Wolves 2 – 5 MAN CITY – MY THOUGHTS
27 Oct
Another convincing win, plenty more goals and a place in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup. All in all, a successful night.
Despite going a goal down as Wolves dominated the early proceedings, our reserve team, featuring the likes of Samir Nasri, Nigel De Jong, Edin Dzeko and Adam Johnson, had more than enough quality to sweep comfortably past the home side and book our place in the next round. This performance had shades of the Manchester United victory about it, namely that after a sluggish start, we started to get to grips before scoring a hatful of goals to secure the win.
Roberto Mancini will, I’m sure, be delighted to get to the next stage but he will be concerned at the nature of some our defending. If that seems a touch pedantic following another win, meaning we’ve now scored fourteen goals in the past three away fixtures, then it was the worrying aspect from an otherwise pleasing night. Kolo Touré and Stefan Savic were the centre backs but they looked all over the place, lacking any leadership or conviction and the amount of space Wolves were able to find between our midfield and defence was, at times, scary. Nigel De Jong seemed short of match fitness after recently returning from injury, and whilst Abdul Razak impressed with his energy and forward drive, perhaps he was a touch naive in vacating his defensive midfield role.
On the flip side, the ease with which we attacked Wolves was startling and the fact that we rested the likes of Balotelli, Aguero, Silva and Yaya Touré makes it all the more exciting for when we play them on Saturday. Admittedly, they left out a number of their regulars, but the movement and clinical finishing of our forward quartet was impressive.
Adam Johnson was sensational for five minutes and had a hand in three goals, but then drifted out and was on the periphery for the other 85 minutes. Samir Nasri seemed to relish the absence of David Silva, thus having the creative onus to himself, whilst Edin Dzeko looks to have recovered his confidence and has now scored four in the last two games. Making his debut on the left was Luca ‘Jacuzzi’ Scapuzzi and he acquitted himself well, showing some nice touches around the box and displaying a willingness to track back. Mancini wasn’t forced to call upon Mario Balotelli, on the bench in case of emergency, but the eccentric (to put it mildly!) striker would have been licking his lips at the sight of the panicked Wolves defence.
So it’s job done for Mancini and City and focus now returns to the Premier League, where we must continue our fantastic recent form win a win over Wolves at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. All the signs, from last night and further back, are positive. We have confidence, momentum and it would take a brave person to bet against City to do the business on Saturday.
Well this City so lets not hedge our bets just yet.
It was nice to read an honest report of the game, as my friends and I also found Kolo’s positioning and form to be quite poor. To me, this should be the biggest City’s biggest concern–in so far as depth. If Lescott or Kompany get hurt, whom does Mancini choose? Surely not Kolo…he is at least a two-goal-a-game liability in the EPL and CL. Then the spot goes to Savic? He shows athleticism, but he is often in risky positions (he seems to behave like Coentrao at Real Madrid…a defender running all over the place). We should sell or trade Tevez and Kolo for a defender in the winter. Your thoughts?
It was nice to read an honest report of the game, as my friends and I also found Kolo’s positioning and form to be quite poor. To me, this should be City’s biggest concern–in so far as depth. If Lescott or Kompany get hurt, whom does Mancini choose? Surely not Kolo…he is at least a two-goal-a-game liability in the EPL and CL. Then the spot goes to Savic? He shows athleticism, but he is often in risky positions (he seems to behave like Coentrao at Real Madrid…a defender running all over the place). We should sell or trade Tevez and Kolo for a defender in the winter. Your thoughts?