belaguttman

We have had this scheduling class happen before; it's so avoidable with only a moment's planning

Aidan O'Neill fitted right in, he looked very comfortable at that level

The problem, at the moment, is that Leckie, Berengeur and Van der Venne are out; that's quite some loss of attacking power and experience. Florin is struggling to stay fit long enough to regain his form of last season. JMac is carrying an injury and is down on pace and accuracy so just isn't scoring regularly. The coaching issue though is that the balance of the team has shifted; we are now committing more players forward so are vulnerable to counter-attacking teams. We seem particularly vulnerable on the second ball in attacking transition, this is always when good opponents counter-press and force a turnover, and by this stage, our backline is easy to overload. This also is a problem defending set pieces, again, the second pass is often when we lose possession.

Welcome Jeremy, the only thing to add is that when PK started his first season with the City men's team, they played really poorly for the first 5 games. In part, that was because the team had worked very hard during pre-season and were fatigued; this paid off for them later in the season when the team could continue the high-intensity game for 90 minutes, and other teams would drop off their intensity. The other reason was that it just took time for the patterns of play to become natural for the players; there's little space for individual initiative in PK's style of play. I'm not sure about his coaching staff at Troyes, but teaching this through an interpreter will be even more difficult. I do agree with you about Troyes performances, I've been watching the match highlights and it has looked very concerning: disorganised, shapeless, very different from the way that we play.

I agree, it was hard to watch; it was peak JVS City.

Fotmob has him listed as a Seppo CB!

Probably because Rado wants us to stop leaking goals and prefers a more defensive Jamo

Who is Patrick Hogan? When did we sign him? What does a player from the USL Championship offer over a local young CB?

Well, I think that we can get better, were have been better, but that means less freedom for individuals in the team. As always, it's a question of balance. We might do better changing the risk to the third pass rather than the second pass by becoming a bit more structured in our patterns of play into attacking transition

Rado has us playing more aggressively in attacking transition: that's great if we can keep the ball; we are far more likely to create attacking overloads. The problem is that we often lose the ball on our second attacking transition pass and are then overloaded ourselves, with defenders out of position. Opposition coaches have realised this and good counter-attacking sides know just when to press us. we either need to get better at keeping the ball or adapt the tactics. We are still likely to win the Premier's Plate, but unlikely to win the Grand Final, or even win our semi.

I thought that it was, perhaps, an ironic commentary on our ability to defend.

Dementors

If Rado is working from the same CFG template as PK, we ramp up training over the next few weeks, then taper for the finals; results become somewhat erratic during that time as we tend to tire during games. We do have a large enough buffer this season for that to not influence the season outcome

An interesting game, a good win, but unfortunately, the final result flattered Sydney. Positives: When we are 'on', we are 'on' and unstoppable by any team in the League. The game showed our depth; we aren't reliant on Leckie or Good. Tilio always finds that extra motivation against his old team; we need to find a way to keep him like that every game against every opponent. Andy Harper, amidst the totally Sydney-centric TV commentary, seems to have suddenly discovered what Aidan O'Neill provides for the team Negatives: We need to sharpen up the second pass in attacking transition; we lost the ball far too often in midfield. Redmayne stopped the score from becoming embarrassing, which he rarely did for us. I wonder how he might have performed for us if we'd provided him with a good goal-keeping coach. I couldn't hear active support through the TV coverage.

Yes, they now have a small club mentality; the derby means everything, it's their Grand Final, so they approach it with that intensity. Tilio does appear to struggle in big games, the Grand Final against the smurfs excepted. Good would have worn Bruno like a glove; he managed to lose Reis in the box. It was good to face a team that matched us with our usual intensity, it unsettled us; hopefully, we can learn from this.

Embarrassing. Embarrassing that we let the visit0rs play with intensity, particularly in the second half when we looked like we were in cruise mode. We defend far better with Good rather than Reis; he's far tighter on his players than Reis and better in the air. We need to respond next week by spanking the smurfs

It also means that the coach can have input into recruitment/retention options for next season

No, it isn't the biggest or most popular but if it's relegated or its budget is seriously handicapped, it has distorted the market so much with its money that many of its stars will leave the EPL, they won't all be absorbed by Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool or Man U. That diminishes the EPL as a whole ...and I'm sure that they will

Man City has many of the 'stars that attract many to the EPL, both in person and on TV; these are significant sources of revenue and prestige for the EPL. Man City plays attractive football that enhances the prestige and visibility of the EPL, and they are one of the reasons that the EPL is the most viewed football competition with the most revenue. The difficulty for the EPL, at least in the short-term, is that anything that affects Man City will also impact the competition and the prestige and visibility of the competition. Personally, if they are guilty, I'd treat them like Rangers, but this is why I don't work in the corporate sector; I'm always accused of being an idealist and 'unrealistic'😂

That may well be what should happen if they are found guilty, but I suspect that the EPL would see that as also punishing the EPL (financially) so they won't do it.

If I recall, this would make CFG repeat offenders concerning breaches of the financial regulations, expect more severe penalties

Metaphorical😂

I've just returned to the ground after spending the evening on Cloud 9. Positives: We won well and won in style. A good hat trick from VDV Our defence was (mostly) solid. We played with freedom; this can only happen when everyone in the team understands their role It was good to see some of the bench players subbed on, like Raphael. Negatives: Bulls were overawed and retreated into themselves, it's hard to gauge our performance from this game other than to say that this is how we can play of the opponent sits deep, isn't organised, and doesn't press We missed a pen We conceded an easy goal, both quibbles given the result, but we want to improve We really need to start some succession planning, we are sure to lose both Bos and O'Neill next season, possibly Tilio as well

We could have lined up a replacement that offers more to the team. He stepped in ably for O'Neill when he was injured, but the team performance suffered

Yes, that's why it was a frustrating game: firstly, falling behind with 3 mistakes; secondly, we had more than enough chances to win the game. Our shot conversion rate has been poor the last two seasons