West Brom Vs City Post Match Thread

tolmie's hairdoo said:
Far too many needless free-kicks and set-pieces conceded, mainly Fernandino.

Still far too slow in the build up, we won't get the best of Sterling one little bit if we are asking him to tuck inside and let Kolarov do the final yards. Raheem is going to make a huge impact but perhaps showed his tender years, and passed the responsibility a little too willingly.

I couldn't really appreciate how a formation change left us any less exposed to the counter attack and a run on our midfield, regardless of an increased application from Yaya?

Better teams than West Brom will certainly have that composure and quality to make a quick and incisive pass out of the back, which will then have our midfield struggling to fall back in.

There were far too many occasions, especially in the opening 20 minutes of the second half, where Silva, majestic as he was, didn't think it was his responsibility to go with the guy running off the back of him and suddenly felt he could stop running and charge those behind him with the responsibility.

Thought both of our full-back were excellent, and although Vinny looked improved, he still loves that shitty long aimless pass.

Navas definitely played his part, although it's clear where KDB can make a huge improvement.

A switched-on performance full of decent commitment, and greater enhanced by an opposition that gifted us the park to display our keep-ball expertise.

Definitely positives and our improved fitness levels will only see us get better.
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Those needless freekicks that were given away stoped west brom from attacking us at pace! Something we really struggled with last season! So I'd say they were good free kicks to give away! Thought mangala was excellent as was the whole of the defensive line! Still think vinny gets turned to easy by jumping in when there is little chance of winning the ball bony still not 100% but held the ball up really well and I'd be tempted to start him on sunday if I was pellers! Yaya controlled the game from start!
 
uwe rosler 28 said:
Those needless freekicks that were given away stoped west brom from attacking us at pace! Something we really struggled with last season! So I'd say they were good free kicks to give away! Thought mangala was excellent as was the whole of the defensive line! Still think vinny gets turned to easy by jumping in when there is little chance of winning the ball bony still not 100% but held the ball up really well and I'd be tempted to start him on sunday if I was pellers! Yaya controlled the game from start!
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I counted at least two free kicks early in second half which were completely needless, the player moving away with his back to goal, but Dinho still tried to push him off the ball.

One resulting free-kick came from Lambert, which Joe definitely wasn't getting to.

We have to be even smarter and make these cynical challenges much higher up the pitch, where the impact can be much less so.

Our midfield holder will always collect yellow cards likes Smarties because we attack as a front six rather than a three or four.
 
malg said:
Just got in from the Leve Cricket Club (free Chinese buffet at half time - why the fuck would you go to the game?), was Silva motm?
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Not sure if serious but see several comments about how loud our fans were.
And cos we're not all honorary members of the fabled 690 million.
And more to the point we wanted to see the latest attempts by Highways England to turn the M6 into a fucking car park. Both directions too, not just pre-match.
As for what I saw; David Silva is just too good for anybody when on form, Yaya looks interested again, Vince looks more like the Vince of old and Raheem will be a great addition. And we should have had a penalty late on. I'm not sure why it would have resulted in a card as it's possible to foul and not be booked. Perhaps someone can point to that bit in the laws.
Other than that, we could have had another one or two, but 3-0 is a bloody good away win whoever the opponents.
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
I counted at least two free kicks early in second half which were completely needless, the player moving away with his back to goal, but Dinho still tried to push him off the ball.

One resulting free-kick came from Lambert, which Joe definitely wasn't getting to.

We have to be even smarter and make these cynical challenges much higher up the pitch, where the impact can be much less so.

Our midfield holder will always collect yellow cards likes Smarties because we attack as a front six rather than a three or four.
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Just as well we have got 3 capable of playing there now. Delph seems to be cutting them out of his game now though, he's got 22 in 120 games in the league, but only got 1 in 28 last season. He surely can't be put into more situations where he has to pick up a tactical yellow for us than he did for Villa.
 
Every single one of our players had a fantastic game. Sagna at the back was brilliant defensively, I think he's been told the shirt is now his to lose, Zabs going to have to wait if he continues to put in performances like that. mangala was monster, Vinnie looked assured and commanding and kolarov looked steady and was superb going forward.

Fernandinho is so key to our game, his energy and quality combined is almost unrivalled, please don't start needlessly "resting" him Manuel. yaya looked up for it both with and without the ball.

Navas had one of his best games in a blue shirt, i'm still not a fan of his due to his reluctance to take a man on but he was very impressive last night and added good balance and variety. Sterling looked dangerous, didn't really do much with the ball but the beauty of having somebody like him in the team with other world class players is he doesn't have to produce an individual moment of brilliance simply being on the pitch threatening to make the runs often occupied 2 defender which gave Silva even more room to work his magic in.

I thought Bony's hold up playing and linking was exceptional, everything Dzeko lacked and will be a real asset to us this season, he's better than just being able to stick it in the net. As for Silva, i simply can't produce the words to explain how good he is so i'm not even going to try, we all know.

I don't see how people can be annoyed at not bringing the kids on. The team is more important than any player. The last 10 minutes we were noticeably tired and West Brom had more room in our half, we needed MDM to come on and sit infront of the defence and just see the game out. Bringing Kelechi on would of meant either playing him out of position which is pointless or completely changing the system and going 4-4-2. That would of just been potentially making the last 10 minutes needlessly difficult for ourselves. Similarly with Denayer, he either comes on completely out of position or we change a back 4 that had been solid and up to that point had kept a clean sheet just to give him some minutes? How many people moan about not changing the back 4 every game? Yet some want to change it mid match just for the sake of giving a player a competitive debut? They'll both get their chance eventually, there's no need to force it.

We can't get too carried away with this result though as good as it was. Pullis made a huge error playing 4-4-2, we probably won't play against another team all season that do that and Chelsea will certainly be a lot better than they were this weekend. Whilst every player had an impressive game, there was still causes for concern with the overall system. We did on occasions look vulnerable and seemed far too easy to get at our back four, and set pieces there was still so many free men in the box at times. A better delivery could of seen us punished.

The away end was rocking all game last night. We always seem louder the season after we've just lost the title just like the players seem hungrier. We'll suit not being anybody's favourites both on and off the pitch this season. Big chance on sunday to really set a marker down. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's the going to prove to be the biggest game of the season. Get a win and we could go 5 points ahead of the champions already. That's a big lead and it could deal an either bigger blow to Chelsea psychologically, we could very well see them implode if we give them a pasting.
 
Excellent performance all round. Mind you, it's hard to tell whether WBA are truly crap, or whether we made them look crap.
Hopefully this makes up for the 3 points we dropped at Stuttgart.
 
Nearly danced off the plane when I switched on phone and got a text of the result. I was actually expecting that exact score; shame I don't bet or make predictions out loud. I hope this was a statement of intent from City.

Only seen highlights of the game - on NBC's Mamchester Monday - but looked pretty impressive. Silva and Yaya are unmatched, in Prem, on their day. Sterling gives us something new. WBA were weak opponents but I do believe it is mainly about us and playing with belief and commitment but no complacency that will determine our level of success.

Imperative that we follow up with a good result against Chelsea.
 
ninjamonkey said:
Every single one of our players had a fantastic game. Sagna at the back was brilliant defensively, I think he's been told the shirt is now his to lose, Zabs going to have to wait if he continues to put in performances like that. mangala was monster, Vinnie looked assured and commanding and kolarov looked steady and was superb going forward.

Fernandinho is so key to our game, his energy and quality combined is almost unrivalled, please don't start needlessly "resting" him Manuel. yaya looked up for it both with and without the ball.

Navas had one of his best games in a blue shirt, i'm still not a fan of his due to his reluctance to take a man on but he was very impressive last night and added good balance and variety. Sterling looked dangerous, didn't really do much with the ball but the beauty of having somebody like him in the team with other world class players is he doesn't have to produce an individual moment of brilliance simply being on the pitch threatening to make the runs often occupied 2 defender which gave Silva even more room to work his magic in.

I thought Bony's hold up playing and linking was exceptional, everything Dzeko lacked and will be a real asset to us this season, he's better than just being able to stick it in the net. As for Silva, i simply can't produce the words to explain how good he is so i'm not even going to try, we all know.

I don't see how people can be annoyed at not bringing the kids on. The team is more important than any player. The last 10 minutes we were noticeably tired and West Brom had more room in our half, we needed MDM to come on and sit infront of the defence and just see the game out. Bringing Kelechi on would of meant either playing him out of position which is pointless or completely changing the system and going 4-4-2. That would of just been potentially making the last 10 minutes needlessly difficult for ourselves. Similarly with Denayer, he either comes on completely out of position or we change a back 4 that had been solid and up to that point had kept a clean sheet just to give him some minutes? How many people moan about not changing the back 4 every game? Yet some want to change it mid match just for the sake of giving a player a competitive debut? They'll both get their chance eventually, there's no need to force it.

We can't get too carried away with this result though as good as it was. Pullis made a huge error playing 4-4-2, we probably won't play against another team all season that do that and Chelsea will certainly be a lot better than they were this weekend. Whilst every player had an impressive game, there was still causes for concern with the overall system. We did on occasions look vulnerable and seemed far too easy to get at our back four, and set pieces there was still so many free men in the box at times. A better delivery could of seen us punished.

The away end was rocking all game last night. We always seem louder the season after we've just lost the title just like the players seem hungrier. We'll suit not being anybody's favourites both on and off the pitch this season. Big chance on sunday to really set a marker down. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it's the going to prove to be the biggest game of the season. Get a win and we could go 5 points ahead of the champions already. That's a big lead and it could deal an either bigger blow to Chelsea psychologically, we could very well see them implode if we give them a pasting.
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I really enjoyed reading that, you should take up journalism - you are far better than those already employed in that job.
 
Never in doubt.
I've been bullish about our prospects this year and a dissapointing preseason wasn't goint to change that.
Exceptional performances from big players and huge performances from some who've been under the cosh from certain sections of the fanbase was just what was needed to lift the mood.
Of course there were still a few things that we could do better and the level of opposition helped but make no mistake that was a statement of intent.
I said in the pre match thread that a win against Chelsea to put us 5 clear at this stage is the kind of psychological advantage that we were never able to attain last time around, I think the boys are going to rectify that this time around.
 
BillyShears said:
Interesting. I felt Silva's starting position was often enough parallel to Toure on his right hand side. It's a hair we're splitting defo but yeah it looked fucking great. The thought of adding one or two top class players to that side is mouth watering.

Are you happy enough with the balance of the side I know it's been a worry of yours ?
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Based on avearge positions, it was almost a 2-4-4 or 2-1-3-4.

Silva was actually the most advanced player of all. Yaya was behind the front 4 with Dinho further back. Dinho was behind the full backs, who were almost level with Yaya.
 
Completely dominant performance. I thought we were phenomenal in terms of possession of the ball and we very rarely gave it away which was pleasing to see. Our attacking performance was no surprise, movement was fluid etc. and as the season goes on I'm sure we'll be a bit sharper. I'd say we weren't at our peak in the game, but still created various chances which shows the talent we have. Silva in particular was in a world of his own, playing on his own really.

Defensively, I thought the back four looked very settled, played the offside trap extremely well on numerous occasions and were generally comfortable.

Although we were in complete control and played very well, there were occasions where I think the midfield demonstrated openings and gaps that, if playing another team, could be problematic. I thought in the first half, when we had a 4-3-3 with Fernandinho behind Silva and Toure we looked good although Silva sometimes looked to struggle with the need to come back deeper to defend. Second half it changed to 4-2-3-1 and, with Ferna and Yaya in the 2 and gaps started to appear, albeit only a few of them. Thankfully West Brom didn't have the players to cause significant damage, but they were gaps that would appear in our much maligned 4-4-2 of last year. I'm interested to see how we line up when we have a complete, and fully fit squad, and I hope it is a 4-3-3 and not 4-2-3-1, although I imagine if De Bruyne arrives it will be the latter.

Overall, on a weekend where nobody made an impact, I thought our performance was a fantastic reminder that we are still here. And although there were, in my opinion, minor issues, I think the positives in terms of gelling as a team, and more importantly in terms of confidence and momentum made last night a hugely successful one heading into Chelsea, and the season as a whole.
 
OB1 said:
Nearly danced off the plane when I switched on phone and got a text of the result. I was actually expecting that exact score; shame I don't bet or make predictions out loud. I hope this was a statement of intent from City.

Only seen highlights of the game - on NBC's Mamchester Monday - but looked pretty impressive. Silva and Yaya are unmatched, in Prem, on their day. Sterling gives us something new. WBA were weak opponents but I do believe it is mainly about us and playing with belief and commitment but no complacency that will determine our level of success.

Imperative that we follow up with a good result against Chelsea.
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https://www.mcfc.co.uk/citytv/Match-highlights/2015/August/WBA-v-City-match-highlights-extended
 
Was at the game must say the atmosphere from the City fans was 10/10 fantastic support and everybody in a good mood. Silva has to be the best player in the Premiership for what he does he just seems to be getting better. Yaya Toure was excellent and Fernandinho with no Pre Season was brilliant for 90 mins. Kolarov & Sterling looked decent down the left and even Sagna had a good game. All is well so far not a single weak link yesterday but the big test is now on Sunday against Chelsea here's hoping we can sit Moureen down.
 
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