Zonal Marking

[Ted Hughes]

The last i did some diging about Pelle and there was a thing about his defence. Last season at Malaga, he concided 50 goals, two years ago 53, three years ago 68 and four years ago, at Madrid, 38.

I remember some heavy beatings that they got, even at Real, but still they score a shitload of goals. We migh have this problem in this year, many goals, and 4-3 and 5-4 type of games.

He's managed to pull off a few tight games in the Champions League & a few big victories v the big two in Spain. But when I've watched Malaga, they've looked like City do now at the back; shite.

They would have got to the final of the Champions League if their defence hadn't fallen apart, ref decisions or not, they collapsed completely, & we're signing one of the main culprits.

Check out the contribution from our new centre half.

[youtube]dj5_epatsg8[/youtube]

[PeterParker]

The last i did some diging about Pelle and there was a thing about his defence. Last season at Malaga, he concided 50 goals, two years ago 53, three years ago 68 and four years ago, at Madrid, 38.

I remember some heavy beatings that they got, even at Real, but still they score a shitload of goals. We migh have this problem in this year, many goals, and 4-3 and 5-4 type of games.

He's managed to pull off a few tight games in the Champions League & a few big victories v the big two in Spain. But when I've watched Malaga, they've looked like City do now at the back; shite.

They would have got to the final of the Champions League if their defence hadn't fallen apart, ref decisions or not, they collapsed completely, & we're signing one of the main culprits.

Check out the contribution from our new centre half.

[youtube]dj5_epatsg8[/youtube]

I remember the game and i also remember, he lost the title only by 3 points in front of the best Barcelona this world saw when he was at Real and they sack him for Maureen. His offensive display is almost perfect, if he could solve the back problem, we would be almost perfect. I trust him he can do that.

[Ted Hughes]

The last i did some diging about Pelle and there was a thing about his defence. Last season at Malaga, he concided 50 goals, two years ago 53, three years ago 68 and four years ago, at Madrid, 38.

I remember some heavy beatings that they got, even at Real, but still they score a shitload of goals. We migh have this problem in this year, many goals, and 4-3 and 5-4 type of games.

He's managed to pull off a few tight games in the Champions League & a few big victories v the big two in Spain. But when I've watched Malaga, they've looked like City do now at the back; shite.

They would have got to the final of the Champions League if their defence hadn't fallen apart, ref decisions or not, they collapsed completely, & we're signing one of the main culprits.

Check out the contribution from our new centre half.

[youtube]dj5_epatsg8[/youtube]

I remember the game and i also remember, he lost the title only by 3 points in front of the best Barcelona this world saw when he was at Real and they sack him for Maureen. His offensive display is almost perfect, if he could solve the back problem, we would be almost perfect. I trust him he can do that.

I'm hopeful he can, & I really want him to, because I much prefer this approach to the one of Mancini, but I'm not sure he will sort it quickly. It may take a while & we may have some hairy shit to deal with in the meantime.

Then it's also upto how much time they give him if he doesn't sort it.

[ashton287]

The scum are going to bum us daft on the 22nd, especially if vinnie is still out. This is the first derby in years I am expecting to lose.

All thanks to "the engineers" tactical mastery of fucking with one of the best defensive set ups in Europe.

[Herb]

The scum are going to bum us daft on the 22nd, especially if vinnie is still out. This is the first derby in years I am expecting to lose.

All thanks to "the engineers" tactical mastery of fucking with one of the best defensive set ups in Europe.

Oddly enough, I'm feeling positive about the derby.
I consider that MP prefers man to man marking and that he bases his preference on decades of experience getting more than the best out of 11 players.
The problem, I think, is that it will take time to school our zonal marking defence sufficiently for the new system to be to our advantage. He was obviously aware of this issue and ergo his move to bring in Demichelis as a man who is used to his systems, who can command a defence with the voice of experience and who can drill our defence on the field if needs be.
I believe that we were probably on a hiding to the rags due to our inexperience at the top level leading to over-confidence but the loss to the taffs will provide impetus for us to fork out for Demichelis and get him aboard this weekend so that he has time to settle.
The 3 point loss was a bummer (no doubt about that) but in reality it was probably a 1 point loss because a draw away at Cardiff wouldn't in truth be an unimaginable disaster for any team.
I even doubt that we'd have lost to the taffs, despite our defensive system frailties, were it not for England's number one having another of his all to regular howlers - hopefully Costel will be recognised for his ability to do the things that Joe can't do even on a good day - ergo; deal with a cross / command his area / distribute quickly and accurately.
The real positive is that with the rags & chelski drawing on Monday they (as I suppose our main rivals?) both lost 2 points and we can stuff the rags at ours and sit comfortably above them for a starter provided the new defender comes in and Joe gets the place on the bench that he's deserved for far too long.

Expecting us to transit to a new defensive system without any hiccups? Naw I didn't.

Worried about the derby? Hell no, bring it on!