MAN CITY 0 – 3 Arsenal – MY THOUGHTS
11 Aug
In an utterly meaningless encounter, the result of which will have no bearing on the Premier League season, City produced a lame display whilst Arsenal were bright enough and fully deserved to lift the silverware. Their fans will no doubt be boosted ahead of the new campaign, dreams of claiming the title given hope after a relatively impressive performance, but even for the most diehard supporter, it’s a challenge to read too much into the outcome. If this match were of any importance, the performance of the Blues would have been concerning, but the reality was that the final whistle was greeted with total indifference.
The Community Shield meant little when City were defeated by Manchester United and it meant little when we emphatically brushed aside Chelsea a year later. It remains nothing more than a glorified pre-season friendly, a competitive run out before the significant action begins next weekend. A promising showing would have been welcomed, but the primary objective on Sunday was avoiding injuries and that seems to have been accomplished.
Missing a series of first-team regulars, this was largely a reserve City XI and whilst I suppose it could be argued that our back-up players shouldn’t have looked so insipid, this result won’t affect Manuel Pellegrini’s plans ahead of the campaign. He will still have faith in the squad to compete on four fronts this coming season; the only issue is how quickly those who missed this game will be ready for the intensity of the Premier League.
Dedryck Boyata and Matija Nastasic were the only available options at centre-back, with Vincent Kompany and Martin Demichelis having just returned to training and Eliaquim Mangala having not officially signed in time for the game (although he has now completed his move), and the inexperience of the selected duo showed. Boyata has retained his place in the squad merely because he counts as part of the much-discussed homegrown quota, while doubts about Nastasic have started to surface and he could be on his way out now Mangala has arrived. Despite having not played a minute of pre-season, it would be staggering if at least one of Kompany and Demichelis were not rushed back for the encounter with Newcastle.
Other than that, there were no worrying issues. Gael Clichy will return to competing with Aleks Kolarov for a place on the left of defence as soon as Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna are available, David Silva’s second-half display highlighted once again how he is the one player to make us tick, Stevan Jovetic showed more signs that he could be a special force throughout the season, and the goalkeeping battle is well under way.
This will be a performance and result quickly forgotten by players and fans before next weekend’s opener. A repeat dose of this tepid nature would be a cause for concern, but I’m sure it’ll be a far hungrier and more incisive City who take to the pitch on Sunday.
Sorry but Boyata and Nastasic were not the only options for centre back. The refusal to play Richards is wholly illogical. He is better than both those two and surely better at right back than the left footed Glichy. A crazy waste of a talented through and through City man
MP decision to play Clichy over Richards at the RB spot merely shows that he did not care about the result, but for the upcoming season. Richards may even start next week given that Zabaleta and Sagna started training just now and he could be crucial. Also, Clichy at the right is a tactic he used during the pre-season and one he seems eager to use in some games this season.
Micah needs to move to another club asap. He’s never going to get a game is Pelli prefers Boyata and Nasty to you! They were both pathetic! At least Micah gives 100% in every game.
Just like to report that I am not renewing my season ticket this year in view of Pelli’s apparent dislike for all English players. I know I won’t make a difference to the numbers in the crowd but it’s my only way to protest. If 5,000 supporters did the same then maybe he would get the message! Or am I the only one who thinks like this?
You are right, I agree with you. However there is one worrying thing about the Community Shield (defensive) performance.
Nastasic and Boyata were that bad because they have never played before together. How can we know that Kompany with Mangala won’t face a similar problem at the start of the season? Last year, our poor defensive performances at the start of the season almost cost us the title.
I just hope that this does not happen again this year. IMO it would be good by MP to play the usual and familiar Kompany-Demichelis duo until Kompany and Mangala acknowledge each other’s play.
A winning team sets out to win every game. Have we become so hugely successful in five years that we can be so blasé about the charity shield ? For those of us who suffered the preceding decades, this was a bit of silverware and I’m appalled our performance was so lame and our managers ambition so lacking. That’s an insult to our supporters and our owners.
A couple of responses to the above: boyata (who will never be a premiership footballer as long as he has a hole in his ar*e) has been playing alongside nastasic all pre-season. They’ve both been garbage, especially the former. Richards is barely better but would have been my choice over boyata. In fact, I’d have taken tommy booth over boyata. But what about Rekik??? Why didn’t he get a chance?
Second point: Sinclair has featured all pre-season. Laughably described in places as having had a ‘great’ pre-season , he hopefully also has no future at our club and should be moved on to a club where his sole ambition of appearing in the celebrity section with his imbecilic girlfriend might be more appropriate than staying at a club which claims to have ambitions of winning the champions league.
Finally, what message does it send out when Yaya is made captain after the disgraceful comments we’ve had to swallow this summer. Great player – when bothered- undoubtedly. But he is no leader and his attitude stinks.
Second XI – really???
His girlfriend is amazing. What a woman man!
The fact that you spend your precious time just to argue that this result does not matter in fact confirms the contrary. How about MP saying City needed a good result to get off well to a great season? Oh, what of Fernadinho, Nasri? What were they saying in the build up? Is the result only worthless now that you lost? Am sure a spanking in Newcastle will be likewise casually dismissed. All the best.
Cheer up boys, seasons not even begun..
Aguero
Negredo
Fernandinho
Sagna
Zabaleta
Mangala
Kompany
Demichelis
Hart
Enough said really. Arse-Nal were missing Ozil and Mertesaker!
Mertesacker, podolski, ospina, walcott, diaby, gnabry, ozil…and Arsenal are not a one billion pound team like city. 3 nil hurts you guys considering how much money you burned for dzeko, toure, nasri, silva, fernando, navas…that’s already 250 million, almost thrice the worth of the Arsenal team on display at Wembley. It’s why you should win every game, not lose so limply. Sorry, am not rubbing it in
It’s true that City spent a huge amount to build a team but that was ages ago, when we were playing catch up and needed to. The last 3/4 transfer windows City have been spending carefully and have been on par and behind other top clubs in spending. That argument is old and doesn’t hold up any more. City were beaten fair and square by a hungrier Arsenal team. Both clubs were short first team players. Why are people bitching over a meaningless match. Yes it’s nice to win it but it means nothing, no points won no points lost no cup exit, meaningless. Put your tampons away girls and give it a rest.