Well we become the underdogs again and no doubt happier to be so after last Saturday. I am doubtful (again) that we will get a point from this one but the mission is clear enough. A point is enough to force Swansea to win all 3 matches and that has to be the target - respect the point.
With a CB pairing of any 2 out of Sakho, Tomkins or Kelly and I would be more confident but that is not going to happen and if close to fitness I think we would not risk the first 2 with Hull looming and so it will be Kelly and Delaney.
(I need to say up front that Damo has been a great player for us since his arrival and the following is a critique of his current form and 'game' and isn't me laying into a 'favourite whipping boy' or a reflection of his long term value to us)
Damo has always sat deep due to a lack of pace. He has always compensated for this by being dominant in the air and very effective anywhere in the left half of the penalty area. Most of all he was a battler and would subdue the opponents and was also one of the team's natural experienced leaders.
Unfortunately, on Saturday Damo didn't dominate in the air, regularly losing out to Vokes and TBH didn't seem to be relishing the battle as he has before. I remember him bossing and battling Di Costa and Vokes is a comparative pussycat but too often on Saturday he didn't even jump which was weird (???)
Sitting deep gives the team problems. On Saturday I noticed Damo was even deeper than usual and was regularly breaking the line and dropping a yard behind the rest. The way our defensive line has held and moved up and down the pitch has been the hallmark of our recent success and has taken the pressure off of the midfield and allowed us to pin teams in because we are compact and have been winning the ball back at the halfway line. That's not going to happen
With Damo sitting even deeper than normal, the midfield are left with a much larger area to cover and Benteke becomes isolated as a result, particularly as the game continues. It's a slow lingering death then because the DMs are pulled deeper and the forward midfielder (Cabaye or Macca) has to run and run to compensate but can never succeed and even worse against MC's midfield. They get knackered and we are done.
Even on a good day Man city are the worst team for Damo because they play with a small, tricky and highly mobile striker and rely on tricky, pacy runners from midfield to score the rest. I would expect Kelly to take Aguerro and that leaves Damo to pick up the runners.......
So again I qualify this is the status quo not a reflection of Damo because it doesn't read well I know but ti might explain the weird team selection.
This would be a challenge with any 11 because they have so many match winners and blistering pace. They also have Ya Ya who seems to score against us for fun without breaking a sweat.
We need a point so what's the 'plan'.
We can't expect Damo to play like Sakho (positioning etc) and so we either have to drop him and play someone else or more likely shape the team to compensate.
I think that pushes us into the shape we used against Chelsea where we play one winger up on the right and Benteke dropping left, play 4 across the middle and 4 at the back. Plan for 2 DMs and 2 narrow wide men/midfielders.
------------------ Hennessey
Ward -------- Kelly -------- Delaney -------- Schlupp
-------------- Milivojevic ---- Puncheon
---- Cabaye -------------------------------- Townsend/Macca
----- Zaha/Townsend ------------------------- Benteke
The thought of this is compensate in the middle of the park to cover the space and get the ball out to Wilf/Christian and then get someone up to support them. The risk is their CBs will just push through the middle but I would rather have Stones threading passes through to Aguerro than Silva......
TBH for this game it may well make sense (sacrilege I know) to put Macca or PVA where Townsend is and use Wilf and Andros for a half each. When we played Chelsea David Luis surprisingly didn't step forward into that space and I assume the threat of Benteke or Wilf running in behind was the reason?
I have plumped for Schlupp because he has done well defensively. I expect BFS to choose PVA.
Benteke will need to put in a shift and be at his strongest. TBH they will all need to be at their best.
Does feel like an impossible puzzle. :(
With a CB pairing of any 2 out of Sakho, Tomkins or Kelly and I would be more confident but that is not going to happen and if close to fitness I think we would not risk the first 2 with Hull looming and so it will be Kelly and Delaney.
(I need to say up front that Damo has been a great player for us since his arrival and the following is a critique of his current form and 'game' and isn't me laying into a 'favourite whipping boy' or a reflection of his long term value to us)
Damo has always sat deep due to a lack of pace. He has always compensated for this by being dominant in the air and very effective anywhere in the left half of the penalty area. Most of all he was a battler and would subdue the opponents and was also one of the team's natural experienced leaders.
Unfortunately, on Saturday Damo didn't dominate in the air, regularly losing out to Vokes and TBH didn't seem to be relishing the battle as he has before. I remember him bossing and battling Di Costa and Vokes is a comparative pussycat but too often on Saturday he didn't even jump which was weird (???)
Sitting deep gives the team problems. On Saturday I noticed Damo was even deeper than usual and was regularly breaking the line and dropping a yard behind the rest. The way our defensive line has held and moved up and down the pitch has been the hallmark of our recent success and has taken the pressure off of the midfield and allowed us to pin teams in because we are compact and have been winning the ball back at the halfway line. That's not going to happen
With Damo sitting even deeper than normal, the midfield are left with a much larger area to cover and Benteke becomes isolated as a result, particularly as the game continues. It's a slow lingering death then because the DMs are pulled deeper and the forward midfielder (Cabaye or Macca) has to run and run to compensate but can never succeed and even worse against MC's midfield. They get knackered and we are done.
Even on a good day Man city are the worst team for Damo because they play with a small, tricky and highly mobile striker and rely on tricky, pacy runners from midfield to score the rest. I would expect Kelly to take Aguerro and that leaves Damo to pick up the runners.......
So again I qualify this is the status quo not a reflection of Damo because it doesn't read well I know but ti might explain the weird team selection.
This would be a challenge with any 11 because they have so many match winners and blistering pace. They also have Ya Ya who seems to score against us for fun without breaking a sweat.
We need a point so what's the 'plan'.
We can't expect Damo to play like Sakho (positioning etc) and so we either have to drop him and play someone else or more likely shape the team to compensate.
I think that pushes us into the shape we used against Chelsea where we play one winger up on the right and Benteke dropping left, play 4 across the middle and 4 at the back. Plan for 2 DMs and 2 narrow wide men/midfielders.
------------------ Hennessey
Ward -------- Kelly -------- Delaney -------- Schlupp
-------------- Milivojevic ---- Puncheon
---- Cabaye -------------------------------- Townsend/Macca
----- Zaha/Townsend ------------------------- Benteke
The thought of this is compensate in the middle of the park to cover the space and get the ball out to Wilf/Christian and then get someone up to support them. The risk is their CBs will just push through the middle but I would rather have Stones threading passes through to Aguerro than Silva......
TBH for this game it may well make sense (sacrilege I know) to put Macca or PVA where Townsend is and use Wilf and Andros for a half each. When we played Chelsea David Luis surprisingly didn't step forward into that space and I assume the threat of Benteke or Wilf running in behind was the reason?
I have plumped for Schlupp because he has done well defensively. I expect BFS to choose PVA.
Benteke will need to put in a shift and be at his strongest. TBH they will all need to be at their best.
Does feel like an impossible puzzle. :(
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