Well, Defoes injury will surely be the only reason that Dempsey stays on. Some plusses and a possible significant negative.
Our left wing looks a bit vacant. OK Bale can be effective in the middle but if no one is on wing it's all a bit strange.
Yacob has commited 4 fouls in that first half and went sliding in on Dembele cynically on the halfway line that was hurdled. How he's not booked I have no idea. Clattenburg makes up the rules as he goes along though. Dembele and Parker really need to make sure they're always making themselves available for the quick outball in defence, too many times it was getting hoofed long again early in the game. They're not strong in central midfield either and those 2 should be running that show but Dembele's having another poor game and Parker's not been good enough yet either. Upfront Dempsey needs to make sure he's attacking the 6 yard box when Lennon or Defoe are running with the ball down the wings and we need to take less stupid long shots but what's new? Still there was some improvement when Holtby came on and if it weren't for our defence looking a bit dodgy, against Lukkaku in particular, I'd be confident we'll go on to win this.
Bit harsh on Parker I think YV - thought he had been pretty good throughout that half. Dembele is not back to his best and Walkers lapses have caused a few problems through the inside left channel. Would like to see Benny push in more in the 2nd half and provide some extra support down the attacking left side. Will be interesting to see how the line up now - whether Bale will push back to the left or stay in the free role. Holtby has the speed and skill to work down the left - which might be the better option.
I meant "he's not been that good", better than Dembele mind and definitely not worse than Walker or Benny.
The commentators bemoaning Man City's lack of depth up front. They've only got Aguero, Tevez, Dzeko and Guidetti. And Santa Cruz out on loan.
there is only so mucb that be blamed on dembeles hip injury, in terms of his performance, as are we always going to think "dembeles off form, must be his hip?".
Bale needs to be out wide so we can play our best football and keep our shape. We're too compact and have no ideas when we don't use our wide men to our advantage. Surely Saha signing this week is inevitable now?
We needed something like that today. All the more reason for keeping our shape and taking advantage of the spaces that will open up
