Kolsch

Atkinson and Kallas are good centre defenders in this division. The problem is them and their full backs get minimal help from their midfielders.

Martin did well for the second but he really infuriates me with his movement. He gives the midfield and defense little options apart from having to go long to him. I have said it numerous times now but our problem is our midfield in defensive situations. Take a look at a lot of our goals. They either come from their midfielders easily breaking the lines centrally to leave our central defenders exposed or they come from out wide from overlaps on our full backs due to no midfielder helping them out or having the positional knowledge to be there offering protection. It’s either positional indiscipline, bad tactics or a lack of effort why they’re not offering better protection. Bentley, Tanner, Atkinson, Kalas and Pring / DaSilva as a defensive 5 are above the league average in my opinion. It just makes their jobs far far more harder with little protection.

He was one of the few players who was still trying to take it to Coventry in the second half. Him and HNM were actually trying to take them to the sword but the forwards and midfield just will not move or try and get down the channel to offer. At full strength defensively I think we have good players but we really need to improve tactically in off the ball situations (particularly the midfield and forwards) and also make far more intelligent forward runs. We must be so easy to defend against.

We just do not seem to have the correct shape when the opposition has the ball. Defensively this is the worst midfield I’ve seen at City for years. They offer no protection to the defense and just invite pressure.

Surprised at this, thought he’d done well there. I guess the pressure was on after he was allowed to spend quite a lot of the Grealish money.

Great story this. Young fans are the future of the club. Hopefully he’ll see top flight football soon! (well, one can dream ?)

I have been really impressed with Tanner since he has come in to the team. Good attitude, has courage, defensively solid and good technical skills. He has a lot to learn but that is only normal for a young player. He clearly is mentally strong after what went on at West Brom only to be in the starting the next game. Big future for the lad if he keeps developing. I said it in another thread though but I really feel for him at times because him and whoever’s on the other side often don’t have any midfielder offering for the ball. You see the likes of Bournemouth and Fulham and there midfielders are always showing when their defenders have the ball but ours don’t a lot of the time. The most frustrating is on thrown ins, other than Martin our lads genuinely don’t see like they want the ball and not showing for it with the intent to receive it, just to make it look they are offering. It really needs addressing by Nige that. Kalas has been great with him and I’m a big fan of those tackles! Good luck to the lad, already a favourite with a lot of fans for his commitment alone. I think he’ll look even better if we start getting it on the floor and passing it more instead of this direct play NP seems to be wanting.

Papering over the cracks. We definitely need more in midfield and upfront otherwise it could be a long season. And by that I mean positional and style of play improvements via coaching. Recruitment would be an added bonus. We are just too “huff n puff” and industrial. We have some technically good players and also sparks with the likes of Massengo so the tools are there.

It was never going to work there and the sacking was inevitable after the way they lost on Sunday. Howe would be a very interesting choice but I think Conte gets it.

I’ve watched most games this season from a far (on stream admittedly) however the problem to me is our midfield. They are very poor defensively when it comes to breaking up attacks and also helping our full backs. Yes they are busy and put in a shift but a lot of their defensive movement seems reactive so they are always one step behind. I think we really need to work on positioning without the ball especially our midfielders.

Sounded great on robins tv. Hope the lads at the game keep the atmosphere going at home games, it will really help the lads and hopefully we can put a run together.