City v Sunderland Post Match

[OB1]

Still frustrating how open we can be at times, and against poor quality opposition. Still, an improvement from last game and they were slightly fortunate that they scored from their only two major opportunities. Have to do better in the games we have coming up.

Whilst I don't like seeing us give up two goal leads and would prefer a little more caution and organisation in such situations, it is hard to argue against Pellegrini's fortune favours the brave / attack is the best form of defence approach. Sunderland had four shots at goal and got them all on target but three of them were from set pieces; meanwhile, we had thirty-two shots. Pellers plays the precentages but in a different way to a Mourinho or Allardyce; we will have to wait and see which approach works best.

 

[OB1]

Very interesting tactics by Poyet.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep (bus parked).
Wait for a mistake and then get forward quickly. None made, Mangala far to quick.
Nowhere enough shots, pace or heading capability by City to break the deadlock for 50 mins....
Then...
BANG. Goal of the season by yaYa - Certainly shot of the season.
Then...
Total change in tactics by Poyet. A high pressing game.
City exploit it and score a great second with an exquisite give and go by Jovetic.
But far too many City players ( including Nasri. YaYa, Fernandinho, Demichelis & Zab) are still asleep and suddenly it's 2-2 with the "Curse of Returning City player". Sloppy defending at a corner (and not having a man on both posts is always suicidal in my book) and Jack makes it 1-0 and an awful attempt at a tackle by Zab from which Johnson scores a pen we're rocking.
But Sunderland fatally keep with the high press and City bring on Lampard to be a centre forward and it's 3-2 with a fantastic header.
Fortunately with everyone now up to pace we rip Sunderland to shreds but Pants makes great save after great save to keep Sunderland in it.
City had about 16 attempts in the last half hour but Pants kept us out time and time again or we rattled the woodwork or blazed it over.

An incredible game but just before YaYa's goal would you have thought that would have happened?

Sunderland were very very limited. Just dour and although they scored 2, they had almost zero attacking threat through open play.

We have played poorly in our last 2 games, and should be grateful that in a vulnerable period we had relatively easy fixtures.

We didn't play poorly throughout; we had one poor half and one that was affected badly by the weather.

 

[NoahCity]

Still frustrating how open we can be at times, and against poor quality opposition. Still, an improvement from last game and they were slightly fortunate that they scored from their only two major opportunities. Have to do better in the games we have coming up.

Whilst I don't like seeing us give up two goal leads and would prefer a little more caution and organisation in such situations, it is hard to argue against Pellegrini's fortune favours the brave / attack is the best form of defence approach. Sunderland had four shots at goal and got them all on target but three of them were from set pieces; meanwhile, we had thirty-two shots. Pellers plays the precentages but in a different way to a Mourinho or Allardyce; we will have to wait and see which approach works best.

See what you're saying, the attacking attitude definitely helped open the game up which then favored us (and we really should have had at least 2 or 3 more goals). Just hoping that we keep things a little tighter for the upcoming PL fixtures we have where opposition will be a bit more ruthless.

 

[big gaz]

You have to laugh Jack and Adam both 90 mins each both scored and Pants was fantastic.

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Very interesting tactics by Poyet.
Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep (bus parked).
Wait for a mistake and then get forward quickly. None made, Mangala far to quick.
Nowhere enough shots, pace or heading capability by City to break the deadlock for 50 mins....
Then...
BANG. Goal of the season by yaYa - Certainly shot of the season.
Then...
Total change in tactics by Poyet. A high pressing game.
City exploit it and score a great second with an exquisite give and go by Jovetic.
But far too many City players ( including Nasri. YaYa, Fernandinho, Demichelis & Zab) are still asleep and suddenly it's 2-2 with the "Curse of Returning City player". Sloppy defending at a corner (and not having a man on both posts is always suicidal in my book) and Jack makes it 1-0 and an awful attempt at a tackle by Zab from which Johnson scores a pen we're rocking.
But Sunderland fatally keep with the high press and City bring on Lampard to be a centre forward and it's 3-2 with a fantastic header.
Fortunately with everyone now up to pace we rip Sunderland to shreds but Pants makes great save after great save to keep Sunderland in it.
City had about 16 attempts in the last half hour but Pants kept us out time and time again or we rattled the woodwork or blazed it over.

An incredible game but just before YaYa's goal would you have thought that would have happened?

Sunderland were very very limited. Just dour and although they scored 2, they had almost zero attacking threat through open play.

We have played poorly in our last 2 games, and should be grateful that in a vulnerable period we had relatively easy fixtures.

We didn't play poorly throughout; we had one poor half and one that was affected badly by the weather.

At times today in the 2nd half we played some great football, as we also did from the 20th minute to the 45th against Burnley. I armchaired it today, and was thoroughly irritated by the commentators whining away about our lack of tempo and how lacklustre we were, without any acknowledgement of how it's virtually impossible to generate 'tempo' against a team that has 10 men within 12 yards of its own goal every time you get the ball, nor of the fact that for the 6th game in a row we didn't have a forward in the box to whip the odd cross into from out wide. All we could do was what we did - be patient, keep probing and wear them down, and we did that pretty damned well. 32 shots at goal and only Pants prevented us from racking up a good half dozen goals.

The only thing that concerned me again today was our defensive fragility. We aren't the biggest team in the world and our capacity for conceding needless free kicks, plus the occasional corner due to poor individual positional play, therefore drives me up the wall. Thought Mangler was good today though

 

[Sergi0 Na5r1]

Not complaining given the result but I had 4-2 at 40:1. How a 4th never went in God only knows?

The move leading up to Silva clattering the post was just world class and would have been a contender for goal of the season.

Shame that. But realistically it should have been 8-2 if those final 10 minutes had panned out. We had something ridiculous like 37 shots.

 

[citymad]

You have to laugh Jack and Adam both 90 mins each both scored and Pants was fantastic.

and the fact that Adam worked his socks off tracking back in defense. Only at City hey ?

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Rodwell is a cu*t.

He played well as a defensive midfielder today. I'm still not convinced we were right to sell him.

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

To beat a gritty team like Sunderland twice is no easy feat ,people might say its only Sunderland but at 0-0,they had all there team defending ,it was no surprise the quality of Yayha opened them up ,but what's concerning for me though is we get needlessly under pressure when team start having a real go against us ,Burnley and Sunderland are prime example, we need to keep our concentration up for full 90 mins and close the game out

 

[Bluemanc100]

All three City goals...

<a class="postlink" href="https://vine.co/MCFCVines" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">https://vine.co/MCFCVines</a>

Cheers fumble - 3 crackers, each for different reasons!

I realise we are biased but the Ya Ya goal has to be a contender for goal of the season