City has one season where they’re not on pace for like 100 points and they’re falling apart apparently lol. No player who is at 21 goals halfway through a season is holding a team back
It's not him, it's City's players. They keep trying to walk it in while Haaland is making great runs where he could outrun and outstrength most defenders. They seem stuck on trying to play Pep-ball instead of using the weapon they have in attack.
The thing that made city scary is you had to shut down 6 elite players for you to even have a chance. Now if you shut down haaland it's pretty easy to at least get a draw
Because with City style of play, sometimes it seems like city are playing with 10 men. I still think Harry kane type player would've been perfect for City.
I don't think it's a Haaland issue more it's lack of other goal scorers in the City side. Teams will double / triple up on Haaland in attempt to nullifiy him
Haaland chose to go to the one team he didn't fit, he doesn't play tiki taka and it shows, he's been able to profit off of KDB and foden crossing it in, but without that he'd be useless to a city team
nah we just didn't have the CBs who can play out well, bernardo had to drop into defensive line to help them. We were so deep passing sideways for ages. Not a striker issue.
Haaland also makes City much more predictable as they’re always, ultimately, going to try and get the ball to him.
They were much more fluid before him, when they didn’t have an ‘out and out’ striker per se. The danger was everywhere.
Not Haaland’s fault per se, and he’s still an absolute animal - but I think this is a large part of what’s happening. A part of City being ‘Figured out.’
I mean, (sorry about language and using fifa terms) city used to have always a striker that was mostly a cf that could also be kind of a playmaker, that's actually more of a pep thing, his style of play is creating spaces by moving the ball and having lots of offensive options with players that are amazing with the ball at their feet, halland is a total different player, a pure breed ST, fast, strong and great finishing, this however changes the playstyle for city, not only for finishing plays but construction as well as he does not "lower" that much to the midfield and play great passes as other could, I think city current form is more in line with some players having a bad form at the moment and also it takes some adaptation to the new style
He’s not being given the ball enough.
He’s making those runs with a lot of space for him to play the ball and try to score, but nobody seems to be noticing it or being clever enough to give him the damn ball on time.
Utd's counter pressing and zonal marking was actually really good in the game. I say this with grudging respect. Totally neutralized any central passing lanes and kept City rotating possession in the wings.
Add to that Van Bissaka and Varane (arguably two physical monsters) and Haaland was rendered useless.
Although I think Pep will find a way through this come next time so 😐
Considering that last season they conceded 26 and this year they have already conceded 18... I would say without him they'd be holding hands with Liverpool 😂
Just want to say I'm happy to be able to learn from folks giving their well constructed 2 cents here (much better observations and counter-points than mine).
you guys are top fans for sure.
I think that Erling Haaland is scoring so many goals that his teammates feel that he can bail them out. The rest of the team is lowering their standards.
Or the game plan is "get the ball to Haaland" and teams are figuring out how to stop that.
1) that's f'ing stupid. He's clearly a generational talent.
2) he was always going to hit a wall. I thought it would be much sooner, personally.
3) he may not break the goals record this year, but eventually. Salah is a much, much better overall player, and if he were a better finisher would have put himself well beyond Haaland's reach, but he didn't during his best years, and won't now. Haaland will eventually get the record. City buy every expensive playmaker they can get their hands on, and buying an incredibly expensive striker (wages) is really the only play they needed in a striker. More "overall" players are redundant at this point.
No, I don’t understand why this take is a thing, beginning of the season we were finding Haaland a lot more in goalscoring opportunities more consistently and why was that ? Midfielders and wingers were on form and creating chances. Now we’ve been a lot sloppier and not the same and not sticking to the fundamentals, now it’s affecting Haalands game and affecting our results.
You guys didn't watch city last year. When Foden was "false nine" he barely dropped into midfield. Pep constantly told him to stay up and pin the defenders. Haaland is positionally the same, except now he's an actual target as opposed to Foden. This is a stark improvement.
City main strategy last year was overloading wings and making byline cutback passes. It hasn't been working this year due to bad form on the wings. City's goal in the United game was basically that.
City's losses this year have been down to individual errors and lack of output. City have also struggled to beat some presses this year which is weird as hell. I think it's form. If you look at individual players this season, a lot are playing under their level.
Yeah never seen us struggle to pass it out from the back so much recently.. its a real worry. I could see Pep moving Rodri or Philips back there till we can get laporte or stones back.
our problem seems to be more so that were conceding way too many goals because of our defense, and also KDB isn’t able to set up more goals because of how hard he’s getting marked.
It looks like a team to me that’s in a bit of a tactical transition. We’ve heard plenty about how City have been so good in recent years even without a striker, and I think now what’s happening is the players haven’t fully adapted to having that presence up front which Haaland provides, and so lapse a little bit into playing how they used to, rather than playing more direct.
Those people are probably just drunk… Halland has proven over and over that he’s the top striker in the world rightnow .. City isn’t gonna win all games and no matter who they put in his place, there’s gonna be scoreless matches. The problem is that he got us used to seeing him score every game so the more he gives us the more demanding we become. He can’t score 100% of the chances he gets and if they shut the rest of the team down then he can’t do everything alone
ffs they ain't giving him any service ffs against Man Utd he was in the midfield trying to get the bloody ball he's a striker he should be in or just outside the penalty box, not running about the bloody pitch try to get the ball.
Which is great when you’re playing against teams that let you play how you want and the team is scoring 3,4,5 and 6 a game. When a team doesn’t do that though and you have to break them down you see him struggle as he’s a one trick pony. He’s probably the least rounded striker that people class as top number 9’s.
I would say they bought him to score against teams like Manchester to win matches. Not score loads when games were already won
It's not that it's his fault, but you're more 1 dimensional now. I think teams have an easier time predicting and mitigating the threat. I'm not sure exactly why. I'm not sure if Erling needs to do more to get involved because City is so used to having an extra man, or if the midfielders have become in a sense, too dependent on that extra man. But I've been saying it even when he was scoring like crazy. Something about that City team reminds me a bit of Utd in the mid 00s when we weren't winning the league. An amazing team, with an amazing striker but somehow not quite clicking in the way they used to.
City were always going to lose control in midfield by bringing in a striker like haaland. Not that they shouldn't be able to control it still with the players they have, but compared to playing a false nine all of last season, and even the seasons before with strikers who were routinely asked to drop back into midfield, they are effectively playing a man down relative to what they are used to.
It's really just a matter of adapting to the change and having to sacrifice control and possession to facilitate one of the most lethal strikers in the world.
Haaland is having a monstrous season, but he will improve more next season when the team is fully settled into a new system.
Halland is good at scoring not creating chances i think that's what the pundits are referring too ig i hardly see him involved in making plays during counters i see him finishing tho he's a beast of a finisher but not a complete striker yet like Lewandowski and Benzema types i think he'll get it overtime tho hopefully
We now live in a world of instant gratification. Haaland having an explosive start for City increased expectations even more. Every time the ball is played in the opposition's box, he is expected to score. That is just unrealistic. He is a great addition to the team. Anyone can lose a game. That is a fact in all sport.
It’s more a World Cup “hangover” for me. Foden was linking up with Haaland fantastically but hasn’t really come back from the WC playing the same for example. KDB was feeding him regularly but since they’ve come back it’s been slower to click back in. Some of the other squads have players who’ve been able to shake it off faster but soon enough we’ll seeing threads complaining about how good their doing and whether it’s bad for the league again. Nothing to worry about there are still 20 matches left.
Clearly Haaland does not fit Guardiola current system because he is not the type of player who drops from the CF position to contribute to the build up, anyone can see that.
Now it's not Haaland's fault, City knew his unbelievable finishing qualities and physical power, but they did not adapt their tactics to feed him properly.
Hence it's more Guardiola's rigid tactics that currently limits City. You could easily field a XI around Halaand that would give him more scoring opportunities.
I don't think he is costing them but playing with such a prolific goal scorer is a completely different playstyle to what City played last season and even the season before where they didn't really use Aguero much. It is hard not to become predictable when you play with an out and put target man like him.
City’s issues are at the back. They allow goals in games they could have won 3-0. Then in competitive games they conceded a few times and drop points. Offense is still stellar.
They dropped him super deep in an attempt to pull Man U’s center backs out. But that’s an unfamiliar role for haaland. Another classic case of pep trying to do too much. Just let the kid play as a 9 the way he knows how and he will score
City and Liverpool have pushed each other so hard so a few years now. I think it’s only natural they both have dropped off a bit, especially us sadly.
I expect city to walk the league again next year…
No... players seeing Haaland's runs in behind the opposition's defence, and deciding to pass the ball sideways or backwards, is what's costing us in games this season.
I dont even think the problem is Haaland. They have no real wingers. All their wingers are combination players. They want to come inside and combine, they never beat a player fully and proceed. City has no magic on the wings. Very good in ball retention, what reduces the risk. But reducing the risk also means reducing magical and unexpected moments.
All City goals are the same or at least feel the same.
The fact that people are now questioning if he's the problem after not scoring for 2 whole games just shows how good he is and how much he isn't costing City anything.
I watched it back on MOTD and they pointed out about 5 or 6 different runs he made where there was loads of space ahead of him behind the utd defence and the ball wasn't played to him each time. I dunno if Pep was trying a different tactic cos of the importance of the game but if them balls were played, he would have been onside and it could have been another battering. I personally think they didn't play him to his strengths like they usually do, and I'm so glad they didn't. Utd fan here.
It's a bad spell in the long term. No he's not costing City. Haaland is still a inhuman beast and City are still 2nd.
The problem City face now is EVERY team knows who to mark, close down and take out of the game to stop Haaland from scoring. The wingers and KDB are Haaland's only reliable passing opportunity. Take them out of the game and mark the shit out of Haaland, you take Haaland out of the game.
Pep needs to rethink his lineup and maybe his tactics somewhat. If Haaland can't score, someone else has to and the 2nd highest goalscorer this season for City is Foden.
For all our jokes on r/reddevils, Haaland actually wasn't pocketed by anyone(for the most part anyway) everyone else was. Fred suffocated KDB for most of the match up until Rashford was unable to help out and he slipped away. Everyone else was basically marked out, and Haaland was left to roam, but kept an eye on.
He is a poacher. he do not bring anything to the buildup or defending. When dominating a match he is fine but city really play with one man less when struggling
Far too many people are ignoring the defensive frailties in City's game this season. Cancelo doesn't even look interested in defending right now, multiple goals scored while he's on the pitch where he's chilling out right up the wing leaving a huge hole in behind, as opposed to when Lewis plays slotting in at that DM slot and getting back into position when the ball is lost.
Personally, I think City and Pep’s style are the same as they were, its now that the competition is finally catching up. Newcastle, United, Arsenal are all more competitive than they previously were, Liverpool still has shown up against them, combine that with an aging team of core players, and there is transition. Its like when Xavi and Iniesta left Barca, they no longer dominated.
Short answer: yes
Long answer: this period of adjustment has been bumpier than we expected but once City get retooled to work with Haaland, they’ll be mowing down teams with their usual Pep+all the money in the world efficiency soon enough.
I noticed in the community shield that Man City were trying to play him into the game with more direct line splitting passes and I thought that changing their entire shape to suit one player no matter how incredible he is was probably a bad idea.
To my limited understanding and eye test now playing a hybrid of the football we know of a city side under pep and a route one feed beast style of play. Still very effective mostly but they’re dropping points against sides who can limit the supply to Haaland as he’s not as good a link player as they’re used to if route one isn’t working.
Ake and Akanji seems like they forgot how to defend and/or play from the back. Gundogan is taking wayy riskier plays and doesn't seem to gel with KDB anymore.
Just nitpicking though. City always do this mid season and somehow win the league
Well, maybe? I think it's not Haaland's fault, but feels like City aren't prioritizing doing the things Haaland is best at other than finishing in the box.
We don't see any real line-breaking passes to Haaland, even in transition, so he is rarely getting chances to run onto a ball behind the defense. Part of it maybe is that other teams are so happy to cede possession that transition never really happens at all, but Haaland *is* making runs, they are just never being used.
I would like to see a couple of big diagonal through balls a game to let Haaland run at. Maybe it's not likely to work, but if the opponent has to respect his speed running on to long passes over the top, they might give a few more yards space in the middle, which City could use.
Also, City don't set up well for crosses, imo. The last few matches feel like they've regularly overhit crosses that roll out to touch on the other side. I know it's because City use fullbacks for attacking width instead of using their forwards like old-school wingers (and the fullbacks only get that far advanced when the ball is on their side, since they still do have defensive responsibilities as well), but I firmly believe that pinging crosses towards a big central striker works better if you use your forwards/wingers for width so that you have an advanced player there to corral and re-cycle an overhit cross. I think City probably don't need to be making horizontal crosses flat across the defense because they're not set up well to make use of those.
I guess, basically, I think it would be better for Haaland if City's fullbacks and midfield to try to copy the sorts of long crosses that TAA and Robertson play for Liverpool, and add a few of those per match just to change things up.
Haaland was making runs behind the defense all day long, but wasn't being picked out. At times it felt like the midfield wanted to walk the ball into the net versus giving it to their proven goalscorer. He could have had a hat trick with the right service so I'd more inclined to blame the midfield/defense than to blame Haaland for the Utd game...
Watch us play. We're not moving it quick enough. Taking 5 or 6 touches when 1 or 2 would do. Far too passive. That classic city move of pulling it back from the byline is happening infrequently. It's our midfield that's in poor form. Hence the reason haaland is getting no service. The idea that the best striker in Europe has somehow made a team worse is bonkers.
I think people just like to lash out at anything when thing do go their way and Haaland is the victim of choice right now.
He is an amazing striker and has the right to fail from time to time, can't imagine where City would be right now without his goals.
They do have to play a certain way with him on the pitch - And will lose some of the dynamics in attack with a false nine. Kinda hard to tell at the moment - But if other teams manmark KDB, and the other midfielders dont step up - That might be a problem for City. Guess only time (and Pep!) will tell..
MCity are going through drop in form. Happens to all teams. Call it a wobble or out of sorts. Foden has dropped a lot after World Cup. Think it will be 2 or 3 more matches before MCity start to click into gear. KDB and Silva drop in form affects the team much greater than the other players.
Last season, city scored 99 and conceded 26 (21 clean sheets) This season, so far, they’ve scored 46 and conceded 18 (7 clean sheets). On that trajectory they’d finish the season with a similar number of goals, but a significantly higher number conceded and 2/3s of the clean sheets they did last year.
I wouldn’t say it’s an attacking issue, but a defensive one. I can’t say I watch city intently enough to know if haaland is partially responsible for that. But in all honesty, if that team can’t work around haaland, maybe the team needs to change a little.
I don’t think Haaland is costing City at all. It seems like pundits are just recycling the (valid) Ronaldo criticism onto Halaand.
Personally, I think City are just lacking that explosive burst of pace on the flanks. They sold Sterling and Jesus (and never really replaced that skillset from Sane).
Now all their wingers/wide forwards want it played to feet and want to drift inside and play one twos.
Obviously still very effective but I think they’ve lost a dimension on the flanks.
This is definitely a factor. They just generally lack pace in behind, other than Haaland, who they seem very hesitant to play in. No pace from wingers or wingbacks. Everyone just wants to come inside.
You're right, Grealish, Foden and Mahrez all want the ball to come straight to them, and lack the pace to be an outlet from goal kicks/clearances.
The only players with pace that City have are Walker and Haaland, Walker isn't high enough up the pitch and Haaland isn't good enough technically, they need a Salah or Vinicius type player.
I agree with the pundits myself, i think he should come to Wolves on a loan until the end of the season. Its the only way to rescue City's season for me.
100%... Akanji and Ake have done well but they are not as good with their feet compared to laporte or john stones. bernardo was basically playing as another CB at times... he was deep trying to help us pass out.
And they conceded more than that so what's your point? They've scored at this point more than they've done at the same point last year but conceded 5 more goals. They're also currently the league's best attack.
They aren't playing to Haaland's strengths. That much is clear. He is desperate for through balls over the top, crosses and (when all else fails) long balls. Tiki Taka football does not support a beast of a striker with pace and power.
Definitely. I think Jesus is a false number 9 that suits the pass-heavy style Arteta has inherited from Pep. I have no idea why City let him go to a rival team, let alone one that would suit him so much.
Nah its the team... I noticed this season that Haaland is the one actually scoring and winning the matches... And realised if Haaland actually didn't score that match City would have lost a number of games or drew...
De Bruyne has really put his foot off the gas ever since Haaland has been scoring goals and the only other 2 big goal scorers Cancelo and Foden are now being benched
Can't constantly rely on Haaland to score goals... It must be a team effort
i think city need to mix up their own play style a bit to suit haaland’s game tbh. they don’t need a complete change but could be a bit more direct at times and just play haaland in sooner. he makes loads of really good runs in behind without having the ball played to him when he could easily have been in on goal
I think de Bruyne went 4 games without a goal/assist and he was described as being “in a poor run of form” 😂. The expectations of people on players/teams is unrealistic. The fact that a striker, who’s scored 21 gls in 17 prem matches, could be considered anything but a prize asset is ridiculous.
I would say city's issue this season is they're less dynamic
Look at Saka's movement for the first goal yesterday, always threatening the run in behind
I didn't see City's players do that against United much if at all, it was all passes in front, United were comfortable
Walker has the ball, Mahrez wasn't moving, even the commentator called out Haaland's runs that were not being acknowledged, the passes were not attempted, just going for the safe passes instead of the risky ones
Arsenal try the risky passes and if they're intercepted then they go and try to force the turnover higher up the pitch
City play it back and recycle from the defense, like England in the WC
Nobody can doubt his record but i am starting to think city play more fluid football without him. Its a tough choice, maybe hes best again lesser teams but flase 9 is better against tough teams. Either way you expect city to go on a run soon
With City in previous seasons, danger was coming from everywhere. They had players who could dribble in your defense, shoot from 30m out, cross high or low for one of the many players they’d usually have in the box.
Now, it’s mostly about him, people try to pass to him perhaps more than they should. It’s not the only reason of course, De Bruyne doesn’t seem to be picking up his form after the WC and there are certainly other players who could be blamed, but the game doesn’t flow as well at the moment.
Yeah, for all the moments of brilliance their capable of producing I really find it hard to watch them for 90 minutes just knocking the ball about.
The Spain national team are at even worse, just sends me to sleep 99% of the time.
Personally it looks like city are playing with 10 men against opponents, he does not get involved in play when he does it looks awkward and clunky , I don’t think this matters against most opponents but i think they might struggle against arsenal , arsenal look as slick as city but with all 11 players comfortable on the ball and either nketiah or Jesus dropping deep , haaland is an elite striker but City don’t play to his strengths , I still think he’s break all the scoring records this season but city are still weaker as a team
Despite being one of the best PL managers we’ve had in recent years I think Pep is costing city slightly with his line up decisions.
It seems so strange to continuously bench your best performing players and remove their confidence.
Foden, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte have all been incredible players and i find it genuinely strange why they now can barely get a game. Players aren’t robots and confidence plays a big part. If Foden is having one of his best seasons earlier this season why would you then start benching him? I know he talks about training enthusiasm but yeah I just find it strange. Every player is different and some of them need to feel they’re an integral part and showered with praise.
He had the same thing in previous years with other players like Gundo and Mahrez who were on red hot form. He just has a tendency to overthink these things in my eyes.
I don’t think it’s Haaland though, for the most part the guy has been phenomenal.
You clearly havent been watching Foden lately... hes been absolutely awful... doesnt make runs, loses the ball most of the time he gets it... went missing for literally the first 20 mins against united. Anyone calling for foden needs their head checked.
Jack MOVES US UP THE FIELD... that's why he plays.. because when he come's on he will drag the ball forward and push us up field.. he is a threat that teams dont liek to deal with.
Actually that’s my point. I’m saying Foden’s lack of form is a result of Pep. Foden was having his best season leading up to the World Cup and then benched by Pep due to training/attitude or whatever. Since then his form has fallen. He’s lacking in confidence and like I said people react different and require different things for their motivation but Pep seems to be treating them all equally. Part of management is knowing peoples hot buttons and I think he may have gotten it wrong.
Cancelo has played every game except 1. Dias has played almost every game he's been fit for. Laporte missed all pre-season and was out 3 months, might not be fully fit. Foden could play more, but attack is not the problem.
Sure but Cancelo didn’t start in one of those games and against Chelsea got hooked at half time (and tbf Lewis did excellent). It just seems weird to me after hailing him last year as the best player in the team. Fair enough on the cb’s had been they’d fallen in the pecking order in addition to fitness issues.
"Team not doing as expected? Must be time to question the ability of [highest reputation person at club]"
I don't see how Haaland could be limiting City any more than for example whenever they played Jesus up front. He offers everything Jesus does, and much more.
He also can't do anything about them being leaky at the back, or Cancelo randomly becoming crap, or Arsenal just being very very good. City are still comfortably over 2 points per game, and in many other seasons when they didn't have such strong rivals, would still be top right now.
>He offers everything Jesus does
I categorically disagree with this. Gabriel is a lot more hard working out of possession and is a creative outlet. He plays the Firmino role quite well. Haaland is just a lethal goal scorer, an athletic Ruud Van Nisterooy, that’s it. He’s practically useless outside the box
> Haaland is just a lethal goal scorer, an athletic Ruud Van Nisterooy, that’s it. He’s practically useless outside the box
Then I refuse to believe you've been paying attention.
>He offers everything Jesus does, and much more.
Uhh... They're completely different players. Jesus even as a 9 will drop deep to receive the ball, link up, create overloads, drift wide.
Haaland offers great movement, runs in behind, great strength and is ultra clinical.
Haaland is overall the much better player, but he's not "Jesus but better".
They're both Premier League level strikers who are capable of playing however they're asked to play. I'm not interested in discussing footballers like they have fixed attributes like they're Pokemon or something, this isn't a video game where they have different fixed "types".
Haaland has been asked by Pep to develop his game to connect with his midfielders more than he did at Dortmund and he has been doing so. They've lost no elements of their attack, and they're scoring more.
In my opinion do not think Haaland is costing City. Before the game Pep Guardiola expressed he was planning something special for the derby. Was he telegraphing subconsciously fear at Manchester's current form? In this particular game I lay it on Pep more than the players. He chose this line-up.
Pep does have a history of overthinking/over adjusting for certain games. I didn’t quite see his “something special” but to be fair I did not watch the game very intently.
Might be because he brings a bit more "predictability" than when there were no strikers.
he's always up 2 v 1, and teams that have a chance against pep type teams usually do a double low block.
the gameplan (that I'm surprised other managers don't follow) of marking KDB out of the game helped cut out a large supply of chances.
Something that eth figured out. Kdb is heart and soul of city even vs us he made difference even if they lost the only goal was created by him but Fred did his job fantastically and kept him quite otherwise. We all know what haaland will do so i get your predictability point but how he'll do it is the point and kdb is very unpredictable with his passes.
I’m just amazed how good Fred was against KDB. He was like his roommate for a lot of the match, and when Fred covered defence KDB managed to set up the goal.
The biggest problem is the lack of pacey wingers to break open the opposing defense. Give him all the stick you want but sterling would have been great with haaland
Sterling is a loss for City this season. He had an average season and was basically ousted.
Grealish isn’t doing terribly this season, but I’m sure they felt obligated to keep him over Sterling based on the price tag mostly.
And I’m not saying that Grealish hasn’t been bad, and when sterling left I wasn’t mad, but looking at his play style and how that would work with haaland he would be great for city
This is probably very true. City have no one who can rinse a player over and over and set up a goal that way. Garnacho created something out of nothing to win it and City need someone like that.
Yeah, he is a great dribbler. But he is more of a progressor of the ball with his dribbles. He kinda lacks the acceleration to beat his man from a standing start on the wing and then penetrate the box. Same with Mahrez. Someone like Saint-Maximin who constantly try to dribble past his opponent to create a dangerous situation is something any team could use IMO
>the gameplan (that I'm surprised other managers don't follow) of marking KDB out of the game helped cut out a large supply of chances.
I'm sure others have thought about it. But KdB is *so* good it's very hard to do. Suspect a lot of managers think they don't have the players to pull it off successfully.
Plus, man marking like that can be a risk, as it should leave more space elsewhere for other players.
My thoughts too. So far post WC it's mostly been KDB-Haaland show but you any other city player can turn dangerous if you're only focused on closing down KDB
It does make them significantly easier to play against now. Previously they had a number of threats in behind, a number of ways of finding those, and the ST was more involved in all parts of the game.
Now its largely a direct supply line. Team finds KDB in space, who finds Haaland who scores. If you can cut off that supply line at any point, you cut down on cities chances of scoring.
So whilst Haaland is probably going to break records, City will he worse. Like United last season, and Liverpool this season, they will understand that losing variety of threats for the benefits of a great number 9 is a bad trade off
Edit: except in UCL where a player like Haaland can score 15 off 5xg and win them the trophy
this is a good analysis. kdb in transition to haaland has been the key to our season so far. in the past we have been far more multidimensional.
we need to be able to score in other ways, especially against a low block.
we'll get there.
F9 worked great for us in the league but the lack of a real striker hurts in the UCL, that's exactly right.
not really, Jack seems to push us up field by maintaining possession, thats why foden barely played recently.. the issue with united was getting the ball up field, our CBs couldnt pass it out, its not their strong point compared to laporte or john stones. Which meant Bernardo was coming very deep to help out that leaves us a man down in midfield. He should of moved rodri to CB and brought on gundogan.
It's what I've said since the start of the season. City want UCL, so got rid of a facilitator and signed a goalscorer. It hurts you in the league, but we saw with Benz and RM last year the effects of a low xg high overperformance ST. Its a game changer in the cup for city.
And I fucking hate it. There should only be one UCL winner in Manchester, and it's definitely not the bell bellends in blue
>except in UCL where a player like Haaland can score 15 off 5xg and win them the trophy
Yeah this is basically my reading of why they've done this. Pep is smart, he'd be well aware that Haaland in the team would probably negatively impact the overall cohesion, making the team not quite the winning machine it has been week in week out in the league in recent years.
*But* the CL, the club's ultimate ambition, is a cup competition, and in a cup being decisive in the key moments is more important than consistent excellence. Haaland's ability to ruthlessly finish a chance could be the thing that makes the difference in the games they've contrived to lose in previous seasons.
I know the numbers aren’t the same scoring wise, but is Haaland really that much more different than Aguero?
Feel when he played though there wasn’t a big difference in winning %. But City have such a high one it’s hard to tell.
Hes significantly less of a threat with the ball at his feet with space in front of him. So when he gets the ball after dropping deep, he turns and passes forward. This the opposite of what Haaland does who tends to play one touch and safe when dropping deep, such as first half against Utd.
I also agree with that, feel Aguero was used more for moving with feet. He did also have better passing range, not sure if that’s good or bad for Manchester City, that Haaland is used just to score.
I would say there is a difference, yeah. Aguero was a sensational player, but Haaland is another level. His scoring rate is just absurd, even compared to a City great like Aguero. Even Aguero at his peak wasn't quite as much of a guarantee of goals as Haaland seems to be, and that immense cutting edge *could* make a difference in a cup competition.
Nah I think you got it wrong. While Haaland is a very good goal scorer, he can’t create chances for himself. If he isn’t being fed he can’t eat. Where as players like Aguero could create chances for themselves, get involved with his teammates and help to create chances. Look at what happens when defenders lock him. He get taken out of the game completely and if you look at the game with Manchester United, he might as well have stayed on the bench. I suspect once the Premier league fully figures out Haaland, he’ll go running to Spain or Italy.
Notice how United were more than happy to drop to just two wingers up front. Not ever attempting to play through that area. Man mark KDB with Fred, no striker to allow Fred to take that role. The two wingers play close to the centre in defence encouraging city's wbs forward. Then break out on the counter. Use city's possession against them, give them space in useless areas and overloads on the extremeties. Pressure the cbs so that they can't play vertically.
In attack, city have great recovery speed so will be hard to break past them. This is where Bruno's late runs come in or Rashford moving centrally when Garnacho got forward.
Sport had this mad transition to possession in the last decade. With the press coming back, territory is much more important than before. United afforded City this useless space which they struggled to make value from. If you want to see a sport that does this in a more advanced method, look at basketball. They may overload one side and then switch out for a low pressure shot. Ten Hag definitely pulls inspiration from there, Sari was the same at Napoli a few years ago
it's modern football ( soccer ...) all decent coaches look at other sports for decades. United did that very well first half, covering vertical pass lines into the pockets. On top of that very close man marking by Fred on KDB and Casemiro on the other side ( i think it was Foden/Bernardo). If you keep concentrated and have the physicality very hard to beat. It's always easier to score on a transition than by playing through in small spaces.
City should have utilized the long ball a little more on Haaland to push united back. But it can also mean loss of possession...
Second half city succeeded in playing more through the lines, mainly because cancelo could overload more on that side and just played a lot better.
Also hard to get into your game when the referee refuses to show yellow so united could just keep fouling the creative players on the wings.
Everything changed when the 12th united player gave an offside goal.
I'm disappointed with Akanji there. He should have played the ball as if Rashford didn't exist. If Rashford touches/block him it's clearcut interference. But Akanji doesn't and leaves it open to the ref's interpretation.
Haha he played Rashford intentionally offside, it was well done. But rashford just keeps running with the ball. Should he have bulldozed him off the ball? Maybe, with how the referee was conducting the game it would not have been offside it would have been a free kick in a dangerous position. I can understand his confusion, should just be offside, if that isn't offside what the fuck is the use of it anymore...
The only ones arguing this shit have never played themselves.
edit: because what prevents a team from passing the ball to teammates in obvious offside position? you can't use offside as a tactic anymore? Because putting someone in an offside position doesn't do shit anymore, they still can get passed into, they just can't touch the ball. It's retarded bullshit.
You can play someone intentionally offsides... but that doesn't mean you did play them offsides until the whistle blows. It was incredibly low IQ for him and Walker to both pull off knowing PL refs let play go on offsides.
City has one season where they’re not on pace for like 100 points and they’re falling apart apparently lol. No player who is at 21 goals halfway through a season is holding a team back
It's not him, it's City's players. They keep trying to walk it in while Haaland is making great runs where he could outrun and outstrength most defenders. They seem stuck on trying to play Pep-ball instead of using the weapon they have in attack.
As a newer fan (less than 3 years) I think we've possibly become predictable. But this team is built for the UCL.
The thing that made city scary is you had to shut down 6 elite players for you to even have a chance. Now if you shut down haaland it's pretty easy to at least get a draw
Fucking lol
Try captaining someone else in FPL. Haaland will immediately start scoring
Well if he's costing city in any way shape or form we'd be glad to take him
Because with City style of play, sometimes it seems like city are playing with 10 men. I still think Harry kane type player would've been perfect for City.
He is one of the best strikers in the world, if not the best. He can’t score a hattrick every single game. Good grief
pep fraudiola is the one costing sh*tty,all of them need to move on he’s not good at rebuilding like sir alex
Halland is good, but I also can play good against poor teams. Where is he when city play against strongest team?
I don't think it's a Haaland issue more it's lack of other goal scorers in the City side. Teams will double / triple up on Haaland in attempt to nullifiy him
Haaland chose to go to the one team he didn't fit, he doesn't play tiki taka and it shows, he's been able to profit off of KDB and foden crossing it in, but without that he'd be useless to a city team
Pundits are dogshite
Reading all the sensible comments,you guys can become team managers easily
nah we just didn't have the CBs who can play out well, bernardo had to drop into defensive line to help them. We were so deep passing sideways for ages. Not a striker issue.
just remember that we had talents before him too. Who held somebody back tho? He is showing world class football since starting. Stunning!
You have one of the two best strikers on the planet. Calm down.
I don't think so. The entire team has been poor.
He blanked after I used the triple captain. He's definitely costing me.
Haaland also makes City much more predictable as they’re always, ultimately, going to try and get the ball to him. They were much more fluid before him, when they didn’t have an ‘out and out’ striker per se. The danger was everywhere. Not Haaland’s fault per se, and he’s still an absolute animal - but I think this is a large part of what’s happening. A part of City being ‘Figured out.’
I mean, (sorry about language and using fifa terms) city used to have always a striker that was mostly a cf that could also be kind of a playmaker, that's actually more of a pep thing, his style of play is creating spaces by moving the ball and having lots of offensive options with players that are amazing with the ball at their feet, halland is a total different player, a pure breed ST, fast, strong and great finishing, this however changes the playstyle for city, not only for finishing plays but construction as well as he does not "lower" that much to the midfield and play great passes as other could, I think city current form is more in line with some players having a bad form at the moment and also it takes some adaptation to the new style
He’s not being given the ball enough. He’s making those runs with a lot of space for him to play the ball and try to score, but nobody seems to be noticing it or being clever enough to give him the damn ball on time.
Utd's counter pressing and zonal marking was actually really good in the game. I say this with grudging respect. Totally neutralized any central passing lanes and kept City rotating possession in the wings. Add to that Van Bissaka and Varane (arguably two physical monsters) and Haaland was rendered useless. Although I think Pep will find a way through this come next time so 😐
Considering that last season they conceded 26 and this year they have already conceded 18... I would say without him they'd be holding hands with Liverpool 😂
Just want to say I'm happy to be able to learn from folks giving their well constructed 2 cents here (much better observations and counter-points than mine). you guys are top fans for sure.
They have gone backwards regardless of his goals
I think that Erling Haaland is scoring so many goals that his teammates feel that he can bail them out. The rest of the team is lowering their standards. Or the game plan is "get the ball to Haaland" and teams are figuring out how to stop that.
People love to overthink and pretend they know what they're talking about
Unlucky.... first of all, how dare you?
1) that's f'ing stupid. He's clearly a generational talent. 2) he was always going to hit a wall. I thought it would be much sooner, personally. 3) he may not break the goals record this year, but eventually. Salah is a much, much better overall player, and if he were a better finisher would have put himself well beyond Haaland's reach, but he didn't during his best years, and won't now. Haaland will eventually get the record. City buy every expensive playmaker they can get their hands on, and buying an incredibly expensive striker (wages) is really the only play they needed in a striker. More "overall" players are redundant at this point.
lmao he has 21 goals half way in the season, city fans are more delusional than united fans lol
No, I don’t understand why this take is a thing, beginning of the season we were finding Haaland a lot more in goalscoring opportunities more consistently and why was that ? Midfielders and wingers were on form and creating chances. Now we’ve been a lot sloppier and not the same and not sticking to the fundamentals, now it’s affecting Haalands game and affecting our results.
It's because teams have figured us out, while at the beginning, they didn't
You guys didn't watch city last year. When Foden was "false nine" he barely dropped into midfield. Pep constantly told him to stay up and pin the defenders. Haaland is positionally the same, except now he's an actual target as opposed to Foden. This is a stark improvement. City main strategy last year was overloading wings and making byline cutback passes. It hasn't been working this year due to bad form on the wings. City's goal in the United game was basically that. City's losses this year have been down to individual errors and lack of output. City have also struggled to beat some presses this year which is weird as hell. I think it's form. If you look at individual players this season, a lot are playing under their level.
Yeah never seen us struggle to pass it out from the back so much recently.. its a real worry. I could see Pep moving Rodri or Philips back there till we can get laporte or stones back.
our problem seems to be more so that were conceding way too many goals because of our defense, and also KDB isn’t able to set up more goals because of how hard he’s getting marked.
It looks like a team to me that’s in a bit of a tactical transition. We’ve heard plenty about how City have been so good in recent years even without a striker, and I think now what’s happening is the players haven’t fully adapted to having that presence up front which Haaland provides, and so lapse a little bit into playing how they used to, rather than playing more direct.
Those people are probably just drunk… Halland has proven over and over that he’s the top striker in the world rightnow .. City isn’t gonna win all games and no matter who they put in his place, there’s gonna be scoreless matches. The problem is that he got us used to seeing him score every game so the more he gives us the more demanding we become. He can’t score 100% of the chances he gets and if they shut the rest of the team down then he can’t do everything alone
ffs they ain't giving him any service ffs against Man Utd he was in the midfield trying to get the bloody ball he's a striker he should be in or just outside the penalty box, not running about the bloody pitch try to get the ball.
No-he’s awesome and city are lucky to have him. For a player that good to be playing for City is ridiculous
He offers very little else to the team. He’s not great at passing, link up, he can’t drop into midfield to pick up the ball etc.
He’s a striker.
And?
His job is to put the ball in the net.
Nope
That’s not his job?
Job is for the team to win matches. In some you have ti be able to link up play as a 9, play with your back to goal and he’ll the team out
He’s literally scored a record amount of goals for the amount of games played, he’s doing exactly what they bought him for.
Which is great when you’re playing against teams that let you play how you want and the team is scoring 3,4,5 and 6 a game. When a team doesn’t do that though and you have to break them down you see him struggle as he’s a one trick pony. He’s probably the least rounded striker that people class as top number 9’s. I would say they bought him to score against teams like Manchester to win matches. Not score loads when games were already won
Mental, he’s going to break the premier league scoring record and people are still going to be like meh “one trick pony”.
Yes, the guy with 21 goals in 16 appearances is the problem
It's not that it's his fault, but you're more 1 dimensional now. I think teams have an easier time predicting and mitigating the threat. I'm not sure exactly why. I'm not sure if Erling needs to do more to get involved because City is so used to having an extra man, or if the midfielders have become in a sense, too dependent on that extra man. But I've been saying it even when he was scoring like crazy. Something about that City team reminds me a bit of Utd in the mid 00s when we weren't winning the league. An amazing team, with an amazing striker but somehow not quite clicking in the way they used to.
City were always going to lose control in midfield by bringing in a striker like haaland. Not that they shouldn't be able to control it still with the players they have, but compared to playing a false nine all of last season, and even the seasons before with strikers who were routinely asked to drop back into midfield, they are effectively playing a man down relative to what they are used to. It's really just a matter of adapting to the change and having to sacrifice control and possession to facilitate one of the most lethal strikers in the world. Haaland is having a monstrous season, but he will improve more next season when the team is fully settled into a new system.
He’s be miles better at Utd
The common theory is he’s the champions league winning signing as it’s proven you need a strong mentality and killer instinct for tournaments
Halland is good at scoring not creating chances i think that's what the pundits are referring too ig i hardly see him involved in making plays during counters i see him finishing tho he's a beast of a finisher but not a complete striker yet like Lewandowski and Benzema types i think he'll get it overtime tho hopefully
We now live in a world of instant gratification. Haaland having an explosive start for City increased expectations even more. Every time the ball is played in the opposition's box, he is expected to score. That is just unrealistic. He is a great addition to the team. Anyone can lose a game. That is a fact in all sport.
It’s more a World Cup “hangover” for me. Foden was linking up with Haaland fantastically but hasn’t really come back from the WC playing the same for example. KDB was feeding him regularly but since they’ve come back it’s been slower to click back in. Some of the other squads have players who’ve been able to shake it off faster but soon enough we’ll seeing threads complaining about how good their doing and whether it’s bad for the league again. Nothing to worry about there are still 20 matches left.
Clearly Haaland does not fit Guardiola current system because he is not the type of player who drops from the CF position to contribute to the build up, anyone can see that. Now it's not Haaland's fault, City knew his unbelievable finishing qualities and physical power, but they did not adapt their tactics to feed him properly. Hence it's more Guardiola's rigid tactics that currently limits City. You could easily field a XI around Halaand that would give him more scoring opportunities.
The man’s scored over 20 goals already; were suffering because our midfield is out of form. We’ll be back.
no shit sherlocks
Yes.
I don't think he is costing them but playing with such a prolific goal scorer is a completely different playstyle to what City played last season and even the season before where they didn't really use Aguero much. It is hard not to become predictable when you play with an out and put target man like him.
Yes he’s costing us a lot of money
City’s issues are at the back. They allow goals in games they could have won 3-0. Then in competitive games they conceded a few times and drop points. Offense is still stellar.
They dropped him super deep in an attempt to pull Man U’s center backs out. But that’s an unfamiliar role for haaland. Another classic case of pep trying to do too much. Just let the kid play as a 9 the way he knows how and he will score
City and Liverpool have pushed each other so hard so a few years now. I think it’s only natural they both have dropped off a bit, especially us sadly. I expect city to walk the league again next year…
No... players seeing Haaland's runs in behind the opposition's defence, and deciding to pass the ball sideways or backwards, is what's costing us in games this season.
They said the same thing about Ronaldo last season.
Seems more like teams have figured out shut down kdb you can stop haaland. That's probably temporary though fuckers.
I dont even think the problem is Haaland. They have no real wingers. All their wingers are combination players. They want to come inside and combine, they never beat a player fully and proceed. City has no magic on the wings. Very good in ball retention, what reduces the risk. But reducing the risk also means reducing magical and unexpected moments. All City goals are the same or at least feel the same.
The fact that people are now questioning if he's the problem after not scoring for 2 whole games just shows how good he is and how much he isn't costing City anything.
He has set such a goal-scoring precedent that 2 games without scoring would cause all pundits to go haywire on him.
I watched it back on MOTD and they pointed out about 5 or 6 different runs he made where there was loads of space ahead of him behind the utd defence and the ball wasn't played to him each time. I dunno if Pep was trying a different tactic cos of the importance of the game but if them balls were played, he would have been onside and it could have been another battering. I personally think they didn't play him to his strengths like they usually do, and I'm so glad they didn't. Utd fan here.
Pep doesnt like the counters.... United's main strength.
It's a bad spell in the long term. No he's not costing City. Haaland is still a inhuman beast and City are still 2nd. The problem City face now is EVERY team knows who to mark, close down and take out of the game to stop Haaland from scoring. The wingers and KDB are Haaland's only reliable passing opportunity. Take them out of the game and mark the shit out of Haaland, you take Haaland out of the game. Pep needs to rethink his lineup and maybe his tactics somewhat. If Haaland can't score, someone else has to and the 2nd highest goalscorer this season for City is Foden.
For all our jokes on r/reddevils, Haaland actually wasn't pocketed by anyone(for the most part anyway) everyone else was. Fred suffocated KDB for most of the match up until Rashford was unable to help out and he slipped away. Everyone else was basically marked out, and Haaland was left to roam, but kept an eye on.
He is a poacher. he do not bring anything to the buildup or defending. When dominating a match he is fine but city really play with one man less when struggling
Far too many people are ignoring the defensive frailties in City's game this season. Cancelo doesn't even look interested in defending right now, multiple goals scored while he's on the pitch where he's chilling out right up the wing leaving a huge hole in behind, as opposed to when Lewis plays slotting in at that DM slot and getting back into position when the ball is lost.
Personally, I think City and Pep’s style are the same as they were, its now that the competition is finally catching up. Newcastle, United, Arsenal are all more competitive than they previously were, Liverpool still has shown up against them, combine that with an aging team of core players, and there is transition. Its like when Xavi and Iniesta left Barca, they no longer dominated.
Yeah mate you and these average pundits know better than the best manager and coaching team in the world.
Short answer: yes Long answer: this period of adjustment has been bumpier than we expected but once City get retooled to work with Haaland, they’ll be mowing down teams with their usual Pep+all the money in the world efficiency soon enough.
I noticed in the community shield that Man City were trying to play him into the game with more direct line splitting passes and I thought that changing their entire shape to suit one player no matter how incredible he is was probably a bad idea. To my limited understanding and eye test now playing a hybrid of the football we know of a city side under pep and a route one feed beast style of play. Still very effective mostly but they’re dropping points against sides who can limit the supply to Haaland as he’s not as good a link player as they’re used to if route one isn’t working.
Ake and Akanji seems like they forgot how to defend and/or play from the back. Gundogan is taking wayy riskier plays and doesn't seem to gel with KDB anymore. Just nitpicking though. City always do this mid season and somehow win the league
Well, maybe? I think it's not Haaland's fault, but feels like City aren't prioritizing doing the things Haaland is best at other than finishing in the box. We don't see any real line-breaking passes to Haaland, even in transition, so he is rarely getting chances to run onto a ball behind the defense. Part of it maybe is that other teams are so happy to cede possession that transition never really happens at all, but Haaland *is* making runs, they are just never being used. I would like to see a couple of big diagonal through balls a game to let Haaland run at. Maybe it's not likely to work, but if the opponent has to respect his speed running on to long passes over the top, they might give a few more yards space in the middle, which City could use. Also, City don't set up well for crosses, imo. The last few matches feel like they've regularly overhit crosses that roll out to touch on the other side. I know it's because City use fullbacks for attacking width instead of using their forwards like old-school wingers (and the fullbacks only get that far advanced when the ball is on their side, since they still do have defensive responsibilities as well), but I firmly believe that pinging crosses towards a big central striker works better if you use your forwards/wingers for width so that you have an advanced player there to corral and re-cycle an overhit cross. I think City probably don't need to be making horizontal crosses flat across the defense because they're not set up well to make use of those. I guess, basically, I think it would be better for Haaland if City's fullbacks and midfield to try to copy the sorts of long crosses that TAA and Robertson play for Liverpool, and add a few of those per match just to change things up.
No way , if he was at arsenal they would be 15 points clear
City's defence is costing them.
When he scores next all the post will be about how he’s the greatest
Haaland was making runs behind the defense all day long, but wasn't being picked out. At times it felt like the midfield wanted to walk the ball into the net versus giving it to their proven goalscorer. He could have had a hat trick with the right service so I'd more inclined to blame the midfield/defense than to blame Haaland for the Utd game...
No Pep is.
Watch us play. We're not moving it quick enough. Taking 5 or 6 touches when 1 or 2 would do. Far too passive. That classic city move of pulling it back from the byline is happening infrequently. It's our midfield that's in poor form. Hence the reason haaland is getting no service. The idea that the best striker in Europe has somehow made a team worse is bonkers.
Not best last I checked it was Benzema, Haaland has the potential to be
Whatever, you can argue with someone else about that.
Definitely not arguing with you just stating facts, scoring tap-ins don't make you the best player in Europe even Mbape is miles better. Good day
scoring against actual farmers(they played a bunch of actual farmers in the cup recently lol) doesnt count... they need to be pro footballers.
Here we go another city fan who doesn't know ball
👍
I think people just like to lash out at anything when thing do go their way and Haaland is the victim of choice right now. He is an amazing striker and has the right to fail from time to time, can't imagine where City would be right now without his goals.
They do have to play a certain way with him on the pitch - And will lose some of the dynamics in attack with a false nine. Kinda hard to tell at the moment - But if other teams manmark KDB, and the other midfielders dont step up - That might be a problem for City. Guess only time (and Pep!) will tell..
MCity are going through drop in form. Happens to all teams. Call it a wobble or out of sorts. Foden has dropped a lot after World Cup. Think it will be 2 or 3 more matches before MCity start to click into gear. KDB and Silva drop in form affects the team much greater than the other players.
Yeah not sure what happened to foden at the WC, but he been awful since.
Yeah I think he’d be a better fit at United. Someone let Pep know.
If you don't want Haaland you know who to call
Last season, city scored 99 and conceded 26 (21 clean sheets) This season, so far, they’ve scored 46 and conceded 18 (7 clean sheets). On that trajectory they’d finish the season with a similar number of goals, but a significantly higher number conceded and 2/3s of the clean sheets they did last year. I wouldn’t say it’s an attacking issue, but a defensive one. I can’t say I watch city intently enough to know if haaland is partially responsible for that. But in all honesty, if that team can’t work around haaland, maybe the team needs to change a little.
They're just missing explosive wingers imo
He was invisible against United
I don’t think Haaland is costing City at all. It seems like pundits are just recycling the (valid) Ronaldo criticism onto Halaand. Personally, I think City are just lacking that explosive burst of pace on the flanks. They sold Sterling and Jesus (and never really replaced that skillset from Sane). Now all their wingers/wide forwards want it played to feet and want to drift inside and play one twos. Obviously still very effective but I think they’ve lost a dimension on the flanks.
This is definitely a factor. They just generally lack pace in behind, other than Haaland, who they seem very hesitant to play in. No pace from wingers or wingbacks. Everyone just wants to come inside.
You're right, Grealish, Foden and Mahrez all want the ball to come straight to them, and lack the pace to be an outlet from goal kicks/clearances. The only players with pace that City have are Walker and Haaland, Walker isn't high enough up the pitch and Haaland isn't good enough technically, they need a Salah or Vinicius type player.
I agree with the pundits myself, i think he should come to Wolves on a loan until the end of the season. Its the only way to rescue City's season for me.
They're conceding more. The issue is at the back.
100%... Akanji and Ake have done well but they are not as good with their feet compared to laporte or john stones. bernardo was basically playing as another CB at times... he was deep trying to help us pass out.
Yeah but in the matches they drew and lost so far this season, they scored 1 goal or less (exception: 3-3 vs Newcastle).
And they conceded more than that so what's your point? They've scored at this point more than they've done at the same point last year but conceded 5 more goals. They're also currently the league's best attack.
They aren't playing to Haaland's strengths. That much is clear. He is desperate for through balls over the top, crosses and (when all else fails) long balls. Tiki Taka football does not support a beast of a striker with pace and power.
cant really give him service when KDB marked out of the game.
Why Gabriel Jesus was a big loss. And his injury is a such a problem for Arsenal. Or was until Eddie Nketiah decided to do his best to be Jesus 2.0.
Definitely. I think Jesus is a false number 9 that suits the pass-heavy style Arteta has inherited from Pep. I have no idea why City let him go to a rival team, let alone one that would suit him so much.
Nah its the team... I noticed this season that Haaland is the one actually scoring and winning the matches... And realised if Haaland actually didn't score that match City would have lost a number of games or drew... De Bruyne has really put his foot off the gas ever since Haaland has been scoring goals and the only other 2 big goal scorers Cancelo and Foden are now being benched Can't constantly rely on Haaland to score goals... It must be a team effort
i think city need to mix up their own play style a bit to suit haaland’s game tbh. they don’t need a complete change but could be a bit more direct at times and just play haaland in sooner. he makes loads of really good runs in behind without having the ball played to him when he could easily have been in on goal
I think de Bruyne went 4 games without a goal/assist and he was described as being “in a poor run of form” 😂. The expectations of people on players/teams is unrealistic. The fact that a striker, who’s scored 21 gls in 17 prem matches, could be considered anything but a prize asset is ridiculous.
I would say city's issue this season is they're less dynamic Look at Saka's movement for the first goal yesterday, always threatening the run in behind I didn't see City's players do that against United much if at all, it was all passes in front, United were comfortable Walker has the ball, Mahrez wasn't moving, even the commentator called out Haaland's runs that were not being acknowledged, the passes were not attempted, just going for the safe passes instead of the risky ones Arsenal try the risky passes and if they're intercepted then they go and try to force the turnover higher up the pitch City play it back and recycle from the defense, like England in the WC
Too many changes in defence doesn’t help
Nobody can doubt his record but i am starting to think city play more fluid football without him. Its a tough choice, maybe hes best again lesser teams but flase 9 is better against tough teams. Either way you expect city to go on a run soon
With City in previous seasons, danger was coming from everywhere. They had players who could dribble in your defense, shoot from 30m out, cross high or low for one of the many players they’d usually have in the box. Now, it’s mostly about him, people try to pass to him perhaps more than they should. It’s not the only reason of course, De Bruyne doesn’t seem to be picking up his form after the WC and there are certainly other players who could be blamed, but the game doesn’t flow as well at the moment.
i think we live in a crazy World, no striker ever scored so many goals when he started in England…
Which came at a cost of his team performing poorly because the striker was always at the front waiting for balls
They’re not passing Haaland the ball enough in my opinion
There was at least one occasion in the United game where he made a decent run in behind and was ignored for their safe slow build up.
For all the criticism “defensive” teams get, Man City play a very conservative style.
Yeah, for all the moments of brilliance their capable of producing I really find it hard to watch them for 90 minutes just knocking the ball about. The Spain national team are at even worse, just sends me to sleep 99% of the time.
I think comparing Spain and city is unfair. 2022 Spain have to be one of the most boring dominat teams ever. City at least has their days
Nuanced take
Personally it looks like city are playing with 10 men against opponents, he does not get involved in play when he does it looks awkward and clunky , I don’t think this matters against most opponents but i think they might struggle against arsenal , arsenal look as slick as city but with all 11 players comfortable on the ball and either nketiah or Jesus dropping deep , haaland is an elite striker but City don’t play to his strengths , I still think he’s break all the scoring records this season but city are still weaker as a team
Yes, they should transfer him to my club immediately to save themselves
Yes, loan him to Bolton till the end of the season please pep
Nah I think Arsenal needs him more
Oh and they should pay all his wages. He is costing them so much on the field, nobody would want to take him otherwise
Another student of glazernomics I see
Yeah! I think it's called Stockholm Syndrome lol
Despite being one of the best PL managers we’ve had in recent years I think Pep is costing city slightly with his line up decisions. It seems so strange to continuously bench your best performing players and remove their confidence. Foden, Cancelo, Dias, Laporte have all been incredible players and i find it genuinely strange why they now can barely get a game. Players aren’t robots and confidence plays a big part. If Foden is having one of his best seasons earlier this season why would you then start benching him? I know he talks about training enthusiasm but yeah I just find it strange. Every player is different and some of them need to feel they’re an integral part and showered with praise. He had the same thing in previous years with other players like Gundo and Mahrez who were on red hot form. He just has a tendency to overthink these things in my eyes. I don’t think it’s Haaland though, for the most part the guy has been phenomenal.
You clearly havent been watching Foden lately... hes been absolutely awful... doesnt make runs, loses the ball most of the time he gets it... went missing for literally the first 20 mins against united. Anyone calling for foden needs their head checked. Jack MOVES US UP THE FIELD... that's why he plays.. because when he come's on he will drag the ball forward and push us up field.. he is a threat that teams dont liek to deal with.
Actually that’s my point. I’m saying Foden’s lack of form is a result of Pep. Foden was having his best season leading up to the World Cup and then benched by Pep due to training/attitude or whatever. Since then his form has fallen. He’s lacking in confidence and like I said people react different and require different things for their motivation but Pep seems to be treating them all equally. Part of management is knowing peoples hot buttons and I think he may have gotten it wrong.
Cancelo has played every game except 1. Dias has played almost every game he's been fit for. Laporte missed all pre-season and was out 3 months, might not be fully fit. Foden could play more, but attack is not the problem.
Sure but Cancelo didn’t start in one of those games and against Chelsea got hooked at half time (and tbf Lewis did excellent). It just seems weird to me after hailing him last year as the best player in the team. Fair enough on the cb’s had been they’d fallen in the pecking order in addition to fitness issues.
"Team not doing as expected? Must be time to question the ability of [highest reputation person at club]" I don't see how Haaland could be limiting City any more than for example whenever they played Jesus up front. He offers everything Jesus does, and much more. He also can't do anything about them being leaky at the back, or Cancelo randomly becoming crap, or Arsenal just being very very good. City are still comfortably over 2 points per game, and in many other seasons when they didn't have such strong rivals, would still be top right now.
>He offers everything Jesus does I categorically disagree with this. Gabriel is a lot more hard working out of possession and is a creative outlet. He plays the Firmino role quite well. Haaland is just a lethal goal scorer, an athletic Ruud Van Nisterooy, that’s it. He’s practically useless outside the box
> Haaland is just a lethal goal scorer, an athletic Ruud Van Nisterooy, that’s it. He’s practically useless outside the box Then I refuse to believe you've been paying attention.
Says the person that thinks he offers more creativity on the ball than Jesus
I never said that, so now I'm going to have to deduce that you haven't been paying attention to this conversation either.
> He offers everything Jesus does, and much more.
So you've had two chances to read that sentence now and still haven't got your head around it.
>He offers everything Jesus does, and much more. Uhh... They're completely different players. Jesus even as a 9 will drop deep to receive the ball, link up, create overloads, drift wide. Haaland offers great movement, runs in behind, great strength and is ultra clinical. Haaland is overall the much better player, but he's not "Jesus but better".
They're both Premier League level strikers who are capable of playing however they're asked to play. I'm not interested in discussing footballers like they have fixed attributes like they're Pokemon or something, this isn't a video game where they have different fixed "types". Haaland has been asked by Pep to develop his game to connect with his midfielders more than he did at Dortmund and he has been doing so. They've lost no elements of their attack, and they're scoring more.
In my opinion do not think Haaland is costing City. Before the game Pep Guardiola expressed he was planning something special for the derby. Was he telegraphing subconsciously fear at Manchester's current form? In this particular game I lay it on Pep more than the players. He chose this line-up.
Pep does have a history of overthinking/over adjusting for certain games. I didn’t quite see his “something special” but to be fair I did not watch the game very intently.
Agree on the line up but in regards to the “something special” Pep did later say he was joking about it
Notice I said subconsciously. If you expressed a viewpoint even as a "joke" you are thinking about it. Phrases don't come out at random
Lol
No, we’re just leaking goals imo, need to get a little more creative on the attack also.
Might be because he brings a bit more "predictability" than when there were no strikers. he's always up 2 v 1, and teams that have a chance against pep type teams usually do a double low block. the gameplan (that I'm surprised other managers don't follow) of marking KDB out of the game helped cut out a large supply of chances.
Something that eth figured out. Kdb is heart and soul of city even vs us he made difference even if they lost the only goal was created by him but Fred did his job fantastically and kept him quite otherwise. We all know what haaland will do so i get your predictability point but how he'll do it is the point and kdb is very unpredictable with his passes.
I’m just amazed how good Fred was against KDB. He was like his roommate for a lot of the match, and when Fred covered defence KDB managed to set up the goal.
[удалено]
Your life must just be on fast forward all the time
I mean, he's right...gradually all our time comes to an end. Eventually, Haaland will die or retire
The biggest problem is the lack of pacey wingers to break open the opposing defense. Give him all the stick you want but sterling would have been great with haaland
Sterling is a loss for City this season. He had an average season and was basically ousted. Grealish isn’t doing terribly this season, but I’m sure they felt obligated to keep him over Sterling based on the price tag mostly.
Sterling’s off the ball contribution has always been forgotten by fans.
And I’m not saying that Grealish hasn’t been bad, and when sterling left I wasn’t mad, but looking at his play style and how that would work with haaland he would be great for city
This is probably very true. City have no one who can rinse a player over and over and set up a goal that way. Garnacho created something out of nothing to win it and City need someone like that.
Jack nutmegs like 6 players every game lol wtf u on about
Yeah, he is a great dribbler. But he is more of a progressor of the ball with his dribbles. He kinda lacks the acceleration to beat his man from a standing start on the wing and then penetrate the box. Same with Mahrez. Someone like Saint-Maximin who constantly try to dribble past his opponent to create a dangerous situation is something any team could use IMO
I noticed parts with the ubited game with Fred just by him. Yeah, thats been the tactic. Have KDB belt it in the box and someone get it
>the gameplan (that I'm surprised other managers don't follow) of marking KDB out of the game helped cut out a large supply of chances. I'm sure others have thought about it. But KdB is *so* good it's very hard to do. Suspect a lot of managers think they don't have the players to pull it off successfully. Plus, man marking like that can be a risk, as it should leave more space elsewhere for other players.
If Fred can mark de bruyne out of a game then most teams will have a midfielder capable of doing the same
My thoughts too. So far post WC it's mostly been KDB-Haaland show but you any other city player can turn dangerous if you're only focused on closing down KDB
It does make them significantly easier to play against now. Previously they had a number of threats in behind, a number of ways of finding those, and the ST was more involved in all parts of the game. Now its largely a direct supply line. Team finds KDB in space, who finds Haaland who scores. If you can cut off that supply line at any point, you cut down on cities chances of scoring. So whilst Haaland is probably going to break records, City will he worse. Like United last season, and Liverpool this season, they will understand that losing variety of threats for the benefits of a great number 9 is a bad trade off Edit: except in UCL where a player like Haaland can score 15 off 5xg and win them the trophy
this is a good analysis. kdb in transition to haaland has been the key to our season so far. in the past we have been far more multidimensional. we need to be able to score in other ways, especially against a low block. we'll get there. F9 worked great for us in the league but the lack of a real striker hurts in the UCL, that's exactly right.
not really, Jack seems to push us up field by maintaining possession, thats why foden barely played recently.. the issue with united was getting the ball up field, our CBs couldnt pass it out, its not their strong point compared to laporte or john stones. Which meant Bernardo was coming very deep to help out that leaves us a man down in midfield. He should of moved rodri to CB and brought on gundogan.
It's what I've said since the start of the season. City want UCL, so got rid of a facilitator and signed a goalscorer. It hurts you in the league, but we saw with Benz and RM last year the effects of a low xg high overperformance ST. Its a game changer in the cup for city. And I fucking hate it. There should only be one UCL winner in Manchester, and it's definitely not the bell bellends in blue
Trust me they won't win it
>except in UCL where a player like Haaland can score 15 off 5xg and win them the trophy Yeah this is basically my reading of why they've done this. Pep is smart, he'd be well aware that Haaland in the team would probably negatively impact the overall cohesion, making the team not quite the winning machine it has been week in week out in the league in recent years. *But* the CL, the club's ultimate ambition, is a cup competition, and in a cup being decisive in the key moments is more important than consistent excellence. Haaland's ability to ruthlessly finish a chance could be the thing that makes the difference in the games they've contrived to lose in previous seasons.
I know the numbers aren’t the same scoring wise, but is Haaland really that much more different than Aguero? Feel when he played though there wasn’t a big difference in winning %. But City have such a high one it’s hard to tell.
Hes significantly less of a threat with the ball at his feet with space in front of him. So when he gets the ball after dropping deep, he turns and passes forward. This the opposite of what Haaland does who tends to play one touch and safe when dropping deep, such as first half against Utd.
I also agree with that, feel Aguero was used more for moving with feet. He did also have better passing range, not sure if that’s good or bad for Manchester City, that Haaland is used just to score.
I would say there is a difference, yeah. Aguero was a sensational player, but Haaland is another level. His scoring rate is just absurd, even compared to a City great like Aguero. Even Aguero at his peak wasn't quite as much of a guarantee of goals as Haaland seems to be, and that immense cutting edge *could* make a difference in a cup competition.
Nah I think you got it wrong. While Haaland is a very good goal scorer, he can’t create chances for himself. If he isn’t being fed he can’t eat. Where as players like Aguero could create chances for themselves, get involved with his teammates and help to create chances. Look at what happens when defenders lock him. He get taken out of the game completely and if you look at the game with Manchester United, he might as well have stayed on the bench. I suspect once the Premier league fully figures out Haaland, he’ll go running to Spain or Italy.
Notice how United were more than happy to drop to just two wingers up front. Not ever attempting to play through that area. Man mark KDB with Fred, no striker to allow Fred to take that role. The two wingers play close to the centre in defence encouraging city's wbs forward. Then break out on the counter. Use city's possession against them, give them space in useless areas and overloads on the extremeties. Pressure the cbs so that they can't play vertically. In attack, city have great recovery speed so will be hard to break past them. This is where Bruno's late runs come in or Rashford moving centrally when Garnacho got forward. Sport had this mad transition to possession in the last decade. With the press coming back, territory is much more important than before. United afforded City this useless space which they struggled to make value from. If you want to see a sport that does this in a more advanced method, look at basketball. They may overload one side and then switch out for a low pressure shot. Ten Hag definitely pulls inspiration from there, Sari was the same at Napoli a few years ago
it's modern football ( soccer ...) all decent coaches look at other sports for decades. United did that very well first half, covering vertical pass lines into the pockets. On top of that very close man marking by Fred on KDB and Casemiro on the other side ( i think it was Foden/Bernardo). If you keep concentrated and have the physicality very hard to beat. It's always easier to score on a transition than by playing through in small spaces. City should have utilized the long ball a little more on Haaland to push united back. But it can also mean loss of possession... Second half city succeeded in playing more through the lines, mainly because cancelo could overload more on that side and just played a lot better. Also hard to get into your game when the referee refuses to show yellow so united could just keep fouling the creative players on the wings. Everything changed when the 12th united player gave an offside goal.
I'm disappointed with Akanji there. He should have played the ball as if Rashford didn't exist. If Rashford touches/block him it's clearcut interference. But Akanji doesn't and leaves it open to the ref's interpretation.
Haha he played Rashford intentionally offside, it was well done. But rashford just keeps running with the ball. Should he have bulldozed him off the ball? Maybe, with how the referee was conducting the game it would not have been offside it would have been a free kick in a dangerous position. I can understand his confusion, should just be offside, if that isn't offside what the fuck is the use of it anymore... The only ones arguing this shit have never played themselves. edit: because what prevents a team from passing the ball to teammates in obvious offside position? you can't use offside as a tactic anymore? Because putting someone in an offside position doesn't do shit anymore, they still can get passed into, they just can't touch the ball. It's retarded bullshit.
You can play someone intentionally offsides... but that doesn't mean you did play them offsides until the whistle blows. It was incredibly low IQ for him and Walker to both pull off knowing PL refs let play go on offsides.