Johnny Baguette
Alert Team
The euphoria of Wembley was brought back to earth without so much as whimper last Wednesday when City suffered at the hands of the vanquished Liverpool.
The stage was set in the first minute when Flanagan let Sterling know he was in town and there was an immediate global switch off in the City ranks. You could almost see each and every one of them think " I don't fancy much of that" rather than rallying around Sterling and maybe having a bit of a go at Flanagan.
With Liverpool pressing City high up the pitch, you could see, just as we could when the sides met at the Etihad, it was going to be a difficult evening for City. Having said that by the half hour, it was fair to believe that City had seen off the threat and were starting to get a foot hold in the game when of all people, Joe Hart let in a Mignolet-esque dolly of a goal to gift wrap the match to Liverpool. And it was, of all people the waste of space known as Lallana who scored.
This re-sparked Liverpool and it wasn't long before they scored again when City old boy Milner executed the bewildered defence to leave the Scousers sitting pretty at the break. After the break the scoring was concluded when Firmino netted the third.
So what's the verdict? Simply that Liverpool were more buoyed by their defeat at Wembley than City were by their win. Pellegrini can bemoan his injured players and blame whatever he likes but I unbelievably found myself agreeing with of all people Rio Ferdinand. If you are a top footballer wanting to play at the highest level you have to accept you will be playing weekend-midweek, weekend-midweek. It is not an excuse to give up on a midweek game.
And this is quite simply where City are not smart enough and where I've no doubt we will see a mentality change when Guardiola adorns the dugout come the end of May, or early July which ever it is to be.
Time and again I have said in these pages that risk-taking football is fine, but you still have to keep the doors shut. And once again we saw how Fernando, who I had previously though was improving, is always chasing the man he is supposed to mark rather than lie in wait Barry, De Jong or even Garcia style. We saw Fernando chasing his man, Clichy come across ineffectively to help, Otamendi move out to cover Clichy and finally Kompany get caught between two men before Firmino eased the ball past Joe Hart.
The Pedmachine is convinced that with a proper holder in front of the back four this year's Barclays Premier League title would not be heading to the Fox and Hounds.
It is not a great show when your lead goalkeeper gets caught out with the kind of shot I used to save at junior school largely because of lack of concentration.
This game could quite easily have sentenced City to a season of almost ignominy despite winning the Capital One Cup. Has Guardiola got a get out of jail free card if City fail to qualify for the Champion's League, I wonder. It cannot be a secret that some of the City players currently on show will be starting the exit chute head on come summer. Surely it is in everyone's interests to win the title and let the incoming manager make the decisions rather than make them for him ahead of the event.
Even Silva is exempt. Since his injury he seems to have slithered from Merlin the Magician to Tommy Cooper on a bad day where whatever trick he tries to produce, it goes up the wall. This is what happened against Liverpool leaving him a bewildered figure devoid of hope and hopeful of his cherished ice-bags.
Aguero toils away week after week surrounded by giants who kick him to death and this match was no different. It brought a smile to Sue's face, but it brought anger to that of the Pedmachine.
The weekend saw the Barclays Premier League whipping boys come to town. Due to injuries it is difficult for Pellegrini to shuffle his pack but at least he was able to leave out Fernando and replace him with Yaya. He also left out Sterling for Bony.
Would Yaya get on with the job or was he still allegedly sulking because all the plaudits after the League Cup Final landed at Caballero's door and not his? Would Hart get back down to business after the Liverpool debacle? Could there possibly be a "typical City" moment in the offing?
The first half was almost instantly forgettable with City playing in that weak-opposition slumber that time and again has cost them valuable points. Unable to break down a stubborn Villa rearguard, there was no spark, nothing to ignite the stadium. Bony was hopelessly out of touch, almost everything he did found the opposition and only once did he find himself in anything like a scoring position. Why not Iheanacho, I heard the 53,000 say.
There must have been words at the break because the first time City played a fluent first touch move the ball ended up beating Guzan and opening the floodgates. Aguero set things up darting into space down the right and as the Villa defenders expected the ball into the six yard box, he slid it behind them to Silva, he in turn moved it on to Yaya who drilled home from the edge of the box.
Shortly thereafter, a ball into the box found another City old boy in the shape of Richards whose attempted clearance cannoned off Aguero and into the net. End of story really. Sergio got on the end of a neat move between himself and Silva to make it 3-0 before the recently maligned Sterling did what he does best - score the fourth in a 4-0 win.
City really should have gone for broke. Aguero was too long with a penalty kick after Guzan guessed correctly and forced him to shoot further towards the post and hit it. Shame really, he deserved to take the ball home especially as despite the input from Bony, Sergio had toiled for most of the afternoon on his tod.
We have slipped behind in the goal difference stakes and a bigger win would have been nicer to look at but we'll take 4-0. In truth City were never in any danger against a team devoid of confidence, devoid of fight and devoid of anything that resembles football. They have collectively thrown in the sponge and despite Garde trying his best to remain upbeat until it is mathematically impossible, nothing is going to improve the fate of a team that will not even be able to sell any of its players to a team that next season will have Premier League status.
Yes it was an easy stroll in the Etihad, but with Leicester getting a late win against Watford, the title seems a long way away. I am probably one of the optimists that looks towards City's last 2 title winning campaigns when they somehow rescued irrecoverable positions to earn their open-top bus ceremony and celebration. Can we see it this time? It's not looking likely. Leicester can happily gear themselves up to play once a week whereas City still have the Champions League to contend with.
With the exception of Leicester, other results worked a bit in City's favour this weekend. With the North London derby ending in a 2-2 stalemate and the Stretford getting whacked and both Arsenal and the Stretfords getting a man sent off, issues may be caused with their team selections for the important matches ahead. West Ham look dark horses though, coming up on the rails.
There are still, no doubt, multiple twists and turns ahead and City must make sure at all costs that they do not surrender their Champions League status by underperforming in the Barclays Premier League.
I can still see an unbeaten run on the horizon that might just put pressure on the title hopefuls. It started against Villa, needs to continue against Norwich and reach a crescendo against the Stretfords when maybe the footballing world will once again look at and fear Manchester City.
Read more: http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=563225#ixzz42A1pcRaO
The stage was set in the first minute when Flanagan let Sterling know he was in town and there was an immediate global switch off in the City ranks. You could almost see each and every one of them think " I don't fancy much of that" rather than rallying around Sterling and maybe having a bit of a go at Flanagan.
With Liverpool pressing City high up the pitch, you could see, just as we could when the sides met at the Etihad, it was going to be a difficult evening for City. Having said that by the half hour, it was fair to believe that City had seen off the threat and were starting to get a foot hold in the game when of all people, Joe Hart let in a Mignolet-esque dolly of a goal to gift wrap the match to Liverpool. And it was, of all people the waste of space known as Lallana who scored.
This re-sparked Liverpool and it wasn't long before they scored again when City old boy Milner executed the bewildered defence to leave the Scousers sitting pretty at the break. After the break the scoring was concluded when Firmino netted the third.
So what's the verdict? Simply that Liverpool were more buoyed by their defeat at Wembley than City were by their win. Pellegrini can bemoan his injured players and blame whatever he likes but I unbelievably found myself agreeing with of all people Rio Ferdinand. If you are a top footballer wanting to play at the highest level you have to accept you will be playing weekend-midweek, weekend-midweek. It is not an excuse to give up on a midweek game.
And this is quite simply where City are not smart enough and where I've no doubt we will see a mentality change when Guardiola adorns the dugout come the end of May, or early July which ever it is to be.
Time and again I have said in these pages that risk-taking football is fine, but you still have to keep the doors shut. And once again we saw how Fernando, who I had previously though was improving, is always chasing the man he is supposed to mark rather than lie in wait Barry, De Jong or even Garcia style. We saw Fernando chasing his man, Clichy come across ineffectively to help, Otamendi move out to cover Clichy and finally Kompany get caught between two men before Firmino eased the ball past Joe Hart.
The Pedmachine is convinced that with a proper holder in front of the back four this year's Barclays Premier League title would not be heading to the Fox and Hounds.
It is not a great show when your lead goalkeeper gets caught out with the kind of shot I used to save at junior school largely because of lack of concentration.
This game could quite easily have sentenced City to a season of almost ignominy despite winning the Capital One Cup. Has Guardiola got a get out of jail free card if City fail to qualify for the Champion's League, I wonder. It cannot be a secret that some of the City players currently on show will be starting the exit chute head on come summer. Surely it is in everyone's interests to win the title and let the incoming manager make the decisions rather than make them for him ahead of the event.
Even Silva is exempt. Since his injury he seems to have slithered from Merlin the Magician to Tommy Cooper on a bad day where whatever trick he tries to produce, it goes up the wall. This is what happened against Liverpool leaving him a bewildered figure devoid of hope and hopeful of his cherished ice-bags.
Aguero toils away week after week surrounded by giants who kick him to death and this match was no different. It brought a smile to Sue's face, but it brought anger to that of the Pedmachine.
The weekend saw the Barclays Premier League whipping boys come to town. Due to injuries it is difficult for Pellegrini to shuffle his pack but at least he was able to leave out Fernando and replace him with Yaya. He also left out Sterling for Bony.
Would Yaya get on with the job or was he still allegedly sulking because all the plaudits after the League Cup Final landed at Caballero's door and not his? Would Hart get back down to business after the Liverpool debacle? Could there possibly be a "typical City" moment in the offing?
The first half was almost instantly forgettable with City playing in that weak-opposition slumber that time and again has cost them valuable points. Unable to break down a stubborn Villa rearguard, there was no spark, nothing to ignite the stadium. Bony was hopelessly out of touch, almost everything he did found the opposition and only once did he find himself in anything like a scoring position. Why not Iheanacho, I heard the 53,000 say.
There must have been words at the break because the first time City played a fluent first touch move the ball ended up beating Guzan and opening the floodgates. Aguero set things up darting into space down the right and as the Villa defenders expected the ball into the six yard box, he slid it behind them to Silva, he in turn moved it on to Yaya who drilled home from the edge of the box.
Shortly thereafter, a ball into the box found another City old boy in the shape of Richards whose attempted clearance cannoned off Aguero and into the net. End of story really. Sergio got on the end of a neat move between himself and Silva to make it 3-0 before the recently maligned Sterling did what he does best - score the fourth in a 4-0 win.
City really should have gone for broke. Aguero was too long with a penalty kick after Guzan guessed correctly and forced him to shoot further towards the post and hit it. Shame really, he deserved to take the ball home especially as despite the input from Bony, Sergio had toiled for most of the afternoon on his tod.
We have slipped behind in the goal difference stakes and a bigger win would have been nicer to look at but we'll take 4-0. In truth City were never in any danger against a team devoid of confidence, devoid of fight and devoid of anything that resembles football. They have collectively thrown in the sponge and despite Garde trying his best to remain upbeat until it is mathematically impossible, nothing is going to improve the fate of a team that will not even be able to sell any of its players to a team that next season will have Premier League status.
Yes it was an easy stroll in the Etihad, but with Leicester getting a late win against Watford, the title seems a long way away. I am probably one of the optimists that looks towards City's last 2 title winning campaigns when they somehow rescued irrecoverable positions to earn their open-top bus ceremony and celebration. Can we see it this time? It's not looking likely. Leicester can happily gear themselves up to play once a week whereas City still have the Champions League to contend with.
With the exception of Leicester, other results worked a bit in City's favour this weekend. With the North London derby ending in a 2-2 stalemate and the Stretford getting whacked and both Arsenal and the Stretfords getting a man sent off, issues may be caused with their team selections for the important matches ahead. West Ham look dark horses though, coming up on the rails.
There are still, no doubt, multiple twists and turns ahead and City must make sure at all costs that they do not surrender their Champions League status by underperforming in the Barclays Premier League.
I can still see an unbeaten run on the horizon that might just put pressure on the title hopefuls. It started against Villa, needs to continue against Norwich and reach a crescendo against the Stretfords when maybe the footballing world will once again look at and fear Manchester City.
Read more: http://www.manchestercity.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=563225#ixzz42A1pcRaO
