GWT: PL Matchweek 5

[Burner Account]

Norwich has so many injuries that they had two goalkeepers on the bench today

 

[Stray Wasp]

I was curious about this myself last year so I looked at champions and runners up from every PL season.

Every single PL champion won the most games in the league. Even when you get a 15-16 Leicester or an 03-04 Arsenal that draws 10+ games, they still win the most games.

Ah, I was referring examples from the foreigns, and the ancient days in England before the Premier League began.

That is a every interesting piece of information, mind.

 

[Chimaera]

I’ll state again and more plainly, as much as their defense isn’t great, there aren’t any other teams who are willing to have a go at them. Too many managers rather make sure they’re not getting tonked than go for it.

We saw it last year, and unless one week becomes a trend, (and I’d wager it won’t)it’s not going to continue. Watford is going to get throttled by 4 and everyone will forget their defenders can be got at.

 

[hatterson]

Saying Liverpool are favorites doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to win, it means they have the highest odds right now.

I don’t think that’s absurd. They’ve got a 5 point lead, and more importantly have looked good in the first 5 games and City lost their best (and really only high quality) CB to a long injury.

 

[Blender]

I’ll state again and more plainly, as much as their defense isn’t great, there aren’t any other teams who are willing to have a go at them. Too many managers rather make sure they’re not getting tonked than go for it.

We saw it last year, and unless one week becomes a trend, (and I’d wager it won’t)it’s not going to continue. Watford is going to get throttled by 4 and everyone will forget their defenders can be got at.

At the end of the day Man City has a super team and a very good manager, so it's not going to matter in most games that they have two CBs who are poor at defending because they will possess the ball and score enough to make up for that deficiency. I'd be surprised if they managed a CL title playing like that though.

 

[Burner Account]

Ah, I was referring examples from the foreigns, and the ancient days in England before the Premier League began.

That is a every interesting piece of information, mind.

I'm sure there are cases of draws deciding titles, I just thought the PL era was an appropriate sample size.

Learning this has changed the way I see this year's title race. For City and Liverpool, it's really just about dropping points fewer times than the other team. Just using last year as a measuring stick, either side can only afford to drop points six times and City is already 1/3 there.

 

[Stray Wasp]

I’ll state again and more plainly, as much as their defense isn’t great, there aren’t any other teams who are willing to have a go at them. Too many managers rather make sure they’re not getting tonked than go for it.

We saw it last year, and unless one week becomes a trend, (and I’d wager it won’t)it’s not going to continue. Watford is going to get throttled by 4 and everyone will forget their defenders can be got at.

The thing is, however, that top-level sports score highly for copycat mentalities. Last year City didn't concede two goals in a league game until 8 December - and that at Stamford Bridge. So encouraging evidence for lesser clubs to play more proactively was at that time pretty much nil.

 

[Savant]

No, in this case it's pointing out the obvious. That a team with Stones and Otamendi playing every game every week is going to have a hard time winning.

I mean it doesn’t matter if Stones and Otamendi are playing CB if teams don’t attack/press them. Teams usually don’t.

 

[Savant]

This is perhaps the most fearful, unrealistic post I've read in 12 years. There's always a favorite... in the pre-season.

Right. Five weeks is not enough time to change that perception

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Everyone talking about Norwich "going for it" and that's not really what happened. They were opportunistic on defensive errors and had the steel to capitalize. This game had nothing to do with "going for it", City still possessed 70% of the ball. Bar the first 10 minutes of each half, Norwich were camped outside their own box most of the match.

We're not having this conversation if City's forward players were as ruthless as they normally would be. I understand why the City backline is the major talking point, but a lot more went wrong for them today than just that.

 

[Burner Account]

Everyone talking about Norwich "going for it" and that's not really what happened. They were opportunistic on defensive errors and had the steel to capitalize. This game had nothing to do with "going for it", City still possessed 70% of the ball.

We're not having this conversation if City's forward players were as ruthless as they normally would be. I understand why the City backline is the major talking point, but a lot more went wrong for them today than just that.

There's something to this, too. I think Aguero usually finishes some of the chances he didn't finish today. And City hit a lot straight at Krul after they got the second.

 

[Chimaera]

They did hit more at the keeper that often finds the corner or a body and goes in. It was an impressive result.


However, the idea that Norwich didn’t go after it is a bit blind. They were at 3-1 and still sending 5-6 players forward. That doesn’t happen for most clubs. They get 11 behind the ball and put the ball in the stands if they can.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

How often did they send 6 players forward, honestly? How about in that second half? The pressed for the first few minutes of the half, scored a gift goal, and barely threatened the rest of the match. None of this is to take away from Norwich, so much as to point out that City lost for a whole host of reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Norwich's willingness to go forward. Set pieces if anything is where they were strong.

 

[Live in the Now]

Norwich never went for it. The way City plays, they usually have 2 v. 2 situations with attackers against their CB's. Without Laporte, those 2 v. 2 situations are handled well less often. It's simple math and statistics here. The efficiency in City's clearances, in facing attackers in man to man situations, it just decreases. It's also not only the quality of Laporte's play itself being missed, but his direction and the chemistry of the partnership that replaces his own partnership. A central defense needs two defenders playing well in order to function.

 

[Burner Account]

Wonder if we see Fernandinho or even Rodri at CB

 

[Gecklund]

Is it just me or does it seem like McTominay has an excellent game then 3-4 mediocre to bad games and then the cycle repeats?

 

[hatterson]

Is it just me or does it seem like McTominay has an excellent game then 3-4 mediocre to bad games and then the cycle repeats?

Yea he seems pretty inconsistent.

He shows flashes that he could turn into an absolute beast as a holding or defensive midfielder, maybe a bit b2b, but then he has a few games where he's invisible at best.

He played excellent today, borderline MOTM, but I'm not holding my breath for it to continue.

 

[YNWA14]

Norwich never went for it. The way City plays, they usually have 2 v. 2 situations with attackers against their CB's. Without Laporte, those 2 v. 2 situations are handled well less often. It's simple math and statistics here. The efficiency in City's clearances, in facing attackers in man to man situations, it just decreases. It's also not only the quality of Laporte's play itself being missed, but his direction and the chemistry of the partnership that replaces his own partnership. A central defense needs two defenders playing well in order to function.

They really struggled without Laporte for most of the season on their way to 100 points a season ago.

At the end of the day results like these happen, and they’ll happen to Liverpool too.

Don’t get me wrong this Liverpool is an historically great side — but so is this City. They have the domestic pedigree and formula. 5 games into a season isn’t changing that. If they continue to crack then sure, but it’s unlikely at best (Liverpool can challenge for the title but they aren’t favourites).

 

[hatterson]

They really struggled without Laporte for most of the season on their way to 100 points a season ago.

He played 1/4 of the season for them in the 100 point season and they had Kompany plus Otamendi was 29 and not 31 which makes a difference.

Mangala also wasn't great but provided some ability to rotate/sub. Right now it's Stones and 31 year old Otamendi or players playing out of position for half a season.

 

[YNWA14]

He played 1/4 of the season for them in the 100 point season and they had Kompany plus Otamendi was 29 and not 31 which makes a difference.

I mean, Laporte played 9 games, Kompany played 17 and Mangala was a train wreck. They made 100 points that season, so clearly they didn't miss those guys that much when they weren't playing. They have looked completely dominant this season but they've made some uncharacteristic mistakes and been punished. In most cases if you replay the Spurs and Norwich games 100 times City will win them most of the time, if not every other time. Claiming they've lost their favourite status 5 games into the season is just kind of silly. They still have more than enough depth to get them to January if they need to get another CB by then.

I hope they drop more points but I'm not ready to call Liverpool favourites just like I wasn't ready to call Liverpool favourites last season because this City is a juggernaut and has proven more than enough to be given the benefit of the doubt when you're talking about 5 points over 33 games lol.

It does feel very much a situation where people have an agenda for saying certain things. Even if not though it's just kind of silly. Though if Liverpool win the title I'm excited for the 'I told you so' despite being very wrong about the same situation (even though it was actually a better situation for Liverpool) not even a year ago.

Mangala also wasn't great but provided some ability to rotate/sub. Right now it's Stones and 31 year old Otamendi or players playing out of position for half a season.

I mean, defenders don't typically drop off a cliff from 29 to 31. They've improved in other areas and I'm sure they'll be fine as Fernadinho and Rodri are both really intelligent players (though if he keeps trotting Walker out there......) They also have Garcia don't they? That kid looks good.

 

[robertmac43]

Gutted by the 90th minute draw today for Brighton, we outplayed Burnley through the whole game. Maupay looked good again, great bit of business that is proving to be. Not having Trossard was unfortunate, we really needed another game breaking talent to break through the other teams back line.

 

[Savant]

Wonder if we see Fernandinho or even Rodri at CB

I think they might kick Walker inside when Cancelo is ready to go

 

[East Coast Bias]

It’s too early to declare much.

Although I’ve now gotta eat shit for saying I’m sure Pukki won’t effect a title race.

 

[Savant]

How often did they send 6 players forward, honestly? How about in that second half? The pressed for the first few minutes of the half, scored a gift goal, and barely threatened the rest of the match. None of this is to take away from Norwich, so much as to point out that City lost for a whole host of reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with Norwich's willingness to go forward. Set pieces if anything is where they were strong.

Norwich never went for it. The way City plays, they usually have 2 v. 2 situations with attackers against their CB's. Without Laporte, those 2 v. 2 situations are handled well less often. It's simple math and statistics here. The efficiency in City's clearances, in facing attackers in man to man situations, it just decreases. It's also not only the quality of Laporte's play itself being missed, but his direction and the chemistry of the partnership that replaces his own partnership. A central defense needs two defenders playing well in order to function.

Going for it doesn’t mean attacking with six. Yes Laporte is missed. The problem is even with Laporte out, teams only attack them with one forward because they are too busy parking, and therefore cannot take advantage of the few chances that City gives up. What Norwich did today by pressing on the CBs on the third goal really illustrated how to hurt City. Of course cashing in on set pieces helps too, but the difference was Norwich had a man or two up there to pass to when going at the goal. Most bottom half teams don’t allocate that resource

 

[robertmac43]

Although I’ve now gotta eat **** for saying I’m sure Pukki won’t effect a title race.

Yeah i got to agree there. I would not have guessed he would any where near this impact on the season early on.