My match review: Right, so here's the thing despite it all I'm still entitled to have an opinion ond voice it so if you come with an alternative one bring a reason not just pithy oneliners if you want any actual debate. Disagreing with me is your right too but if you wirte something insutling or cheeky without any backing don't be suprised if i shout back thats all. So that said; here's my review. 1. Tactics. I think for the second game in a row Kenny has got the tactics right on the money. Mancini came with a very specific game lpan in mind due to our 442 recent tactics and I think kenny switched it up to a 4-5-1. I don't know if that was as a result of bellamy or was it planned. How am i supposed to tell. What I can say is we went 4-51 when it could have been 442. (as we effectively swithced to later in the game) 2. The case for the defense I must say first that he whole team defended well. City felt they could press up on us and hassle our cbs. This didn't work I'm glad to say. I thought we coped quite well and this time it was enrique who was the player who lookd most under pressure. Johnson did very well v nasri AND of course i felt that kuyt did better tracking runners which was an issue v Cheslea on our right flank. Our midfield trio easily matched city for work rate and had a good solid game where they held shape well. Pepe Reina was doing some intetesting sweeping up but i think that shows how concenred we were about aguero's supreme pace, this is one of pepe's best skils IMO and he did it well, scary but still. 3. Who controlled the game?. Well I think City tired later in the game but that said we certinly held our own before the two goals and in fact after scoring i thought our tails were up big time. We did kick a bit of possession away at times as for some reason Adam gave the ball to pepe a lot but aside from those clearances we really tried to match them on the deck and we competed with what is after all a really quality side. In fact as city tired we got more and more chances and Hart kept them in it. what can i say? A very positive thing to look to especially if we are looking to 4th and seeing the others in europe 4. Individual performances. Reina- not much to do as a keeper but when you make no mistakes and also sweep up like he did you have to give him top marks. Johnson - much better all round performance than the chelsea game, he got forward well and marshalled nasri very well. Skertl - Its high time that he got some praise for the "bottle" or "character" that carragher has been lauded for, this guy has took his chance and stepped up to the plate big time in the past few weeks. He is being more decisive too so I think his game has improved on last year where he was an ever present. He played very well breaking things up. both he and agger will have known the game they were in for with aguero but did it well and i think they'd prefer him than dzeko Agger - competed well, looked to be tiring at the end having taken the brunt of the aguero battle. A couple of occasions maybe got caught with the ball but that's the only time he may have put a foot wrong. Enrique - Got forward fairly well and linked better with downing but also made a few errors at the back too. He's played better but that said it was pretty good. Lucas - Bossed the midfield in the trio, he is the guy in the middle who's mopping up, making the tackles and working harder than anyone. he is starting the plays with the CBs and making us tick. He'd be my MOTM Adam - After talking to some guys on here and ignoring others who think nobody's allowed an opinion I was watching adam even more closely and he did well in the role he had. Don't get me wrong here I am not a convert but he did play well and worked hard for the result. I didn't see any instances of him being passed around like previous games and his own passing was precise and accurate. Unlucky with the second shot and lucky with the first (thats an OG all day) he got involved in every attack and his set pieces were much better. Henderson - He was really good, loads of energy, worked hard and contributed going forward in a positive bright way, in other words he wasn't afraid to try a few things. Wasn't as involved as the other two but was trying to play more forward to support. Kuyt - hardworking, intelligent.... thats dirk. unfortunately he's lost even more pace and his touch is average. you can see why he's picked as the runs he makes are very intellignet and are the right runs. The probelm is he gets into a situation where he's done the right thing and then his legs just won't allow him to get there. he should have got a shot off easily before he showed that brain and gave adam the ball for his shot for example. Technically I'd have expected him to go do better with that header but thats just one chance. I felt he tracked every run, worked hard and cut out city's left flank with johnson but i have to think he's got to be replaced in the side in the next wave of new signings Downing - again another better display than previous one but still has a bit of work to do. He defending well, was in good positions as well. I felt he was trying to stay wider. I'd like to see him take on his man on the outside a bit more or at least be more direct but he did retain possession if he didn't take the run on. Squarez - Two game si na rwo below his best, I have to think playing right up top on his own doesn't suit his style of play but then again sometimes a guy has to take on for the team doesn't he. He ran the channels ok but wasn't competing in the air and to be frank there were at least 3 occasions where a city fan would be justified to call pure dives. He did what we needed to be done but i'm a bit concerned refs like atkinson are just goingto give nothing at all from here on in 5. the result. A point gained for sure. I'd have taken 1-1 before the game and certainly at 0-1 down. Defensively the goal was not a great one as the guy got free at the near post and adam just got under the ball in but it was a good corner and perfect ehader too. We could ahve done better but we responsed very well. Yes inthe end we could have won it on several occasions but credit to hart ofr quality saves, especially seeing we got them on target as well. I just want to point out that v last years top 4, city, utd, chelsea, arsenal we are not won 2, drawn 2. thats pretty good by anyone's estimation so what we need to go do is bring that form to the next league mathc where we won get the same attacking intent from our opponent and will need to see us take the chances, especially if we d better v big opponent and badly v the small fry. Hopefully we can turn it around for Chelsea too, we should have the legs to do it but who knows?
ForedeckDave's in Oz now, so you won't get any grief MITO Generally agree, but I didn't think Henderson had a great one. Not as good as when he came on v Chelsea. Lucas deffo MOTM.
henderson played the match well I thought, ok v chelsea he had a nice short cameo but he was playing what i view as by far and away the most expensive and best team in the country right now. I thought he showed some things that bode well for the future as well as contributing now. just my thoughts on him.
Henderson didn't impress to be honest. For the time being, I think it's best to use him and Andy Carroll as impact subs. Felt sorry for Suarez - completely isolated up front against 2 physically imposing defenders. However, his effort was fantastic and won a couple of corners through sheer persistence. He shouldn't be playing as the front man because we need him as the link between the midfield and striker. As you say, Kuyt is slower and is slowing down the attacks as a result. His header was a tough chance but should still do better. He's not a great header of the ball unless he's 2 yards out and needs replacing. To be fair, we don't have the best headers in the whole team with the exception of Andy Carroll and Gerrard (we miss Hyypia and Torres in that aspect)/ Downing was very slow but grew into the game and showed exactly why he can be very useful to the team. Hopefully he can build on this. I think Skrtel deserves massive praise because not only has he become more solid, he looks composed and comfortable playing the ball out of defence. I've seen him dribble all the way to the halfway line and he seems to be pretty quick with the ball. Having Agger next to him certainly eases his nerves. Once again, we performed brilliantly and deserved all 3 points but it wasn't meant to be. I think we are definately one of the most consistent performers this season (in terms of actual performances and not results) and this gives me confidence. We just need to add a couple of more players to the squad and I think we can really push on. Spurs started horribly this season but they brought in Friedel, Parker and Ade - not world beaters but experienced, decent class players and they look like a new team. Hopefully we can do something similar (albeit with younger players).
Adebayor is certainly making spurs tick, like he did at arsenal so one has to wonder if city will whip him back and move him onto italy or something. it'll be interesting as he is now making sounds so i think he is of the opinion cl is in the offing for spurs.
along with Kuyts pace, his finishing has also dropped off this season, he was one of the most efficient scorers (shots to goals) last season, and was quite dependable with the simple chances that we are creating, but he hasnt scored them
I don't think Kuyt was too bad last night, but his form has stuttered this season. I think Carroll should get the nod to start against Fulham.
Don't they have interweb thingy in Oz then? To be fair mito, I didn't think anyone else was having a go, and I'm not quite sure why dave did tbh. Perhaps it was an old war wound playing him up. Like some others, I wasn't hugely impressed with Hendo- he's not involved enough for me just yet to justify a starting place in big games. I'm willing to give him time to develop though as I think he shows promise. I agree with most of the rest of the OP- Lucas had one of the best games I've seen him play, and the defence coped well and kept a theoretically strong City attack down to very few real chances. Pepe's sweeping shredded my nerves at times. As you say, he's pretty good at it, but there's no room for error in those situations. As for Kuyt, well..... Diggler has never been a winger to my mind. It's a measure of his professionalism that he's put in a decent shift for so long in a position that really requires skills he doesn't have and he deserves great credit for that. I'd prefer to see him play much closer to Suarez and to get in the box a lot more than he did yesterday. The three- pronged attack of those two and Maxi worked really well at the end of last season. All in all a good performance in a game a lot of people foresaw us getting trounced in. My head is happy with the point though my heart alway expects three.
I think henderson did a lot of leg work, especially in a 5 man mdfield scenario. I suppose i am judging not by a 16-20mil player but as a 20 year old as I just thought some of the touches he was showing indicated he was coming on in confidence and comfort with his surroundings. dirk, well not a winger is fair but not a forward either given the lack of pace cost him about 3 guilt edged chances had he';d just been able to get there. he had that intelligence to know where to run and when to and he can draw players out of position. Maxi is the same, he knows where to get to to be there for the pass.
It was the first time Manchester City scored only one goal this season.We were a good match for them.
Agree on Henderson mate, and that's exactly how we should be judging him. I know the agenda-driven press wanted to use him as a sign of Kenny's failures (what failures?), and i don't know if anyone else agrees but i think he's actually a very classy player with huge potential, much more like his Spanish contemporaries than the typical English player. He always provides an option and is always moving into space. Ok he can be a bit more positive, but if everybody watches him closely next game they'll see that he's always on the move and always moving the ball along, which will be great in the future when we want to get away teams on that Barcelona-style passing 'carousel' (to quote Rudolph).
you stole my words, saint. 4/6 vs 2 of the best sides this season is good enough. henderson was the pawn vs city. opponents seem to ignore him but at their peril. he uses his head. downing was the weakest point - IMO.he should try to be bit intelligent in his game. i think he is too anxious to score to impress us fans. same with kuyt.
