Wednesday 4 November 2009

Kolo: 'Our mentality has to change'

Spot on from the captain:
"We need to impose ourselves as we have some gifted players in this dressing room.

"We can enjoy our football by passing it and controlling games. That's what we need to achieve now. The team needs time but as time goes by we need to improve.

"City is not the team it was before, a lot of things have changed and our mentality has to change as well.

"We cannot be happy with a draw or drawing four games in a row. Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool would never be happy with that, which is why they have been at the top, so neither can we."

7 comments:

Steven McInerney said...

At Burnley we have to go on to that pitch and absolutely attack them. We need the bit firmly between the teeth. Closing down EVERYWHERE...running at people. Quick movement. We just need vibrancy and lung power and that will set the stall for the rest of the game. They'll buckle under the pressure. We can play at 100mph and still be dangerous - our players are technically good enough to walk through most teams.

TLDORC said...

I agree. We need to execute a pwnage.

menino azul said...

i agree steven & i think we'll see lots of goals, but pwnage?! jpb-explain please

pjdemers said...

I certainly agree with Steven, but patience will also be a key, especially if Burnley decide to take a page from Birmingham City by playing high pressure defense and putting numbers behind the ball (& BTW let's give Birmingham some well deserved credit, they were well organized, and disciplined defensively as a unit). Too many times on Sunday City were able to move the ball quickly into the attacking third only for the final ball into the box to be wasteful. Part of that in my opinion was players trying to force a killer pass when it wasn't on. People rightly talk about Ireland's ability to hit the killer pass but one thing he never does is try to force a pass. We will sometimes need to be patient in the final third (something EPL teams in general seem to have a hard time with).

Sometimes players try to do too much. We indeed need to be vibrant and determined and attack Burnley, but we will also need to be astute and realize that there will be times when we simply need to keep the ball and stroke the ball side to side and make Burnley chase the ball as much as possible. The more they have to chase, the more likely Burnley will loose their shape and the passing lanes will start to open which City will be able to exploit.

Just because we can play at 100 mph doesn't necessarily mean we should. Our last match was a perfect example of this. We tried to play at a frenetic 100mph tempo and played right into Birmingham's hands instead of doing exactly what Toure is talking about, calmly passing the ball and keeping possession, allowing City to control the game

N Rowland said...

As in everything, too much of anything is not good. Not everyone at 100mph all the time, and not too slow. You put Bellamy on the left, Teves on the right and they go 100mph at Burnley - defend from the front. Slot Ireland in the hole behind Ade, and when City gains possession, he will know when to hurry the through ball and when to hold up and maintain possession, bringing in Barry, et al. I'm not sure; maybe that's the definition of a "pwnage"?

sugardubby said...

pwnage - JPB plays a bit of poker methinks....

TLDORC said...

A bit, but not very well.