Why we are misfiring...

[SalfordCityBlue]

We're playing very well in my view. The art of winning the title is not to play at 100% every week, but to do enough to win so that come February and March you still have something left in the tank. It's a marathon.

Totally agree. Several games this year we have either won or drawn where we would have lost in previous seasons.

More to come from us, that is obvious - much more. And yet we are unbeaten whilst playing within ourselves, and go top if we win our next home game. I'd say our form is more ominous for the rest than particularly worrying for ourselves.

Strikers will hit form and when they do it's going to be hard for the rest to keep up.

If we go top next week, which I expect we will and looking at the fixtures for the next few months I'd expect us to stay there and maybe even ease away.

 

[jimharri]

Having watched City this season there are three reasons why we are not reaching anything like the heights of last season - they are as follows:
[1] Poor defending of crosses.
[2] Poor pressing of the opposition when they have the ball.
[3] Non existent counter attacks/Poor forward movement.

Poor defending of crosses.
Obvious to every City fan. You just have to look at the goals we concede. Generally a player fails to pick up an opponent in their zone and they get a free header. Yesterday it was Zab who let Fellani get in front of him at the back stick (not Lescott who some of you think was at fault). Every player has failed at this at some point in the season. Why the problem? Last year we played a mixed system - mostly zoneal - with 2 free players who ran in with the opposition picking up runners and targeting the ball. This season we are totally zonal. I can't see the free players who attacked the ball like last seasosn.

Poor pressing of the opposition when they have the ball.
Last season when we lost the ball. Opposition players (except those on the far flanks - because it was more important to defend the cross) were pressed and harried as soon as they got the ball. This season we are standing off players - especially by our front 4 in the opposition half. Teams should defend from the front but this season they are not up to scratch. Not one City player is doing it like we did it last year. Aguero, Balotelli, Dzeko, Nasri, Yaya (when not playing the holding role) are all guilty of this. Even Tevez is not doing it to the same standard as in the past.

Non existent counter attacks/Poor forward movement
The ponderous nature of our attacking play is the main reason we are not scoring anything like the number of goals we used to. I'm not quite sure as to whether it is the Chicken or the Egg that is at fault however.
- The chicken (a lack of movement by the front 4 into space to receive a quick pass) or
- The egg (a complete lack of any attempt to get the ball up-field quickly).
We mostly amble up the field retaining possession allowing the opposition to get there whole team behind the ball. It would seem that possession football is the be-all and end-all of our attacking play.

You need to sort it out fairly soon Roberto. Or the PL title like the CL will be gone.

Also;
[4] A lack of genuine pace in our attacks.
[5] Not enough width in our play.
[6] A perceived lack of willingness to shoot from distance (bar free kicks 25-30 yards out).

 

[decmancity]

I agree with those points.

I have to say I think Lescott should have man marked Felliani or Kompany should have. That cross should have been cleared by either of the free CB's and never should have got all the way to the back post where Zaba could never have cleared it.

I agree especially with the pressing, if you can do it properly you become like Barca who seem like they have 20 players on the pitch. The difference is the speed that Barca have so they can put players under pressure in seconds. Tevez and so on are a bit slower so it takes them longer to get there but that doesn't mean we can't do it. Look at the goal v Wolves last year, Aguero hunted down Henessey and he bottled it and it bounced off Aguero and fell to Dzeko who scored.

Goalkeepers and defenders shit themselves when a player comes charging at them and kick it out for a throw in or make a mistake no matter who they are or what they have won.
Look at the West Ham third goal yesterday, Diame chased the ball all the way across the Chelsea box and then someone else joined and they hassled Cole who bottled it and tried to pass it across and it was intercepted and West Ham scored.

The only players who can play themselves out of trouble either play for us (Kompany and Natasic) or don't play in this league eg Pique. It is a fantastic tactic that I love seeing and we have players that can do it so we should.

 

[Stoned Rose]

What heights of last season?

You should re-phrase that the the first two months of last season. After the wins at Spurs and Man Utd, teams learned that it was suicide to go toe to toe and now all coaches change tactics for Manchester City games

Games are dictated not just by MCFC but by the tactics and approach of the opponents.

We had these topics in the latter part of last season too.

I defy any team to play flowing football against the likes of an Everton team intent on winning free-kick after free-kick and whose priority is to shut down the space and stop City playing. In these games you have to score first, and even then the opponents will still more than likely stick to their strategy

We're playing very well in my view. The art of winning the title is not to play at 100% every week, but to do enough to win so that come February and March you still have something left in the tank. It's a marathon.

Never a truer word.

 

[Balti]

I particularly agree with the point about closing down the opposition and defending high up the pitch and we need to rediscover that workrate and desire starting on sunday

 

[stan bowles]

The main reason is that most of the other PL teams have got better and have a game plan to restrict our flowing football and chances which they stick to well. It is up to us to find a way to break teams down quicker and more often. When you create fewer chances as we are doing then it's even important to take them.

 

[citymad]

What heights of last season?

You should re-phrase that the the first two months of last season. After the wins at Spurs and Man Utd, teams learned that it was suicide to go toe to toe and now all coaches change tactics for Manchester City games

Games are dictated not just by MCFC but by the tactics and approach of the opponents.

We had these topics in the latter part of last season too.

I defy any team to play flowing football against the likes of an Everton team intent on winning free-kick after free-kick and whose priority is to shut down the space and stop City playing. In these games you have to score first, and even then the opponents will still more than likely stick to their strategy

We're playing very well in my view. The art of winning the title is not to play at 100% every week, but to do enough to win so that come February and March you still have something left in the tank. It's a marathon.

Great post. But we do have to find a way of winning games more comfortably. The players are using a lot of energy to get our noses in front in a lot of the games. We used to be able to throw on a defensive midfielder just to close the game up, now it seems we're throwing all the forwards on to get back into the game or to win it in the last few mins.

 

[geoffchall]

If you watch the video again you'll see that Kompany might have done better in clearing that cross yesterday ...... he's only half an inch smaller than Fellaine .

Either way Lescott or Kompany .... one of them should have got to it before Fellaine did !

And come to think of it, I thought Joe might have made a little more of the first save! Trautmann woulda caught that thumb and little finger!

But Kompany did get to the cross, it was just that he didn't quite get enough on it to put it out. His deflection actually helped rather than hindered Fellaini. And yeah, it would have been nice if Joe had held on or punched further.

 

[Love_Each_Day]

We've always been poor on the counter under Mancini. Our pressing is a lot worse this season for some reason, especially at home.

 

[citymad]

We've always been poor on the counter under Mancini. Our pressing is a lot worse this season for some reason, especially at home.

For some reason we make that initial forward pass to get the attack moving then pass it back allowing teams like Everton to organize back quickly. I think that's where we miss Micah and Clichy players who can keep the attack moving.