City v Birmingham live

Some credit where it's due. He took off Abdul, who was having a shocker, and replaced him with Yunus, who delivered a brilliant assist for the winner.

However, he persists in starting Wilf, who clearly needed to be carefully integrated back into the team rather than being thrown straight back in, as he is not yet playing to the high standard he set earlier in the season; it's not as if there isn't another option there as he could try starting Dennis.

Enzo has finally made a substitution early enough - with Vards coming on for the ineffective Daka. This guy tries hard, but to me looks more like a winger who's being made to play centrally and lacks the instincts of a striker. I don't know why he isn't starting Jamie, given we have 6 Cup finals left to play this season; maybe he's got an eye on next season when we may not have Vards and he's trying to get Daka used to being the main man up front, but we need to use Jamie as much as possible to get us over the line whilst we still have him this year. I realise he isn't likely to be able to start every game, but Enzo started Daka on Monday in addition to yesterday.

comment by Merseysidefox (U4842)
posted 8 hours, 13 minutes ago
I think even Frank Lampard could have wrecked this squad 😂.

I agree Maresca has his flaws but I think you’re being overly hard. A key job of a manager is to motivate and bring a squad together. Rodgers destroyed this squad and Maresca has made a set of player that want to play for the club again.

That deserves some credit for me.
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Rodgers basically destroyed the Club let alone the squad!!

You’re bang on about Maresca, the way he culled the dead wood and built a new Team around the few remaining has been fantastic and a breath of fresh air for the Club.

Yes he’s Frustrating sometimes and there’s still a long way to go with him only being in his first Season but he deserves more credit than he gets.

Through Adversity character is built , struggling now will be good for the team in the long run, had we have continued to stroll the league next Season assuming we do go up would have been a much bigger shock.

Let’s get over the line and see where we go from there, who stays, who goes and maybe who comes in.

Some really interesting comments on here about the manager.
I agree with lots of them and I think he is going to turn out to be a great coach but not a manager.
Personally I do fear for our future with him in charge, especially if Rudkin is still stealing a living at our club,but if he was to go in the summer for whatever reason,then who would be most suitable replacement.?
If anyone suggests Southgate then the lunatics really have taken over the asylum!!!

Spot on Nuneaton and Thorney once again

You can see how a minority of fans (in my humble opinion!!) are blinding themselves to the real problems at the club by laying everything at Rodgers door. To say he destroyed the club is utterly ridiculous - he didn’t have the power to.

Yes he behaved very poorly and is responsible for our relegation in terms of performances on the pitch. But some make out that he deliberately tried to sabotage us by forcing players out the club for eg. It’s just nonsense.

He was left in post fat too long, wasn’t half as good as he thought he was and fell out with Soyuncu basically. He cost us our PL status but equally so did Top and Rudkin. They are just as culpable if you’re going to throw accusations about destroying the club.

Maresca has been a breath of fresh air - I’m not denying that but I think most managers who have been after last seasons disaster. He got to start anew with the deadwood cleared out for him. Rodgers had players in the last year of their contract that didn’t want to be here. Would love to have seen Maresca last season…..

Hes a coach as Thorney says. Worse than that / he’s from the same tactical school as Rodgers and plays a brand of football that will get us nowhere in the end

“ Through Adversity character is built , struggling now will be good for the team in the long run, had we have continued to stroll the league next Season assuming we do go up would have been a much bigger shock”

I mean this is just bonkers. How does throwing away a 17 point lead prepare us for next season? It’s not as if we are learning from any of the mistakes that caused that to happen is it? Look at Birminghams goal yesterday.

comment by 99 Problems (King Power OUT) (U12353)
posted 58 minutes ago
“ Through Adversity character is built , struggling now will be good for the team in the long run, had we have continued to stroll the league next Season assuming we do go up would have been a much bigger shock”

I mean this is just bonkers. How does throwing away a 17 point lead prepare us for next season? It’s not as if we are learning from any of the mistakes that caused that to happen is it? Look at Birminghams goal yesterday.
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If you want to see what's waiting for us next season trying to play Man City Lite (if we get promoted), then have a look at Everton's goal - almost a carbon copy of the one we conceded yesterday, and a result of both Managers' obsession with playing out from the back.

comment by Nuneaton_fox (U7936)
posted 17 minutes ago
comment by 99 Problems (King Power OUT) (U12353)
posted 58 minutes ago
“ Through Adversity character is built , struggling now will be good for the team in the long run, had we have continued to stroll the league next Season assuming we do go up would have been a much bigger shock”

I mean this is just bonkers. How does throwing away a 17 point lead prepare us for next season? It’s not as if we are learning from any of the mistakes that caused that to happen is it? Look at Birminghams goal yesterday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to see what's waiting for us next season trying to play Man City Lite (if we get promoted), then have a look at Everton's goal - almost a carbon copy of the one we conceded yesterday, and a result of both Managers' obsession with playing out from the back.
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I was thinking that when I watched MOTD. Burnley are the exact template for us next season. We said it from the moment Enzo came in. Why can’t Rudkin see it? Yes bringing in a manager that can freshen things up and change the mentality is really important. Credit to Maresca - he’s done that. But there is no sense at all in bringing in a style of play that cannot succeed in the long term.

It’s not really saying much Nuneaton, nearly every Team in at least the Top two leagues if not more play out from the back now.

It’s just the latest modern style, nothing unique at all to City or us.

comment by True Blue ( Wake up Boo ) (U9486)
posted about 2 hours ago
It’s not really saying much Nuneaton, nearly every Team in at least the Top two leagues if not more play out from the back now.

It’s just the latest modern style, nothing unique at all to City or us.
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Missing the point. The term Nuneaton used was ‘obsession’. Every team looks to build from the back to an extent - but they will vary their approach and adapt to the situation. Eg - Leeds and Liverpool play a high intensity counter press quite effectively. They will build from the back but if pressed themselves, they have no problem switching the play and going long.

Some of liveroools best goals over the last few seasons have been from long plays from Trent and Robertson - they’ve even gone completely route 1 at times. Maresca yesterday was telling Doyle for attempting to do the same. The key difference with Kompany, Maresca and indeed Rodgers is the obsession with the short build up AT ALL TIMES.

This approach is painfully naive because when we push our full backs into midfield, teams can simply press Hermansen and if we lose the ball (or even if the CBs lose the ball) we’re screwed. So does every team that plays out from the back play like Leicester and Burnley? Heck no

comment by 99 Problems (King Power OUT) (U12353)
posted 3 hours, 25 minutes ago
comment by True Blue ( Wake up Boo ) (U9486)
posted about 2 hours ago
It’s not really saying much Nuneaton, nearly every Team in at least the Top two leagues if not more play out from the back now.

It’s just the latest modern style, nothing unique at all to City or us.
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Missing the point. The term Nuneaton used was ‘obsession’. Every team looks to build from the back to an extent - but they will vary their approach and adapt to the situation. Eg - Leeds and Liverpool play a high intensity counter press quite effectively. They will build from the back but if pressed themselves, they have no problem switching the play and going long.

Some of liveroools best goals over the last few seasons have been from long plays from Trent and Robertson - they’ve even gone completely route 1 at times. Maresca yesterday was telling Doyle for attempting to do the same. The key difference with Kompany, Maresca and indeed Rodgers is the obsession with the short build up AT ALL TIMES.

This approach is painfully naive because when we push our full backs into midfield, teams can simply press Hermansen and if we lose the ball (or even if the CBs lose the ball) we’re screwed. So does every team that plays out from the back play like Leicester and Burnley? Heck no
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Enzo threatened Hermandsen with being replaced by Stolarczyk if he stopped playing short balls.