City's Style Of Play For Next Season

[Loderingo]

Traditionally (at least on football management games) there are 3 main styles of play.

Passing - Neat passing triangles; out to the wing; get a good cross in; header in the net. City played this style very well in the 90s when we had the liked of Cole and Goater

Direct - Counter attack; quick distribution; pacy front men. Maynard probably falls into this category but we don't give him enough opportunities to use it IMHO. Lita in his day when he played.

Long Ball - often associated with a more physical style; hoofball; tall forwards. Adebola and Brooker have been effective target men for us.

Under Johnson I feel we have tried to play a combination of the three styles or "playing all the clubs in the bag" as he would probably say. The arguement for this is that in a tough league you need to mix it up so as not to be one dimensional and easily worked out by your opponents. The arguement against is "Jack of all trades Master of none" and the danger that you can end up with lots of square pegs in round holes. The problem I see that City have with each system is as follows:

Passing - Our build up is generally OK but we struggle to get to the byline and our crossing is generally poor. Free kicks which are also importnat for this style of play have also been poor.

Direct - When we have the chance to get a break away we start running with the ball but are sometimes afraid to take men on and then start slowing it down and passing it sideways. Maynard used to get caught offside a lot but has improved on this somewhat of late.

Long ball - Our distribution from defence is too often poor. Dele often makes the headers but we then lose the second ball. When Dele is not on the pitch we still punt it up field but there is non-one else in the role who can play that role (well maybe Akinde in the future)

Bearing in mind that Dele may go in the summer or even if he stays could potentially play less often, this would seem a good time to revise our style of play. Personally I would like us to bring in a pacy winger who can provide low crosses to feet for Maynard. Any thoughts on what style you would like to see?

[Lack of Action Man]

Our passing needs to be decisive, incisive and quick for next season. Lets not let teams come at us, lets leave them in our wake of sleek passing football. Eradicate the hopeless long balls from McCoombe, McAllister and Orr. Instead actually get Johnson to do this so called "link" role. Get those three to play the ball into him to open up our midfield options or CARRY the ball foward and then play the ball over the top in for Maynard who with his pace will be able to run on.

We aren't far off where we need to be but improvements definitely can be made.

[headhunter]

Personally I would like us to bring in a pacy winger who can provide low crosses to feet for Maynard.

Pacy winger - isn't that what Sproule is supposed to be, McIndoe too for that matter? Sproule has given us perhaps 3 magic moments in 2 full seasons whilst McIndoe may have a high work rate but overall end product is lacking.

Plummer for Sproule in the last 3 games [if not why give him that contract] with Murray on the bench for his last hurrah!!

[robins72]

Personally I would like us to bring in a pacy winger who can provide low crosses to feet for Maynard.

Pacy winger - isn't that what Sproule is supposed to be, McIndoe too for that matter? Sproule has given us perhaps 3 magic moments in 2 full seasons whilst McIndoe may have a high work rate but overall end product is lacking.

Plummer for Sproule in the last 3 games [if not why give him that contract] with Murray on the bench for his last hurrah!!

Agreed use the wide men instead of cutting into the midfield all the time! Id rather see us more clinical with set pieces next season. 2 goals from corners isnt good enough!

[RedM]

I'd like to see us being able to adapt and vary our play when something obviously isn't working on the pitch. Sometimes I think we have a game plan and stick to it too rigidly. We are sometimes too predictable and if I can sit there and work out passes, and free kicks especially, then so can the opposition.

I like quick, attacking football with the ball played to feet. And players who are not afraid to have a go and shoot rather than playing that extra pass and try to walk the ball into the net. And if the ball is lost they get it back as soon as, exciting (fair) tackles etc.

We used to make a big deal of our supreme fitness levels, lately we don't look any fitter than anyone else. So what's changed, have the other teams caught up or are the players not rested/rotated enough? I'm not saying we are unfit but it doesn't get mentioned as much as it once did.

[Nibor]

At the moment we have a very direct style of play.

Our midfield don't seriously pressure the opposition until they're well into our half to encourage them forward and then we try to win the ball and be in a position to counter attack quickly. Our counter attacks consist largely of us aiming direct balls at Dele and him trying to feed breaking wingers.

That falls down because one winger isn't normally wide having tucked in to help defend and the other can't cross. Even if we solved that problem, Dele can't link play and get into the box in sufficient time anyway and the central midfield aren't much inclined to, and Maynard's constant runs looking for through balls are wasted.

On the rare occasion when a player tries to bring the ball forward and look for a better pass there is nothing on because we've become quite lazy and static as everyone is waiting for the long ball and to play off it.

Whenever we go behind or can't break a team down we end up going even longer and panicking. The defence just lump it rather than waiting for LJ to take it off them. It's massively frustrating to watch.

We have a fairly poor goals scored record averaging about 1.2 a game. We've failed to score 11 times so far. We've managed to get a win ONCE in the 15 games that our opponents have scored first in.

It's our defence (17 clean sheets) that keeps us in the top half of the table, not our forward play.

I want to see us have an effective (first) and attractive (second) style of play that we force on the opposition. I would want defenders and midfielders to carry the ball forward and force someone to close them down instead of looking for an early long ball all the time. That means we'd need more movement from the whole team to make sure there are options open, and better passing from the full backs than we have now.

I'd want the creative central midfielder to be playing in front of the opposition midfield not behind it and looking for short incisive passes on the ground through to wingers or strikers not longer ones in the air from deep. I think this would get the best out of our £2.25m striker, see us create more good chances instead of half chances and as a result score more goals. It would also be more enjoyable to watch.

[DaveF]

I don't think we necessarily need a pacy winger, just one who can pick a pass.

[BCAGFC]

433 with no LB, Hull did it and so can we.

We might even be able to find a place for LJ although I would prefer Williams. You can play passing football in a 433 formation but the striker and midfield have to extremely mobile and make runs into space.....at the moment we get less movement than 6 statues of venus de milo or whatever her name was.

Weale

Orr---New CB or Carey---Fonatine---New LB

Elliott---Williams---Skuse

Sproule or McIndoe---Adebola---Maynard

Subs:

Basso

J Wilson or McCombe

LJ or Artus

Styvar

Akinde

BCAGFC

[Robbored]

If you watch Arsenal at thier stunning high tempo best you'll see that unless a player is running with the ball they rarely take more than three touches - often its only two. To play like that you need players with quick feet and the ability to see runs from thier team mates. The Arsenal movement off the ball is simply brilliant at times. In my dreams thats the type of football I'd like to see City play.

Unfortunately thats not going to happen.City don't have the players to play that way, few clubs do.

Its easier to say what kind of football I don't want to see rather than the type I do. Like most fans I destest the long ball game. Watford of two seasons ago were the worst example of it. Its dreadfull to watch, its boring and requires very little skill. I don't care much for the Stoke style either - although its likely that it will keep them in the PL this season. They'll get found out next season if they play the same way.

To me football is about passing and movement off the ball. If I were a manager I'd fine players for playing a pass of more than 25 yards that wasn't necessary. Clearing your lines is one thing but long aimless punts 'into the channels' are a no no in my book. I like to see City players in posession of the ball as often as possible and giving it way with over ambitious long balls is frustrating and really pisses me off.

[edson]

In the words of John Barnes:

You've got to hold and give

But do it at the right time

You can be slow or fast

But you must get to the line

They'll always hit you and hurt you

Defend and attack

Theres only one way to beat them

Get round the back

Neither of our wide players do this regularly enough to cause problems and opporunities. Sproule has the pace to do it, but seems loathed to attack the space behind the full back, which I find baffling.

I'd like to see our midfield instructed not to give him the ball to feet, but knock it into the corner for him to chase on to, as I feel this is a potent attacking weapon we don't utilise. Why Sproule always wants the ball to feet from a standing start, I really don't know. Because even when he gets it in that position, he seems to want to beat a man rather than knock it past him and strip him for pace.

As I say, it's baffling.

Ok, Sproule's end product isn't the best when he does get in advanced positions, but then neither is Aaron Lennon's and he plays for England. But at least Lennon regularly gets into the positions to pose a threat, and the more often you do that, the higher the chances of producing good delivery.

McIndoe plays too narrow, for me. Not when we don't have the ball, but when we do have it. He doesn't have Sproule's pace, but he does have the ability to beat a man, if he got in the positions to do it. From what I've seen of McIndoe this season, it almost feels as though he's taken a bad challenge and doesn't fancy it as much as he once did. Maybe that's confidence or maybe it's instruction, but I don't feel he's being utilised to his best.

That, for me, is the key. Get the ball behind the opposition's left back for Sproule and get McIndoe wide and in possession facing his full back and taking him on, and I feel we would be a more potent attacking force.

I haven't seen as many games as most of you, but that is my snapshot impression of where we could markedly improve with the current personnel.

[Tunley Legend]

I'll keep it brief - a higher percentage of football/flair and less hoofball/honest endeavour is what I want to see. Of course, you cannot totally revamp your general playing style overnight and some sort of balance has to be struck in the short to medium term - which is why I would be quite happy to see us build towards challenging for Premier League football over the next few seasons rather than trying and failing to do it in one hit. However, to achieve this we need to add some quality to our ranks.

[Loderingo]

Neither of our wide players do this regularly enough to cause problems and opporunities. Sproule has the pace to do it, but seems loathed to attack the space behind the full back, which I find baffling.

I'd like to see our midfield instructed not to give him the ball to feet, but knock it into the corner for him to chase on to, as I feel this is a potent attacking weapon we don't utilise. Why Sproule always wants the ball to feet from a standing start, I really don't know. Because even when he gets it in that position, he seems to want to beat a man rather than knock it past him and strip him for pace.

As I say, it's baffling.

Ok, Sproule's end product isn't the best when he does get in advanced positions, but then neither is Aaron Lennon's and he plays for England. But at least Lennon regularly gets into the positions to pose a threat, and the more often you do that, the higher the chances of producing good delivery.

One thing I've been commenting on with my mate for several weeks now is that Orr hardly ever passes to Sproule. Why this is I don't know. Maybe they don't get on or maybe Orr has no faith in Sproule's ability. Instead Orr tends to pass to Johnson who then sometimes passes it out to Sproule but by then the chance for Sproule to make a quick getaway has been limited.

[cider head]

the style of game i like us to play is a bit like liverpool, attack minded and i'd love to see games like liverpool vs chelsea champions league style, as long as we score more goals of course, ok it's not good for defenders and the heart rate but it's great to watch, the never give up attitude as well.

[BCAGFC]

It looks as if both our full backs have been told by the management not to overlap their respective widemen (widemen????) as much as last season, I expect they think it leaves us too exposed at the back.

Same with central midfield, our central midfield players are not encouraged to push forward much, as in GJs word "they would cut through us like a knife".......well other teams have no problems with their CMs pushing forward to support their frontmen.

It is all down to negative tactics IMO, this has to change if we are to be a consistent top 6 Championship club BUT it is good enough for a Top 12 finish , which is not bad thing really.

But we can do SOOOOOOO much better with just a few tweaks here and there.

BCAGFC

[trundleismyhero]

i want something a bit more exciting next season!

something better than kicking it down the centre of the pitch!

bored of 08/09

[BrizzleRed]

Some decent distribution beginning with the keeper.

I don't remember seeing this mentioned before, but how often does Basso actually roll, throw or actually pass the ball out to build play? One notable example was for Sproule's great breakaway goal against Saints, but that's very rare. To his credit, Stephen Henderson was better in that area and when he did kick, it was also far better than AB's.

We used to regularly pass the ball up the field right from the back. Sadly on far too many occasions now, the ball is just hoofed (usually inaccurately) up the field by AB, usually to be snapped straight up by the opposition, who normally heavily outnumber our forward players, so they just come straight back at us. If you look at the percentages, we're going to lose the ball far more often than we win it in those situations, so why do it? It's not good to watch and is a great way to easily give up possession.

Definitely room for improvement there methinks!

[Guest Eamer]

Wingerssssssssssssssss

[Guest DanC]

As long as we stop trying to walk the ball into the net I shall be happy.