Match Thread | Manchester City Vs Sunderland (13/08/16)

[ono]

Caught everyone off guard by Sagna and Clichy moving right in the middle .Guess no one saw that coming.

Like Lahm and Alaba really.

 

[SebastianBlue]

Tika-taka

Not really—it may appear that way because it is early days.

 

[prestonibbo_mcfc]

Silva and Stones have been our most impressive players. De Bruyne, who perhaps isn't match fit, has been unusually poor.

Don't think you can say anyone has been poor, just maybe not in the game enough.

 

[blueinsa]

45 mins in, winning 1-0 and some think we should be the finished article already.

Nothing changes on here does it?

 

[Chi-town blues]

This is the first game ffs.Some are already flapping .

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

Its not as bad as some are making it out, good signs early on i say, bit sad to see joe hart images on the bench, i expect a strong second half

 

[Exeter Blue I am here]

Put the sherry away. ;-)

I know. It felt wrong writing it!

 

[Chi-town blues]

Like Lahm and Alaba really.

Right but wasn't expecting he try that here.

 

[Dharmic Blue]

Ohh please. We are learning a new system. Let the players adapt to it before complaining.

That's fair enough. I'm not complaining, just an observation. There are things we can be pleased with, Stones in particular. Raheem has also looked bright. But we've been very easy to defend against. Early days.

 

[Blueband Brother]

We are ahead at the break. Good fast start, which allowed everybody to settle into the game. Sunderland kept their two lines of four and looked to hit on the break with defoe and co but Stones for one did well to deal with the threat of their offense. He also had a lot of time on the ball as well. Kolarov was also comfortable on the ball. Sunderland gave us a lot of space and time with possession but we could not really create much in the final third with pace and creativity. One of the objectives for the players is to keep possession, play from the back and move around in a fluid, coordinated manner. The second priority is quite universal and it involves actually creating chances and scoring goals. It seems that we focused too much on the first priority in an almost deliberate manner and was not able to do the second objective after we scored the first goal. The attacking players need to play better together. Nilito needs to get more involved and De Bruyne and Silva need to hold the ball better.

As long as we continue to keep possession, we minimize their chances of scoring but this second half should be about actually creating chances and putting the Sunderland backline under more pressure.