Stoke 0 – 1 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS
27 Jan
An excellent victory, demonstrating large amounts of battling spirit and enough dashes of quality going forward to deserve the win. It may not have been the prettiest 90 minutes to watch, but we matched Stoke’s physicality and then imposed enough of our attacking flair to advance to the next round. It was an all-round superb team performance.
Pablo Zabaleta, the man who more than any other typifies the heart and desire fans love to see, scored the winning goal just minutes from the end to secure Roberto Mancini’s first victory at the Britannia Stadium. The Argentinean, without doubt our best player throughout this campaign, received all the plaudits following the match, but two other players stood out for me.
The first was the much-maligned Javi Garcia. He’s had a fairly woeful start to his City career, but yesterday produced a commanding and resolute display to suggest, perhaps for the first time, that he may blossom into something promising. He isn’t blessed with pace but such was his reading of the game on Saturday that he didn’t need to sprint around. His positional awareness was first-class, constantly picking up loose balls in midfield and managing to exert his authority on the game. Passing-wise, he could still show more intent and invention but faced with such a physical threat, he was hugely impressive.
The other individual to catch my eye was less of a surprise, namely the majestic David Silva. Without Yaya Touré in the side, the Spaniard becomes the dominant personality, orchestrating our attacks with his movement, control and vision. He’s given the freedom to roam around, popping up everywhere in search of the ball and looked at his creative best. He had a slightly slow start to the season but has hit peak form over the past month or so and is, by a distance, our most important player.
One other element which was particularly pleasing from yesterday was Roberto Mancini’s tactical switches during the game. Forced into a change due to Vincent Kompany’s injury, the manager opted to introduce Gael Clichy and revert to the much-maligned 3-5-2 formation. It was a potentially risky move, with both Clichy and Zabaleta in the back three against Stoke’s aerial prowess, but it enabled us to control the midfield and push on.
Then, in the second half, when Mancini decided to really go for it, he brought on Sergio Aguero for Aleks Kolarov, switched back to a more comfortable 4-2-3-1 system and that provided us with a spark and balance to press forward. Aguero added pace and dynamism, Tévez buzzed around and it enabled Zabaleta to move to his marauding right-back role, from where he notched the winner. A special mention, too, for Joleon Lescott, who, in Kompany’s absence, marshalled the defence superbly, taking on extra responsibility and oozing authority.
Opposition View: As we have become to expect from Stoke, they are effective but incredibly limited. There is no attempt to pass the ball quickly, no style in the side but they play to their strengths of hoofing the ball long and feeding off the second ball. However, with Lescott commanding and Kenwyne Jones anonymous, they had no outlet up front and offered very little attacking threat. Glen Whelan’s tackle on Javi Garcia will hopefully be subject to a retrospective ban after Howard Webb missed the incident. It was a horrific, cowardly challenge, a running jump and two-footed stamp that the midfielder got away with.
As for the Blues, a trip to face QPR on Tuesday is next on the agenda as we look to pile the pressure on Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table. If we show the same togetherness and spirit as we did against Stoke, we should return home with all three points.
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Can’t argue with that so I won’t
I though Les was very effective, and Pantilimon did all that was required of him after a bit of a wobbly start; it can’t be easy for a keeper after months on the bench.
-Kompany was a midfielder before he turns to be one of the best CDs in the world. Garcia looked promising as a defender and you never know. Watching Reece Wabara today and considering Rekik and Boyata and Helan, City seems not to need to sign any defenders for some time to come.
-A lot of credit to Bobby for getting everything right!
-There is no word to describe Zabaleta, he is as deserving as Kompany for captaincy.
-I admire Tevez and Augero try everything to stay on their feet. But I believe when there is enough forceful contact, they should go down. Unlike United players like Ashely Young who goes down when he is hit with the wind of the fart of the player next to him and at the end of the day you still find the red-nosed bitch complaining about referees’ decision
I absolutely love that team that was on after 60 minutes..when aguero was on for Kolarov. It has Milner in his best position, Silva roaming as usual, the two argentines playing off each other, and a completely different threat in Dzeko up top. That lineup has EVERYTHING , and if I were managing that would be the team consistently, of course with some rotation every once in a while for fatigue. That team has so many threats I bet they’d average 3+ goals a game.
Garcia “much maligned”? Chiefly by you, as I remember. Anyhow, glad the vendetta’s over. Your report on the game was a pretty good summation. The delay in substituting Clichy for Kompo must have sent out massive signals of confidence to our lads. Mancini continues to amaze and delight.
IMO VFAB was only analysing his performances on face value, and I have to say I largely agreed. If he does play well like yesterday, then those who have sense will say so. Although to suggest the vandetta is over may be premature as if he has a couple of bad performances in the next 2 games, then expect a bit more slating to occur.
He was giving his opinion (on Garcia) which he is fully entitled to do. It was my view that this went beyond ‘analysis of performance on face value’ and became personal abuse of the sort that if aimed at me would have incensed me. I don’t like that at all and made my view clear. On many sites and with many individuals I’d just switch off and bide quiet, but I think that VfaB is better than that, he writes well, is well informed and this is probably the best blog around since Jack Pitt-Bulldog rode off into the setting sun without a ‘by your leave’ and ‘The Lonely Death of Roy Carroll’ blog died a simiar death as Roy!
I am old fashioned as well as being old, old, and having been on a managers seat in a dugout, albeit a far more modest affair than at the Etihad, I will always ask that new players be allowed time to settle, find their feet and show what they are capable of and be encouraged not slated. 25 years of age is young, for Garcia and players like him, this is a new league, a new country, a new language, a new lifestyle and a new set of colleagues.
We should all ask ourselves how well we would perform at our job of work in the same circumstances.
At the time I strenuously defended Garcia I was not personally convinced by him, for me the jury was still out and he needed time. I am not yet fully convinced by Javi Garcia and for me the jury is still out, but I am starting to feel that he has many attributes that could make him a quality defensive midfielder or perhaps a ball playing CH for us.
What Garcia isn’t is a replacement for Yaya, what he may well be is a successor for Bareth Barry. The decision to bring in both Garcia and Barry may yet prove to have been very good decisions.
Bareth Barry!
Ah well!
Perhaps that last sentence should have read
“The decisions to bring in both Garcia and Rodwell may yet prove to have been very good decisions.”
Where’s me tablets