MAN CITY 3 – 1 Newcastle – MY THOUGHTS
20 Nov
So it’s onwards and onwards we march. Three more goals, three more points and the continuation of our unbeaten run. Without ever needing to reach top gear, we had enough to comfortably sweep aside Newcastle and although they did threaten on occasions, there was always the feeling we could step it up if necessary.
Two calmly taken penalties from Mario Balotelli and Sergio Aguero either side of a rare non-headed Micah Richards goal secure the points and only Dan Gosling’s late consolation denied City a clean sheet. The visitors ought to be commended for the way they pressed in the first half and carved out some decent opportunities but the lack of a clinical finishing touch cost them dear as we raced to victory.
With David Silva on the bench, Roberto Mancini clearly had one eye on Tuesday’s crucial Champions League game with Napoli, but that didn’t stop a number of players impressing. Micah Richards and James Milner were both hugely influential yet again, producing combative, high-energy performances. The rightback in particular had a point to prove after being left out of the most recent England squad, but he displayed just why he should be in Fabio Capello’s plans.
His attacking forays were frequent and had a major impact. The pace with which he moves forward is terrifying for defenders and it was his presence that so unsettled Ryan Taylor for the second goal. Richards anticipated well, took his strike early and caught Tim Krul off guard. It was thanks to his power again that we were awarded the penalty for our third goal, but as well as his bursts forward, he managed to completely nullify the dangerous Jonas Gutierrez. That’s arguably Richards’s biggest fault: the lack of defensive awareness – but against a challenging opponent, he was superb.
Milner, too, produced a terrific display and has quickly turned himself from a useful squad player into a key first-term fixture. He offers something different from midfield, with his energy levels and bite, and his industry, combined with his passing ability, make him the perfect foil for our more creative players. The England man has arguably been one of the standouts so far this season and he’ll be determined to keep his run of form going.
The one slightly disappointing aspect was how we allowed Newcastle far too much space in front of our defence. With Nigel De Jong the only holding midfield, we were occasionally overran in that area. Hatem Ben Arfa dropped deep and with him being supported by the likes of Guthrie and Cabaye from midfield, we could have done with more protection for the back four. Gareth Barry’s extra positional awareness and solidity may well be needed against Napoli, so although we should be elated to carry on our excellent start, there are always elements to improve upon.
Opposition View: I was surprised by Alan Pardew’s team selection, but fair play to him as his team tried to press City high up the pitch and limit the time we had on the ball. For 40 minutes, his players were fantastic, but once we scored the first goal, that knocked the stuffing slightly out of them. They tired towards the end, understandably, but should take great heart from their performance. Had Demba Ba taken an early chance and Hatem Ben Arfa’s strike arrowed in instead of hitting the post, we could have been talking differently. With that extra clinical touch, they should be optimistic of challenging for a European place come the end of the season.
As for the Blues, that now makes it 42 goals scored in just twelve games and maintains our five point lead over Manchester United. Two tricky fixtures await, with trips to Naples and Liverpool next on the agenda, but should we escape unbeaten from those matches, it will certainly be a superb start to the campaign.
I am a Toon fan from Australia, a fair article IMO, considering we had a few key players out Pardew was very positive in how he set the team up and our tactics, I thought we had a decent performance.
The defense to be fair was no where near as stretched by city as I expected, two soft but fair pens and a bad defensive error cost us.
For all the City posession I felt we had the best chances in the first half prior to the first goal. Ben Arfa seemed to dominate the first 15 min of the second half as well so we certainly had 5 really good chances if we had taken them I might have been different. But still positives out of the game.
From a football perspective congratulations City, the football you are playing this season is fantastic and I hope you go on and win the league, just leave us the FA Cup please.
I met a heap of City fans in Barcelona a couple of yrs back when you guys rolled them 1 nil at the Camp Nou. I had a great time drinking and singing with you guys down the beach before the game, those who were there will remember the Adebeyor look alike. Hung like a elefant his wifes really sore! classic
Final note on the Ben Arfa Dejong incident, glad it is all over now. We were very disapointed with that tackle as it certainly looked very deliberate and planned like a message had been sent to break him in half early. Great to see Dejong actually defend properly this year.
Players with the Skills like Ben Arfa, Silva etc are the reason we love football and noone wants to see those types of injuries.