Man City (H) - Sun 3rd Oct 2021 (4:30pm)

[Jairzinho]

2 hours ago, Kevin D said:

 

I thought it was a shocking performance from the midfield.

We're a point off top, and unbeaten, but it feels like we're hanging on a bit. 

 

The midfield is a big problem. Keita and Chamberlain are shit. Jones and Elliot are inexperienced. Milner is old. 

 

We basically have Fabinho, Henderson and Thiago who are top quality premier League central midfielders. Significant injuries or a prolonged drop off of form from any of these and we're in a bit of trouble.   

 

Like you, I thought they were atrocious today. It feels deflating because it felt like Salah's goal was the winner. But if we're honest with ourselves, getting a point against City while two of the three central midfielders were appalling isn't so bad. 

[Creator Supreme]

Wow I see the Henderson hate has kicked in again. He was shite today like.

[Section_31]

Midfield is always a problem against city, that's where their best players are and our worst players are.

[TheHowieLama]

We will need 4 points from the two away fixtures (Chelsea/City) to have a chance.

[Mark M]

1 minute ago, Section_31 said:

Midfield is always a problem against city, that's where their best players are and our worst players are.

Games like today is where Gini was brilliant for us. He’s not as important playing the likes of Palace etc. but against the big sides he was vital. 

[Section_31]

6 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

We will need 4 points from the two away fixtures (Chelsea/City) to have a chance.

Nah we just need to beat everyone else. Under Evans, Houllier and Rafa we had decent records against the top 4 but still won fuck all, consistency and beating the teams you're supposed to beat is where you win the league. We'll need a huge amount of luck where form and injury is concerned though.

[an tha]

28 minutes ago, Jairzinho said:

We're a point off top, and unbeaten, but it feels like we're hanging on a bit. 

 

The midfield is a big problem. Keita and Chamberlain are shit. Jones and Elliot are inexperienced. Milner is old. 

 

We basically have Fabinho, Henderson and Thiago who are top quality premier League central midfielders. Significant injuries or a prolonged drop off of form from any of these and we're in a bit of trouble.   

 

Like you, I thought they were atrocious today. It feels deflating because it felt like Salah's goal was the winner. But if we're honest with ourselves, getting a point against City while two of the three central midfielders were appalling isn't so bad. 

I've seen it said on here when people have questioned midfield depth 'we have 8 midfielders we are fine, how many more do you want"......and on paper/taken literally the argument is spot on.

 

The problem with it IMO is it does not hold up when you dig into the "8"

 

As you say Keita and Ox are shite and even worse are also unreliable fitness wise, Keita has already been out this season after kicking the ground FFS - they add literally fuck all.

 

Eliiott and Jones as high as their ceilings may be have obvious questions given their inexperience....but they are fine, they are learning and gaining experience and will be sound - they are worth their places, and will come on and get better over time - maybe if we had a bit more ahead of them we could be a bit more steady/less demanding in how much we ask of them though.

 

 

Milner as good a pro as is he is is aged and also of course finds himself due to a lack of proper cover being pulled out to play at RB.

 

It leaves as you say just 3 top quality proven lads in there and one of them in Thiago has a career history of missing a good chunk of games through injury, and i'll bet you Hendo and Fabinho miss around 25% of our games this season due to injuries too.

 

Now of course the answer is/was not to add to the "8" and make it 10 for example....the answer IMHO was to jib the shite Ox and Keita and get in good, solid reliable replacements who would be ready and available when needed and who would do the job required....i would actually have happily seen one reliable, good player come in for both -1 in those 2 out and we'd be stronger in my book...we didn't do that though and we now have to manage with what we have until we can/do or even if we want to jib the shite.

 

 

[3 Stacks]

It's always the same discussion; fair enough Thiago and Elliott in, Gini out. Nothing wrong with that. But there's something wrong with still having both Keita and Ox. 

[George Costanza]

A point gained given our performance really.  A world class (arguably currently best in the world) performance from Mo bailed us out.  Defensively we are still a bit sloppy but that midfield performance is a concern.  Jones is still relatively young & inexperienced so we'll see big ups (Porto) and downs (today) from him.  That's the nature of young players developing.  Henderson is massively out of form though & Fabinho didn't have a great day at the office either. We need Tiago back fit asap. Keita and Chamberlain remain enigma's and not often picked. We need 1 of these 2 to really step up and challenge for a starting position - both players have qualities that can really add something different to the team they just don't seem to be trusted to do so. 

[Reckoner]

 

 

This is worth a watch

 

 

[Harry Squatter]

Origi not even on the bench today. 

[3 Stacks]

Just now, Harry Squatter said:

Origi not even on the bench today. 

He was sick.

[aRdja]

All caught up now. Game was on at 2:30 in the morning here. Echoing most of the posts above, not our best performance. Midfield really struggled. Henderson had a poor game but the other two were somehow worse. Fabinho was all over the place, reminiscent of his performance against Arsenal away in his first season. Jones lacked the composure, we know he has it in him but the occasion appears to have got to him. Really should’ve done a lot better tracking De Bruyne for the last goal. Although in fairness to them with Foden outwide and Grealish as a ‘false 9’ they had the numbers in midfield. 

On to the positives; Mo is just an absolutely outstanding footballer, brillliant work for both goals, we’re really lucky to have him, he tried his hardest to drag us over the line single-handedly but it wasn’t to be. Jota and Mane both looked quite dangerous too especially in the second half. What an awful cameo from Bobby, kept giving the ball back to them. I never thought he’d get back to 18/19 form, but looks like he’s progressively getting worse every season now.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

27 minutes ago, Reckoner said:

 

 

This is worth a watch

 

 

Well. Make of that what you will. 

[johnsusername]

40 minutes ago, Reckoner said:

 

 

This is worth a watch

 

 

I'm even more annoyed with our first half performance after watching that! What the fuck were our players playing at? Did they panic? Looks like the whole tactical gameplan went out the window. 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

56 minutes ago, an tha said:

I've seen it said on here when people have questioned midfield depth 'we have 8 midfielders we are fine, how many more do you want"......and on paper/taken literally the argument is spot on.

 

The problem with it IMO is it does not hold up when you dig into the "8"

 

As you say Keita and Ox are shite and even worse are also unreliable fitness wise, Keita has already been out this season after kicking the ground FFS - they add literally fuck all.

 

Eliiott and Jones as high as their ceilings may be have obvious questions given their inexperience....but they are fine, they are learning and gaining experience and will be sound - they are worth their places, and will come on and get better over time - maybe if we had a bit more ahead of them we could be a bit more steady/less demanding in how much we ask of them though.

 

 

Milner as good a pro as is he is is aged and also of course finds himself due to a lack of proper cover being pulled out to play at RB.

 

It leaves as you say just 3 top quality proven lads in there and one of them in Thiago has a career history of missing a good chunk of games through injury, and i'll bet you Hendo and Fabinho miss around 25% of our games this season due to injuries too.

 

Now of course the answer is/was not to add to the "8" and make it 10 for example....the answer IMHO was to jib the shite Ox and Keita and get in good, solid reliable replacements who would be ready and available when needed and who would do the job required....i would actually have happily seen one reliable, good player come in for both -1 in those 2 out and we'd be stronger in my book...we didn't do that though and we now have to manage with what we have until we can/do or even if we want to jib the shite.

 

 

In short: We should’ve kept Wijnaldum.

[Razoray]

1 hour ago, Section_31 said:

Midfield is always a problem against city, that's where their best players are and our worst players are.

And we have 3 in there and they have 4. Their wingers play high and wide but Grealish gave them an extra body in there today 

[Razoray]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

We will need 4 points from the two away fixtures (Chelsea/City) to have a chance.

City lost to Spurs and drew with Southampton 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

3 hours ago, TheHowieLama said:

What colors are the FSG Out scarves?

Blue and white.

 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

52 minutes ago, Reckoner said:

 

 

This is worth a watch

 

 

Knowledgeable and honest as usual.  Still remember how refreshing this was when he arrived, compared to the absolute rubbish Rodgers used to come up with post match.

 

 

[an tha]

15 minutes ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

In short: We should’ve kept Wijnaldum.

He is certainly a loss - his knack of breaking up play, just being in right place to knick ball and his composure is a miss...as is his reliability.

 

He was with us for 5 seasons and featured in 179 of the 190 league games in those 5 years....94%.

[s(k)aturation]

 

double post.

 

 

 

[suzy]

Watched a programme on Mo’s 100 goals on Sky after the match. In his first two seasons  it was noticeable that the person who assisted his goals was often Bobby. Sad that doesn’t happen much now.

[s(k)aturation]

22 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

I'm even more annoyed with our first half performance after watching that! What the fuck were our players playing at? Did they panic? Looks like the whole tactical gameplan went out the window. 

 

Other side (a good side) grabs the initiative, can mentally pressure you into "forgetting" your game plan.

[an tha]

Salah's goal from different angles....