strengths we will have that option as well. Dzeko gets slaughtered on here because he can't play the "tippy tappy" style as some would call it but look at the opening goal in Madrid, the sixth at The Swamp and virtually all his goals for Wolfsburg - they're all from crosses or balls over the top/in behind for him to run onto.

Good post but I don't agree we've been great at set pieces. Not when I've been watching anyway. Kolorov and Tevez has scored from the occasional free kick but we convert only a few of these chances. Our corners are shit too - we rarely beat the first man let alone put a corner into the danger area. Someone posted on BM a couple of weeks ago that we were top of the league from goals scored in open play which says it all. This is area we have to improve

As for Tippy Tappy - our flavour of this is too slow and negative and offers little end product. I agree with bellbuzzer it might be "great football" but it is tedious to watch. I agree with fatbloke that we need to play in different ways dependant on who we're playing and ultimately what is working.

 

[I'm no cynic but...]

if the Spanish obsession with possession at All costs becomes the norm then it will save City having to expand the stadium. Utterly boring.
Devoid of excitement. It will be like Italy in the 60s, neither side daring to take a chance, a forward pass or taking on defenders and the manager goes berserk.

Am I detecting the first of the Pellegrini 'Outers'?

 

[fatbloke]

It's all about having a variety to your attack, I said a few months ago there's 4 ways to score in football:

1. Through the middle (e.g. Barcelona style)
2. Down the wings (e.g. Scum style)
3. Counter attacks/Ball over the top (e.g. Dortmund style)
4. Set pieces (e.g. Stoke)

Since Mancini took over we've been great at 1 & 4 but if you only have two main attacking threats then it becomes very predictable and easy to defend against. Hopefully the signings of Fernandinho & Navas will give us the pace and width to use the other styles (2 & 3) when necessary.

Last season we struggled against teams who parked the bus because we had absolutely no width so it took a moment of individual brilliance to get that first goal or a set piece, obviously we played through teams because of how good we are at times but in general we looked lethargic and lacking a Plan B.

We also struggled against teams who pressed us high because we didn't have any pace to be able to play a ball over the top because Silva, Nasri, Tevez and Aguero all prefer coming short for the ball to feet rather than running onto a through ball. Now with Navas and hopefully Pellegrini playing to Dzeko's strengths we will have that option as well. Dzeko gets slaughtered on here because he can't play the "tippy tappy" style as some would call it but look at the opening goal in Madrid, the sixth at The Swamp and virtually all his goals for Wolfsburg - they're all from crosses or balls over the top/in behind for him to run onto.

Good post but I don't agree we've been great at set pieces. Not when I've been watching anyway. Kolorov and Tevez has scored from the occasional free kick but we convert only a few of these chances. Our corners are shit too - we rarely beat the first man let alone put a corner into the danger area. Someone posted on BM a couple of weeks ago that we were top of the league from goals scored in open play which says it all. This is area we have to improve

As for Tippy Tappy - our flavour of this is too slow and negative and offers little end product. I agree with bellbuzzer it might be "great football" but it is tedious to watch. I agree with fatbloke that we need to play in different ways dependant on who we're playing and ultimately what is working.

To be fair and correct me if I'm wrong but we have a pretty good record with goals from set pieces as well. Only Chelsea, United and Norwich scored more.

 

[cheddar404]

It's all about having a variety to your attack, I said a few months ago there's 4 ways to score in football:

1. Through the middle (e.g. Barcelona style)
2. Down the wings (e.g. Scum style)
3. Counter attacks/Ball over the top (e.g. Dortmund style)
4. Set pieces (e.g. Stoke)

Since Mancini took over we've been great at 1 & 4 but if you only have two main attacking threats then it becomes very predictable and easy to defend against. Hopefully the signings of Fernandinho & Navas will give us the pace and width to use the other styles (2 & 3) when necessary.

Last season we struggled against teams who parked the bus because we had absolutely no width so it took a moment of individual brilliance to get that first goal or a set piece, obviously we played through teams because of how good we are at times but in general we looked lethargic and lacking a Plan B.

We also struggled against teams who pressed us high because we didn't have any pace to be able to play a ball over the top because Silva, Nasri, Tevez and Aguero all prefer coming short for the ball to feet rather than running onto a through ball. Now with Navas and hopefully Pellegrini playing to Dzeko's strengths we will have that option as well. Dzeko gets slaughtered on here because he can't play the "tippy tappy" style as some would call it but look at the opening goal in Madrid, the sixth at The Swamp and virtually all his goals for Wolfsburg - they're all from crosses or balls over the top/in behind for him to run onto.

Good post but I don't agree we've been great at set pieces. Not when I've been watching anyway. Kolorov and Tevez has scored from the occasional free kick but we convert only a few of these chances. Our corners are shit too - we rarely beat the first man let alone put a corner into the danger area. Someone posted on BM a couple of weeks ago that we were top of the league from goals scored in open play which says it all. This is area we have to improve

As for Tippy Tappy - our flavour of this is too slow and negative and offers little end product. I agree with bellbuzzer it might be "great football" but it is tedious to watch. I agree with fatbloke that we need to play in different ways dependant on who we're playing and ultimately what is working.

To be fair and correct me if I'm wrong but we have a pretty good record with goals from set pieces as well. Only Chelsea, United and Norwich scored more.

I was just about to post the same. I'm sure the season before last we scored more goals from corners than any other team although I can't find any evidence to back this up.

 

[Shaelumstash]

For me one touch decisive passing to feet quickly will unlock most defences, tippy tappy football is where the pass to feet is no more than a yard or so backwards and forward to the same players not going anywhere.

Spot on.

And when you find yourself yelling SHOOT FOR FUCKS SAKE after 5 minutes arsing about in and around the penalty area, that was tippy tappy football.

It would be fantastic if every time you got the ball we passed and moved, created space and had a shot on goal, but it's not realistic every single time because there's an opposition! Sometimes you have to be patient to create an opening, sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards.

It drives me insane at the Etihad when people shout "Shoooooot" every time we are within 40 yards of goal. You've got to ask yourself, are you a better judge of when there is a real scoring chance than Yaya Toure, or Nasri, or Aguero, or whoever? Of course not, people just want to see a shot for their benefit, not the benefit of the team.

I accept and completely agree that we were too slow in possession for much of last season, and I genuinely think we need to move the ball quicker. I think Fernandinho will be absolutely ideal for this. I do wish the fans would be a little more patient though, and think about the bigger picture.

We have had the best defensive record in the league the last 3 seasons, we were also the best team at keeping possession. Those two things are closely related. Your opponent cannot score if they don't have the ball.

 

[Paulski]

As far as I was aware we were crap at set pieces this season, and was it three seasons ago that we were the last team to get their first goal from a corner, or am I making that up?

Anyway, I think it's blingingly obvious that we need a plan B and that we are setting out to buy with that in mind.

When comparing to Barcelona the first thing to bear in mind is that they have someone capable of taking the ball and putting it in the net from just about any position where he picks it up. If they are farting around with it for too long outside the box then Messi will just take it and put it in the net, whether it is from a long range shot or dribbling around the defence. He also draws players which gives the others more space.

At the moment we don't have any of that pedigree so we have to have a plan B when the teams have parked the bus, and I think Navas, Fernandinho and Isco (if we get him), will provide that alternative.

 

[TueartsOHK]

I was just about to post the same. I'm sure the season before last we scored more goals from corners than any other team although I can't find any evidence to back this up.

Any City Statistician's on here? I'm mainly going off last season (I can only remember that far back :-)) but there was a thread on this recently showing City at the top of the league for goals in open play. I've repeated the image here

The difference column shows the gap between the number of points won from goals only in set play and what we would have won from goals from set play also . This shows how little we produced from set plays last season (not sure if this pens) but you can see where a lot of United's goals came from.
I would be interested to see this for our title winning season

 

[fatbloke]

I was just about to post the same. I'm sure the season before last we scored more goals from corners than any other team although I can't find any evidence to back this up.

Any City Statistician's on here? I'm mainly going off last season (I can only remember that far back :-)) but there was a thread on this recently showing City at the top of the league for goals in open play. I've repeated the image here

The difference column shows the gap between the number of goals in open play and set plays. This shows how little we produced from set plays last season (not sure if this pens) but you can see where a lot of United's goals came from.
I would be interested to see this for our title winning season

The amount of goals we score from open play is irrelevant to the amount of goals we score from set pieces, fool.

Or to put an alternative spin on the stats, we score the least amount of goals from open play in the top 5.

 

[TueartsOHK]

The amount of goals we score from open play is irrelevant to the amount of goals we score from set pieces, fool.

Or to put an alternative spin on the stats, we score the least amount of goals from open play in the top 5.

fool? I know you're fatbloke but I didn't realise you were Ba Baracus!

The above table surely implies that City would have won the league by 3 pts if only goals from open play counted. That means that the team that actually finished above us won more points based on goals from both set plays and open play.

Ps: sorry corrected my original thread - the difference column refers to points tally (ie: what we would have won if set pieces were included)

 

[Summerbuzz]

I think Fatbloke's examples are good but a lot of teams fall somewhere between those styles. Barca, for example, they use Alves for width. And they are incredible on the counter - we have seen playing a high line against them is suicide.

I actually see us becoming quite like Jose's Real - uber counter attackers (with the ball on the floor most of the time) who can play one two's into the box also. We have great passers in midfield but we haven't used them to play directly. I think, with the addition of Navas, we have what it takes to unbalance teams in several ways - quick passing forward to feet past the opponent's midfield, width and pace to carry the ball and stretch the back four. I see Aguero playing more inside left this year, and for some reason I really fancy Milner down the middle at the front of a three - chasing down everything and carrying the ball about so the three attackers can have a breather.