1. City started very well against Arsenal, passing the ball about smartly and retaining possession in the manner we’ve become accustomed to under Mike Phelan. The resolve to play Tiger-taka was dented after City conceded in the 18th minute, and an unfair red card seemed to permanently pull the rug from under the Tigers. Nonetheless they showed great spirit to not let the game get too far away from them and even shift momentum our way before we scored from the spot. Concentration lapses late on allowed Arsenal to leave with a scoreline that makes it look like we were rolled over, but that was not the case. 2. Blaming everything on the ref is a knave’s trick, and it would be preposterous to pin defeat on Mr. East. His performance does warrant a mention though, as it made a difficult task for City essentially impossible. Did Jake Livermore deliberately handle to block Coquelin’s shot? The laws of the game mean the ref is never wrong, as it comes down to his opinion on whether the use of the hand was intentional, no matter how debatable it is to outside observers. However the decision to send Livermore off, to presume Jakupović behind him had no chance of saving the shot to stop a goal without Livermore’s intervention, was plain wrong. 3. He was far more hesitant to make a strident decision later in the game when Petr Čech wiped out Dieumerci Mbokani after the substitute touched the ball beyond the helmet(ed netman). East was content to play on despite the obvious foul, and needed an assistant’s belated intervention for a penalty to be awarded. While a delayed correct decision is preferable to an instantly made but wrong call, how did East fail to make the correct decision alone? 4. While it’s true that not every foul warrants a yellow card, Santi Cazorla sure seemed to have committed enough that did to have walked. 5. Making sure a shot is not only saved, but parried away well enough to deny a follow up shot is an immensely difficult thing for a goalkeeper to do, but that’s what is needed from a goalkeeper playing for a team that wants to maintain Premier League status. Though a penalty save might convince some people to forgive other lapses, Jakupović failed in this regard twice. The first time it allowed Iwobi to strike for Arsenal’s first goal (whether or not he’s awarded the goal) and not long after a similar incident allowed Özil what should have been an easy goal but the bug-eyed meff blazed over. Presumably that’s why David Marshall has been signed, and we may see him make a City debut soon. 6. This game simultaneously showed the best and worst of David Meyler. His tenacious tackling was excellent as we chased the game but when we had the ball, and under Mike Phelan we do a lot more of that than was the case under Steve Bruce, his lack of smooth first touch made him culpable for City coughing up possession many times, meaning Phelan has the Meyler Dilemma to ponder. He isn’t the only guilty party, Adama Diomande’s first touch was a slide tackle on many an occasion, and when he was introduced, Mbokani showed a deft touch and an ability to spin his marker, which may make him a preferable option to Diomande now that Phelan has it. The ‘Big League’ is a harsh taskmaster. 7. The silver lining, if there was one, to Livermore’s dismissal was the introduction of Hazmat. Just how ace is Harry Maguire? Ace enough to warrant being considered for a centre half role without suspensions and injuries to others. 8. Stoke on Wednesday, and an unglamorous but perfectly presentable opportunity to make the fourth round of the League Cup (NB: the advantage of refusing to ever call anything by its sponsored title is that you never have to keep up with name changes – and you know what we feel about name changes…) Mike Phelan played a surprisingly strong side in the victory at Exeter last month, and this feels like the perfect opportunity to see how a few of his new players are looking. As a few of them will likely become first team regulars as the season progresses it wouldn’t even constitute the deliberate weakening of the side so common to cup competitions, and with Stoke in a world of pain at the moment, we strongly fancy passage into the next round. 9. It would appear Curtis Davies has made more tackles, intercepted more opposition passes, cleared more crosses, and likely solved more crimes, stopped more wars and cured more known diseases than any other footballer in Europe over the last month or so. And he’s ours. 10. Rest in peace, Daniel Wilkinson. A young life tragically snuffed out playing the game he loved, and who in the recent past played that game in City’s employ. Our condolences go to his family. http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2016/09/things-we-think-we-think-237-2/?
"We started very well.... It's a good job tom hudd didn't make as many **** ups as meyler otherwise he would have been hooked on 58 minutes. Oh wait...
Give it a ****ing rest Chazz, we get it, you're doing your best to catch up on lost time in the race to most annoying poster next to Patty, but spare us. A great read yet again.
If there's going to be two or three new lads playing against Liverpool then I think the team against Stoke needs to be very close to the team that plays Liverpool. Give them a chance to gell.
Jak was unlucky with the first goal as it took a deflection on the way through. Maguire scored the goal that will no doubt be credited to Walcott. The fourth is one he could have done better with. It was a good hit but it wasn't particularly in the corner, it's travelled some distance and he's had a clear view of the ball.
I'd send the youth team to Stoke. We still have a very small squad and we can't afford too many extra games or the additional risk of injury. I'd take league safety over any prolonged cup run, particularly this season.
Mix the new signings with the U23s that helped on the bench the first few games. Be Sod's law that we get a couple of injuries though. We'll then start looking paper thin squad wise.
Goal at Burnley was a good strike with the ball moving in the air. Have a look back at what the MOTD commentators said about it. I'd say Dio was more of a culprit for putting wide that chance from 5 yards. Though I'm not going to point the finger of blame at anyone in particular as for us, a point at Burnley is a decent return given our recent points tally taken at Turf Moor.
There are 3 changes that seem inevitable (if not this weekend then soon) I think the Jak will be 'rested' for the cup and if Marshall plays well he'll keep his spot. Dio needs dropping and our new passing mentality does not suit Meyler - at times it looks like he just blindly hits it hoping it gets to a city player
Good piece but I'd drop Hudds over Meyler, at least Meyler can tackle. The only bit I disagree with is Harry. I don't think he did anything defensively, was a bit off the pace. For me he's a good player, but not against the likes of Arsenal. I'd keep him as far away from the Liverpool & Chelski games unless absolutely necessary!
Thought Maguire made some good interceptions and broke down some Arsenal moves in the box pretty well, and was generally composed. He's a player who needs a few games settled in the defence to get going, and once he does the team generally does well.
From the way I saw it, the second goal he should have been on the line, so out of position, he was probably still getting up to speed with the game? Goal 3 went for a slide tackle that Sanchez easily side stepped, IMO, he should have stayed on his feet. Goal 4 didn't do anything, that could be said of all the players. As you say, he needs game time, but he needs to be ready to come in at a moments notice. It's the PL now, not L1 or the Championship!
I was focussing on the attacks that didn't end up in shots on target or goals because of his work. I think for Goal 3 you can hardly blame him for not stripping Sanchez of the ball. Second not sure how he's meant to be on the line that quickly when Walcott gets played through by a brilliant backheel.
Just watching the second one he seemed to be unaware of what was going to happen, so the afterthought was to try & head it wide from a weird angle. The 3rd as I said, he went to ground when staying on his feet would have been the easiest option & try to shepherd him away or hold him up at least. I do like Harry, but I think he was a bit slow with his decision making, I would also say the same with the Man Utd goal. Whilst saying this, it's his first appearances in the PL, so he needs time to get used to playing against International players week, in week out. I'd like to see him against lesser opposition, Stoke might show us more hopefully, I suppose it depends who's alongside him, if Curtis then he'll have more confidence, but then it's playing Curtis again. Alternatives are the kids, where Harry would be the senior player & would probably end up having to do too much, so doubt we'd see the best of him.
In fairness to him in both cases he was brought on as a sub in the game with very little game time surrounding those games. It goes to my point that he plays better with a bit of consistency in his game. I hope he starts tonight against Stoke.
