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The case for the defence

Davies’s time at Spurs is up, he was a very useful squad player but he seems to have lost all ability.

Doherty Is abysmal As well.

I think we will struggle to off load both in the summer
 
Hackneyed old phrase but you defend as a team, it was clear to see both Bale and Dele ran out of steam and spaces began to appear, would not be such a problem if we took our chances and that has been the same problem for a long time. Fulham play good football and have a lot of athletic players they're just short of luck.
Bale offered Doherty no support all game
And Robinson was running that side ragged (backed up by the awful RLC).
Dele did come over to help and did some good work over that side
I know people hate Doherty and I get why but he was caught many times yesterday with 2 players to deal with
 
Hackneyed old phrase but you defend as a team, it was clear to see both Bale and Dele ran out of steam and spaces began to appear, would not be such a problem if we took our chances and that has been the same problem for a long time. Fulham play good football and have a lot of athletic players they're just short of luck.
Seems about right to me. Defensively we had very few problems in the first half. But second half... Yeah, ran out of steam.
 
Hackneyed old phrase but you defend as a team, it was clear to see both Bale and Dele ran out of steam and spaces began to appear, would not be such a problem if we took our chances and that has been the same problem for a long time. Fulham play good football and have a lot of athletic players they're just short of luck.

Disagree, lack of finishing quality is not the same as short of luck. Put Vinicius in that Fulham side and they would have no struggle being a comfortable mid table side.

But that's the differences between top sides and the rest.
 
Disagree, lack of finishing quality is not the same as short of luck. Put Vinicius in that Fulham side and they would have no struggle being a comfortable mid table side.

But that's the differences between top sides and the rest.
They don’t play ‘big target man’ football, if they did they could use Mitrovic.
 
Wonder if we’d managed to snag Ruben Dias whether his leadership qualities would’ve been sufficient to finally turn Dier into a competent CB, like he appears to have done with John Stones.

https://www.si.com/soccer/mancheste...on-the-impact-of-ruben-dias-on-man-city-squad

Guardiola moved on to exclaim his admiration for Ruben Dias; "Opponents will always score, because they are good, but we don't give them easy chances to score goals - that is the big improvement of Ruben Dias."

"He's a central defender who leads the line and leads the team. His performance and decision making are good, but he also helps other players make good decisions - that is how you become an incredible defender."

"There are incredible players who just think about themselves and not their teammates, but Ruben cares for the business of his players, and not just the back four - but the holding midfielders too."

He finished by proclaiming; "During the ninety minutes he makes all of his decisions like they're his last. He makes his partners better, and that is so difficult to find in world football."

Dias has evidently been a fundamental piece In Guardiola's puzzle since joining in the summer. The Portuguese defender has since enjoyed 13 clean sheets in the Premier League
 
Wonder if we’d managed to snag Ruben Dias whether his leadership qualities would’ve been sufficient to finally turn Dier into a competent CB, like he appears to have done with John Stones.

https://www.si.com/soccer/mancheste...on-the-impact-of-ruben-dias-on-man-city-squad

Guardiola moved on to exclaim his admiration for Ruben Dias; "Opponents will always score, because they are good, but we don't give them easy chances to score goals - that is the big improvement of Ruben Dias."

"He's a central defender who leads the line and leads the team. His performance and decision making are good, but he also helps other players make good decisions - that is how you become an incredible defender."

"There are incredible players who just think about themselves and not their teammates, but Ruben cares for the business of his players, and not just the back four - but the holding midfielders too."

He finished by proclaiming; "During the ninety minutes he makes all of his decisions like they're his last. He makes his partners better, and that is so difficult to find in world football."

Dias has evidently been a fundamental piece In Guardiola's puzzle since joining in the summer. The Portuguese defender has since enjoyed 13 clean sheets in the Premier League
Didnt Kane make him look like an average player when we played them though at the lane
Dragged him around like a fool
 
Didnt Kane make him look like an average player when we played them though at the lane
Dragged him around like a fool
Looks like he was played as RCB that game in order for Laporte to play on left but Dias has since moved to LCB with Stones playing on right during their 28 match unbeaten run.


Hopefully Kane has his number though and Emirates Marketing Project’s defence will collapse like Spurs in an FA Cup semi-final!

 
Wonder if we’d managed to snag Ruben Dias whether his leadership qualities would’ve been sufficient to finally turn Dier into a competent CB, like he appears to have done with John Stones.

https://www.si.com/soccer/mancheste...on-the-impact-of-ruben-dias-on-man-city-squad

Guardiola moved on to exclaim his admiration for Ruben Dias; "Opponents will always score, because they are good, but we don't give them easy chances to score goals - that is the big improvement of Ruben Dias."

"He's a central defender who leads the line and leads the team. His performance and decision making are good, but he also helps other players make good decisions - that is how you become an incredible defender."

"There are incredible players who just think about themselves and not their teammates, but Ruben cares for the business of his players, and not just the back four - but the holding midfielders too."

He finished by proclaiming; "During the ninety minutes he makes all of his decisions like they're his last. He makes his partners better, and that is so difficult to find in world football."

Dias has evidently been a fundamental piece In Guardiola's puzzle since joining in the summer. The Portuguese defender has since enjoyed 13 clean sheets in the Premier League
I doubt it very much. You can't polish a turd.

It was always pretty clear that John Stones had everything required to be a very good centre back. He just needed to learn where he could and couldn't take risks with the ball.
 
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The importance of the full backs is becoming more and more paramount
I’ve seen people slating Doherty for what again would have been a clean sheet if our CBS had down their job
And I’m convinced the r why upturn has come from having full backs that support the attack giving freedom for the quality we gave up there
I thought I’d do a quick stat comparison like for like as I don’t believe the drop off on out right is as bad as it is on the left.
The comparison does back that up but some fans won’t change their mind about certain players
What’s clear is reggie is by far and away better than Davies
The right backs are actually much much more comparable
I wouldn’t be surprised now go see the pairings as we saw today and Davies with Aurier as the other pair. That way we have an attacking full backs and one being more defensive
 

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Disagree, lack of finishing quality is not the same as short of luck. Put Vinicius in that Fulham side and they would have no struggle being a comfortable mid table side.

But that's the differences between top sides and the rest.
I agree and disagree.

Poor finishing over time isn't bad luck, it's poor finishing.

But it's not like poor finishers are always poor. Sometimes they go on a streak, find form or just have one of those days where things go their way. Them having one of those days or one of their average/poor days is often down to random chance/luck imo.

Fulham all of a sudden being super clinical in a game should be expected, these things happen. It can have very little to do with what they or their opponents do. That's where luck comes into the picture imo.
 
Conversation starter

- Looking at Tanganga last night, with his aggression covering the CB's, attacking the ball
- Looking at Sanchez's better performance recently, where he seems more aggressive
- Looking at Lloris when he sticks on the line how much less effective he is

Is our issue that our back line is more often than not passive? allows the opposition to dictate?

I say that because I often watch mid level teams back line make it really tough for the opposition, yet I don't believe their quality/technical ability is better than our lot?
 
Conversation starter

- Looking at Tanganga last night, with his aggression covering the CB's, attacking the ball
- Looking at Sanchez's better performance recently, where he seems more aggressive
- Looking at Lloris when he sticks on the line how much less effective he is

Is our issue that our back line is more often than not passive? allows the opposition to dictate?

I say that because I often watch mid level teams back line make it really tough for the opposition, yet I don't believe their quality/technical ability is better than our lot?
Villa seemed to get a lot of joy down our right side. I’d have to watch again to see whether it was Tanganga or Lo Celso that were the main causes of that. My recollection is that Villa’s LB was getting forward a lot with Lo Celso not tracking him.
 
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