Team and Tactics vs Bolton Wanderers

Bloovic

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Team and Tactics vs Bolton Wanderers

« on: February 07, 2010, 04:29:21 PM »

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Eeeh by gum, there's trubble at'mill. City looked pretty clueless against Hull, and it could be deja-vu all over again when Owen Coyle's Bolton side come calling on Tuesday night - same kind of team, similar position in the league, equally prepared to put their bodies on the line. I suppose the challenge for Mancini now is picking a team that will at least fight and scrap against the relegation-threatened club, but will the Italian recognize the issues that are beginning to hamper City's push for the top 4? As far as I can see, these problems manifest themselves as follows -

1. Steven Ireland. The lad is not a right-winger. If Mancini is going to play him, he should be behind the striker(s). Otherwise, leave Stevie on the bench as an impact player and let him play himself into form.

2. Against most teams (like Hull and Bolton), Mancini cannot get away with 4-4-2. We just don't have 2 central midfielders capable of controlling a game in the Premier League, and for whatever reason, Ade and Tevez don't seem to hit it off. This is why the big, athletic presence of McDonald Mariga was such a big loss imho, but that's water under the bridge now - what Mancini must do is pack the midfield at least until the opposing team has been given a game. It's not an ideal situation, but with the players at Mancini's disposal, that's the reality.

3. For the Bolton tie in particular, young Boyata will need to step down. The likes of Elmander and especially Kevin Davies would probably give the lad real problems, so hopefully Mancini will have some more experienced options available to him. Toure doesn't fill me with confidence when playing against the likes of Davies either.

4. Shay Given. The Irish goalkeeper has saved City's bacon on many occasions this season, but there are indications that something is not working between the defenders and the keeper. There is little that can be done about Given's style of keeping, so Mancini must instruct his defense to attack the ball fearlessly. The midfield must also play their part (see point #2) - in recent games, too many diagonal crosses have been allowed, again putting pressure on the City penalty area.

With these points in mind, I'd go with the following line-up for Tuesday's fixture -

Given Bench: Taylor
Garrido
Zabalata Toure Onuoha Bridge Lescott
De Jong
Vieira Barry Bellamy
Petrov
SWP Ireland A. Johnson Adebayor

Tevez

Vieira and Barry hopefully have enough in the tank to control the game, at least until we can gain the advantage. Paddy V will be useful at set-pieces especially, and both he and Barry have a bit more to their game than the otherwise excellent De Jong, who could do with a rest anyway. SWP and AJ are both hard-working and diligent, giving way to a Bellamy/Petrov cameo if required. Tevez is the lone man up front with Ireland given an opportunity to shine in his favoured position - he needs to perform if selected. I don't know Lescott's status, so I've gone with Kolo and Ned in central defense. Zaba and Bridge make up the full-back positions, but I'd be equally happy with Richards and Garrido if available/necessary.


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fatboyslimming

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