As I said last night, all the goals we conceded (and there was a component of bad luck there as well!) were due to our full backs being poor defensively.
Navas (one of City's best players along with Jovetic and Fernando) opened us up time and time again on our left side. Navas was slightly worse in the first half, due to the pitch that side being ****e, but he still caused us no end of problems.
Adding my own tuppence-worth of observations on last night:
Johnson again showed he has no real defensive nous, when he came on in the second half, chasing a lost cause infield when he should have been bombing back into his right back position, and Jovetic had acres of space to run into when the inevitable pass came to him.
Overall, City looked better than us, but we created the better goals and did the job -- eventually.
Can looked very strong for his age when he came on. He even knocked Micah Richards flying and Richards is build like a heavy-weight boxing tank!
Enrique was poor defensively and in attack -- he still looks a few yards off match fitness and needs more games for a proper assessment.
Allen was poor. I want him to prove himself, but there was too many misplaced passes, which hardly ever happened when he was in a Swansea shirt!
Hendo put in a captain's performance. Just fantastic in all areas. I remember one wayward pass and one bit of sloppy control and that's it for the whole game.
Sterling again showing with his calmness and pace why he'll be one of our main stars this coming season. Just fantastic when he came on. Very unlucky to have his best finish of the night ruled out for being offside (very close, I'd need to see replays as I missed them!).
Sturridge was largely quiet but had his usual sparks of inventiveness. Great lay off for Robinson to burst into the box and he also played a part in both our goals and won some corners, etc. Awful penalty though.
Lambert was okay but, again, probably needs more game time to form understanding with our other attacking players. I didn't witness the great interplay with Sturridge, described by BR before the game, but I do look forward to seeing it develop.
Kelly didn't look great, but had a few good moments -- unlike Glen when he came on.
Coutinho looked as decent as ever. He probably would have been better with Ibe, Lucas or Suso with him rather than Allen, but played a very important role for us as the heartbeat of our team. He looked very tired towards the end and so might be still a little short of match fitness.
Toure and Coates looked pretty solid. Most of our problems came from the wings so the CBs did pretty good jobs.
Gerrard played okay, but it was far from his best game for us. He was unlucky to provide the assist for one of their goals when it (somehow!) squeezed through his legs near the goal allowing a simple tap-in.
Navas (one of City's best players along with Jovetic and Fernando) opened us up time and time again on our left side. Navas was slightly worse in the first half, due to the pitch that side being ****e, but he still caused us no end of problems.
Adding my own tuppence-worth of observations on last night:
Johnson again showed he has no real defensive nous, when he came on in the second half, chasing a lost cause infield when he should have been bombing back into his right back position, and Jovetic had acres of space to run into when the inevitable pass came to him.
Overall, City looked better than us, but we created the better goals and did the job -- eventually.
Can looked very strong for his age when he came on. He even knocked Micah Richards flying and Richards is build like a heavy-weight boxing tank!
Enrique was poor defensively and in attack -- he still looks a few yards off match fitness and needs more games for a proper assessment.
Allen was poor. I want him to prove himself, but there was too many misplaced passes, which hardly ever happened when he was in a Swansea shirt!
Hendo put in a captain's performance. Just fantastic in all areas. I remember one wayward pass and one bit of sloppy control and that's it for the whole game.
Sterling again showing with his calmness and pace why he'll be one of our main stars this coming season. Just fantastic when he came on. Very unlucky to have his best finish of the night ruled out for being offside (very close, I'd need to see replays as I missed them!).
Sturridge was largely quiet but had his usual sparks of inventiveness. Great lay off for Robinson to burst into the box and he also played a part in both our goals and won some corners, etc. Awful penalty though.
Lambert was okay but, again, probably needs more game time to form understanding with our other attacking players. I didn't witness the great interplay with Sturridge, described by BR before the game, but I do look forward to seeing it develop.
Kelly didn't look great, but had a few good moments -- unlike Glen when he came on.
Coutinho looked as decent as ever. He probably would have been better with Ibe, Lucas or Suso with him rather than Allen, but played a very important role for us as the heartbeat of our team. He looked very tired towards the end and so might be still a little short of match fitness.
Toure and Coates looked pretty solid. Most of our problems came from the wings so the CBs did pretty good jobs.
Gerrard played okay, but it was far from his best game for us. He was unlucky to provide the assist for one of their goals when it (somehow!) squeezed through his legs near the goal allowing a simple tap-in.
can share the load.
