Blackburn 1 – 1 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS
5 Jan
We are still in with a chance of progression to the next round and we picked up no further injuries. They are, however, about the only positives resulting from the game with Blackburn. It was a soporifically flat affair, lacking any sort of excitement or energy. City were lifeless, devoid of creativity and tempo, and Blackburn, although they were reasonably solid in defence, never gave the impression of being much more than competent.
At times this season and in previous campaigns, we have come up against impressive opposition, who have been intent on sitting back and denying our players any freedom. Although Blackburn attempted to contain us in a similar way, the frustrating element is that we barely tested their resolve. That we only scored once and hardly created any other good opportunities owed far more to our limited efforts rather than the home side’s resilience.
Fatigue will no doubt have played a part in our lethargy, but having made a number of changes, a certain degree of enthusiasm and intent should have been expected. Yet it’s not as if we started brightly then faded. We were always one-paced, laboured and none of our fringes players strengthened their claims for a more regular spot. If anything, they went in the other direction.
Without Sergio Aguero and Jesus Navas, the former injured and the latter on the bench, there was no threat in behind. No-one had the pace to worry and stretch Blackburn’s backline and combined with the lack of attacking menace out wide from Gael Clichy and Dedryck Boyata, it meant our endeavours were narrow and predictable. The forward pairing of Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko just don’t click and both of them were unbelievably static in the second half, and it merely contributed to the absence of spark in attack. It was largely dire to watch.
That said, Blackburn’s own threat was minimal. From set-pieces, they offered a physical presence but we generally defended corners and throw-ins well. In the replay, we should have enough quality, provided we play at an increased tempo from what we saw on Saturday. Another fixture in this already-congested period is far from ideal, but we’re still in the competition and that, as we only know too well from previous years, hasn’t always been the case.
DREADFUL is all I can say, thought this type of performance was gone for good, silly me this is CITY after all.
Nobody came out of it with any credit, including the Manager. There’s no real damage done think we will win the reply.
LETS HOPE WE HAVE LEARNT A LESSON, OUR SQUAD LACKS QUALITY IN DEPTH.
your squad lacks quality in depth lol i bet that team that played cost about £200m more than blackburns team
Craig
Whilst I respect your right to an opinion, it does not matter if the team we played cost 100 billion it still lacked quality, your trying to make another point perhaps.
my point being the team your manager put out should have been more than capable of beating blackburn
Craig – the squad is quality if its quality; not purely because it costs£xxx.
Bit of a dramatic response that in my opinion
Uninspired and disjointed. Errors all over the place. Players looked tired or played like square pegs in rounds holes.