Cardiff 3 – 2 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS
26 Aug
After elation came deflation.
Following such an enthralling, captivating and uplifting performance against Newcastle, this was back to the frustrating predictability and lethargy of last season. Last Monday night, we were fabulous, the tempo mesmeric and oozing positivity. Yesterday, we were flat, the tempo painfully laboured and oozing disinterest. The contrast couldn’t have been more marked.
Of course, it is easy to overreact to a defeat, especially one that came the game after arguably one of the best City displays in recent years, but even if the quality of football on show during the first match of the season is unlikely to be matched too often, there is an expectation that the players will show heart and character. Both of those elements, along with the likes of purpose and urgency, were woefully absent against Cardiff.
It is not the defeat which hurts the most, but the manner of it. If we had fought valiantly and created chances, that wouldn’t have been so hard to take. Instead, we repeated the mistakes of last season, of those dour away showings whereby we controlled possession yet lacked even the hint of penetration. Learning from those errors is paramount and yesterday suggested we aren’t doing so.
On frequent occasions during the previous campaign, we lamented the lack of tempo when trying to break down organised defences. When a side is resilient and committed at the back, as Cardiff were, then you need that ounce of guile to upset them, variety in order to keep them guessing and players who are intent on making the breakthrough, yet we struggled regularly last year to do just that and we suffered the same fate yesterday. Too often, we were narrow, ponderous and lacking that ingenuity in the final third.
Without wishing to single anyone out – this was the fault of all our attackers, none of whom were anywhere near their best – Samir Nasri’s cameo as a substitute was symptomatic of our approach. He was lively when introduced against Newcastle in the last match, but it’s easy to make a positive impression when your team is 3-0 up and cruising. The challenge for him, and where he almost always fails, is to influence a game when needed. Simply put, he doesn’t. For a creative midfielder, he provides a negligible amount of cunning.
All too regularly, Nasri plays it safe. He keeps it simple and unthreatening. He doesn’t try to split the opposition’s defence, or run at them with his dribbling ability. For someone with such natural talent, it’s perplexing to see him shirk creative responsibility. He has the potential to cause problems yet seems content to sit on the fringes. It’s time for him to take a step up, show some courage and really take the game to our opponents.
Defensively, individual mistakes cost us and gifted Cardiff the victory. It isn’t that the home side played particularly well – they defended solidly but didn’t pose anything approaching a constant threat to our backline – but they took advantage from set-pieces and made us pay for our sloppiness. Pablo Zabaleta was the guilty party twice, switching off from a brace of corners and allowing Frazier Campbell to bundle home a pair of goals. It was uncharacteristic from last season’s player of the year and we were punished for it. Nor will the trio of Gael Clichy, Yaya Touré and Joe Hart be pleased with their roles in Cardiff’s goals. Too many of our players had off-days in Wales and we can’t afford that.
The team and manager will move on and a home match against Hull seems as good an opportunity as any to showcase our unquestionable quality, but the players will need to display greater levels of passion and intensity than we saw on Sunday. Onwards we go, hopefully learning our lessons from this disappointing defeat.
agree with most of the comments and don’t wish to seem too negative but it appears that if our new plan A, with Navas wide, is stifled our Plan B is last year’s Plan A…and we know that it didn’t work against a 10 man defence last year.
I watched all of the pre-season games and my fear before the Newcastle game was that with Yaya and Fernadihno as the defensive 2 our back line would have little protection. For the first goal a very average mid-fielder ran past both of them without any attempt at a tackle. We appear to have cast aside Gareth Barry without a thought to who is going to protect the back four.
We had no leader on the pitch and appeared to think we just had to turn up……when is Yaya going to be substituted when he has a bad game….I would rather see the inexperience of Rodwell but all his passion than a poor Yaya.
Silva and Aguero were totally shut down due to lack of space and being marked closely with 2 to 3 players. You somehow start to get sick and tired of watching city trying to cut in the middle with 10 people standing in the way over and over and over. Somebody at some point should f… understand that this ain’t working when you have 10 men parking bus in the middle. It did not work before, it is not working now and it will not be working in the future
Pellegrini should have taken Silva and Aguero off and then put Rodwell and Negrodo in. All was needed was good classic English style of hoofing the ball in the box with all those big bodies in there.
Negredo is a fantastic finisher and he should start the game. I would love to see us playing with two center forward at front!
I fully understand keeping pretty much the same line up from the Newcastle match, but I think it’s time now to give Negredo, Milner and possibly Jovetic a start…or in the case of Jovetic, just some playing time, period. As for Nasri, if he can not offer anything but being a squad player, why not just move him before the window closes. I do rate the player but he does frustrate. And is anyone else pissed that one Kolo Toure was let go on a free? Experienced CB’s are hard to find. I doubt if we do bring in anyone before the deadline, he will be as good as the one we let get away.
Not sure Nasri merits 2 paragraphs when his cameo in no way affected the goals we conceded or the pattern of our attacking play for better or worse. As an attacking force we were merely adequate. Two well-taken goals away from home should easily have been enough to secure the 3 points. We were undone by an air of over-confidence from the start and shockingly bad performances from the whole defensive unit (inc. Toure and Fernandinho) and goalkeeper. I am sure had we not gifted Cardiff an equaliser when we did (Clichy, Toure, Fernandinho and Zabaleta all at fault) then we would have won. That gave a flagging team an enormous boost and drove them on to the ascendancy though 2 more poorly conceded goals that followed will be hard to imagine.
A shocking, sickening loss with the loss of Kompany leaving us vulnerable and without any sort of leadership. Navas must stay wide and stop trying to come inside all the time. For me, he’s trying a bit too hard at the moment. I’d go 4-5-1 away from home from now on and boost the numbers in midfield.
We succeeded in going one up in a what was always going to be a challenging fixture. We conceded 3 soft goals and that is the only reason we didn’t pick up 3 points. Two corners from the same side as in the FA cup final. Kompany or no Kompany this is fast becoming our acilles heel. Hart’s lack of command on set pieces is a real concern. And oh have missed NDJ!
All the pre season talk was how we are going to be like Barcelona this season and have that 20 second mentality to win the ball back when possession is lost. For Toure and Fernandinho yesterday it was nearer 20 minutes! Rodwell should start against Hull for one of those two to give us that bite & drive in midfield. Not that any manager we’ve had is brave enough to take Yaya off even when his contribution to the game is very little.
And rest Aguero until he’s right.
I genuinely think the team was a bit slow and laboured too, but when opposition is parking the bus like they did, you need something a little bit more to find the goal.. we did, I think pellegrini should have then made defensive adjustments and maybe subbed yaya or fernandinho and brought on a more defensive rodwell or milner.
That goal they scored against the run of play gave to home fans all the impetus they needed to push the team on. It looked like a 0-1 or 0-2 affair in the cards then all of a sudden our set piece shockers.. Why did they have zaba marking campbell? was lescott on the line for that second goal? surely his aerial prowess you would have him marking a target man? and why didnt he give boyata the nod over garcia, garcia is the player I feel most inclined for us to sell.. was terrible last season and has no signs of improving.
In games like yesterdays , the problem (IMO) is yaya playing virtually in line with the centre halfs. How many times did you see him power forward and offer an option while attacking ?? He always demands the ball which gives the opposition chance to get everyone behind the ball . Why he doesn’t push forward more where he is more effective is totally baffling to me . Also why no dedryck boyata at centre half , playing a slow midfield player out of position is just asking for trouble . Hope MP is not another manager who wont play young players at any cost and would rather play an experienced square peg in a round hole !
Agree with what you say apart from Boyata; I think he hasn’t got the quality. It’s great getting a pacy winger on the right but we don’t have one on the left. Silva is not a winger. Get a winger on both sides and then the play is stretched and we have an alternative plan.
Hart is untouchable which is a problem although Schmeichall’s (spelt wrong) comments were interesting.
Hopefully we get a centre back because of this.
. Negredo looks dangerous and I’m sure he will soon be a regular.
As for YaYa the Undroppable; he slows the whole play down and doesn’t track back. All that said he had a big hand in the opener. Can’t work him out – can we use the petrodollars to implant Milner’s personality into YaYa’s body?!?!
>>Agree with what you say apart from Boyata; I think he hasn’t got the quality.
Not that Garcia offers a better option. I personally would have loved to see Boyata. Except the Arsenal game, he was top class when he played against Unite and Chelsea [as much as I can recall a few years ago]. Not sure exactly what Garcia offers that Boyata can not.
Yaya , dreaming if he thinks Barcelona would want or need him , cannot tackle and very poor in th air , surging runs ….. Yes into open spaces against tired nd weak opposition and leadership qualities nil ,Garcia , slow ,slow so very slow .hart over ego but can bring it back , need width , Johnson a mistake to let go , boyata shudder play , Milner a must , zab just had a bad day n will remember it without being told , silva ….Mata for competition or for alternative , Robben if he would come , Richards needs to stay , shaw to pressure clichy , ferdy did ok and Barry can play his part , sell ……yaya , Garcia get Robben and mata .
Sort the centre back out and I think we’ll win it…
On holiday for the Newky Brown Ale game and couldn’t get on the Internet.
Arrived back one hour before the nightmare of Cardiff and find myself repeating myself as pretty much every flaming game last year….except for one thing…..at the end below:
Dzeko – get rid
Nasri -get rid
Garcia – get rid rid rid!
Lescott – replace (which means get rid)
Toure – give him a kick up the arse
Now…….this lad Fernandinho……I’m not writing him off at all…..yet, but he needs to improve – QUICKLY! We would still be a lot better off – I believe – with Barry playing. He stops so many opposition attacks and has always been the unsung hero. Fernandinho has to improve quickly and start making an impact on out performances. C’mon City1
REPLY
Need players playing in this team with some passion and some guts…Milner, Rodwell, Negredo.
How Yaya was given the captains armband ahead of Zaba is beyond me? The laziest PL player is supposed to inspire the team?!? Not a leader one bit, and I fear that may be a contractual issue!
Anyway, lets not get downbeat. We did not play badly, just Cardiff had a gameplan, stuck to it and did well. Its too early to be getting worried. We didnt do much yet still scored 2 good goals.
We’ll still win the league!!
>> Need players playing in this team with some passion and some guts…Milner, Rodwell, Negredo.
YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!
You can say that again! If Mr P sells any of the English players there will be one less supporter at the matches!! Selling Barry and keeping Nasri – RIDICULOUS!!!