The debut against Watford

Sunday at 530 I got up to watch City, it was the first game of the Rodgers era, there was a hangover from the Puel error (intentional spelt wrong). The ball still moved far to slow, movement was still poor and service to Vardy was still lacking.

I guess it's easier to sum it up with bullet points, what I like and what I didn't, so here we go:

What I liked:

  • The formation, I did like playing 3-4-2-1, the concept was a good one. 
  • Tielemans, has the vision and should be allowed to what ever he feels he should with the ball as long as it goes forward. 
  • Around the 70th minute, there was a increase in tempo and moving the ball forward, it paid off with Vardy's goal

What I didn't like:
  • The formation, Wes Morgan in the centre of a 3 man defence doesn't help the team, he looks slow and he looks cumbersome. The young turkish lad would have been a better choice. How long does Morgan realistic have? He's 35 and not good a footballer, in terms of his ball distribution and vision. 
  • The formation again, switching from a back 4 to a back 3 is a hard switch for any time. Much less a team on the road. The back 3 look at sixes and sevens at back
  • The total lack of tempo for the majority of the game, you can't score slow
  • The sideways passing. Crab football isn't good football
  • Maddison, sorry don't rate him. Shit beard and even less effect on the game. His set pieces are shocking
  • Shooting ourselves in the foot, zonal marking and Kaspers kicking at times. Shocking. 

This is just the start for Rodgers and after 16 months of Puelball it's going to take a while to get things out of the players system. With the lad coming back from Celtic, another passing midfielder (I wouldn't be shocked to see Jon Joe Shelvey coming to City) and the signing of Tielemans on a permanent deal. Rodgers, I would hope will want to increase the tempo and encourage the players to push the ball forward to exploit Vardy's pace. This doesn't mean route one football but it does mean being positive with the ball. Something Puel seemed to want to scrub away from the team. There was flashes and I think it will be good in the end. It just started off shit, but Rodgers has never won his debut game with any club. But I still believe the future's bright. 

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