Dzeko

[ashton287]

I think although we have built a team around tevez it should be easy to adapt to what is basically football 101.

Edin upfront either as a lone striker and play a midfield that looks something like this.

--------------Edin----------

------Silva---------AJ-----
-------------Yaya-----------
-----------------------------
------Barry-----De jong---

Basically giving us our back four with barry and de jong doing there job winning the ball and getting it to yaya/AJ/silva and them putting crosses into the box or working the ball forward. All four are able to score and the midfield players are capable of taking players on. It shouldnt be that big a deal to get service into edin.

OR If you want balo starting you can easily put him in and drop barry, our back four plus de jong are good enough to handle any team and balo's a big strong guy who can score and has alot of skill. so the tactics wouldnt need to change that much.

The problem comes when we play the system we have in place designed around tevez without considering that neither balo or dzeko will get back and win the ball or have the positioning sense of tevez that constantly gets him in goal scoring positions.

Maybe with tevez out for a few games it will force us to adapt and if we can do that it will atleast give us a start on next season rather then starting all over again.

[Slim]

With Edin as the lone striker, I would do this....

-------------------Dzeko

Johnson-----------Silva-------------SWP

------------de Jong----Yaya

Kolarov---Lescott---Kompany---Richards(maybe)

-------------------Hart

Then I would replace Kolarov and SWP in the summer, and fuck off and replace anyone in the squad who can't slot into one of those spots, Barry springs to mind.

[Ted Hughes]

I think although we have built a team around tevez it should be easy to adapt to what is basically football 101.

Edin upfront either as a lone striker and play a midfield that looks something like this.

--------------Edin----------

------Silva---------AJ-----
-------------Yaya-----------
-----------------------------
------Barry-----De jong---

Basically giving us our back four with barry and de jong doing there job winning the ball and getting it to yaya/AJ/silva and them putting crosses into the box or working the ball forward. All four are able to score and the midfield players are capable of taking players on. It shouldnt be that big a deal to get service into edin.

OR If you want balo starting you can easily put him in and drop barry, our back four plus de jong are good enough to handle any team and balo's a big strong guy who can score and has alot of skill. so the tactics wouldnt need to change that much.

The problem comes when we play the system we have in place designed around tevez without considering that neither balo or dzeko will get back and win the ball or have the positioning sense of tevez that constantly gets him in goal scoring positions.

Maybe with tevez out for a few games it will force us to adapt and if we can do that it will atleast give us a start on next season rather then starting all over again.

I would play Balotelli in that position & possibly play Dzeko as & 2nd striker in place of Barry.
Edit: only if Micah & Zabba are playing, not fucking Kolarov.

[Ted Hughes]

With Edin as the lone striker, I would do this....

-------------------Dzeko

Johnson-----------Silva-------------SWP

------------de Jong----Yaya

Kolarov---Lescott---Kompany---Richards(maybe)

-------------------Hart

Then I would replace Kolarov and SWP in the summer, and fuck off and replace anyone in the squad who can't slot into one of those spots, Barry springs to mind.

That's not a bad shout; playing Dzeko, with SWP in the team.

[Slim]

Balance, bit more pace and width....SWP may not be the rabbit we all think of him of, but I am SO much more interested in giving the team some balance, we just look so narrow and lobsided at times, I think we are Tara Reid's botched boobjob.

[BlueinBosnia]

I am sick to death of reading what Dzeko needs, quite frankly I would like to know what this team needs that he can provide.

I am not saying he is a bad player, but if he cannot offer anything to the rest of the team without requiring a major overhaul to accommodate him, then he is a waste of money, doesn't deserve a spot in the starting 11 and shows incredibly bad judgment from Mancini in signing him in the first place.

To put it simply, he offers an alternative to Tevez. Personally, with the 23-man limitations, and Mancini's bent towards a squad containing numerous defensive midfielders, I'm starting to question whether his signing was made through forward planning, or so as nobody else would sign him up.

If Tevez leaves in the summer, would you not think it wise for the manager to undertake a major structural/tactical overhaul of our starting XI?

What he did in a 2nd rate league is not relevant.

What a flippant, unknowledgeable, remark to make. How many Bundesliga games have you watched in the past 3 or 4 years exactly? Not only is it far more entertaining than the Prem overall, but it's one of the best leagues in the world (name me six you consider to be better), and the one that is most comparable to the Prem in terms of pace and attacking play.

[lets all have a disco]

I wish Zabs was available.

[razor400]

With Edin as the lone striker, I would do this....

-------------------Dzeko

Johnson-----------Silva-------------SWP

------------de Jong----Yaya

Kolarov---Lescott---Kompany---Richards(maybe)

-------------------Hart

Then I would replace Kolarov and SWP in the summer, and fuck off and replace anyone in the squad who can't slot into one of those spots, Barry springs to mind.

That's not a bad shout; playing Dzeko, with SWP in the team.

my only change to that would be Zaba in for either full back,

[razor400]

I wish Zabs was available.

What up with him? I've been at sea for a month so missed out on alot of news

[Original Dub]

With Edin as the lone striker, I would do this....

-------------------Dzeko

Johnson-----------Silva-------------SWP

------------de Jong----Yaya

Kolarov---Lescott---Kompany---Richards(maybe)

-------------------Hart

Then I would replace Kolarov and SWP in the summer, and fuck off and replace anyone in the squad who can't slot into one of those spots, Barry springs to mind.

Yeah this would be better if he was to start, but Mancini won't play players in their natural position for some bizarre reason...

And it is fair to say we're not supplying him properly, because if it was Tevez upfront and we were sending high balls into him and he wasn't getting near them, you wouldn't call him shite or similar. I don't think he's going to be shite, but in order for him to score at any kind of rate like he has done for both previous club and country, then we have to give the correct service.

I've said it before, but there are too many really good players that look shit and that was the case under Ramos at Spurs just to give an example. I honestly think its all adding up to the players not wanting Mancini to be there because he causes the lack of balance in the team and that in turn makes them look poor.

It wouldn't suprise me in the least if the likes of Hiddink came in next fucking week and went on to get us top four and the FA Cup.

Sometimes players just need to play to their strengths and the manager just believes in them and that is enough to get you over the final hurdle.

Until we're willing to play with two natural widemen on their natural wings, then we can't play Dzeko up their on his won, so you can take your pick from Balo or Jo. Its a no brianer really.

[freshie]

With Edin as the lone striker, I would do this....

-------------------Dzeko

Johnson-----------Silva-------------SWP

------------de Jong----Yaya

Kolarov---Lescott---Kompany---Richards(maybe)

-------------------Hart

Then I would replace Kolarov and SWP in the summer, and fuck off and replace anyone in the squad who can't slot into one of those spots, Barry springs to mind.

I think that team would have done better than the team he put out against Liverpool as it offers pace, balance and width - 3 things that were clearly missing last night. You would like to think that with that set-up we would have got more crosses into the box and actually caused Liverpool some problems rather than playing the ball about timidly in front of their two lines of 4. Once again our build up play was too slow and allowed Liverpool to easily regroup and suffocate us on the few occasions we had any decent possession. Without wishing to make Barry a scapegoat, he does seem to slow our play down and I don't see a future for him with us

[Nigels Tackle]

he's got the touch of a fucking rapist and stephen would give him a decent foot race. apart from that, he's brilliant.

Lol. Btw, Stephen who? Ireland? Hawking?

hawking

[Rag_hater]

I think why Edin hasn't scored a league goal yet is because as some are saying he has not had the service that would make the best of his strengths.
However besides Kolorov and Milner we have no one in our side that can put in a cross.
SWP has never been good at it. Adam being on the right and being a left footer has nothing to do with it,it didn't stop Petrov doing it.
SWP and Adam just ain't very good at it and with the games they have now played together and training they have done it is surely no mystery that crosses are what Edin needs.
Its just that we are not a team that plays like that so it seems to me that Edin is the wrong player for us.
Unless we play Miner and Kolorov with Edin we are not gonna see him get the crosses and playing them two at the expense of say Barry and Yaya would weaken us more than is worth.

[Ted Hughes]

I wish Zabs was available.

What up with him? I've been at sea for a month so missed out on alot of news

He's been in Argentina because his dad was seriously injured. Not been back long. I should think he'll be fit & ready for Wembley though.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

His first touch is dreadful. As long as that remains the case he won't make it for us. It's so important in the Premier League.
Can't see why we let Adebayor go for him.

[freshie]

Cos Adebayor is lazy and has a bad attitude. I remember whilst Adebayor was with us that people were equallly as scathing about him. Now he has gone to Madrid he is suddenly the answer to our problems - do you not remember his uninspiring performances for us before he went on loan?

[CityFanFromRome]

Cos Adebayor is lazy and has a bad attitude. I remember whilst Adebayor was with us that people were equallly as scathing about him. Now he has gone to Madrid he is suddenly the answer to our problems - do you not remember his uninspiring performances for us before he went on loan?

This. Although, Adebayor's first season with us wasn't so bad, but he kind of went shite when Hughes was sacked...mostly because I think Mancini didn't know how to sue him, and for hat matter he doesn't know how to use Dzeko either.

[freshie]

It amazes me the number of people on this board who, quite rightly so, criticised Adebayor's performances towards the second half of last season and the beginning of this season, and now want him reinstated as the messiah. What short memories some of you lot have.

On a side note that Dzeko money would have been much better spent on Torres in January as at least Torres has played successfully in this league before. The only thing he would have had to adjust to would have been his new team mates and perhaps a style of play different to what he was used to at Liverpool. We could even have changed our style of play around Torres and perhaps this goal drought he is currently experiencing at Chelsea would be non-existant. Dzeko, on the other hand has had to, halfway through a season, acclimatise to a new, faster more physical league as well as new team mates and style of play and a different culture.

Some players may find it easy to cope with so many changes and hit the ground running as Suarez appears to be doing. Dzeko, however, is not one of these players and therefore, if we were hell bent on signing him should have done so in the close season after which he would have had more time to settle into his new surroundings, more time to get to know the squad better and have had pre season training and friendly fixtures to get him up to speed.

On the whole it is bad decision making at the scouting level and at managerial level

[Nick]

Torres has been a bigger flop than dzeko so far. Torres keeps getting games, at the expense of drogba (the only player that was ripping the scum) and has no adjustments in terms of the league at all. He also cost alot more.

The above team is similar to the one I suggest. It is also similar to the team we thrashed sunderland with (so maybe i am a genius!). De jong and yaya it proved can do the job by themselves, however doing against the scum is another thing. Silva is best behind the striker, and aj has to play. We need width and a striker needs services, so that has AJ on one wing and somebody on the other. That would be an up for it Mario, a fit SWP, or a Milner that was actually a winger.

[dazby]

I was impressed with Dzeko's touch in Germany but it has well and truly deserted him. He'd better get it back quickly.

Did the league goal off Silva's arse in the derby go down as an assist?