The Boss

[Tru_Blu]

First the boss needs time. The defense is shite but that is only because Kompany is out. I truly believe this to be a blessing in disguise if we do what is obviously needed, a replacement for Lescott. A veteran CB on a 2 or 3 year contract in my opnion as i really want nast to get his chance and reach his potential. The whole reason the midfield is falling apart is because of Lescott. he is awful on the ball and is lost without a veteran next to him in defense. The boss will get this done. We will adapt to this new style, have faith.

[Ted Hughes]

First the boss needs time. The defense is shite but that is only because Kompany is out. I truly believe this to be a blessing in disguise if we do what is obviously needed, a replacement for Lescott. A veteran CB on a 2 or 3 year contract in my opnion as i really want nast to get his chance and reach his potential. The whole reason the midfield is falling apart is because of Lescott. he is awful on the ball and is lost without a veteran next to him in defense. The boss will get this done. We will adapt to this new style, have faith.

No it isn't.

[Tru_Blu]

First the boss needs time. The defense is shite but that is only because Kompany is out. I truly believe this to be a blessing in disguise if we do what is obviously needed, a replacement for Lescott. A veteran CB on a 2 or 3 year contract in my opnion as i really want nast to get his chance and reach his potential. The whole reason the midfield is falling apart is because of Lescott. he is awful on the ball and is lost without a veteran next to him in defense. The boss will get this done. We will adapt to this new style, have faith.

No it isn't.

Sure watch the Newcastle game. Kompany plays a much higher position not looking like a sweeper which is what lescott was doing all game. And lets not even talk about play build up from the back. All Lescott, the entire stadium felt uncomfortable when the ball was heading in his direction.

[Blue Since 76]

I am yet to be convinced or impressed by the new boss.

Having said that I think we should wait to see where we are at Christmas before sacking him.

Christmas? Bit soft on him. He's got until the end of September for me and less if he doesn't win the derby.

But for the moment, he's the messiah and I should know, I've followed a few.

[Ted Hughes]

First the boss needs time. The defense is shite but that is only because Kompany is out. I truly believe this to be a blessing in disguise if we do what is obviously needed, a replacement for Lescott. A veteran CB on a 2 or 3 year contract in my opnion as i really want nast to get his chance and reach his potential. The whole reason the midfield is falling apart is because of Lescott. he is awful on the ball and is lost without a veteran next to him in defense. The boss will get this done. We will adapt to this new style, have faith.

No it isn't.

Sure watch the Newcastle game. Kompany plays a much higher position not looking like a sweeper which is what lescott was doing all game. And lets not even talk about play build up from the back. All Lescott, the entire stadium felt uncomfortable when the ball was heading in his direction.

It's not the entire staduim, it's a small minority of loud mouthed gutless whinging cunts, who have it in for him & THEIR arses go, not his.

And that's the main problem why this utter fucking shite keeps getting repeated; it's not because Lescott keeps making bad passes, it's because those same whinging cunts are waiting/hoping he will, so they can shout at him.

The two fuckups he made today were down to the ball not reaching him, not any kind of pass he made.

For a centre back, his distribution today was absolutely fine, some simple, some decent forward passes, some playing safe, a couple of attempted long balls & an over ambitious through pass to Navas.

Silva played far more no hope, shit passes than Lescott, under no pressure. Lescott has to make a decision whether to risk a forward pass or not being last man. If Yaya or anyone make an angle for a forward pass, Lescott ALWAYS gives them the ball, every fucking time. If they don't, & they expect him to do something clever, he won't as he's a centre half & if he tries to, he is taking an unneccessary risk. Play safe & let the footballers earn their money.

[Tru_Blu]

" If Yaya or anyone make an angle for a forward pass, Lescott ALWAYS gives them the ball, every fucking time "

Exactly and if your know it so does every player on the pitch. He may give them the ball (most times when he shouldn't) but then what they give it back he panics the opposition pounce

[Ted Hughes]

" If Yaya or anyone make an angle for a forward pass, Lescott ALWAYS gives them the ball, every fucking time "

Exactly and if your know it so does every player on the pitch. He may give them the ball (most times when he shouldn't) BOLLOCKS but then what they give it back he panics BOLLOCKS the opposition pounce BOLLOCKS

This has happened to Lescott on a few occasions in about the past 3 seasons & to try to pretend it is usual, is utter fucking garbage.

If that happened regularly, he would NEVER play in ANY team ANYWHERE, let alone a team which won the title. As if he is the only player that ever gets caught in possession too. It has happened to Vinny & Nastasic but also not often.

If he makes a proper mistake & it costs us & he gets shit for it, like if Hull had scored when he misjudged the pace of the deflected ball from Nastasic first half & the striker nicked it, then that would be fair & he would have to shoulder the blame.

This kind of made up shite does my fucking head in. People pretending stuff has happened when it hasn't, against one of our own players & a title winner at that. I think it's fucking horrible when people do this; it's so unfair & just basically nasty.

If he genunely fucks up, then fair enough, but a bunch of utter cunts EXPECTING him to fuck up & then claiming he did, even when he didn't, is bang out of order.

[Herb]

Not been overly excited so far. We have beaten a team that may well be the joke side of the season. We beat them convincingly last season whilst going through the motions. Lost to one promoted side and struggled against another.

What bothers me is that the we still have the same issues that we had last few season that wil be exposed in terms of quality against good sides.

Last season we were poor because

We did not have a second goalkeeper that will challenge Hart.
We fell to pieces at the back when Kompany was not there and had no quality replacement.
We were trying to include Edin in the build up play when he should only ever be at the end of a move.
Neither of our left backs are great defenders.
We can't cope away from home against bog average sides who are up for it.

So far I don't see any of that getting better so far. His use of Milner who was our second best player last season is baffling.

Ross, with you in the main mate but we did have a goalie to challenge Hart - we had Pantimilion. We still have him and he's still better than Joe is and he still doesn't get picked. Has me baffled why there's some 'don't change the goalie' rule in play despite him constantly being well below the standard whereas any other player would get pulled off after 20 minutes if they played like Joe started out today.
One of the problems we had again today was that Joe doesn't command his box and doesn't instruct his defence - he's never commanded his box but he did used to instruct his defence . . . what ever happened to stop him doing that?

[Slim]

" If Yaya or anyone make an angle for a forward pass, Lescott ALWAYS gives them the ball, every fucking time "

Exactly and if your know it so does every player on the pitch. He may give them the ball (most times when he shouldn't) BOLLOCKS but then what they give it back he panics BOLLOCKS the opposition pounce BOLLOCKS

This has happened to Lescott on a few occasions in about the past 3 seasons & to try to pretend it is usual, is utter fucking garbage.

If that happened regularly, he would NEVER play in ANY team ANYWHERE, let alone a team which won the title. As if he is the only player that ever gets caught in possession too. It has happened to Vinny & Nastasic but also not often.

If he makes a proper mistake & it costs us & he gets shit for it, like if Hull had scored when he misjudged the pace of the deflected ball from Nastasic first half & the striker nicked it, then that would be fair & he would have to shoulder the blame.

This kind of made up shite does my fucking head in. People pretending stuff has happened when it hasn't, against one of our own players & a title winner at that. I think it's fucking horrible when people do this; it's so unfair & just basically nasty.

If he genunely fucks up, then fair enough, but a bunch of utter cunts EXPECTING him to fuck up & then claiming he did, even when he didn't, is bang out of order.

I think even Carl would admit that he was abandoned yesterday by the rest of his defence. The poorly judged interception was bad and on another day even Aluko would have scored it, but looking at the positioning of the other defenders yesterday was annoying the fuck out of me.

[ant london]

The yawning hole in the centre of the park which has given Cardiff and now Hull every encouragement they need to get their tails up and come at us is the main issue. Not having Kompany isn't helping but all he would do is be able to more effectively mop up some of the balls played at/through our back line with zero pressure. We'd still be in the same mess.

Like others I'm happy to give The Count time but I just hope we haven't swapped one stubborn blind cunt (who cannot or will not see what the vast majority of fans can see....) for another.

I thought Fernandinho was a lot better yesterday, esp second half but in the first period there were several occasions when we were high up the pitch....Yaya on the edge of the box, Fernandinho wide up top and lost the ball and Hull had fucking acres of space to all swarm into. It was schoolboyesque.

Gareth Barry / Jack Rodwell / James Milner.....any of the fucking three of them in that space and we look much much much more solid. Play Negredo or Aguero or Dzeko alone for now...let Ferdy and Yaya push on and create fucking havoc. When it's all more settled play 2 up front and pull off one of those two if you want but this set up and the way they are operating in it is fucking suicidal.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

If anything, these discussions prove how far off we really are right now. Everyone has their own theory of what needs fixing. I myself see numerous of things wrong right now from back four to front two. We are very very far away from being efective side and we have little time to fix those big problems.

Now I'm not trying to put heat on The Engineer and for me he has time to fix those problems. But there are plenty of them all over the park and he needs to figure it out FAST.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

If anything, these discussions prove how far off we really are right now. Everyone has their own theory of what needs fixing. I myself see numerous of things wrong right now from back four to front two. We are very very far away from being efective side and we have little time to fix those big problems.

Now I'm not trying to put heat on The Engineer and for me he has time to fix those problems. But there are plenty of them all over the park and he needs to figure it out FAST.

Agreed.

Biggest problem for me is midfield. Silva shoe horned on left still, our only real winger drifting in and a 2 man middle that don't understand they need to take turns holding shape.

[Wooders]

Looks like the lads are struggling with the transition from super defensive to super attacking - we're sort of in limbo between the two at the moment

[Bluez]

Looks like the lads are struggling with the transition from super defensive to super attacking - we're sort of in limbo between the two at the moment

This seems the most likely. We don't really play a DM and we are playing a very high line. The main issue with that is we don't have pacy central defenders at the moment, although that will change with Kompany and nasty. The high line also squeezes the midfield so against teams like Cardiff it gets really crowded. After watching Cardiff against Everton yesterday, they will get plenty of points at home until later in the season when injuries kick in.

All things considered though, if it wasn't for two dodgy corners against Cardiff would we be having this discussion? We have scored twice as many goals as any other team in the league so maybe things are closer than they first look.

[Hazy2]

The manager is being very honest, his comments on the O.S sum up where we are. My only worry is Rodders.

[Ted Hughes]

Looks like the lads are struggling with the transition from super defensive to super attacking - we're sort of in limbo between the two at the moment

This seems the most likely. We don't really play a DM and we are playing a very high line. The main issue with that is we don't have pacy central defenders at the moment, although that will change with Kompany and nasty. The high line also squeezes the midfield so against teams like Cardiff it gets really crowded. After watching Cardiff against Everton yesterday, they will get plenty of points at home until later in the season when injuries kick in.

All things considered though, if it wasn't for two dodgy corners against Cardiff would we be having this discussion? We have scored twice as many goals as any other team in the league so maybe things are closer than they first look.

It's the defensive aspect being so bad which is undermining things.

It won't be solved by Kompany because it isn't an individual fault, it's a team fault.

And Nastasic got done about 7 times yesterday. So the weakness is still there.
And he has no more pace or turning ability than Lescott, as he proved. For this system, long term, we need some pace (ideally right accross the back 4) and much more workrate from the other players.

[Blue Since 76]

It's not the entire staduim, it's a small minority of loud mouthed gutless whinging cunts, who have it in for him & THEIR arses go, not his.

And that's the main problem why this utter fucking shite keeps getting repeated; it's not because Lescott keeps making bad passes, it's because those same whinging cunts are waiting/hoping he will, so they can shout at him.

The two fuckups he made today were down to the ball not reaching him, not any kind of pass he made.

For a centre back, his distribution today was absolutely fine, some simple, some decent forward passes, some playing safe, a couple of attempted long balls & an over ambitious through pass to Navas.

Silva played far more no hope, shit passes than Lescott, under no pressure. Lescott has to make a decision whether to risk a forward pass or not being last man. If Yaya or anyone make an angle for a forward pass, Lescott ALWAYS gives them the ball, every fucking time. If they don't, & they expect him to do something clever, he won't as he's a centre half & if he tries to, he is taking an unneccessary risk. Play safe & let the footballers earn their money.

The problem with Lescott is he's a typically British centre half playing in a team trying to be continental. I actually think he's our best defender at doing his job - defending. But I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so uncomfortable on the ball - I said to my dad yesterday that I reckon he's really right footed, as I look like him if I try to kick with my left foot as well.

Stick him on the left next to Kompany and we're fine. He can pass to the left back, Kompany or Silva/Yaya if they drop in (as long as Hart doesn't play the short ball to him forcing him to play it back and we look like a league 2 side as they both panic). Without Kompany, he looks lost. Yesterday was made even worse by playing him on the right side so he's always got the ball on his goal side.

But with Kompany and Richards unavailable, we're left with two left footed centre halves so it's always going to be a compromise. He obviously didn't fancy Garcia again, wisely, so we made do and got away with it. It seems pretty obvious we'll buy a centre half tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have a back 4 who look solid, whatever the make up. That then just leaves sorting the lack of cover from midfield and the attack, but he's got all week.

[Ted Hughes]

It's not the entire staduim, it's a small minority of loud mouthed gutless whinging cunts, who have it in for him & THEIR arses go, not his.

And that's the main problem why this utter fucking shite keeps getting repeated; it's not because Lescott keeps making bad passes, it's because those same whinging cunts are waiting/hoping he will, so they can shout at him.

The two fuckups he made today were down to the ball not reaching him, not any kind of pass he made.

For a centre back, his distribution today was absolutely fine, some simple, some decent forward passes, some playing safe, a couple of attempted long balls & an over ambitious through pass to Navas.

Silva played far more no hope, shit passes than Lescott, under no pressure. Lescott has to make a decision whether to risk a forward pass or not being last man. If Yaya or anyone make an angle for a forward pass, Lescott ALWAYS gives them the ball, every fucking time. If they don't, & they expect him to do something clever, he won't as he's a centre half & if he tries to, he is taking an unneccessary risk. Play safe & let the footballers earn their money.

The problem with Lescott is he's a typically British centre half playing in a team trying to be continental. I actually think he's our best defender at doing his job - defending. But I don't think I've ever seen anyone look so uncomfortable on the ball - I said to my dad yesterday that I reckon he's really right footed, as I look like him if I try to kick with my left foot as well.

Stick him on the left next to Kompany and we're fine. He can pass to the left back, Kompany or Silva/Yaya if they drop in (as long as Hart doesn't play the short ball to him forcing him to play it back and we look like a league 2 side as they both panic). Without Kompany, he looks lost. Yesterday was made even worse by playing him on the right side so he's always got the ball on his goal side.

But with Kompany and Richards unavailable, we're left with two left footed centre halves so it's always going to be a compromise. He obviously didn't fancy Garcia again, wisely, so we made do and got away with it. It seems pretty obvious we'll buy a centre half tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have a back 4 who look solid, whatever the make up. That then just leaves sorting the lack of cover from midfield and the attack, but he's got all week.

My point is that people judge Lescott on what he looks like, rather than the end result which is that he is often the best defender out of the 11 he plays in & rarely gives the ball away. All centre backs have fuckup moments, he has no more of them than any top City centre back ever, yet for some reason people try to give him a rep for fuckups. Then when he evetually makes one ' I told you so' .

He definitely isn't the man for this game, but he's likely to be as good or better than most current alternatives, as they are struggling too.

[MaineRoadMemories]

I agree with most comments on where we are failing. It's working just enough to get through against the lower half of the prem but we could be onto a real hiding when playing a top 6 team. Main problems I see is

Playing a high defensive line will be exploited by anyone with pace. Our defenders cannot play a high line especially Zabba and Lescott and Nastasic. Only Kompany, Clichy and possible Richards could do it.

The midfield are not working with the defence. Silva and Navas are not providing enough cover as they are both drawn inside leaving huge gaps down the sides.

As mentioned throughout Ferandinho and Yaya are not working well together. I want to see either Rodwell or Milner in there for extra cover. Against the top 6 I'd also drop Navas for Milner.

The biggest issue a had yesterday and against Cardiff was the lack of tackling from everyone in our team. We were pressing the opposition but I was impressed with how well both Cardiff and Hull passed themselves out of trouble. We need to introduce more bite and tackling from top to bottom.

On the plus side Negredo is looking a real talent early doors.

[Hazy2]

He will also be expecting a lot more from Silva and Kun. For me Silva and Nasri need to be off the touch line,a left winger
Di Maria for example would add balance pace.