kompany - trading on past glory?

[Ted Hughes]

Bollocks.

It was because Mancini had been pissing about with 3 at the back pre season & wanted that clown Nastasic in the side, so he could switch it, & because he bought him on the recomendation of his mate. ( And JL had grassed him up for shouting at people to get back in position just before Aguero scored).

There are pretty much no cbs anywhere near as good as Vince. But he plays at his best when he trusts & understands his cb partner.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Bollocks.

It was because Mancini had been pissing about with 3 at the back pre season & wanted that clown Nastasic in the side, so he could switch it, & because he bought him on the recomendation of his mate. ( And JL had grassed him up for shouting at people to get back in position just before Aguero scored).

There are pretty much no cbs anywhere near as good as Vince. But he plays at his best when he trusts & understands his cb partner.

What a crock of shite.

[Ted Hughes]

Bollocks.

It was because Mancini had been pissing about with 3 at the back pre season & wanted that clown Nastasic in the side, so he could switch it, & because he bought him on the recomendation of his mate. ( And JL had grassed him up for shouting at people to get back in position just before Aguero scored).

There are pretty much no cbs anywhere near as good as Vince. But he plays at his best when he trusts & understands his cb partner.

What a crock of shite.

It's all true.

In fact I seem to remember giving you the stats re defensive partnerships at the time.

[carl_feedthegoat]

Bollocks.

It was because Mancini had been pissing about with 3 at the back pre season & wanted that clown Nastasic in the side, so he could switch it, & because he bought him on the recomendation of his mate. ( And JL had grassed him up for shouting at people to get back in position just before Aguero scored).

There are pretty much no cbs anywhere near as good as Vince. But he plays at his best when he trusts & understands his cb partner.

What a crock of shite.

It's all true.

In fact I seem to remember giving you the stats re defensive partnerships at the time.

I never give out stats and if I did I would probably have made them up....in fact Id definitely have made them up.

[iwasthere2012]

Bollocks.

It was because Mancini had been pissing about with 3 at the back pre season & wanted that clown Nastasic in the side, so he could switch it, & because he bought him on the recomendation of his mate. ( And JL had grassed him up for shouting at people to get back in position just before Aguero scored).

There are pretty much no cbs anywhere near as good as Vince. But he plays at his best when he trusts & understands his cb partner.

What a crock of shite.

It's all true.

In fact I seem to remember giving you the stats re defensive partnerships at the time.

I never give out stats and if I did I would probably have made them up....in fact Id definitely have made them up.

When put on the spot, 4 out of every 5 people do that.

[South Stand Balti]

Bollocks.

It was because Mancini had been pissing about with 3 at the back pre season & wanted that clown Nastasic in the side, so he could switch it, & because he bought him on the recomendation of his mate. ( And JL had grassed him up for shouting at people to get back in position just before Aguero scored).

There are pretty much no cbs anywhere near as good as Vince. But he plays apnt his best when he trusts & understands his cb partner.

What a crock of shite.

It's all true.

In fact I seem to remember giving you the stats re defensive partnerships at the time.

I never give out stats and if I did I would probably have made them up....in fact Id definitely have made them up.

When put on the spot, 4 out of every 5 people do that.

No, I think it's 8 out of 10 people that do that.

[iwasthere2012]

I think in general, not just talking about today's game. City's defense had chopped and changed a lot and for one reason or another so has the midfield in front of them.
There has been a number of theories on here as to why we are shipping goals.
When I heard Nasri was out, as well as Yaya I was worried that we will not hold possession well enough against the likes of Arsenal, if they were smart enough to try and hit us on the break. Talking of stats. The possession stats up to the time they scored their first were as high in our favour as I've seen against anyone. It was something like 78% to 22% at one stage.
Arsenal played cute. Going a goal up made it easier to stick to the game plan.
I think we retain the ball best when we have Yaya Nasri and Silva short passing. Anything else puts pressure on our defense that they don't seem to be sure of how to handle, or who is dealing with it. Is that partly unfamiliarity?
I still think City come good towards the end of the season. I don't really think we will beat Chelsea in their place, but if we get a draw and manage not to fall further behind by the time Yaya and Bony get back I still think it's doable.
Pellegrini is going to have to decide who his best back 4 are and pretty much stick to them. Vinny is just back from injury. Did Mangala do anything so bad over the last month or so to justify being dropped. That's a genuine question, not an opinion. Because if it's s case of him just not being trusted by Pellers, then you'd worry about the money spent.

[Spurge]

The penner was silly from vk but otherwise ok coming back from injury. If we had have won then this thread eouldnt have started

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I think an often overlooked part of the problem is pellers attacking approach.

How many times have top teams defenders been accuse of being shit on here in the last 10 years? Barca, madrid, the scum all had their defenders labeled shit while their teams were at their best. When teams bomb loads of players forwards and dominate posession they are prone to getting caught on the counter or 1v1/2v2 etc in transition and that's when reckless challenges occur. That and like keepers if they have fuck all to do for half a game it's easy to switch off.

It's a lot more noticeable when we do fuck all up the other end, which sadly has been a lot more often this season than last.

[Sister of fu]

Chelsea never change their back 4 and prob have the best DM in the league patrolling in front. They also have a excellent goalkeeper no where near his prime. Chopping and changing just doesn't work and I think our defence proves that. Gone backwards in this department.

[nottsblue]

Chelsea never change their back 4 and prob have the best DM in the league patrolling in front. They also have a excellent goalkeeper no where near his prime. Chopping and changing just doesn't work and I think our defence proves that. Gone backwards in this department.

Bob on. A settled back 6 is what we need

[CuteMancs]

Chelsea never change their back 4 and prob have the best DM in the league patrolling in front. They also have a excellent goalkeeper no where near his prime. Chopping and changing just doesn't work and I think our defence proves that. Gone backwards in this department.

Bob on. A settled back 6 is what we need

I dont disagree with any of this, and Jose has been very consistant with his squad all season, but given the number of games they have yet to play, it would only take a couple of knocks to his players to unsettle everything......we can hope!

[Ted Hughes]

I think an often overlooked part of the problem is pellers attacking approach.

How many times have top teams defenders been accuse of being shit on here in the last 10 years? Barca, madrid, the scum all had their defenders labeled shit while their teams were at their best. When teams bomb loads of players forwards and dominate posession they are prone to getting caught on the counter or 1v1/2v2 etc in transition and that's when reckless challenges occur. That and like keepers if they have fuck all to do for half a game it's easy to switch off.

It's a lot more noticeable when we do fuck all up the other end, which sadly has been a lot more often this season than last.

Very true, but that manifsets itself as goals like that herbert scored for Stoke & Lukaku getting 1v1s in our box though.

The goals Arsenal scored weren't down to our attacking approach, they were just purely down to shit defending. We actually coped with most of the situations when we were legitimately caught out.

Also while I fully agree that the attacking style puts extra pressure on the defenders, I tend to think that the teams you mention have actually genuinely had a lot of shit defenders (not all, but a lot) and their attacking flair has masked it. In the rags case, their reputation intimidating teams into missing easy chances, pretty much every game (happening every week now even when they have 10 in their own half). It will be interesting to see how this new, bright, confident Arsenal plays vs the rags. If they don't miss a load of open nets then roll over & die, it will be a first.

They won their cup final this year.

[AntMcfc]

He's gone downhill since Pellegrini took over which isn't a surprise. He's a penalty box defender, that's how Mancini used him and that's what he needs to succeed. Pellegrini is quite the opposite. Pellegrini is macking a mockery of Kompany, he's ruined his reputation and not a word has been said. Bring Simeone to the club, or send Kompany to Atletico Madrid and you will see the return of the best CB in the world.

[FA cup winners 2006]

Chelsea never change their back 4 and prob have the best DM in the league patrolling in front. They also have a excellent goalkeeper no where near his prime. Chopping and changing just doesn't work and I think our defence proves that. Gone backwards in this department.

But they play a completely different game than us where their defenders are never exposed or isolated except for the spurs game where Matic was pulled from his central midfield position many times leaving the spurs midfielders a free run at Terry and Cahill who were made to look amateur that day.

[FA cup winners 2006]

I think an often overlooked part of the problem is pellers attacking approach.

How many times have top teams defenders been accuse of being shit on here in the last 10 years? Barca, madrid, the scum all had their defenders labeled shit while their teams were at their best. When teams bomb loads of players forwards and dominate posession they are prone to getting caught on the counter or 1v1/2v2 etc in transition and that's when reckless challenges occur. That and like keepers if they have fuck all to do for half a game it's easy to switch off.

It's a lot more noticeable when we do fuck all up the other end, which sadly has been a lot more often this season than last.

Very true, but that manifsets itself as goals like that herbert scored for Stoke & Lukaku getting 1v1s in our box though.

The goals Arsenal scored weren't down to our attacking approach, they were just purely down to shit defending. We actually coped with most of the situations when we were legitimately caught out.

Also while I fully agree that the attacking style puts extra pressure on the defenders, I tend to think that the teams you mention have actually genuinely had a lot of shit defenders (not all, but a lot) and their attacking flair has masked it. In the rags case, their reputation intimidating teams into missing easy chances, pretty much every game (happening every week now even when they have 10 in their own half). It will be interesting to see how this new, bright, confident Arsenal plays vs the rags. If they don't miss a load of open nets then roll over & die, it will be a first.

They won their cup final this year.

you think everyone who takes points of us treats it as a cup final and dont try against the other teams, which is stupid talk. Even though we are probably the best team over the last 3-4 years, other professional players still probably see taking points at old trafford or anfield as a bigger coup than at the etihad.

There was a couple of times yesterday when it felt like the game was getting to much for arsenal and if we had scored, they would have collapsed and we would have went on to score plenty more but we just didnt have the final ball or someone to really take the game and create something. there was a 20 minute spell in the second half where we moved the ball quickly, got in down the wings but clichy and navas' final ball was atrocious, we kept possession of the ball with silva and jovetic getting plenty of touches but again just not finding that final ball.

We got done by 2 set pieces and that was it but when the opposing team shuts off the central areas and we have to attack down the wings you need better players than Navas and Clichy supplying the attack

[Cocacolajojo1]

you think everyone who takes points of us treats it as a cup final and dont try against the other teams, which is stupid talk. Even though we are probably the best team over the last 3-4 years, other professional players still probably see taking points at old trafford or anfield as a bigger coup than at the etihad.

I watched Sky for the game yesterday, and EVERYONE said that this was a very unusal performance from Arsenal. They upped their game big time for us.

[bayblue]

Komps just needs some game time. Class player. Great leader. Wouldn't swap him for any other PL defender.

[FA cup winners 2006]

you think everyone who takes points of us treats it as a cup final and dont try against the other teams, which is stupid talk. Even though we are probably the best team over the last 3-4 years, other professional players still probably see taking points at old trafford or anfield as a bigger coup than at the etihad.

I watched Sky for the game yesterday, and EVERYONE said that this was a very unusal performance from Arsenal. They upped their game big time for us.

The reason the score was what it was yesterday was exactly what Pellegrini said, we didnt create anything with all the possession we had, we gave arsenal hope and they were able to cling on. We had plenty of opportunities and got into position but the final ball was never there, both clichy and navas had very poor games delivering that final ball and seemed happy just to win corners (which was pointless).

Arsenal sat very deep and let us come at them but there was no heroic defending. At the end of the game, we had aguero, dzeko, jovetic, lampard and silva on the pitch and still created nothing, it happens some games. I thought jovetic got on the ball alot but took up positions you would expect silva to be in. sergio got 90 mins which he needed but was largely a passenger for the game, which is expected but Navas and Clichy killed the game for me, this was a game perfectly suited for kolorov

[Foreverinbluedreams]

you think everyone who takes points of us treats it as a cup final and dont try against the other teams, which is stupid talk. Even though we are probably the best team over the last 3-4 years, other professional players still probably see taking points at old trafford or anfield as a bigger coup than at the etihad.

I watched Sky for the game yesterday, and EVERYONE said that this was a very unusal performance from Arsenal. They upped their game big time for us.

The reason the score was what it was yesterday was exactly what Pellegrini said, we didnt create anything with all the possession we had, we gave arsenal hope and they were able to cling on. We had plenty of opportunities and got into position but the final ball was never there, both clichy and navas had very poor games delivering that final ball and seemed happy just to win corners (which was pointless).

Arsenal sat very deep and let us come at them but there was no heroic defending. At the end of the game, we had aguero, dzeko, jovetic, lampard and silva on the pitch and still created nothing, it happens some games. I thought jovetic got on the ball alot but took up positions you would expect silva to be in. sergio got 90 mins which he needed but was largely a passenger for the game, which is expected but Navas and Clichy killed the game for me, this was a game perfectly suited for kolorov

The organisation and defensive discipline from Arsenal yesterday prevented us from being creative, this is not something you normally associate with Wenger teams.

It was just as much about Arsenal upping their game defensively as it was about our lack of final ball. To pretend otherwise is nonsense.