Clichy signs new contract until 2017

[Ted Hughes]

I'm very happy for him to sign, but does anyone else think both Clichy & Zabba have finished the season quite poorly ?

[littlebig]

Good to hear this. He's been consistently decent for us. Now get Baines to replace AK and we're laughing

[Mase]

Oh no. He's nowhere near good enough. I was hoping we may have gone for Baines. The only reason he seems half decent is cos Kolarov is the alternative (sorry Mase).

I genuinely believe Kolarov is better.

Okay no I don't.

Well maybe I do.

Nah I'm just joking.

Or am I?

[Peter Doherty (AGAIG)]

I think the best news about this is we know the next manager is already locked down, they wouldn't sign an extension without knowing the new manager is going to use him.

I disagree, Slim. I think that the buying and selling of players will now be done by the club (currently Berigistain and Soriano) for the most part and that the manager will be asked for his input, but that the final say will lie with the club. It means the club runs effectively whoever the manager is, which also means that the power of the manager is diminished to all but that of a coaching roll. It also means that the balance of power at the club shifts to the players, of course.

[SkyBlueSteve]

It's likely that we are selling Kolarov and for good reason and so i am happy that Clichy is staying. Good news for once hopefully more to come in the summer!

[Swales4ever]

I think the best news about this is we know the next manager is already locked down, they wouldn't sign an extension without knowing the new manager is going to use him.

Com'on, will You pretend not to know [strike]who[/strike] what is gonna manage the Club's Footballing, now that the eyebrows shaped dictator has been put to the place where he belongs?

[Dameerto]

I'm very happy for him to sign, but does anyone else think both Clichy & Zabba have finished the season quite poorly ?

Look at how much they've both been played, and bear in mind Mancini's tunnel vision for playing players into the ground )like Silva the season before). I don't think it's a coincidence you're seeing their performances suffer a little.

[Tokyo Blue]

I'm very happy for him to sign, but does anyone else think both Clichy & Zabba have finished the season quite poorly ?

With Maicon and Kolarov as back-up, when can they be rested?

[bobby brows]

I like Clichy solid and dependable but he was only available as he has flaws and Pellegrini needs to work with him on them all summer.

Closing down crosses, priority as he NEVER closes the man in possession down, and his final ball into the opposition penalty areas.

Work on both of them he'll be world class

I think Mancini's tactics were to allow the cross and let the centre halves deal with it to be honest mate, as both full backs tended to tuck in when a player had the ball wide.

The tactic seemed to be to occupy the space the player wanted to run into and force the cross.

Seemed odd at first, but once you got used to the centre halves dealing with it, it was fairly effective albeit a bit counter intuitive

For me this is a ridiculous tactic if its by design as if all crosses are blocked no goals can be scored.

Without hard evidence i'm convinved most of our goals are conceded from balls in wide positions

[john68]

I like Clichy solid and dependable but he was only available as he has flaws and Pellegrini needs to work with him on them all summer.

Closing down crosses, priority as he NEVER closes the man in possession down, and his final ball into the opposition penalty areas.

Work on both of them he'll be world class

I think Mancini's tactics were to allow the cross and let the centre halves deal with it to be honest mate, as both full backs tended to tuck in when a player had the ball wide.

The tactic seemed to be to occupy the space the player wanted to run into and force the cross.

Seemed odd at first, but once you got used to the centre halves dealing with it, it was fairly effective albeit a bit counter intuitive

I can't confirm whether Sparty is correct in the case of City Bobby, but it was certainly the tactic used by O'Neill against us at Sunderland the previous season. The idea being that not chasing up and down after the winger conserves energy and also gives extra defensive bodies in the the box, thus cutting down the space and blocking angles for opposing forwards. I'm neither for nor against it, but it does have its merits.

For me this is a ridiculous tactic if its by design as if all crosses are blocked no goals can be scored.

Without hard evidence i'm convinved most of our goals are conceded from balls in wide positions

[Im_Spartacus]

For me this is a ridiculous tactic if its by design as if all crosses are blocked no goals can be scored.

Without hard evidence i'm convinved most of our goals are conceded from balls in wide positions

I think when Mancini's reign is analysed, and his defensive methods really put under the microscope, it wouldnt surprise me to find that he is a great believer in statistics and playing percentages football. I honestly believe that for him to adopt this tactic,(which he did, there is no doubt at all about it), that it was done because:

1: if you show the player inside to cross early, the centre forwards generally arent in position
2: if you show the player inside and he doesnt cross, he can shoot from a shit angle and distance
3: what would be an outswinging cross if done from the byline, and thus unfavourable to centre halves, is at worst, a cross flat across the box when done from the edge of the area, swinging percentages back in favour of the defender.

There were notable occasions when players were just allowed to run free down the wing (oddly, it was generally united most notably), and I think that again was to play the percentages - with the full backs job to block the low cross in front of the keeper the likes of rooney thrives on, and let the centre halves deal with rvp and rooney aerially, which they generally did. It didnt work against united - theres no doubt about that.

I'd be willing to argue that Mancini found that this approach meant that the crosses which did come in were largely ineffective and so long as our defenders know the cross is coming, had a massive advantage over the attackers who were hoping for a later, outswinging cross.

I take what you say about the perception being that most of our goals came from crosses - that may be true (its certainly true about set pieces but thats a different argument), but bear in mind that is still less goals than any other team conceded, so the question is, do we concede more than other teams as a percentage from down the wings......and my answer would probably be no.

Except when kolarov plays - then all the above is irrelevant

[Benjay]

There are better left backs out there - not many though - but Clichy is a good player to have and there are other areas of the team that need addressing before the left back position. A good decision, presumably by Begiristein who seems to be the man making the decisions at the moment re the playing side of things

[bobby brows]

For me this is a ridiculous tactic if its by design as if all crosses are blocked no goals can be scored.

Without hard evidence i'm convinved most of our goals are conceded from balls in wide positions

I think when Mancini's reign is analysed, and his defensive methods really put under the microscope, it wouldnt surprise me to find that he is a great believer in statistics and playing percentages football. I honestly believe that for him to adopt this tactic,(which he did, there is no doubt at all about it), that it was done because:

1: if you show the player inside to cross early, the centre forwards generally arent in position
2: if you show the player inside and he doesnt cross, he can shoot from a shit angle and distance
3: what would be an outswinging cross if done from the byline, and thus unfavourable to centre halves, is at worst, a cross flat across the box when done from the edge of the area, swinging percentages back in favour of the defender.

There were notable occasions when players were just allowed to run free down the wing (oddly, it was generally united most notably), and I think that again was to play the percentages - with the full backs job to block the low cross in front of the keeper the likes of rooney thrives on, and let the centre halves deal with rvp and rooney aerially, which they generally did. It didnt work against united - theres no doubt about that.

I'd be willing to argue that Mancini found that this approach meant that the crosses which did come in were largely ineffective and so long as our defenders know the cross is coming, had a massive advantage over the attackers who were hoping for a later, outswinging cross.

I take what you say about the perception being that most of our goals came from crosses - that may be true (its certainly true about set pieces but thats a different argument), but bear in mind that is still less goals than any other team conceded, so the question is, do we concede more than other teams as a percentage from down the wings......and my answer would probably be no.

Except when kolarov plays - then all the above is irrelevant

no need to argue it as your probably right about Mancini's tactic :-) I imagine that would come from zonal defence and its about winning the ball in your zone.

Its ok having the best defence in the league but we've not scored enough this season so our defence needed to be even tighter. Ironically our home form has cost us the title.