If ever there was a game when City needed to fly into the opposition from the off then this was that game. City just let Newcastle pass for fun, without pressing and as a result City never had the ball. That is until they went 2 down, and had to step it up. I suggest that if it had been 0-0 at half time, we would not have seen the more offensive display we saw in the 2nd half. Marshall may have kept City in the game with 2-3 great saves but culpable for both goals conceded. He should never get beaten at his near post by a daisy cutter, and for the 2nd he parried it back into play. Mind you to be fair to him, the shots should never have come in the first place due to poor defending and not closing down. Some lessons then we learnt: 1. City are too cautious and have too many slow players. 2. Too many players are championship standard. Taylor is too slow. Turner cannot distribute. Gunnarsson is out of his depth. Bellamy is too slow, cannot shoot or pass well enough. Whittingham is only good for free kicks and corners. Kim is too lightweight. 3. The summer signings were not enough. City need a pacy winger, a better left back who can play up the field as well, a stronger and more skilful midfield, and a goal scorer up front. (Cornelius????) 4. City do not shoot enough at goal. They have had the lowest number of shots on target in the PL. 17 in 7 games. Most of those were in one game, at Fulham. That has to change. 5. Mackay's bench is not good enough. Who was on the bench who could turn a game? Mutch did at Fulham and very nearly did v Newcastle. City need at least 20 points by end of year, 22-23 would be ideal but where are they coming from? The next 3 matches at home could conceivably result in 5 successive home defeats just by reference to the teams they have to play. Maybe their best chance of results will be on the road, as it is plain that they are too negative at home. Not a pessimist by the way, just a realist.
Bit harsh on Marshy there Nin - both Remy strikes would have beat most keepers. Daisy cutter or not, that first goal had a lot of pace and zipped inside the near post. If Marshy had been biased to that side he could well have fingertipped it around, but there again there were a couple of Newcastle players waiting centre right for the pass - he had to stay pretty central. Your other points are all open to debate but are in the main along my line of thinking. We lack pace and have done for years. That's not just pace out wide - we're very slow in the middle of the park. Whitts, Gunnar, and Cowie are no sprinters and it has an impact on how quickly we can support the front runner(s). Having said that, the quickest way to get forward is to use the ball at speed, not necessarily use a player with speed. Unless you're expecting our player to run past his defender every time, the quick pass is the answer. There are some very quick defenders out there in the Prem these days - unfortunately, we don't seem to have many. The "points by Christmas" thing is also generally bang on. Points dropped at this stage can never be regained - they've gone forever.
Hi guys Toon fan here that went to the game. We were very good first half but that was partly due to you standing off and letting us play. Regarding your boys, Mutch was very good and extremely composed on the ball, comfortably your best player on the day. I know the OP has just listed 4 or 5 positions that need strengthening but I think your approach of signing a few very good players for big money (such as Medel) is much better than 8 or 9 signings for a couple of million each as these players tend not to be good enough (see Palace & Sunderland this season & Reading last season). If you try and do too much too soon you can end up in the same situation as QPR & Sunderland. I think you'll stay up and be around 14th/15th come the end of the season. Hoping we can break in to the top ten but we also need to be wary of the bottom end of the table, a few injuries and our cover is not of the required standard. I think it's harsh blaming Marshall for the goals, both finishes were right in the corner although on the second Cisse's shot was a good height so maybe he could have parried it out of danger. Anyway good luck for the rest of the season
Cheers fella - with those players of yours, you should have no problem with the teams in the bottom half. Apart from the odd exceptional result (like that West Ham one yesterday ), this league should pan out much as expected. If we can target and beat those teams that are vulnerable and just pick up the odd point from the top clubs, we'll be OK. One thing about our game with you on Saturday. That was the worst first half performance I've seen from our guys for a long time. Taking nothing away from you at all, but you must have thought it was Christmas the amount of times we gave you the ball and then failed to press when you had it. Good luck to you as well pal.
Good to see your opinions Ninian. 1. Agree 2. Agree, though I think Turner will get better. Kimbo needs some work in the weights room, and Whitts looks best when he is a supporting player and not a main focus. 3. The summer signings were perhaps the best we could do. No point signing players who would not have been good enough. We won't know who rejected us I imagine. 4. Agree 5. Sort of relates to 3. Marshall to me did another fine job. Parrying the ball back into play was reasonable considering the shot that came in. I think we are all about to be tested. It is a very hard couple of months and we may well be in a very poor position at the end of it. Malky has done a great job but he has never shown an attacking bias. This does bother me as I did not like the way we approached the Hull game. We will need to take risks against teams around us!
Have now seen the extended highlights in cityplayer. Apologies to Whitts, the 2 balls he put through to Campbell in first half, and then Mutch were excellent. He probably is the best corner taker in the division. Marshall definitely should have had the first, he got enough of a palm on it. The 2nd was unlucky as it nutmegged Turner. A question on Noone. Just why is he on the bench if he never is used. he would have caused a bit of panic I reckon in last 20 minutes v Newcastle instead of Bellamy. Also on midfield, the press are divided on whether Mutch should come in for Kim or either Gunnarsson or Whitts. The advocate of the former suggest him & Kim worked well last season in the run in. City will be impotent without Whitts' delivery and although he is not up to this level, the number of times Gunn'sson gets in the opposition box cannot be discounted. Kim to step down for me but Chelsea away is not the ideal time to see what is our best formation. Norwich is a far more important game.
Norwich were excellent 2nd half against Chelsea, we'll need to be at our absolute best to not get beaten. Chelsea will be an all out defence v attack job again. Our first away to a big club will be interesting to see if we can keep up the previoulsy displayed levels of discipline in defence. I haven't watched highlights of the Newcastle game yet (I have them sky +'d), but as Remy picked the ball up I was shouting at Caulker to send him down the line. Very very poor to let him get inside and do the only thing he was ever going to look to do. If he runs around the out side, crosses past Turner and Cisse scores then fair play, but Remy was never going to be interested in getting to the line. All he wants to do is get the shot away. I think FC's position is under threat, I'd like to see Odem given the chance. Mutch has to start, I'd give him Gunnars place and still play Kim. We'd have more chance of retaining the ball with them both on the pitch. Having said that, the option to move Odem up top allows Kim to play right with Gunnar, Mutch, Medel in a very solid looking middle (which I did mention last week).
