What's the difference?

[Bluemoon115]

Have watched the aftermatch interview with Bobby (sky sports) and the first thing the interviewer says to Bob is about the 4-4-2 formation and that it worked well..Bob agreed.

so from the horses mouth it was 4-4-2. :)

Case closed then.

;-)

Nope. it was no different to how we normally play.

The experts have spoken.

 

[Rammy Blue]

Case closed then.

;-)

Nope. it was no different to how we normally play.

The experts have spoken.

lol.

I am still awaiting the first to tell me that Bob has got it wrong in his interview....

 

[taconinja]

Nope. it was no different to how we normally play.

The experts have spoken.

lol.

I am still awaiting the first to tell me that Bob has got it wrong in his interview....

I don't think he got it wrong as it's his formation. I still think it's a FLUID 4-2-3-1. Fluid is the key term. The players switch into temporary formations during the game quite often mimicking a 4-4-2 and a 4-4-1-1 and a 4-5-1 and even a 4-6-0 when we're really shutting up shop. 4-4-2 has uses during a game as most formations do, but it's circumstantial, not a rigid system.

 

[Bluemoon115]

Nope. it was no different to how we normally play.

The experts have spoken.

lol.

I am still awaiting the first to tell me that Bob has got it wrong in his interview....

If he thinks we were any different from the home games against Blackburn/Brum/Fulham he is an idiot.

 

[Rammy Blue]

lol.

I am still awaiting the first to tell me that Bob has got it wrong in his interview....

I don't think he got it wrong as it's his formation. I still think it's a FLUID 4-2-3-1. Fluid is the key term. The players switch into temporary formations during the game quite often mimicking a 4-4-2 and a 4-4-1-1 and a 4-5-1 and even a 4-6-0 when we're really shutting up shop. 4-4-2 has uses during a game as most formations do, but it's circumstantial, not a rigid system.

I'm going for a lie down.

 

[Damocles]

What did we get right against Sunderland that transformed us in such a dramatic fashion?

* Playing Sunderland at a time when they are plunging!

This one for me. I've rewatched the game again and Sunderland never seemed to even attempt to press us on the ball, they were completely out of ideas up front and their defending was shocking at times.

Our midfield gave away too much space in front of our defence and if we play this way against a team not in turmoil, or somebody who has a bit of creativity, we'll get stuffed. The amount of times that Sunderland were overloading us on the edge of our own box was horrible, and De Jong can't hold off a whole team of onrushing attackers on his own.

Their defence made sloppy mistakes in both position and passing, causing them unnecessary troubles and a couple of goals.

I don't know, after rewatching the game, I'm more down on it than I was yesterday. The scoreline was fantastic, but emotion aside, over the course of 90 minutes, we didn't actually pay that well.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

What did we get right against Sunderland that transformed us in such a dramatic fashion?

* Playing Sunderland at a time when they are plunging!

This one for me. I've rewatched the game again and Sunderland never seemed to even attempt to press us on the ball, they were completely out of ideas up front and their defending was shocking at times.

Our midfield gave away too much space in front of our defence and if we play this way against a team not in turmoil, or somebody who has a bit of creativity, we'll get stuffed. The amount of times that Sunderland were overloading us on the edge of our own box was horrible, and De Jong can't hold off a whole team of onrushing attackers on his own.

Their defence made sloppy mistakes in both position and passing, causing them unnecessary troubles and a couple of goals.

I don't know, after rewatching the game, I'm more down on it than I was yesterday. The scoreline was fantastic, but emotion aside, over the course of 90 minutes, we didn't actually pay that well.

yeah...we kept chipping the ball away in the 2nd part of the 1st half too, for about 20 minutes sunderland had a lot more ball than us.

i think we'll be back to steady old city come next monday.

 

[taconinja]

Well, something is always going to have to give. I've rarely seen a team completely dominate the entire game from start to finish. I agree we did allow for quite a bit of possession by Sunderland, but at that point they had to take the game to us. Can we improve? Of course. Our pressing could use work for one thing.

 

[Blue Mooner]

lol.

I am still awaiting the first to tell me that Bob has got it wrong in his interview....

I don't think he got it wrong as it's his formation. I still think it's a FLUID 4-2-3-1. Fluid is the key term. The players switch into temporary formations during the game quite often mimicking a 4-4-2 and a 4-4-1-1 and a 4-5-1 and even a 4-6-0 when we're really shutting up shop. 4-4-2 has uses during a game as most formations do, but it's circumstantial, not a rigid system.

Agree with this, it is certainly not an archetypal rigid 4-4-2 system with two banks of 4. Certainly Yaya is the forward lying central midefielder and de Jong the defensive midfielder. you can't say that Silva was playing wide left all game in the true sense of a wide left player as part of the midfield as he has license to roam. That said I can understand why people describe it as 4-4-2.

What annoys me is that some suggest Mancini has responded to the criticism yet far from that being the case he just hasn't had Johnson and De Jong available in most games recently and has had to select his team accordingly.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

Well, something is always going to have to give. I've rarely seen a team completely dominate the entire game from start to finish. I agree we did allow for quite a bit of possession by Sunderland, but at that point they had to take the game to us. Can we improve? Of course. Our pressing could use work for one thing.

Yeah I sort of agree, the only thing I'd say about the pressing is that I thought we played a bit deep but looking at it I think we did that a bit deliberately to nullify the pace of the quick Sunderland forwards, remember at the SoL they counter-attacked us really well in the 2nd half.