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Blue Since 76 wrote:A team like Palace will be much happier facing a striker - big centre halves marking big centre forwards is what they do. Give them no one to mark, but players like Silva, Nasri and Navas running at them from deep will cause them nightmares.

We need to play pacey, one touch football, keep the ball moving and have Kolarov on the pitch for the inevitable free kicks we get

Have you ever watched Navas play?

I don't believe we need anything other than an actual striker. All the permutations are one game desperation acts not an approach to take the advantage we can get over the favorable fixtures in the Xmas crush.

If we don't actually have a striker in the youth ranks and can't recall one of them we've lent out from that group then we might have actually dropped an Andre the Giant-sized bollock.

Cheers

Good points about we can't play all our midfield players through the Xmas period , some will need a little rest here and there and if any of them now pick up an injury it could turn into a huge crisis . We had Negredo on fire up front this time last year now we just have an 18 / 19 year old who hasn't scored in the Premier League ............. worrying times indeed .

I'm assuming that if Cole could be recalled, it would have happened. But I think his loan runs out in Jan, but, of course, the transfer window is then open anyway, so possibly no point in him being here then

People suggesting bringing back Guidetti or Negredo; no chance in the case of Negredo, & Guidetti is probably also on a season long loan with no recall.

Lopez is not an option either.

An African football site has just claimed to have insider knowledge we are loaning Nwakali out to Spain & again said that we are after a work permit for Iheanacho & we are keeping him. As he is not a member of ISIS or Al Qaeda, nor a Russian gangster & has no intention of claiming housing/unemployment benefit & is not on his way to Manchester Utd reserves, then obviously they will think twice about letting him have one, but surely he will get one soon. How soon is the question.


As Doug has pointed out; Ambrose is more suited to the role Pozo is being asked to play, but he too is a little fella & younger & he isn't a specialist at that job anyway. Hiwula tends to be a bit sloppy in possession & has not done well on loan at Yeovil, so probably lacking in confidence.

Barring a work permit for Kelechi, it looks like we are going to have to either get in a 'free agent' , or work with the options discussed here. There are no hidden gems lurking in the EDS for that job.

So how about we use the squad in a different way, & get Pozo, Barker, Ambrose etc involved in a system they are actuially used to ?

Then suddenly, we have players.

Tokyo Blue wrote:I don't think playing all our midfielders for 5 games in 15 days is the right thing to do, to be honest. A kid or two is going to have to come in and the rest of the team are going to have to work with them better than they are doing with Pozo, who is not getting the kind of service he needs to be as effective as he can be.

To be fair, circumstances have meant that he's had to settle into the way the team has been set up in his two games. With us having a whole week to prepare for the next game they can work at setting the team up more to his strengths. However, none of the possible scenarios/formations are particularly palatable.

DoomMerchant wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:A team like Palace will be much happier facing a striker - big centre halves marking big centre forwards is what they do. Give them no one to mark, but players like Silva, Nasri and Navas running at them from deep will cause them nightmares.

We need to play pacey, one touch football, keep the ball moving and have Kolarov on the pitch for the inevitable free kicks we get

Have you ever watched Navas play?

I don't believe we need anything other than an actual striker. All the permutations are one game desperation acts not an approach to take the advantage we can get over the favorable fixtures in the Xmas crush.

If we don't actually have a striker in the youth ranks and can't recall one of them we've lent out from that group then we might have actually dropped an Andre the Giant-sized bollock.

Cheers

We can't recall any of them. As for the kids, clearly Pozo is currently the best option but he's not ready yet. And as defenders get to watch video of him, he's going to find life even tougher.

We're going to have to give a way through this period, probably without anything recognised as a striker. Assuming Fernandinho or Fernando take one of the midfield places, that leaves 5 spots between Milner, Navas, Lampard, Yaya, Nasri and Silva, plus you could include Pozo and Kolarov. That should allow enough rotation, so we need to find a way to score goals. None of that lot can play with their back to goal, so we're going to have to do something different for us, but which others have proved can be effective, at least in the short term.

And yes, I've watched Navas play and if someone would remind him to occasionally run at a man, he'd be a lot more effective than when he cuts back inside.

Blue Since 76 wrote:

DoomMerchant wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:A team like Palace will be much happier facing a striker - big centre halves marking big centre forwards is what they do. Give them no one to mark, but players like Silva, Nasri and Navas running at them from deep will cause them nightmares.

We need to play pacey, one touch football, keep the ball moving and have Kolarov on the pitch for the inevitable free kicks we get

Have you ever watched Navas play?

I don't believe we need anything other than an actual striker. All the permutations are one game desperation acts not an approach to take the advantage we can get over the favorable fixtures in the Xmas crush.

If we don't actually have a striker in the youth ranks and can't recall one of them we've lent out from that group then we might have actually dropped an Andre the Giant-sized bollock.

Cheers

We can't recall any of them. As for the kids, clearly Pozo is currently the best option but he's not ready yet. And as defenders get to watch video of him, he's going to find life even tougher.

We're going to have to give a way through this period, probably without anything recognised as a striker. Assuming Fernandinho or Fernando take one of the midfield places, that leaves 5 spots between Milner, Navas, Lampard, Yaya, Nasri and Silva, plus you could include Pozo and Kolarov. That should allow enough rotation, so we need to find a way to score goals. None of that lot can play with their back to goal, so we're going to have to do something different for us, but which others have proved can be effective, at least in the short term.

And yes, I've watched Navas play and if someone would remind him to occasionally run at a man, he'd be a lot more effective than when he cuts back inside.

It's fair comment that he should get more quality in, but not fair to suggest it never happens. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he's our top creator so far this season.

What does happen & imo should NEVER happen, is Navas getting either past the man or curling it round him & it goes straight through the 6 yard box without anyone touching it.

Guidetti would be tapping those in, as would Shaun Goater, & at least one of our £ 100 mil plus worth of strikers should be in position to do that every time.

That IS something Pozo can do if they work on it this week.

I see you are missing the obvious.

Put Zaba up front!

[quote="Goaters 103"]Options include...

False 9 Spanish job packing 6 in the midf and nearest the goal is the rotating striker

Iheanacho if he gets his work permit this week. Looking at his physical build Id pitch him in

Pozo and/or Devante Cole recalled from loan (if we can)

Milner up top. Actually think hed be best option of our midfielders as Ya Ya needs a running start to get going anyway so mright up front doesnt suit him

David Villa?

Dont laugh butnisnt Thierry Henry without a club atm? Get Vieira to have a word and piss Wenger off even further[/quote]

That wouldn't be a bad idea at all for a short term fix.

For a player of his age our slow build up would suit and our intricate passing looking to unlock defences would play to his strengths. Takes pressure off Pozo, and some responsibility off our midfield who would probably enjoy playing with him anyway.

Ted Hughes wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:

DoomMerchant wrote:

Blue Since 76 wrote:A team like Palace will be much happier facing a striker - big centre halves marking big centre forwards is what they do. Give them no one to mark, but players like Silva, Nasri and Navas running at them from deep will cause them nightmares.

We need to play pacey, one touch football, keep the ball moving and have Kolarov on the pitch for the inevitable free kicks we get

Have you ever watched Navas play?

I don't believe we need anything other than an actual striker. All the permutations are one game desperation acts not an approach to take the advantage we can get over the favorable fixtures in the Xmas crush.

If we don't actually have a striker in the youth ranks and can't recall one of them we've lent out from that group then we might have actually dropped an Andre the Giant-sized bollock.

Cheers

We can't recall any of them. As for the kids, clearly Pozo is currently the best option but he's not ready yet. And as defenders get to watch video of him, he's going to find life even tougher.

We're going to have to give a way through this period, probably without anything recognised as a striker. Assuming Fernandinho or Fernando take one of the midfield places, that leaves 5 spots between Milner, Navas, Lampard, Yaya, Nasri and Silva, plus you could include Pozo and Kolarov. That should allow enough rotation, so we need to find a way to score goals. None of that lot can play with their back to goal, so we're going to have to do something different for us, but which others have proved can be effective, at least in the short term.

And yes, I've watched Navas play and if someone would remind him to occasionally run at a man, he'd be a lot more effective than when he cuts back inside.

It's fair comment that he should get more quality in, but not fair to suggest it never happens. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if he's our top creator so far this season.

What does happen & imo should NEVER happen, is Navas getting either past the man or curling it round him & it goes straight through the 6 yard box without anyone touching it.

Guidetti would be tapping those in, as would Shaun Goater, & at least one of our £ 100 mil plus worth of strikers should be in position to do that every time.

That IS something Pozo can do if they work on it this week.

I'm a big fan of Navas and his crosses. The frustrating thing is that at times, he doesn't do it enough. He goes all Spanish and tries to find ways to retain the ball, rather than be Aaron Lennon and just push their defence back, giving the likes of Silva more space to work in. And you're right Ted, at times we don't do enough of the simple stuff like attacking the near post for a tap in. That sort of thing is going to be important over the next few games, as we need to get goals however we can. Perhaps some practice at corners and not hitting the first man would also be useful.

Spurge wrote:

Goaters 103 wrote:Options include...

False 9 Spanish job packing 6 in the midf and nearest the goal is the rotating striker

Iheanacho if he gets his work permit this week. Looking at his physical build Id pitch him in

Pozo and/or Devante Cole recalled from loan (if we can)

Milner up top. Actually think hed be best option of our midfielders as Ya Ya needs a running start to get going anyway so mright up front doesnt suit him

David Villa?

Dont laugh butnisnt Thierry Henry without a club atm? Get Vieira to have a word and piss Wenger off even further

That wouldn't be a bad idea at all for a short term fix.

For a player of his age our slow build up would suit and our intricate passing looking to unlock defences would play to his strengths. Takes pressure off Pozo, and some responsibility off our midfield who would probably enjoy playing with him anyway.

BWP was MLS top scorer and might be up for a 6 week visit home, home grown talent playing in our first team, what would the media say :-)

Wonderwall wrote:

Spurge wrote:

Goaters 103 wrote:Options include...

False 9 Spanish job packing 6 in the midf and nearest the goal is the rotating striker

Iheanacho if he gets his work permit this week. Looking at his physical build Id pitch him in

Pozo and/or Devante Cole recalled from loan (if we can)

Milner up top. Actually think hed be best option of our midfielders as Ya Ya needs a running start to get going anyway so mright up front doesnt suit him

David Villa?

Dont laugh butnisnt Thierry Henry without a club atm? Get Vieira to have a word and piss Wenger off even further

That wouldn't be a bad idea at all for a short term fix.

For a player of his age our slow build up would suit and our intricate passing looking to unlock defences would play to his strengths. Takes pressure off Pozo, and some responsibility off our midfield who would probably enjoy playing with him anyway.

BWP was MLS top scorer and might be up for a 6 week visit home, home grown talent playing in our first team, what would the media say :-)

To that they would say we were doing a great job beacuase we would surely fuck up with him in any lineup. He wouldn't be facing the defensive nous of the Colorado Rapids or the Portland Timbers. Funny concept tho. I'm sure you were just taking the piss but ive got a horrific cold and maybe I'm not very thoughtful. Sorry for my lack of creative spark to offer anything better.

Cheers

Stuart Brennan has done a piece on this & recons City will probably not sign anyone, Iheanacho is off to the U20 tournament in Africa so therefore 4-6-0 is the best option.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ep-8298281

I think I agree with him.

But, if that's how we are going to play, I think we should not write off Pozo as having a role in that & also add Brandon Barker to the squad. He is something different & if he was able to adapt to the higher standard, he is the sort of player who could come on & win us a game.

Worth considering if we have no strikers.

I would like to see Pellegrini start with Pozo for 45 minutes , the young lad can only learn and Saturday could be the making of him if he can grab a goal or an assist . If it doesn't workout again play Silva in that role ........ I have a hunch he would be devastating !

City64 wrote:I would like to see Pellegrini start with Pozo for 45 minutes , the young lad can only learn and Saturday could be the making of him if he can grab a goal or an assist . If it doesn't workout again play Silva in that role ........ I have a hunch he would be devastating !

I'd be interested to read the views of those who watch Pozo more often than me, but imo, if I had to choose someone to score from 20 yards in the kind of setup we are talking about, then it would be Yaya & Pozo, then a huge drop in standards to the rest of the attacking mids.

Last week, they had the opportunity to pass to him in that position several times & didn't. If they had done so, I recon it's 50/50 the ball would have ended up in the back of the net. I would like to think they are working on that right now, with a view to him playing vs Palace.

Pozo is not an out & out striker, but he IS a consistent goalscorer. Every season. Moreso than anyone else we have available.

Ted Hughes wrote:

City64 wrote:I would like to see Pellegrini start with Pozo for 45 minutes , the young lad can only learn and Saturday could be the making of him if he can grab a goal or an assist . If it doesn't workout again play Silva in that role ........ I have a hunch he would be devastating !

I'd be interested to read the views of those who watch Pozo more often than me, but imo, if I had to choose someone to score from 20 yards in the kind of setup we are talking about, then it would be Yaya & Pozo, then a huge drop in standards to the rest of the attacking mids.

Last week, they had the opportunity to pass to him in that position several times & didn't. If they had done so, I recon it's 50/50 the ball would have ended up in the back of the net. I would like to think they are working on that right now, with a view to him playing vs Palace.

Pozo is not an out & out striker, but he IS a consistent goalscorer. Every season. Moreso than anyone else we have available.

Agreed . We are now in a period of games where we have to be patient , it is unlikely we are going to roll any teams over with Aguero and Dzeko both injured even though the fixture list is kind on paper . Pozo could hit the ground running just like Negredo did this time last year , we have to give him one more opportunity but IF it doesn't work out Silva must be tried in that position for me !

City64 wrote:I would like to see Pellegrini start with Pozo for 45 minutes , the young lad can only learn and Saturday could be the making of him if he can grab a goal or an assist . If it doesn't workout again play Silva in that role ........ I have a hunch he would be devastating !

Silva tho he does score more for Spain in a role like that has been banjo-barn door-cow's arse whatevs in front of goal for City. I'd prefer that he does his magick where he usually does his magick. End of that story.

I think we can survive some games with the "false 9" as it were...but who is it? I think it has to be Nasri. Tell him to get his shooting boots on and get stuck in and fucking go get it done.

cheers

DoomMerchant wrote:

City64 wrote:I would like to see Pellegrini start with Pozo for 45 minutes , the young lad can only learn and Saturday could be the making of him if he can grab a goal or an assist . If it doesn't workout again play Silva in that role ........ I have a hunch he would be devastating !

Silva tho he does score more for Spain in a role like that has been banjo-barn door-cow's arse whatevs in front of goal for City. I'd prefer that he does his magick where he usually does his magick. End of that story.

I think we can survive some games with the "false 9" as it were...but who is it? I think it has to be Nasri. Tell him to get his shooting boots on and get stuck in and fucking go get it done.

cheers

Well Nasri has been taking on more shots in the last few games, & of course scored vs Roma, which shows us again what he can do if he has a go. I would just use Pozo though, at least to start with, because we can still have Siva & Nasri involved anyway but instead of having Pozo with his back to goal, let him come right out of there & move around, like Muller did last season for Bayern, so the Palace cbs have nobody to mark.

Then all of them, pass pass pass pass pass shoot. Over & over until one goes in or until the Palace defenders leave their positions to stop the shots, then we run in behind. If we get it right, we could cause more problems than with a striker; most of the Prem have never even seen anything like that close up.

Ted Hughes wrote:

DoomMerchant wrote:

City64 wrote:I would like to see Pellegrini start with Pozo for 45 minutes , the young lad can only learn and Saturday could be the making of him if he can grab a goal or an assist . If it doesn't workout again play Silva in that role ........ I have a hunch he would be devastating !

Silva tho he does score more for Spain in a role like that has been banjo-barn door-cow's arse whatevs in front of goal for City. I'd prefer that he does his magick where he usually does his magick. End of that story.

I think we can survive some games with the "false 9" as it were...but who is it? I think it has to be Nasri. Tell him to get his shooting boots on and get stuck in and fucking go get it done.

cheers

Well Nasri has been taking on more shots in the last few games, & of course scored vs Roma, which shows us again what he can do if he has a go. I would just use Pozo though, at least to start with, because we can still have Siva & Nasri involved anyway but instead of having Pozo with his back to goal, let him come right out of there & move around, like Muller did last season for Bayern, so the Palace cbs have nobody to mark.

Then all of them, pass pass pass pass pass shoot. Over & over until one goes in or until the Palace defenders leave their positions to stop the shots, then we run in behind. If we get it right, we could cause more problems than with a striker; most of the Prem have never even seen anything like that close up.

Nasri's 3 most important goals were all cracking strikes, so we know its now a fluke
Roma
West Ham last game of last season
Sunderland league cup final

I think Pozo will be fine provided, as most have pointed out, we allow him to play his game and we actually pass the ball to him

https://twitter.com/mcfcfollowers/statu ... 0044760064

Thierry Ambrose RT'd this before... Interesting.