Walsh seems like a box-to-box midfielder or even a number 10, definitely not a holding midfielder. Slater can play either box-to-box or holding mid. Slater and Doc worked together last season but the jump in quality in L1 and Championship is huge. I’d be tempted to play either Alfie and Huddlestone, Alfie and Slater or Slater and Huddlestone there. Smallwood can **** off all the way for me. His attitude stinks and he’s allergic to passing the ball forward.
No idea why we brought him in. We didn't need another midfielder & his performance in the Swansea game was unremarkable. We desperately needed an experienced defender & I'd like Lee Darnborough to explain why one wasn't brought in????
The discussion was about whether he could play holding mid, he can't. If we need to start him, play him out wide, but him and Slater as holding mids would be disastrous.
Well don't go calling it McCann's squad then, it's Shota's squad and he had the chance to change it how he wanted in January. We had the chance to bring in another right back but he said we didn't need one. Working out well so far.
They’re not but that Jeando Fuchs they signed from Dundee United is a very physical and combative midfielder. I was disappointed we didn’t try to sign him.
I d like to have a Smallwood or Jones as the most defensive midfield anchor - think the 2 sitters helped against superior opposition but perhaps held us back today. I suspect much of selection is down to fitness and the schedule at the minute tbh.
We shouldn’t play Smallwood, slater or jones in any midfield pairing at home unless we are trying to see a game out. Based on our current form that maybe seeing a game out at 0-0
Really? Not his role? So whose is it? Every other team seem to have a coherent midfield who can pass and play through us as a unit. Trying to do it in ones and twos is where we’ve been falling short and why we end up hoofing it.
Who was it that said it takes 3 windows minimum to build a squad? The new regime had about a week to work in the window. I suspect Pesic turning the move down wasn't forseen and a couple of others fell through leading us to McCann/Darnborough targets. I think if he wants to play a back 4 he needs a right back. He doesn't have one so we'll see if he's a stubborn as McCann or not if he goes back to 3 5 2. Thats if we have more than one centre forward fit on Saturday.
Jones sitting alone in front of the back 4 effectively becoming the middle one when we are defending. Slater and Honeyman alongside bombing up and down. Jones playing there let’s the full backs get higher too. Let’s not forget apart from 3 players this is still Allam’s team.
I’ve not seen a minute of city playing this season (before any criticisms, I have my reasons), but just want to add in some general observations based on what I’ve heard from friends and in comments on here. We are inconsistent. There have been about 5 games this season where the team have had a real slating on here. But these are often followed up by games where the team seem transformed and put in really good displays. In between, there are games where it seems there is effort but a lack of quality. Shota inherited a team on league 1 players that were about 10 points above the relegation zone. He has had the opportunity to add to the squad. His form is taking us side wards / backwards. Acuna sacked a manager who was doing an ok job under difficult circumstances under the alarms. He did so after 2 wins over teams at the top end of the table. If I was a player, that would have demotivated me (doesn’t excuse and lack of effort from players, but we all know the score with footballers). Acuna hired a friend who is untried in management in England. A dangerous strategy. If we slip towards the relegation zone, acuna can blame nobody but himself. from comments on here, we seem to be overly trusting acuna, simply because is surname isn’t allam. The jury is out on him for me. Happy to give acuna and Shota more time, but my gut tells me something isn’t right.
I can’t believe I spent real money on a bet for us to finish in the play offs. May as well have taken a fiver out my wallet and set it on fire.
Forss has an hamstring injury, not sure if that’s a new injury or the reason/excuse he’s been ****e. No players back for weekend, so it’ll be city 0
We’ll see how it pans out if we get in the ****. 6/7 more points and we will be okay methinks. We are clearly capable of nicking draws, win saturday and it’ll be like tonight never happened.
