City v Burnley Live Thread

[blueboy]

First topic message reminder :

So, will MP play Jovetic and change a winning formula, or will he stick to a false striker?

For me, I'd stick with the same team and leave Jovetic on the bench unless needed.

The longer we can pick up points keeping those coming back from injury, against the so-called lesser teams, the better.

Maybe Vinny will return today though. Can't see the Captain staying on the bench if he is fit.

So I'm going for:

................................Hart....................................

Zaba...........Vinny................Manga.........Kolorov.....

.....................TLF..............Fernandinho..................

Navas........................Silva......................Nasri......

..............................Milner...................................

[blueboy]

Manuel....show some fucking bollocks fella. Tell that lazy twat he has to play 90 mins of every single game until he fucks off to the ACON for his jollies!

I just can't believe how fucking shit he was today as a manager.

Lost the impetus right there today.

[blueboy]

He clearly told Zaba to stay in his own half, because he must have ventured forward all of 2 times in that second half...everything that kept them pinned back in the first....just terrible management.

[Nijinsky]

Got to say it but we missed TLF today we were clueless in the midfield, Silver had one of those days when nothing went right. The whole team looked disjointed. And I can only put that down to TLF not playing.

I can understand him being rested but he should have at least been on the bench.

And I'm bloody frozen the only good thing about today was my seat, it was padded.

[Topdawg]

He shouldn't have put Jovetic on when we were only up 2-1 as it was his first game back and he wouldn't be up to speed. Burnley showed, once again, that a team with desire can unsettle us and make us look poor.

Bring on Barca.

[skyblueoz]

funny I was nice & warm at the game. I thought we were very lethargic at the start of both halves. That said I was annoyed at the inconsistent refereeing. some yellows justified some not. How the Burnley keeper did not get one for time wasting was beyond me. I think Dawg has it in for Mangala. I thought he played quite well the odd mistake which compared to kolarov & Demichellis was nothing. Demi, as his recent performances have been top notch he is allowed a below par one. But Kolarov what the hell was he doing out there?what does he give to the team? Today he couldn't head, tackle or track back. The amount of time Mangala ended up playing left back because that useless piece of crap was out of position was not funny. out of 10 kolarov was a minus 10. other than that the goal that should not have been gave Burnley the momentum at the start of the second half & from then on they grew into the game our players passing was  not up to it,s usual standard. I don't agree that it was pellegrini's fault  I feel the players have to take responsibility on the park when things are going wrong he could of used all 7 subs today & still not got the performance. Nasri was below par Milner ran his socks off but looked jaded by half time. all in all a draw was a fair result but we certainly need to improve.

[Topdawg]

I wanted Mangala to succeed but you just need to look at his positioning which is all wrong far too often. He gets turned too easily, doesn't pick up runs behind him, dives in (they all do), can't pass and always looks uncomfortable on the ball. Oppositions are still looking at him as the missing link. He relies on his pace and power to rescue him from trouble but it doesn't always work.

[Moonchester]

I think we mean the "weak link" really..

He is looking better each game that he plays, I'd still give him time.
It's not his fault we aren't banging many in at the other end.

[blueboy]

Moon - we have scored 16 in 6 League games in Dec, that's not too bad considering we've had no strikers.

Our problem has been inconsistency by too many players at one time.

DeM and Manga didn't do themselves any favours yesterday. DeM has looked poor again in the last couple of games. With no Kompany there, I'm not sure how great their English is so maybe that's why they look sloppy and out of position. It's always easier for somebody to give orders in English and for them to understand, a la Vinny, but I don't think DeM's English is brilliant and Manga speaks very little. At least Vinny can converse in French with Manga.

In addition to this, we have a conundrum with our LB position.

Clichy has been in decent form until the last couple of games where his form has taken a dramatic downturn, especially going forward.

Kolorov, will always get forward and deliver one or two decent crosses, but he is absolutely shit at defending and as mentioned above, his poor tracking back leaves one of our CB's to cover, dragging us out of position across the back line and in front of them.

On the other side we have Zaba going forward, but we don't seem to have the same issues.

I think we have had this discussion for the past 2 years...neither are good enough for our team going forward.

I think Manga will improve with Vinny back so will stick with him as we've paid a fortune for him and I don't think he's been that bad. I said before the game, they'd have to watch runners much better than they did against WBA...and DeM didn't. At least Manga has some pace to try and recover.

After the WBA, in that snow and on that pitch, no doubt the players would have found yesterday tough with pretty much the same team.
What isn't acceptable for me and why I blame the management, is that TLF can even be considered for resting. He is our highest paid player and will depart for the ACON in 2 weeks time leaving us short of his expensive services. I couldn't give a shit about his poxy competition...he gets paid by City.
He should have been played until he looks knackered, then brought off. He was given a rest with Silva for the last 25 mins against WBA.
Not acceptable whatsoever by MP for allowing it. Our bench was shite yesterday, only 'sicknote' and the 'forgotten man' who could provide any attacking intent to give others a rest...and neither are decent.
You all know what I think of TLF. My refusal to use his name comes from his actions in the summer, but TLF sort of sums him up. He should be telling the Manager he wants to play....but I guess he was rubbing his hands when told.

Therefore, we need to be looking at this window and bringing in some players if we are binning off Sinclair as that bench was embarrassing yesterday.

If the likes of Ambrose can't get a game at this stage, against Burnley when the likes of Milner has run himself into the ground, then MP will never give him a game.

The sooner Vinny and Sergio are back the better.

[Topdawg]

Our players weren't up for it, simple as. I noticed many times when we had the ball at the back that Burnley had four players harrying us so we'd give up easy ball or wouldn't be able to settle. We tend not to be seriously pressurised by teams until we are in their half. Burnley had us under pressure right back to the penalty area. They swarmed us. Yaya should at least have been on the bench. If he'd come on for the last 20, maybe we'd have hot control back. You can't really have 3 defenders on the bench, you need midfielders. WBA could have scored a few mire against us too. They had their chances.  Zabba and vinnie are fine, the rest aren't good enough.

[Moonchester]

If we subbed Toure when he looks knackered he would play 5 minutes every week.
Kolarov had a particularly bad game yesterday defensively.
Zabba seemed to be told at half time to stop getting forward.

We invited Burnley onto us and they got their rewards, we had perfect opportunity to close the gap at the top to 1 point and blew it.

Milner runs a lot but does not offer much up top. He only touches the ball when he pulls out to the left wing, far too easy for opposition centre halfs to just watch him go out.

Jovetic had 2 decent attempts when he came on, their keeper stopped 2 shots in the second half that I remember, other than that we did not do enough going forward yesterday in 2nd half.

[blueboy]

Yeah, but in the first half, they couldn't get out of their half because Zaba was constantly overlapping Navas. He hardly got forward in the second half which allowed their MF's to move forward another 20 yards, which in turn allowed their front 2 to harry us more.

What was MP doing to rectify this? Nothing. He just let it happen. We sat deeper and deeper as the half progressed and their first goal was coming, we could all see that, but still, he didn't do anything about it until it was too late.

We've had a great December, but we lost the impetus of putting massive pressure on Chelsea yesterday...yes, the players should take responsibility but they've pretty much played without a striker for the past 4 games, played a very difficult game on an awful pitch against WBA 2 days earlier and were 2-0 up at half time yesterday and completely dominating the first half...so as the second half started so poorly, why does the manager sit on his hands and allow it to get worse without changing it around?

Yesterday would have been perfect to bring on TLF after 50 mins to slow the game down and keep the ball for longer - as neither Fernandinho and Fernando can do that when they play together...and we missed that during that second half as keeping the ball gives the players a breather. The way we kept losing possession meant more chasing around after Burnley players, which made the fact they were already knackered, worse.

So the manager for me got it wrong yesterday when things started to go wrong as he had nobody to bring on of any worth.

[blueboy]

So, MP says TLF had a problem before the WBA game but decided to play him and he played well and got a rest for the last 25 mins.

Yesterday, he said he still felt a little pain in his groin and couldn't play the full 90 minutes and he wanted players that could do that so decided to rest him.

WTF sort of excuse is that?

Stick him on the bench...I'm sure he could have played 25-30 minutes...and bollocks to the ACON. Sounds more like he was rested so he doesn't get injured for that shitty competition..probably in his contract.

Vinny is injured again and is still having a problem with his calf.

[Topdawg]

Some players need rest. It's tough to play two full on games within 48hrs. Yaya only played an hour the other day do should have been on the bench. We may bitch about Yaya slowing the game down in midfield, but it serves a good purpose for our aging team.

[Guest]

MP again you let us down when it matters.  Nothing more than a lucky manager, the sooner you go the better.

I refer to my previous answer and will continually stick to this, even if we win the league.

Neil Warnock could do his job as well as he does with the riches in our team.

[blueboy]

MP again you let us down when it matters.  Nothing more than a lucky manager, the sooner you go the better.

I refer to my previous answer and will continually stick to this, even if we win the league.

Neil Warnock could do his job as well as he does with the riches in our team.

[Topdawg]

But it's true! Jose uses tactics and strategy but we just rely on good players.

[Guest]

That is it totally Dawg, Nail on the Head !!  MP has even less tactical nouse than Bobby Manc and look what happened to him.

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