If you were City's opponents, how would you play?

[a1canary 0]

I was intrigued to hear Tony Pulis before the Stoke game saying that he

thought we had a few weaknesses that he would be looking to exploit.

I think Alan Curbishley said something similar when we went to The

Valley in our Prem year and we were promptly spanked in that game too.

So what are these weaknesses?

The obvious one is the old ''soft touch'' accusation, that if you put it

up us we crumble, which may have happened at Stoke, i don''t know.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me. But i don''t neccessarily buy that.

Charlton weren''t particularly rough that day and the other infamous

away from home humiliation that season was hardly by the bully boys of

the league in Fulham.

I definitely think if we let teams come on to us, as they tend to do

away from home, we can''t cope with it. We did finally learn to cope

with this in our promo season because of our solid foundation at the

back (Malky, Eddy, an on form Drury), some steal in midfield (holt and

francis), and our ability to break at pace. While at home, if any dared

to sit off us we were too much for anyone, with svensson bringing the pace of hucks and leon into play so well.

I''d be interested to hear others'' views on what, more specfically,

people think these weaknesses are that any manager with a bit of nouse

seems able to exploit.

[lucky green trainers 0]

good post a1.

i think you summed it up well.  dublins performance saturday showed what we''ve been missing in defence since malky went.  dicko is getting as strong as francis was, but holt hasn''t been replaced really - in terms of his 90 mins energetic displays. for me, we don''t get close enough to opposition players, giving them too much time and space on the ball - we seem content to shadow and stand-off - also if hucks/croft get the ball, there''s always 2/3 players on them like a rash - opposition fowards are not hassled or surrounded by our players in the final third, we stand in their way and sheppard them away - i don''t see tackles flying in.  we''ve scored 2 goals from dead ball situations all season, 2 penalties from earnie - pity other teams don''t return us the same favour.  colin gets caught out of position too easily, and under pressure goes missing for me, while drury is suspect at the far post, as he was in the prem - luckily most champs sides lack the quality to expolit this.  our defence often ball watch, and fail to pick up runners and free players in the penalty area.  most recently, how did cureton find himself alone to plant his shot home unopposed? his marker wasn''t marking obviously.in short, get the ball to our flanks and get quality crosses in and your players will find space in the pen area against us. 

[David4567 0]

If I was an oposing manager I''d tell my players this:

Dont Conceed for the 1st 45,

Let the Norwich fans shout insults at their own players,

Watch the confidence drain away from the Norwich fans and pass onto their players,

Stick as many past them as possible,

Their whole team will just self destruct.

 

HOW LONG UNTIL THE GRANT OUT PROTESTS!!! I GIVE IT 6 MONTHS

[DONT REMEMBER YOUR TENURE AS ENGLAND MANAGER 0]

[quote user="David4567"]

If I was an oposing manager I''d tell my players this:

Dont Conceed for the 1st 45,

Let the Norwich fans shout insults at their own players,

Watch the confidence drain away from the Norwich fans and pass onto their players,

Stick as many past them as possible,

Their whole team will just self destruct.

 

HOW LONG UNTIL THE GRANT OUT PROTESTS!!! I GIVE IT 6 MONTHS

[/quote]

I think even the most anti Peter Grant person would agree that he needs at least 18 months to turn this team around. It doesn''t take a genius to see that he has a heck of a job infront of him.

[beelsie 0]

Play two right wingers when Hucks plays.!! OTBC

[NavMan 0]

In first gear - this would still guarantee a win

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,020]

David - Yet another idiot that blames the fans, so how do you explain the various "away day no shows" which occured despite the fact the team had a large, vociferous away support?.

 

 

[Cluck 0]

I''d challenge every ball and not give us time to settle. We don''t like being pushed or being made to play under pressure.......so mistakes and bad passing then follow.

[a1canary 0]

[quote user="beelsie"]Play two right wingers when Hucks plays.!! OTBC[/quote]

I think that''s probably a good plan! I''ll never forget going to the

City Ground, Nottingham a few years back with one M Rivers on the right

wing, one of the few people to track back less than hux. That day, hux

himself tore us to pieces down the right wing, and gave one of the few

decent right backs we''ve had in modern times at the club, one of his

worst experiences in a city shirt.  With Nedergaard turning this

way and that and falling on his backside for ninety minutes, huckerby

inspired a thoroughly embarrassing 4-0 defeat to add to city fan''s

large catalogue of away day miseries!

Now we have him in our own side but face the same problem! How did that

happen?! Interestingly, as i recall he was part of a 3 man forward line

incorporating marlon harewood and david johnson. I still think that is

his best position and that responsibility for protecting the back four

should be shared between a combative midfield three and the outside two

of the front three.  Hux on the left of a 442, away from home at

least, has to be a big no no.

Unless we play without him which PG seems more than likely to do from

what he''s been saying. He could be a useful asset on the bench away

from home (remember Portman Rd last year) to bring on up front, having

started with Earnie and Dion as the front two.

[ZLF 271]

Pressurise our midfield with a high tempo in our face game supported by exploiting the gaps between the full backs and the wide midfielders.   This stretches the central pair leaving more gaps.   Feed crosses into the middle and eventually we sit deeper and deeper.    The stretching of the midfield and one up front means the ball continues to come back far too quickly, and usually the pressure pays dividends.  Get your fornt two to load the back post with the far midfielder also attacking the ball as neither Doc nor Shax track across the goal, leaving us outnumbered.

Defensively sit deep so Earnie cant use his pace and pull the wide midfielder back to double defend against Hux.  Once you have done that most of the attacking threat has been nullified.  

 

 

[nutty nigel 7,513]

[quote user="a1canary"][quote user="beelsie"]Play two right wingers when Hucks plays.!! OTBC[/quote]

I think that''s probably a good plan! I''ll never forget going to the City Ground, Nottingham a few years back with one M Rivers on the right wing, one of the few people to track back less than hux. That day, hux himself tore us to pieces down the right wing, and gave one of the few decent right backs we''ve had in modern times at the club, one of his worst experiences in a city shirt.  With Nedergaard turning this way and that and falling on his backside for ninety minutes, huckerby inspired a thoroughly embarrassing 4-0 defeat to add to city fan''s large catalogue of away day miseries!

Now we have him in our own side but face the same problem! How did that happen?! Interestingly, as i recall he was part of a 3 man forward line incorporating marlon harewood and david johnson. I still think that is his best position and that responsibility for protecting the back four should be shared between a combative midfield three and the outside two of the front three.  Hux on the left of a 442, away from home at least, has to be a big no no.
Unless we play without him which PG seems more than likely to do from what he''s been saying. He could be a useful asset on the bench away from home (remember Portman Rd last year) to bring on up front, having started with Earnie and Dion as the front two.
[/quote]

A1, in another thread I just suggested a 442 with Hucks on the left but I totally agree with your post here. I remember that Forest game too but we did get to within penalty kicks of the premiership with Rivers on the right in a 442. I guess it all comes down to whether Hucks can tear the opposition to pieces before  they capitalise on his defensive frailties.

 

[Saint Canary 0]

[quote user="ZippersLeftFoot"]

Pressurise our midfield with a high tempo in our face game supported by exploiting the gaps between the full backs and the wide midfielders.   This stretches the central pair leaving more gaps.   Feed crosses into the middle and eventually we sit deeper and deeper.    The stretching of the midfield and one up front means the ball continues to come back far too quickly, and usually the pressure pays dividends.  Get your fornt two to load the back post with the far midfielder also attacking the ball as neither Doc nor Shax track across the goal, leaving us outnumbered.

Defensively sit deep so Earnie cant use his pace and pull the wide midfielder back to double defend against Hux.  Once you have done that most of the attacking threat has been nullified.  

 

 

[/quote]

I think that about covers it Zipper. 

Pressure our defence and midfield high up the pitch and you can almost be sure to see the high ball to little Earn.  Once that happens, the game is for the taking.

[huck tastic<IMG src="http:new.pinkun.comforumsimagesline.gif"><BR><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Bryan Hamilton could turn this around...<BR><FONT> 0]

[quote user="a1canary"]I was intrigued to hear Tony Pulis before the Stoke game saying that he thought we had a few weaknesses that he would be looking to exploit.
I think Alan Curbishley said something similar when we went to The Valley in our Prem year and we were promptly spanked in that game too.
So what are these weaknesses?
The obvious one is the old ''soft touch'' accusation, that if you put it up us we crumble, which may have happened at Stoke, i don''t know. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. But i don''t neccessarily buy that.
Charlton weren''t particularly rough that day and the other infamous away from home humiliation that season was hardly by the bully boys of the league in Fulham.
I definitely think if we let teams come on to us, as they tend to do away from home, we can''t cope with it. We did finally learn to cope with this in our promo season because of our solid foundation at the back (Malky, Eddy, an on form Drury), some steal in midfield (holt and francis), and our ability to break at pace. While at home, if any dared to sit off us we were too much for anyone, with svensson bringing the pace of hucks and leon into play so well.

I''d be interested to hear others'' views on what, more specfically, people think these weaknesses are that any manager with a bit of nouse seems able to exploit.

[/quote]

against charlton that year we were still playing with two relatively short centre-backs, Fleming and Simon charlton, lost 4 goals, 3 of which, to memory, were from high balls into the box

[YankeeCanary 0]

If you were City''s opponents, how would you play?

Ever so well???

 

[lucky green trainers 0]

[quote user="huck tastic"]

[quote user="a1canary"]I was intrigued to hear Tony Pulis before the Stoke game saying that he thought we had a few weaknesses that he would be looking to exploit. I think Alan Curbishley said something similar when we went to The Valley in our Prem year and we were promptly spanked in that game too. So what are these weaknesses? The obvious one is the old ''soft touch'' accusation, that if you put it up us we crumble, which may have happened at Stoke, i don''t know. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. But i don''t neccessarily buy that.Charlton weren''t particularly rough that day and the other infamous away from home humiliation that season was hardly by the bully boys of the league in Fulham. I definitely think if we let teams come on to us, as they tend to do away from home, we can''t cope with it. We did finally learn to cope with this in our promo season because of our solid foundation at the back (Malky, Eddy, an on form Drury), some steal in midfield (holt and francis), and our ability to break at pace. While at home, if any dared to sit off us we were too much for anyone, with svensson bringing the pace of hucks and leon into play so well. I''d be interested to hear others'' views on what, more specfically, people think these weaknesses are that any manager with a bit of nouse seems able to exploit. [/quote]

against charlton that year we were still playing with two relatively short centre-backs, Fleming and Simon charlton, lost 4 goals, 3 of which, to memory, were from high balls into the box

[/quote]yeah JJ scored a brace - i magined he''d be taller than he was when he arrived at carra rd. 

[norfolkchance1 0]

When we sold Mackay we broke a relatively solid defensive partnership, since he (Mackay) left Fleming hasn''t looked anywhere near as solid when he''s played at centre back. Last time we looked soild was when Davenport was in defence on loan from Spurs.

If I was managing city''s opponents I would tell the strikers and midfield to put pressure on city''s midfielders and defenders, they nearly always pass backwards and some of the first touch control is so shocking the ball might just bounce straight into their path. Also if in doubt haul them down outside the area, their set pieces are so poor and telegraphed (always to Doherty) that there is no danger.