City vs Magies...good start to the season

Good enough performance, though I would have liked a few more goals with them down to 10 men. Navas has blistering pace, would like him to take on his man a bit more often.
Dzeko worked hard, had his chances, shame he didn't score.

Imperious performance from pretty much everyone tonight.  We put ourselves under too much pressure buggering around playing keep-ball in defence (Lescott really can't do that part of the game), but once we packed that in, we never looked in any danger.

I've never seen Dzeko play with such hunger despite not scoring.  If he keeps that level up, he'll be a goal scoring machine before too long.

Sorry leo but Dzeko just doesn't do it for me, he should have had a hat-trick last night but got sweet FA. His 1st touch is still crap and he's still a lazy git......man of the match, don't make me laugh. Agreed on the Lescott pissing about bit though, he really isn't good enough to be doing that shit.

As regards the game, it's a great start and one that we all hoped for. To score 4 (5 with Negredos goal) was just what we wanted to remove the Rags from top spot.
Thought Fernandinho was superb last night, as was Silvas link up play with Yaya, Aguero and Dzeko. Navas took a half to get going but he certainly looked the business when he did. I'm sure there's tougher games to come but we'll take um game by game....great start though fellas.

Yes a good start. 2 definite pens & Negredos goal would have been a fairer score line. 
Agree with Den on Dzeko. He missed a hatful of chances. Negredo would have buried 1/2 of those & I would have preferred to see him & Aguero up front. However I cant knock Dzeko's effort - far better than last season
Vinny will be a massive loss if he has in fact injured himself. Thankfully we still have time to get a decent CB in the transfer window, which we should do even if Vinny isn't out

Considering it was the first game of the season, and there's always a few cobwebs to blow away, ( regardless of how many preseason games or training sessions you have) I was very happy with the result! Yes it should've been more, 2 clear pens and an incorrectly dissallowed goal.
 Wondered why Garcia got the nod at CB when Vinny went off over Micah? Especially after his abject performance against Bayern!!
  All in all, there was a definite bounce to many of the players (Yaya's shuffling apart) gait, Dzeko looks like a man who's had a weight lifted from his shoulders! There was brief moment in the 2nd half where he didn't get a decision, (where previously he would mope for 20-30 seconds), he started his usual mope, then snapped himself out of it almost instantly.
Zaba and Navas, Dzeko and Aguero, Yaya and Fernand, some good partnerships developed.
  I hope Vinny isn't out for too long, otherwise I think we will be in trouble against other teams,,especially if he puts Garcia and Lescott together! although Lescott impressed with his defending ( not his ball distribution ) I'd be far more comfortable with Richards in there, fingers X'd Vinny won't be out too long, and Nasty will be back soon.
The performance was more important than the result, and it can only get better, and with plenty of quality in reserve to keep the levels high throughout the season and cups, looks like plenty of doubts were put to bed.

Bewar3them00n wrote: Wondered why Garcia got the nod at CB when Vinny went off over Micah? Especially after his abject performance against Bayern!!

Mica wasn't in the squad last night?  Not sure what we can make of that but if he is not injured is it a sign he is off?

I thought it was a great start, unlucky with the ref bottling the pens and no way was Negredo offside but we really were never worried.   Of $ky's millions of stats the most telling one was Newcastle touched the ball in our penalty area 3 times over the whole game!!  That is seriously woeful.

We've a good run to the Utd game now, don't take the foot off the gas and then another 6-1 and we are off and flying 

shakencity wrote:Sorry leo but Dzeko just doesn't do it for me, he should have had a hat-trick last night but got sweet FA. His 1st touch is still crap and he's still a lazy git......man of the match, don't make me laugh. Agreed on the Lescott pissing about bit though, he really isn't good enough to be doing that shit.

As regards the game, it's a great start and one that we all hoped for. To score 4 (5 with Negredos goal) was just what we wanted to remove the Rags from top spot.
Thought Fernandinho was superb last night, as was Silvas link up play with Yaya, Aguero and Dzeko. Navas took a half to get going but he certainly looked the business when he did. I'm sure there's tougher games to come but we'll take um game by game....great start though fellas.

I think you're being a little harsh on Dzeko, but for the efforts of Kruhl in goal, Dzeko would've had a couple, sure, the last effort Nasri set up was fluffed, but on another day they would've gone in. Negredo missed a hatful against Beyern if you remember?
Nasri looked sharp and scored a good goal.

Bewar3them00n wrote:

shakencity wrote:Sorry leo but Dzeko just doesn't do it for me, he should have had a hat-trick last night but got sweet FA. His 1st touch is still crap and he's still a lazy git......man of the match, don't make me laugh. Agreed on the Lescott pissing about bit though, he really isn't good enough to be doing that shit.

As regards the game, it's a great start and one that we all hoped for. To score 4 (5 with Negredos goal) was just what we wanted to remove the Rags from top spot.
Thought Fernandinho was superb last night, as was Silvas link up play with Yaya, Aguero and Dzeko. Navas took a half to get going but he certainly looked the business when he did. I'm sure there's tougher games to come but we'll take um game by game....great start though fellas.

I think you're being a little harsh on Dzeko, but for the efforts of Kruhl in goal, Dzeko would've had a couple, sure, the last effort Nasri set up was fluffed, but on another day they would've gone in. Negredo missed a hatful against Beyern if you remember?
Nasri looked sharp and scored a good goal.

Tbh Bewar3, I don't think i'll ever warm to him. I'd personally put him as our 4th choice striker this season and i think that'll be the case in the not too distant future. With our other striking options at the club, Dzeko needs to be scoring and last night won't have helped his cause in the slightest. I think Negredo will be the main man this season, with King Sergio backing him up to the hilt.

Missed the Bayern game as I was away, but I have every confidence Negredo will come good.....unfortunately I can't say the same about Dzeko. Sorry mate, but that's just my opinion.

I agree with both of you on Dzeko. Thought his finishing last night sort of sums him up. Normally needs 5 or 6 good opportunities to score one....and if we want to win the league we are going to be playing the better teams where we may only get 5 or 6 good chances.

It looked at least, like he wanted to put in a shift last night and he definitely seems to have a better attitude around his work rate.

I agree with Shaken though, can see Negredo partnering Aguero when the season really kicks in.
However, if Dzeko gets the nod in the next few games, it's up to him - little flicks and work rate won't wash for too long with MP if he isn't taking his chances.

With Navas' delivery being so good, the only problem I see with Negredo is the fact he is left footed. By that I mean, if Navas' crosses are along the floor and not in the air, this means the ball will be coming to Negredo on his right foot due to Navas playing on the right........just an observation.

The whole team were excellent last night, though the opposition was poor and didn't look like they were up for it in anyway whatsoever.

Agree as well with the Lescott issue....he really is the most uncomfortable looking footballer with the ball at his feet. Another CB is a must for me, even prior to Vinny's injury, as Garcia is not quick enough to play there.

Top of League and a great start, but let's see us do that against better opposition.

Morning all,

I'm going to make more of an effort to post over here this season if that's alright with you guys, I've managed to persuade the IT guys at work to unblock the site from the firewall so I can get on it!

It was pretty much what I expected last night to the extent I put a bet on before the game for City to win and score more than 4 goals (won 120 quid, which isn't bad!). Could and probably should have been a lot more, but I don't think anyone should be too harsh on Dzeko considering how good the rest of his game was - it was partly one of those nights where nothing goes in and I thought Krul was probably Newcastles best player!

In terms of how we will differ in our style of play this year, last night showed a lot already. Pellegrini's preferred formation is a 4222 with pushed up wingers and then an advanced forward with someone playing off him. For us, that would mean usually a combination of Aguero/Jovetic alongside Dzeko/Negredo. One particularly pleasing thing from last night was how well the front two linked together, I've never really liked Aguero and Dzeko as a partnership before but it worked really well, especially considering Aguero hasn't really had a preseason.

With that formation, it relies on a couple of things that the new signings have definitely given us. Genuine width on at least one flank in Navas (his crossing was brilliant all night) and mobility in the central midfield from Fernandinho, as they have to do more covering the defence. I have a feeling Fernandinho is one of those players that may go slightly underappreciated, but his role is vital to the whole set up and I really like the look of him as well.

The other big difference is how we play without the ball. Whereas Mancini was very much about shape and everyone getting back to their position quickly (something Nasri in particular struggled with), Pellegrini is more about a high defensive line and high pressing to win the ball back as quickly as possible. This, we did excellently last night. As poor as Newcastle were, we really didn't give them any space at all. Even Nasri when he came on was busting a gut to close players down.

Now that style of play works best against teams like Newcastle who play deep against us and haven't got the players to deal with it. Against better teams, I think we need to be careful with it as we will be more vulnerable defensively. I think Pellegrini and our squad are good enough though to cope with changing it when required, we really do have a plan a, b and c now!

All in all, it couldn't have gone much better for a first game of the season. The only two downsides were the injury to Kompany (although that may force us back into the transfer market, which I think we should have done anyway) and from the sounds of it, the cost of the new Jamie Oliver catering!

Good points as always Glyn, nice to see you back mate.

Micah is supposed to be out for a month, Crystalli Richards lives on!

Having watched Negredo in pre season, he should have had many  hatfulls but didn't do so. Same as Dzeko. It's just that people prefer the look of him and cut him some slack for some bad misses.

Even though Negredo was only on for 10 minutes, he didn't do much chasing down of defenders and goalie. If that was Dzeko he'd have been blasted for being lazy.

All our forwards will come good over the season, that's for sure.

Topdawg wrote:
Even though Negredo was only on for 10 minutes, he didn't do much chasing down of defenders and goalie. If that was Dzeko he'd have been blasted for being lazy.

I'd have blasted Negredo it it'd been 0-0 with 10 minutes to go, but at 4-0 was anyone really arsed.

That said, if it'd been Dzeko, i'd have still blasted him  

ps. Negredo was only on 10 minutes and still managed to score (not that it counted).

shakencity wrote:

ps. Negredo was only on 10 minutes and still managed to score (not that it counted).

Dzeko set it up though, his header was heading for the top corner until Krul denied him with yet another top save, palming it out straight to Negredo who was wrongfully flagged for offside as he was onside when the ball was crossed and Dzeko headed it goalward.
The ref also got 2 penalty decisions completely wrong and seemd to be giving all the free kicks their way in the first half hour and he was getting on my man boobs, both assistant referees seemed to be wearing Stevie Wonder glasses at times too and failed to flag for near assault on City players.

We won 4-0 but in truth it could easily have been 6 or 7 (it should have been 10, it should have been 10, you lucky bastards it should have been 10  )
Had it not been for the, at times, world class saves that Krul was making, in particular the point blank header from Dzeko that he managed to get a hand to.

The guys also seemed too content to pass it sideways and then back again rather than make any attempt at pressing the attack in the second half.
The spell where Kompany and Lescott were playing 'keep the ball' with Cisse almost taking it off Lescott at one pointwas driving me up the wall and i found myself screaming "stop doing that you fucking plank" at the TV screen to the consternation of my wife. 

The new players were all impressive albeit they were not really tested by a top 4 team and will face much sterner tests.

The striker debate is an interesting one, a much more confident Dzeko is infinitely better than the lacklustre lad that finished the last season. He deserves a chance to show us that, given a proper chance, which i believe he never got from Mancini, he can recapture the form that saw him stick 4 past Spuds before being dumped unfairly on the bench for many games due to Mancini's obstinate obsession with Balotelli. There are a lot of games coming up both at here and in the CL and i am sure that with injuries also playing a part, they will all get plenty of game time.

Cheers Den,

I tend to go on the forums more at work when the kids aren't bugging me, now I can get on this one I'll definitely be on more!

Hi Melton....it'd be great to hear more from you!

I'm glad it wasn't just me that thought Dzeko looked better.

I saw a fair few negative comments on Bluemoon about him too.  Honestly, I really don't know what game some people saw - was it just the headers that went wide or got saved by Krul?  Did they miss the effort he put in, tracking back, pressing the defence or setting up three of the goals we scored and the one that was disallowed?

Negredo looked like he's had one too many English breakfasts.

All about opinions leo

I thought Dzeko had a great game - looked a lot more confident, looking like he was enjoying the game. Literally, the only thing missing was a goal. MOM well deserved I think. I also think Nasri looked good when he came on. Hopefully it's not just the first game hunger we are seeing and this stays apparent through the season.

I still think defensively, we aren't quite there yet. There was a few times, especially in the first 15-20minutes where we looked a bit shakey. Looked ok for the rest of the game.

I think Negredo is just a big fellow Leo. He moves pretty quick.

shakencity wrote:All about opinions leo

Indeed it is.

I've long thought that Dzeko was lazy and petulant, but he showed precisely none of those traits on Monday night and I can honestly say I didn't once think he was a waste of space or that he should've done better.  Yes, I can see the argument against him for not scoring, but can you honestly, with hand on heart, say that you've seen him play better than that in the last 18 months?

Jordan wrote:I think Negredo is just a big fellow Leo. He moves pretty quick.

Hmmm...  Maybe so, but he did look a bit pudgy.  Someone behind me shouted out that he had man handles.  I've no idea what that means!!

Does that mean he handles man???

Topdawg wrote:Does that mean he handles man???

Well - he did tweet that he is very excited to feel the City fans. So, maybe..