Sunderland v City Post Match Discussion Thread

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Correct. Our strikers are woefully out of form. Why oh why was Balo left out - injured or punished? We needed that little touch of unpredictability/genius today.

We play Liverpool in 48 hours. Players arent going to play twice. We did miss balo but that team should have been good enough.
If we aren't going to play dzeko etc today then when are we going to play them?
We weren't unlucky either - if you don't take your chances you've only got yourself to blame.

But not even on the bench? Baffling imo. Agree we got what we deserved for not dispatching that lot - they are shit and it´s fookin O´Neill firefighting as usual

Agree with this. Why the fuck have we got 3 defenders on the bench? How likely is it that you are ever going to need all 3. Balotelli might not have come on but at least he would have been an option. Baffling management

 

[deano ou812]

as some have already stated we should have possibly started with our strongest line-up,although hindsight is a great thing,dzeko was brutal today in fact looked like he has went backwards,just have to take it on the chin offside goal or not and move on to tuesday now.. and as for martin tyler thought he was going to have a heart attack when they scored ...

 

[BlueCityfan]

The thing is....we now have a game against Liverpool who are game risers against top teams. We play in 48 hours and some players might be a bit tired.

They've had a good rest. Suddenly yesterdays good results are nothing. If we fail to win against Liverpool there is a reason to be worried about winning the title.

 

[Heart.net]

All is not lost. We may have lost one game, but we still have a title to win.

The stage is set in 48 hours time, hopefully our players rise to the occasion.

Payback is due.

 

[Mackem Jack]

Sunderland fan here, first of all im not going to gloat.

I thought you played okay today, but why didnt he start with Silva? Bit of an arrogant attitude to leave your most creative and technical player on the bench When he linked with Aguero you created chances and if youd had him for 90 mins, surely would have scored.

You were unlucky today, Ji looks slightly offside and you hit the bar twice, Richards was offside for his shot against the bar mind as well. With a bit more width and penetration you would have won, possession is easy for you but you need someone to unlock the door. On another day you win that game 2-0.

Dzeko, Nasri, Johnson and De Jong i thought were all under-performing and in the end your lazy players not tracking back cos you a point. Which you deserved. We wanted it more that was it. The atmosphere was fantastic.

Good luck for the rest of the season though. Jack.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

My oh my! Maybe I should not get on the plane for the next two weeks vacation at the Etihad?? After all, how can my plane even get there with the sky falling?!!

Wake the fuck up, fellas! Top of the league EVEN DURING A BAD SPELL and the top strike force in the country trying to score against 11 defenders on a cow pasture!!

I've only been watching City for about 45 years, but it sounds to me like some of the Johnny Come Lately's need to grab a two fistfuls of perspective and STFU!!

Dzeko did not get the kind of service he needs
Sunderland played very defensively and hoped for counter attacks
City threw the kitchen sink at them
We shouldn't have, we got desperate
We need to learn that forwards need a yard and midfielders need to find it
We need to learn that having FBs playing RW and LW leaves you open at the back
We need to learn that every team that is playing for survival is just trying to survive against us
We need to learn that STRUCTURE and a PLAN B are the ways to get to the end of the season on top
Mancini needs to learn that Yaya cannot play every 90 minutes and James Milner can play 180 minutes per day, when needed against the knock down, drag out teams
For me, it was the wrong formation:

Zaba....Kompany....Lescott....Kolarov

Milner....NDJ....Barry....AJ

Nasri.....Dzeko

it was ALWAYS going to have to be ground out, and this team would have left Silva, Yaya, Aguero, or Balotelli available for the last 30 mins.

One last thing.....we need a GOOD LEFT MIDFIELDER, who can go both ways and tackle for when Gaz Baz has to stay home in the middle, as Kolarov does not fit that mould, even if Mancini thinks he can at times.

In short, THE ONLY THING we need is to learn that a tweak here or there is occasionally in order, but what we have achieved to this point is absolutely phenomenal and ANY CITY FAN WITH AN OUNCE OF PERSPECTIVE would have ripped BOTH your hands off to be top of the league at New Year, having beaten Utd 6-1 (A), Spurs 5-1 (A), and be in the SF of the a Cup competition already!

Come on City! YOU CAN DO IT!!!

 

[blueinsa]

Start with the strongest 11.....

Start the game with pace and the right attitude.....

....because if you don't you get exactly what we got today.

Big lesson served to us today and the players and management team need to make sure they have learnt it.

Still top though and other results mean not too much harm done but the worry is what results and performances like this and West Brom will do for confidence.

Big game against red scouse now and 3 points is a must.

 

[brian the blue]

How can people blame Mancini for rotating when all week in the build up to the game pretty much everyone agreed that Dzeko needed a start and we should rotate our players because we have 2 games in 3 day?

The players who came in today didn't take their chance and Mancini will go back to Silva, Aguero and more importantly Balotelli for Liverpool. Luck seems to be against us (I know United lost too, but i'm talking abou our on field performances) so it really wouldn't surprise me if Liverpool got something out of the game against us. (They could very well get something if they park the bus and hit us on the break).

Don't blame Mancini, blame the players. They are more than good enough to be beating a team like Sunderland.

(Also, I fucking knew the "O'Neill" factor would get Suderland a result against us. He'll be out of his honeymoon period when they play United and probably get dicked by them. Typical)

 

[mcfcphil]

We play Liverpool in 48 hours. Players arent going to play twice. We did miss balo but that team should have been good enough.
If we aren't going to play dzeko etc today then when are we going to play them?
We weren't unlucky either - if you don't take your chances you've only got yourself to blame.

But not even on the bench? Baffling imo. Agree we got what we deserved for not dispatching that lot - they are shit and it´s fookin O´Neill firefighting as usual

Agree with this. Why the fuck have we got 3 defenders on the bench? How likely is it that you are ever going to need all 3. Balotelli might not have come on but at least he would have been an option. Baffling management

Well we got beat so ultimately it has to be mancini's fault if we want to blame someone. We had Silva and aguero on the bench - I would say that's enough firepower - but in hindsight it wasn't.
It was a judgement call - but I just think the bottom line is we put out a team good enough to win but simply through bad finishing it didn't.
It's very disappointing but it happens.

 

[samharris]

Poor performance all round today against a bus with its windows shut..

all even at the top of the table again..

let battle commence... our home form will be the difference.