toffee balls
Well-Known Member
You are new to this game aren’t you . He would have been sent off and a penalty awarded.This is the mad thing. If Akanji would have cleaned Rashford out, we would have got a freekick for him being offside.
You are new to this game aren’t you . He would have been sent off and a penalty awarded.This is the mad thing. If Akanji would have cleaned Rashford out, we would have got a freekick for him being offside.
Every City fan and his/her dog complains about pairing Gundo and KDB in midfield. Even though Manyoo may not themselves have a mobile midfield but they don’t rely on that. Balls over the top and quick transitions is something they are quite good at. I still wonder how you’d play against that sort of team with the midfield combo you are proposing. Incisive passing or a lack of it wasn’t the reason why we lost. Usually we make use of the wings to make the pitch as big as possible. We overload one side and send the ball to the other and after some intelligent interchanges, the ball is cleverly worked into the net.Well, this is asinine!
We were outdone by a counterattack because we didn't control the middle with one forward ball playing midfielder. Outdone by a counterattack with Bernardo in the centre as you input.
Your point is NULLIFIED if we can't gain control of the middle to feed the wings, which is most effective when Gundogan plays with Rodrigo, but for some dumb arse reason, you can't see it. Gundogan offers ball retention and vision through the middle even if his pace is moderate and that's why you have Rodrigo and Laporté, for example, to cover and read the play if it breaks down.
Conveniently, you gloss over Bernardo being ineffectual in the centre in this game because the oppo had a mobile middle. This is where Gundogan excels as he drives through and knows when to release a ball. I love Bernardo, but I don't recall him attempting that at all, so the ball went back to defence and recycled to the wings where they controlled the positions.
This is why you break the lines via midfield with the right personnel!
Grealish proved you wrong and we haven't tried Alvárez on the wings in this league, but he's played there in Argentina according to himself as well as River Plate. The point was to drive the defence back with press which never happened yesterday and they always had room to play out. Notice they forced us wide by pressing us as we should have done them? We're much better at it with the right players!
For some reason you keep claiming we'd "probably" have been 'down by xx' amount when we've played similar mids and that's, in no way, happened. Especially as you, laughably, claim the players would have been in "unfamiliar roles" with my team pick!! Have you seen the formation we've been playing with, recently??!! LOL!
The set up was right, yesterday, but the personnel wrong and those are the cards you play with when players are out of form, make poor decisions as a result, but you try and make them play through it.
I'm ending this discussion as you don't see what I see, but I saw what you saw, play out on the pitch.
Do we pass to him ;-)I hope Erling is instructed to chase every offside ball just like this against Tottenham.
Have to disagree regarding Foden . Cancelo was open majority of time but Foden failed to show up and run behind . Cancelo had to turn back and kept on looking for him to make runs .Yeah I was at both & I think the United first half was worse.
I would expect them to try something different at some point, I would expect them to try & get the ball to Haaland who made multiple runs & got ignored for a turn back & give it the defence or Rodri pass. Foden made some runs & didn't receive the ball.
Nope.I think there is a consensus that we played really well among fans and pundits even though we lost.
Every City fan and his/her dog complains about pairing Gundo and KDB in midfield. Even though Manyoo may not themselves have a mobile midfield but they don’t rely on that. Balls over the top and quick transitions is something they are quite good at. I still wonder how you’d play against that sort of team with the midfield combo you are proposing. Incisive passing or a lack of it wasn’t the reason why we lost. Usually we make use of the wings to make the pitch as big as possible. We overload one side and send the ball to the other and after some intelligent interchanges, the ball is cleverly worked into the net.
Bernardo has for the most part been wasted on the wings and he has played a few matches there in 2023 without any much impact. Gundo also has played without much impact so I don’t see it. De Bruyne on the wings is suicidal vs Manyoo I’m sure the gaffer won’t ever try it. Bernardo was in the center when they scored both goals alright but his presence is not the automatic goal stopper. If a defender decides to go AWOL, he’s not spider man or super man to fly in and intercept. He brought energy and balance to that midfield and it showed. I only wish the ref wasn’t a bent ****.
I think there is a consensus that we played really well among fans and pundits even though we lost. We got outdone by one of the most ridiculous decisions I’ve seen in recent times. This was the goal that gave them the momentum to score the winning goal which shouldn’t have been in the first place. We made a few mistakes and hopefully we’ll learn from it. Pep didn’t make a mistake just because he didn’t pick your suggested team.
Yet you keep ignoring the impact of a slow midfield playing against pact counter attack. We did alright in the middle of the pack. Surely any radical change Gundo would have made, we would have seen it all season. Sadly that’s not the case.You STILL don't understand why the team was nullified, no matter how many times I've explained it.
We "played well" cos they gave us the wings where they controlled the game!
No control through the middle meant we had to keep going back and not driving through the middle to break the lines.
I'm done, but thanks for playing
Yet you keep ignoring the impact of a slow midfield playing against pact counter attack. We did alright in the middle of the pack. Surely any radical change Gundo would have made, we would have seen it all season. Sadly that’s not the case.
Fine margins! In fact it was always likely to be close. I wonder why you ignore the impact of the ref on the game and suggest that because Pep didn’t play your preferred team that’s why we lost.
Seriously comparing Ferna to Gundo. Ferna could marshall that position all by himself. Totally different kettle of fish. Gundo excels in what he does but if you are suggesting that we lost yesterday because Pep failed to use Kdb and Gundo in midfield and failed to put Bernardo on the right then I suggest you watch the Brentford game again where we lost at home (if I remember correctly) 2-1. This is one team that excels with direct football so it’s an apt comparison. We’d be left for dead. We did exactly that in that home game and we were whitewashed.Experience with moderate pace + control + vision >>>> nippy mid with no drive forward. Did you ever watch Ferna play??
Did you notice Haaland getting no service?? You watched the same game, non?
If you're relying on a ref to give us the game there's an issue on how you see the game.
YOUR preferred team was on the pitch and lost the game with no mid control, which nullified De Bruyne, which nullified Haaland.
Pointless exercise to keep playing players out of form cos it has a knock on effect, i.e., Cancelo and Foden. Bring them on as subs, not to start.
Why am I bothering with this convo??