Looking at some of the negativity of comments on here, particularly towards Ramirez, has made me wonder if some of the plonkers saw the game or know anything about football, and certainly made me not bother to read much of the dross.
for once i did manage to see the game, albeit on the box rather than a bad stream! Was a little surprised at the line-up but understandable given no Mo and Bruce's desire to make changes from Burnley. But it worked and had Spurs stretched and not coping with city's attacking width - exactly what was needed against Spurs weak, makeshift defence. Personally I would have preferred Rosenior and Elmo on the right rather than Ben Arfa. Ben Arfa was the only one I found disappointing, even without his glaring miss, but the rest raised their game and played so well, that may be a little harsh.
What has really p****d me off about the result, and the subsequent reporting, as that few have really picked up on the part played by the appalling ref, not including the red card incident. Throughout the first half even the least biased would have to admit that City were getting very little from the ref who seemed to be favouring Spurs. The most biased would have suggested he had money on them! Hence the red card. How many times did niggling fouls, on Ramirez in particular, go unpunished with nothing given at all. The worst, most serious, and most blatant - right in front of the ref, was when Eriksen (MOM, responsible for both Spurs goals) went through on Ramirez's ankle with studs up, left Ramirez on the floor. The ref didn't even stop the game for a foul and it took a Spurs player to waft the ball into touch before the ref even noticed Ramirez had not got up! The foul was certainly worthy of a yellow, and some refs would have given a straight red, but not even a foul! No wonder he was frustrated - a frustration caused by the ref! Even when Ramirez - stupidly for sure - flicked out with his foot, he'd just been sandwiched between 2 Spurs players, fouled, left on the floor and nothing given!
One can only hope the referee assessor noticed how poor the ref was and he gets demoted from the PL - though there's the injustice - we won't get the points back! A faint hope perhaps as few others seem to have commented on this (apologies to those on here who may have but as I said, couldn't be bothered to trawl through posts having seen so much negativity).
For me, they all played bloody well, including Ramirez, and it was a hell of a game despite the sending off. Every reason to remain optimistic!!!!!