No, not really. I didn’t complain about it when Smallwood was here. Nor when we had Cory Evans and Meyler in 12/13, nor when we had Livermore and Huddlestone. My only complaint was that Smallwood wasn’t good enough for a top-half Championship team which seemed to be the ambition when Acun first took over. It’s no so much that we’ve never replaced Ashbee; we’ve never replaced Smallwood. People cling to Ashbee because he was the most iconic player in that position for us. When Smallwood left, we should’ve replaced him with someone better in that particular area in midfield. We didn’t. There was interest in Ndayishimiye and Özdemir last summer but we ended up with Ryan Woods who isn’t that type of midfielder. We got Simons on loan on deadline day but he barely played last season.
They both play it out from the back and even mess about at the back Because they are quite skillful it mainly comes off but they still mess up sometimes Neither side is averse to kicking the goal from the goalkeeper to the striker if that is the best option
Regarding leadership, we’ve heard directly from Rosenior that he thinks individual leaders is an outdated concept and everyone in the squad should be a leader of sorts, all pulling together and motivating one another etc. That’s great in theory but when have we seen that under Rosenior? If everyone is told to be a leader then you can end up in a situation where nobody is, looking to each other like deers in headlights. Even worse, some players might start pointing fingers at each other over mistakes because everyone is given license to chew each other out over what they think is going wrong. Howden hinted Rosenior didn’t like experienced pros and outspoken leaders at Derby and wanted to build a squad around youth who could carry out his instructions without question.
I've heard of a false 9 but what's a false 10? The descriptions I have seen appear to be that of an actual 10. A false 9 appears to be an actual 10 without playing an actual 9.
It's not 'one specific thing'. Leadership could be from anywhere on the field (ideally from a few). We have literally nobody. No one. Coyle I guess is a good role model, good off the pitch, gives his all, etc but he is not a leader on the field. Greaves is not a leader. Yet they were chosen as Captain and Vice Captain. We also lack presence and physicality all over the place.(as well as real pace, trickery, etc). There really is so much to address. Tick tock.
I mean supposed to drop deep and link play, but then also get beyond the no 9 when circumstances permit. Is that a false 10 or a false 9 in modern parlance?
Done some reflection today and watched extensive highlights it was actually worse than I remembered, one of the worst performances I have witnessed from City.
Well I've been watching City since 1968, in all 4 divisions and that was the worst I've seen. There's a team there somewhere but it needs finding. I think the players are following instructions rigidly with no initiative allowed. It's the only explanation I can think of.
That's not what Rosenior was saying post match though. He criticised the fact it didn't go long when they stopped their press. Criticised the lack of movement and passing options. Said he can't be there barking instructions all the time so they need to take initiative and do something - react to what they see were his exact words
Sounds fishy to me. Players don't just forget how to play like that. Ingram didn't look confused and scared to pass the ball under previous managers.
I can’t remember a manager getting so much stick just 2 games into a season before , which is saying something with some of the clowns we have had in charge . It really does seem a bit premature to me , let’s face it it’s 1 game really as most managers don’t really care about the league cup ,even if they pretend they do .
