Why Man City Are Out Of Their Depth Against The Best Sides In The World

Man City’s failures against the top teams have been well documented; this article will examine how Man City are out of their depth and how the squad he has been offered is not equipped to play against better sides than themselves.

For me, the Man City squad is set up to play 1 way, which is to dominate possession and play intricate football. This works brilliantly against the likes of West Brom or West Ham, sides they are much stronger than and so will have the majority of the ball. This does not work however, against teams like Barcelona, who have better technical players than Man City. The problem with Man City’s technical players is that they cannot play any other way. They are not fast with the exception of Navas and Aguero so are not able to play on the counter attack against stronger sides. Equally, they are not physically strong compared to the opposition and so cannot overpower their adversaries . This means they have to try to play their normal passing game, which allows them to get picked off by stronger teams who are better at this passing game.

This is the fault of the Man City recruitment staff for signing too many similar players. It is not likely that a team with 2 strikers fielded in a 4-4-2 will win against the likes of Real Madrid, this is shown by the rarity in which it is deployed by other teams yet Pellegrini is often forced into this through a lack of other options. Equally, playing Silva, Milner and Nasri in wide positions against a strong side is not a great option, since you lose the option of a fast counter attack, really you can only play 1 of them on the flanks and 1 behind the striker. Furthermore, playing Toure in a defensive midfield position is not a great option, simply because his defending is not up to scratch. This does not leave Pellegrini with a strong enough line up to beat a good side, since currently only 3 of the 4 positions behind the striker are filled with Fernando and Fernandinho looking like a below par central midfield combo. Jesus Navas is also charged with playing an important role in this side, something he is not good enough to do.

In addition, the state of Man City’s defence also does not cut the mustard. Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta are the only defenders in their squad that are good enough to play against the top sides, with the likes of the ageing Demichelis and the erratic Mangala not up to standard for a tough European night.

This evidence mounts therefore, to show that Man City are not good enough to challenge the top sides, and this is down to the recruitment, since no top quality players have been brought in since Sergio Aguero was added to the squad. As we are led to believe Pellegrini has little say in transfers, to blame him for the failings of an ageing squad is harsh.

Why The Clubs At The Bottom Of The Premier League Have Got Their Priorities Wrong.

The old adage for teams fighting relegation is that you need a goalscorer to keep you up. After all, goals win games. It is this idea which has led Leicester City to splash out on Krameric and Ulloa for a combined fee of a reported £17million, and to Sunderland spending £6million plus large wages on an ageing Jermain Defoe. The stats however, suggest that there is a definite over emphasis on buying strikers.

If this season’s premier league ended with the current bottom 3 going down, then the last 5 seasons will have seen the 3 sides who scored the least each season going down just 7 times. That shows, that more than 1 in 2 sides who are battling against the drop scored less than a team that stayed up ahead of them. In contrast, the teams who have conceded the highest number of goals have gone down on 12 occasions, reflecting that it is the defences which are most crucial to premier league survival. Perhaps recruitment teams should look at statistics and not take notice of old clichés. 

Why The Premier League Is In Its Worst State Since Its Inception

Alexis Sanchez, Angel Di Maria, Mesut Ozil. All were supposedly blockbuster signings yet all of them were castaway by their previous clubs. In fact, if you were naming premier league players who might possibly get in the teams of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Barcelona you’re looking at David De Gea, Thibaut Courtois, Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard. The Premier League doesn’t attract the top quality players anymore, only Aguero of these was at his peak when he joined the league, the others have had to develop in the premier league. Gone are the days that Premier League Clubs can attract the best in Europe. Yet this is only part of the Premier League’s problem.

The over spending of almost every team on frankly average players is evident. You only have to look at Man City spending £220 million in the last 3 seasons without buying a single top class player. Then you look at Liverpool throwing £20million at mediocre players last summer, Tottenham doing the same the summer before and you realise why these teams are struggling to improve. They’ve both had the resources to do so, more so than many of their foreign counterparts. Even further down the league, Southampton widely praised for their summer dealings given the end result, yet £12million for Shane Long would now be seen as a standard price in the league. If Long played abroad and was bought by a foreign side, I’d imagine he wouldn’t cost close to this figure and if he did he would be considered a flop, not an average signing. When Newcastle splashed £6million on Emmanuel Riviere, French journalists couldn’t believe what had happened, believing the player was worth closer to £3million. The fact is, premier league clubs are grossly overspending. This is shown by Sunderland having a strike force of £32 million worth of strikers, yet being embarrassingly poor in front of goal.

The Premier League’s lower clubs are not the standard they used to be. It used to be an argument that whilst other leagues had stronger top clubs, the Premier League had stronger teams further down the division. Whilst this is impossible to test completely, the standard has declined considerably. Previously, I would look at the bottom of the league and often think that at least 1 of the teams that would go down did not deserve to, now I think most of the bottom half of the table deserve relegation. The fact that a team like Newcastle can get to halfway through the season and be effectively safe reflects the low standard of the division.

How Newcastle and Sunderland represent opposites

Why Newcastle United and Sunderland represent opposites

In terms of transfer dealings, these teams are at complete opposite ends of the scale. Newcastle prefer to sign up and coming talents and not sign players over 27. This model has shown plenty of strengths but also several weaknesses. This is reflected in the fact that players such as Yohan Cabaye have come and gone but fetched a high price, although it represents a risk, as the likes of Emmanuel Riviere have shown. Newcastle hope to fetch a high re-sale value, and this is an opposite to how Sunderland approach many of their transfers. Signings such as Wes Brown, John O’Shea and Jermain Defoe, lead Sunderland to believe they have a more reliable transfer model, based on signing players who are said to be proven in the Premier League. The down side of this is there is next to no re-sale value on these players, and means that Sunderland will struggle to be self-sufficient in the way that Newcastle is. The approach to managers is also shown to be a polar opposite approach these days, with Newcastle aiming to keep Alan Pardew long-term despite all the hiccups the club had during his reign, whilst Sunderland tend to change their manager at least once a season, most recently for Dick Advocat to arrive at the club. Even after Pardew’s departure, Newcastle have aimed to retain stability by promoting his assistant John Carver.

Statistics

In terms of the match, I found it surprising that of the squads available for Saturday’s match and not including injured and suspended players, Newcastle have more derby day experience particularly due to Newcastle’s lengthy injury list. Newcastle have 47 appearances in the Derby within the squad for Sunday, whilst Sunderland have only 35. The most experienced of these is Jonas Gutierrez who has 8 derbies under his belt, followed by Jack Colback who has played only 1 derby in Newcastle colours but 6 for Sunderland, and Mike Williamson and Tim Krul who have played 6. For Sunderland, Sebastian Larsson is their most experienced for this occasion having appeared 7 times, whilst Lee Cattermole and John O’Shea have both played 5 derbies.

In the 9 derbies since Newcastle returned to the premier league there have been 5 reds, 1 for Newcastle and 4 for Sunderland. There have been 49 yellows in 9 matches at an average of 5.4 per match and Lee Cattermole has yet to play a Tyne-Wear Derby in which he hasn’t been booked.

You have to go back as far as 2006 for a time that a team came from behind to win a Derby, when Albert Luque wrapped it up in a 4-1 win at Sunderland for Newcastle.

Amazingly despite racking up 82 appearances in Derbies between the players on show only 6 goals have been scored by current Newcastle or Sunderland players they are Adam Johnson 3 times, Ryan Taylor, Jack Colback (For Sunderland) and Steven Fletcher.

There hasn’t been a goalless Tyne Wear Derby in 32 matches since 1990.
Only Papiss Cisse (11) and Ayoze (5) have scored more than 3 premier league goals for Newcastle this season and only Steven Fletcher (4) and Adam Johnson (4) have scored more than 3 for Sunderland.  Only QPR and Aston Villa have as few players scoring 4 or more goals. Sunderland’s top scorer only having 4 is also the lowest in the division.

Newcastle have won just 1 of the 5 games that Moussa Sissoko has previously captained them in.

Why I have sympathy for John Carver at Newcastle United

Why I have sympathy for John Carver at Newcastle United

Injuries and suspensions

Ask yourself how many teams would be able to cope with injuries and suspensions comparable to the ones Newcastle United have currently? Whilst this seems to have been how it always is at Newcastle United and this suggests that there is something wrong with how Newcastle treat their players, this is not a problem that Carver is responsible for. Take the main 2 centre halves and a possible 4^th choice centre half, 2 left backs, 2 defensive midfielders, the top scorer and main striker, the player Newcastle were looking to build their team around at number 10 and a flair up and coming winger who was earmarked for a big role this season and had looked threatening early season out of most sides and they would fail to reach their goals. For Newcastle, this is equal to not reaching the top half, but it is not Carver who is responsible. If you imagine Chelsea losing Terry, Cahill, Ake, Luis, Azpilicueta, Matic, Mikel, Costa, Oscar and Cuadrado for matches, they would struggle to win them and would struggle to meet their objectives.  It would leave them a line-up similar to Courtois, Ivanovic, Zouma , Christeansen, Kalas, Fabregas, Ramires, Willian, Hazard, Remy and Drogba. Similarly, if Man City lost Kompany, Demichelis, Boyata, Clichy, Kolarov, Fernando, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero and Navas they also would fail to meet their objectives. Hart, Zabaleta, Sagna, Mangala, Milner, Lampard, Toure, Nasri, Jovetic, Dzeko and Bony are the only senior players they’d be left with, and whilst they are all talented, they wouldn’t fit a formation to carry Man City into the top 4. It is therefore, not a surprise that Carver’s Newcastle are struggling, given the struggle that teams with far superior budgets and players would also struggle given the same number of injuries.

Poor players

Added to the injuries conundrum, many of the players Newcastle have left are just not good enough. Newcastle have been left with 14 outfield players who have played minutes in the premier league and at least half of them are not good enough to finish in the top half of the league and many are not good enough for the league in general. Emmanuel Riviere has proved he is not good enough through failing to score for Newcastle in 17 league appearances. Gabriel Obertan has never shown enough consistency to be a premier league player, Sammy Ameobi likewise. Jonas Gutierrez, as much as he is loved on Tyneside was coming to the end of his playing days before being struck with testicular cancer and unfortunately is no longer Newcastle United standard. Yoan Gouffran flatters to deceive and rarely provides goals and assists which is the function of a winger. Vurnon Anita has proven he does not impose himself on the game enough and appears to do very little in midfield for either the defence or the attack. Mike Williamson has never been upgraded on since Newcastle returned to the premier league and he is a very limited defender who has had a very poor season. Adam Armstrong is at the beginning of his playing days and whilst clearly talented, it is clear he is not yet premier league standard, this is clear by him being selected for England U18s and not England U20s this international break and not 1 of the England u20 squad is a regular in the premier league, proving Armstrong still has much to do to be a premier league striker. This therefore, means that the job is currently impossible for Carver to perform well, and it is unlikely any manager would fare much better given the current situation. I’m  not saying Carver is the right man to take Newcastle forward after the summer, I just feel it is harsh to judge him entirely on recent affairs. 

Why signing a striker should be far from Newcastle’s top priority this summer

Why signing a striker should be far from Newcastle’s top priority this summer

Much has been made of Newcastle United’s need to sign a striker with only Ayoze Perez, Emmanuel Riviere, Papiss Cisse and Adam Armstrong available and this has only intensified since Cisse’s 7 match suspension began. However, the club has bigger problems that it must address before it reaches the striker problem. Papiss Cisse’s scoring record this season means that I would have no problem if he was the club’s number one striker next season. Furthermore, Perez has been superb since signing from Tenerife last summer and he will only improve as he matures and this gives Newcastle 2 very good options upfront. Whilst Newcastle could undoubtedly do with an extra body in the striking department, there are high hopes that Adam Armstrong could continue his development and become an option for the first team. There is a current impulse in football that if things aren’t going well, bringing in a striker will automatically fix this. This has been proved wrong in many cases however, as shown with Sunderland’s disastrous waste of money on an ageing Jermain Defoe. Whilst 4 strikers is the pinnacle number, buying an extra striker should only occur after the following have happened.

A New Head Coach has been appointed

Newcastle fans will have different opinions on who they want as their new Head Coach. However, whether it be Thomas Tuchel, Remi Garde, Christophe Galtier, Steve McClaren, Paul Clement or even someone like Eddie Howe or Mark Warburton, Newcastle fans are united in the fact that they don’t want John Carver in charge and that any of the above options would be better managers than Carver. Carver has limited management experience and what he has had has not been impressive, as shown by him managing only two wins to date in charge of Newcastle. With his regressive style of football, his insistence on starting Emmanuel Riviere and inexplicably leaving talent such as Ayoze Perez on the bench it is evident he is not the answer.

Some new centre backs have been bought

Newcastle only have the 3 centre backs that it returned to the premier league with and this is simply not enough. The fact that it has only taken 2 centre backs to be missing (when one of them is missing more than he isn’t )to lead to marauding wing-back Daryl Janmaat moving to centre half is not acceptable for a club of Newcastle’s stature. Furthermore, the first choice players are not good enough, Mike Williamson has never been good enough to start every week at this level, Steven Taylor is inconsistent and seemingly always has an injury round the corner and Fabriccio Coloccini is a shadow of the outstanding defender who led Newcastle to fifth in the 2011/12 season. Whilst Nottingham Forest’s reinvigorated defender Jamaal Lascellas will arrive in the summer, Newcastle need at least another centre back to be added to the squad and to hope that a quality centre back alongside Coloccini will lead to his resurgence in the Newcastle back line and this should be prioritised over a striker.

Some new central midfield players have to be bought

Slightly more controversial but at present I think Newcastle only have Jack Colback who is both good enough to play every week for Newcastle and that is likely to stay at the club. Vurnon Anita has had more than enough chances to prove his worth and has failed to do so and so should be moved on. Whilst Mehdi Abeid is talented, his performance against Man Utd shows that he cannot be relied upon to play every week. Cheik Tiote has declined significantly in recent years and the club should cash in when they can as the Ivorian has become a liability. I expect Moussa Sissoko to leave in the summer for a hefty fee, which must be reinvested to prevent Newcastle going backwards.

Some New Wingers have to be bought

With the exception of Remy Cabella, Newcastle’s wide options are embarrassingly poor for a team aiming to be in the top half of the division. Yoan Gouffran contributes nothing and his work rate has been overstated by both Alan Pardew and John Carver, Gabriel Obertan has pace but his decision making is not good enough for him to be a premier league player. I’d probably give Sammy Ameobi a new contract but I still don’t think he’s particularly good and is far too inconsistent. Unfortunately, as much as I respect Jonas Gutierrez for his heroic comeback from testicular cancer and love him for everything he has done for the club in previous seasons I don’t feel he is the answer going forward and I would let him go. Whilst Rolando Aarons showed glimpses earlier in the season, it is far too early to judge that he is a premier league winger.  At least two wingers need to be added to the squad in the summer.

A new captain

Fabriccio Coloccini is no longer a leader in the Newcastle squad and the leadership of the club has been stale for too long. A new captain is needed to re-vitalise the squad and for me Jack Colback should be given the armband. Whilst Siem De Jong is the club’s vice- captain, his injury record shows he should not be given the armband and for me Colback is the only realistic candidate if Moussa Sissoko moves on as expected this summer. 

January transfer window preview and why its a myth you can't get value in January

In recent years, the January transfer window has seen little movement from the top clubs. However, this season I feel the teams at the top end of the premier league are considerably weaker than they have been in previous years with the obvious exception of Chelsea. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the likes of Arsenal, Man City, Man Utd and Liverpool dip into the market. This is a preview of where premier league clubs most need to strengthen.

It is argued that in the January market it is impossible to find value but I argue this isn’t true, although it is often hard. Firstly, players coming to the end of their contracts are often available at knockdown prices and can be good signings. For example, Newcastle’s £1.5 Million signing of French international Moussa Sissoko 2 seasons ago is widely seen to have been good business, with the price only being so low due to his contract status.

Secondly, you get players that clubs are desperate to move on to avoid paying their wages. In the summer, these players may cost more as the transfer window is longer and so there is more time to tout the player around Europe. In January, clubs are often desperate to offload players and so will take knockdown prices. This was perhaps the case with Daniel Sturridge’s move to Liverpool in 2013, who may have cost a bit more in the summer with other teams interested, as it was Chelsea wanted to offload quickly so that they could sign Demba Ba, and so Liverpool got an exceptional deal. Similarly to this, clubs often want to get rid of a player on loan who is surplus to requirements in January, so that they can sell him in the summer when there is a longer time to tout him around. This can lead to very effective loan signings happening in January. These loans are low risk and can be cancelled at the end of the season if they don’t work out. West Ham were seen to act on this logic last year as although the likes of Antonio Nocerino, Marco Borriello and Pablo Armero were not successes, West Ham lost little by loaning the players.

 Furthermore, sometimes good deals are still possible for a variety of other reasons, e.g. if a team is in a safe mid table position with little to play for or even so in control of their league they may be willing to sell their prized asset for more reasonable amounts. Benfica always looked the strongest in their league and were top for the last 15 rounds of fixtures, and so were willing to sell Nemanja Matic to Chelsea for a reasonable £21 million given how well the Serb is playing for Chelsea these days. Therefore, whilst it is often harder to sign good players at good prices in January, history shows that it is possible.

Chelsea

I’d be very surprised to see Mourinho dip into the market but if he did, cover at centre back would be top of the agenda I think. Another top quality winger would be a good addition for Mourinho’s side to play on the other side to Hazard, but I suspect Mourinho will be happy enough with his squad to avoid making signings in January.

Man City

I feel Man City need to strengthen in a number of areas. An experienced centre back is near the top of the agenda due to a number of injuries to Vincent Kompany meaning he cannot be relied on to play every week. Given the injury crisis upfront, a new striker may also be on the agenda, whilst extra competition on the flanks would be helpful for Man City. Whilst I don’t expect them to address all these issues in January, I wouldn’t be surprised if they dipped into the market for 1 or 2 players in January.

Man Utd

Everyone knows where Man Utd need to strengthen and it’s in the centre of the defence. This doesn’t mean this will be where they strengthen judging by the recent additions of Falcao, Di Maria, Herrera and Mata. I expect Man Utd to add to their defence this January but only with 1 player when they need 2 or 3 extra defenders.

Southampton

A quality striker to compete with Pele and Long or a creative midfielder could be on their shopping list if they decide to really target European football. Whether they will lose any of their impressive young players is a continued question but I suspect they will keep their best players in this window. Elia has already been added to the squad to improve their options on the flanks.

Tottenham

I think  their shopping list will be shorter than it was a month ago. There is now less emphasis for them to sign a quality striker given that Harry Kane is in scintillating form and there is a hope that Erik Lamela is finally coming good. I could see Adebayor going out on loan however, so they may want to bring in a striker to compete with Soldado and Kane. Other than that I think it will be a quiet window for Tottenham.

Arsenal

 A Centre Back and a defensive midfielder are needed at Arsenal. The same has been said for several years. Surely Wenger will invest in some sort of centre back cover seeing as he’s had to play Chambers, Monreal and Debuchy playing out of position there for large portions of the with only 2 centre backs in his squad.

West Ham

Its hard to know what West Ham will do this January. They could gamble, spend a lot of money in a real push to get into the Champions League. Equally they could stick with what they have and think that they will continue to grow. If they do feel they want to add to the squad, a Right back and a central midfielder will surely top their shopping list, perhaps their fall away from the champions league places in recent weeks means they won’t make many additional signings. A real effort could be made to sign Alex Song permanently this January as he’s been outstanding for them.

Liverpool

Liverpool are obviously likely to be after a striker and a goalkeeper following their problems in these positions in recent weeks. Origi coming back to Liverpool may mean they don’t add a striker, and whilst there are rumours that they are after Petr Cech, I wouldn’t expect Chelsea to sell him to a premier league rival. Perhaps a frustrating window in store for Liverpool fans.

Swansea City

I’d be surprised if Swansea did too much more business in this window despite having flown out of the traps quickly. They’ve already added Matt Grimes a talented young midfielder from Exeter and Nelson Olivera who one assumes is partially being brought into cover Wilfried Bony’s absence during the African Nations cup. This addition may also see Bafetimbi Gomis leave after only 6 months and having seen him play a number of times last season for Lyon, I feel he’d be an outstanding addition to most premier league clubs, having not been given many chances by Swansea due to Bony’s form. For at least 10 sides in the league, Gomis would be their number 1 striker. If they do decide they need new signings I’d expect them to go for a centre half but I think this is unlikely.

Newcastle United

Newcastle need a striker, a couple of wingers and a centre back. As a Newcastle fan I fear that none of those will arrive on Tyneside, although the centre back addition is possible now that Steven Taylor has been ruled out for the rest of the season. In fact it has been mentioned that they could cash in on prized asset Moussa Sissoko. I expect it to be quiet on the transfer front for Newcastle however, and for Sissoko to stay at least until the summer.

Stoke City

Stoke have seemed to lack a bit of mobility in central midfield for a few years now and with Glenn Whelan’s contract talks said to have broken down, this January might perhaps be the time to change this. Rumours over Peter Crouch’s future and a lack of firepower upfront could lead to a hunt for a new striker but in most other positions Stoke look well stocked.

Aston Villa

They are desperately short of goals and inspiration. I believe some creative players are more necessary than a striker to replace Christian Benteke but Villa must add to their pool of wingers and a more creative centre midfielder in order to maintain their mid table position in my opinion.

Everton

What has happened to Everton really shocks me, but I believe its due to an ageing backline as Distin and Jagielka have struggled this season and Alcaraz is simply poor in my opinion. Gareth Barry has also struggled for pace in front of the backline. For me a centre back and a defensive midfielder are a must for Everton who are also lacking inspiration in wide positions as their flair players other than Kevin Mirallas have not performed this season. Everton will hope for a big second half of the season from Ross Barkley to get them back on track.

Sunderland

Similarly to Villa, Sunderland need to add a greater goalthreat to their game but it is their creative players and not their strikers that are a problem in my opinion. Fletcher needs greater service from the misfiring Adam Johnson, Jordi Gomez and co and so adding a creative midfielder would help a Sunderland side still getting over the loss of Jack Colback immensely.

Hull City

Another side lacking goals and a striker or 2 will surely be on their shopping list given the struggles of Hernandez and Jelavic. Bruce’s summer signings have failed to perform at Hull so its an important window for the under pressure boss to rectify his poor summer business. A creative midfielder may also be on their shopping list.

QPR

Harry Redknapp is usually busy in January and I expect him to be once again. A number of positions need strengthening for QPR and I wouldn’t be surprised if he added 5 or 6 new players. A striker to take the burden off Austin, a couple of centre backs given their defensive woes and the struggles of Rio Ferdinand this season, a defensive midfielder to replace the out of his depth Karl Henry and a winger given the poor performances of the likes of Junior Hoilett and Matty Phillips could all be on Redknapp’s shopping list.

West Brom

Tony Pulis’s arrival at West Brom is expected to spark business. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Berahino leave West Brom given his body language in the Fa Cup at the weekend after scoring. Whilst he is clearly talented, he seems to have problems off the pitch at times and with the reported £20million price tag I would cash in if I was the West Brom owner. If that happens, a new striker or 2 to replace him would be likely. I also expect a new attacking midfielder or winger to be brought into freshen up their seemingly stalwarts in those positions in Dorrans, Brunt and Morrison.

Crystal Palace

I expect Crystal Palace to spend money seeing as they’ve recently splashed a reported £3.5 million on hiring a new manager! Surely need a striker and some spark in central midfield, whilst a recognised left back would be a solid addition.

Burnley

Seeing as Burnley picked up 2 injuries at the heart of defence in their last game I would expect them to buy a centre back if they are long-term blows. An addition to the centre of the park would be handy, along with another option in the wide positions.

Leicester City

Leicester will undoubtedly attempt to strengthen this January. I would hazard a guess at new midfielders and strikers rather than defenders whilst with Mahrez going to the African Cup of Nations a new winger might be on the cards as well.