Johnny Baguette
Alert Team
Johnny On The Spot:
#BORN-OF-FRUSTRATION. Tonight Manuel Pellegrini and his Manchester City players chose a tricky fixture in which to bring to an end the exciting winning momentum they had played themselves into since that ludicrous derby defeat one month ago...Immensely underwhelming following the brilliant if offside Kun Aguero header that gave us the lead, City engaged in a misplaced pass strewn dalliance with a massively limited Newcastle who have been galvanised into get out of jail high tempo kick and rush tactics by Rafa Benitez - but for another brilliant Joe Hart save, the result could have been far worse than the gaining of a point The Blues just about merited...Cutting to the chase, something numerous City players didn't look committed to do in this game, I would strongly suggest that The Engineer called his selection wrongly at the outset. An away game against relegation threatened opponents at the business end of the season is not a fixture to be aiming to get players match fit in. Breaking up the Otamendi-Mangala axis that had grown in stature could have been saved up for Stoke at home next up who were whipped by Spurs last night on their own turf. It was hard on a rusty Kompany to contend with the Barcodes berserkers charging about around him. In central midfield Yaya Touré was AWOL and effectively reduced City to 10 men. Finally, Ras Sterling didn't have a burst of pace in him. All three struggled notably, and I am not sure what excuses other players had...All in all, from pitch side to hospital ball I perceived a naiive approach that smacked of complacency. Surely City know by now that you simply cannot turn up in this chaotic league and go through the motions, especially against sides in the aforementioned circumstances...What now? Well, Arsenal should reclaim that crucial pre-season stabilising third place on Thursday night and City have once more unneccessarily given themselves a harder task to secure outright Champions League qualification for next season. This was a big opportunity let slip.
Stats © 2016 Sky Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/stats.asp?a=565315
#BORN-OF-FRUSTRATION. Tonight Manuel Pellegrini and his Manchester City players chose a tricky fixture in which to bring to an end the exciting winning momentum they had played themselves into since that ludicrous derby defeat one month ago...Immensely underwhelming following the brilliant if offside Kun Aguero header that gave us the lead, City engaged in a misplaced pass strewn dalliance with a massively limited Newcastle who have been galvanised into get out of jail high tempo kick and rush tactics by Rafa Benitez - but for another brilliant Joe Hart save, the result could have been far worse than the gaining of a point The Blues just about merited...Cutting to the chase, something numerous City players didn't look committed to do in this game, I would strongly suggest that The Engineer called his selection wrongly at the outset. An away game against relegation threatened opponents at the business end of the season is not a fixture to be aiming to get players match fit in. Breaking up the Otamendi-Mangala axis that had grown in stature could have been saved up for Stoke at home next up who were whipped by Spurs last night on their own turf. It was hard on a rusty Kompany to contend with the Barcodes berserkers charging about around him. In central midfield Yaya Touré was AWOL and effectively reduced City to 10 men. Finally, Ras Sterling didn't have a burst of pace in him. All three struggled notably, and I am not sure what excuses other players had...All in all, from pitch side to hospital ball I perceived a naiive approach that smacked of complacency. Surely City know by now that you simply cannot turn up in this chaotic league and go through the motions, especially against sides in the aforementioned circumstances...What now? Well, Arsenal should reclaim that crucial pre-season stabilising third place on Thursday night and City have once more unneccessarily given themselves a harder task to secure outright Champions League qualification for next season. This was a big opportunity let slip.
Stats © 2016 Sky Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/stats.asp?a=565315
