Team vs Citeh

[boxbat]

And, I suppose, remembering how the Kaboul/Dawson partnership faired against City last time around.

 

[Mullers]

And, I suppose, remembering how the Kaboul/Dawson partnership faired against City last time around.

I think if King had been in the side we would have still have got hammered, we have had hammerings in the past when King has been in the side before.

 

[Spurs_Bear]

That's an interesting thought Mullers, I can't think of one off the top of my head in recent years?

 

[boxbat]

True, though not so much recently. We never seem to let in more than one goal with King of late, though that's not to say that he's never at fault for that one. And yeah, there was a lot wrong with the team that day, it's just that Dawson's lack of pace against Aguero in particular stands out. Probably unfair but when it's exposed it's very easy to spot.

On a side note, I was thinking at the end of that game how sweet it would be if we got our revenge in the reverse fixture. I didn't really give a thought to how far up the league we might be, just hoped that we would get our act together and pay them back in January. Would taste so good if it happened!

 

[Mr Pink]

That's an interesting thought Mullers, I can't think of one off the top of my head in recent years?

3-0 at the Scum a few seasons ago :shrug:

 

[ajspurs]

Thing is though surely those game's where we were on the end of a thrashing with King in the team must have been a few years ago? At a time when our midfield certainly didn't have the strength of players like Sandro or Parker.

Saying that, I agree we still would have been thrashed most likely even if he did play. Maybe by a goal or two less as our defending was dreadful that day and Dawson looks a lot more solid next to King but the feeling amongst the team was just too bad that day it seemed as well as a Modric who didn't want to play and Kranjcar in the middle.

Also I hate the Sky build up to this game. That thrashing had been right to the back of my head and I hate seeing the visuals from that game :lol:

But yea, maybe it was that 3-0 against the Scum actually. Palacios

I hate the thought of that game too. Will never forget not seeing anything at all, looking up and after being 1-0 we were suddenly 2-0 down in seconds, grrrr.

 

[ShelfSide18]

The alternative for me would be to play either Bale or VdV in the centre, and if it were me I'd go for Bale in those circumstances.

The issue is that without Adebayor we have no presence up front - hence my suggestion in another thread (which got laughed out of town), that we consider playing Kaboul up there - and as a result I think City are going to play with a very high line and really try to press us.

I think that they'll get a lot of joy from that strategy too, and it's one of the reasons why I think they'll win.

For me then this is going to be a game played mainly in the middle and our defensive third of the pitch with City having the lions-share of possession.

I think we need to sit back, look to absorb the pressure and have Sandro (or Livermore if Sandro doesn't make it) patrolling the space in front of our back four.

Because we won't have much ball or territory our goal will be to nick one on the break, and if we can get our noses in front, then we'll have increased chance of nicking another.

If we don't start with Defoe then we'll only really have VdV and Bale who are adept at scoring. VdV's slow and much more likely to be threading the through-ball then running onto it, which puts all the strain on Bale.

Defoe on the other hand can play off the last man in those kinds of situations, run free of them and will shoot if he gets a glimpse of goal.

This season he's been fantastic at converting half-chances into goals.

What we lose is Lennon, but I'm gambling on Walker to take up some of that slack.

As ever, interesting stuff - I think the thing that we both agree on is the absolute pain in the arse having no Adebayor is - I've been sat at home fashioning a papier masche mask of Pav to fix onto Ade's face he's that vital to the team dynamic. One problem we face whoever is selected is altering our style of play to compensate from not having our super striker because we have no one similar to him.

I know he has attracted a bit of criticism from a few fans, but I have a bad feeling that on sunday evening BCs excellent analogy of Ade after the Liverpool game this season will be as relevant as ever. Something about walking in a desert for years and suddenly walking into a tropical oasis I seem to remember.

I've been mulling over the best way to approach this fixture, and it's all contingent on the fitness of the King and Sandro the manbeast, but without that presence of Ade up front, rather than the miserable compromise of playing Defoe who has been known to go missing in home games that we've been massively on top let alone tough away games, or Pav who has a nasty habit of not being able to stand up to a gnats fart far too often, why not offer no presence whatsoever?

It's not a revolutionary idea, teams like Roma/Barca/Man Utd have done this with success, one thing that defenders hate is not just having a tough player to mark, but having no one to mark at all. Playing VDV as a sort of false 9 means he will drop off the defensive line leaving 2 spare men and giving us an advantage in midfield, where we could dominate the ball - I mean a trio of Mod/Parker/Sandro is a perfect combination of ball win and ball keep anyway, add VDV to that and then we could certainly own the ball. I know that sounds almost fanciful against Man City who have dominated the ball all season home and away, and have racked up a more than impressive goal difference, but 'to dare is to do' 'n all that.

Of course that puts a massive responsibility on Bale and Lennon attacking the space that VDV would create as defenders follow him out of their lines, but with Bale having the season of his life, and Lennon having a far from shabby important goals record then I back them to do the business on Sunday. Sloth, get on board the strikerless bandwagon.

Is the thought of going to City to dominate the ball, with marauding full backs, and no actual striker in sight completely preposterous? Of course, as I said this is entirely contingent on the availability of Sandro and King.

One thing I will say is that I hope 'Arry's preparations have included playing high pressure, possessional football as well as deep lying, direct, counter attacking football because the realities are we will more than likely need both, especially with question marks over certain players. We should be able to switch approach by the click of Redknapp's fingers - games like these demand tactical flexibility and adaptability.

I'm going on sunday, 6o clock start for me - I just hope we do ourselves proud up there.

 

[theaman]

If Sandro is fit, he starts ahead of Lennon for me. So this time we would have 2 defensive midfielders in him and Parker - 2 more than we had line up in the hammering in August.

Kaboul ahead of Dawson for me simply to deal with pace of Aguero which Daws struggled with last time.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Yes, compared to last time out anything is preferable in CM than Kranjcar and Modric, still gives me nightmares that does.

 

[Mullers]

Man Utd 5 spurs 2 ok it was 2009, but still, we were 2 goals up Man Utd get a pen, next thing you know they score 5 goals in 20 minutes.
Team:
Gomes, Corluka, Woodgate, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Jenas, Modric, Keane, Bent.

Very solid defence and not a bad team you would have thought.

Now of course King is our best defender but I feel Dawson is a good defender who is capable of doing a job against City and anyone else. When we get heavy defeats people zone in on the defence bar King but the truth is usually that the whole team haven't defended well.

 

[stevenqoz]

Surprising that so many seem to feel that we will cede possession to citeh. At times we have held the ball for long periods away from home this year. If we have the likely five in midfield we will hold our share. Modric VDV and Parker are very good at the short keep the ball interchanges....the question is can we as a result of this possession release Defoe Lennon Bale to get in behind their defence...I am looking forward to them playing a high line because the latter 3 mentioned, if smart can make the most of it.

 

[am_yisrael_chai]

The problem with Dawson in the team is that he plays right CB and that shifts Younes to left CB where he isn't as comfortable or effective. For me it has to be Kaboul at right CB with someone else at left CB and my order would be King, Gallas, Bassong, Dawson.

 

[tobi]

City play with no tempo, we should exploit this and blitz them from the start. Get an early goal and then sit back and hit them on the counter attack.

 

[Paolo10]

Just leading on from the game, some of these stories are amazing. Super Mario is completely fucking crazy...

What's not to like about Mr Balotelli bar the obvious, of course. . .

• Driving around Manchester dressed as Santa handing out £20 notes.
• Turning up at a petrol station and telling everyone there to fill up their cars, which he paid for.
• Putting up 24 homeless people in the Hilton for NYE.
• Scoring twice and then getting sent off on his Manchester city debut.
• Survived a usually fatal disease at birth.
• £10,000 in parking fines.
• Car has been impounded 27 times.
• £300,000 fine for throwing darts at the youth team.
• Won £25,000 in a casino, gave £1,000 to a tramp outside the casino.
• Threw tomatoes at a Serie A manager.
• Threw Water Balloons at a Serie A disciplinary hearing.
• Started a fight with 4 bouncers after breaking the "no touching" rule at a strip club.
• The "bib" saga.
• Had a £120,000 Audi imported, wrote it off within a week.
• Had his friend approach girls in a nightclub and say "Balotelli will see you now".
• Sent to the shops by his mother to buy essentials for the house, came back with a giant trampoline and a Vespa and a Scalectrix.
• Has started fights at training with Kompany, Boateng, Tevez and Richards.
• Was frequently seen at the AC Milan superstore while playing for Inter Milan.
• Went on TV wearing an AC Milan shirt with his name on the back while playing for Inter.
• Whilst playing for Italy under 21's, he is fouled, he sits on the pitch for 3-4 minutes ignoring the opposition, his team mates and the referee.
• He is then offended when he gets sent off and protests about it.
• Winks at Ferdinand after FA cup semi final and celebrates in front of the United fans.
• After the cup final on live TV, he says " I have been sh*t this season, am I allowed say sh*t on TV?
• Was stopped by police going around his hometown of Hulme with £ 25,000 cash in the passenger seat. When asked why he replied "because I'm rich".
• Had to be physically hauled away by Zanetti for refusing to let Samuel Eto'o take a penalty that he had earned.
• Once broke up with a girlfriend via text whilst she was presenting a live show.
• Slept with an Italian model while his girlfriend was downstairs.
• Drove his car into a women's prison because he wanted to "look around"
• Has connections with the Italian mafia, he has testified in court at a Mafia trial.
• Once accused a child who asked for his autograph on the training ground that he was bunking from school. When child answered that this was the result of bullying, drove the child and his mother to the headmaster's office, summoned the bully from class and brokered a truce.
• Brought his Ipad on to the bench for Italy's international against the Faroe Islands because he wanted to play games on it.
• Was seen in a Manchester shopping centre "hi-fiving" city fans the day after City had beaten United 6-1.
• Became the face of a firework safety campaign a few days after setting his house on fire from letting off fireworks indoors.
• Hands £50 notes to strangers when out shopping in Manchester.
• Chanted "Rooney, Rooney" at the prostitute who claimed to have slept with Wayne Rooney.
• Italy had just brought out a brand new home kit, at the start of the second half for their first match wearing the new kit, Balotelli came out in the old kit, claiming he didn't like the new one. Nobody else had changed.
• Turned the landscaped back garden of his house into a Quad bike track.

 

[Mr-T]

Just leading on from the game, some of these stories are amazing. Super Mario is completely fucking crazy...

What's not to like about Mr Balotelli bar the obvious, of course. . .

• Driving around Manchester dressed as Santa handing out £20 notes.
• Turning up at a petrol station and telling everyone there to fill up their cars, which he paid for.
• Putting up 24 homeless people in the Hilton for NYE.
• Scoring twice and then getting sent off on his Manchester city debut.
• Survived a usually fatal disease at birth.
• £10,000 in parking fines.
• Car has been impounded 27 times.
• £300,000 fine for throwing darts at the youth team.
• Won £25,000 in a casino, gave £1,000 to a tramp outside the casino.
• Threw tomatoes at a Serie A manager.
• Threw Water Balloons at a Serie A disciplinary hearing.
• Started a fight with 4 bouncers after breaking the "no touching" rule at a strip club.
• The "bib" saga.
• Had a £120,000 Audi imported, wrote it off within a week.
• Had his friend approach girls in a nightclub and say "Balotelli will see you now".
• Sent to the shops by his mother to buy essentials for the house, came back with a giant trampoline and a Vespa and a Scalectrix.
• Has started fights at training with Kompany, Boateng, Tevez and Richards.
• Was frequently seen at the AC Milan superstore while playing for Inter Milan.
• Went on TV wearing an AC Milan shirt with his name on the back while playing for Inter.
• Whilst playing for Italy under 21's, he is fouled, he sits on the pitch for 3-4 minutes ignoring the opposition, his team mates and the referee.
• He is then offended when he gets sent off and protests about it.
• Winks at Ferdinand after FA cup semi final and celebrates in front of the United fans.
• After the cup final on live TV, he says " I have been sh*t this season, am I allowed say sh*t on TV?
• Was stopped by police going around his hometown of Hulme with £ 25,000 cash in the passenger seat. When asked why he replied "because I'm rich".
• Had to be physically hauled away by Zanetti for refusing to let Samuel Eto'o take a penalty that he had earned.
• Once broke up with a girlfriend via text whilst she was presenting a live show.
• Slept with an Italian model while his girlfriend was downstairs.
• Drove his car into a women's prison because he wanted to "look around"
• Has connections with the Italian mafia, he has testified in court at a Mafia trial.
• Once accused a child who asked for his autograph on the training ground that he was bunking from school. When child answered that this was the result of bullying, drove the child and his mother to the headmaster's office, summoned the bully from class and brokered a truce.
• Brought his Ipad on to the bench for Italy's international against the Faroe Islands because he wanted to play games on it.
• Was seen in a Manchester shopping centre "hi-fiving" city fans the day after City had beaten United 6-1.
• Became the face of a firework safety campaign a few days after setting his house on fire from letting off fireworks indoors.
• Hands £50 notes to strangers when out shopping in Manchester.
• Chanted "Rooney, Rooney" at the prostitute who claimed to have slept with Wayne Rooney.
• Italy had just brought out a brand new home kit, at the start of the second half for their first match wearing the new kit, Balotelli came out in the old kit, claiming he didn't like the new one. Nobody else had changed.
• Turned the landscaped back garden of his house into a Quad bike track.

Love it.

There was a list like this of the crazy shit Gazza got up to - it read very similar.

 

[ajspurs]

Just leading on from the game, some of these stories are amazing. Super Mario is completely fucking crazy...

What's not to like about Mr Balotelli bar the obvious, of course. . .

• Driving around Manchester dressed as Santa handing out £20 notes.
• Turning up at a petrol station and telling everyone there to fill up their cars, which he paid for.
• Putting up 24 homeless people in the Hilton for NYE.
• Scoring twice and then getting sent off on his Manchester city debut.
• Survived a usually fatal disease at birth.
• £10,000 in parking fines.
• Car has been impounded 27 times.
• £300,000 fine for throwing darts at the youth team.
• Won £25,000 in a casino, gave £1,000 to a tramp outside the casino.
• Threw tomatoes at a Serie A manager.
• Threw Water Balloons at a Serie A disciplinary hearing.
• Started a fight with 4 bouncers after breaking the "no touching" rule at a strip club.
• The "bib" saga.
• Had a £120,000 Audi imported, wrote it off within a week.
• Had his friend approach girls in a nightclub and say "Balotelli will see you now".
• Sent to the shops by his mother to buy essentials for the house, came back with a giant trampoline and a Vespa and a Scalectrix.
• Has started fights at training with Kompany, Boateng, Tevez and Richards.
• Was frequently seen at the AC Milan superstore while playing for Inter Milan.
• Went on TV wearing an AC Milan shirt with his name on the back while playing for Inter.
• Whilst playing for Italy under 21's, he is fouled, he sits on the pitch for 3-4 minutes ignoring the opposition, his team mates and the referee.
• He is then offended when he gets sent off and protests about it.
• Winks at Ferdinand after FA cup semi final and celebrates in front of the United fans.
• After the cup final on live TV, he says " I have been sh*t this season, am I allowed say sh*t on TV?
• Was stopped by police going around his hometown of Hulme with £ 25,000 cash in the passenger seat. When asked why he replied "because I'm rich".
• Had to be physically hauled away by Zanetti for refusing to let Samuel Eto'o take a penalty that he had earned.
• Once broke up with a girlfriend via text whilst she was presenting a live show.
• Slept with an Italian model while his girlfriend was downstairs.
• Drove his car into a women's prison because he wanted to "look around"
• Has connections with the Italian mafia, he has testified in court at a Mafia trial.
• Once accused a child who asked for his autograph on the training ground that he was bunking from school. When child answered that this was the result of bullying, drove the child and his mother to the headmaster's office, summoned the bully from class and brokered a truce.
• Brought his Ipad on to the bench for Italy's international against the Faroe Islands because he wanted to play games on it.
• Was seen in a Manchester shopping centre "hi-fiving" city fans the day after City had beaten United 6-1.
• Became the face of a firework safety campaign a few days after setting his house on fire from letting off fireworks indoors.
• Hands £50 notes to strangers when out shopping in Manchester.
• Chanted "Rooney, Rooney" at the prostitute who claimed to have slept with Wayne Rooney.
• Italy had just brought out a brand new home kit, at the start of the second half for their first match wearing the new kit, Balotelli came out in the old kit, claiming he didn't like the new one. Nobody else had changed.
• Turned the landscaped back garden of his house into a Quad bike track.

:rofl:

Brilliant. Would never want him at this club be I am so glad he's in the Premiership at least.

 

[sloth]

Yes, compared to last time out anything is preferable in CM than Kranjcar and Modric, still gives me nightmares that does.

all from @BenPearceSpurs

#thfc Redknapp suggested Defoe will start in Adebayor's absence: 'I've got Jermain, he's been bursting to play. It's an opportunity for him'

#thfc Redknapp says he'll go to Man City 'with a positive team. I wouldn't want to go there and sit back, I think can take the game to them'

#thfc King hasn't trained for weeks, since he tore his hamstring. But HR says it's not impossible he could play. 'Wouldnt rule him out'

#thfc It's a case of 'wait and see' with Ledley King, as usual. He never comes out to train until the day before the game.

#thfc Harry Redknapp says Sandro and Gallas won't be fit for Man City. They're jogging but 'only running at 60 per cent.'

Shit, shit, shit, shit... I think a version of your nightmare is going to come true Shelf-side. Does this sound to you - like it does to me - that Harry going to turn up at the City of Manchester Stadium and play 4-4-1-1 with Parker and Modric in the centre?

It barely fucking works when we play against ordinary opposition and we have Adebayor in the side.

It's easily the least effective formation we play:

http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/30

We've lost three games this season and each time we've played 4-4 -fucking -1-1, it was also shit last season when we tried it week in week out too. Of the 21 goals we've conceded this year two thirds of them have come when we play 4-4-1-1 and yet we've played that way ten times or in nearly half our matches.

More to the point, when we play that way we look so predictable when we have the ball (which won't be often on Sunday if we go with a two man central midfield) the ball goes left to right and back again, we simply play in straight lines, no depth or rotation, no runners from deep.

By contrast in the 11 games we've played 4-4-2, 4-3-3, or 4-2-3-1 our record is won eight, drawn 3, lost 0.

Without Ade we can't do 4-4-2 (unless people want Pav in there? :lol, not that it would be appropriate, imo, for this game anyway. For me we have to start with three CMs. Livermore must play.

Almost as bad is if King isn't fit, you just know we'll play Dawson, and Dawson and Kaboul, whatever their individual talents, imo are incapable of playing together. For me I'd play Kaboul ahead of Dawson and then I'd play any of our other CBs with Kaboul before I'd play Dawson there.

Of course fingers crossed it's just a smoke-screen from Harry, and those words in the conference which echoed his sentiment after the last match against City where he says he'll go to Man City "with a positive team. I wouldn't want to go there and sit back, I think can take the game to them", is just to throw Mancini of the scent.

I've had such high hopes for Harry, over these last weeks where he's shown what he's capable of, for him to revert to the Harry of last season and some of the games we played earlier in this season where we won despite him not because, would be heart-breaking.

Surprising that so many seem to feel that we will cede possession to citeh. At times we have held the ball for long periods away from home this year. If we have the likely five in midfield we will hold our share. Modric VDV and Parker are very good at the short keep the ball interchanges....the question is can we as a result of this possession release Defoe Lennon Bale to get in behind their defence...I am looking forward to them playing a high line because the latter 3 mentioned, if smart can make the most of it.

Our average possession away from home has been 54%, but against the tougher opposition it was considerably less. Against Utd it was 47%, against Toon it was 45%, against Fulham it was 46%, against Swansea it was 44%.

City at home on average have 56% of the ball, and their record reflects that because as you know they've played ten and won them all only conceding 4 goals, while scoring 31.

http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/25...amStatistics/England-Premier-League-2011-2012

Even if we play a kind of 4-1-2-2-1/4-1-4-1 with Livermore sitting in front of our back four we'll have less of the ball than City imo, but by the sounds of his press conference Harry's going to go bollocks out with a midfield of:

Lennon Parker Modric Bale​

Which is a wide, stretched midfield, which I think might win you the game once in every ten matches, but in the other nine will see City's strong centre decimate us, pull us completely out of shape and they will dominate the ball, territory and score lots of goals.

Come on Harry prove my fears wrong ray:

 

[worcestersauce]

Not sure of the relevance of the possession away from home sloth, what are other teams figures like?

One disadvantage City have that others don't is that Adebayor won't be playing, all other team know whats coming but they don't, no doubt we've been training all week with Jermain Defoe in mind as striker and we sure ain't going to play him the same way we play Manny so it should be interesting.

It's all in the way you spin it

 

[Blake Griffin]

recent city games have proven that possession means little, such as;

man city 3-0 liverpool

36 % 64

 

[Monkey boy]

:rofl:

Brilliant. Would never want him at this club be I am so glad he's in the Premiership at least.

This seems like one of those daft emails you get about "Office Dares"