Your team v Nottingham Forest

[jozza800]

Not worth starting a new thread over it, and feel free to shoot me down, but a thought came to me. Mo seems to have lost his pace, but he still has the trickery and passing ability. Remember when that happened to John Barnes and he moved inside? I wonder if he yet has a central midfield role to play or if he even could??

When he did that interview last season saying that he and Slot had talked about his role for the folowing season I did think it meant he'd be playing more centrally, maybe off the main striker.

Not wider and higher!

I wonder if the conversations Slot has had with both Mo and Wirtz about his grand vision for this season has been lost in translation somewhat!!!

The players we have really lend themselves to something far narrower than what we have at the moment with maybe the fullbacks providing the width?

Allison

Frimpong - Konate - VVD - Kerkez
Szobo - Grav - Mac
Wirtz
Salah - Ekitike / Isak

[jozza800]

Personally i'd try and get Wirtz in the 10 going.

But (and I'm starting to sound like a broken record here!) he needs to sort the two midfielders behind him for it to work.

They need to play as 6s/4s rather than both of them playing as 8s.

[Red October]

Not worth starting a new thread over it, and feel free to shoot me down, but a thought came to me. Mo seems to have lost his pace, but he still has the trickery and passing ability. Remember when that happened to John Barnes and he moved inside? I wonder if he yet has a central midfield role to play or if he even could??

Yes. I've thought about that too. Mo still has the touch but his pace and tracking back are atrocious for the most part. He still has the nous. Would be good to use that where he needs to run less, like in a 10 type position. But then that negates the chance to use Wirtz there....which means he's back on the wing where he's not looking all that effective either...

Alisson (badly needed)
Bradley Gomez VVD Robbo
Szobo Grav Mac
Frimpong Chiesa
Ekitike

[CCTV]

At full time yesterday, I'd have dropped VVD, MacA & Salah. Think a lot of our issues yesterday can be put down to their performances. I'm surprised everyone is starting MacA coming back from internationals.

On the whoscored ratings, algorithm generated, Bradley was our motm.
6.9/10

MacA our lowest rated player including all substitutes.
5.4/10.

VVD our 2nd worst including all substitutes, and admittedly had his goal stood he'd probably be higher up.

https://www.whoscored.com/matches/1903222/live/england-premier-league-2025-2026-manchester-city-liverpool

[Kev0909]

Problem is, bradley just get's ganged up on by any decent team, not sure why real was so poor tbh

but city's tactics was spot on salah doesn't drop back and help as he's been told he can stay forward, it's ok if we're against a average team like Forest, because Grav can come across and help from midfield or whoever, but against a team with good midfielders.. grav comes across Foden etc would have a field day.

Can't believe i'm saying this but it's time for a new RW next season and salah to drop to the bench.

Frimpong will never work at RB because of salah sadly, he's too attacking, we need a RW who drops back, then it would work, we need another rebuild already a LW,RW 2 Cb's and Baleba or whoever in midfield... not sure where the money will come from or how we can after how much we spent this summer, Unless we sell Wirtz early.. (hopefully not and comes good) and get a huge bid for salah which I doubt now.

only 5 players needed for the first team!

What a shocking window.

Also the case for Wirtz, how can we play with a AMC when we don't have salah dropping back and already leaving gaps on the pitch, no wonder it's not working, it's not rocket science.

[Insidious]

Not worth starting a new thread over it, and feel free to shoot me down, but a thought came to me. Mo seems to have lost his pace, but he still has the trickery and passing ability. Remember when that happened to John Barnes and he moved inside? I wonder if he yet has a central midfield role to play or if he even could??

It will take balls, but we should really either drop him for a bit, or find a different role for him.

I still think a Diamond is arguably one of the best fits for the current combination of playing staff and Mo could potentially be used as one of the front two at times, or occasionally as the Trequartista/10 in rotation with Wirtz.

I'm also hoping that he is simply terrified of an injury before his last hurrah (???) at AFCON and thus he is making conscious choices to avoid certain things (sprinting, tackling) so he's fit for it. It would be brilliant to see him come back after AFCON with that weight off his chest and able to produce something closer to the player we saw in 24/25.

That said, despite his absolutely incredible legacy with us, I absolutely can't wait to see what we come up with while he's away on international duty. A post-Mo Liverpool will come and we need to be prepared for it. AFCON will force some big decisions on Slot and we might just land on something that makes us collectively better than a side that tries to accommodate the current version of Mo. I'd be amazed if he is still here in the 27/28 season and that will be upon us quicker than we realise. By then Robertson, Alisson and Van Dijk could all be gone too, so finding solutions now rather than putting our heads in the sand might be a good idea, even if there are teething problems with it.