OneMoSalah

"Mikel Arteta isn’t silly, he saw us play it at Tottenham, found a way to pin our five back. They had us marking one at the back, they had numbers in midfield, they won all the second balls and that had to change." And probably the Southampton game too where we were ridiculously bad too using 343 at the beginning but he played it anyways today to the same affect. Yeah Frank outlined why it didnt work after but he persisted with it at the start. For me thats not a good sign because Tottenham and Arsenal are totally different and thats without even mentioning Southampton. I almost get the feeling he realised from the start we would be up against it but his arrogance of how we played in Spurs performance made him think it was the right move. Despite the fact Southampton was the game prior to Arsenal.... I hope we dont play 343 next match.

Holy fuck. Lets not forget even if we win this there is a lot of really negative things from today.

Jesus talk about pure luck but we will take it... just dont concede... or go get a winner.

The fact is starting with a back 3 and 2 man MF against a team who play with 3 in MF and 1 CF was always a bad move. Not starting Jorginho as well another bad decision in my eyes. Subbing Emerson instead of one of 3 CBs meaning we only had 1 natural fullback on the park, another poor decision because hes wasted a sub on putting a second natural fullback on instead of an offensive player/striker. Not for the first time his selections and in game judgement has been very poor. Think everyone forgets how we probably all berated Jose, Sarri and Conte for the exact same things....

Says enough about the lack of options tbh. I don't want Barkley or CHO coming on We are 1-0 down, Id rather he would stick on an offensive player. Still remember the grief Benitez got subbing Brana off for Azpi in the Club World Cup final. Not exactly like for like but basicslly a defender for a defender. Not what you want to see when your 1-0 down unless absolutely necessary.

So weve subbed off our LB, put a RB at LB then brought on another RB? Frank.... cmon

Back 3 again. Predictable. Seriously starting to question him now he must of seen the last few games it doesnt work but yet again persists with it. Then makes a change (putting Azpi at LB too???) and we look better in midfield instantly. No real fight or passion though, imagine getting outfought by Arsenal, its really bad.

I am still confused by VAR because some of the goals this last few round of fixtures, there have been some really really close calls, like a ball hair away. Ones that 10 years ago theyd just say the common cliche "you just give the attacker the advantage" and then times before that it was the defenders who got the advantage. I think VAR will be limited more to use on the more obvious calls in the upcoming seasons around Europe or I feel it should be although I suppose weve been complaining about officiating for too long. It is good as it gives the referees continual support in the games but I feel it will also breed contempt among certain referees (hopefully not the better ones) who will purely rely on it as opposed to their gut instinct (which can be correct with the very good ones).

Not playing Pulisic yes I agree 100%. Not so sure about second comment. Tactically he needs to look at it against smaller teams, especially against Southampton, decision to play a back 5 is difficult to comprehend. Today is our 7th loss this season in the league. I mean Southampton played narrow without the ball, didnt do anything hugely outstanding tactically although their effort amd application was very impressive for a team struggling with in form. They gave us the width and we didnt utilize it well. Its a common theme, under Sarri, under Conte, under Lampard... smaller teams willing to roll their sleeves up, sit in narrow, play on the counter... As for Azpi and Reece James, Reece when he played didnt fill me with confidence either. Like Tomori few dodgy individual mistakes in some games. Azpi does okay to the final third, he isnt going to burn anyone for pace but he needs to beat that first man. Emerson has the legs and can go beyond guys but final ball again shocking. Mason coming on was a good move. Pulisic not coming in earlier was poor management because Callum again, anonymous bar one shot he had.

Jesus. Not sure about Tomori for the first goal or second goal. Dodgy in both. Emerson as well. Frank has a lot to explain regarding the set up. They may have timewasted and that but as a smaller team struggling, can be expected. Also the likes of Giroud, Pedro, again in a game like this, at home when you have all the ball, why has he continued to shun them? Our crossing has been hopeless but Giroud is surely another player who for 10 or 20.mins you could go 2 up top with? Pedro can always get in the box too. This time of year, lots of games, it makes no sense. Praised him a lot for learning from his mistakes over the course of the season but he hasnt the last 5 or 6 games except Spurs. Willian for Pedro on the 83th minute is just baffling. Same with Pulisic on at what 70th minute. Weve been chasing the game for ages.

How did he miss that? Also theres the inevitable chances they will look for.

Winks is bang average anyway. Neat and tidy on the ball but struggles against low blocks or in bigger games. So is Eric Dier but I think he serves a clear purpose in their team under someone like Mourinho. Giovanni Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen arent deeper players anyway they are 10s imo so dropping them for Dier to solidify their midfield in a team that was conceding too many goals and arguably top heavy in attack, at any other club, under any other manager, it would hardly be a stupid move. Matic on the other hand, would be a backwards move for Mourinho and Spurs, 100% agree but its just bog standard usual from the media to make these links. Theres a lot of sources saying Conte and Simeone are pushing to get him in the door at Inter and Atletico, which strikes me as more plausible than at Spurs who usually play 4231 or 433 and already have plenty numbers in Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Ndombele, Lo Celso, Eriksen, Dele Alli. Plus

Fuck so he is. Well Mount on at HT, need someone on to get closer to Abraham, Willians trying it but Callums been anonymous. Our Final ball has been shite today.

Tomori awful for the goal. Has to get something on that ball so he cant take it, spin and run at us. Still plenty time but I think Kovacic or Mount has to come on for the of CBs at HT.

120/180k a week. All I will say. Injury or no injury not been impressed bar the Newcastle (well I think it was Newcastle) game this season.

Surprised with the result but good performance. Willian brilliant throughout. Dont see it enough though

Did people really doubt us against Arsenal? IIRC we had sort of stringed a good run together before? Maybe not seems like a life time ago and it was only last season 😂

Would you say the same about Cesc or Makelele back in the day? Great teams sell great players at some point too. Gabriel Jesus has got huge potential, hes only 22 and has scored 55 goals for City in 120 games where he has been in and out of the team. Not bad for someone who had never played in Europe prior to that move. Also has 18 goals in 39 games for Brazil. Very good strikerate at international level. He just needs to play every week, hes shown he is capable at City but Aguero is Aguero and Pep rarely plays 2 CFs so he can get 3 men in MF.

Honestly if he makes huge adjustments, whats the point in the work hes done in the last few months since coming in? If he, like Sarri and Conte, has a method he believes in he may as well continue implementing it. Once coaches go totally against their philosophy or whatever you want to call it, whats the point? All that other work basically goes out the window. We will make mistakes continuing in this way but at least we will implement what he wants. Pep and Klopp had same issues when they arrived in England but persisted with it and improved their squad. We lack a few top quality players in some positions, the set up is vunerable on transitions and at set plays but that can be sorted with minor tweaks, more coaching and a few additions as opposed to going back to basics playing 10 men behind the ball. As much as Sarri wasnt everyones cup of tea I had respect for him because he came to do things his way and barely wavered from his philosophy. We played some nice sequences coming out from the back under pressure but struggled in the final third due to shortcomings in quality, if Frank goes and makes huge changes to his philosophy then we will just go back to old ways imo and the ground work Sarri had also instilled is rendered useless too. We have got the technical players to play football where we play out, control the midfield and look to dictate the game with quick football in the final third. A great deal of squad is made for it, especially in midfield and offensive positions. Defence we maybe lack a CB and LB who are of top quality. As well as maybe lacking another winger, 10 and CF who can push the other players/relieve the weight on their shoulders (ie. Tammy and Pulisic who have been leading the way for us in attack imo). As I have said many times the shape and set plays are an issue but I believe its more coaching and a lack of players than Franks general idea of how we should play and set up. Yes we need to have tactical flexibility but we do have it already, we can play 343, 433 or 4231 as weve seen but these problems are always evident. That means for me its more the coaching side of that and personnel in some areas as opposed to the actual formation or way he wants us to play.

As would I. He hasnt played for City as regularly as he would have wanted but he has tenacity and really good instincts in the box. He is quite resillient as well for a smaller player. City would never sell him to us though.

Tbf Tammy has outscored almost every CF weve been linked with. He deserves a new deal and I would imagine he will hit 20 goals this season.

Essien had like 2 huge injuries in 3 or 4 seasons though. Bale hasnt. There will be a decline but I dont think it will be on that scale. That story is a non starter anyway. For sure.

Those guys are much better players though. Zaha is good but not 80m and his end product is still inconsistent. Hes played upfront for Palace too last few sessons as opposed to outwide.

Hes stated the obvious. We wont finish top 2. We havent beat United, Liverpool or City and conceded 4 v Ajax....

I think if this was true as well as the fact we need a good winger, it would be done already 😂 Bale might not be everyones cup of tea but I dont think wed be stupid enough to say no to swapping Mount for Bale