MAN CITY 3 – 1 Wolves – MY THOUGHTS

Functional, professional and clinical enough to maintain our five point lead at the top of the Premier League. It wasn’t our most exciting performance in recent times, but we got the job done and, as is often stated, the sign of a good team is one that wins when not at their best. That description perfectly portrayed us yesterday.

For large parts of the game we laboured, but in the end, thanks to goals from Edin Dzeko, Aleks Kolarov and Adam Johnson, we secured the three points. It was never going to be as convincing as the utter drubbing of Manchester United a week ago, but we shouldn’t expect a performance of that sublime quality every week. We needed to remain patient as Wolves defended resolutely but the breakthrough came early in the second half and despite Vincent Kompany’s red card and subsequent goal conceded, we won and head into Wednesday’s crucial Champions League tie with Villarreal confident and with the momentum.

One player who impressed me and continued his splendid start to the season was the vastly underrated Gareth Barry. He’s derided by fans of opposing clubs who don’t see him perform every week and unfortunately, many City don’t appreciate the work he does. However, he’s been one of our form players so far and his willingness to do the dirty work is hugely valued by his teammates and Roberto Mancini. He has great spatial awareness, often filling in for players when they bomb forward, and it is his reassuring presence in midfield that provides the balance to our team.

Samir Nasri was another one to impress with his movement and constant desire to drive us forward. His confident performance is a perfect example of what a fantastic squad Mancini has assembled and each player, wary of the fact they are under enormous conmpetition for their place in the team, knows he needs to make an impression when given the chance. There were eleven changes made for the Carling Cup tie in midweek and the quality of the players coming in for that game served as a valuable reminder to all our squad that they can’t rest on their laurels.

The one negative in terms of our performance from Saturday was the goal we conceded and the role Joe Hart played in it. His fumble of a long range shot meant the ball bounced kindly out for Kevin Doyle. Vincent Kompany brought the striker down, picking up a red card in the process, but he should be offered an apology by Hart. It’s not the first time this season the goalkeeper has parried the ball into a central area instead of diverting it to the side, and Hart’s error meant we faced a nervy final few minutes.

One other person particularly annoyed me during the game and that was the referee, Stuart Attwell. I don’t usually criticise the officials as I understand what a difficult job it is, but his performance was unbelievably poor. What David Silva has to do to win a freekick is beyond me, as Attwell allowed the Wolves players to kick our Spanish maestro around on a couple of occasions without even giving a foul. My overall impression is that Attwell was trying too hard to show he wouldn’t be intimidated by officiating a big team and so he refused to give us any decisions. He’s only 29 and although he’s shown promise in the past, it’s far too early to give him control of a match of this importance.

Opposition View: Wolves were a far more impressive unit than they were during the week and they battled hard to try to prevent us from controlling the midfield. Their defence was committed and although they didn’t show too much attacking intent, they will feel hard done by to lose 3-1. They’ve struggled so far this season, but should they continue to show the same belief and attitude they displayed at the Etihad Stadium, they’ll be fine.

As for City, we now move on to the Champions League and a must-win tie away to Villarreal. Sergio Aguero’s 94th minute winner secured the points in the reverse fixture and since then, we’ve played three, won three and scored fourteen. Momentum is with us, belief is with us and I’d back us to go there and win.

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