Newcastle 1 – 3 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS
16 Dec
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For lengthy spells, this was City at their scintillating, enthralling best. The fluidity of the attacking quartet, the touch, the movement and the elegance combined for perhaps only the second time this season and guided the Blues towards a fully deserved, and needed, victory. The second half was, at times, more about resilience and spirit than eye-catching football but it was a thoroughly impressive City performance and one which supporters will hope to see more often during the rest of the campaign.
A devastating period in the first half saw goals from Sergio Aguero and Javi Garcia, before Yaya Toure secured the three points late on after the home side threatened with an aerial barrage. With numerous excellent individual performances, this was a pleasing day for the Blues as they looked like a team unit, as opposed to a bunch of talented players who had hitherto lacked a creative and clinical spark. David Silva was at his joyous best, Samir Nasri performed as he has rarely done in a City shirt, whilst Pablo Zabaleta was the epitome of heart and spirit at the back. And I could focus on plenty of others, too.
Newcastle started quickly and Joe Hart was forced to make an early save but after that brief initial flurry, City, through the effervescent front four, controlled the game. There was a noticeable purpose about the play, a desire to play at a high tempo and move the ball on quickly. That was helped by a slight tactical switch from Roberto Mancini, deploying Silva and Nasri on the left and right respectively. That decision meant the Blues didn’t lose momentum as the creative duo cut inside, as is often the case. Instead, it seemed far more natural for them and they were able to take one touch as opposed to many more, and with Tevez and Aguero dovetailing superbly, it gave City a dynamic look.
It’s hard to put your finger on just why the Blues clicked. Mario Balotelli’s absence has been held up as a principal factor, but that’s simplistic and naive. The Italian has not featured on numerous occasions this season when City have struggled, so it’s more likely that Nasri doing something positive, and the Argentinean partnership reunited up front were far more important reasons. Whatever the answer, what fans will hope for now is a stability about selection. It is evident that the Tevez-Aguero combination is the one which best suits the team so with no European competition to focus on, that should, in theory, be the pair who start most games up front.
Behind them, David Silva was just sublime. When in this form, he is an absolute joy to watch, his touch and vision far beyond anything else in the league. With Samir Nasri also performing well, perhaps looking as sharp as he has ever done – and rightly so after he had a major point to prove following his cowardice against Manchester United last weekend – City were threatening every time they came forward.
Concerningly, there was also a measure of vulnerability about the Blues in defence. Missing the authoritative leadership of Vincent Kompany and the protection of Gareth Barry, there was a sense of chaos whenever a cross came into the box. The physical strength and aerial ability of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse caused a few problems and Joe Hart was required to make a number of stops to deny the home side. It was worrying the amount of times a Newcastle man won the ball in the air and then, crucially, picked up the second ball. It is an area of City’s game that will have to improve markedly as sides have surely noted weaknesses to crosses and cut backs. Fortunately, it didn’t have any impact on the result thanks to the swashbuckling attacking play, but against better sides, it is something that has been, and will continue to be, punished.
Opposition View: Missing the creative talents of Hatem Ben Arfa, Newcastle operated with a more direct approach, looking to test City’s aerial vulnerability. And, on occasions, it worked. Mike Williamson was a threat from set-pieces whilst the Senegalese pairing in attack seemed lively. Unfortunately for the Magpies, City clicked as an attacking force and there are no sides in the country who can contain the Blues in that mood. Admittedly, Newcastle’s players switched off at times and didn’t track their men, but City were mesmerising and could have scored plenty more. There was plenty of spirit on show from the home team but they lacked that resilience at the back and a spark in attack.
Even with Kompany around, City’s defense has been aerially vulnerable. A CB of Ryan Shawcross caliber would go along way provided we can rid of Kolo toure and Lescott.
A lot of folks may see this as one of City’s best performances, but we should not get fooled. We could have found ourselves in the same situation as with United, Had New Castle scored in the first 10 minutes. Those defensive lapses are totally unacceptable.
I dont think we need to ‘rid’ of lescott and kolo as you put it, Joleon has been really good for us and is certainly no detriment to our squad, even if we signed someone. Your not going to be brilliant for 90 minutes, and ‘if’s’ and ‘buts’ work both ways. So saying ‘if’ newcastle scored early on is of little significance to me, because when you view the game as a whole, we were excellent with a couple af areas we could be a little better.
We were also the better team against United, but they had the quality to punish us when those defensive lapses occurred. Their winning of the game was not due to their being great but due to us giving it to them on the silver plate.
I do understand “if and but” goes both ways and I have no issue with that as long as it is not us putting it on silver plate over and over esp if we can do something to minimize those unpleasant gifts.
I dont disagree with what your saying here, but I dont think we are fooling ourselves to say at times we were outstanding. Overall there were some real positives, which outweighed the negatives to take away from the game
United beat us because of joe harts abysmal performance he got beat by a pass by rooney and no goalkeeper especially not the ‘best in the world’ should be beaten at his near post from a freekick no matter how big a deflection it takes 1 lapse from kolo allowed rooney another. Thought we defended well espec in 2nd half when newcastle came at us hart needs to learn to catch the ball rather then push it away it didn’t cost us today but to many times has he pushed the ball to a striker but everyone played well… except tevez
to suggest that a keeper shouldnt be beaten at his near post no matter how big a deflection a ball takes is an abysmal comment, but dont agree joe Hart could be labelled this. A little disappointed is as far as id go with that one. Rooney’s shot went through someones legs and he completely miss hit it which deceived Hart so thats another I wouldnt exactly be irate about. Finally Tevez played pretty well against Newcastle, so all in all I only disagree with all 3 major points youve made
Rooney’s first goal was a clever one – cutting back across the ball meaning Hart was wrong footed and therefore didn’t need to be a rocket. I think most keepers would have struggled.
As long as we continue to use a zonal strategy we’ll always struggle in the air no matter who we have in defence. Height gained from a running jump will always be greater than from a standing start..against Newcastle we were a little slow in getting out leaving Joe in no mans land for their goal. But you had the feeling it could of and should have easily been 5 or 6 but the accuracy wasn’t their.
Definately getting better!
I really liked how quickly we moved the ball out of midfield and I think it was largely to do with Garcia coming in for Barry, he is a better/quicker passer of the ball. At times Barry does not give the ball to creative players out wide quick enough, which gives the opposition ample time to get organized and close the space. When the ball moves quickly forward, the attacking 4 have more space to play into. So many times this season we have had to pick through teams by starting from a slow buildup. It is very easy for an organized team to defend against that style of play.
I have yet to see a player be as slow on the ball as garcia was against Wigan. So i dont know how you could even dream of suggesting that he is better than Barry in this aspect of the game at the moment
Garcia had a decent game and mostly thanks to midfield and attack that got involved in defending and tracking. Barry is a sort of player that is unfairly underrated most times. Garcia has the potentials but we have to wait to see if anytime soon this rosebud blossoms. At the moment, I personally prefer a rested Barry over Garcia hands-down.
Early days but I think Garcia has been dreadful on the ball both in terms of speed and ability. Barry may be one paced but is extremely controlled, neat and tidy on the ball. Blizzare that you think Garcia is better than Barry. What is worrying is that on Saturday I was pleasantly surprised that Garcia hit a firm, 10 yard pass!!
This Sat Barry in for Garcia; Milner in for YaYa; YaYa in for Nasri; Lescott in for Kolo (if VK injured).
I completely agree with yor selection, but Mancini seems reluctant to push Yaya further forward at the start of a game, so doubt it will happen
Oh I know! Plus Kolo will start if VK out.
probably, whether he has lost faith in Lescott or because he doesnt want 2 left footers at centre half im not sure. From your comment above, im not convinced Rooney meant that shot if im honest
Spot on!
The thing is there was so little power he could have walked over and picked it up he had more then enough time to adjust his feet
Er, no he couldn’t, otherwise he would have done.
He shud have saved it the ball was going slow but like all city fans if an english player does anything wrong the opponent was ‘smart’