Well, it had to end sometime (as Lawro would say) and it ended in the hands of the best team in the league who are now looking very likely to win it. They aren't a team of merceneries anymore. They have some of the best players in the league in almost every position and Mancini has got them playing as an organised unit, so virtually every team is going to struggle. Just look at what happened to Man Utd in their fortress that is Old Trafford.
There are more good points to take than bad points. Whilst we lost, a vast majority of it was due to our own mistakes, otherwise we may have came away with a draw. Two of them were penalties which we conceded, and one of them was due to Ryan Taylor making a dumbass mistake. None of their goals actually came from outplaying us.
Good points:
Ben Arfa - The highlight has to be Ben Arfa. He's looking near his best again which is great to see, and imo deserves to start ahead of Best. He could have had two goals today and he was ghosting around some defences like a world class player would.
No Tiote - Man City are easily the best team in the EPL atm, and we still made it difficult for them without our best player in Tiote.
Not outplayed for goals - As mentioned, we basically invited all 3 goals they managed to score, and in-terms of direct head-to-head play, they didn't manage to get anything past us (barring Raylors basic error of not looking at the bloody ball, but that was him, not the team). Apart from that, we shut them out.
Created chances - On a different day we could have had 2, 3 or even 4 goals of our own. Ben Arfa hit the post and there were many other chances we had which were just as good as what City were creating, but on the day it just wasn't meant to be.
An all round good performance - We defended well, attacked as well as we good and generally put in another very good team performance, even in the face of adversity. Played some very classy football and I think any other team would be worried about us if they watched that. I doubt Man Utd will be looking forward to next week.
Best players:
Ben Arfa - Slow start, but got right into it. Very classy performance
Guthrie - Put in another hard working performance
Coloccini and Saylor - Both did brilliantly
Krul - Good saves, but he's a bit pants when it comes to penalties
Poor players:
Ryan Taylor - Got really exposed today and was at fault for two goals.
Summary
We lost, but it was mostly due to facing a superb side AND individuals making mistakes. Not many clubs concede two penalties in one game, yet we still held on and put in a hard working performance. It bodes well for our up coming games, but let's just hope that we can bounce back from our first defeat.
There are more good points to take than bad points. Whilst we lost, a vast majority of it was due to our own mistakes, otherwise we may have came away with a draw. Two of them were penalties which we conceded, and one of them was due to Ryan Taylor making a dumbass mistake. None of their goals actually came from outplaying us.
Good points:
Ben Arfa - The highlight has to be Ben Arfa. He's looking near his best again which is great to see, and imo deserves to start ahead of Best. He could have had two goals today and he was ghosting around some defences like a world class player would.
No Tiote - Man City are easily the best team in the EPL atm, and we still made it difficult for them without our best player in Tiote.
Not outplayed for goals - As mentioned, we basically invited all 3 goals they managed to score, and in-terms of direct head-to-head play, they didn't manage to get anything past us (barring Raylors basic error of not looking at the bloody ball, but that was him, not the team). Apart from that, we shut them out.
Created chances - On a different day we could have had 2, 3 or even 4 goals of our own. Ben Arfa hit the post and there were many other chances we had which were just as good as what City were creating, but on the day it just wasn't meant to be.
An all round good performance - We defended well, attacked as well as we good and generally put in another very good team performance, even in the face of adversity. Played some very classy football and I think any other team would be worried about us if they watched that. I doubt Man Utd will be looking forward to next week.
Best players:
Ben Arfa - Slow start, but got right into it. Very classy performance
Guthrie - Put in another hard working performance
Coloccini and Saylor - Both did brilliantly
Krul - Good saves, but he's a bit pants when it comes to penalties
Poor players:
Ryan Taylor - Got really exposed today and was at fault for two goals.
Summary
We lost, but it was mostly due to facing a superb side AND individuals making mistakes. Not many clubs concede two penalties in one game, yet we still held on and put in a hard working performance. It bodes well for our up coming games, but let's just hope that we can bounce back from our first defeat.
