Five key games where City lost the title

J J

jrb

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Pretty much spot on.

West Ham away was another. Make it 6.

MUEN.

City 1 Everton 1 - Dec 1

When City thrashed Aston Villa 5-0 on November 17 to move top of the table, it seemed they were finally clicking into gear. But just a week later City were held to a goalless draw at Chelsea and United claimed a lead they were never to relinquish. It seems harsh to pinpoint that draw against a decent side - as well as the stalemate which followed against high-flying Everton - as being damaging to City’s bid, especially as they remained unbeaten and United had lost three times. United, however, had made their move.

City 2 United 3 - Dec 9

United took decisive control of the title race after snatching a last-gasp win courtesy of a Robin van Persie free-kick which was deflected in off a shirking Samir Nasri. Victory would have taken City level at the top but the loss, after fighting back from 2-0 down to 2-2 with goals from Yaya Toure and Pablo Zabaleta, was psychologically damaging.

Sunderland 1 City 0 - Dec 26

For a second successive season City slipped up at the Stadium of Light. This time it was old boy Adam Johnson who undid them. The winger played only a peripheral role in the title win and this was an undoubted highlight of his first season on Wearside.

Southampton 3 City 1 - Feb 9

City drew 0-0 at struggling QPR, were held 2-2 by Liverpool and were then embarrassed at Southampton. Gareth Barry blundered before Saints’ first goal and later turned into his own net after a Joe Hart error had allowed the hosts a second. United extended their lead to 12 points and the contest was effectively over.

Everton 2 City 0 - Mar 16

Everton may have been humiliated by Wigan in the FA Cup the previous week but they seldom fail to respond when up against City. The Toffees underlined their status as City’s bogey side by winning for a sixth time in eight meetings with goals from Leon Osman and Nikica Jelavic, despite the sending-off of Steven Pienaar. City boss Roberto Mancini conceded the league to United. He meant it.
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The Southampton and Everton ones are the ones which stand out the most. A club determined to defend it's title would have come back from that United defeat and ensured there weren't anymore this season, or at least not lost in the way we lost at the clubs i've just mentioned. The ref may as well have had a City shirt on too during that Everton game, but we still couldn't win. Champions defending their title don't put in shifts like those games.

Lessons learned.
 
As a group of 5 games I'll raise you QPR, West Ham, Southampton, Stoke, and Sunderland. All bottom half sides, all away from home. In those games we picked up a measly 3 points and scored an even more measly 2 goals. In the corresponding fixtures, the eventual Premier League winners picked up 13 points and scored 10 goals.

Without wishing to turn this into another Mancini thread, all 5 of those sides were very hard to break down and got in our faces when we were in possession. This is something that has been happening since West Brom away on Boxing Day 2011 and has to be addressed in summer.
 
City didn't lose the title in 5 games, they lost it because we've rarely played like champions this season. We didn't start like champions, flickered for a while but never caught fire like last season. Last season, in nearly every game, we had a 15 or 20 minutespell during which we destroyed the opposition. Spurs at WHL is a case in point - last season 0-0 after 30 mins, 4-0 after 60! This season 1-0 after 5 mins but we lacked the killer instinct to finish them off. We had to "hang on" against S'oton and QPR at home this season in a way which would not have happened on more than the odd occasion last season. It took us far too long to get last May out of our systems.
 
The inconsistency has been maddening... we seem incapable of going on a long winning streak anymore. With the money we have spent we should by now have a squad capable of scaring the bejesus out of everyone like Arsenal's Invincibles and Mourinho's Chelsea did. The Premier League is the weakest it has been in a long time and it's United rather than us taking advantage of it. If Mourinho's Chelsea and Wenger's Invincibles were here, we and United could be fighting it out for 3rd and 4th.

After hundreds of millions spent our bench still somehow seems to end up with 4 defensive players and Scott Sinclair on it most weeks. The most unbalanced squad at any (perceived) top level club in Europe IMO. Strength in some positions, next to none in others. This is why you need a good sporting director.

We're also so tactically inflexible (one glove fits all approach) that you can see certain dropped points coming a mile off... such as Everton away, Stoke away (league version), Sunderland away, teams-that-press-hard away (Southampton, Liverpool, Swansea)... because they know how to frustrate us and more often than not it works.

We still have to improve so much both domestically and especially in Europe. If we don't immediately address both our personnel (squad balance) and tactics (new ideas) then we're going to continue to drop points at places like West Ham and Stoke next season - that Groundhog Day feeling of visiting Goodison and the Stadium of Light will never go away without serious changes.
 
Four key areas: Joe Hart was no where near as reliable as he was last season, our solid back four that was lightproof last season has begun to leak, the midfield shielding the back four has been flakey, and we have had all the strikers taking it in turns to have an off day! When one has been off colour no one has come to the rescue!
 
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
Four key areas: Joe Hart was no where near as reliable as he was last season, our solid back four that was lightproof last season has begun to leak, the midfield shielding the back four has been flakey, and we have had all the strikers taking it in turns to have an off day! When one has been off colour no one has come to the rescue!
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Disagree. I actually think our defence has been pretty solid this year. Nasti and VK have formed a great partnership and when called on both Kolo and Lescott have put in good performances. No, the problem has been lack of goals, with all forward players not being quite as sharp and clinical as last season with injuries particularly to Silva and Aguerro, that have cost us.
 
Although i accept we dropped points in those games its difficult to go all season unbeaten and you'll have to be a very exceptional side (or be in a really shit league) for it to happen. A few off performances where a side not expected to beat us are really up for it or an occasional loss at one of the other title contenders and it happens over the course of the season . So apart from the the 3-4 losses which you can generally sustain and still challenge for the title we've drawn far too many games because we haven't been good enough or consistent enough this year. So all in all its been more like 10 games where we lost it and the points gap to Utd reflects this unfortunately, haven't they only drawn 1 all year? Plenty of others in the thread also pick up on our weaker performances which have cost us without necessarily getting beaten. C'est la vie - lets bounce back next year having added a couple of world class players to the squad and we'll go again!
 
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