Why So Blue?

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

Totally disagree, Toure still looks unbelievable with the ball in and around their 18 yard box. He needs to play up there more often and sack of trying to be the deep creator for 75 mins a game.

That's because you lack tactical nouse...

Firstly who do you drop?? There has to be forward planning and the reliance we once had, isn't there anymore.. Sterling needs to be brought on, that means playing consistently with 'these' players. KDB - no response needed, Silva? Naaaaa, so again, who do we drop?? Your obvious answer is sterling and you'd be falling into the most obvious of traps... The work-rate alone would be to hard for yaya to execute, we are so much fitter than other teams, thus we will always have opportunities in games, this comes from the pressing of our front 4, you add yaya into that mix and you'll be carrying his share...... Impact player is ideal!!!!

 

[cibaman]

Spurs away.

In fact unless I'm mistaken every time we've tried to play with Toure and the two Ferns we've ended up losing.

We drew at QPR last season, although it felt like a defeat. The three just don't play well together.

Yaya doesn't need an extra midfield player behind him, he needs one in front of him. He's been fine with Silva playing in front of him in a 4231.

 

[Rolee]

We drew at QPR last season, although it felt like a defeat. The three just don't play well together.

Yaya doesn't need an extra midfield player behind him, he needs one in front of him. He's been fine with Silva playing in front of him in a 4231.

I tend to agree with that but not so sure Silva is that player, perhaps KDB is. I've often wondered how it would pan out with that trio if Fernandinho played the most advanced of the three.

 

[flb]

You know my opinion of Toure, the man has been an absolute beast for us, probably our most influential big game player, ever.... However, I say this with heavy heart bud, he's becoming a liability in that 2 man role, if we're to utilise his pluses, it has to be in a 3 in Europe.

He's become too easy to pass around unfortunately, if dinho isn't at 100%, which he wasn't last night, it exposes the fragility in yaya further. We are losing so much more from dinho having to be a constant water carrier for the midfield, he'll be burned out by Jan at this rate...

The ideal scenario is yaya can be accommodated at the top of a 3, as I do agree his effectiveness in attacking positions, is still too good to ignore.. The problem, as if it really is a problem, is we now have options, ones which certain games dictate should be used, however, from the sound of Manuel, he'll stand by Yaya no matter what, to me, that's stupid and will ultimately tarnish his reputation with city in Europe.. He has an opportunity here to adapt, I honestly believe that a shift in tactics would propel us into the latter stages!!!

If Yaya plays at the top of a three where does that leave Silva when he is fit?

I'd much rather have Silva at the top of the three in front of the Ferns behind Sterling,Sergio and Kev.


With Kev and Sterling coming in Manuel has some big fucking decisions to make sooner or later.

We are crying out to start playing 433 in my opinion and if that means Yaya missing out then so be it.

 

[aguero93:20]

I tend to agree with that but not so sure Silva is that player, perhaps KDB is. I've often wondered how it would pan out with that trio if Fernandinho played the most advanced of the three.

Better, as Fernandinho can both get up and down, making it a proper midfield 3 in defence and a triangle in attack. We'd still lose out overall on having Silva in the no 10 position playing that way though, he's our best player.

 

[Rolee]

Better, as Fernandinho can both get up and down, making it a proper midfield 3 in defence and a triangle in attack. We'd still lose out overall on having Silva in the no 10 position playing that way though, he's our best player.

Yeah I agree but I think allowances need to be made for Silva as well as Toure, I daren't criticise the little wizard too much but he does have the tendency to switch off defensively, couple that with Toure's defensive deficiencies and that creates a problem.

I dunno, we have our resident experts on here but this management lark ain't easy.

 

[BillyShears]

Yeah I agree but I think allowances need to be made for Silva as well as Toure, I daren't criticise the little wizard too much but he does have the tendency to switch off defensively, couple that with Toure's defensive deficiencies and that creates a problem.

I dunno, we have our resident experts on here but this management lark ain't easy.

I think against 90% of the teams we play Silva gets away with it due to his advanced position to Toure on the pitch, but in general I agree with the point you're making.

Ultimately though it's a question of 4 or 3 in the attacking third of the pitch. As long as we want to play with 4 it's a challenge for the 2 behind no matter who they are.

 

[mosssideblue]

Expectation and reality are two very different things. This week Bayern lost to Arsenal, and Chelsea and United both drew against easter European sides. Yes last night wasn't an amazing performance, but it was a vital victory in a tough group. There was a time when we'd enjoy a vital victory, not use it as a reason to start flapping fannies about how everything's fucked and we'll never win the CL and we're naive/clueless/insertanothergenericfootballcliche.

All I'm looking for is a bit more balance in how we react to things.

For me, a lot of our fans have unreal expectations. Yes we have quality all over the pitch, but they are human and, like anyone else, have good and bad days. To expect every player to exceed every match is simply not reality. On our day, we can beat anyone, but life isn't that simple.

Last night showed me that whilst we had players not at their best, the desire to get the winner was there and we took the points on offer.

 

[mosssideblue]

I ain't a Navas hater,but shone last night ? I don't think so

A few mazy runs but pretty poor crossing AGAIN

Sorry mate that is absolute garbage.

 

[aguero93:20]

Yeah I agree but I think allowances need to be made for Silva as well as Toure, I daren't criticise the little wizard too much but he does have the tendency to switch off defensively, couple that with Toure's defensive deficiencies and that creates a problem.

I dunno, we have our resident experts on here but this management lark ain't easy.

That's why I wouldn't play with both in Europe. Our best performances to date are 3-2 against Bayern away with Garcia-Fernandinho-Silva and 2-0 Roma away with Fernando-Fernandinho-Nasri.

 

[mosssideblue]

It's just frustration, people want us to do well and it still looks like we haven't learnt a thing about how to play in this competition since the first ever game against Napoli. At home we should be comfortable and in control but we panic against these teams and they more often than not punish you for it. The Keegan style of play got us the winning goal last night but on another night against better opposition we could of been 2/3-0 down.

We'll get there but I am more worried by what a better opposition will do to us later on and if we are ever going to have ambitions to win the whole thing it just needs to be perfect across the board and it is far from that. Yes other teams step up later in the competition so you are seeing the likes of Bayern getting beat but we never seem to really step up and play no matter what round we are in.

I don't want to be negative, it was a great result but our performances are worrying in this competition and it just seems like we'll get into the next round, moan as usual about another hard game against Barcelona/Bayern/Madrid and we'll crash out in the same way.

Perhaps we might do better when we get the spine of our team back ! Just a thought

 

[meeesh]

Sorry mate that is absolute garbage.

He scored a 7 in most papers,/ reports KDB and Mangala scored 8 like I said 2 players shone,seems I wern't alone in that assumption

 

[aguero93:20]

He scored a 7 in most papers,/ reports KDB and Mangala scored 8 like I said 2 players shone,seems I wern't alone in that assumption

Which papers? I've seen the Sun give the grannyshagger a 9 when he was out injured.

 

[tonea2003]

Who would you drop to accommodate Toure in a 3 man midfield?

Personally I'd drop Toure before I did that because I certainly wouldn't be putting Toure in KDB, Sterling, or Silva's positions. As your kid said in the match day thread, he'd be an amazing impact sub if he weren't such a mardy fucker you just know he'd pull a Tevez tout suite if benched.

we need manuel then to get some kahuna's and pick the team suitable to the occasion or he really will be toast, because an early exit will beckon if he persists with last nights formation with yaya in a 2
last night i would of permed one from bony and navas to get yaya further forward
the issue becomes when our best two players are back fit

 

[meeesh]

Which papers? I've seen the Sun give the grannyshagger a 9 when he was out injured.

grannyshagger played last nite didn't he

 

[ono]

That's because you lack tactical nouse...

Firstly who do you drop?? There has to be forward planning and the reliance we once had, isn't there anymore.. Sterling needs to be brought on, that means playing consistently with 'these' players. KDB - no response needed, Silva? Naaaaa, so again, who do we drop?? Your obvious answer is sterling and you'd be falling into the most obvious of traps... The work-rate alone would be to hard for yaya to execute, we are so much fitter than other teams, thus we will always have opportunities in games, this comes from the pressing of our front 4, you add yaya into that mix and you'll be carrying his share...... Impact player is ideal!!!!

Normally I wouldn't take the opinion of someone who says 'tactical nouse' seriously but you have at least made your point and I agree with a lot of it.

While I agree Toure's lack of a work ethic is a problem, I think we can cover some of that by employing Fernando alongside Fernandinho. Granted we wouldn't press as high but that wouldn't be a bad thing anyway since we actually don't really know how to do it as a team. We press as individuals (some do, some don't). The ones that do so leave gaps behind them. The ones that don't, fail to cover said gaps so we have a problem in that regard anyway. I actually think we would be a much better team if just retreated into a more compact shape. We would certainly be a more defensively solid team.

As an attacking unit Sterling is the weakest of the starting forward 4 so naturally he would be the favourite to miss out. We would miss his work rate but I would rather miss his work rate than miss Toure's ability to influence a match. It's risk and reward for me and Toure's impact in the final third is probably much greater than Sterling's (at this point in time).

The other thing Toure can do is play a little bit closer to Fernando and Fernandinho if need be, basically playing at the head of a triangle.

I just simply cannot see an area where Sterling becomes more important to the team than Toure. Not yet anyway. Perhaps on the counter but then you could make the case for Navas being more important than Silva in that regard, and we all know that dropping Silva for Navas would be footballing suicide.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

If Yaya plays at the top of a three where does that leave Silva when he is fit?

I'd much rather have Silva at the top of the three in front of the Ferns behind Sterling,Sergio and Kev.


With Kev and Sterling coming in Manuel has some big fucking decisions to make sooner or later.

We are crying out to start playing 433 in my opinion and if that means Yaya missing out then so be it.

I think I was quite clear re: he should be accommodated, but if you read a little further back, you've just repeated everything I said, we agree mate!!!!

 

[Stoned Rose]

We had 25 shots against Gladbach.

Yes but we only scored 2 goals.

2 goals from 25 shots (whether they were 'chances' is another story) is utterly depressing and again proves my point about us needing to learn and adapt.

That statistic tells me we're not. If it tells you or anyone else something else best of luck to you.

Look at the Juve game - they had a mere handful of chances yet took 2 of them and won the game.

 

[Stoned Rose]

To those going on about Toure in a two in midfield, this wasn't our main problem last night. Our main problem was out wide where both full backs were getting the runaround. When Kolarov came on Sevilla barely had a sniff for the rest of the game.

This wasn't anything to do with us putting 3 in the centre and gaining more control of the ball / game then?

 

[Rolee]

This wasn't anything to do with us putting 3 in the centre and gaining more control of the ball / game then?

Don't get you, we changed full backs, everything else stayed the same until Fernando came on over 15 minutes later. Sevilla's last proper chance came just before the hour mark ( Gameiro header ) coincidentally just before we switched full backs.