I said the same thing at the match, expected them to do the usual Sunderland defend like possessed men out of no where for 80 minutes then it's a toss up who wins 1-0 at the end; usually them. However within 5 minutes they had the ball in our half & with plenty of men forward looking to take the lead.Did I really see what I saw yesterday? Sunderland, Fat Sam's Sunderland, came to the Etihad and played four forwards and an open game? Bizarre, the most bizarre tactics I've seen considering who the manager was (remember that 1-1 against Blackburn when they had a free kick near our box in injury time and Pederson kicked it out for a throw in because they didn't want us counter-attaching them?).
Much more energy from us yesterday. de Bruyne and Silva were absolute class.
We were talking in the car after the game about the side he put out. Why would you play Mannone, Johnson and Graham, who aren't regulars? Either he'd decided just to throw this game in order to concentrate on the ones where they're more likely to get something or he was putting those players in the shop window for January.Did I really see what I saw yesterday? Sunderland, Fat Sam's Sunderland, came to the Etihad and played four forwards and an open game? Bizarre, the most bizarre tactics I've seen considering who the manager was (remember that 1-1 against Blackburn when they had a free kick near our box in injury time and Pederson kicked it out for a throw in because they didn't want us counter-attaching them?).
Much more energy from us yesterday. de Bruyne and Silva were absolute class.
Dear Xxxx,
I have to apologise to our fans who travelled today.
We all knew it was going to be difficult against Manchester City, but I did expect us to show a little bit more fight and determination.
Losing three goals in the space of nine minutes is something you cannot do; you can't afford to make the kind of mistakes we made.
Our play out of possession has to improve and that is where our problems lie at the moment.
We can look neat and tidy in possession, create a few chances, but when we lose the ball we are not defending correctly as a team at this moment in time. Too many teams are scoring against us.
It isn't a slow start, because the lads were doing okay. With the lapses in concentration and the way City scored it looks like a slow start, but it's individuals at that moment in time not doing their job correctly.
Younes Kaboul is out and we know the key strength of the side is down the middle. John O'Shea was limping at the end and that makes life more difficult.
If we lose John, Wes [Brown] has only just come back from a bit of an injury and of course he hasn't played that much.
The only way to go forward is to get clean sheets.
We were talking in the car after the game about the side he put out. Why would you play Mannone, Johnson and Graham, who aren't regulars? Either he'd decided just to throw this game in order to concentrate on the ones where they're more likely to get something or he was putting those players in the shop window for January.
Wonder what happened to that great tactical master-plan he concocted last season to beat us at Upton Park?
We were talking in the car after the game about the side he put out. Why would you play Mannone, Johnson and Graham, who aren't regulars? Either he'd decided just to throw this game in order to concentrate on the ones where they're more likely to get something or he was putting those players in the shop window for January.
Wonder what happened to that great tactical master-plan he concocted last season to beat us at Upton Park?
Compliments on the very necessary and very accurate reply to the Independent's unpleasant description of the transformation of our club.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...cost-of-another-vincent-kompany-a6786766.htmllink ??
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...cost-of-another-vincent-kompany-a6786766.html
In the comments at the bottom.