Skoorb
Alert Team
Welcome back Ped. You have been missed.......
Due to other forces, the Pedmachine has not been able to write recently, but as the season starts to descend I thought that not just a Ped Report, but something wider ought to be written.
At the start of the current campaign, City scaled new heights and with Chelsea faltering, the Stretfords having difficulty scoring, Arsenal being Arsenal and Liverpool in disarray, it was going to be a cakewalk until May and celebration time once more at the Etihad.
Note the use of the word "was".
City`s form of late has been poor when you consider that they allegedly have world class players and world class cover in all positions on the field. But have they? The fact that the spine of the team has been missing for far too long tells me a different story and cannot be an excuse.
Of the spine the one true consistent performer has been Joe Hart, week after week making save after save behind a joke of a back four that has cost a lot of money to put together. When you think that the best performer among those has been Sagna then what more is there to say? Mangala is a rich man`s Kolo Toure, looking more like Bambi on ice, Kolarov does well going forward but is a shocking defender and Otamendi, who for me is a quality performer simply can`t do the job of 2 centre backs on his own. If you look at the accomplishment of Koscielny last night, that is exactly how Otamendi should look where he has the comfort of another reliable colleague alongside him.
The only time that has happened has been when Kompany has played. Ah yes….Kompany, for many the reason why City is stuttering. Just what is going on there? How can an injury such as his take years to put right. Is he another Sturridge or is he genuinely hurt? Does he want to carry on playing for City, for Pellegrini?
Can the same be said for Yaya Toure, often the butt of ridiculous excuses and not too often putting in 90 minutes as we witnessed last night when his 10 minutes of excellence saw him give City an albeit outside chance of scraping a point?
The energy in this team is coming from the newly acquired players like Sterling and De Bruyne. Aguero and Silva have also hit stop/start barriers and can no longer be relied upon to perform week-in- week- out and this highlights City`s shortcomings. They simply haven`t got decent class cover for these world class players.
Delph might the feeling that he is premier league born and bred but is not in my opinion as good as Milner. Fernando still baffles me in what he does. He gives City nothing more than the maligned (especially in these columns) Garcia and definitely not as much as de Jong, or even Barry!
I like Fernadinho. He adds some sparkle, is not afraid to get stuck in and looks as though he wants to do something, but there is something missing from City now. It`s as if the players don`t want to return from injury or if they do they look out of sorts for far too long. Can you imagine Zaba taking a month to get back into it? No, sir, as soon as he is off the table he`ll be back among the combat.
Yes, I know that Aguero often finds himself up top alone with 3 markers and that more and more players are giving Silva a kicking, but at times for me there seems to be a shortage of desire. This is sad because Manchester City still have the best collection of footballers in the Premier League. They are just not playing to potential.
What exactly do they practice when they train? There still seems to be no understanding between any permutation of centre backs unless it is Kompany and Otamendi. There still seems to be nobody playing as a true holding midfielder offering cover to the other struggles at centre half. This gives team a free run at the defence and if it wasn`t for Joe Hart, City would have been on the receiving end of more results like Tottenham and Liverpool.
Is it the fact that City appear to have been courting Guardiola so hard that the world is caving in until his appointment is secured? Will it be secured? What role will his wife play in preferring London and him taking the recently vacated post at Stamford Bridge? The speculation may not appear to be affecting Pellegrini but you can bet your life it is and also having an effect on his overpaid protegees.
It pains me to say it but the Gooners, last night, in the first half in particular, played the brand of football we expect from City, with power and pace and goals. Yes they were pegged back a bit in the second when City`s pace threat had them concerned, but the difference was that they got their defensive resources into position as soon as they lost the ball. Conversely, City had Yaya running 3 paces then trundling without a care in the world while Walcott et al had a free go at the centre backs.
Apart from dismantling Chelsea with ease, City have come up empty against all the main contenders so far. Equally they have still suffered from handing out points to non-contenders because Pellegrini thinks it`s an easy match and doesn`t need to field his strongest eleven. These are the reasons that the Barclays Premier League title is not destined for the Etihad Stadium in May.
City are five points off the pace now and on the horizon have away days at Leicester and Watford neither of which play the type of football that City like to play against. Vardy and Mahrez will have a party against the like of Mangala and either Kolarov or Clichy and their high tempo midfield will have no problem in dispensing with the ineffective Yaya.
The same story could happen at Vicarage Road where Harry the Hornet is lying in wait with a sting in his tail. Liverpool who beat City easily with a game of pace, pressing and goals, found themselves on the receiving end of that over the weekend. Agreed they were not helped by having the footballing equivalent of Ken Dodd in goals, but Klopp`s boys just weren`t up for it from the moment the juggling act took place.
Watford will fancy that the same kind of performance will see them prevail against City. Deeney will bump and batter Mangala all afternoon while the pace of Ighalo (where did he come from and why is he still under the radar?) with tie the same man into knots, if indeed the centre backs see him coming.
Two more busy afternoons for Joe Hart in prospect I suspect.
The Pedmachine should be delighted that City are still in the Champions League, the semi-final of the Capital One Cup and third in the Premier League, but he is seeing signs of an empty season coming up. Dinamo Kyiv an easy opponent? Didn`t they turn us over in the Europa League a small number of years ago? And in February it will be freezing in Ukraine. I went to the last away match there and it was -14c at kick-off. Oh won`t Yaya just love that?
This team needs to look at what it can achieve this season, get itself off the treatment tables and back on to the field. City can easily go ten matches unbeaten, but they need to start on Boxing Day, then beat Leicester and Watford. If they do that we can start to believe again. Getting to the quarter finals of the Champions League is not success enough. And….Pellegrini….NO match in the Barclays Premier League is easy. There is no Real Madrid v Rayo Vallecano in this league, so please learn that and get on with the job.
Let`s see if City`s festive season turns out to be festive.
Due to other forces, the Pedmachine has not been able to write recently, but as the season starts to descend I thought that not just a Ped Report, but something wider ought to be written.
At the start of the current campaign, City scaled new heights and with Chelsea faltering, the Stretfords having difficulty scoring, Arsenal being Arsenal and Liverpool in disarray, it was going to be a cakewalk until May and celebration time once more at the Etihad.
Note the use of the word "was".
City`s form of late has been poor when you consider that they allegedly have world class players and world class cover in all positions on the field. But have they? The fact that the spine of the team has been missing for far too long tells me a different story and cannot be an excuse.
Of the spine the one true consistent performer has been Joe Hart, week after week making save after save behind a joke of a back four that has cost a lot of money to put together. When you think that the best performer among those has been Sagna then what more is there to say? Mangala is a rich man`s Kolo Toure, looking more like Bambi on ice, Kolarov does well going forward but is a shocking defender and Otamendi, who for me is a quality performer simply can`t do the job of 2 centre backs on his own. If you look at the accomplishment of Koscielny last night, that is exactly how Otamendi should look where he has the comfort of another reliable colleague alongside him.
The only time that has happened has been when Kompany has played. Ah yes….Kompany, for many the reason why City is stuttering. Just what is going on there? How can an injury such as his take years to put right. Is he another Sturridge or is he genuinely hurt? Does he want to carry on playing for City, for Pellegrini?
Can the same be said for Yaya Toure, often the butt of ridiculous excuses and not too often putting in 90 minutes as we witnessed last night when his 10 minutes of excellence saw him give City an albeit outside chance of scraping a point?
The energy in this team is coming from the newly acquired players like Sterling and De Bruyne. Aguero and Silva have also hit stop/start barriers and can no longer be relied upon to perform week-in- week- out and this highlights City`s shortcomings. They simply haven`t got decent class cover for these world class players.
Delph might the feeling that he is premier league born and bred but is not in my opinion as good as Milner. Fernando still baffles me in what he does. He gives City nothing more than the maligned (especially in these columns) Garcia and definitely not as much as de Jong, or even Barry!
I like Fernadinho. He adds some sparkle, is not afraid to get stuck in and looks as though he wants to do something, but there is something missing from City now. It`s as if the players don`t want to return from injury or if they do they look out of sorts for far too long. Can you imagine Zaba taking a month to get back into it? No, sir, as soon as he is off the table he`ll be back among the combat.
Yes, I know that Aguero often finds himself up top alone with 3 markers and that more and more players are giving Silva a kicking, but at times for me there seems to be a shortage of desire. This is sad because Manchester City still have the best collection of footballers in the Premier League. They are just not playing to potential.
What exactly do they practice when they train? There still seems to be no understanding between any permutation of centre backs unless it is Kompany and Otamendi. There still seems to be nobody playing as a true holding midfielder offering cover to the other struggles at centre half. This gives team a free run at the defence and if it wasn`t for Joe Hart, City would have been on the receiving end of more results like Tottenham and Liverpool.
Is it the fact that City appear to have been courting Guardiola so hard that the world is caving in until his appointment is secured? Will it be secured? What role will his wife play in preferring London and him taking the recently vacated post at Stamford Bridge? The speculation may not appear to be affecting Pellegrini but you can bet your life it is and also having an effect on his overpaid protegees.
It pains me to say it but the Gooners, last night, in the first half in particular, played the brand of football we expect from City, with power and pace and goals. Yes they were pegged back a bit in the second when City`s pace threat had them concerned, but the difference was that they got their defensive resources into position as soon as they lost the ball. Conversely, City had Yaya running 3 paces then trundling without a care in the world while Walcott et al had a free go at the centre backs.
Apart from dismantling Chelsea with ease, City have come up empty against all the main contenders so far. Equally they have still suffered from handing out points to non-contenders because Pellegrini thinks it`s an easy match and doesn`t need to field his strongest eleven. These are the reasons that the Barclays Premier League title is not destined for the Etihad Stadium in May.
City are five points off the pace now and on the horizon have away days at Leicester and Watford neither of which play the type of football that City like to play against. Vardy and Mahrez will have a party against the like of Mangala and either Kolarov or Clichy and their high tempo midfield will have no problem in dispensing with the ineffective Yaya.
The same story could happen at Vicarage Road where Harry the Hornet is lying in wait with a sting in his tail. Liverpool who beat City easily with a game of pace, pressing and goals, found themselves on the receiving end of that over the weekend. Agreed they were not helped by having the footballing equivalent of Ken Dodd in goals, but Klopp`s boys just weren`t up for it from the moment the juggling act took place.
Watford will fancy that the same kind of performance will see them prevail against City. Deeney will bump and batter Mangala all afternoon while the pace of Ighalo (where did he come from and why is he still under the radar?) with tie the same man into knots, if indeed the centre backs see him coming.
Two more busy afternoons for Joe Hart in prospect I suspect.
The Pedmachine should be delighted that City are still in the Champions League, the semi-final of the Capital One Cup and third in the Premier League, but he is seeing signs of an empty season coming up. Dinamo Kyiv an easy opponent? Didn`t they turn us over in the Europa League a small number of years ago? And in February it will be freezing in Ukraine. I went to the last away match there and it was -14c at kick-off. Oh won`t Yaya just love that?
This team needs to look at what it can achieve this season, get itself off the treatment tables and back on to the field. City can easily go ten matches unbeaten, but they need to start on Boxing Day, then beat Leicester and Watford. If they do that we can start to believe again. Getting to the quarter finals of the Champions League is not success enough. And….Pellegrini….NO match in the Barclays Premier League is easy. There is no Real Madrid v Rayo Vallecano in this league, so please learn that and get on with the job.
Let`s see if City`s festive season turns out to be festive.
