BJ's passing

[The Great Mass Debater]

Sensational passing from BJ today. If Fox is Pirlo then I dont know who that performance made BJ today. We all know BJs passing is a weak point in his game generally, but very good today. Well done than man. Even if you do look like Jason Grimshaw from Coronation Street...

 

[Yellow Fever]

Johnson's passing has improved greatly this season (over 80%) and I put that down to work in training with Holt and Robson. Tettey has improved as well to over 90% and I think the benefits of this will show as the season goes on.

Nathan Redmond scored 9.43 overall today, his highest ever, and the highest I can remember for any City player.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

Redmond was very good today. As was that man Jerome. Both wanted to perform against their ex-club it would seem

 

[GJP]

Johnson had a pretty good second half but he owed that after a terrible first half where he was a passenger (at best).

 

[Canaryboy]

Johnson's passing has improved greatly this season (over 80%) and I put that down to work in training with Holt and Robson. Tettey has improved as well to over 90% and I think the benefits of this will show as the season goes on.

Nathan Redmond scored 9.43 overall today, his highest ever, and the highest I can remember for any City player.

How much of his improved passing rate is down to him improving as a player, and how much is it down to: a. more players making themselves available for a pass (heads are up, nobody is hiding), b. simply getting more space and time in this division because of the huge gulf in quality between this league and the prem?

One thing I've noticed under Adams is that we are playing very high up the pitch, as well as very wide, with wingers free to hug the line. Under Hughton we were always quite compact and narrow with two inverted wingers who were constantly expected to get back and double up with our full backs, and two defensive midfielders, and were supposed to gain possession and counter attack, with Snodgrass our only real outlet. 

At one point today I counted more blue shirts than yellow shirts in our own half, and that wasn't a counter attack, we had possession! Towards the end our centre backs were picking up the ball deep in our own half and with several yellow shirts still in the final third. Just such a massive difference to the stuff that we were playing under Hughton. 

Johnson is, in my opinion, benefiting from the fact that everybody is ready and willing to get on the ball at the moment and making themselves available for a pass, with multiple options when he looks forward instead of having to either lump it to Elmander or wait for Snodgrass to get forward. These 50 yard angled balls out wide weren't often possible last season because we seldom had anybody 50 yards up the pitch to play a ball too.... 

 

[Din]

His passing has improved a lot over the last couple of seasons. At times though I wish wouldn't attempt these 60 yard cross field passes, and that he'd just keep it simple. 

 

[Dubai Mark]

BJ has been great this season so far, and despite seeing nothing of the game yesterday, what I have seen of him in other matches, it's his breaking up of play and interceptions that then lead to us going on the attack that has been really impressive.....top class! 

 

[Robert Brompton]

I wouldn't say that either BJ or Tettey had particularly good games and Tettey probably had his worst game of the season. Add those two to the misfiring Hoolahan and overall it was not the greatest day for our midfield. Happily Redmond and Murphy both presented a real threat in creative areas.

I'm sure BJ, Tettey and Wes will soon regain their form and the pressure from VOO, Howson, O'Neil etc will help that process.

 

[MancCanary]

Johnson's passing has improved greatly this season (over 80%) and I put that down to work in training with Holt and Robson. Tettey has improved as well to over 90% and I think the benefits of this will show as the season goes on.

Nathan Redmond scored 9.43 overall today, his highest ever, and the highest I can remember for any City player.

Is this the Opta stats or something?

 

[Paul Handscombe]

Sensational passing from BJ today. If Fox is Pirlo then I dont know who that performance made BJ today. We all know BJs passing is a weak point in his game generally, but very good today. Well done than man. Even if you do look like Jason Grimshaw from Coronation Street...

This coming from the person who said in the match tread that he should come off at half time lol

 

[Beauseant]

There's no doubt that Johnson's passing has improved, but his obsession with the cross field pass yesterday got completely out of hand, and he tends to fall down by trying to force passes that aren't on.

 

[Warren Hill]

I dare say that BJ has always had the ability to play these raking passes but this is the first time we've seen him with the combination of role, colleagues and afforded time on the ball to make them.

One of the things that restricted our attacking speed in the PL was our inability to switch play quickly, we simply didn't have a player that could make a 60yd diagonal to feet while under pressure - Gerrard would be an example of one that can - meaning that we often had to play 3 or 4 passes across the pitch to get the ball to the opposite wing which gives the whole opposition time to track across and realign their positioning.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

This coming from the person who said in the match tread that he should come off at half time lol

I just thought we needed a change in midfield with perhaps VOO coming off. I picked BJ cuz of his yellow, was worried he could get sent off, but great to see him stay on and pass so well 

 

[Surgeryman]

Maybe it's because he has found his level in this division?

 

[Din]

Maybe it's because he has found his level in this division?

To be fair though, no matter what league you're in, if your passing is crap then your passing is crap, and likewise if your passing is good. I think that he's simply worked on it a lot since the end of last season, hence why we're only now seeing a massive improvement.

 

[GJP]

One thing I do think he could improve on is his speed at moving the ball. When he's got a bit of time and space he's prone to carrying the ball for an extra three or four touches before playing the pass he was clearly always going to play.

When you play sides that are getting men behind the ball, which is something we'll likely see a fair bit of this season, it's important to keep the ball moving quickly.

 

[ZLF]

I thought BJ performance was a real mixed bag on sat;  the pass to martin for the first on sat was glorious (or reminiscent of cambridge hit teh corner tactics depending on your view point) and there were a couple of others like that,   but overall I thought it was his worst passing game of the season,  short passing particularly poor and too many attempts at the stevie glory ball.

Also in the second half he seemed to suffer for mobility, lacking his usual cover.

But expect better on sat (and expect him to start) but now has voo and howson pushing for his place (although he wont be so immediately worried after last nights efforts!)