City looked imperious today, although they didn't actually look like scoring at all in the second half and were fortunate to get their goal as it came from an error from Kante and then a very VERY bad error from Kepa to make it easy for De Bruyne to score without even needing to put the ball right in the side netting or put as much pace on the ball as a well positioned keeper would have made necessary.
Not sure about Haaland going there, in their games I've watched this season Foden has played the false 9 and he has been absolutely instrumental to everything they do because he leads their press from there, right from the very front, tirelessly, relentlessly and expertly, he has had his misconduct issues, but he's worked incredibly hard to gain some additional pace, I remember when our lads all used to work incredibly hard to keep improving. Anyway, their press will suffer incredibly if they were to buy Haaland or Kane and play them at No9.
It was really really frustrating watching them and just having to admit there is an absolute chasm of difference between where we were in 18-20 and where we are now, when for me we were a better side than them in both those seasons and the chasm of difference between where they were then and where they are now
We all have and had our ideas about what we needed to do to evolve, City have done absolutely everything I said we needed to do and they needed to do to get close to us again, we've not done any of it, we've gone backwards a long way backwards, a big part of that is lack of investment in the squad and this absolutely fucking crazy idea that every youngster we nicked off another club to put in our academy is going to be first team material in a side that can challenge and that Virgil and Alisson were the only marquee signings FSG were every going to have to make and that was 4 years ago now, and it shows
The are better than us without the ball, a lot better than us without the ball probably THE most damning thing and awful thing to have to admit, especially as pressing and counter pressing and being better at that first and foremost was what our success was built on, but they are, Foden's pressing from the front plays a massive part in that, they aren't nearly as good without the ball in games when he doesn't start or play that I have seen last season and this.
Their midfield didn't do anything spectacular with the ball in the second half I watched, ran down a few blind allies, played rudimentary passes, De Bruyne passed into an open goal courtesy of appalling positioning from Kepa, that was about it, it was their collective positioning in their pressing and counter pressing that was the most impressive aspect of their game for me, not as good as ours in the 15 games run in 19-20 in Fab's absence, but getting there and being that in tune with the press and counter press positioning makes it easy for all the midfielders to be better, to always be in the right lace to receive the ball of get a foot in.
Cancelo and his passing was really annoyingly the best quality from their entire midfield with the ball, they have him operating exactly as I wanted our evolution to go from 18-20 by further developing our full backs play and interactions with the forwards and midfielders and Trent especially with his superb passing and playmaking ability. City have done exactly that with Cancelo and actually made him the best full back in the league, when he was hopeless and not getting starts in 18-20.
I don't know what our plan was for evolution, it pains me to watch City be so good and better at what we were better than anyone else at and by a distance and see the incredible work and evolution they have done with Cancelo to comfortably make him the best full back in the league well ahead of Trent, from the position Trent was in and where the obvious expansion and evolution of his game and gains in his overall ability and effectiveness, that City have done with Cancelo were to be had and Cancelo isn't the only full back to have made massive strides on Trent either
We have suffered from ditching the fluid midfield 3 that developed in Fab's absence, City do play it that fluid in some games, in other games Rodri stays central all game, but they have LCM or RCM dropping in alongside him or being the more attacking midfielder in a more fluid 3 than our obvious and easier to set up to play off LCM controller, No6 and more attacking RCM - Said it in 19-20 and nothing has changed a more fluid 3 with either all 3 players moving through the positions or LCM and RCM able to be the controller or the attacking mid their side if just infinitely better than what we've been doing this season.
Some of this is recruitment, the lack of continuity in selection through letting Gini go has weakened our midfield incredibly, some of it is either a lack of ambition and necessary hard work from players like Trent and Robbo or a lack of coaching or good planning of our evolution or all 3 of those things, either way, it's not good enough, it is like we have rested on our laurels and let everything that made us European and Premier League champions fall away and drop off significantly.
Our absolutely dire drop off in the pressing and counter pressing is in part through lack of continuity of selection, but players coming in and being absolutely fucking useless at it as has happened in far too many games this season which is why we have had so many games that are end to end with no control and great entertainment for the neutral, as Jones , Oxlade and other fringe players and even Milner has been in some games simply has to be a lack of coaching, so maybe stop playing fuckong rondos or whatever they're called all the time and put more work in with the video analysis sessions on rest days, because using so many players who aren't good enough is one thing, using so many who aren't good enough and can't even do the basics to make the team function through a lack of coaching and education is another entirely
Whoever planned our proposed evolution has only succeeded in orchestrating an incredible devolution in our play, together with poor recruitment in letting Gini go and bringing in Thiago who just simply isn't a fit despite his obvious abilities
How far backwards we have slipped in things we were vastly superior at to any other club and in positions we were is quite frankly embarrassing and FSG need to have a look at their plans for long term sustainable high revenue returns as that's all that interests them and accept that their current plans for that aren't going to work or come anywhere close to working and they need to invest in players or the best possible quality more than just 2 in 4 years, but Jurgen and all our coaches and players need to have a fucking good look at themselves too, as there has been a huge amount of taking our eye of the ball and complacency that is a dual reason for most of this too
I don't expect us to spend like City or accumulate a squad like theirs ever, I expect us to accumulate at least 16 top top class players including ones we already have at our disposal so we have a side that can beat any other top side's best 11 in any given game and can beat all other comers as when we rest players the couple coming in that aren't at the level of the 16 top players won't cause as significant a weakness as some currently do - That IS NOT too much to ask and wasn't too much to ask for from 18-20, but we've let it slip very badly on too many fronts so now it requires more significant investment in playing staff
"If Everton were playing at the bottom of my garden, i'd close the curtains”
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