VillaChris Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Some people seriously thought Caballero was as good as Hart?! Everytime I watch therm when he's in goal I think they've picked him out from the crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 They won't get anywhere with Mike Bassett in charge. "We will be playing 4-4-****-2" Wenger and Pellegrini are absolute dinosaurs, stubborn old ****, stuck in their ways, both these club need some fresh blood. Get Simeone over here, he's a man not afraid to mix things up. yet they combined to win all 3 English domestic trophies last season ahead of the media super coaches Mourinho and Rodgers Yet both of those coaches have been found out time and time again in Europe over the past 10 years. Shows how poor the Premier League was last year, coupled with the fact 'that' United team won the league the season before. ...and again tonight. Against Barcelona, he plays 4 in midfield. This is a man paid millions each year. He thinks he can play a 2 in cental midfield against Barcelona. Nevermind the fact the two are Fernando and Milner (sorry Jimmy) This guy is a clown and he is stealing a living. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Can't see them winning the League (sure they still have a chance but can't see it). Can't see them progressing in the Champions League. Out of the cup competitions. Naive in Europe. Some odd decisions. Can't see Pellegrini in charge next season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 as mentioned before is it all Pellegrini fault. Players like Kompany, Zabaleta, Toure and Nasri didnt do it for Mancini either and really should look at themselves in the mirror Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 1-2 against possibly the best team in the world is no disgrace. Barcelona just have better players but he did get his tactics wrong I agree. Trouble is the media overhype our players, The only world class player city have is aguero and he would probably only make the Barcelona bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Shoulda got Mourinho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 1-2 against possibly the best team in the world is no disgrace. Barcelona just have better players but he did get his tactics wrong I agree. Trouble is the media overhype our players, The only world class player city have is aguero and he would probably only make the Barcelona bench. they are one of most expensive squads ever assembled, so it is a bit of a disgrace and this is not the 1st time they have been shocking in big european games 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 I don't disagree but they are not at the level of Barcelona. Dzeko compared to Suarez or Neymar. Theres no comparison and Messi is probably the best player ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 24, 2015 Author Share Posted February 24, 2015 well they have had the money so can be no excuse that can be made. Only two players of class they have in an attacking sense is Aguero and Silva. Should be no defence for a team that wasted money on Adebayor, Santa Cruz, Dzeko, Fernando or Mangala in last few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Yep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Whilst that's true it's harsh to blame players that aren't good enough for being not good enough. Edit - from a neutrals point of view I think they are great fun, from the sublime to the ridiculous. I don't really care what they do or don't win. Edited February 24, 2015 by dont_do_it_doug. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 They just don't seem to get europe really, I know Scholes mentioned it in the group stages but the Etihad isn't really a cauldron on these nights like other English venues can be. It's not like Pelligrini has terrible results at other clubs, he was a missed penalty from getting Villareal to a CL final and he should've knocked out Dortmund the year they reached the CL final with Malaga. It's too easy for teams to rock up at the Etihad and score crucial away goals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordoncharles Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 They won't get anywhere with Mike Bassett in charge. "We will be playing 4-4-****-2" Wenger and Pellegrini are absolute dinosaurs, stubborn old ****, stuck in their ways, both these club need some fresh blood. Get Simeone over here, he's a man not afraid to mix things up. yet they combined to win all 3 English domestic trophies last season ahead of the media super coaches Mourinho and Rodgers Yet both of those coaches have been found out time and time again in Europe over the past 10 years. Shows how poor the Premier League was last year, coupled with the fact 'that' United team won the league the season before. ...and again tonight. Against Barcelona, he plays 4 in midfield. This is a man paid millions each year. He thinks he can play a 2 in cental midfield against Barcelona. Nevermind the fact the two are Fernando and Milner (sorry Jimmy) This guy is a clown and he is stealing a living. 4-4-2. Both Malaga and Celta Vigo are very modest sides and both have beaten Barcelona at the Camp Nou this season (Malaga as recently as last Saturday). Both played 4-4-2. Atletico Madrid routinely play 4-4-2 against Barcelona. Real Madrid play with only three in midfield against them. 4-4-2 has nothing to do with it. It should be perfectly valid for a team with Manchester City's players. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 442 is a solid defensive system against any team when the midfield is compact and there is a good counter-attacking option. If, as Citeh did, you play a far more open and attacking 442, it will be ripped apart by any team with more numbers in midfield. One has to admire Pellegrini's belief in his players, but giving so much space to players of Barcelona's quality was completely daft. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 They won't get anywhere with Mike Bassett in charge. "We will be playing 4-4-****-2" Wenger and Pellegrini are absolute dinosaurs, stubborn old ****, stuck in their ways, both these club need some fresh blood. Get Simeone over here, he's a man not afraid to mix things up. yet they combined to win all 3 English domestic trophies last season ahead of the media super coaches Mourinho and Rodgers Yet both of those coaches have been found out time and time again in Europe over the past 10 years. Shows how poor the Premier League was last year, coupled with the fact 'that' United team won the league the season before. ...and again tonight. Against Barcelona, he plays 4 in midfield. This is a man paid millions each year. He thinks he can play a 2 in cental midfield against Barcelona. Nevermind the fact the two are Fernando and Milner (sorry Jimmy) This guy is a clown and he is stealing a living. 4-4-2. Both Malaga and Celta Vigo are very modest sides and both have beaten Barcelona at the Camp Nou this season (Malaga as recently as last Saturday). Both played 4-4-2. Atletico Madrid routinely play 4-4-2 against Barcelona. Real Madrid play with only three in midfield against them. 4-4-2 has nothing to do with it. It should be perfectly valid for a team with Manchester City's players. I'm quite happy to see this post, from an obviously knowledgeable poster who knows about football outside England. We often hear 4-4-2 mocked with reference to Mike Bassett, but the irony is that plenty of people have precisely the same stubborn attitude, only inverted, ie. 4-4-2 can never work, only 'dinosaurs' would ever use it, etc. It's just a formation, not a magic incantation. A formation needs to have a number of attacking players and a slightly larger number of defensive players. 1-0-9 isn't a formation. But beyond that, what matters is the quality of the players you pick, and their success or otherwise in neutralising the opposition's plans. That was the issue for City. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordoncharles Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Carews (&Hanoi), Every lesser Spanish side that has played against Barcelona for the last three years has set themselves up pretty much to an identical template. That is - back four strung across the 18 yard line, full backs tucked in to the corner of the box. 4 midfielders, sometimes 5, immediately in front of the back four. Occasionally this gets a result so it always amuses me when media pundits - including those on Sky Sports La Liga - then pronounce that "the coach got his tactics spot on" as if somehow this approach is revolutionary. In fact, they all do the same thing. Manchester City, however, are not a lesser side. They aspire to be part of the European elite and as champions of England and the only challenger to Chelsea this season should be considered as such and despite the FFP regulations they have a wage bill of over £200m a year. Having come off the back of a 5-0 league win that could have been more, and against opponents who lost their own previous domestic league game, I don't think it's right to expect that a side that relies on its attacking capabilities should just try in their own home leg to be compact and play on the break. Manchester City is not a counter-attacking side. They defended their way to a comprehensive defeat over two legs last season, and in any case it's cowardly. 4-4-2 won Atletico Madrid the Spanish league last season with much inferior individual players to the two sides they finished ahead, and they're still playing with two (different) strikers now. Three weeks ago it was enough to thrash the best team in Europe 4-0. I'm old school enough to believe in the odd Clough-ism - players lose matches, not tactics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 25, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted February 25, 2015 You can't write off a formation just because it doesn't work for some teams. If you have the right players then any formation (within reason obviously) is viable. 4-4-2 is a fine formation if you play it right and you've got the players for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Wonder what people think of this Carragher article..... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2972580/Manchester-City-s-ageing-squad-hopeless-Europe-reliant-Yaya-Toure.html Have to say I disagree with nearly all of it. It isn't like Yaya Toure's even had that great a season imo. I think for the others they've all had world cup hangovers particularly Kompany. But the age thing dosen't stack up. Hart's only 27, Kompany is younger than John Terry and Cahill at Chelsea, Mangala hasn't been very good so far but if he improves he's still very young, Zabaleta is younger than Ivanovic, Aguero is only 26 and Silva was older than I thought but he plays the sort of drifting game where age dosen't really matter. They're no older than what Chelsea were a few years back and Chelsea eventually got the average age down so I don't see it as a big issue for City. They'll probably let Pellegrini go at the end of the season and continue to challenge for the title and start to do better in the CL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoelVilla Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 To just add to the 4-4-2 debate. Lars Lagerback who was very successful with the Swedish national team and now with Iceland almost always uses it. Its not the system its the players. It worked so well for him because one of his strikers was Henrik Larsson who didn't mind the defensive work that was asked of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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