Team news - No Kompany and only one striker

Hart
Zabba, Kolo, Nasty, Clichy
Garcia, Rodwell
Yaya, Silva, Milner
Aguero.

AT least there is a decent amount of effort. Rodwell seems to be playing alright. Aguero is very disappointing for me. Plenty of effort, just not enough quality. 9 goals in 22 games including 2 pens isn't good enough.

Hi Guys
Stuck in Munich Airport for the next 5 hours....managed to buy a 5 euro pass to get some decent Wi-Fi....so just watched the last 25 minutes.
Bloody hell...how good does Rodwell look?
Still feel Tevez loves playing against Chelsea...so I can't see it being long before he is on...a win today should see us finish 2nd.

I'd have Tevez on for say Garcia who hasn't been involved much. We were pressing early in the half and have now just let them bring the ball out. Get Tevez on and keep them under pressure.

that was fucking stupid from hart, but a great save

sorry, but how many chances does aguero need?

fucking great goal

another good finish

Kolo Toure - outstanding today - and Rodwell played well, in fact think everyone stepped up their game. Good result - great goals and should shut the naysers (press) up.

Wensdi wrote:Kolo Toure - outstanding today - and Rodwell played well, in fact think everyone stepped up their game. Good result - great goals and should shut the naysers (press) up.

Naysayer...is that my new name?

I agree Wensdi..thought Kolo played really well. Great save from Joe, 2 great finishes...really pleased Mancini brought on Tevez...have to agree with the comment about Aguero...he's just having one of those stop-start seasons....still think he is world class though...the work he gets through is superb.
Rodwell did really well today..........however, think there is no future for Sinclair...Mancini just doesn't seem to rate him, even for 4 minutes at the end - he puts Nasri on to make a point.
Thought it was an excellent performance...and to give Bobby credit, he got the tactics spot on.
It's such a shame we cocked it all up and are not 6 or even 8 points United...as 12 is too much.

Absolutely great challenge from garcia to set the ball rolling for the second goal. Agree with all above Rodwell, Kolo excellent so to Nastasic, thought Garcia was superb got a foot in where it mattered broke up play effectively & quietly, milner his usual busy self clichy & zabba's lung capacity must be phenomenal the amount of up & down they do during a game. No complaints at all a good solid all round performance. Well done Roberto & City.

Agree Skyblueoz - everybody stepped up. What we have all been waiting for. If we can keep it up and finish 2nd and take the FA Cup - we will have done well this season. No slacking now - and will be pleased.

definitely wensdi, just wish the rags would stuff up somewhere along the line & make it an interesting finish like last year. Same result would be fantastic. Would certainly shut up a number of so called pundits. we should try & get Fred the red to pay out early. only done it twice both times scum were 2nd. Sorry got to go 12.30 am ,work in 6 hours yuk !!!

If utd do lose a game, then we have a chance to get within 6 points at the swamp. that's the only way they'll feel under any pressure. But where can they lose one or two games, or at least drop points?

No hard games before that clash on 8th April. After that, maybe Stoke (a), Arsenal (a), Chelsea (h) and WBA (a) are games where they can drop a few points, but 12, I don't see that.

We have just got to work as hard as this every game.

Thought we looked class today - and we were without Vinnie. Wonder if Barry is in the dog house for the performance against the Saints? Hope not - he's usually solid for us.

Great performance today. Kolo & Nastasic were excellent. Garcia gets better ^ better & Rodwell looked like a decent buy for the 1st time. Just hope he doesn't stub his toe in training & be out for the rest of the season !

Aguero is still class. Think he actually needs Tevez alongside him to get the best out of him. Superb save by Joe !!!

All we can do is keep winning our games & hope that the scum drop a few points here and there & make the camera bunker a bit deeper next time for Van Pussy to fall down

I think Mancini got it spot on today, Rodwell looks like a new player, not a sick note, he's been working on his hamstring every day, doing strengthening etc... It's taken time but the penny might have dropped again! The criticism of players in my eyes, especially Nasri, who let everybody down at Norwich, is correct, and issue to him to show Mancini he's not just an arrogant French Tw*t, resting of his Prem winners medal.
Kolo had a good one too, apart from letting Ba get past for the " penalty" where he dived. Considering this is the new formation Mancini is playing, in its first outing ( one up front) it bodes well that we dominated Chelsea.

My only concern, as it has been all season, is that we spurn a stack of chances before we score. That just invites pressure.

Clinical finishing would have won us a few more matches as well as settled a few nerves in others.

Agree about the dive from Ba, Joe pulled out with his arms held back and there was minimal contact with his thigh but the ref bought it. You have to ask yourself would you have been angry if it was your team and that wasn't given? If that was Aguero I don't think I would have been angry at a penalty appeal being turned down but I would have been disappointed at such a blatant dive by Sergio.

There were plenty of such diving examples today. Was it Cole that got Rodwell booked? Whatever, he kicked his leg out when the ball had gone and fell down.

Considering this is the new formation Mancini is playing

4-2-3-1 is the formation we played nearly all last season and brought home the title
New formation it isn't

Don't agree that Aguero didn't have a good match - he caused big problems for Chelsea's back four. He just didn't quite have enough finesse or luck to get the ball in the net. He still played extremely well.

Sounds like a great game, with a great result to match.

I didn't get to see any footy over the weekend, due to frantically gettin the little uns bedroom re-decorated ready for the carpet to be fitted today.
Even City were the 2nd game of 2 to be on MOTD2 last night, so went to bed and didn't get to see the highlights.

Anyway, good to see Rodwell playing well.....let's just hope he can stay fit now.

Wensdi wrote:Don't agree that Aguero didn't have a good match - he caused big problems for Chelsea's back four. He just didn't quite have enough finesse or luck to get the ball in the net. He still played extremely well.

His big problem seems to be keeping his footing. Does anyone have a tally of how often he gets into a great goal-scoring opportunity in the 18 yard box, ball at his feet, and then slips? Must be well into double figures now. He could do with some studs in his boots, then he might have scored a few more goals!

9 goals in 22 matches with a couple of pens isn't good enough. Doesn't matter how much effort you put in, you have got to tuck those chances away.

I don't know what the reason is for his misfiring and making wrong decisions. Maybe it is the break up of his marriage or just a lean patch, but we need more. We need a guy that scores more than one goal for every two good chances he gets. I reckon Aguero is one goals every 4 or 5 chances.

I think we need to give Kun a break, not just because he has personal problems but every striker has a lean spell. Would you rather have Torres or Andy Carrol?

Oh give him a break he still causes defenders a lot of worry. He moves so fast he does tend to lose his footing - but he scored the winnder for us last year - never forget.

Won't forget the winner Wensdi but we have to move on as well. Can't live on the past or rest on our laurels.

Wensdi wrote:He moves so fast he does tend to lose his footing

Only since he got that lucrative boot deal with Puma. I don't know what type of blades he's got on them, but given the amount of sliding around he does, I suspect they'd work better on Dancing on Ice.

It's probably the sheep droppings Leo

Ew

Hello all,

Not posted in a while as I've been away.

Only managed to catch the first 25 minutes as I had to catch a flight back to Manchester from Budapest (Anyone noticed SkyGo doesn't work on WiFi unless you are connected to the supplier - load of s***).

Anyway, just finished watching the highlights and thought we looked brilliant. Rodwell has always been a great player and showed it yesterday. Just needs to keep that hamstring in tact. Yaya was brilliant - don't think there is any coincidence that he has a good game when playing further up the pitch.

Has any checked Nasty's passport? Is this kid really 19? So composed, in the 25 minutes I watch I seen him cooly take the ball at least 3 times. He's going to be some defender.

Again, just not managing to put the ball in the net as much as we should be. I liked how many crosses we got in the box yesterday as well. Looked a lot wider than we normally do.

Good game all round it seemed. Actually looking forward to the next game, which has been a rarity this season, shame to say.