City V Swans

[Blueband Brother]

A boring, largely uneventful first half but that does not matter- we are one up but need to get another in the second half to put this to bed. Swansea has played well. They have been organized, closed us down opportunistically and broke with pace and directness. They were also, as you would expect, very good at shifting the ball about.

As I said the key is to get the second goal and perhaps that will open them up a bit because it is difficult at the moment to break through even though we have dominated. The team needs to play with a bit more urgency and not dwell too much and the ball. Defense is always a concern but the key is to stay on the front foot and get that second goal in the second half and ultimately win the match obviously.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Pretty good in the end, despite a slow start. We're lucky they're not better at finishing though. Should be able to win this now they have to come out a bit.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

He's better playing from instinct. When he has to think = short-circuit.

Valuable contributor all the same.

We have too many players that need the play to be instinctive, off the cuff, in my opinion. There needs to be more thought to our passing, more purpose to it, an intelligence. The best open play chances have come from Swansea.

 

[BigOscar]

Need better movement when the defenders have the ball, at the moment we're having to go side to side and eventually work down the flanks. Yaya and Fernandinho really need to move a bit more to open up passes through the middle if we're going to play at any real speed.

 

[bluestreak]

lol, these commentators. " If it had not been for Joe Hart, that would have been a goal"

 

[stony]

lol, these commentators. " If it had not been for Joe Hart, that would have been a goal"

With insight like that it's easy to see how they get their jobs as well paid pundits.

 

[Big Yaya Wilko 12]

Not great, really.

Our passing going forward has been pretty average.

I'd stick Delph on. Need a bit more urgency in the middle!

 

[jaiguruKun]

Need to get Delph on asap.

 

[Hamann Pineapple]

Delph coming on ? For who ?

 

[Steve68]

lol, these commentators. " If it had not been for Joe Hart, that would have been a goal"

If it was a spectacular save that only a top keeper like Hart could pull off, it would be a fair comment.

 

[wattle]

Delph doin a lot of warming up at half time. Hope it's not for dinho

 

[SebastianBlue]

Not the greatest showing from the lads in the first half but at least we are up a goal and no one got hurt. Not sure I would bring on De Bruyne for this one—give him a proper rest.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

What about it?

Over 90% completion rate that half.

Uninspiring and predictable in the main, with so many easily avoidable concessions of possession. Mangala will have one of the highest pass completion rates in the team, it doesn't mean he's good at it, so completion rates are really not important. What's important is the way we use the ball, are we exploiting a weakness in their team, getting in behind their full backs, are we stretching them, sucking them out of position then moving it quickly into the space in behind or round the corner. Do we pass at the required tempo? Etc. This is what's important, not "was the pass completed? Yes or no".

 

[Chi-town blues]

Don't blame the leaky defense or Yaya as our weak link,,its the way we play.Push every one all the way up and leave massive gap in the middle.

 

[BlueTG]

Sat watching from the third tier today it's plain to see our lack of movement. We're having no threat down the middle either, stood ball watching. I'll take 1-0 so far, it's not been a great game.

 

[johnny on the spot]

He is also completely irrelevant.

Sticking the boot into the fans, always too quiet at the etihad etc etc

 

[SebastianBlue]

Delph doin a lot of warming up at half time. Hope it's not for dinho

I hope it is for Yaya. He doesn't look quite up for it and is doubling causing issues by both leaving huge channels for white shirts to run through the midfield and taking up nearly the same spots as Silva on several occasions (which has caused us to slow down attacks considerably).

 

[ayrshire_blue]

Pretty good in the end, despite a slow start. We're lucky they're not better at finishing though. Should be able to win this now they have to come out a bit.

I don't think they've sat back as much as some other teams do. They've managed to create 2 great chances from open play, at least one of which should have resulted in a goal.

Our movement both in and out of possession is shocking. We've dominated possession but very little of it has threatened Swansea. Lucky they fell asleep at a set piece.

 

[Chi-town blues]

I hope it is for Yaya. He doesn't look quite up for it and is doubling causing issues by both leaving huge channels for white shirts to run through the midfield and taking up nearly the same spots as Silva on several occasions (which has caused us to slow down attacks considerably).

Really? He is having a great game so far.Maybe we are watching two different game.

 

[FogBlueInSanFran]

Navas is the new boo boy, following in the footsteps of Edghill Dzeko. He can't do right for doing wrong for some people.

I think there are some matches where he plays too conservatively and others where he is so quick and determined he is a bear to play against. It's hard to reconcile. I like him, though -- lest we forget, another assist today on a good corner.