Wolves vs City: A technical analysis

[City Raider]

A good piece Damo and although we don't see eye to eye at times I agree with the majority of it, especially about us defending width and it being a worry against the Rags.

Our weakness is when the full back (whichever side) tucks in when the ball is on the opposite flank, the Rags have great strength in spotting this and switching play quickly to exploit the space.

Another weakness we've shown of late is not picking up the player that drops in the whole between the two in midfield and defence, something that Rooney likes to exploit.

The above two are my only worries though and our strengths will by far outweigh our weaknesses.

Managers are generally more concerned with closing the space between fb's and cb's than the space between the fb and the touchline so this is a tricky one to address - it's the lesser of two evils I guess.

 

[c-t-i-d-87]

Good analysis, however, I can't agree with your conclusion.

It's based on the premise that De Jong covers out wide more effectively than Yaya, and I think that is highly debatable.

My biggest criticisms of De Jong's defensive game lie on his lack of awareness, he rarely tracks runs behind an exposed fullback and he favours remaining overtly central at all times. Too often he remains stationary and rigid in his central DM position while a threat develops around him. He simply doesn't possess Barry's intelligence nor his experience, so I feel that comparison is moot.

And once you consider De Jong's limitations in possession, and his detrimental impact on our ability to build momentum going forward I think the case for him starting in DM instead of Yaya and at the expense of Nasri, Tevez or Silva is a pretty unsubstantial one.

In an ideal world we'd have signed someone like De Rossi last summer or in January, in essence I simply don't rate De Jong particularly highly, and I think there are more cons than pros in introducing him to the side, especially on Monday night when the worst possible thing we could do would be to sit back and invite the rags onto us.

You have made a generalization of DJong abilities or deficiencies without substantiating vis a vis his performances against the rags.

What's important here is a critical analysis of the roles of the various midfielders and their interactions.

My main contention here is that against the rags or in the past derbies @ OT (our 6-1 win) and the rags last visit at our home (we lost)
1. Was Barry up to task?
2. Was Yaya effective?
3. Did DJong provide effective DM cover?

Cite instances!

Is that an attempt at a retort?

There have been no generalisations on my part, I've simply stated a number of observations I've made of De Jong since his debut at home to Newcastle more than three years ago.

Put simply, we played our most fluent and expansive football this season with Yaya pairing Barry at the base of midfield. They played together to great effect in the 6-1.

When we played United in the cup tie Yaya was at the ACON and Balotelli was suspended. Nasri came in for Milner who replaced a suspended Barry and played alongside De Jong in a pair in front of the back four.

In the first half we were overwhelmed in midfield following Kompany's red card, and De Jong put in one of his worst performances in a City shirt, with Nasri coming a close second.

De Jong is a capable player under the right circumstances, but I think we've evolved as a side over the past 9 months, and De Jong was always going to be a casualty of that evolution, he simply doesn't offer enough to warrant a place in the starting line-up, especially when we have everyone available and especially in a fixture where nothing less than a win will suffice.

When Barry and De Jong play as a pair at the base of midfield they often have a tendency to sit too deep and invite pressure, which often leads to there being a gulf between our midfield and our forwards, leaving us somewhat disjointed and leaving the likes of Silva or even Tevez needing to collect the ball from our own half to begin an offensive.

And that's my real fear, because if our midfield pairing sit back and dictate a cautious air over the whole side United will attempt to capitalise by starting at a blistering pace to nick an early goal and then fuck us on the counter attack all evening. That was their gameplan in the FA Cup semi and it very nearly proved successful, but fortunately Berbatov was wasteful and Mancini hauled us out from siting deep. The rest is history.

Man for man we're a better side than United now, and we have to dictate to them, not vice versa.

 

[afro2007]

how Mancity position themselves to opponents is awful and absolutely bazaar to talk about,look at how teams like Barcelona and Bayern tackle their opponents,no space to react and no place to think with the ball,but with us u can do all u want to do with the ball and it leaves a big hole in the middle and in the back as well.i don't understand why our manager hasn't done anything to correct thus.if u think our defending is ok then i really plead for it to be looked again as a supporter.

 

[Danamy]

A good piece Damo and although we don't see eye to eye at times I agree with the majority of it, especially about us defending width and it being a worry against the Rags.

Our weakness is when the full back (whichever side) tucks in when the ball is on the opposite flank, the Rags have great strength in spotting this and switching play quickly to exploit the space.

Another weakness we've shown of late is not picking up the player that drops in the whole between the two in midfield and defence, something that Rooney likes to exploit.

The above two are my only worries though and our strengths will by far outweigh our weaknesses.

Managers are generally more concerned with closing the space between fb's and cb's than the space between the fb and the touchline so this is a tricky one to address - it's the lesser of two evils I guess.

The Rags always like to switch play quickly to try and exploit the space on either flank, we have to mindful of this as our shape can invite trouble if we don't move over quickly enough.

I hate to say it but this is why Scholes has always been an important piece in their jigsaw, he sprays the ball quickly and effectively to dictate their play.

 

[City Raider]

spot on about the moving over bit, its a risk but i'd prefer this scenario to one where midfield runners or rooney get in between our cbs and fbs

 

[Damocles]

how Mancity position themselves to opponents is awful and absolutely bazaar to talk about,look at how teams like Barcelona and Bayern tackle their opponents,no space to react and no place to think with the ball,but with us u can do all u want to do with the ball and it leaves a big hole in the middle and in the back as well.i don't understand why our manager hasn't done anything to correct thus.if u think our defending is ok then i really plead for it to be looked again as a supporter.

We've only conceeded 27 goals all season and 3 of them were in one match. This is the fewest in the league by a comfortable distance.
Our defence is the best in the league, and in my opinion is far more solid than Barca.