Anyone reading our blog will be well aware I'm not a huge fan of Edin Dzeko and Wilfried Bony's first start and performance for City against Leicester City, his positioning was almost perfection and he was lucky not to score as Schwarzer put in a very strong performance.
I strongly believe starting the match gave him time to settle in finally and find his feet and scoring touch. I'm in no doubt what so ever that given more starts he will get on the score sheet sooner rather than later, he made more goal scoring chances for himself in that one match than Dzeko ever does in five combined matches.
Unlike Dzeko who prefers to run the left channel, Bony runs both left and right channels and patrol the 18 yard area. Here's some statistics comparing both players.
2014/15
Appearances: Bony 26 Dzeko 28
Minuted played: Bony 1.462 Dzeko 1.412
Minutes per goal: Bony 162' Dzeko 235'
Assists: Bony 3 Dzeko 4
Goals: Bony 9 Dzeko 6
These statistics clearly show that Wilfried Bony is a better Center Forward than Edin Dzeko without any doubt what so ever. Add to that that Bony achieved these statistics with Swansea City, as opposed to Dzeko being surrounded by the likes of Silva, Aguero, Toure and co. Don't get me wrong Dzeko is a good forward but in my opinion not as good as Bony who also defends better than Dzeko, I just don't believe Dzeko is the right man for City anymore. Compared to Bony, Dzeko is defensively lazy, an opinion shared by many of our City fan readers. I only hope Pellegrini now continues to start Bony and surprise me enough to gain my support back, but that's also only going to happen if he also learns from his mistakes of playing a forward that can't defend against the likes of clubs like Barcelona and Liverpool and instead either play Bony who can defend playing in the hole behind Aguero or an extra man in midfield.
Well done to Leicester City for keeping the score low, they did themselves credit and I hope they can kick on and survive the drop if they keep playing like they did against us. I'm not completely convinced Pellegrini's the man for City, if he continues to refuse to balance attack with defense, continues to play 442 against big clubs and continues to rely on the unreliable Dzeko and continues to fail to come up with a plan B and C then he has to go.
Vincent Kompany, now why exactly is he struggling?
Although I am not a fan of Roberto Mancini anymore, under Bobby we had the best defense in England. I truly believe one reason why Kompany is suffering is because Pellegrini continues to do nothing but attack and play in the opponents half. Now Left Back is our weakest position and it seems every club we play attacks us more down the left than down the right. So Pellegrini has us playing high up the field which exposes Kompany and his defenders to counter attacks, our midfielders are left back tracking all the time against the fast teams like Barcelona and Liverpool.
While Pellegrini insists on sticking to just one style of play, our defenders will continue to struggle and suffer, especially when they only have back up in the form of just one defensive midfielder in favor of two forwards against dangerous opposition. Everyone's figured us out and parks the bus playing counter attacking football and quite frankly, Pellegrini is looking naive, ignorant and arrogant.
Being out injured did Kompany no favors either, so it was inevitable that he would struggle especially by being exposed by his manager. I don't blame Kompany for the situation we find ourselves in, although a lot of our players have under performed, I strongly believe it's because Pellegrini has been running them into the ground by forcing them to play high up the field attacking at pace for 90 odd minutes all the time, the only time our lads get a break and slow down is when we are on the back foot and under pressure.
Some of you will probably see me as a Pellegrini hater but that couldn't be further from the truth. When he arrived I was excited, it's only this season that I've seen a side of him I don't like. His reluctance to get us playing like a world beater, As I said we have no plan B or C, we never play on the counter attack. I find nothing more frustrating than watching us counter attack as slow as we do, allowing even the weaker of teams plenty of time to get back into position and it's quite frankly sad with the players we have.
I would much rather we play a balanced game than attack attack attack, winning trophies and titles is a bonus and should come second. If Pellegrini woke up this morning and said to himself 'I'm going to learn from my mistakes, get my team back on track and create a plan B. Get my players playing a few different styles and make us Champions of Europe' then I'd back him to the hilt and he will have won my support back. Unfortunately I don't see that happening, but it's up to him to prove me wrong.
Right now I'm a big fan of Diego Simeone of Athletico Madrid, what he's done makes that grey haired muppet at Chelsea look average. I've watched and studied him closely over the past 6 odd months and I see no weakness in his armoury. OK his English isn't great to my knowledge but it's not like he can't learn from the best, half of our players speak Spanish, Portuguese or Brazilian anyway.
If Pellegrini does end up messing up completely and find himself sacked, then I sincerely hope Simeone is the man to replace him. Either way I'd be happy with a reformed Pellegrini or Simeone.
One thing I am in know doubt about though is, I'm not a fan of Edin Dzeko.
6 March 2015
2 March 2015
Drop Dzeko Now, Start Bony Or I'm Calling For Your Head If We Lose Our Title Pellegrini
I'VE HAD ENOUGH Mr Manuel Pellegrini, prior to your arrival we had one Roberto Mancini who failed to do anything but concentrate on defending. Now we have you concentrating on only attacking and quite frankly, I'm sick to death of it and your inept ability to not learn from humiliating lessons and losing. Who suffers more for these pathetic and avoidable losses, we do the fans and I'll be calling for your head if we fail in both the Champions League and fail to retain our title.
My pro Mancini season card holding aunt was against you joining us because she was against Mancini leaving, but I wasn't so forgiving of Mancini and truly believed you would bring balance to Manchester City. However you have failed to do that and right now I'm more humiliated and depressed than I was when Mancini lost the FA Cup and League title, we haven't even lost anything yet other than a morale sapping humiliation at the hands of Liverpool and an embarrassing performance and loss at the hands of Barcelona.
I haven't forgotten my roots, our clubs roots and where we were when we were shit, but that should have no impact on my way of thinking right now. Our football club is now one of the biggest in Europe, the world even and we should expect more considering the facts. We have a multi million pound first team squad and we pull in well over 40 thousand fans on match day which is due to rise. It Wouldn't be fair to add our multi million pound academy in to the equation, due to not reaping the rewards as of yet. But City fans have a right to expect more than just humiliation, after all it is us fans that pay the clubs wages along side sponsors, some of who also end up being fans.
Let me get a few things straight, like many of our fan base I am more than capable of accepting loss. So long as we fought with pride in battle, so long as we gave our all and can hold our heads up high. We don't need titles and trophies, all we need is our pride and dignity preserved, our clubs pride and dignity preserved. It's blatantly obvious that you Mr Pellegrini have failed me and many other City fans by being ignorant and closed minded, you seem to think we can arrogantly stand up to any club in Europe playing nothing but attacking football with two forwards. ARROGANTLY, that is not who Manchester City are, that is not in the blood of us seasoned City fans.
A few City fans may point to the fact we are still in the title hunt, the Champions League and still have a chance, but I'm not one to ignore our failings based on just optimism and hope. Lets be honest while we are at it, I highly doubt there are many seasoned City fans like me believing we can win the Champions League at this rate, so we honestly only see the Premier League as our last chance saloon. So when you Mr Pellegrini and our multi million pound first team continue to put in pathetic performances like against Barcelona and Liverpool it just makes me soooooooooooooooo frustrated and deflated.
Playing two forwards against Barcelona, what the bloody hell were you thinking, continuing to play Edin Dzeko who has zero ability to successfully defend and tackle, what were you thinking? I have to blame our fan base partly for this, they constantly sing Dzeko's name like he's some legend, how often does he come up with the goods? This season he has been useless, yes useless and it wasn't until we purchased Wilfried Bony that Dzeko started putting more effort in. Lets face it Dzeko had no worries with the constantly injured Jovetic as competition, there was no pressure to up his game at all. We're sitting on a new £30 odd million striker who scores far more goals than Dzeko and you Mr Pellegrini keep choosing Edin bloody Dzeko. In fact I'll be calling for your sacking Mr Pellegrini and Mr Dzeko's sacking if this continues.
At least in Wilfried Bony, the man can track back and tackle successfully, at least he can slot in to midfield when needed and score more goals than Edin Dzeko. The rot is setting in and too many of our best players are going missing, Vincent Kompany is a shadow of himself ignoring criticism like he's just having a bloody off day when we're losing the title race. Yaya Toure has clearly left himself back in Africa with his trophy, poor display against Liverpool. I can point to so many things wrong at City right now that it's soul destroying, watching the Liverpool game was like watching us back in the Championship 'typical City'. And we thought we got the monkey off our back? My mind is saying Pellegrini out, the first thoughts that come to the forefront are why have we just purchased Wilfried Bony to sit on a bench?', why can't Pellegrini see that playing the likes of Dzeko against strong teams is quite frankly suicidal.
In fact while I'm at it I think Edin Dzeko is far too over rated, he only ever turns up at important moments to score goals and half the time fails to score anyway. Mancini used him as a super sub to great effect, now Pellegrini is using him as a starter to extremely little effect. I'd much rather have a 20 goal striker like Wilfried Bony who can tackle over Edin Dzeko any day. My aunt also says Dzeko deserves slack because he's come up with the goods in the past just like Mancini, sorry but I see the bigger picture and Edin Dzeko doesn't even fit in with our philosophy or style of play.
If you Mr Pellegrini do not adapt and come up with a plan B and C, if we fail to win the title, well I'm sorry but I'm calling for your sacking and for Edin Dzeko's sacking without a second thought. It may fall on deaf ears but I will be happy for doing so non the less. Right now I'd say Diego Simeone for Manchester City, now he's a man who knows about balance. Proven track record at a big club and stuck it too the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. He may have just signed a new contract but every man and club has a price, no one is untouchable, not even Lionel Messi.
My pro Mancini season card holding aunt was against you joining us because she was against Mancini leaving, but I wasn't so forgiving of Mancini and truly believed you would bring balance to Manchester City. However you have failed to do that and right now I'm more humiliated and depressed than I was when Mancini lost the FA Cup and League title, we haven't even lost anything yet other than a morale sapping humiliation at the hands of Liverpool and an embarrassing performance and loss at the hands of Barcelona.
I haven't forgotten my roots, our clubs roots and where we were when we were shit, but that should have no impact on my way of thinking right now. Our football club is now one of the biggest in Europe, the world even and we should expect more considering the facts. We have a multi million pound first team squad and we pull in well over 40 thousand fans on match day which is due to rise. It Wouldn't be fair to add our multi million pound academy in to the equation, due to not reaping the rewards as of yet. But City fans have a right to expect more than just humiliation, after all it is us fans that pay the clubs wages along side sponsors, some of who also end up being fans.
Let me get a few things straight, like many of our fan base I am more than capable of accepting loss. So long as we fought with pride in battle, so long as we gave our all and can hold our heads up high. We don't need titles and trophies, all we need is our pride and dignity preserved, our clubs pride and dignity preserved. It's blatantly obvious that you Mr Pellegrini have failed me and many other City fans by being ignorant and closed minded, you seem to think we can arrogantly stand up to any club in Europe playing nothing but attacking football with two forwards. ARROGANTLY, that is not who Manchester City are, that is not in the blood of us seasoned City fans.
A few City fans may point to the fact we are still in the title hunt, the Champions League and still have a chance, but I'm not one to ignore our failings based on just optimism and hope. Lets be honest while we are at it, I highly doubt there are many seasoned City fans like me believing we can win the Champions League at this rate, so we honestly only see the Premier League as our last chance saloon. So when you Mr Pellegrini and our multi million pound first team continue to put in pathetic performances like against Barcelona and Liverpool it just makes me soooooooooooooooo frustrated and deflated.
Playing two forwards against Barcelona, what the bloody hell were you thinking, continuing to play Edin Dzeko who has zero ability to successfully defend and tackle, what were you thinking? I have to blame our fan base partly for this, they constantly sing Dzeko's name like he's some legend, how often does he come up with the goods? This season he has been useless, yes useless and it wasn't until we purchased Wilfried Bony that Dzeko started putting more effort in. Lets face it Dzeko had no worries with the constantly injured Jovetic as competition, there was no pressure to up his game at all. We're sitting on a new £30 odd million striker who scores far more goals than Dzeko and you Mr Pellegrini keep choosing Edin bloody Dzeko. In fact I'll be calling for your sacking Mr Pellegrini and Mr Dzeko's sacking if this continues.
At least in Wilfried Bony, the man can track back and tackle successfully, at least he can slot in to midfield when needed and score more goals than Edin Dzeko. The rot is setting in and too many of our best players are going missing, Vincent Kompany is a shadow of himself ignoring criticism like he's just having a bloody off day when we're losing the title race. Yaya Toure has clearly left himself back in Africa with his trophy, poor display against Liverpool. I can point to so many things wrong at City right now that it's soul destroying, watching the Liverpool game was like watching us back in the Championship 'typical City'. And we thought we got the monkey off our back? My mind is saying Pellegrini out, the first thoughts that come to the forefront are why have we just purchased Wilfried Bony to sit on a bench?', why can't Pellegrini see that playing the likes of Dzeko against strong teams is quite frankly suicidal.
In fact while I'm at it I think Edin Dzeko is far too over rated, he only ever turns up at important moments to score goals and half the time fails to score anyway. Mancini used him as a super sub to great effect, now Pellegrini is using him as a starter to extremely little effect. I'd much rather have a 20 goal striker like Wilfried Bony who can tackle over Edin Dzeko any day. My aunt also says Dzeko deserves slack because he's come up with the goods in the past just like Mancini, sorry but I see the bigger picture and Edin Dzeko doesn't even fit in with our philosophy or style of play.
If you Mr Pellegrini do not adapt and come up with a plan B and C, if we fail to win the title, well I'm sorry but I'm calling for your sacking and for Edin Dzeko's sacking without a second thought. It may fall on deaf ears but I will be happy for doing so non the less. Right now I'd say Diego Simeone for Manchester City, now he's a man who knows about balance. Proven track record at a big club and stuck it too the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. He may have just signed a new contract but every man and club has a price, no one is untouchable, not even Lionel Messi.
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