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Pre Match - Man City (a) - PL - Sun 1630

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Alexander has been terrible. What was he doing on that goal. Clearly not properly back yet from
Injury
 
dmishra said:
We're struggling with ball progression past the press, and I think the principal issue is Mane (and Trent's bad passing to a lesser extent).

Typically, we beat the press in 3-4 ways.

One is VVD's diagonal. That has mostly been cut off bar I think one occasion.

The other is Trent's quick ball playing down the channel, which too City are well drilled to cut off. Makes it worse that Trent has just not been sharp.

The other avenue we regularly used down the left was the Robertson-Wijnaldum-Mane axis.

Wijnaldum had elite strength and was fantastic on the turn. Robertson had (and still has great running power). But the key one was Mane - he was one of Europe's most elite ball progressors, capable of moving it 40-50 yards alone at times. He just can't do that anymore.

We need Diaz there. Also, Thiago plays differently from Wijnaldum. He likes to face the goal more, but I think he probably needs to play more instinctively (and take a few more risks) with his back to goal. He's technically elite. Yes, there's the chance the ball gets nicked on the turn, but if we want to win this, need to take that risk.
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It was noticeable in the last minute of that half that 3 times Thiago got the ball and was immediately closed down by two City players. I think they've identified him as the danger in terms of creativity and progressing the ball. Hendo doesn't get the same attention at all, which makes switching him for Keita an imperative as Keita can progress the ball far better.

We desperately need Diaz on for Mane, he retains possession better and is now a more dangerous dribbler.
 
2-1 has flattered us.

We've choked under the pressure today. Unable to keep the ball for longer than 10 seconds (outside of the goal).
We seemingly have no way to play out of the back through the centre of the pitch.

We need to be FAR braver in possession of the ball.
 
Frogfish said:
It was noticeable in the last minute of that half that 3 times Thiago got the ball and was immediately closed down by two City players. I think they've identified him as the danger in terms of creativity and progressing the ball. Hendo doesn't get the same attention at all, which makes switching him for Keita an imperative as Keita can progress the ball far better.

We desperately need Diaz on for Mane, he retains possession better and is now a more dangerous dribbler.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I wonder if it's worth switching Thiago to the right and bringing on Keita at LCM. I don't know - find it difficult to trust Keita in a game of such magnitude, though he has all the skills to thrive in this game.
 
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