Leicester review / RANT

Where to start? The match finished 4-2 Leicester, they more than deserved the points and result. It was like Leicester of last season, where have they been all season? So frustrating. Vardy, no goals in 16, no hat-trick since his days in non league at Fleetwood and bags a well deserved hat-trick yesterday. So disappointing. King's goal for the second was a beaut, Bravo got a hand to it but too hot to handle. Vardy found space from Kolarov, fired low for the first. I can't remember his second and his third was just luck. He rounds the keeper, passes from an impossible angle and hits the post and roles just over the line. City grabbed two late on, Kolarov and Nolito grabbing a goal apiece. 

City lost yesterday for three reasons. First, a slow start. Leicester pressed from the first minute and scored twice in 5 mins. City looked lost, like they did at Celtic Park. The second reason are the players. They not good enough for a system that Pep wants to play. The third is the formation. If the players can't play it and aren't suited to it, it will not work. You can't make bad football players look good. Pep thinks he can, but you can't. Pep is a big problem. He's so stubborn to play his way and his formations and they just are not working. Have City even won playing 3 at the back? I can't recall it. It isn't working. Playing two in CDM isn't working. I'll go through what is wrong in the next paragraph, I'll review everything that's happening, tactics, players and what Pep and the club can do to turn it around. Lets hope Pep reads and takes some notes. I know a lot more about Man City, English football and the Premier League than him. He needs proven PL advisers on his team, so he knows what to play and who and where and when. He'll figure it out himself but the season will be well over by the time he finishes tinkering the team. They can not afford to lose a CL spot, imagine the money loss and reputation. They could end up like Liverpool of the past 5 years, not competing and making 30-40 million signings (risks in my opinions) that stick to their budget, rather than 50-60M that City have been signing over the past couple of years.

I'll review the tactics first. 4-1-4-1 should be played over the next couple of games. On and off the ball. Play players in their natural players, drop players if they don't suit the system but just play that way. If they go 3 at the back again, Watford will win on Wednesday. That will be unforgivable. Pep should leave if that happens. You can't go 10 points behind at the top and outside the top 4 by the middle of December when we was points clear at the top in October. You need players that can play in a 3 at the back. Chelsea have Luis sitting in front of the defence, with Cahill, Terry, Ivanovic, Cesar and others backing him up. City have just 2 recognised CB fit. Play them both. Otamendi can easily do Luis job but none of the other players can match Chelsea's defensive level. Kolarov, Zaba, Sagna, Clichy, Stones are all not at their level. 3 of those names should be gone in January. They won't but they should. They are not good enough. We need new defenders. Signing one or two won't improve the team either, they need a new back line. That's 4 defenders. I could put Bonucci, Laporte, Alaba or Chiellini but it wouldn't improve the team unless we signed 3 of them. We have been linked with Alderweireld and Van Dijk, I'll get onto them soon. But for now, Sagna and Zaba can rotate RB, Kolarov and Clichy at LB and Stones and Otamendi settle with each other. If either cannot play, use Adarbioyo until Vinnie is back. He is a CB. Enough of this "Sagna at CB, Zaba at CDM, Fernando at RB" It does not work. Go back to basics. City will be better for it defensively. 4 at the back is a must. While Fernandinho is suspended, Delp, Gundogan and Fernando can be used to rotate that position. Why not arrange friendlies with the youth teams and see which player best suits up there? A ball playing CDM should be on Pep's transfer list because Dinho can't play all the time, every game. 2 should sit in front of him, or a narrow 4. Use width only when teams counter. If teams plan to sit back and defend all game, what use is pace? Sterling and Sane should be used for Watford and Arsenal, they will come forward. Both of them. Hull is the game after, Nolito and Silva or De Bruyne will work better on the wings, the cut inside and technically brilliant. Iheanacho up front is ok. If teams plan to sit back, Pep can use 6 in midfield, it happened yesterday for the last 20 mins and worked well. Pellegrini used it a few times and can work. But we keep conceding and whilst that happens, a settled back 4 in a comfortable position that they are used to is needed. That will stop City being so open. They need to work on communication and tactics in training, get used to the systems and their jobs because yesterday, the players looked so confused and unsettled. 

Caballero needs to up his game and sort out his feet, because he is a lot better at being a keeper than Bravo. Bravo's passing is the reason he plays yet yesterday his passing was not so good. Caballero judges and makes saves. Bravo is poor, I don't trust him in net and whilst he remains in net, City will concede. Hart isn't the answer, he makes a lot of errors too, but Bravo makes many too. Hart couldn't have been any worse than Bravo. We need a new keeper but that won't come until the summer when Caballero's contract runs out. Neither are good enough, though, in my opinion. Chelsea have Courtois, Spurs with Lloris, Arsenal with Cech and Utd with De Gea. So solid. Liverpool and Man City conceded a lot with mediocre keepers. That is no coincidence. Both have weak defenders in front of them too. Both have big problems in defence and whilst you concede in every game, you won't win many. 

Sagna, Zaba, Kompany (injury record) Kolarov, Stones, Clichy and Otamendi are City's defenders. None have performed well this season and are all up for debate whether they should be here. Otamendi and Stones will probably stay, Kolarov too. But why wait for Vinnie's injuries to improve? Sagna, Zaba have no pace and Clichy hasn't been good enough for the past season. Why are they here? Their contracts are up in the summer but they need to leave in January. They are stopping the team from defending properly. It's not their fault but age, pace and judgement isn't with them. We need a new CB, RB and LB. They need signing, all 3, in January. You sign just one or two then the problems will still be there in positions and they are weaknesses and all PL teams will exploit it. The midfield is problematic too. What is Yaya's best position, he won't be here next season (contract up) so why use him now. He has no pace and looks a shadow of what he once was. We cannot afford passengers. The PL is too competitive for that. Delph has had injury problems since joining, so what does he offer? If he gets another injury soon, what is the point in keeping him?? Gundogan has sorted his injuries out at the moment and needs to add some consistency to his game. He looks class playing as the leading man in a 3 in midfield, so play him there. Rotate him with Silva and KDB, rather than using Yaya there. Fernando just simply isn't good enough. That means 2 or 3 more CM need to leave and 3 more need signing. It's beyond a joke. Unlike in defence though, midfielders can cover and I'm confident with another world class CM added (that can pass and play CDM) in January that Yaya could leave then and the midfield can be covered for until the summer. The wings are ok, if Navas leaves in January (someone needs to leave to make weight for Gabriel Jesus) and his contract is up in the summer so why keep him. He isn't good enough and if he doesn't play again and leaves in January, I wouldn't be disappointed. There is no reason why Sterling, Sane and Nolito and using KDB or Silva temporarily until January in the wings, wouldn't work. Aguero needs to sort his discipline out. Iheanacho is a good player but it's weak. If Sergio gets a serious injury, City have out and out striker. That's the problem with one up top, you have lack of numbers. Chelsea with Costa, Spurs with Kane have this problem and Arsenal have had this problem for years. It doesn't need sorting out now, but it's something to bear in mind. Aguero isn't strong nor powerful, like Costa or Lewondoski, so he only has skill and pace. It limits the team. It would be nice if City have Dzeko of 2012 back, or Balotelli, different options with different styles of play. It worked. Iheanacho doesn't have much to his game other than pace and accuracy and it doesn't cause teams too many problems, especially when City have only a couple of chances in the game. Look at Costa against City, 3 chances he was involved in and Chelsea scored all 3. Clinical. It will get sussed by teams and when it does, they will need to adapt and change things around. City don't have them options with their current set of players, they're all bad. You take Fernandinho, KDB and Aguero out of City and it's a bad team. 

I want 6 signings in January but it won't happen. I think 3 or 4 may happen. I think £100m+ will be spent there too. It's needed. I will presume that a winger will leave and be replaced with GJ. He hasn't signed for near 30 mil to not play or be sent out on loan. Navas is the only option to leave, unless Sane goes on loan but what the point in signing him for 30M plus just to loan him? Wing backs are a problem so I could see City signing 2. A left and right one. A Bosnian from Schalke (Kolasonic) at the left side and a right sided one. Who? I've no idea. Literally. I imagine a CDM might be priority too, to let Fernandinho rest or even be played at CB (that might work, it might not, again, use friendlies to see) but who they could sign? I'm not sure. A CB will more than likely be the big priority. Has Bonucci signed a new deal at Juventus? We've been linked with Alderweireld of Spurs and Saints' Van Dijk. I can see City signing one of them. Laporte could be another option again too. Options. A new RB, LB, winger in GJ and possibly a CDM. I imagine that Navas, Toure, Zaba and Clichy may well leave in January. It's needed. The only problem is that City have games between now and January's window and 6 to 10 games could be played until the team gets a little shuffle. Once that shuffle happens, I will judge Guardiola on that. I'm not impressed by what I've seen over the last couple of months though. That needs changing otherwise City could be in big trouble of having no trophies this season and missing out on CL and not making progress in the CL either. City's elite in Abu Dhabi won't put up with that. It will cost them millions upon millions and set them back. City have built the club on Guardiola, what a disaster it will be if he can't make it work. What will City do then? Only time will tell. 

I'll see you Wednesday daytime for a preview on City, only short and a short review on Thursday. I won't watch or be at the game, but I will get updates, read about the match and opinions and watch the highlights and see what has changed. Hopefully it won't be as bad as Last night. One can hope... I still believe.