02 Oct 2021 23:18:42
Evening eds1
Mite sound like a daft question but how do we beat city tomorrow then mate?

{Ed001's Note - by scoring more goals than they do.}

03 Oct 2021 06:26:05
Interesting tactic, Ed01, and it might just work.

{Ed001's Note - I am hoping it will catch on and we can employ it every week.}

03 Oct 2021 08:07:40
Ok I deserved that eds1!
Next question then what are city’s weaknesses?

{Ed001's Note - Pep's tinkering is their biggest weakness. That has cost them many results they should have easily got. Then there is the robotic nature of their play, everything is proscribed in training, there is no real room for improvisation now David Silva has left. So you know exactly what they are going to do, though if they do it well it is still extremely difficult to stop.

Then there is their tendency to overcommit to the attack and rely on 'tactical fouls' defensively. If you break past the foul they are wide open to be countered. They also are heavily reliant on being ball dominant, particularly defensively. Any team which gets more of the ball beats them, they simply are not organised to defend for long periods. They are set up to win the ball back quickly and so struggle when that does not happen.

On top of that is their lack of a genuine goal scoring attacker. We can play without an out and out goal scorer there because our two wide forwards are our goal scorers. Citeh lack a genuine goal scorer now. So long as others weigh in then it is not an issue, but in tight games you need an Aguero or Salah to sniff out a chance for himself and finish it. City do not have that.

Also full-backs, they are not the best going forward or defensively. Physically they are excellent, technically excellent, but mentally they are both lacking, particularly Walker, who falls asleep and makes silly errors.}

03 Oct 2021 08:35:05
Tactical Master Class by Ed01. Wonder why nobody ever thought of that before now.

03 Oct 2021 09:04:08
Im pretty sure Klopp and ed01 are in contact. we kinda employed similar tactics to what he told to beat them in that 100 point season of theirs!

03 Oct 2021 11:20:28
Great summary of City’s qualities and frailties Ed01. - thanks for sharing your insights. I’m still at the level of ‘we outscore them’ myself 🙂.

{Ed001's Note - hey it works!}

03 Oct 2021 11:37:25
To be fair to City though, they are incredibly hard working as an entire team.
Their industry at Chelsea last week was very high.
As I can recall, the only team to have anywhere near parity of possession with them was the prime Liverpool midfield of Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum?
Even PSG sat off them, so it seems that most teams play on the counter now.
Klopp has certainly not been afraid to go toe-to-toe, sometimes it’s worked and sometimes it hasn’t.
I can see Liverpool using that aggressive press again today, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see City with two deeper midfielders.
A tight game, certainly initially, with the first goal being important.