Raheem Sterling

[JF 694]

7 minutes ago, Van wink said:

LDC is his counterbalance to the doomsayers. Often needed on here 😀

Not when we’re about to face Man City and he’s saying defeat is unacceptable it’s not. 

[Van wink 2,994]

1 minute ago, JF said:

Not when we’re about to face Man City and he’s saying defeat is unacceptable it’s not. 

Ah well, maybe he's just having some fun😉

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

Lakey if there was an answer to the original question RE Sterling - you'd see him stopped more regularly. Its that simple, his scoring and assist record in recent seasons under Pep has been exceptional and he continues to reach new heights. He was on another level on Tuesday night for England. There truly is no feasible, workable answer for us - if we double up on him we open ourselves up to other players like De Bruyne, Aguero, Silva (x2), Mahrez etc etc and probably end up getting hurt even more elsewhere on the pitch. Or as mentioned above... we could kick him out of the game, though I very much doubt we'll see anything of the sort and would not like to see us resort to such tactics. 

Your suggestion of keeping more possession and restricting them is of course true on paper - but it is an absolute nonsense in reality, Man City dominate possession in every single fixture even against sides of far superior quality than our own.

My only conclusion is that you simply haven't watched Man City at all - and don't follow any other matches other than the Norwich games (only this could explain your complete naivety on the subject). As evidenced by your lack of interest in the England game - at what point in the match did you decide it was 'tedious'? After 30 seconds when Kosovo took the lead? After 6 minutes when we equalised? After 11 minutes when we then took the lead? Honestly how can you describe that game as 'boring as watching paint dry' is beyond me...

Throughout this thread you have not accepted basic truths. Could you accept that Man City ARE more likely to beat us than other teams in the PL? Could you accept that it would maybe be silly to be 'hugely disappointed', 'dismayed' and 'sickened' if we lost - and that a gutsy performance where we give a good account of ourselves (i.e. Liverpool away at the start of the season) but ultimately fall short would actually be something to recognise positively?

That's a point actually.. can someone fish up the Liverpool match thread and show me how 'hugely disappointed', 'dismayed', and 'sickened' Lakey is after we find ourselves 4-0 down at half time and lose 4-1....? My guess is that he actually appreciates the show the team put on, despite the result - as we all were. Which begs the question - wtf is he talking about on this thread?

 

[JF 694]

4 minutes ago, Van wink said:

Ah well, maybe he's just having some fun😉

Well his usual aim has been achieved which is to make the thread about him, so yeah, job done 👍🏻

[lake district canary 4,531]

I shouldn't have bothered with this thread, but it's really laughable when you make a genuine attempt to answer an op (see my first post on this thread) and you get the kind of responses I have been getting.   It wasn't a contrary post, no-one had even tried answering the question at that point, it wasn't even the slightest bit controversial except in the minds of people who have made their minds up about something that hasn't happened yet. 

So @Feedthewolf and others, that says more to me about other posters than me. All I did was stand up for my point of view, to which I am quite entitled to do.

It's the usual thing, some people can't quite handle people who do not fit in with their world view.  I'm open minded - I am quite prepared for any eventuality on Saturday, good or bad...it seems the prevailing world view is that is going to be bad. Clairvoyancy rules......

 

[JF 694]

Clairvoyancy rules!! Yeah real mind blowing stuff suggesting that we’re likely to take a beating against City and won’t dominate possession. We’re hardly predicting lottery numbers here...

[lake district canary 4,531]

3 minutes ago, Hank shoots Skyler said:

That's a point actually.. can someone fish up the Liverpool match thread and show me how 'hugely disappointed', 'dismayed', and 'sickened' Lakey is after we find ourselves 4-0 down at half time and lose 4-1....? My guess is that he actually appreciates the show the team put on, despite the result - as we all were. Which begs the question - wtf is he talking about on this thread?

Of course I enjopyed the second half where we put on a good show - but the fundamental difference was that was AFTER the match, not before.  As for the result, I was incredibly disappointed with losing, it was such bad luck to go one down the way we did and it was a huge ask from there, but still disappointing. 

13 minutes ago, JF said:

Not when we’re about to face Man City and he’s saying defeat is unacceptable it’s not. 

I don't know if anyone is keeping up with all this, but I did not say that - I said it would be incredibly diapappointing (as all matches are that we lose) which is something completely different. Making stuff up does not help your argument. 

We will see what happens on Saturday, for me it will be fascinating to see if we can compete with Man City to the point we can get something from the game. I'm not expecting it, but I will still be desperately disappointed if we can't. 

The whole point of being in this league is to see if we can raise our game to compete - and playing Sterling and co is a huge opportunity to see if we can do that. Mentally saying "it doesn't matter" is completely foreign to me and I cannot understand that mentality in the slightest . 

People say defeat would not define our season and they are right, but getting a result of some kind would go a long way to defining our season. It is a great opportunity. Bring it on and lets see what happens.

 

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

15 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

.it seems the prevailing world view is that is going to be bad.

It's because most of us are sane.

But I'm finding this all very tedious now so I'm turning it off.

[JF 694]

8 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

Of course I enjopyed the second half where we put on a good show - but the fundamental difference was that was AFTER the match, not before.  As for the result, I was incredibly disappointed with losing, it was such bad luck to go one down the way we did and it was a huge ask from there, but still disappointing. 

I don't know if anyone is keeping up with all this, but I did not say that - I said it would be incredibly diapappointing (as all matches are that we lose) which is something completely different. Making stuff up does not help your argument. 

We will see what happens on Saturday, for me it will be fascinating to see if we can compete with Man City to the point we can get something from the game. I'm not expecting it, but I will still be desperately disappointed if we can't. 

The whole point of being in this league is to see if we can raise our game to compete - and playing Sterling and co is a huge opportunity to see if we can do that. Mentally saying "it doesn't matter" is completely foreign to me and I cannot understand that mentality in the slightest . 

People say defeat would not define our season and they are right, but getting a result of some kind would go a long way to defining our season. It is a great opportunity. Bring it on and lets see what happens.

 

Apologies, no you didn’t word it that way. You said that it’s “not ok to lose to anyone” and “defeat would be a real sickener.” In theory both are correct but in practice it just doesn’t stand up with the quality we’re about to face and that’s the point that people have been trying to get across to you. Liverpool and City are in a completely different league to everyone else and yes, it is ok to lose to them and defeat won’t be a real sickener, it’s expected. 

[Well b back 3,186]

One of our players is quoted as saying

Manchester City is world-class opposition and we can't wait to challenge ourselves. We realise it's not going to be an easy task but it's one we shouldn't put too much pressure on ourselves for.

"We should go and express ourselves. We're against one of the best teams in the world but we're at Carrow Road in front of our own fans, who have been incredible. 

Seems like the players also think that there is no pressure in this game just a free hit.

[Feedthewolf 4,844]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

I shouldn't have bothered with this thread, but it's really laughable when you make a genuine attempt to answer an op (see my first post on this thread) and you get the kind of responses I have been getting.   It wasn't a contrary post, no-one had even tried answering the question at that point, it wasn't even the slightest bit controversial except in the minds of people who have made their minds up about something that hasn't happened yet. 

So @Feedthewolf and others, that says more to me about other posters than me. All I did was stand up for my point of view, to which I am quite entitled to do.

It's the usual thing, some people can't quite handle people who do not fit in with their world view.  I'm open minded - I am quite prepared for any eventuality on Saturday, good or bad...it seems the prevailing world view is that is going to be bad. Clairvoyancy rules......

And some people can't quite grasp that literally no one fits in with their world view, and still call it the world's fault.

[Capt. Pants 4,195]

1 hour ago, Well b back said:

One of our players is quoted as saying

Manchester City is world-class opposition and we can't wait to challenge ourselves. We realise it's not going to be an easy task but it's one we shouldn't put too much pressure on ourselves for.

"We should go and express ourselves. We're against one of the best teams in the world but we're at Carrow Road in front of our own fans, who have been incredible. 

Seems like the players also think that there is no pressure in this game just a free hit.

Well I'll go all Danny Murphy and boring and say I don't like that if that's really what they are thinking. They've just had a week off and should be champing at the bit to get stuck into them, especially Stones and Otamendi who are both a mistake waiting to happen. We need to get back to the intensity we were playing with in the Chump, like the Newcastle game, and 1st half against Chelsea. 

The players need to be pressured into playing for their places, too much comfort zone is not good for a relegation battle!

 

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

1 hour ago, Feedthewolf said:

And some people can't quite grasp that literally no one fits in with their world view, and still call it the world's   fault. 

Jesus had the same problem.  He should have got advice in Cumbria. 

[splendidrush 699]

9 hours ago, lake district canary said:

People can keep chucking insults if they like, that is up to them, but I have answered the op who has ridiculed it because he doesn't like what I said but which is pretty much the answer - you keep the ball and possession of the ball to the extent that you minimize the chances he gets. And the rest of them.  If we are going to be successful in the league we have to be able to control the ball and not give it away easily as we have done in previous games. Not easy, but the question was asked and I have answered it and I don't think anyone else has - they have been too busy fawning over Man City.

 

6 hours ago, lake district canary said:

My my, TVB if you can't follow or understand a discussion, best you don't comment at all, let alone start up with the insults. I never said play the same as we did against Man Utd so I don't know where you got that one from. 

And JF, the answer is to keep the ball as much as possible and limit the opposition. Yes, Man City will be hard to get the ball off - but then we must take advantage of when we do have possession from free kicks, goal kicks, throw ins etc to stop them from being able to dominate.  I am not saying we will be able to keep possession well, or stop them  dominating, but if there is a way, it is to try and restrict them through keeping possession well - especially as parking the bus would be anti-farkeball.

I haven't seen anyone else try to answer the question, just a sea of people saying how good the opposition is going to be and we won't be able to stop them. So wtf was the point in asking the question "how do we stop Sterling" if the answer people want to hear is "we can't" ???  

I think some of you just think we should roll over and just let them have the three points so we can say "ooh, aren't they good". 

 

6 hours ago, lake district canary said:

So....I've just done a quick scan through the thread and not a single person has even tried to answer the op, meaning I am the only one who has offered anything positive to the discussion of the op. 

Not a single ff...ing one of you.

So I think your collective moral high ground does not stand scrutiny. I've said pathetic several times on this thread, which I don't like to say, but the responses to someone who has at least tried to answer the question of the op have been pathetic - including the op himself, who maybe should have titled the thread "We won't be able to stop Sterling" and put a white flag icon up next to it.

Pathetic.

 

5 hours ago, lake district canary said:

The reason I cited the Man Utd game was because of the belief shown by our players that they could win the match, nothing more.

I turned off the England game because it was tedious to watch. So there were more goals after I turned it off, well big deal, I had better things to do.

As for the basics of the game, football is not rocket science, which is why the best managers keep it simple. 

Oh, and for hool han solo's benefit, I answered the question.  No-one else has even tried.

 

5 hours ago, lake district canary said:

You're a laugh a minute....not.  I am no saint, but I will defend myself when pushed and I have been pushed on this thread, mainly because no-one really wants a possible answer to the op's question, not even the op. 

Nil desperandum, we'll see on Saturday how far we have come in the last few weeks, difficult to see us playing our best with so many injuries, but Farke has done it before and he'll do it again imo.  Farkeball is pretty clever stuff and at it's best it will give anyone a match and if Leitner is at his best, we may be able to keep possession more than some of the defeatists on here think.

Oh I now see above that "kick him" is the preferred choice as an answer.  Well if that is the level of debate on here, I'm plainly wasting my time.

I'll either be hugely disappointed if we lose on Saturday and dismayed that we couldn't find a way to slow MC down a bit, or I will be over the moon that we were able to do something and get at least a point.  That is the beauty of football - you don't know what is going to happen beforehand.....although some people on here seem to be clairvoiyant when it comes to deciding the future....

 

 

22 hours ago, you said that you were going to shut up, I'm still waiting........🤔

[king canary 7,577]

16 hours ago, lake district canary said:

It's the usual thing, some people can't quite handle people who do not fit in with their world view.  I'm open minded - I am quite prepared for any eventuality on Saturday, good or bad...it seems the prevailing world view is that is going to be bad. Clairvoyancy rules......

I don't think people can't handle your world view.

More that you continue to express completely outlandish suggestions (Dominate possession v Man City! We can finish 4th! Automatic promotion under AN when we're out of form and sitting 10th!) that have no basis in anything other than blind hope, then claim that these are just as realistic/likely as any other and castigate people for being negative or closed-minded for disagreeing based on reasonable factual analysis.

- We're very unlikely to dominate possession against Man City as they've been top of the possession stats for the past 3 seasons. It isn't impossible but it is highly unlikely.

- We're highly unlikely to finish 4th as no team promoted team has done this since the Premier League began and we also have one of the smallest budgets in the league which is traditionally a good indicator of the area teams will finish in. Again, not impossible but the chances are beyond slim.

- We weren't going to finish top 2 in that season under Neil because it required us winning something like 12 of our last 14 games, having struggled to string together 2 or 3 wins in a row all season. Again it was mathematically possible but exceedingly unlikely.

The issue is you seem to need people to say stuff that most of us don't think needs saying- we know there is a possibility to win every game, we just recognise there are some games the likelihood of us winning is higher than others.

[ThorpeCanary 71]

17 hours ago, lake district canary said:

I'm open minded - I am quite prepared for any eventuality on Saturday, good or bad.

 

On 11/09/2019 at 08:19, lake district canary said:

Losing on Saturday would be a real sickener and even worse if they play us off the park in the process.

No I'm not sure you are.

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

2 minutes ago, ThorpeCanary said:

No I'm not sure you are.

Lakeyo needs this message board,  it stops him disagreeing with himself. 

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

I'm impressed by the patience of several posters here who are willing to go round and round with LDC ….

 

On the OP's question, the answer simply is that if there was a reliable way to stop Sterling/ManC, then other teams would be doing it and stopping them winning over 80% of their games.

 

So we need to be at our best, not give away stupid/careless goals, respect them but not too much, and take any good chances we get.

 

If we do... the odds are still stacked against us, but we have a real chance of winning or drawing.  And our players know that, I'm sure.

 

Will I be disappointed if we lose ?  Yes !!  But there are different types of disappointment - from losing 7-0 (gutted), to giving it a good go but losing to a side that played a lot better (philosophical), to losing 2-3 when we had chances to draw or even win (which would be really disappointing in one way but would have positives too).  I class myself as a realist, if some cosmic trickster gave me the chance to bet my mortgage on the result of Saturday's game, win lose or draw, I would have to bet on them, not us, which doesn't mean I want them to win, just that I am aware of the probabilities and am not going to pretend otherwise.

 

NB if a Star Trek "Q" figure does appear here in sunny Nottingham, you pinkun posters will be the first to know, unless of course he whisks me straight off to the far edge of the galaxy - if I stop posting for a while, you'll all know why now of course.

[king canary 7,577]

For an actual tactical plan I'd say we need to...

- Hold a deeper defensive line. Aguero and Sterling thrive on space in behind to run into. Sitting a bit deeper removes some of that.

- Defending as a team- whoever starts at DM needs to be disciplined and not go forward when we have the ball. If the fullbacks are attacking the wide midfielders need to offer cover. This isn't parking the bus but we can't commit 7 or 8 players forward for every attack.

- Force them wide. Man City aren't a team that thrive on crosses into the box. If we stay compact and surrender the wider areas then we can make it difficult to play through us and force them into the crossing route. Difficult but doable.

- Pressing from the front. Pukki and Steipermann need to put pressure on the Man City defenders and force them into longer balls if possible. 

 

[lake district canary 4,531]

Wow, someone has actually taken the time to answer the question. Well done KC, but be careful, you might fall foul of those who don't want an answer.....

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

Also we should spare a thought for Man City, due to the injury to LaPorte, Guardiola may have to choose between starting with John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi, his only fit senior centre backs, or going with 3 at the back so perhaps Kyle Walker or Fernandinho could be included in the back three.  And we thought we had problems...

 

Meanwhile the Telegraph has pointed out that we've conceded more shots on target than any other Prem team so far, and we need to concentrate on controlling the game and having someone in midfield who can put their foot on the ball and control the tempo when required.  Which is all very well but I'm not convinced it will happen tomorrow...

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

2 hours ago, lake district canary said:

Wow, someone has actually taken the time to answer the question. Well done KC, but be careful, you might fall foul of those who don't want an answer.....

Does that injury news change your idea for beating Man CIty Lakey? 

Controlling possession with Leitner, Vrancic and Trybull out injured? 

It means we're probably going to have to play Tettey and McLean in the middle of the park, reckon that will be good enough to keep hold of the ball against the reigning champions? 

Edited September 13, 2019 by TeemuVanBasten

[norfolkbroadslim 223]

Especially given the dire injury situation, I think our only chance, and it won't be pretty, is to set up with 2 banks of 4/5 or 2 banks of 4 and a 2 and defend like absolute legends for 90+ minutes, counter-attack at speed as soon as an opportunity presents itself.  Yes, it will be like Hughton (apart from our attacking prowess being world's apart), it will be soaking up incredible pressure but at least we know that we have the ability to create chances and in Pukki a man to put them away.

Try and frustrate Man City, keep them out altogether or at least as long as possible.  We've certainly got the ability to score, we will probably still lose, but hopefully it won't be a drubbing, but maybe, just maybe we might get something out of it. A lot of luck, an injury or injuries to Man City players a sending off early on for Man City, Pukki racing through on goal early on and getting hacked down from behind.  It's football, anything can happen, and as someone once said, "It's a funny old game".

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,777]

1 hour ago, It's Character Forming said:

Also we should spare a thought for Man City, due to the injury to LaPorte, Guardiola may have to choose between starting with John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi, his only fit senior centre backs, or going with 3 at the back so perhaps Kyle Walker or Fernandinho could be included in the back three.  And we thought we had problems...

 

Meanwhile the Telegraph has pointed out that we've conceded more shots on target than any other Prem team so far, and we need to concentrate on controlling the game and having someone in midfield who can put their foot on the ball and control the tempo when required.  Which is all very well but I'm not convinced it will happen tomorrow...

That's okay, we've got Leitner and Vra.... Oh, wait...

[lappinitup 629]

On 12/09/2019 at 18:36, lappinitup said:

*****Official match thread LDC v Everybody Else*****

And the winner is..........

😂

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,423]

I really really really hope you had a couple of quid on that Lakey...

[lake district canary 4,531]

28 minutes ago, Graham Paddons Beard said:

I really really really hope you had a couple of quid on that Lakey...

I did have one or two very small bets, even had a 3-2, but with Pukki scoring the first goal. Can't win them all, but it matters not a jot after that performance and result.

 

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

Turns out the answer to the original question was a simple one... Sam Bryam