Nagy and Massengo

[MC RISK77]

Only first start together and while it can be argued we won the game on the flanks, we wouldn’t have had as many opportunities to get the ball into the box if it wasn’t for these two breaking up play with the energy they had.

josh looked very comfortable on the right so hopefully we can see more of the pairing in the middle.

elliason was superb as well.

[Murraysrightplum]

Always liked brown hill on the right. The League cup season he was out there most of the season and that is some of the best football I’ve ever seen from a City team

[Guest]

Both were fantastic. So good at breaking forward. When Massengo develops physically he will be far too good for this level. 

Both forward thinking midfielders, both so good in tight spaces. Technically fantastic. 

Thought LJ should have moved Brownhill inside a lot earlier than he did as we were really struggling to cope second half as Nagy looked tired. 

We looked much more in control when Korey came on, but even more importantly once he moved Weimann wide and had Fam as the lone striker. 

But fair play to LJ. Absolutely spot on team today.

[bcfc01]

Been waiting to see these two play in the same team.

I sincerely hope that LJ keeps with these two and uses Smith as a back up - but I have a bad feeling that LJ will squeeze Smith into the team at the expense of Massengo. If so, big mistake imo.

 

 

[Gazred]

Our midfield as a whole was MOM for me. It made the difference.

[JoeAman08]

Absolute class. Harsh on Eliasson but thought Massengo was man of the match. 

[spudski]

Both need to start as many games together as possible imo.

Gave us confidence when going forward, which made all the difference.

Play Massengo every game...no need to rest. He won't be here next season imo.

[Gazred]

1 minute ago, spudski said:

Both need to start as many games together as possible imo.

Gave us confidence when going forward, which made all the difference.

Play Massengo every game...no need to rest. He won't be here next season imo.

Plays like he has 400 senior appearances let alone 40! Every chance to go all the way IMO.

[Robbored]

Both Massengo and Nagy were excellent and hopefully  LJ will have clocked that and keep those two in the starting 11.

With Brownhill alongside they form a very strong midfield three.

With Smith as a stand by City are pretty strong in the engine room.

Good things ahead?           

[winsaw]

They simply have us the energy we have been lacking, they where so good together, it's a joy watching a player as young as Massengo running a game , loved the understanding they had always in the right place for each other, brilliant

[REDOXO]

35 minutes ago, Gazred said:

Our midfield as a whole was MOM for me. It made the difference.

Yeah what a difference from Wednesday. Hunt overlapping made a huge difference as well. Elliason looked unplayable for most of the first half. Nagy and Massengo look mobile. 

[reddoc]

Xavi and Iniesta

[ExiledAjax]

40 minutes ago, spudski said:

Both need to start as many games together as possible imo.

Gave us confidence when going forward, which made all the difference.

Play Massengo every game...no need to rest. He won't be here next season imo.

Yeh they were the platform upon which those fun attacks were built.

Credit to the team. I asked for proactive play in midweek and they delivered it.

[Highguy]

Thought massengo was outstanding and Nagy was a different level what a performance today from them all I personally think Bentley was motm 2 key saves at 1-0 

[spudski]

7 minutes ago, ExiledAjax said:

Yeh they were the platform upon which those fun attacks were built.

Credit to the team. I asked for proactive play in midweek and they delivered it.

Allowed Josh to play freely and more offensive, which allowed Weimann to play in more dangerous positions.

Eliasson did well, but still lacked in defensive areas, but were covered by Nagy and Massengo, which negated Eliassons weaknesses.

My only criticism from today was that I thought Fam was very average and we took our foot off the pedal. 

Imo if we had kept on the gas and worked just as hard throughout, we could have done a Brentford. Which would have done our GD a world of good.

[ExiledAjax]

1 minute ago, spudski said:

My only criticism from today was that I thought Fam was very average and we took our foot off the pedal. 

 

I agree we eased off in the second half - but Huddersfield changed up their formation as well which I think contributed to Eliasson having a quieter 45 minutes.

Fam I thought actually did ok, could have had the goal given in the first half - probably would have scored the penalty had it been given for hand ball. In more concrete terms he defended well, played a big part in the build up to Weimann's goal and generally put himself about. A solid 7 out of 10 performance I thought.

[Sleepy1968]

59 minutes ago, spudski said:

Both need to start as many games together as possible imo.

Gave us confidence when going forward, which made all the difference.

Play Massengo every game...no need to rest. He won't be here next season imo.

That's what I said today - unless we get promoted of course. Excellent positioning and pressing. It's almost like having two players with his energy. Moving the ball much quicker as well. If he keeps this up we'll have some happy memories.

[MC RISK77]

8 minutes ago, spudski said:

Allowed Josh to play freely and more offensive, which allowed Weimann to play in more dangerous positions.

Eliasson did well, but still lacked in defensive areas, but were covered by Nagy and Massengo, which negated Eliassons weaknesses.

My only criticism from today was that I thought Fam was very average and we took our foot off the pedal. 

Imo if we had kept on the gas and worked just as hard throughout, we could have done a Brentford. Which would have done our GD a world of good.

Fam was far from average imo...his hold up and link play in first half was brilliant and looks like he is growing in confidence.

[Pezo]

Yep that worked. 

[spudski]

3 minutes ago, MC RISK77 said:

Fam was far from average imo...his hold up and link play in first half was brilliant and looks like he is growing in confidence.

He played more like an offensive midfielder than a outward threat. His movement in the final third was very static. Sat between two defenders and hardly moved away from them. His heat map is not what you'd want from your CF imo. Went missing second half imo.

[Magicdaps]

Very encouraging.  Nagy has so much class and composure and with the energy and quality of HNM it has the makings of something really good.  Add to that Korey, KP, COD & Josh and it gives us real options to play them together regularly as either a genuine two with wingers or in a three with wide attackers or as part of an offensive or defensive diamond when the situation dictates.

Either way we should probably enjoy HNM for the short time that we'll probably have him. 

[chinapig]

14 minutes ago, spudski said:

Allowed Josh to play freely and more offensive, which allowed Weimann to play in more dangerous positions.

Eliasson did well, but still lacked in defensive areas, but were covered by Nagy and Massengo, which negated Eliassons weaknesses.

My only criticism from today was that I thought Fam was very average and we took our foot off the pedal. 

Imo if we had kept on the gas and worked just as hard throughout, we could have done a Brentford. Which would have done our GD a world of good.

We didn't get 2 penalties. Brentford did. Not really much difference between us therefore.

[Davefevs]

1 hour ago, MC RISK77 said:

Only first start together and while it can be argued we won the game on the flanks, we wouldn’t have had as many opportunities to get the ball into the box if it wasn’t for these two breaking up play with the energy they had.

josh looked very comfortable on the right so hopefully we can see more of the pairing in the middle.

elliason was superb as well.

I said before the game that whilst Nagy’s been injured we all wanted to see Brownhill, Nagy and Massengo in a midfield together, but for some reason HNM has been benched for the past 3 games, especially as he’d had a rest.  Today we got to see it.  No disrespect to Josh, but the other two care for the ball better in tighter spaces, so it suited Josh to play right of centre.  We moved the ball from left to right with such a better tempo that Josh got the ball either in space, or with solid possession allowing either Hunt to create an overlap, or Weimann finding pockets to play off of.

1 hour ago, JonDolman said:

Both were fantastic. So good at breaking forward. When Massengo develops physically he will be far too good for this level. 

Both forward thinking midfielders, both so good in tight spaces. Technically fantastic. 

Thought LJ should have moved Brownhill inside a lot earlier than he did as we were really struggling to cope second half as Nagy looked tired. 

We looked much more in control when Korey came on, but even more importantly once he moved Weimann wide and had Fam as the lone striker. 

But fair play to LJ. Absolutely spot on team today.

That was probably by only criticism this afternoon, not your point, but that Eliasson went right, Brownhill central and Weimann left.  Nic stayed too far right, Josh played too far forward, and We didn’t get the ball into the same sort of areas as we did first half.  With Josh playing narrower 1st half than Nic did on the other side, we had a nice balance and slightly more condensed 3.  Definitely a 4231 first half, albeit fluid.  Second half much more 442, and although the game won and allowance for slowing it down a bit, I thought it showed how susceptible we are in a traditional 442.  Why not put Nic back on the left, and go back to the great stuff we did first half.

[Numero Uno]

Massengo has footwork that any footballer bar the likes of Messi would die for. He is going to be some player when he matures, top drawer.

[Bris Red]

The sooner Smith becomes a squad player the better.. we need to stop looking at him as a first name on the team sheet sort of player, he isn’t. We have moved foward and improved.. time to leave sentiment out of it..

[AshtonGreat]

1 hour ago, JonDolman said:

Both were fantastic. So good at breaking forward. When Massengo develops physically he will be far too good for this level. 

Both forward thinking midfielders, both so good in tight spaces. Technically fantastic. 

Thought LJ should have moved Brownhill inside a lot earlier than he did as we were really struggling to cope second half as Nagy looked tired. 

We looked much more in control when Korey came on, but even more importantly once he moved Weimann wide and had Fam as the lone striker. 

But fair play to LJ. Absolutely spot on team today.

Well I suppose the law of averages states that he was going to pick the right one eventually

Just now, bris red said:

The sooner Smith becomes a squad player the better.. we need to stop looking at him as a first name on the team sheet sort of player, he isn’t. We have moved foward and improved.. time to leave sentiment out of it..

No way Jose. Smith is still better than Massengo at this point

[Dolman_Stand]

Should be the first choice pairing moving forward on today's showing.

Agree with the above that Brownhill is very effective from the right hand side, has the skill and general footballing ability to play any position so no surprises there. 

Also gives a solid base for Eliasson to roam from as JB can tuck in when needs be. Having Palmer, COD, Smith etc on the bench only highlights how well stacked we are in midfield now.

We really are only a top striker away from being a force in this division.

[Davefevs]

8 minutes ago, MC RISK77 said:

Fam was far from average imo...his hold up and link play in first half was brilliant and looks like he is growing in confidence.

Totally agree.  His back to goal play was as good as I’ve seen since 17/18.  He played at full tilt today, and showed what a menace he can be.

If ever a performance deserved a goal it was today.

5 minutes ago, spudski said:

He played more like an offensive midfielder than a outward threat. His movement in the final third was very static. Sat between two defenders and hardly moved away from them. His heat map is not what you'd want from your CF imo. Went missing second half imo.

Disagree Spud.  He came short off his man, the timing of such was in sync with the passer.  In a 4231, with Weimann floating, I thought his coming short, stopped us going long and getting too big a distance between our 3 lines.  It enabled our midfield to move forward onto the ball.

Second half was game over after 10 minutes.  Most players nowhere near as effective as they were first half.

[chinapig]

2 minutes ago, Dolman_Stand said:

Should be the first choice pairing moving forward on today's showing.

Agree with the above that Brownhill is very effective from the right hand side, has the skill and general footballing ability to play any position so no surprises there. 

Also gives a solid base for Eliasson to roam from as JB can tuck in when needs be. Having Palmer, COD, Smith etc on the bench only highlights how well stacked we are in midfield now.

We really are only a top striker away from being a force in this division.

We have scored as many goals as Fulham, who have a top striker. What seems to pass people by is that we concede far too many. Fix that and a top striker is less relevant. Especially as we are unlikely to be able to attract a top striker like Mitrovic.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I said before the game that whilst Nagy’s been injured we all wanted to see Brownhill, Nagy and Massengo in a midfield together, but for some reason HNM has been benched for the past 3 games, especially as he’d had a rest.  Today we got to see it.  No disrespect to Josh, but the other two care for the ball better in tighter spaces, so it suited Josh to play right of centre.  We moved the ball from left to right with such a better tempo that Josh got the ball either in space, or with solid possession allowing either Hunt to create an overlap, or Weimann finding pockets to play off of.

That was probably by only criticism this afternoon, not your point, but that Eliasson went right, Brownhill central and Weimann left.  Nic stayed too far right, Josh played too far forward, and We didn’t get the ball into the same sort of areas as we did first half.  With Josh playing narrower 1st half than Nic did on the other side, we had a nice balance and slightly more condensed 3.  Definitely a 4231 first half, albeit fluid.  Second half much more 442, and although the game won and allowance for slowing it down a bit, I thought it showed how susceptible we are in a traditional 442.  Why not put Nic back on the left, and go back to the great stuff we did first half.

Yeah my main point is going one up top. Whether that is Eliasson left or right or Weimann left or right. I think the key thing in getting some control back into the game is as you say, not having 2 up top.

It was strange LJ didn't change it sooner as Nagy was really struggling to cope, and with only Massengo with him. We needed Josh in the middle at that point which LJ eventually did and then we controlled the remainder of the game, helped by Korey of course for a very tired Nagy.

Also Pereira really helped tighten us up on the right side. He was getting so much tighter to their tricky winger. Hunt was struggling in that second half understandably.