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I had to smile this morning. No manager in the world wants his players playing international football with the chance of injury but there was Mark Hughes talking up Zabaleta for Argentina. Nice example of man management in supporting the player while knowing that he is not going to lose him for this round of international call ups.
Meanwhile the impending return of Martin Petrov has me thinking about formations. City have an embarrassment of riches in midfield with SWP, Robinho, Ireland, De Jong, Elano and Petrov. Not forgetting the ability of the aforementioned Zabaleta and Vincent Kompany to play in a central role.
Now as I have mentioned a couple of times I like the 4-2-3-1 formation and one of the reasons is that it protects the centre of defence. The Richards -Dunne central partnership was shown to be a lot less than we thought when they didn't have Johnson and Hamann in front of them and the idea of one defensive midfielder with four midfielders fanning out has been one of my personal frustrations of the season.
The problem of course is that embarrassment of riches. Might I suggest a rethinking of positions. When we have a great central defender, the off season priority, I believe Hughes can experiment more but until then 4-2-3-1 is the club's best formation.
With a fit Petrov on the left and SWP on the right, I'd like to see Stephen Ireland given the opportunity to fill the Michael Johnson role from last year. Partnered with either Zabaleta or De Jong, such a combination would cause the opposition fits with Robinho playing the attacking midfielder role.
Now when Petrov is out Robinho would slide to the left and Elano would play the AM position. An injury to SWP allows Ireland to move to the right allowing both Zabaleta and De Jong to play, or Kompany to move into the spot, or Johnson to return.... This also allows a continuity and understanding for the players as to their roles week in and week out.
The added benefit of this was shown to a certain extent in the first Sunderland game where the players were mixing and matching their positions on the fly and causing utter chaos in the opposition ranks. Traditional man marking schemes fall down in such an environment and the flexibility that a City squad would have with this would be tactically quite devastating.
Moreover with a fully fit side, the bench options would also allow the club to unleash high quality replacements (and speed) for the final 30 minutes of a game.
Food for thought...
Comments
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Posted by roman on 03/31/2009
I like your ideas. Now if you can get the manager to think like you, now THAT would be great!
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Posted by Troo Bloo on 03/31/2009
Wally, I agree with you whole heartedly. With Petrov supporting Robinho, it gives robinho the ability to shrug off a bit of his defensive duties as petrov can track back quite well. Plus the confidence Petrov exudes on the ball is badly needed. As for Ireland filling in MJ's role, their would be no hassle. Ireland's versatility and workrate are shown in his play and his determination to see the team do well would put him as the odds on player to accomplish this position and maybe make it his. Aside from that I hope our boys arent too jet lagged from the internationals. Our "sambistas" will probably only arrive on friday giving them a short period to recover from but it seems every time they board a trip to brazil, they come back hungry for more.
UEFA CUP!!! START SMILING :)
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Posted by Irtiza Rizvi on 03/31/2009
I think the only thing Mark Hughes is lacking, is a quality striker. They ought to use Zabaleta in his preferred RB position, with Kompany as CB as well. That really solves the CB problem too - he performed exceptionally well when Dunne was suspended. Besides that, Petrov's return (to form as well!) would solve the wing problem, and allow Robinho to play up front with someone like Santa Cruz or even Bellamy. De Jong or Johnson as CDM, with Ireland also playing a little deeper than usual. And with players like Bridge, Richards, Given, SWP, City can only get better. And this is coming from a Manchester United fan!
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Posted by chris on 03/31/2009
The English League is very different from many other leagues. It's too physical, maybe that's why the goals have dried up for Robinho (teams have figured out a way to manage him). Over reliance on Robinho will be a big mistake for the future. It would be excellent if Mark Hughes could stick with this formation:
Givens
Richards-Dunne-Onuoha-Bridges
WrightPhillips-DeJong-Kompany-Zabelata
Evans-Robinho (Petrov when he's fit to return)
Our players needs lots of conditioning during the summer to withstand the Premiere League. Honestly, the above mentioned line-up is pretty solid, provided they are injury free. Work on having a deep bench.
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Posted by Pete on 04/01/2009
Chris, and sit Ireland? I think Superman's earned the nickname and deserves a spot in any conceivable City lineup. My view is that he, along with SWP, are the motor that keeps City moving.
I'd agree with you that Robbie doesn't like the physical aspect of the English game, but it's a fact of life that he is going to take a pounding every time he steps on the pitch - he's the wrong kind of "target man" for his liking! It's easy for me to say, but Robinho needs to grow a pair and just learn to deal with it (look at SWP or Bellamy - they're being knocked down constantly, but both get up and give as good as they take). Until Robinho shows that the pounding doesn't affect him, he will continue to be subject to the beatings...
Let's go City. 1-nil over the Gunners.
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Posted by James on 04/01/2009
Would the manager look at this page and consider to make changes with Man City formation?
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Posted by gunnosaurus rex on 04/01/2009
there are thousands of wannabe-managers and if marc hughes would read all these he would go wacko. trust him - or sack him!
1-nil over the gunners - pete, you are a dreamer
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Posted by Brad CTID on 04/02/2009
Your ideas good but i would play a 41212 formation with a attacking midfielder and a defensive. this is what i would do.
Given
richards dunne kompany zabelata
De Jong
SWP Petrov
johnson
Robinho Belamy
and is johnson back because i thought he was starting full training again.
CTID
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Posted by Dave on 04/02/2009
dreams make the world go round
Although a chelsea fan, man city's game has definately got my attention. This is my dream city team:
given
richards, dunne, kompany, bridge
johnson, ireland
SWP petrov
robinho
bellamy
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Posted by Garrett on 04/02/2009
Some good ideas... I honestly am waiting for Michael Johnson to get a solid run-out now that he's heathly. The kid is amazing and would be a solid CM. You could use him as a DM with DeJong or Kompany providing the toughness.
Sven knew how to manage a bit better and its shown all year. Mostly in man-management... but nonetheless, Hughes is improving.
Nedum in for MJ and rotate Kompany occasionally and Robinho/Elano for Ireland/Petrov rotations works.
Richards - Dunne - Kompany - Bridge
------De jong-------Johnson-------
-SWP---------Ireland-------Petrov-
------------Bellamy----------------
With a new striker in the summer (DROGBA!) along with another CB, we'll have enough depth to compete.
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Posted by Boniface Tambwe on 04/02/2009
I true Man City fan living in America. I thinks Mark Hughes has no clue what he is doing with this imense pool of talent he has at his disposal...He should get the sack!
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Posted by 1person on 04/03/2009
Mark Hughes is the Gaffers, he played well during his days of playing, if the team perform he takes the credit, if not he takes the blame. Don't blame him, blame the players who under perform
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Posted by Jon on 04/03/2009
Fantastic article. Hughes said it best, loosely quoted, "If we'd had Martin Petrov that's just like a few more points". IMO, a fit and confident Petrov is the most valuble player we have.
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Posted by damen on 04/05/2009
Arsenal supporter here.
-----------------Given
Zabelata---Kompany----Richards---Bridge
SWP--------Ireland-----DeJong----Petrov
-----------Bellamy-----Robinho
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Posted by Tzvetkov9 on 04/07/2009
I think all those ideas are very nice, but you did not mention anything about who would start at Forward. I think it should be Bojinov, because he is so hungry to play he can probably put 4-5 goals before the end of the season. Plus City fans and the coaches can see exactly what kind of talent they have. Plus Bulgaria needs him in form for the game with Ireland along with Marto so I think this would help everyone the players the team and the country. :)
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Posted by Liam on 05/12/2009
4-2-4
Given(GK)
(CB)Dunne Richards(CB) (LB)Onouha Bridge(RB)
Kompany
(CDM)
Ireland
(CAM)
(LW)Petrov wright-phillip(RW)
(LF)Robinho Elano(RS)
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Posted by Mati on 08/14/2009
how about this, i've thought about it this morning...
4-1-2-2-1
given-zabaleta, richards, toure, bridge-kompany-ireland, barry-tevez, robinho-adebayor
tevez and robinho have free roles to roam around ade, forming a triangle or acting as wingers (hus making it a 4-3-3). but also, tevez can partner ade upfront with robinho playing as a no.10, with zaba and bridge pushing up and kompany dropping in to make a 3-5-2, or even 3-4-3 if robinho and tevez go on the wings instead. a crazier thought would be an all out attacking take on the formation. kompany drops to partner toure, barry protects, micah goes raging on the right, bridge on the left, zaba and ireland run the show, with ade, robinho and tevez running circles around opposiion defences. its madness, but so it the amount of talent disposable to sparky. too bad he's no gasperini
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Posted by dan on 08/14/2009
i didnt read any of this i just wanted to look for somewhere where i could write down my man city team for 09=] even tho im an arsenal fan;) i found it rather entertaining figuering out who goes where and what talent gets left as a bench warmer.
given
zabaleta toure kompany bridge
de jong
phillips ireland barry
tevez robinho
Adebayor
say what you will, i was bored =]
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About
Wallace Poulter is an award winning video game producer, designer, industry consultant and writer. He has been a football fanatic since the day he moved in next door to Brian Clough. "Cloughie" being the acknowledged genius that he was promptly moved out and went to manage Derby. A serviceable senior school left-back in his youth, Poulter played one season of Sunday league football as a striker proving conclusively that he was a serviceable senior school left-back! Today Poulter remains involved with football as a licensed referee and most recently as a consultant on a Football MMO.
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