No doubt Ryan Bennett and to a lesser, but still quite large extent Elliott Ward and Adam Drury had poor games today. We have Barnett and Naughton we can bring in if need be, but against Blackburn Yakubu will be a different type of challenge; he doesn't have anywhere near the skill of Aguero and I think we should stick with Ward and Bennett and I know they won't disappoint again.
The defence did alright. If we had played a holding player in front of the back four there wouldn't have been so much space for the forwards to work in. It was disappointing that the heads dropped at the end, and the team lost all shape, but for most of the game we were competeing well enough.
I agree Ward had yet another bad game, but I didn't think the rest of the back four played that badly.
The pace, movement and precision of Tevez, Aguero and Silva is a completely different test to what we'll see next week. I'd persevere with Bennett and Ward but would bring Naughton in for Drury who looked tired today. Nothing to be ashamed of today apart from the last 15 minutes when we lost all discipline, shape and drive. We were more than competitive for the first 15 minutes of each half but ultimately Manchester City's true class came through and we were second best. They would have beaten most teams on that kind of performance today.
If I'm honest I was expecting us to get a couple of spankings this season so I'm not too disheartened. Wouldn't like to see too many changes for the next game.
And we've had two - home and away to one of the most expensively assembled club sides in the world. No disgrace there. Aguero was totally inspired today, but he cost them circa £38m. More than our entire squad. My old season ticket was lower Barclay, C V 72 - Christ, I wish I still owned it Onwards and upwards, OTBC.
The next match can't involve too many changes I would imagine because of injuries. For 73 minutes we matched them and for the want of a nail the war was lost. We were doing so much work outside the box we had nobody in the box to put the finishing touches. Mancini City looked terrible when we stretched them. They like toplay it tight and funnel you into the middle where sheer numbers muddle the play. They don't mind that at the other end as they have quick footed players who are comfortable at playing it tight. When we were putting balls into the box in the same fashion, Holt and Wilbrahams lack of ability to react at the same speede as Messrs Tevez and Aguero meant we didn't give Hart enough work. Not Holt and Wilburs fault. Basically, their guys are better than ours. It was a marvellous entertaining game until the third goal went in and we looked rather more like a Championship side after that. We will recover and Blackburn will not have the same style as ManC and I fully expect the 73 minutes to be turned into a full 90 minutes and a convincing win.
I disagree aboutthe defence. Yes Ryan Bennett made a couple of errrors but looks a cracking player. Drury was getting forward well. Both just tried and playing against such talent was bound to bring pressure/errors. Ward has been OK since coming back in but he is the "weaker" link IMO. Lets not get too critical after seeing that excellent attacking front line.
Hi bors, have to give credit to where it is due and Man City were far superior to our lads. Those first two goals would have beaten any defence in the realm; brilliantly created and brilliantly executed. It has to be remembered that this is our first season back in the big time and our lads are on a learning curve. Bit disappointed with our lost of concentration towards the game's end, totally out of character. The point of meeting these superior teams is that the team learns from their mistakes, looking forward to our encounter with Man City next season with hopefully a better result. Having received a battering in this game, our lads will have to be on their mettle and make amends in the next game. Far better to be a little fish in a big pond than a little club in the Championship !!!
Ward had yet another bad game? Remind me when the first one was...? And you don't think the rest of the back four played badly today? I think Ryan Bennett was awful that game, and yes this is critical and I KNOW he is a much better player then how he played yesterday (His performances have proved that!). Ward/Drury stood too far off Man City and got easily beat by Sergio Aguero a lot of times. Ryan Bennett did this and he almost gave away a penalty, was out of position very often and gifted Tevez his hat-trick with a weak backpass. Don't single out Ward for criticism, enough fans do this already!
For a team fighting relegation, Blackburn were dreadful yesterday. They just gave up in the second half. You should beat them.
We went for it because we didn't have anything to lose. We played a high line because otherwise they would have dominated the game. Lambert could have gone 4-5-1 with a holding player but he has always said he will play to win. At the start of the second half we had them worried, we had pushed them back but when you have that much quality on the break, you can hurt anyone. They were well on their game and aguero and revel were absolute class. One thing that does worry me, and I have said this all season, is that we struggle to deal with pace and players witha direct style.
Wolves, the first half especially Ward was pretty poor. He gifted the ball to Tevez fr the first goal, yes, Ruddy should've done better with it. Also for the fourth or fifth goal, I can't remember which, Ward was tracking back with Bennett and just stopped. Had he carried on he may have had a chance of stopping the shot. Maybe saying yet another game was the wrong way to phrase it. Yesterday wasn't his sort of game, he's better with high balls and crosses not little nippy forwards. I thought Drury did reasonably well, certainly wasn't his best game, but then he hasn't come up against the quality of Tevez/Aguero much in his career. The same with Bennett, he's played four or five games in the Prem after spending most of his time in the lower leagues. On the day we were outplayed by the better team. We started both halves well, Man City absorbed the pressure and then stepped up a gear. I'm 27 and I've been following City for 20 years now, so yes I am a fan. I try not to criticise players as I know they go out and give 100% every single game. The only reason I singled out Ward was because the last couple of games he's been very shaky against small nippy forwards and his distribution has bee below par.
I have no doubts you are a genuine fan, that's why I was a bit disappointed to see you single out Ward. No defender in the world would have been anything other than shaky against Aguero in that form, and when you say Ward's 'distribution' I am assuming you are referring to his long balls, which is obviously what Lambert has told him to do, and often he has little other choice!
Not so much the long balls, more the short passes. Like I said he gifted the ball to Tevez yesterday. I know some of this isn't his fault because if there is n movement there's little he can do, but some of his passes seem to be a little bit casual, not as casual as Bennett's back pass granted. I think he's done a fantastic job for the club and will continue to do s, I just don't think he had a brilliant game yesterday partly due to the £50million worth of strikers Man City had and partly because he is more of a high ball and crosses centre half. Naughton at right back and Martin at centre back may have worked better yesterday. But then there's a reason that I'm not a manager or player and Lambert and Ward are.
