Manchester City (H) 20/10: Build-Up & Match Thread

[YoungWolf]

You want the player carrying the ball from deep to be Cunha I think.

No idea if I would set us up with a back five, there are pros and cons for any shape we play as the squad is so badly balanced and coached. If we did, I’d be tempted to have Lemina and Toti outside of Dawson but I’m not sure you want Mario anywhere near your own goal right now.

Maybe just go with Gomes and Andre, Cunha in front of them behind Larsen. Forbs and some other idiot wide

 

[Lycan]

You want the player carrying the ball from deep to be Cunha I think.

No idea if I would set us up with a back five, there are pros and cons for any shape we play as the squad is so badly balanced and coached. If we did, I’d be tempted to have Lemina and Toti outside of Dawson but I’m not sure you want Mario anywhere near your own goal right now.

Maybe just go with Gomes and Andre, Cunha in front of them behind Larsen. Forbs and some other idiot wide

Rodrigo on the other side of Forbs could work. He's really explosive when he goes to win the ball back high and he makes good, quick decisions when he's counter attacking. Looks like he's out of the picture until O'Neil decides that he's up to speed with whatever he's decided he needs to teach him though.

Like you say though, it's all irrelevant because nobody you pick is going to be put in a position to give their best performance as the team has been so poorly coached.

 

[KiwiWolf61]

Asking a 5'9" playmaker to win headers seems counter intuitive to me hence it being irrelevant.

Like asking Al Pacino to play a teenager in a Marvel film.

André wins second balls brilliantly and reads the game incredibly well so even if an opponent wins a header the second ball should be mopped up. But GoN has this mad 1v1 thing going on so everybody is too tight and running around like headless chickens so he's wasting André's natural abilities.

I don't recall the great João Moutinho winning too many headers.

 

[Johnny75]

I'm not suggesting Andre should be leading the charge to win headers as if he is Dawson.

But as I said I think him not having won or even competed for ONE header is quite telling of how we are as a team, I would expect every outfield player to have competed for a header at some point. No?

No

 

[Del Woppio]

I'm not sure it's symptomatic of any structural problem or anything, or has had any real impact on the game, but it is a bit weird that he's not found himself in a position where he has a token little jump up to contest a header tbf.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

If he is told to not compete for it and to attempt to win the second ball?

 

[Lycan]

If he is told to not compete for it and to attempt to win the second ball?

It's just a statistical quirk rather than anything telling. Over the last year he averages 0.54 aerial duels won per 90 which puts him in the 24th percentile Vs midfielders in the top 15 leagues (Fbref). Most of that was obviously at Flu who were a very ball dominant side so he wouldn't be expecting to compete for many aerial duels anyway. It's obviously not a strength of his but it's not his style of play so it's not a concern at all.

His 'ground game' is excellent IMO and while he isn't tall he competes physically in other ways. He can take a 'shock' when on the ball (maybe not quite as well as Lemina does) and uses his body really well when fighting for the ball on the ground. One of those players who has the intelligence and style to negate any perceived lack of physicality.

Either way, it's not a lack of physicality in midfield that's costing us anyway. We're not getting dominated in the middle, we're getting played straight through because we're not set up right and leaking goals through stupid set pieces and individual fuck ups.

 

[NicholasG1973]

I wonder if City fans wonder how many headers Rodri wins?

 

[darlowolf64]

I wonder if City fans wonder how many headers Rodri wins?

One of the will...

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I wonder if City fans wonder how many headers Rodri wins?

City aren't bottom of the league with one point.

Every aspect of the way we play is being analysed, and rightly so.

 

[Lycan]

City aren't bottom of the league with one point.

Every aspect of the way we play is being analysed, and rightly so.

Analysing is fine, analysing based on per/90 statistics pulled from 7 games is not.

The only thing I agree with from that video (apart from the slam dunks of posting freeze frames of the Chelsea/Brentford defending and saying 'This is bad') is when he says we're 'stuck' in the transition from being a counter attacking team and trying to be more possession heavy. O'Neil has completely reverted to last season's counter attacking style as he can't make the possession based one work. The only difference between now and when it used to actually be effective is that he's had one of the most destructive counter attacking wingers in World football taken away from him, just like at the end of last season when he was injured.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The only difference between now and when it used to actually be effective is that he's had one of the most destructive counter attacking wingers in World football taken away from him, just like at the end of last season when he was injured.

No-one has made him play Hwang and/or Bellegarde in place of him, of course.

 

[Lycan]

No-one has made him play Hwang and/or Bellegarde in place of him, of course.

Of course, the point I was making was that Pedro Neto was papering over a lot of cracks in O'Neil's coaching/decision making.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Analysing is fine, analysing based on per/90 statistics pulled from 7 games is not.

Sorry Lord Lycan, I didn't realise you made the rules

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Here's an example of why these kind of stats taken into isolation are worthless.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1827708195537600976

Yeah, well I watched that game and he was fucking WANK.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I mean, the Andre stat is around 12 times more sample size but if you want to shoehorn in a Doc attack, you go ahead.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

He isn't in the side to head the ball, is he.

If he were then something is very wrong somewhere as he's only marginally taller than Colin Cameron.

And before you pile in defending your sloth-like Irish mate - you've ignored the point. That the stats there say he was good if you never watched the game. If you did watch it (and I know you did) then you'll know that he was not good.

As for sample size, I've seen Matt Doherty play hundreds of times. I haven't enjoyed it on the whole. But there will always be some figures somewhere that can be massaged to make him look competent.

 

[Stan Hullis]

All of these arguments are certainly going to make the drubbing by City feel like sweet, sweet relief.

 

[Aikiwolf]

All of these arguments are certainly going to make the drubbing by City feel like sweet, sweet relief.

1-0 Wolves. Andre header.

 

[Jinky]

1-0 Wolves. Andre header.

Doc assist.