Midfield for City away

4-3-3 sounds like a good idea if we want to be slightly more cautious and shored up against City.

Ramires---Matic--- Cesc.

Cesc needs to be kept in CM whether it be in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3. That's where he wants to play and where he is most effective.

Not sure why some people keeping saying he should play number 10. It's clearly not his position. Yes he can play there if needed but he excels at CM and always has done.

comment by Kevin De Bruyne #FreePalestine (U14678)
posted 41 minutes ago
Forget that instance, we were overrun in a lot of other instances as well in the match which was due to Fabregas advancing too much hunting the ball and Oscar not covering deep. This is definitely a weak area for us.

I think we will definitely play a 433 with one of Fabregas or Oscar dropped. Most probably Oscar. We could possibly play Oscar on the wing instead of Schrulle.
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you say that KDB but swansea are one of the best possesion based teams in the league. We couldnt get the ball first half hour despite pressing high.
This has nothing to do on my views of fabregas...we lose a lot of steel with him in the middle(maybe hes not fit yet) but Swansea are a good team, and they was knocking it about for fun. I made an article recently how ramires changed the game.

comment by Superb (U6486)
posted 1 hour, 46 minutes ago

Not sure why some people keeping saying he should play number 10. It's clearly not his position. Yes he can play there if needed but he excels at CM and always has done.

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I think when people use the number 10 reference, it is NOTto suggest that Fabregas should stay just behind the striker - but rather to differentiate the deeper midfield role that he sometimes plays less effectively. He's clearly a wonderful player - but I do believe he benefits from having 2 strong physical ball-winning midfield players behind him. That cover allows him to drive forward and create chances - as he did at the start of the second half on Saturday.

In the first half, it was Matic who lost the ball in midfield (credit to Swansea who made that happen with their work rate), but Fabregas was not there to cover as I suspect Ramires would have been.

I watched Swansea's 2nd goal again - and I noticed that at first Azpi picked up Shelvey as he came through the middle - but as he was trying to pass Shelvey on to one of Terry or Cahill (Azpi had another winger out wide he needed to cover), Swansea played a quick through ball to him and caught us out before we could organize. Swansea are a good team - they play really nice football, and pass very well. But I was still surprised that (in addition to Shelvey being that far forward in the first place) Terry and Cahill seemed like they lost concentration. Hope they sort that out soon.

I think Jose will surprise with a solid midfield 2 allowing creative midfielders to try and kill the game at the other end. So:

Mikel Matic
Ramires/Willian, Cesc, Hazard

the hard working right midfielder will be needed to compensate for the way we will use Ivan as the 'out ball'

He's clearly a wonderful player - but I do believe he benefits from having 2 strong physical ball-winning midfield players behind him.

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I totally disagree.

If you do that then you are basically playing Cesc in the number 10 role in a 4-2-3-1 and that is simply not his best position.

Cesc has stated that he wants to play in CM and not number 10 because he wants to be the player who gets the ball straight away and make things happen, not the one who has to wait for someone to get the ball to him.

Apologies if that sounds a bit layman but I'm essentially paraphrasing what Cesc said in a post match interview at the start of the season.

Hope Mikel doesn't start.
Ramires can start.

Fabregas does need to work on his discipline and positioning alongside Matic, in the meantime three man midfield consisting of Ramires, Fabregas and Matic should suffice against City.

As soon as Fabregas starts to work and improve in tandem/on same wavelength with Matic, they'll be a formidable pairing.

Ramires - Matic - Fabregas
Willian - Eden
Costa

City.

I think Jose will mix it up to protect the defence and as much as it pains me to say it. I think Mikel will start.

Mikel - Matic - Fabregas
Willian - Hazard
Costa