Funny how a goal and not a built up goal either,can make a manager look a genius and another look a burk! But Chelsea deserved it though (and that bloody hurt!)
Only if you underestimate how much Chelsea are despised. "The PL trophy is staying in Manchester" has a reassuring ring to it
City created 2 good chances in the first 15 minutes but it was their sloppiness that really let them down. When you sit with so many defensive players like that you need the players infront to do a job and Hazard and Willian were excellent both in attack and their work rate whilst Ramires and Eto'o too put in shifts. Demichelis was slow and cumbersome and given Toure's tendancy to slack off from time to time it was a bad combo, similar to having Dzeko and Negredo upfront. I actually think City would be better off with Navas playing off the striker given his speed and dribbling skill but with Nasri injured I can see why they didn't. Jovetic looks like the waste of money I said he was when Arsenal were after him, I wouldn't be surprised if Kolorov plays left wing when they play Chelsea again with one of Silvas and Navas playing off the striker.
Chelsea do work harder from the front, no doubt there but key for me was the dropping of Oscar as he also works hard, yet Jose decided winning the midfield battle with defensive minded midfielders would be key, especially as they looked at citys weaknesses. Not sure if you caught MOTD a few weeks back and Hamman was being laughed at by linekar and the other pundit for suggesting Toure is a liability who goes missing and causes city to lose protection of their back four, well he was right as we know Toure is a great player yet he does slack off. As for Jovetic, same with Lamela it seems, complete waste of money, no matter how talented they may be in Italy or possibly the future, something isn't right with either of these players yet both stars in Italian football last year.
Jovetic has had injury problems, so the problem with him is far more simple. The situation with Lamela on the other hand is baffling to say the least.
Look at the four attacking signings from Italy, Jovetic, Lamela, Osvaldo, Raminez, all flops. Could just be a coincidence but there is something about players coming from the Italian game unless you're naturally suited to the English league like a Balotelli or Zola.
You can't judge Jovetic yet. He has had next to zero time on the pitch. but City knew about his injury problems before they signed him. Ramirez was never that good in the first place, and Osvaldo's problem is that he is ****ing nutter. As I said before the case of Lamela is the most bizarre.
Lamela has also had injury problems so by that logic you can't judge Lamela. But both where over priced and you're only defending Jovetic as you personally rate him. Jovetic will be a waste of money but if that's due to injuries then still a waste as he will never have a chance to get some momentum.
I rate Lamela as well. He has certainly not been out with injuries for the same length of time as Jovetic. I think the way you have used him has been bizarre. You played him in the Europa League against some random team and he scored a goal and had his best performance for you, and then you dropped him for your next game, which was I think a home game against Newcastle, and then you brought him back into the starting line-up against bloody City at the Etihad, where you got trashed and he looked out of his depth, and that probably crushed the little confidence he had.
That was a poor decision by AVB, one of his very many poor ones, yet reality is Lamela just isn't settling in the premier league and I don't believe he ever will. He looked good in the Europa League, so did Holtby, yet Holtby has never come close to reproducing that form in the premier league so chances are even if Lamela had started the following game, he would have been hopeless. I'm not calling Lamela and Jovetic bad players, they are talented but we're seeing more and more flops from abroad, or you get players like Cisse who look world class for half a season and then become hopeless! Its tricking trying to call it, but I just can't see how Lamela can bounce back as he also has to deal with being a 32 million player and the pressure that comes with trying to perform, plus he can't speak English and probably doesn't enjoy life here.
Oscar could've played but Willian, Ramires and Hazard all cover the ground much quicker and have the stamina to do it all game. Chelsea countered as you'd expect but the brilliance of it was that, whether it was Eto'o, Hazard, Ramires or Willian who was breaking, by the time they had it in City's final 3rd at least 2 of the other 3 were with them. The back 6 provided a great block on City's attacks but without the attack being effective enough to force City players to keep tracking back it would have just turned into a Barcelona kind of game where they pen you in your own half and keep probing until they get their break through. I'd also give a special mention to Azpilicueta as I noticed that whilst he didn't actually move up the field to join attacks, he did push up when Navas had chased back and this helped for when City won the ball back as he was tight on Navas which nulified his ability to counter. All in all, very effective stuff from Chelsea but I thought Chelsea's front 4 and City's inability to cope with injuries played a far bigger part.
I take it as a given that the Chelsea front four work hard, thats been part of their play all season, which is why the change from having four natural attacking players to three, but incorporating Ramries as the fourth, instead of Oscar and having the protection behind means that was a great set-up by Jose and depending on how we each view the game, we look at different areas which where key. But my main point is having defensive minded midfielders or holding midfielders doesn't mean the general play is defensive as all teams need protection of their defence, which we have generally failed at recently.
Have to admit, despite my distaste for the man, Mourinho put on a managerial master class last night. He got everything right, tactics/ formation/ selection. Oscar has arguably been one of their star performers yet he showed it's not about individuals, it's a team game and he chose the perfect team and tactics to deal with City. Hazard and Willian, two very attack-minded midfielders covered a lot of ground to help the team, I never realised they had that sort of work rate where as Ramires and Matic look a superb midfield pairing in the making. Cahill and Terry were also superb. Ergh, hate praising them but it's only fair.
That game really shows up Sherwood's naivety. Yes, there are different ways to win football matches, but what he describes as his footballing philosophy, I just think is him trying to make a point and making a point isn't going to get us anywhere in the long term. I know it's easy to see your own team through rose-tinted glasses but for me the most depressing thing about Spurs is that our players are better than our team, if you see what I mean - we're not getting the best out of who we have. This is where Fergie, Wenger, Mourinho etc are so good.
100% agree. I think that's why many of us get frustrated with the team. We have a ridiculous amount of talent yet only see it shine in certain stages of matches rather than the majority of them. There can't be many other sides in Europe that have the amount of talent we have yet underperform so badly.
I think we have to be more patient we have a talented squad that's for sure but we don't have game time together under the same manager. The alternative to Sherwood's approach is AVB's do you really want that kind of football? It's always easy to critisise after the event. Don't forget the same naive guy managed victory at OT. The kind of one touch football that Spurs were trying to play against Hull calls for high skill but also acute understanding between players. Remember Man City when they first assembled a squad at huge expense it didn't do a lot the first season did it!
Agree,Spurf,i don't think we will do a lot this season,but i believe we have the talent to be contenders in coming seasons
