Well - City vs Stoke was a very frustrating game to watch, but it was totally expected. As I thought, Stoke came with a game plan and defended in numbers (usually 11 men behind the ball) and every time City had the ball they were faced with a wall of 4 or 5 Stoke Midfielders, and behind that line yet another 4 defenders.
We needed to be effective of the break and hit them at pace before they were able to get their men back behind the ball, but eachtime someone always slowed play up, took an extra touch or looked up too long for options - and in that hesitation it allowed Stoke every time to get everyone back again and into shape. Guess a lot of players had the midweek game in their legs still though.
For the above reasons, this made the game a poor one, awful to watch and certainly not an advert for football. One team trying to break down another doing everything to keep it at 0-0.
I was suprised that Jovetic didn't start up front. Seeing as he should have been fresh, and the fact that Dzeko and Negredo don't seem to be a good match. Very frustrated that Jovetic came off after only a few minutes injured. Hoepfully it was more precautionary. The guy obviously has a lot of talent, I have been very impressed with what I've seen off him the last few weeks. But it doesn't matter how good you are, ya can't go missing injured all the time. Some people are just like that aren't they - so he NEEDS to get over this recurring injury thing and fast.
The breakthrough, finally coming through Yaya Toure, with the tactical shift of moving him further forward up the pitch and having Javi Garcia playing the defensive midfield role.
Hmm, food for thought - Javi Garcia and Fernandinho both holding behind an attacking midfield trio of Nasri, Yaya Toure and Silva - behind Aguero as striker vs Barcelona anyone?
