The Roma match has convinced me...

blinkblue said:
Iheanacho reminds me of Sturridge. Hopefully he'll be even better though, has the potential through the roof.
Click to expand...
I was amazed at how much he has grown this year looks strong and hard to knock off the ball - I hope he gets good time on the pitch this year.
 
Many positives from our youngsters today.
Ichenacho,Denayer and Garcia stood out for me but Barker and Lopez looked very good prospects too.
Nice to see Unal getting another run out too.
These matches are a fantastic opportunity for our young players to play alongside the senior pros and I am mega-impressed that MP is giving so many of them a go. Intersting to see the same was not the case for Roma who fielded a full strength line up.
Our future will be in the hands of this generation of players and tonights game demonstrates they are capable of doing us proud.
Well done City.
 
Over the 2 games so far Barker seems the furthest from the first team which was a surprise to me. It just seems like he is a tad more nervous and a tad more unsure of his positioning.

I'm sure he'll have a great career but imo he needs to shake out those nerves if he wants to excel. Easiest way to do that imo is to run around like a crazed lunatic. Even if he's in the wrong place at the wrong time at least he's too busy to be self conscious. (Why am I still typing and not in bed....
 
I've just seen the highlights on the OS - good to see the referees have not improved. Sterling should have had a penalty and Yaya got a foot to the ball before the free kick for their second.

It looked like we played some good football which is encouraging at this early stage in the pre-season.

Has Joe moved up the pecking order for penalty kicks in the coming season?
 
Idontpullout said:
Didnt like nasri in that deeper role tonight. Has much more influence further afield.

Silva was a step above everyone.
Fernando looked much more comfortable also, hopfully he's settled now and not just an average player.
Click to expand...

Fernando is a good player. Put him in the right situation and he will perform. This was the right formation for him.
 
CityFan94 said:
Really enjoyable game, especially for a friendly.

Defence was pretty solid from open play. I was impressed with Mangala, thought he was dominant in the air and he looked comfortable on the ball. Kompany was ok, got caught in no man's land a few times and his long range passing was poor. Still not back to his best for me, I'm not convinced the dynamic between Kompany and Mangala is correct, even though they're both good defenders. Kolarov didn't have a good game for me and we need an upgrade on him this summer. Sagna was energetic down the right hand side, but stopped and passed the ball backwards far too often for my liking. Denayer was very comfortable when he came on, great range of passing and read the play well. I'd never heard of Horsfield before, but he was solid and I like that he was confident enough to take a penalty (and score it).

I liked that we play a midfield trio again, I think it suits us. Garcia was the star in the first half, absolutely brilliant performance from a 17 year old. So much potential it's scary. Fernando played well, defends the back four well and is solid in the tackle. Zuculini didn't impress me much and I'm not sure he'll make it here. Garcia completed overshadowed him and Garcia is 5 years younger. Second half, Yaya strolled it playing in front of the back four. Bit of a change from last season's box-to-box role, but I thought Yaya was great there and he looked bang up for it. Nasri went missing, barely touched the ball, had very little impact IMO. If we sign de Bruyne, I can see Nasri leaving. Lopes was extremely comfortable running with the ball, some nice link-up play and a great penalty. Navas frustrated me, but Navas always frustrates me. He's quick, but his movement is so rigid, especially when you watch how fluid Sterling and Lopes are. No goal threat with Navas either, not sure how often he'll play next season.

David Silva was my man of the match. Flawless performance, it was a joy to watch him at times. He linked up really well with Sterling, whose movement was superb. Delighted that he got off the mark so early, nice finish too. Silva and Sterling will cause teams so many problems this season. I was surprised at how well Barker stepped up, he looked like he'd bulked up a little this summer and didn't look out of place at all.

Iheanacho looks good enough to be the third choice striker, can't argue with a goal and an assist against a full strength Roma side. He can drop deep and play some great passes, something Dzeko really can't do. Good finish for his goal, nice and composed. Aguero, Bony and Iheanacho is a good set of strikers.

Hart's penalty was amazing, but I'm not surprised Nasri didn't take a penalty, he's a complete bottler.

Set pieces were a worry. Roma were winning far too many headers in our box and, if that happens against West Brom, we will concede goals. I hope it's just the fact there were so many changes and that was obviously going to cause distruption. We're a tall team, we should be dominating at set pieces with the correct organisation.

Overall, a good performance. A game we would have won without two long range strikes from Roma, one being from a free kick. Glad to see the young players have such a good showing; Garcia, Iheanacho, Denayer, Lopes and Horsfield were all very good.

Good stuff, looking forward to the Real Madrid game on Friday where I reckon we'll field the strongest team we can.
Click to expand...

A bit unfair on Zuculini. He was impressive in the earlier preseason games to this, setting up play, assisting and scoring he was exciting to watch. but spot on the youngsters hit the ground running last night and took the thunder deservedly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
✖
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.