City v Stoke City |Match Day thread |13th | 17:15 | FA CUP

[ianw16]

Can anyone summarise the match in a few dot points for me please? i missed the fucking match ( overslept K.O 4am)

Usual shite mate. First 20 played well. Over the top from Ireland. Going nowhere. Keeper over commits. SWP flicks it over him. Shawcross seeing it out. Slips on his arse, hits his head, tap in from 1 metre by SWP. 1 - 0.

Go into defensive mode (why not, only 70 odd to play). i.e.. lose every 50-50 challenge, and quite a few that were 60-40 in our favour.

They lose two players through injury (not due to tackles). Bring on replacements, one of whom is Delap. 2nd or 3rd throw in, no marking, no movement, Fuller free header. 1 - 1.

They look more likely to win for remainder of game (most of 2nd half).

In essence, they outfought us, which, admittedly, isn't saying a lot, as so did Pompey and Bolton, so this was coming. Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

Positives: Didn't lose (deserved to). Bridge (Especially good 1st half), SWP (easily our best player). Johnston will be back on Tuesday.

Negatives: Pretty much everyone/everything else.

 

[crosby26]

Can anyone summarise the match in a few dot points for me please? i missed the fucking match ( overslept K.O 4am)

Usual shite mate. First 20 played well. Over the top from Ireland. Going nowhere. Keeper over commits. SWP flicks it over him. Shawcross seeing it out. Slips on his arse, hits his head, tap in from 1 metre by SWP. 1 - 0.

Go into defensive mode (why not, only 70 odd to play). i.e.. lose every 50-50 challenge, and quite a few that were 60-40 in our favour.

They lose two players through injury (not due to tackles). Bring on replacements, one of whom is Delap. 2nd or 3rd throw in, no marking, no movement, Fuller free header. 1 - 1.

They look more likely to win for remainder of game (most of 2nd half).

In essence, they outfought us, which, admittedly, isn't saying a lot, as so did Pompey and Bolton, so this was coming. Liverpool must be shitting themselves.

Positives: Didn't lose (deserved to). Bridge (Especially good 1st half), SWP (easily our best player). Johnston will be back on Tuesday.

Negatives: Pretty much everyone/everything else.

I wouldn't have Lescott's performance as a negative. Not a bad showing for first game back.

 

[lionheart]

Worst part was taking off Ireland and bringing on vieira, I can't even begin to wonder what that was about.

The only alternatives were Garrido, Sylvinho and Nedum (as RSC was already on) so what did you expect?

 

[inbetween]

Bridge is really starting to look good for me, seems his injury and the Terry shite really has perked him up, got forward and gave them a lot of problems on the left and made a really important block in the first half. Nice to see SWP running and beating players like he used too, today was weird thought we'd bang in a few and finish them off but completely lost the plot playing long balls to nowhere, just allowed them to think they could get back into the game and fair play they did.

 

[marklee]

Adebayor was scared to challenge in the air! It was really frustrating watching the match. I was at the game.

If they had taken ANY 11 people from the supporters to put on a city shirt and play that game they wouldve played with more passion and enthusiasm that City played with. SWP and Ireland played well though.

Its just a load of rubbish that the supporters want to win more than the players. And the supporters PAY to watch and PAY for their clothes and the players get paid.

They say 1 player doesnt make a team, but if Teves was grafting up front it would've been a totally different game.

 

[andy]

The last fewhome performances have shown some worrying trends, i think we were lucky against Pompy and Bolton to get away with our performance. The team look to be so flat, we're consistently second to the ball, caught out on short corners, whenever the ball drops on the edge of the box from a set piece it always seems to be an opponent first on it to fire in a shot. We seem to play with a lethargy throughout the team.

Given is a great shot stopper, probably the best around but his reluctance to leave the line helps create panic and uncertainty everytime the opposition have a set piece.

The defence still look moments away from complete collapse, Im relieved that Lescott is fit as he seems to be our only defender capable of winning a header. Toure and zab scare me to death and we need to get micah and Kompany back in.

The middle of the park is a big problem, DeJong is superb when sat in front of the back 4 with the sole job of patrolling the defensive half of the pitch but he needs to play alongside a player who can dominate the midfield. Watching average players like OHara and Whelan dictate the pace of the game is very concerning, especially with Gerrard and Mascherano heading to Eastlands next week. Gareth Barry looks a shadow of his former self, just strolling through games with very little impact, he has also become possibly the slowest player in world football. Vieira has shown glimpses of quality but lacks the legs to dominate the opposition as he used to.

There also seems to have been an inordinate number of 'sloppy' passes in the past few games. Not every pass is going to be successful but i expect the simple 5 yard passes to reach their target, we simply cause a lot of our own problems through such sloppiness.

Up front Tevez is consistently excellent, as i s bellamy.. hopefully rocky can stay fit and put ade under some pressure. ade is a real talent but he eeds to hold the ball up much better, win us free kicks and relieve pressure, Fuller gave a good example of how to do this yesterday. He also needs to focus on charging into the box when the ball goes out wide rather than seeing himself as a backup winger.

There is no need to panic just yet as we are still in a great position at present, we've got a talented squad and a manager that i trust but there are improvements that need to take place between now and may. . I only hope that we have underperformed against dogged opponents and that we will raise our game for games the 'bigger' teams otherwise fourth place will be a distant dream within a month.

 

[nikusha]

Bridge is really starting to look good for me, seems his injury and the Terry shite really has perked him up, got forward and gave them a lot of problems on the left and made a really important block in the first half. Nice to see SWP running and beating players like he used too, today was weird thought we'd bang in a few and finish them off but completely lost the plot playing long balls to nowhere, just allowed them to think they could get back into the game and fair play they did.

Bridge played well because he knew Cappelo was watching the match : D

we need more aggression

Barry isn't playing well

we need better defenders than Zabaleta or Bridge or Boyata

 

[lionheart]

Bridge played well because he knew Cappelo was watching the match : D
we need more aggression
Barry isn't playing well
we need better defenders than Zabaleta or Bridge or Boyata

From my experience, defenders often get nervous and indecisive when being watched by their international manager so Wayne Bridge's very solid performance was a real bonus. Barry and Zabaleta both played okay. We simply lacked creativity and spark up front, which Tevez and/or Bellamy would normally provide. We are not out of the FA Cup yet, mark my words.

 

[shinpads]

who got man of the match?

 

[inbetween]

Bridge played well because he knew Cappelo was watching the match : D
we need more aggression
Barry isn't playing well
we need better defenders than Zabaleta or Bridge or Boyata

From my experience, defenders often get nervous and indecisive when being watched by their international manager so Wayne Bridge's very solid performance was a real bonus. Barry and Zabaleta both played okay. We simply lacked creativity and spark up front, which Tevez and/or Bellamy would normally provide. We are not out of the FA Cup yet, mark my words.

Hes played good in every match hes started back in for me. Before the Terry shite and ironically his injury in the Chelsea game didn't really feel confident of him on the left he got a lot of stick from people i remember. Hes getting his tackles in now and they could of had 2 on the night if he hadn't made that block in the first half, good stuff really glad hes back.