City have already won the league

[Stevencc]

Abertawe is now officially inducted into the "MisterMagic Hall of Shame for premature Premier League predictions".

 

[mistermagic]

City will win it next season.

In all seriousness, the fact that Man City aren't even in the title race in the last few weeks of the season is, believe it or not, not my fault but Guardiola's. This season has clearly been a backward step for the club. I can't speak for on the pitch performances as I haven't watched a single Premiership game this season (although I have downloaded many a MotD) but the players don't seem to have enjoyed themselves this season. The Champions' League was one big fat joke as well. That a team with so many quality players can't get past Monaco's 442 is quite shocking. Guardiola was enrolled to get them some silverware and they've been very far from that.

I'm considering not backing them to win the league next year. Yes, it has come down to this!

 

[Smally]

Why mister magic has a long standing hatred of 442 systems is a bit strange, but I'd guess that the 442 system seems to get the best out of Monaco's players while Guardiola has tried to play clichy and Sagna as full back DMs at points this season to show how clever he is.

Guardiola hasn't lived up to his media reputation this season, no one can deny it. We will see what he can do after spending another £100m+ in the summer, I'd think he would spend heavily on defence but I can easily see him bringing in another centre mid or two

 

[Abertawe]

Close.

 

[mistermagic]

Why mister magic has a long standing hatred of 442 systems is a bit strange, but I'd guess that the 442 system seems to get the best out of Monaco's players while Guardiola has tried to play clichy and Sagna as full back DMs at points this season to show how clever he is.

Guardiola hasn't lived up to his media reputation this season, no one can deny it. We will see what he can do after spending another £100m+ in the summer, I'd think he would spend heavily on defence but I can easily see him bringing in another centre mid or two

It is clearly tactically naive. Most sides play with a midfield 3 nowadays and no matter how good you are, if you're a man up in the middle of the park you have a clear advantage. Fabinho has been superb in the role of closing players down but also going forward but it has taken its toll on the players which has been a long season. Monaco certainly wouldn't have won as many games without a winter break.

I mean do you honestly think that two banks of four is unbreakable? If it was so simple, Iceland would have won the Euros.

 

[Bilo]

It is clearly tactically naive. Most sides play with a midfield 3 nowadays and no matter how good you are, if you're a man up in the middle of the park you have a clear advantage. Fabinho has been superb in the role of closing players down but also going forward but it has taken its toll on the players which has been a long season. Monaco certainly wouldn't have won as many games without a winter break.

I mean do you honestly think that two banks of four is unbreakable? If it was so simple, Iceland would have won the Euros.

This is incredibly inaccurate. Most 4-4-2:s nowadays crowd the middle more than your standard 4-3-3, as the former was a response to the latter. Monaco are wider than most contemporary 4-4-2:s but to call it tactically naive is off, unless you consider all primarily attacking tactics naive. The 4-4-2 gets the best out of a bunch of their players, which gets you a long way as they've shown. Namely Fabinho that you mentioned and Mbappé, Silva, Lemar. It's perfect for them and they've overachieved using it.

 

[JimJams]

Why have they overachieved?

 

[Bilo]

Why have they overachieved?

Well you can define it a million different ways I guess. But they have won the league and they reached the semi-final in the Champions league, two achievements beyond what people predicted for them at the start of the season. So they've exceeded expectations, which is pretty much the same thing for me.

 

[mistermagic]

This is incredibly inaccurate. Most 4-4-2:s nowadays crowd the middle more than your standard 4-3-3, as the former was a response to the latter. Monaco are wider than most contemporary 4-4-2:s but to call it tactically naive is off, unless you consider all primarily attacking tactics naive. The 4-4-2 gets the best out of a bunch of their players, which gets you a long way as they've shown. Namely Fabinho that you mentioned and Mbappé, Silva, Lemar. It's perfect for them and they've overachieved using it.

Monaco have played alright using 2 CMs with neither of the front two dropping that deep. However some 442s are more equipped to manage the area of the pitch better. I'm thinking of the new variant of the diamond-shaped midfield which is essentially a 4312. You can also have one of the two strikers dropping deep to help out the CMs and Germain has done that a bit this season but Fabinho and Bakayoko (who have totally eclipsed Moutinho btw) have done all the hard work. Just think Jardim could have prepared better from a tactical point of view. It's not every day a Ligue 1 side gets to play a CL semi.

Oh well.

 

[silkyman]

 

[Smally]

It is clearly tactically naive. Most sides play with a midfield 3 nowadays and no matter how good you are, if you're a man up in the middle of the park you have a clear advantage. Fabinho has been superb in the role of closing players down but also going forward but it has taken its toll on the players which has been a long season. Monaco certainly wouldn't have won as many games without a winter break.

I mean do you honestly think that two banks of four is unbreakable? If it was so simple, Iceland would have won the Euros.

You seem to be misunderstanding what tactics are all about. The best managers/coaches play systems which get the best out of the players at their disposal, while also trying to nullify strengths and exploit weaknesses of the opposition. Teams like Monaco, Leicester, Atletico Madrid and even Chelsea have found this by using a 4 man midfield. Any tactic is only as good as the manager and players trying to implement it, 442 in itself is not the problem