Man City team vs Cardiff

CITY XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Kolarov, Navas, Yaya Toure, Javi Garcia, Silva, Negredo, Dzeko



CITY SUBS: Pantilimon, Lescott, Nastasic, Clichy, Milner, Fernandinho, Aguero.

Let's hope Garcia playing gives Yaya a little more license to go forward.
Can see Nedge/Dzeko making way for Sergio after 60 mins...just hope he bloody scores again!!! FF team down by 1!!!

A good bright start needed...get 1 or 2 before half time....but I've got a sneaky feeling that this is going to be a tough game....close game, maybe 2-1......after all this hype this week about the 100th goal....we'll get it, but we've rode our luck a little a times.....hope I'm wrong!

Not seen Yaya getting forward....and again, a lack of a LB in Kolorov getting back to defend, causing DeM to get out to a LB position ahead of Dzeko in LMF.  He's been good this season, but he always looks for either a shot or a killer ball whenever he is 30yrds out...a little frustrating today.

Still...Sergio is on hand......

Negredo and Dzeko haven't done a great deal today...expect a little more movement up front....maybe Aguero will provide that.

Still, loads of possession....let's make it count in the final 3rd.

Also, thought Joe was a little on his heels for the goal...not a great shot, but he was wrong footed.

Too wasteful today, let's hope it doesn't bite us. They look dangerous on break.

Can see them doing the same as at Cardiff at this rate

Phew was a little concerned there. Cardiff have played very well

Goal and assist for those with Sergio in FF! Not bad for 10 mins play

As good as Kolorov has been this season...and as good as DeM is on the ball, when we are under pressure....both are not top class.

Think to take us to the next level...we need a top class CB and LB.....poor defending for both goals again today...thank god we had Sergio and Yaya 'bombing' forward to make their last goal  not a problem.

Sergio showed just how to turn a game with nothing short of a class finish.....thought Nedge and Dzeko were average today....Yaya, apart from his goal, didn't really do a great deal..yes his pass in the first half was good, but kept getting caught out of position.

Before anyone starts having a go....I thought we were 'average' today...but to score 4....nothing short of brilliant.

Still, MP MUST look at our defence and say "not good enough to deal with Barca"

Great to pass the 100th goal.....no-one has done that at this stage of the season....but it sort of masks over some serious deficiencies.....that better teams WILL expose at some point.

we seem to just do enough today upped the game when needed looked a little shaky when their winger was running down the right. Negredo definitely had an off day compared to recent games. Dzeko had some good touches today. Thought the ref was a little too lenient as we had 2 good pen shouts turned down. I
do hope we are able to up the anti away to spuds & home to Chelsea in the next couple of weeks.

I was impressed with Noone, but agree with blueboy that it really exposes our defensive frailties. Although Cardiff were very organised for me, we didn't look anywhere near our best.

Good to see Sergio getting back to speed quickly though.

Yeah Melton...a massive bonus.

However, we are still giving away goals that should be easily defended against....and it's the same protagonists who are letting us down in that respect.

3 points...4 goals...we shouldn't really complain.....but I guess we see what the likes of Arsenal, Barca may do to expose those weaknesses.

Thought we were wasteful up front today...and not so great against a team that had 5 or 6 serious attacks and scored 2 goals....

MP said that DeM and Vinny are our first choice CB pairing....well that seriously worries me.

Kolorov is NO left back...great as an attacking LMF player....but always out out of position.

MP needs to address these issue prior to Barca IMO....as DeM and Kolorov (as good as he has been going forward this season)...are a definite weak link in our team.....and I'd hate to see what Barca and Messi, will do to our left side of defence.

Who was their number 16? He fell on the floor so often it was untrue. Should've been booked by the ref for simulation. He'd make a crap Weeble...

Dzeko worked hard today and was actually better than Negredo. I thought Garcia had a decent game as well, something I thought I'd never say. He put in some good tackles too, which makes a nice change. I'm still going to reserve judgement, but he had his best game in a City shirt against a side that weren't bobbins, so that's encouraging.

Not the best performance I've ever seen from us in general, but four more goals to the tally and another three points on the board.

I have to say, I think Garcia has been alright for a while now. We have such an attacking mindset, him or fernandinho both have to cover a lot of ground and can get isolated.

Agree with Leo that him and Dzeko were our best players today.

Wouldn't argue with that. Sort of sums up our performance.

I thought Vinnie was a bit rubbish, i have never seen hin turned inside out before like he was by Noone for his goal. He was also caught out a couple of times when he tried to tackle a player too high up the park and left us exposed at the back when they skipped past his tackle.

ManCityMan wrote:I thought Vinnie was a bit rubbish, i have never seen hin turned inside out before like he was by Noone for his goal. He was also caught out a couple of times when he tried to tackle a player too high up the park and left us exposed at the back when they skipped past his tackle.

I think Vinny can be excused for an average display. Sure we can always forgive one of our top performers for having an off day. They're not that often .

Actually, I think Kompany makes a big mistake once or twice a game.

Still much rather have a Vinnie mistake than "Tom Daley" Demichellis !! I mean how many times does he dive in and get skinned in a game.

DM is the biggest liability especially since MP says he is first choice with Vinnie. If he doesn't dive in, maybe they don't score their first goals and we cane them good and proper.

The problem on a few occasions this season is that when Kolorov plays, he can get caught too far forward, meaning DeM has cover in the LB area...dragging Kompany across as well, which then can leave us 2 against 2 and in and around the box....which can be a nightmare scenario for defenders.

Yeah, it's all Kolarovs fault      

shakencity wrote:Yeah, it's all Kolarovs fault      

No...that's not what I meant and you know it...  

Kolorov has been good this season, but he does play high up the field...Clichy tends to sit a little deeper. And this season, I'd rather have Kolorov.

Also, when Silva plays on the left with Kolorov, Silva hardly gets back deep, whereby, Nasri tends to track back and cover. Guess it's a buy-off between how much we attack and when, compared to being rock solid.

The whole point about diving in is that most good defenders rarely do it. When they do, they get the ball and/or man. The threat is stopped or slowed down.

Most good defenders jockey the attacker which buys time for the midfield and defence to make their way back and set up properly.

DM diving at the half way line, missing both ball and man, meant the attack wasn't slowed down at all and he was was picking himself off the floor when they scored.

Topdawg wrote:The whole point about diving in is that most good defenders rarely do it. When they do, they get the ball and/or man. The threat is stopped or slowed down.

Most good defenders jockey the attacker which buys time for the midfield and defence to make their way back and set up properly.

DM diving at the half way line, missing both ball and man, meant the attack wasn't slowed down at all and he was was picking himself off the floor when they scored.

Not sure when DM dived in Dawg....what are you referring to here and for what goal?

Nobody dived in for Noone's first goal.

Kolorov was the highest player up field on the left.....behind him he had Dzeko, Garcia inside marking nobody and then MD covering over at LB. The pass took out Kolorov and Dzeko with 2 of their players ahead of both...Garcia cutting across to cover DeM who had to then go out to defend against 2 Cardiff players, who played it around him, leaving Noone to wrong-foot Kompany in the box and score.

The point here is that Kolorov as a LB, was ahead of a striker and CMF player, with Silva up front...not apportioning blame to Kolorov...but clearly, if he's so far forward with Silva, Garcia or even Dzeko has to follow runners which they didn't leaving DeM on his own against 2 Cardiff players in the LB position...but he didn't dive in.

Maybe I got confused but I thought DM dived in up the pitch.

I'll watch the highlights...

No mate....DeM was on the edge of our box against the 2 Cardiff players..he had to try and make a tackle, but their player slipped the ball inside to Noone who was free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onI9zyDJxF0

my bad, exhausting weekend, don't remember too much of it!

Well, I remember one incident maybe the Cardiff game or one before, where he just dived in at the half way line and left the attacker to charge down the line. You could argue that Kolarov should've been there but you can't dive in at this, or any, level.

A few have been guilty of this: Kompany, DeM, Kolorov and Zabaletta....I think our style of play allows for the counter-attack...leaving defenders exposed.

But the defenders need to jockey more rather than just dive in.

Topdawg wrote:But the defenders need to jockey more rather than just dive in.

Agree.. for example when Zaba went diving into the tackle against Newcastle.....it was due to a ball that he thought he would get to, but quickly realised he couldn't...as his forward momentum couldn't be reversed, he jumped in and got skinned....any touch and he would've been off.

I hate to say it..but both of our LB's allow the players to turn and then allow them onto their preferred foot...which really pisses me off every time they do it.

Watched Psycho on Goals on Sunday yesterday...and he was making that point....."never allow the wingers the chance to turn and face you..otherwise you hand all the initiative to them" "Stop them by making them keep their back to where they want to go".