Sunderland
Good run up as you’d expect in the Tom-mobile. Went past the A19 so we could stop at Leeming services for a cheap (£3.50 brekky)
Cold breeze at Sunderland but OK at the away end “how many are you going to put past us today?” the Sunderland fans asked. “West Brom fans said the same last Monday” I said “and look what happened there” Sky TV asked me about New Year resolutions and I told em “I want to lose a bit of weight, then watch City win the League, The Cup, The Carling Cup and the Europa Cup. I don’t think they showed the last bit – praps as well.
I thought Roberto’s team selection was fair enough – we played our strongest team at West Brom and couldn’t crack it, same again today. Robbie Savage thought that Sunderland deserved their win. Bollocks Robbie, they deserved a draw, but never a win.
“Where were you when you were shit” sang the Sunderland fans, well we’ve not heard that one before. “we were here……” but more importantly we always beat them when we were shit - from 03 to 09 it was 8 wins out of 8 – before the money came in!
Sombre journey home, crap punditry later on MOTD 2 - Dublin and Hartson - and another sleepless night – these 93rd minute losses do my head in. Still we know where the money needs spending in the January window.
So it puts extra pressure on tomorrow nights game. There’s talk about a mid season break every so often and instead we find ourselves with a heavy fixture list including 2 games in 2 days. Why didn’t the club protest?
So to Liverpool, here’s the It’s a fix extract :
GAME 20) TUESDAY JANUARY 3RD LIVERPOOL (HOME) KO 8Pm
Their last promotion was in 1962, since when they’ve won the lot but no title since 1990, and their last pot was the F A Cup in 2006. Most recent connection : Craig Bellamy. It’s the 152nd Lg meeting.
It’s the first return game of the season further to the recent 1-1 draw at Anfield. City went ahead through Kompany (31) and promptly gifted them an equaliser through a Lescott OG (33) but Silva should have clinched it before the end. Crowd was 45,071 with 2964 Blues.
This season so far : They’re in 6th place with 34 points from 19 games and 5 wins 1 draw and 3 defeats away from home.
In the Carling Cup they won away at Chelsea 2-0 in the quarter final after seeing off Exeter, Brighton and Stoke, all away, and face us next week in the semi-final 1st leg
In the FA Cup they’ve got Oldham at home, stuffy sods.
Our form at home v ‘Pool : Last season at COMS in August we battered them 3-0, with goals from Barry (14) and Tevez (52,68P) Crowd was 47,087 with 2698 scousers. Prior to that in the Prem it’s been 2 wins (94/95 2-1, 04/05 1-0), 8 draws, 3 losses.
Comment : Siege mentality is backfiring on them with the Suarez situation, but it looks like the ban won’t start until after tomorrow. Frankly I’d rather he played than Carroll who always gives us problems. They’ve improved steadily under Kenny, having ruined the game by spending millions, and they’re always difficult to play against, plus Bellers will be out to prove a point. A repeat of last season’s result wil do nicely, and is vital after the recent points losses.
Wwtwtwshite : Av’d 22,742 in 31/32, and this season it’s 44,963.
Thought Mancini overcooked the tired arguement as lots of teams played Saturday and today.
ReplyDeleteHeard a City fan come across as pretty bitter on Radio 5, but his main gripe was that Savage had admitted that the goal was offside, but had then added the stupid observation that Sunderland deserved it because of the way they defended. Sorry, but it's either offside or onside.
Selection was conservative, but once more, we were slow out of the blocks against a depleted team. I hate to say it, but in those situations, Unitd would go for the jugular right from the start.
We probed and probed, but if anything we looked desperate and devoid of ideas towards the end.
Johnson and Nasri were both disappointing, but how can Dexeko look so low on confidence, when he's one of the top scorers in the Premier League?
Once the Cup ties are done and dusted, Mancini will have to pick his best team for every game.Apart from the dilemma of Milner or Nasri that team virtually picks itself
Have to agree with all of the above, but also YaYa had a poor first half and De Jong looks a shadow of the player who looked essential to us last season. Also Kolarov was back to square one again. As Neil points out, our best team does pick itself, despite what all the pundits ramble on about our massive squad. I see no dilemma with Milner or Nasri unless the latter can buck up big time. What on earth is the situation with Hargreaves? Initially, I thought he would give us some options but has become one of the invisibles with no word as to what's happening.
ReplyDeleteAs I pointed out over eighteen months ago. Our BEST team can beat anyone in the prem, but when we have to start bringinging in three or four changes, we don't look as good. But 20 attempts on goal, 75% of possesion, a goal scored against us with one of only four attempts with just THREE seconds remaining AND it was offside, hardly sounds like a team whose wheels are coming off.
ReplyDeleteJesus!! it worked.
ReplyDeleteEncouraged by Tony's success - here goes. The stats are a little misleading on this occasion as we created very few clear cut chances. I thought Kompany had one of his best games of the season but apart from Hart, he was the only player to emerge with credit.
ReplyDeleteJohnson should now stop bleating and take a look at himself. He had a reasonable start but was a virtual passenger for the rest of the match.
We are just fortunate nobody took a big advantage and a win against Liverpool will restore confidence, I'm sure. Anything less though could be disastrous. I'm going for 2-0 through Aguero and Balotelli.
Kolarov he's the one player I really have a problem with, poor at defending, gets forward and blasts aimless crosses into the crowd or yards wide of any striker, never does he pick a player out, (OPTA stats for last season had something about him being the player who had put the most crosses in without creating an assist 131 i think i recall).
ReplyDeleteAgainst Sunderland we needed the full backs to overlap and turn their defense, but this never happened down the left wing. Kolarov is the 8th best full back at the club, Richards, Clichy, Zabaletta, Barry, Lescott, Onouha, & Bridge are all far better than him. Why Bob Mancini continues to pick him I will never know.
On a brighter note, it's not as though we have been playing badly.
Study the first three goals at White Hart Lane and the Swamp. All Six are pretty similar, with speedy overlaps and sharp crosses for Dzeko,Balotelli and Aguero to slot into an empty goal.
ReplyDeleteDespite his goals that usually arrive from the subs bench whenver Johnson appears on the right wing we lose our fluidity of movement. Similarly despite his strong performances, Zabaletta lacks the pace and cutting ege that Richards provides from the right. Silva can use Richards as a decoy, but he can't do the same with Zabaletta as most opponents deliberately leave him in yards of space.
Incidentally, Arsenal were denied a certain penalty last night and even Blackurn have been awarded more penalties than City this season. Meanwhile Lampard and Ashley Cole continue to bully and intimidate along with John Terry and the usual suspects at the Swamp.
Fantastic result. We were comfortable for the first twenty minutes and Hart saved our bacon with a good early save. They dominated the second half but despite lot's of possession, they barely gave the old ticker too many scares. What has happened to Dzeko? Some will come on and defend him saying that at Wolfsburg he played with a twin striker or that he's not getting the service etc. But I'm not interested. At £25 million, he should be able to hit the target when presented with a header from three five yards. He looks clumsy again just like last season.
ReplyDeleteWas Charlie Adams such an arsehole at Blackpool? He got Balotelli sent off at Anfield and spent the whole game last night kicking and moaning.
ReplyDeleteJohnson proved himself once more as an impact player, but overall I thought 3-0 was a tad harsh on Liverpool.
Agree with the comments about Dzeko, but as with De Jong, he isn't getting enough football and looks slow and wooden when he does appear.
He's played in the last four games though Neil.
ReplyDeleteNot quite Tony.
ReplyDeleteHe came on as sub for the last five minutes against Arsenal, but didn't appear against Stoke for a game that was in hindsight our easiest result of the season. That was the game when Silva or Aguero should have been rested.
He came off the bench for the last ten minutes at West Brom, but has just played two games in 48 hours.
He's not playing well, but I think he could have been handled better.
Fair enough, it just seems like he played in the last four matches. I don't know, I desperately want to like Dzeko, just as I do Kolarov, but when you keep seeing the ball slice off Dzeko's boot and past the post or him rise above defenders only to head into row B, it gets hard to continue giving the benefit of the doubt. We may not get a better chance of winning the PL and cementing our place at the top of the tree. I'm not saying that United will recover next season, but Chelsea might so it's important we don't blow it this season. With Tevez on gardening leave and Balotelli eratic, if anything happens to Aguero, we could be ledft with just Dzeko to lead the line.
ReplyDeleteI share concerns over Dzeko, but do feel he will come good again and he worked bloody hard last night! He needs a lucky break like Sergio got. Adam's late effort which hit the post could have been nicked off Edin's bum which could have taken it in. Nigel is more of a concern as he is going to be needed more when we lose Ya Ya.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Nasri or Milner? Not really much of a choice after the way James performed last night.
Wasn't the feeble shot that deflected off a Liverpool player in the first half that just went narrowly wide a Dzeko shot. That is the type of luck that Dzeko could do with. It would also have been justice following Liverpool's equiliser off Lescott in the Anfield game. So good to be able to discuss this stuff again.
ReplyDeleteHad to laugh last night when Jonathan Pearce referred to Dzeko's "Return to form" on MOTD
ReplyDeleteStrange how Yaya, Kolo, Barry and probably Balotelli are all absent on Sunday, yet the media are obsessed with United's missing players, most of whom wouldn't be starting anyway.