City v Arsenal post match discussion

[Le Havre Oswald]

I didn't think we were "poor" as some seem to be saying, but I wasn't overly impressed by Arsenal either, and in my opinion we should have beaten them.

First half for 35 minutes we conceded way too much possession, not for the first time this season, but for all their tippy tappy football in that period we had the better chances, and looked more direct. I wasn't surprised when we went in front.

Second half for 25 minutes we completely dominated possession, and pushed Arsenal back to the edge of their own box, in this period we should have scored at least twice but didn't. Once we lost Dzeko, who I thought was our best player, the game got stretched too far, and we struggled to keep possession again, and looked very vulnerable to their break aways. The only surprise when they scored was that it came from a corner, and not a break away.

Overall we were OK, but work needs doing on our defensive play. Garcia looks well off the pace at the moment, and both fullbacks yesterday were below par.

Hart 6, 1 good save but his distribution was awful
Zab 5, one the poorer games he's had for us
Lescott 7, good header for the goal, and probably our best defender
Kompany 6, better than at RM, but still off form
Clichy 5, his worst game so far for us for me
Garcia 5, hope he finds his feet soon
Yaya 8, a good game, though his shooting boots were on the wrong foot
Sinclair 7, not sure what he did wrong really, give the lad some time
Silva 6, not up to his normal standards, his passing was pretty woeful
Dzeko 8, held the ball up well, worked hard, needs a goal a game though to say in the side
Aguero 7, don't think he's fully fit yet, worked hard though, and with a bit of luck would have scored

Rodwell 5, I'm not sure where he was meant to be playing, don't think he knew either
Tevez 6, ran about a lot, to little avail
Balo, not on long enough, but did nothing of note

I thought mancini got the subs wrong, Tevez should have replaced Aguero or Silva, Balo should have been given longer, no idea why Sincalir was taken off really.

It's funny how different people few the same game. As I thought zaba was man of the match especially as he was pretty much in the 2nd half playing 1 v 2 on many occasions.I thought clichy played well dont really remember him putting a foot wrong, very sold in defence as always. and I also thought yaya had a below average game.
Hart 6
Zaba 7
Clichy 7
Kompany 6
Lescott 6
Garcia 5
Yaya 6
Silva 5
Sinclair 5
Dzeko 7
Aguero 6

 

[St Helens Blue (Exiled)]

Just shows you how football divides opinion.

Some think Clichy was shit,some (including me) thought he was MOTM.

Some think Lescott played well. Some didn't.

Some think Sinclair did ok. Some didn't.

All we need is a thumping great win and people will chill out again and the flappers can put their wings away.

 

[stavros]

I didn't think we were "poor" as some seem to be saying, but I wasn't overly impressed by Arsenal either, and in my opinion we should have beaten them.

First half for 35 minutes we conceded way too much possession, not for the first time this season, but for all their tippy tappy football in that period we had the better chances, and looked more direct. I wasn't surprised when we went in front.

Second half for 25 minutes we completely dominated possession, and pushed Arsenal back to the edge of their own box, in this period we should have scored at least twice but didn't. Once we lost Dzeko, who I thought was our best player, the game got stretched too far, and we struggled to keep possession again, and looked very vulnerable to their break aways. The only surprise when they scored was that it came from a corner, and not a break away.

Overall we were OK, but work needs doing on our defensive play. Garcia looks well off the pace at the moment, and both fullbacks yesterday were below par.

Hart 6, 1 good save but his distribution was awful
Zab 5, one the poorer games he's had for us
Lescott 7, good header for the goal, and probably our best defender
Kompany 6, better than at RM, but still off form
Clichy 5, his worst game so far for us for me
Garcia 5, hope he finds his feet soon
Yaya 8, a good game, though his shooting boots were on the wrong foot
Sinclair 7, not sure what he did wrong really, give the lad some time
Silva 6, not up to his normal standards, his passing was pretty woeful
Dzeko 8, held the ball up well, worked hard, needs a goal a game though to say in the side
Aguero 7, don't think he's fully fit yet, worked hard though, and with a bit of luck would have scored

Rodwell 5, I'm not sure where he was meant to be playing, don't think he knew either
Tevez 6, ran about a lot, to little avail
Balo, not on long enough, but did nothing of note

I thought mancini got the subs wrong, Tevez should have replaced Aguero or Silva, Balo should have been given longer, no idea why Sincalir was taken off really.

Very reasoned post. Are we playing worse than Chelsea or United? No. We are not taking chances however.

With Silva woefully out of form, I'd play more directly with Yaya in his position. Two strikers in front.

hart 6
zab 6
clichy 4.5
kompany 5.5
lescott 5
garcia 5.5
yaya 7
sinclair 6
silva 4
aguero 5
dzeko 7.5

 

[Danamy]

I have similar concerns about what I have seen so far from Garcia, a taller version of Nigel but with less pace.

Less pace then Nige? Not sure about that. Garcia seems to get about a lot more too

It was incredible yesterday how many times he found himself the wrong side of the ball and had to chase back, i just couldn't make it out?

The game just seemed to pass him by, i'm just hoping it's a one off

 

[Lancet Fluke]

There seems a lack of conviction and all this chopping and changing, experimenting, is making players unsure of themselves.

Totally agree with this. I wish he would just settle on his best team for a few weeks until we get a bit of momentum. Players shouldn't need resting in September (imo) and while we are struggling to find form, the constant changes just seems to exacerbate any problems.

 

[Kippaxblue5]

Pics and comments on the Arsenal game are now online at
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.rtfract.com/citsep12a.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.rtfract.com/citsep12a.htm</a>

 

[OB1]

Just shows you how football divides opinion.

Some think Clichy was shit,some (including me) thought he was MOTM.

Some think Lescott played well. Some didn't.

Some think Sinclair did ok. Some didn't.

All we need is a thumping great win and people will chill out again and the flappers can put their wings away.

And some thought Zab was MotM but I blamed him for their goal as I thought he should have done much better with a header that gave possession straight back to them in build up to the concession of the corner from which they scored. This was symptomatic of the lack of composure we have been showing of late.

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Just shows you how football divides opinion.

Some think Clichy was shit,some (including me) thought he was MOTM.

Some think Lescott played well. Some didn't.

Some think Sinclair did ok. Some didn't.

All we need is a thumping great win and people will chill out again and the flappers can put their wings away.

And some thought Zab was MotM but I blamed him for their goal as I thought he should have done much better with a header that gave possession straight back to them in build up to the concession of the corner from which they scored. This was symptomatic of the lack of composure we have been showing of late.

I thought it was his fault too. Poor header.If in doubt head it out for a throw in. He just headed it straight back to them.

Poor week for Zabaleta for me

 

[supercrystal7]

If I was to give the players a rating, 7 being a good enough performance then it would be something like this.

Hart 6-should have done better for the shot, which led to the corner, possibly even preventing it. Decent otherwise.
Kompany-7.5-your MOTM. Apart from a slip in the first half was very good. Commanding performance and making great interceptions.
Lescott-6 Made a lot of mistakes, which led to chances. The header to Koscielney and letting Ramsey(?) beat him to the ball. The goal raises it up to a 6, though.
Clichy 7-decent enough. Got caught out once defensively and did not cross well but was alright.
Garcia-5 was gassed at the end. Did not pass the ball well or quick enough. Lacked pace
Toure 6-poor performance for his standards. Too casual with possession, but even then had some great moments and dangerous runs
Sinclair-6 first start in the new team did carry the ball forward a lot. Should have showed more awareness. A lot of the misunderstandings were due to lack of pracitse.
Silva-5- very poor game especially for his standards. Gave the ball away a lot, wasted lots of chances with sloppy passing. Worked hard though and never gave up.
Dzeko 7- held the ball up well, passed well and as usual moved very well off the ball.
Aguero-6 got into positions, but did not score and missed chances. Should have had a penalty though

Rodwell-6- allowed the team to regain control of the midfield. did ok.
Tevez 6-did not really do much right or wrong. Hard for him to get into the game.

 

[cleavers]

Just shows you how football divides opinion.

Some think Clichy was shit,some (including me) thought he was MOTM.

Some think Lescott played well. Some didn't.

Some think Sinclair did ok. Some didn't.

All we need is a thumping great win and people will chill out again and the flappers can put their wings away.

And some thought Zab was MotM but I blamed him for their goal as I thought he should have done much better with a header that gave possession straight back to them in build up to the concession of the corner from which they scored. This was symptomatic of the lack of composure we have been showing of late.

I've often wondered about the big differences of opinion, especially on full backs, whether its where in the ground you view the game from ?