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Thought he played very well tonight until he ran out of steam in the last 15. I think him an Ferdi will be a great combination in midfield

He's getting closer & did some good stuff tonight, but Garcia would have mopped up that move at the end quite easily just by getting his body in the way, & City would have won.

Not there yet imo but getting closer.

Ted, they were my thoughts in the last 15 of the game. Peller's out ;-)

Ted Hughes wrote:He's getting closer & did some good stuff tonight, but Garcia would have mopped up that move at the end quite easily just by getting his body in the way, & City would have won.

Not there yet imo but getting closer.

This.

Think its just a lack of acclimatisation to the team, a few times he let things go as if a player was coming to mop up and they didn't. That'll sort with time though, All in all very impressive tonight.

Will say this though, his sprint is a bit odd, anyone else notice? Lots of arm action, looks a bit like he's got invisible skis in each hand as he legs it. Weird that.

Blue Blood wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:He's getting closer & did some good stuff tonight, but Garcia would have mopped up that move at the end quite easily just by getting his body in the way, & City would have won.

Not there yet imo but getting closer.

This.

Think its just a lack of acclimatisation to the team, a few times he let things go as if a player was coming to mop up and they didn't. That'll sort with time though, All in all very impressive tonight.

Will say this though, his sprint is a bit odd, anyone else notice? Lots of arm action, looks a bit like he's got invisible skis in each hand as he legs it. Weird that.

Indeed, but tonight he showed a nice turn of pace to recover on a couple of occasions, which you can see plenty on Youtube but we hadn't seen so far in a City shirt until this game. I think there is a yard or two more to come though.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Blue Blood wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:He's getting closer & did some good stuff tonight, but Garcia would have mopped up that move at the end quite easily just by getting his body in the way, & City would have won.

Not there yet imo but getting closer.

This.

Think its just a lack of acclimatisation to the team, a few times he let things go as if a player was coming to mop up and they didn't. That'll sort with time though, All in all very impressive tonight.

Will say this though, his sprint is a bit odd, anyone else notice? Lots of arm action, looks a bit like he's got invisible skis in each hand as he legs it. Weird that.

Indeed, but tonight he showed a nice turn of pace to recover on a couple of occasions, which you can see plenty on Youtube but we hadn't seen so far in a City shirt until this game. I think there is a yard or two more to come though.

Agree, looking faster as he's getting fitter, bodes well.

Also I like how he closed the "playmakers hole" (cue jokes) in the first half. Coutinho was dominated.

Impressed me today. The way he raced back into position when the ball was lost and blocked a the path. Unknown in our Yaya.

Not sure whether he will play with Fernandinho, or instead of. For the 'first' formation either Fernandinho or Nasri has to drop out for Yaya and Fernando to play.

john@staustell wrote:Impressed me today. The way he raced back into position when the ball was lost and blocked a the path. Unknown in our Yaya.

Not sure whether he will play with Fernandinho, or instead of. For the 'first' formation either Fernandinho or Nasri has to drop out for Yaya and Fernando to play.

I think he'll feature more in Europe in our 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation. Also isn't Yaya away for the ACN this season?

john@staustell wrote:Impressed me today. The way he raced back into position when the ball was lost and blocked a the path. Unknown in our Yaya.

Not sure whether he will play with Fernandinho, or instead of. For the 'first' formation either Fernandinho or Nasri has to drop out for Yaya and Fernando to play.

Think Fernando will rotate with both Ferna and Yaya, probably only likely to see all three starting together against the likes of Arsenal/Chelsea and the bigger teams in Europe.

The key thing that he has over Garcia is pace. He really can cover the ground which Garcia struggles to do. He's obviously not fully match fit but he already looks the business. He's no sea slug.

looked quite good today. hopefully he gets better once he acclimates to the league and to the squad more

if you watch a replay of the Ayoze near miss towards the end Fernando busts a gut from the halfway line to get back and get a vital deflection to prevent a goal

so this was the octopus today.

saved us on a few occasions, including that important deflection on a sure goal to erase our lead.

That challenge from Fernando was as good as scoring a goal. Reminded me of Colin Bell defending that.

Grew into the game and did well. Not overly enamoured yet but there's time.

Beefymcfc wrote:Grew into the game and did well. Not overly enamoured yet but there's time.

based on what you saw today what are your major concerns?

he was all over the pitch, seems to be a beast in the tackle and not too shabby on the ball either.

with him in the game it will certainly allow us to push yaya forward which will suit us well late in games.

he still needs to adjust to the team/league more, surely, but he seems to be a nice piece.

surely he's seeming better than garcia already, who made far less of an impression until late last season.

Fans at the ground were talking about him a lot - and a lot of singing od his name

Really does get around the pitch - I was really impressed - in an understated way. He will be key to us getting even more out of Ya Ya - and good for Ferd

Genuine question for those who have seen him before. It seems from reviews and watching him today he is great at breaking up play and a hard man in the middle but does he offer much going forward at all? Say compared to someone like Fernandinho or is he more likely to sit like a Dejong?

From what i've seen he's better going forward than De Jong. He's not as good as going forward as Fernandinho but he's definitely not some limited sideways passer.

He sits really but he's got more pace than de Jong and a better range of passing than him. Great addition to the squad. Bound to get suspended every now and then. Most defensive midfielders are.

Grew into the game really well after a shy start. Was our best defender in the last 15 mins.