OFFICIAL: City v Blackburn Post Match Discussion Thread

[Marvin]

I was well happy with the 3 points today but absolutely shocked at the team selection.

What on earth was Hughes thinking of leaving out De Jong. Today we won inspite of the tactics not because of them IMHO and thats from a pro Hughes man.

Ireland had his worst game for City in I dont know how long, and why ?????? Because he never got beyond the striker once til the 91st minute then , funnily enough, he scored. Had NDJ been playing he would have been doing that all day.


On a positive note, I thought Toure was bloody brilliant. Adebayor did well and scored a cracker. Bridge is a different player with Barry in front of him.

Betterr from Dunne but I guess it helps playing besides a proper CH

I was thinking the same about NDJ, but if you consider it, he is a small lad, technical but not exactly a powerhouse of physical strength. I think he could've suffered v. Big Sams thugs. If Kompany was available, I would've played him I think in the NDJ position. Instead of SWP.

But as it was, SWP was the lad who made two crucial passes and was thus MoM for me - without his contribu exatly tion, we wouldn't have scored either goal.

De Jong's omission was notable, but as has been said made sense because Blackburn don't play the game through midfield.

If there is one thing that Nigel De Jong is it's a powerhouse.

 

[flapjack]

if hansen thinks that was an average performance then god knows what he would make of some of the games i've seen over the last 20 years!!! that was far from average in my book by city standards, an average performance was fulham away last year, but then i guess he is comparing the standard to the top 4 and not against past city performances

 

[BimboBob]

Watched it twice now plus highlights and it looked like a good all round performance.SWP set up both goals and played well.Ade led the line superbly well.Ireland didn't have his finest but scored a good goal.Barry was excellent,moped everything up.Given was his usual,an excellent couple of saves.Richards played well.Still concerns about Bridge.Toure looked class.Dunne looked solid and Robbie did what he usually does in away games but ran his socks off and had a couple of good efforts.Tevez,when fit,will be a star judging by the 20 minutes he had.Bellamy was my MOTM.Excellent player to have when you sit back and defend.He ran all day.

Overall a good performance in a game we might well have lost this time last season.Blackburn are a huge,physical team and we coped very well.

Roll on Wolves!

 

[Thaksinssoldier]

it was obvious De Jong and Zab didnt play due to the size of the blackburn team and the long balls they play...great tactical move by MH in not playing them.

Dunne left huge holes between him and Bridge a lot in the 1st half but in the second half Blackburn went more direct so this was less notable..that being said nobody in the Prem is better at defending those hoofed balls then Dunney.I would be worried other managers would see those gaps and exploit them ala Garrido versus chelski 2 years back.

overall we did well but lets be honest,blackburn could have netted a goal or 2 but for shay..so while being happy lets not get carried away.

if we get to arsenal with 9 points I'll be a very happy blue.

 

[BornLate58]

Hughes was spot on today with his team selection. Picked a team to cope with the kick and run tactics of Blackburn. They bypassed the midfield so effectively a midfield pitbull was surplus to requirements today. Also what planet is BFS on City did a professional job today to get the three points.

 

[Aussie!]

Re: Ireland was poor but..

Its not often he has a poor game though. However im with you on this 1 ;)

i disagree he was asked to do a bit more defensively today and worked his socks off and he took his goal well, very composed, and showed genuine class with his finish and cooln ess under pressure, you must take into consideration the job he was asked to do today and he did it very well

Id have to disagree with you on that, however even if i agree with you and say ireland had a good match, when you compare his performance with barrys and SWP's, it becomes clear he didnt have such a good match :)

 

[Aussie!]

it was obvious De Jong and Zab didnt play due to the size of the blackburn team and the long balls they play...great tactical move by MH in not playing them.

Dunne left huge holes between him and Bridge a lot in the 1st half but in the second half Blackburn went more direct so this was less notable..that being said nobody in the Prem is better at defending those hoofed balls then Dunney.I would be worried other managers would see those gaps and exploit them ala Garrido versus chelski 2 years back.

overall we did well but lets be honest,blackburn could have netted a goal or 2 but for shay..so while being happy lets not get carried away.

if we get to arsenal with 9 points I'll be a very happy blue.

we will. we got wolves :) and portsmouth :)

 

[Shegelu]

Re: DUNNE V TOURE

I think Dunne did a good job but out of Bridge and Richards those stats do not lie! Bridge links us with the midfield alot better.

Sorry, but you were watching a different match to me. I saw Dunne make a couple of his usual calamity errors. If it wasn't for Toure slotting in there, we would have been f***d.

Dunny, you're a good lad but its time Sparky made Nedum first choice.

Barry & Adebayor were glorious to watch, although I thought we missed the De Jong/Kompany role in defensive midfield.