It's looking really positive after a crappy January. We get the ball out wide easily and are comfortable switching the ball to either side of the pitch. We have produced some great football recently and the results show it, some times we are completely untouchable. Genuinely can't wait to go to the Reebok (first visit!). Only one minor criticism; we still seem to fanny about at the back too much. Bruce to Hobbs, Hobbs to Chester, Back to Hobbs, across to Brady, Back to Bruce..... We should be trying to keep the ball, but we should be doing it further up the park in the midfield. If a pacy striker caught us out while knocking it about the defence, we'd be in trouble. For me the defence touch the ball far too often; by this I mean you could interplay between Koren, Meyler, Quinn and Evans instead of Bruce, Chester and Hobbs. If the midfield lost out, then at least they'd have our back line to rely on.
To be honest, we had a shocker in January, but we needed it to keep us on our toes after our best month up to then, in December. Since then we've done what's required of us- Millwall we ground out a result, Derby and Charlton we ground out a result. We played well against Brighton and got hit with a sucker punch at the death. Games like Blackburn show we can completely outplay teams, but don't expect it all the time. You say about passing it along the back four. I agree with you, i was nervous going into the last 5 minutes still and probably continue to be because of that Burnley match last season (2-0 up and lost 3-2). The sloppy passing wasn't great and i hope they don't do it when the match isn't nearly over. Watford and Palace are thrashing teams at the minute, but it won't last (at least i hope, because we can't compete with them in the scoring department). Can they do what's required of them and nick a win here and there? I'm pretty confident City can, because we seem to do it regularly. Don't get me wrong, i know we're prone to the odd off performance and aren't infalliable. The other promotion seekers will lose as well. Long way to go yet. I'm enjoying this season a lot. Bolton this weekend will be tough, and i'm not liking the fact i can't go.
I think the way we play changed a while ago, Quinn and Meyler play a lot wider than they used to. I think really that's the only difference but it is effective.
I think the FA Cup and the resulting wholesale changes had a dramatic effect on our rhythm and momentum. That together with the deterioration in the pitch resulted in a poor month. Must say I was surprised by how well City played on Tuesday, although I thought that was partly due to the set-up Appleton used which couldn't have been better from our point of view, which was another surprise given his reputation.
We're still very slow on the counter though. For a team with the likes of Elmo and Brady in, we cant seem to break with any sort of speed. Every attack needs a long drawn out build up. Which isnt a problem in that we are keeping hold of the ball, but can sometimes be frustrating.
The problem with that is the strikers. No movement at all when we counter so it goes nowhere. Elmo and Brady always break properly and usually Meyler too but the lads up front just make the same run, or none at all. Gedo actually makes some decent runs which is nice, But Simpson, Koren and Proschwitz don't at all.
Agreed, the amount of times Elmo/Brady/Quinn break and have acres of space in front of them, only to stop and the angle of the box and check their run before passing sideways. I'd have thought with the confidence Elmo and Brady have at the minute they'd be slinking past their men at every opportunity. From what I've seen, I think we have more success drilling a cross in from the byline than floating it in from 35 yards out. Obviously we've had success with that to some extent but the goals recently have come from cross in line with the 6 yard box. Gedo made some fantastic runs on Tuesday but our wingers perhaps didn't look up or were too slow in the pass. Quinn looked like he was a yard behind other people at times, perhaps he could benefit from a rest and have Evans start in his place.
To be fair to Elmo and Brady, the opposition are always doubling up on them because of their threat. No wonder they check back and play it sideways.
