Very Promising signs!!!! - My thoughts on the City game

Well, It was the expected result. A 2-0/3-1 defeat.

We were caught out for the first goal, but really City are just brilliant. Their defence is superb, and yes our finishing needs to improve but it was only down to some exceptional City defending that they we couldn't quite score.

It was excellent to see Perez' pace and composure that forced a world class last ditch challenge from Kompany to keep out. Great pace and great step over.

I think Riviere was just squashed at the top really in that solid City defence, I hope to see more from him.

I think Cabella was very lively. A great mix of Cabaye like creativity and Ben Arfa flair. Hopefully we'll still have him come next season, but I doubt it. We need to enjoy him while we can.

MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT TODAY!! -

It wasn't the potential technical ability, it was the spirit from the players, and the fact that everyone showed guts and determination. Colback and Anita look like a very strong pair, when I thought they'd be bitch slapped by the likes of Toure and Fernandinho, they actually coped quite well, despite being outclassed in certain areas, which is only expected.

The crowd were the best in a while, and I think we have what it takes now to deal with the pressure of the derbies again.

Ratings -

Krul - 5.5 - Some improvements in distribution, could have done better for the Aguero goal. Can't be too critical. Nowt great from him today though. A good save early on to deny Nasri.

Janmaat - 6 - Caught at times, but some good challenges and defending. I think he'll get used to the league quite quickly. We'll miss Debuchy's crosses though.

Colo - 7 - Some great defending, but a few shaky moments. Not the greatest first game, but quite solid.

Willo - 7 - Quite solid.

Dummett - 5 - I don't understand why he gets picked instead of Haidara. Exposed a bit too often and missed a great chance from a set piece.

Anita - 7.5 - Great pressure and challenges, good distribution. Coped with pressure.

Colback - 8 - Brilliant PL debut. I was worried from what I saw of him pre-season that the lad would be out of his depth. I was wrong. Fantastic challenging, great closing down. The lad is a lot quicker than I thought. His passing needs a bit of work, but I think the team is just taking natural time to gel. I think he's been a fantastic signing, and will add a lot of heart to the team. His set piece deliveries were very good as well.

Sissoko - 6 - Good defensive play, lacking going forward though.

Gouff - 6 - Good work rate, as usual. Good running. A little bit more sharpness needed, and decision making wasn't always great. Did well defensively though.

Cabella - 7.5 - Very promising. Good runs, and some great passing. s**t set piece deliveries though like... very Cabaye-esque.

Riviere - 6 - A bit isolated up front. But good work rate, some good link up play. A tough first PL match for a lone striker!

Perez - n/a - Unlucky not to score. Good flashes of quality.

Aarons - n/a - Good work rate, some good skills.

Obertan - 3 - Didn't add much to the game.

MOTM - Colback. Excellent debut. I was very pleased when we signed him.

 

It was great to see us have a real go at City.
Credit to Pards for getting the team up.

Tash- please make your 'thoughts on the game' thread a permanent fixture this season and there's a Russian standard 70cl in it for you.

 

I disagree losing is losing we had not one shot on target despite having 45% of possesion and city were there for the taking second half due to fitness.

Ill save any judgement for now for fear of sounding like sunderland fans last season who were always playing well apparently yet losing every week.


Ps I posted suggesting obertan might deserve a second chance


Jesus f** christ im wrong so f**ing wrong.

 

I just put the last bit in bold for you Mr T.. it's getting tattooed in the morning...

 

Sissoko rating?

 

Him and obertan were made in similar testtubes.

 

Cheers for this Tash, excellent summary.

Was heartened by Cabella's performance. No killer passes but some silky skills and got stuck in everywhere.

 

Nothing to really beel about hich is a nice feeling.
Beel free days are good days.

 

not to far away .. good disagree with the man city manager saying they bossed midfield load of bollocks ... done better than I first thought ..

 

The Sissoko rating is missing, which is a fair reflection of his performance. What a gutless sack of **** this prick was today.
You have a man mountain of a player like Toure and you need players to step up- Sissoko did the opposite. A bottler if I've ever seen one.

Colback on the other hand was a joy to watch and credit to him. I hope he shows the same enthusiasm every week.

 

So Colback has earned a starting spot. Who gets dropped when de jong comes back in next weekend.

 

I think De Jong should start on the bench and then come on later.

Start with the same team that started vs City.

 

Drop sissoko obviously, I think if de Jong played today we would have scored, he would have linked the forward to the midfield perfectly.

 

Saw a few things today:

Everytime Sissoko has to make a 5-yard pass, he does this happy feet thing where he has to move his feet 6 times before he actually hits the ball

Also, the players don't seem to trust Obertan with the ball do they? Obertan was on the pitch for a good 20-odd minutes, and it felt as if he was only on it for 5minutes
This is either a)players don't trust him b)something terribly wrong with the plan
Note that he was played up front to support the striker, and for large periods never touched the ball, and he was given the green light to stay up the field and not come back as much

Could this be a Pardew tactical issue? Or do the players just don't think Obertan can do much? Or Obertan is afraid to take players on when in such an atmosphere?


Bear in mind, when we used to bring Ben Arfa onto the pitch with some time remaining, almost every attack we try to look for Ben Arfa. This was not the case yesterday. It's either on Pardew or on the ball-players controlling the game.

 

A fully fit City would have hammered Newcastle according to the pundits.

 

For what I saw, not sure why Janmaat was lower than Colo/Willo as they were both at fault for both goals. Janmaat looked much better than them.
Although I thought Anita did well, no way was he just a bit worse than Colback - Anita was nowhere near Colbacks level and should have been a 6 at most.
Harsh on Obertan - surely does not help when he is coming on to boos! And for that reason the fans should only get a 5 - booing on first game of season their own player who looked half decent during pre-season.
Lol, Gouff was ****e! Did absolutely nothing - no more than a 5! Getting a tad carried away over Cabella too - 6.5 at the most. Would definitely like to see some more of Perez - he looked most likely to score and/or create something for the team.

 

Overall it was a decent performance but I do think it highlighted the key problems in our squad, I was pleased to see Pards acknowledge we need a centre back before the window shuts, the problem is will he be allowed to sign a first team player. Probably not. Then you have central midfield. Colback was excellent, Anita very good, Sissoko did nothing to suggest he can play centrally. Perhaps if one of the other two is injured he can be dropped in there. Fact is we need a ball player. De jong will help but its from deeper we have an issue. They should be breaking the bank to get Grenier or Will Hughes. We are desperate. For all it was a good effort we did not create much and had no one cute enough to get Cabella into one on one situation regularly or pick a pass. I'm not going to judge Riviere on one game as he was clearly nervous. I do think we need something else up there though.

Left back is a problem. Dummett isn't good enough. Personally I don't think Haidara is much better if at all. Santon should be but his time here suggests he isn't good enough defensively.

Otherwise there are some promising signs. Janmaat made errors but also looked very good at times, in time he will be a great signing. Krul still worries me, though he had cut down his lumping it significantly. It was noticeable Pards was straight out when he did lump it for no reason and Colo let him know too. They are going to have to be firm with him. The lack of a competitor is not gonna help though!

Overall we did quite well and way better than anyone expected, they are a fantastic side. I sat in the stands and looked at their bench in the programme and just thought "holy ****". Its ridiculous really.

Obertan is no better. Sell. To be fair him and Aarons were just too eager to impress and ended losing possession which hurt us late on. It meant we couldn't build up a decent spell of sustained pressure.

Fair play to Pards, got us playing the right way (Colback helped this massively) and set us up right in many way. I do think though that Gouffran should not be starting, and Sissoko is not a central midfielder in the PL. We'd have been better off starting Cabella in the hole, and playing Sissoko/Aarons wide of him. I can see why he didn't as you'd have risked a hammering. He kept us in the game, we just couldn't quite create that gilt edge chance to set the game on fire. Good tactical battle between the two, It must be nice to be Manuel Pellegrini though. All that quality must make it easier in tight games.

It was just nice to see us deal with Toure for once, well done Colback MOTM without a doubt.

 

Well if the pundits say it, it must be true

 

I thought there were more positives than negatives, one thought on the game we are said to have had no shots on target, if a defender deflects the ball and stops it going into the goal then does not that constitute a shot on target?

 

Positive performance. We still need a CB and Striker who can put chances away,to many were squandered yesterday..