Villa Vs City Post Match Thread

[cleavers]

"Keano, Keano, what's the score?" got a run out late in the game.

Its similar to what I sang, but not quite the same.

With that beard I'm surprised it wasn't

Shit Father Christmas, you're just a shit Father Christmas.

No the song was fine, I just adjusted the "what's the score" to something more appropriate.

 

[Dribble]

been thinking about this post all day and yes you have made me think of him im a different way.
Shows why Im not a football manager.

Don't worry about it fella performances like Bayern away can skew most people's opinions of him including mine. I had to think long and hard about when Yaya is at his most effective and its when we adopt our Plan B of taking off a forward, bringing on an extra midfielder and playing Yaya behind the main striker. If we take care and manage him properly we could probably get another top class season or 2 out of him, but IMHO that isn't going to happen if we continue to flog him to death every three days in a 2 man midfield.

It's even more baffling when you take into consideration that we have other international class options ready and waiting to turn our Plan B into our Plan A. But just like you, I'm not the manager and it's not my decision to make, so we just have to trust that he can see something that we can't.

Yaya isn't most effective when we play plan B. Yaya needs to play in the middle of the park most of the time. He is the hub of the team, the link between defence and the rest of the team. That's why he is the league's leading passmaker. He needs to be on the ball running the game: that is his greatest asset.

Pushing him forward late in games when opponents tire is a useful tactic because Yaya paces himself well and has the fitness to use his power to good effect when others are starting to wilt.

If we used our Plan B, that doesn't mean I would expect Yaya just to stand on the halfway line watching on if we were getting mullered in midfield. I would still expect him to get stuck in as a No 10 but with a licence to roam as he saw fit between defence and attack.

The main advantage would be me not having a coronary every time I saw him wheezing his way back into position when one of our attacks had broken down and were defending a counter attack and I'm sure if given the choice he'd prefer it too as he alluded to yesterday.

 

[OB1]

Don't worry about it fella performances like Bayern away can skew most people's opinions of him including mine. I had to think long and hard about when Yaya is at his most effective and its when we adopt our Plan B of taking off a forward, bringing on an extra midfielder and playing Yaya behind the main striker. If we take care and manage him properly we could probably get another top class season or 2 out of him, but IMHO that isn't going to happen if we continue to flog him to death every three days in a 2 man midfield.

It's even more baffling when you take into consideration that we have other international class options ready and waiting to turn our Plan B into our Plan A. But just like you, I'm not the manager and it's not my decision to make, so we just have to trust that he can see something that we can't.

Yaya isn't most effective when we play plan B. Yaya needs to play in the middle of the park most of the time. He is the hub of the team, the link between defence and the rest of the team. That's why he is the league's leading passmaker. He needs to be on the ball running the game: that is his greatest asset.

Pushing him forward late in games when opponents tire is a useful tactic because Yaya paces himself well and has the fitness to use his power to good effect when others are starting to wilt.

If we used our Plan B, that doesn't mean I would expect Yaya just to stand on the halfway line watching on if we were getting mullered in midfield. I would still expect him to get stuck in as a No 10 but with a licence to roam as he saw fit between defence and attack.

The main advantage would be me not having a coronary every time I saw him wheezing his way back into position when one of our attacks had broken down and were defending a counter attack and I'm sure if given the choice he'd prefer it too as he alluded to yesterday.

I'm not sure what Yaya would choose but he might well prefer not to have any defensive duties and stroll about wherever he wishes; however that is not a luxury afforded to many midfielders. I am sure that he wants to be on the ball as much as possible and I am sure that is his best role. I ahppen to think the problem for him at Barca was ultimately not Busquets but Xavi.

 

[york away to this!]

Its similar to what I sang, but not quite the same.

With that beard I'm surprised it wasn't

Shit Father Christmas, you're just a shit Father Christmas.

No the song was fine, I just adjusted the "what's the score" to something more appropriate.

was it "I like your beard"?...

 

[taconinja]

been thinking about this post all day and yes you have made me think of him im a different way.
Shows why Im not a football manager.

Don't worry about it fella performances like Bayern away can skew most people's opinions of him including mine. I had to think long and hard about when Yaya is at his most effective and its when we adopt our Plan B of taking off a forward, bringing on an extra midfielder and playing Yaya behind the main striker. If we take care and manage him properly we could probably get another top class season or 2 out of him, but IMHO that isn't going to happen if we continue to flog him to death every three days in a 2 man midfield.

It's even more baffling when you take into consideration that we have other international class options ready and waiting to turn our Plan B into our Plan A. But just like you, I'm not the manager and it's not my decision to make, so we just have to trust that he can see something that we can't.

Yaya isn't most effective when we play plan B. Yaya needs to play in the middle of the park most of the time. He is the hub of the team, the link between defence and the rest of the team. That's why he is the league's leading passmaker. He needs to be on the ball running the game: that is his greatest asset.

Pushing him forward late in games when opponents tire is a useful tactic because Yaya paces himself well and has the fitness to use his power to good effect when others are starting to wilt.

The thing that struck me was how dangerous Silva became once Yaya was pushed forward. Generally, that's Silva's role, and he's quite gifted at performing it. And don't mistake me. I'm not saying he wasn't dangerous before Yaya moved forward, but just look at how obviously scared Villa were when Silva was probing their lines and looking for free space while Yaya kept putting him in the perfect position to disrupt Villa's defense.

 

[hgblue]

Don't worry about it fella performances like Bayern away can skew most people's opinions of him including mine. I had to think long and hard about when Yaya is at his most effective and its when we adopt our Plan B of taking off a forward, bringing on an extra midfielder and playing Yaya behind the main striker. If we take care and manage him properly we could probably get another top class season or 2 out of him, but IMHO that isn't going to happen if we continue to flog him to death every three days in a 2 man midfield.

It's even more baffling when you take into consideration that we have other international class options ready and waiting to turn our Plan B into our Plan A. But just like you, I'm not the manager and it's not my decision to make, so we just have to trust that he can see something that we can't.

Yaya isn't most effective when we play plan B. Yaya needs to play in the middle of the park most of the time. He is the hub of the team, the link between defence and the rest of the team. That's why he is the league's leading passmaker. He needs to be on the ball running the game: that is his greatest asset.

Pushing him forward late in games when opponents tire is a useful tactic because Yaya paces himself well and has the fitness to use his power to good effect when others are starting to wilt.

The thing that struck me was how dangerous Silva became once Yaya was pushed forward. Generally, that's Silva's role, and he's quite gifted at performing it. And don't mistake me. I'm not saying he wasn't dangerous before Yaya moved forward, but just look at how obviously scared Villa were when Silva was probing their lines and looking for free space while Yaya kept putting him in the perfect position to disrupt Villa's defense.

Remove the defensive shackles from Yaya and you have Yaya and Silva to worry about. Focus too much on Yaya and Silva runs riot, and vice versa. Not to mention the added problem of having Fernanado and Fernandinho mopping up everything in midfield, and Aguero looking to benefit from having our two most creative players combining in much more dangerous territory. Milner's no mug at picking the right pass either. It all adds up to the perfect storm imo, and the last twenty minutes at Villa Park was a glimpse at what would be possible if we used this system more often.

 

[cibaman]

Yaya isn't most effective when we play plan B. Yaya needs to play in the middle of the park most of the time. He is the hub of the team, the link between defence and the rest of the team. That's why he is the league's leading passmaker. He needs to be on the ball running the game: that is his greatest asset.

Pushing him forward late in games when opponents tire is a useful tactic because Yaya paces himself well and has the fitness to use his power to good effect when others are starting to wilt.

If we used our Plan B, that doesn't mean I would expect Yaya just to stand on the halfway line watching on if we were getting mullered in midfield. I would still expect him to get stuck in as a No 10 but with a licence to roam as he saw fit between defence and attack.

The main advantage would be me not having a coronary every time I saw him wheezing his way back into position when one of our attacks had broken down and were defending a counter attack and I'm sure if given the choice he'd prefer it too as he alluded to yesterday.

I'm not sure what Yaya would choose but he might well prefer not to have any defensive duties and stroll about wherever he wishes; however that is not a luxury afforded to many midfielders. I am sure that he wants to be on the ball as much as possible and I am sure that is his best role. I ahppen to think the problem for him at Barca was ultimately not Busquets but Xavi.

I reckon Yaya's average position when he receives the ball is about 15m deeper than when he played behind Tevez in 10/11 but about 15m further forward than when played alongside Barry or De Jong in 11/12. These days he's a central midfield playmaker in a 4-1-3-2, not a defensive midfielder.

This system gets the best out of him in attack but he struggles defensively because of his physique and because he's having to get back from a more advanced position. Its easy to pass around him and to get players into the gap between him and our single defensive midfield player. It seemed to me that the improvement on Saturday when Fernando came on wasn't just because of the extra man in midfield. It was also because Fernando is better than Fernandhino at playing behind Yaya. He's more disciplined and happier playing the screening role.

I thought Pellegrini made a conscious decision to remove or reduce Yaya's defensive responsibilities towards the end of last season when he started picking Garcia rather than Fernandhino. In reality the only way that a player with Yaya's physique is going to be effective into his mid 30's is if he is afforded the luxury of limited defensive duties.

I suspect that Pellegrini and Begiristain are in two minds about Yaya. I'm sure they have a high regard for his abilities. But the club's attitude to Cakegate seemed very relaxed. If they could find a replacement of similar quality but without the defensive weakness I think they would be happy to let Yaya move on.

 

[CityFan94]

Very good, solid win.

Wins away at teams like Newcastle, Hull and Villa are absolutely vital to winning the league.

If this team find momentum and with everybody fit, we could win the 7 or 8 games in a row. This team is definitely capable.

Good to see Fernando back, he's an important player for us already.

 

[Dribble]

Yaya isn't most effective when we play plan B. Yaya needs to play in the middle of the park most of the time. He is the hub of the team, the link between defence and the rest of the team. That's why he is the league's leading passmaker. He needs to be on the ball running the game: that is his greatest asset.

Pushing him forward late in games when opponents tire is a useful tactic because Yaya paces himself well and has the fitness to use his power to good effect when others are starting to wilt.

If we used our Plan B, that doesn't mean I would expect Yaya just to stand on the halfway line watching on if we were getting mullered in midfield. I would still expect him to get stuck in as a No 10 but with a licence to roam as he saw fit between defence and attack.

The main advantage would be me not having a coronary every time I saw him wheezing his way back into position when one of our attacks had broken down and were defending a counter attack and I'm sure if given the choice he'd prefer it too as he alluded to yesterday.

I'm not sure what Yaya would choose but he might well prefer not to have any defensive duties and stroll about wherever he wishes; however that is not a luxury afforded to many midfielders. I am sure that he wants to be on the ball as much as possible and I am sure that is his best role. I ahppen to think the problem for him at Barca was ultimately not Busquets but Xavi.

After thinking long and hard about Yaya, I came to the conclusion that due to his size and age he can't be realistically expected to be an industrious box to box player in the mould of Fernandinho. For example, a lightweight boxer will have a hell of a lot more industry during a fight than a heavyweight purely down the the physics of gravitational forces acting against his body due to the difference in size.

I've never seen a long distance runner with the physique of Yaya nor a top rated sprinter with the physique of Mo Farrah. Toure's body is suited to a specific physical task and I believe that along with his age this needs to be taken into account before we apply a one size fits all philosophy to players and the way they play.

Yaya is a world class player, and I believe we should play to his strengths to get the best out of him for the team's sake and IMO that isn't to be flogging him to death in a 2 man midfield every 3 days. I think it's unfair to say Yaya would love the luxury of being able to just stroll around. His body structure just isn't suited to constant shuttle runs and harrying players all over the pitch for 90 minutes as he is better suited to being the beating heart of our team with 'The twins' doing his graft for him which they are more than happy to do.

No-one expects David Silva to add Fernando-like exertions to his game because that's not the type of player he is and neither is Yaya, but Silva is rarely criticised for his lack of tackling prowess and tracking back. For me the difference between the two is one is expected to track back and the other isn't. Both of them are clinical passer's of the ball and our main creative forces and I think we'd be better suited using them both as such whilst leaving the graft to others who are better suited.

As for barca, I was always led to believe that Yaya wanted to leave because of Barca's dream of playing an all Catalan starting 11 which meant with the emergence of Busquets, Yaya increasingly became his back up as opposed to the main defensive midfielder. I recall watching a Barca pre season friendly where mostly the lesser players and the B team played and Yaya played a more advanced roll. He totally ran the game from central midfield in the absence of Xavi and scored a cracker too. Our gain has definitely been Barca's loss.

 

[BillyShears]

If we used our Plan B, that doesn't mean I would expect Yaya just to stand on the halfway line watching on if we were getting mullered in midfield. I would still expect him to get stuck in as a No 10 but with a licence to roam as he saw fit between defence and attack.

The main advantage would be me not having a coronary every time I saw him wheezing his way back into position when one of our attacks had broken down and were defending a counter attack and I'm sure if given the choice he'd prefer it too as he alluded to yesterday.

I'm not sure what Yaya would choose but he might well prefer not to have any defensive duties and stroll about wherever he wishes; however that is not a luxury afforded to many midfielders. I am sure that he wants to be on the ball as much as possible and I am sure that is his best role. I ahppen to think the problem for him at Barca was ultimately not Busquets but Xavi.

After thinking long and hard about Yaya, I came to the conclusion that due to his size and age he can't be realistically expected to be an industrious box to box player in the mould of Fernandinho. For example, a lightweight boxer will have a hell of a lot more industry during a fight than a heavyweight purely down the the physics of gravitational forces acting against his body due to the difference in size.

I've never seen a long distance runner with the physique of Yaya nor a top rated sprinter with the physique of Mo Farrah. Toure's body is suited to a specific physical task and I believe that along with his age this needs to be taken into account before we apply a one size fits all philosophy to players and the way they play.

Yaya is a world class player, and I believe we should play to his strengths to get the best out of him for the team's sake and IMO that isn't to be flogging him to death in a 2 man midfield every 3 days. I think it's unfair to say Yaya would love the luxury of being able to just stroll around. His body structure just isn't suited to constant shuttle runs and harrying players all over the pitch for 90 minutes as he is better suited to being the beating heart of our team with 'The twins' doing his graft for him which they are more than happy to do.

No-one expects David Silva to add Fernando-like exertions to his game because that's not the type of player he is and neither is Yaya, but Silva is rarely criticised for his lack of tackling prowess and tracking back. For me the difference between the two is one is expected to track back and the other isn't. Both of them are clinical passer's of the ball and our main creative forces and I think we'd be better suited using them both as such whilst leaving the graft to others who are better suited.

As for barca, I was always led to believe that Yaya wanted to leave because of Barca's dream of playing an all Catalan starting 11 which meant with the emergence of Busquets, Yaya increasingly became his back up as opposed to the main defensive midfielder. I recall watching a Barca pre season friendly where mostly the lesser players and the B team played and Yaya played a more advanced roll. He totally ran the game from central midfield in the absence of Xavi and scored a cracker too. Our gain has definitely been Barca's loss.

A lot of that is pure speculation on your part. Toure has along with Fernandinho almost inhuman stamina. Everyone from Mancini to Txiki have commented on it and it's one of the reasons both our current and previous manager have had no problem in regularly playing him in a 2 man midfield.