Watford (a) post-match

[super_city_si]

Just had a chance to watch it. Wow. One thing that really stuck out was the speed at which we won the ball back. We were everywhere. I think that was the most complete 'team' performance I've seen from us.

 

[blueju]

Just had a chance to watch it. Wow. One thing that really stuck out was the speed at which we won the ball back. We were everywhere. I think that was the most complete 'team' performance I've seen from us.

And the speed the ball is moving forward

 

[Dribble]

lets not get too giddy - we're two points down on this point last season ;-)

Lol :-)

Very good performance today & tbf, I hear what you're saying about there being a very long way to go yet.

KDB was brilliant & Silva was on another planet the way he knitted everything together. Sterling started poorly, but by the end he was well into the swing of things. You can see in his face that he knows he has to raise his game or he's out, & I think this is why he was desperate to take the penalty. Sterling looks like he's facing the challenge head on & showed in the final 3rd of the match the potential he has.

Aguero's 3rd goal was just Messi like & I love the new unselfish 2.0 version of him! I have to single out a special mention to my MoTM Fernandinho. He does all the dirty work, but a lot of his good work generally goes unnoticed. He was setting up & stopping attacks all afternoon, & along with Kompany, Silva & Yaya, he will be very difficult to replace. He looks like he's got another 2 good seasons in him, so we have time to cross this particular bridge yet.

It was great to finally see Gundogan back, even if it was just a cameo appearance. He showed some nice touches, but he's another one who makes me wince when I see an opponent go near him. Hopefully he's fully recovered and will get a good run of games this season & beyond.

Finally, here's one for Sir Elton

 

[St.Pauli support]

Can someone tell me where Sanchez would fit into this team? Which striker would be dropped?

'Drop' is bit of a misleading term. It's about rotation over a long season.

Don't forget Navas, Nolito and Nacho played an added 4,045 minutes last season, so roughly 44 full matches!
Jesus - arriving later - will cover some part, but not all of that.

Top in the squad has been KDB: 3,909 minutes played.
City have had 54 matches, plus CL play offs.
Just look at the full season and it's quite reasonable to have more cover at highest quality for the front line.

As much as it hurts somehow, our strong bench seems to make the difference.
Right now we are in a blue sky scenario. We should be prepared for tougher days.
So it's mainly about cover for the front line where the players are versatile enough to offer various line-ups through rotation.

Coming back to today's match: who is that Sanchez?? :)

 

[Dribble]

Our critics call Pep a cheque book manager. Shows they have no idea what a head coach does. But we've seen Pep coaching John on the touchline during matches, and how it shows now. The blue dippers laughed behind their hands when we paid a lot for him. Well, they are not laughing now. Rio (sorry) said he was a great ball playing CB in the making, and he was right.

I actually remember Camel Gob saying we got rinsed by Everton when buying stones & he wasn't worth it. He also went on to say Stones wasn't in the same league as Verane & if we had any sense, that's who we should have gone for.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

So why do you guys think Agüero didn't take the pen? Could be a crucial goal in the race for the boot, no?

Same reason he gave Jesus the goal last week. He is signaling that he is a team player. Its a fantastic attitude from him.

 

[BlueDeadHead]

Said in in the matchday thread but has to be said again great support from the travelling fans could hear them throughout the game

+1

 

[SebastianBlue]

how many games would you go to if you lived in chicago 8-) just asking

To be fair, I now live in Boston (the furthest I've ever lived from Manchester since moving away for uni) and will be taking in two senior team matches (home and away), an academy match, and also seeing our mighty women's team for the first time in November. In the 15 odd years I have lived "abroad", I've gone around 25 times.

It can be done. Though, at no small expense.

 

[NorCalBlue]

To be fair, I now live in Boston (the furthest I've ever lived from Manchester since moving away for uni) and will be taking in two senior team matches (home and away), an academy match, and also seeing our mighty women's team for the first time in November. In the 15 odd years I have lived "abroad", I've gone around 25 times.

It can be done. Though, at no small expense.

The suggestion that a poster can't have a valid opinion unless he goes every week was a bit much.

 

[Armaan]

Just had a chance to watch it. Wow. One thing that really stuck out was the speed at which we won the ball back. We were everywhere. I think that was the most complete 'team' performance I've seen from us.

Agree with everything and especially that last sentence. The triangles we were passing the ball around in were just ridiculous. It was like playing fifa.