THE Manchester Derby 16/17

You know, aside from Bravo's blunders which gave United hope and momentum and brought them back into the game, I think City deserves their win today.

From a tactical point of view, Pep absolutely murdered Mourinho today. Tactical masterclass with positional dominance and inch-perfect instructions to every single player out there. There's already a huge difference between Pelle's City and Pep's City.

De Bruyne was MOTM for me. Pogba was non-existent.

Having said that, there's no way we can tell how City, United or any team of that matter is going to be based on the first games of the season. The league is wide open and whoever is goating now can crumble later.

Congratulations to City, well-deserved win at Old Trafford.

Stop blaming mou for pogba trying to dribble a player 3 times in a row only to lose the ball and end up getting countered. Dude has no playmaking skills and when he is not close to box he is useless.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Interested to see where Gundogan fits into this, i mean he obviously does but where

Obviously he partners Fernandinho and Silva in midfield. Nolito goes out, guy is just average and not good enough to be a starter.

The battle may have been won but the war is not over, remember that 2-1 at Camp Mou? That game was better than any win Pep got over Mou, and more banterful

Fernandinho was motm for me. Intercepted everything, made too many clearances and was still running the most at the end of the match. The guy was also starting so many counters.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Interested to see where Gundogan fits into this, i mean he obviously does but where

Gundogan is going to be the DM. Fernandinho will probably move to RB. That's what the general opinion is.

United are what i expected them to be, overhyped, bunch of overrated players only carried by hype and no real substance.

Blind is shit, Baily is an average super athelte with not much else, Fellaini is the worst player in the league, Pogba does not have what it takes a team from midfield, rooney is done, Ibra never impacted a big game.

Man such a shit team

Casciavit wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Interested to see where Gundogan fits into this, i mean he obviously does but where

Gundogan is going to be the DM. Fernandinho will probably move to RB. That's what the general opinion is.

Big, big mistake if that happens imo.

Gundogan will take some time to get fully fit anyways. Will be brought on as an impact sub for a while.

#InB4GundoFullBack

City look good already and you can clearly see that they will (at least they should) improve a lot over the months. Pep is doing a great job so far.
Not sure what to make of this United. Certainly not impressed.

urbaNRoots wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Interested to see where Gundogan fits into this, i mean he obviously does but where

Obviously he partners Fernandinho and Silva in midfield. Nolito goes out, guy is just average and not good enough to be a starter.

So you think De Bruyne, Sterling and Aguero should be the forwards then?

Seems fair enough.

Mr Nick09 wrote:United are what i expected them to be, overhyped, bunch of overrated players only carried by hype and no real substance.

Blind is shit, Baily is an average super athelte with not much else, Fellaini is the worst player in the league, Pogba does not have what it takes a team from midfield, rooney is done, Ibra never impacted a big game.

Man such a shit team

I think it's way too early to judge them.

Fernandinho will probably slot in a back 3, Pep used him there in preseason

Gundogan as a defender or Fernandinho as a defender

You pick

Mr Nick09 wrote:United are what i expected them to be, overhyped, bunch of overrated players only carried by hype and no real substance.

Blind is shit, Baily is an average super athelte with not much else, Fellaini is the worst player in the league, Pogba does not have what it takes a team from midfield, rooney is done, Ibra never impacted a big game.

Man such a shit team

Difference is coaching. Pogba can dribble through 9 players but if he has no options what should he do? Mou played hoofball all game and we played like we did under van Gaal. But watch this United stans praise Mourinho. Pep as a coach is 3 levels above Mou. First half was pure positional dominance. Silva winning 2nd balls, De Bruyne was constantly causing overloads. Mou just plays reactive and expects individuals to come up with something.

What did united pay 120m for ? I can't see anything in Pogboom that would make him stand out. His decision making is horrible and his passing not much better. Physique may take you so far but at this level there is more to it.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:United are what i expected them to be, overhyped, bunch of overrated players only carried by hype and no real substance.

Blind is shit, Baily is an average super athelte with not much else, Fellaini is the worst player in the league, Pogba does not have what it takes a team from midfield, rooney is done, Ibra never impacted a big game.

Man such a shit team

I think it's way too early to judge them.

Agreed, but this is why Mourinho teams almost never win it in his first year and why i was confident City would win this year before it started.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

urbaNRoots wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Interested to see where Gundogan fits into this, i mean he obviously does but where

Obviously he partners Fernandinho and Silva in midfield. Nolito goes out, guy is just average and not good enough to be a starter.

So you think De Bruyne, Sterling and Aguero should be the forwards then?

Seems fair enough.

Something like:

Seems decent enough. Nolito to the bench.

personally i'd play something like this

-----------------Bravo----------------------
------Sagna----Otamendi-----Stone-------
--------------Fernandinho-----------------
----Gundogan---------Silva---------Fernandinho
-------De Bruyne---------------------Sterling
-----------------------Aguero---------------

jibers wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:United are what i expected them to be, overhyped, bunch of overrated players only carried by hype and no real substance.

Blind is shit, Baily is an average super athelte with not much else, Fellaini is the worst player in the league, Pogba does not have what it takes a team from midfield, rooney is done, Ibra never impacted a big game.

Man such a shit team

Difference is coaching. Pogba can dribble through 9 players but if he has no options what should he do? Mou played hoofball all game and we played like we did under van Gaal. But watch this United stans praise Mourinho. Pep as a coach is 3 levels above Mou. First half was pure positional dominance. Silva winning 2nd balls, De Bruyne was constantly causing overloads. Mou just plays reactive and expects individuals to come up with something.

2nd half United started with power, Pep makes a change with Iheanacho to Fernando and the control is back in an instant.
Pep is quite simply a vastly superior coach.

United have huge individual talent, Rashford is so good, but it won't help if the tactic is hoof balls to Pogba, fellaini and Zlatan.
At home, in the biggest game of the season.

#JusticeForTheSpecialOne

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Casciavit wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Interested to see where Gundogan fits into this, i mean he obviously does but where

Gundogan is going to be the DM. Fernandinho will probably move to RB. That's what the general opinion is.

Big, big mistake if that happens imo.

It's a difficult choice. Fernandinho is more athletic, adds more steel, and covers more ground, but Gundogan is better in tight spaces and his ability on the ball is better.

Apparently, Fernandinho played RB a few times last season and Pep said he could play any position so him moving there won't be surprising. Especially, since his fullbacks are more central than usual (although that wasn't the case today).

We might not see them play together in the big games, so depending on the opposition he'll choose who to bench between the attacking players.

KDB/Silva shouldn't be wingers. The CM's in Pep's 4-1-4-1 are practically CAMS anyways. Pep's teams look 10x better when they have 2 wingers.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

The Demon of Carthage wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:United are what i expected them to be, overhyped, bunch of overrated players only carried by hype and no real substance.

Blind is shit, Baily is an average super athelte with not much else, Fellaini is the worst player in the league, Pogba does not have what it takes a team from midfield, rooney is done, Ibra never impacted a big game.

Man such a shit team

I think it's way too early to judge them.

Agreed, but this is why Mourinho teams almost never win it in his first year and why i was confident City would win this year before it started.

they need better players around the pitch that' for sure, if that comes in the second year, then so be it.

Pep will stick to the 4-1-4-1 until it breaks down imo

So


Probably good thing for De Bruyne to not be in the center tbh as he looked quite limited there until today and being closer to Aguero will probably give him more freedom.

I can see something like this. City's attacking shape: