Pedram wrote:

Harry Maguire is the Premier League Player of the Month for November. pic.twitter.com/gV9VBGPAPN

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 6, 2023

The is POTM, take a bow haters.

No surprise. Never have put Maguire down for when he isn't being his lunkhead self he's a wall in the back.

For England he has been terrific for a while now too.

Arquitecto wrote:Haaland not performing well? Man has 19 goals in 21 games unless not to the standard you hold him to to which is definitively above most here if not all.

The rest I agree with.

They aren't the team they were seasons ago if not last year but the depth and quality still is leagues above their contenders and I just cannot see LFC and Arsenal lasting past a point.

It's not that he's not performing well, but his finishing has been sub-par to his usual standards for a few matches now. He missed a sitter in their last match and squandered what might've been a good chance. To be fair to him, he only gets a small handful of chances in every match, if any at all, but due to the nature of his role at City, he becomes rather useless when he doesn't score. Poor guy only gets a few touches on the ball in every match and plays in such an isolated role that he's hardly ever involved in the game outside of shooting and the occasional pass. He made a lot of runs in behind opposing defenses without being spotted by team mates last season, but this season he seems to just walk a lot without any sense of urgency, similarly to what Messi tends to do. He probably conserves a lot of energy that way, but it's depressing to watch  

In contrast to his current form, Bernardo Silva was doing the work of 3 men and Haaland was brutally clinical with his chances last fall, when City weren't performing well as a team. City were largely dependent on the two of them to get them across the finish line. I don't know who they depend on to decide matches right now. Foden, Doku and Alvarez all look great against teams that allow them to do their thing, but all 3 of them tend to ghost through matches when they aren't allowed to do what they're best at. Doku's really fun to watch, but he tends to look brutally exposed when he's marked by a defender who doesn't allow him to dribble.

That was indeed a 10 analysis.

Thimmy reminds me of when I would painstakingly defend/hype an upcoming player of my team and clear misconceptions and or speak of what they have that is unused so I get it. I've only really seen from Thimmy in speaking of Haaland's passing ability or creativity as Im in the end that he is being played to his strengths. Then again a year ago I deemed him as the authority of this golden generation of Norwegians. Personally like ødegaard a lot more and is more fun to watch imo.

Pep does have a record of streamlining players for one function just as a means to an end so I am not surprised this has happened. You are more aware of his latent abilities than I so I can't see Pep changing it unless he is using it to develop/test him.

Moreso than the absence of passing and link-up play, I just think it's a damn shame to watch him waste all of that physicality and athleticism by being deployed in a traffic cone role the majority of the time. The worst part about it is that our national team manager decided to adopt a similar role for him this year. Can't wait to see him play under a different club manager.

I've seen this same story over and over...we're winning 1-0 and we've missed a penalty, missed a sitter and we're gonna end up dropping points. It always happens.

man sheffield are such a poor team. no RJ needed here.

beautiful half volley by VvD.

this game is ours

thimmy how would you like pep to play him then?

Arquitecto wrote:thimmy how would you like pep to play him then?

I would like to see him have the freedom of movement to utilize his strength, speed and athleticism to some extent. I don't doubt that his current role optimizes his goalscoring output for Man City, specifically. It gives him an element of surprise at all times, and it's hard to defend against since he has so little involvement in games that defenders end up forgetting that he's there.

My issue with it is that they might as well have had a Pippo Inzaghi or Peter Crouch- type as their striker in this setup - someone who can finish chances, but isn't necessarily gifted with athleticism. He displayed exceptional speed and power at both RB Salzburg and Dortmund, and he literally has been reduced to a Peter Crouch at Man City. Hell, I'm pretty sure Crouch had a lot more possession of the ball on average.

McTominay ffs Looks like Man City are about to lose against Villa.

Pep needs to unleash Haaland a little bit... has become a passive and static player due to manager. Mbappe looks literally like Haaland now under Enrique. You can't reduce these players' impact. I understand that you want the team to create chances. But these guys can do it on their own. Let them.

I'm sure Pep has a very specific idea for his tactical setups, but yeah, I do wish he'd venture a little bit outside of his established framework every now and then. Man City arguably looked their best this season when they were managed by Juan Lillo while Pep was in hospital. Of course, that doesn't mean that Lillo is the better manager, but it certainly showed that they're capable of performing well and play a little bit more direct football.

I imagine Pep sees it as unnecessary risk-taking, but sometimes you have to gamble to win. I didn't watch the Man City vs Villa game today, but I have a feeling that they had the majority of ball possession, but fewer goal-scoring chances than Villa.

3 pts behind the reigning PL and CL winners in our worst season in 100 years

so does Poch even last the season? I don't even think its him but its insane how mid Caicedo and Enzo look

El Gunner wrote:

Thimmy wrote:I'm sure Pep has a very specific idea for his tactical setups, but yeah, I do wish he'd venture a little bit outside of his established framework every now and then. Man City arguably looked their best this season when they were managed by Juan Lillo while Pep was in hospital. Of course, that doesn't mean that Lillo is the better manager, but it certainly showed that they're capable of performing well and play a little bit more direct football.

I imagine Pep sees it as unnecessary risk-taking, but sometimes you have to gamble to win. I didn't watch the Man City vs Villa game today, but I have a feeling that they had the majority of ball possession, but fewer goal-scoring chances than Villa.

not at all, bro, Villa had them pinned back basically the entire game

I wouldn't have expected that, but it doesn't surprise me either with how easily their midfielders and defenders have been giving the ball away recently

It's not often that the possession stats are this even in a Man City match.

City miss gundogan a lot.

Thimmy wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:thimmy how would you like pep to play him then?

I would like to see him have the freedom of movement to utilize his strength, speed and athleticism to some extent. I don't doubt that his current role optimizes his goalscoring output for Man City, specifically. It gives him an element of surprise at all times, and it's hard to defend against since he has so little involvement in games that defenders end up forgetting that he's there.

My issue with it is that they might as well have had a Pippo Inzaghi or Peter Crouch- type as their striker in this setup - someone who can finish chances, but isn't necessarily gifted with athleticism. He displayed exceptional speed and power at both RB Salzburg and Dortmund, and he literally has been reduced to a Peter Crouch at Man City. Hell, I'm pretty sure Crouch had a lot more possession of the ball on average.

Hmm yes he has looked a bit more static this season despite his usual goalscoring output. I agree he has too much athleticism and speed to just be reduced to such a role. But this is Pep who tends to streamline player roles to maximise their strengths but at a cost. Not surprised.

Not much to comment about on LFC as Sheffield is a very very poor team.

Szoboszlai has turned into one of my favourite midfielders. Not only is he very versatile and comfortable in all quadrants of the field his effortless touch and finish displayed his potential and successive season.

Nuñez losing the ball like the klutz he can be but winning it back beautifully followed by the cross to Szoboszlai to me was his finest moment of the season.

Easy 0-2.

And I wanted to tune into the Villa game but it was getting late for me but now I am filled with chagrin because I dont think anyone has statistically done City like Unai's Villa did last night.

Emery's first ever win against Pep and he was always close with his Valencia back then but never got it done.

Now that he actually speaks English rather than the semblance of it at Arsenal he decided to get right to work with Villa and get blinding results despite a squad that is overrated by some.

City are without key players so not much to be said as LFC and Arsenal still show signs of collapse whilst City are bound to get it together.


Ultimately, two Basque managers in the Top 3 leading their teams.

Villa totally outfought and dominated most of the game. Surprise title contenders of this season maybe?

Not a chance. Being statistically due and all is taken in effect as knee jerk wins and what not matter not as even Arsenal and LFC have little depth enough to contend throughout unless City dont recover.