Merlin was getting kicked to fuck yesterday. You could see it from wherever you were in the ground. I don't think he gave up, he never does, but I can certainly forgive him if he thought sod this for a game of soldiers, if this goes on my ankle's going to go big time and I'll be out for a month or more. I think Pellegrini came to the same conclusion, hence the taking off. In any case, Merlin even on a poor day is doing more than 80 percent of all other midfielders in the PL playing at their best.
Speaking as someone who was very dubious about Sagna, I thought he had a fairly tidy game. Fernando was really poor - not just the mistake on the goal, anyone can do that, his tackling was frequently mistimed. Both keepers are world class, and both kept their respective teams in the game at different points. A fair result, but for them, might have been about 7-3.
A terrific game of football to watch, and hey, we're still not playing at our best, and we just comprehensively beat a team that has pretensions to finishing in the top five or so. Almost everyone can and will get better, with the possible exception of Jimmy, who is playing brilliantly, as if he has a point to prove, and Kun, whose abilities are just frightening. The biggest single question in my mind: can Aguero stay more or less injury free this season. If yes, then we'll whittle away that lead and catch Chelsea. Sooner or later. No doubt about that, for me.