Ted Hughes wrote:Beefymcfc wrote:Cheers Doug/Ted et al. Seemed to me that we have a soft under belly and haven't got the players to full the game back. We allowed them to bully us which left us in a position of just hoofing the ball, hoping for something.
From the 1st half there was lots of praise for the play but when put under pressure, it all changed.
Paddy will get there but I don't see him as a PL/CL manager, it's so hard to put that experience into a player.
I have no idea about Vieira's managerial credentials, but why choose last night's game to judge Vieira or the team mate ? He hasn't just arrived; he had a full season last term. Was he or his team so bad last season ? Are his younger teams so poor ?
To put this into perspective for everyone, what you saw last night was a brand new pre season cb pairing in Kean Bryan, who is a 17 year old centre midfield player, partnering Pablo Maffeo who is a 17 year old right back, with 17 year old Angelino at left back. The other player Bossaerts, who is 18, & usually plays fullback, ended up as centre back 2nd half replaced at fullback by Smith Brown who is 18 & does sometimes play right back. Four of these are not regulars in the U21s & have only just been promoted. So the defence was a centre mid, 3 right backs & a left back, mostly from the U18s & first half they dicked Utd off the pitch. We lost a cb to injury & Utd changed tactics & subbed players.
We also had Pozo playing his first competitive game for a year after injury. That would have been Marcos Lopes.
Utd's back 4: Varela 21, Vermijl 22, McNair 19, Thorpe 21. Spot the difference ?
Let's say City played a similar game at cb by putting together Denayer & Nastasic for example, with Greg Leigh or even Rekik at left back & Shay Facey at right back. Do you think the 4 goals would have been scored so easily ? Most of Utd's attacks would have been caught offside by a proper back 4 for a start. Add to that we don't have a proper def mid player in this group, or someone who kicks everyone like Pearson did for Utd. That also makes their back 4's job easier. Vieira probably wants Ntcham to get stuck in more, & perhaps be that player, like he was.
As I keep making the point in threads re the first team; defending matters, but if our defenders don't improve by the time they are 21, like Utd's, then perhaps Vieira would be at fault.
Well, it's good to see Paddy cobbling a team together for such a game. I bet every one of them out there would have loved that game, experiencing all the good things that they need to make a professional player.
