Well, I'm not sure how to put that into words but I'll give it my best shot.
I do think that the title race ended today. Our horse has a bad leg and as we head towards the final fence it appears United's horse has more legs and some slightly easier turf to gallop across. Sunderland weren't the better team today - I know stats only tell half of the story but seriously: 64% possession, 15 shots (7 on target), 86% pass completion rate; on another day those stats would have backed up a 3-0 win but some sloppy defensive errors cost us the game. Kompany allowed Larsson time to control, shape up and shoot before moving to block the ball; we fell asleep before Sunderland's free-kick and Richards easily beaten by Bendtner in the air; Kompany stepped away from Bendtner which allowed the pass through and left Toure isolated at the back.
It was a bad day at the office today - the worst offenders, for me, being Yaya Toure and David Silva - but there's a certain enigmatic centre-forward that needs guidance, serious guidance. That debacle in the second-half was like watching us throw the title away within five seconds. United will look at that and absolutely piss themselves with glee. Mario was aggravated by Kolarov snapping the ball out of his hands (and I think Mancini should discipline Aleks for that) but Balotelli's reaction could lose him the respect of the players and a lot of the fans that adore him. That was a petulant, childish reaction from Balotelli and something that leaves him clinging on to the City cliff with one finger, Mansour stamping on his hand to make sure he lets go. Kolarov may have been in the wrong too but it's Balotelli who the media are going to hound now. It's not his fault if the media follow him, but Balotelli does nothing to help himself. In saying that, I can't ignore Balotelli's two world class goals today. Another superb penalty and a great goal to get us back in the game: once again we see both sides of Mr. Mario.
I think our best player today was Pizarro. We lacked a lot of inventiveness in the second half until he provided it. Silva's not fit and it's showing in his performances on the pitch and how much the range of City's play increases when he leaves the field. Toure and de Jong pushed the ball wide so much more when Silva departed because they absolutely had to - and we ended up scoring because of the amount of pressure we put on Sunderland. Kolarov put in about 20 crosses today and with Aguero on or Dzeko in a better position we may have nicked all three at the end.
A bad day at the office, yes. But that's one bad day we can't afford at this stage. For the 2011/12 campaign we settle for second and go back to the drawing board for next season. I'm not happy with the way we've played since December (Wolves at home being the last time I felt like we'd steamroller a team) and now we're beginning to have our weaknesses shown. More questions will pile up and Mancini will do his best to answer them, but any late push feels like it will be too little, too late. 2nd is progress, but it's all we're gonna get this season.
