The Real Negredo.

[Blue Since 76]

There was an occasion 1st half yesterday, when someone, maybe Clichy, was on the ball & Wigan had really fucked up. Their defence had lost concentration & left a gap which had Negredo, Aguero & possibly (unusually) Nasri all stood next to each other, onside, with no defender behind them.

None of them moved, asked for the ball or did anything, & the bloke on the ball didn't even notice them.

That's how fucking far away from being a decent team we were first half. And Negredo still managed to stand out as being extra shit.

I'm wondering what the reaction woul be if Adebayor was still at our place, turning in the exact same performances as Negredo.

Negredo is certainly going through a bad patch and, like Dzeko, the lack of effort makes the lack of goals even worse. And he's actually putting in less effort than Dzeko at the moment, which I didn't believe was possible.

But I'm more concerned that we're not even creating the chances to miss. Yesterday, it was only after the sub's that we hit the post and the great block from Dzeko where you could say we could score. Apart from that, how many real chances did we have? Against a championship side. At home.

We need to sort it out before Saturday

[Bridge'srightfoot]

There was an occasion 1st half yesterday, when someone, maybe Clichy, was on the ball & Wigan had really fucked up. Their defence had lost concentration & left a gap which had Negredo, Aguero & possibly (unusually) Nasri all stood next to each other, onside, with no defender behind them.

None of them moved, asked for the ball or did anything, & the bloke on the ball didn't even notice them.

That's how fucking far away from being a decent team we were first half. And Negredo still managed to stand out as being extra shit.

I'm wondering what the reaction woul be if Adebayor was still at our place, turning in the exact same performances as Negredo.

Negredo is certainly going through a bad patch and, like Dzeko, the lack of effort makes the lack of goals even worse. And he's actually putting in less effort than Dzeko at the moment, which I didn't believe was possible.

But I'm more concerned that we're not even creating the chances to miss. Yesterday, it was only after the sub's that we hit the post and the great block from Dzeko where you could say we could score. Apart from that, how many real chances did we have? Against a championship side. At home.

We need to sort it out before Saturday

The most worrying part about yesterday was that their 34 year old Championship centre back comfortably handled and marshalled Aguero and Negredo whilst their attack caused our defence all sorts of problems.

[Ted Hughes]

There was an occasion 1st half yesterday, when someone, maybe Clichy, was on the ball & Wigan had really fucked up. Their defence had lost concentration & left a gap which had Negredo, Aguero & possibly (unusually) Nasri all stood next to each other, onside, with no defender behind them.

None of them moved, asked for the ball or did anything, & the bloke on the ball didn't even notice them.

That's how fucking far away from being a decent team we were first half. And Negredo still managed to stand out as being extra shit.

I'm wondering what the reaction woul be if Adebayor was still at our place, turning in the exact same performances as Negredo.

Negredo is certainly going through a bad patch and, like Dzeko, the lack of effort makes the lack of goals even worse. And he's actually putting in less effort than Dzeko at the moment, which I didn't believe was possible.

But I'm more concerned that we're not even creating the chances to miss. Yesterday, it was only after the sub's that we hit the post and the great block from Dzeko where you could say we could score. Apart from that, how many real chances did we have? Against a championship side. At home.

We need to sort it out before Saturday

The most worrying part about yesterday was that their 34 year old Championship centre back comfortably handled and marshalled Aguero and Negredo whilst their attack caused our defence all sorts of problems.

Manchester City’s main three strikers, bought for a combined total of £81million, have not scored a single goal between them in 907 minutes of football.

Edin Dzeko, who joined from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg three years ago, has failed to find the net in 431 minutes.

Summer arrival Alvaro Negredo, who was so prolific for the title challengers until sustaining a shoulder injury in January, is on 328 and counting.

Perhaps most surprisingly of all, talisman Sergio Aguero, so often their biggest threat, has clocked up 148 minutes without mustering a goal.

Not that surprising for Aguero, only just back v two very tight defences, but the other two need to sort it out, injuries or not. Fucking man up.

[Slim]

His performance yesterday was as bad as I have seen from any striker we have had. Where is his wonderful touch gone? Worse thing about the injury with his shoulder is it was totally avoidable, we were 98nil up in a cup game with only a few minutes to go, sickening.

Everybody talks of his shoulder injury as the turning point, but he was already playing poorly by then. Perhaps he has just been worked out. It often happens once Prem defences have seen you a few times.

04 Jan Blackburn 1 goal.
08 Jan West Hame 3 goals.
12 Jan Newcastle 1 goal.
15 Jan Blackburn 2 goals.
18 Jan Cardiff 0 goals.
21 Jan West Hame 2 goals. <----Injury.

9 goals in 6 games...my god he was poor.

[Alioune DVToure]

So it was a fluke that he was playing ace and his now being out of form is him displaying his true colours? Is that what you're saying?

[Green & Blue]

Those stats are a depressing read.Aguero is only just back but the other two have no excuse.Negredo who bossed defenders up and down the country looks like he has lost the will to fight.No idea whats going on with Dzeko.Does he need an eye test? He has had so many chances recently but he couldnt score in a bed of fannys.It would be bad enough having one of them out of sorts but having to carry the pair of them is killing us.Really need to see them back on the score sheet again asap.Its easy pin point Demichelis for our woes but serious questions need to ve asked of our strikers.

[Spurge]

His performance yesterday was as bad as I have seen from any striker we have had. Where is his wonderful touch gone? Worse thing about the injury with his shoulder is it was totally avoidable, we were 98nil up in a cup game with only a few minutes to go, sickening.

Everybody talks of his shoulder injury as the turning point, but he was already playing poorly by then. Perhaps he has just been worked out. It often happens once Prem defences have seen you a few times.

04 Jan Blackburn 1 goal.
08 Jan West Hame 3 goals.
12 Jan Newcastle 1 goal.
15 Jan Blackburn 2 goals.
18 Jan Cardiff 0 goals.
21 Jan West Hame 2 goals. <----Injury.

9 goals in 6 games...my god he was poor.

This illustrates perfectly how poor a point was being made, I guess he had a lucky January!!!

The observations about our strikers lack of goals in recent weeks however does appear to highlight where we are currently faltering. In our last 7 matches we have amassed just 7 goals of which just one was scored by a recognised striker - Jovetic v Chelsea. The rest are shared across our midfield

Yaya x 2
Nasri x 3
Navas x 1

So demechilies is the villan of the piece, in reality he is probably making no more mistakes than he 'normally does' but the consequences of his mistakes are being mangnified x 10 as a result of the fact that the goals have suddenly dried up. It's really strange as it's not been a gradual thing, you can literally draw a line in understanding when it happened - the 29th January to be precise.

Why? Well we can look at Aguero picking up his injury at White Hart Lane. Dzeko like Aguero, scored in that game, but missed a hatful of chances. He had carried an ankle injury since scoring in the game against Blackburn in the 15th Jan, whilst Negredo dried up following his brace against WHU in the league cup semi when he picked up that shoulder injury.

So injury has played a part - Jovetic's brief flirtation with full fitness saw the return of 1 goal against Chelsea but eventually culminated in a return to the treatment room after a short spell in the home game with Stoke.

But is injury the sole reason for our strikers baron spell? There are some parallels with our title winning season. We were on fire in the first half of that season having caught teams by surprise with our offensive approach to games - having been so defensively minded in the previous season. Pellegrinis 'two up top' policy caught teams by surprise in the first half of this season, but now we are playing these teams for a second time they've seemingly worked out how best to negate our threat - Wigan is the latest and perfect example of this.

So whats the answer, how do our strikers get their mojo back? In our title winning season when all seemed lost we suddenly just went for it (and got a committed Carlos Tevez firing on all cylinders) . This season our Argentinian equivalent is Sergio Aguero, he is the catalyst, keep him fit and he'll start banging a few in and the others will follow his example. That and start giving yaya the 'right to roam' and give teams something different to figure out.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

So it was a fluke that he was playing ace and his now being out of form is him displaying his true colours? Is that what you're saying?

No, it wasn't a fluke. However it's easy to play well and score when the sun's shining and we're hitting teams for four or five every week.
What we need is him to step up now when we most need it and show some of the fight and passion he was earlier in the season. That's the true measure of a world class player, someone who can perform and raise their game when you most need them to.
If he can do that, he will prove himself to be a really great player but if he carries on like he has been, it will look like his early performances were not the norm for him.
I could understand if he was putting in an effort and missing chances but I can't even remember him having a chance recently, he's hiding.
Negredo was up against a Championship centre back. Earlier in the season he would have bullied him and got himself a couple of goals, yet he was the one being bullied on Sunday.

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

He seems to like a strop a bit too much too.

All players go through bad patches he needs to work at it. Tevez was brilliant at just getting on with it when it wasn't going his way (when he could be arsed to play of course) but Negrado's attitude has been off lately.

[Slim]

I don't recall a time tevez was on the pitch and you could use 'couldn't be arsed' to describe his performance. On the pitch he was always a consummate professional.

[patrickblue]

I don't recall a time tevez was on the pitch and you could use 'couldn't be arsed' to describe his performance. On the pitch he was always a consummate professional.

I don't think that's what Lookmum meant Slim. I think he was referring to Carlotto's extended golfing holiday, and his quite frequent trips to Argentina making him unavailable. As you say, when he actually played he always gave 110%.

[patrickblue]

Those stats are a depressing read.Aguero is only just back but the other two have no excuse.Negredo who bossed defenders up and down the country looks like he has lost the will to fight.No idea whats going on with Dzeko.Does he need an eye test? He has had so many chances recently but he couldnt score in a bed of fannys.It would be bad enough having one of them out of sorts but having to carry the pair of them is killing us.Really need to see them back on the score sheet again asap.Its easy pin point Demichelis for our woes but serious questions need to ve asked of our strikers.

Spot on, our whole game depends on scoring more than the opposition. Demichelis is a bit of an easy target, but the way we play pressing very high always mean his age, and hence his slowness is always going to be a weak link. But the other side of playing that way should be that we are regularly outscoring opponents.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

So it was a fluke that he was playing ace and his now being out of form is him displaying his true colours? Is that what you're saying?

I'm merely asking the question.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

04 Jan Blackburn 1 goal.
08 Jan West Hame 3 goals.
12 Jan Newcastle 1 goal.
15 Jan Blackburn 2 goals.
18 Jan Cardiff 0 goals.
21 Jan West Hame 2 goals.

Its fair enough to point that out. Strikers get judged on goals scored. And the goals v West Ham were excellent. The one at Newcastle was awful. A shocking miss that rebounded and sneaked home in unconvincing fashion.
Despite the goals , the signs were there that all was not quite right. There was an equally shit finish v Spurs that the keeper managed to chuck in his own net.
Now however, he looks more likely to fall over than score a goal when he gets the ball in the penalty area.

[Slim]

Its fair enough to point that out. Strikers get judged on goals scored. And the goals v West Ham were excellent. The one at Newcastle was awful. A shocking miss that rebounded and sneaked home in unconvincing fashion. Despite the goals , the signs were there that all was not quite right. There was an equally shit finish v Spurs that the keeper managed to chuck in his own net. Now however, he looks more likely to fall over than score a goal when he gets the ball in the penalty area.

Had it happened a month earlier you had a point, but that was at the height of the dzeko/negredo purple patch, so no.

I think someone said it, he's been worked out and second season syndrome has kicked in early. Now he needs to adapt and find his rhythm, or he'll take a battering on here for two years and then get sold to west ham(I think you know who I am drawing a comparison to).

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

I don't recall a time tevez was on the pitch and you could use 'couldn't be arsed' to describe his performance. On the pitch he was always a consummate professional.

I meant when he couldn't literally be arsed to play and go home.

But yeah, my point is his ethic was unquestionable.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

He's just absolutely shot of confidence at the moment. He had two chances today and made a pigs ear of both. After the second he really looked like he wanted the ground to open up and eat him.

Next Sunday won't be a bad day for him to find form. Let's hope Aguero's available.

[Slim]

Could this be another Ireland-Robinho love affair? Negredo goes off the boil after his honeymoon period with Dzeko was up and Aguero still hadn't returned?

[Original Dub]

He's just absolutely shot of confidence at the moment. He had two chances today and made a pigs ear of both. After the second he really looked like he wanted the ground to open up and eat him.

Next Sunday won't be a bad day for him to find form. Let's hope Aguero's available.

I can see the typical signs of a striker playing his way back into form.

At the beginning of this dry patch, he wasn't even getting on the ball.
He got himself into three excellent positions today and had he got the touch on the navas cross that led to the jovetic goal, it would have been a pure "giving it everything" poacher's goal.

My problem with him was that he was completely missing and his hold up play was non existent.

All he is missing now is goals and with his work ethic, they're gonna come soon.

[Cit.revenge]

Give him a brake ,it s coming .