Buzz Lightyear
Alert Team
Like every other football supporter, no matter which club one supports, the Pedmachine dislikes "International Weeks". Not only, in the absence of any sensible news, do the scribes subject us not to the "Daily Rooney", more like the "Hourly Rooney", but also the "Who`s going to sign for City this week"?
Do the sportswriters of this world really think that we want to be bombarded day-in day-out learning about the antics of a Stretford deadbeat, whose days have been numbered in both the Barclays Premier League and for England? A man clinging to the desire to overturn the scoring feats of Sir Robert Charlton, another Stretford knighted for no real reason.
It`s time the pen pushers of what was once Fleet Street give the rest of us some news that we want to hear.
True, I`m a little fed up of Aubameyang, whose goal for Dortmund neat Bayern this weekend, Messi who for me would never cut it in a Premier League where people snap at your ankles before snapping your legs and the weekly assortment of defenders designed to accompany John Stones. Still no mention of Van Dijk though, who would be my choice.
And what of Liverpool fans? Watching the best football they have seen for a long time, 2014 apart, they too are subjected to Rooney and Moaning Maureen in equal proportion as they tuck into their bacon butties each morning.
I don`t mind City sailing under the radar, but am fed up every day when I buy the papers for my lifelong City fan dad, he has to read only about the Stretfords.
There is of course always the danger that your players return lame and it has an effect on your title chances.
Rant over….
City, with pretty much a full squad flying to and retuning from the far -flung corners of the world, do not relish "the match after". Historically, since we have had this type of footballer at the Etihad, City have struggled to overcome anyone in these fixtures.
Crystal Palace away would not have been the fixture of choice, but in this Premier League which fixture is?
It was perhaps laughable that Alan Pardew once referred to himself as "Pardiola", especially if believed that his South East London outfit`s output resembled anything that he was likely to see at the Camp Nou and as for Cabaye? With his peroxide hair and darker beard, does he have an aspiration that he might the London reincarnation of Messi?
Well the free -flowing football that emanates from Selhurst Park and has now yielded 5 defeats on the bounce suggest that the Champions League trophy will not be rocking up in South East London, not only any time soon, but any time full stop. Palace with some of the tools to do the job on an occasion like this showed themselves to be simply rubbish and never really at the races.
City however, as has been the problem seemingly forever since the money came looked a bit disjointed to start with, but a new card was played by Guardiola. With Yaya having apologised for himself and in a veiled fashion on behalf of the agent that seems to be destroying the twilight of his career, Pep decided to select him for this fixture, especially with a vital Champions League match in Germany on the immediate horizon.
The sylph-like figure was a long way from the roly-poly policeman type of character that waddled its way around the pitches last season contributing not much more than a scowl and looking as though his next waddle was to be along Rowsley Street and out of Gate 11.
But today we saw almost the Yaya of old. The guy whose legendary status at the Club was born out of the fact that he could turn matches almost single-handedly, generating important results. Today was also no exception.
With Bravo restored between the pipes and Stones left out of the squad, City set up with Sagna down the right and with Kompany, Otamendi and Kolarov as the back 3. In front was the evergreen Fernandinho with Sterling, de Bruyne, Yaya and Nolito behind the stuttering Aguero.
It was a selection designed to do the job in some comfort, with an adequate bench to turn to if needed. But as always it didn`t go much to script. Palace are not known for their subtlety and are not scared to give you a boot if it gives them chance to get back and defend and the game seemed to be broken up with a series of hard tackles.
Couple that with the fact that Kompany, who was having a successful comeback marking the combative Benteke, was levelled by his own net minder and ultimately forced to leave the field and City were not making life easy for themselves. Zabaleta came on and Sagna moved into the back three, where, I hasten to add, he played very well indeed and justified my call for Pellegrini to play him there last season at a time when virtually all the centre backs were sick.
There were chances for City, yet again, but no one looked capable of converting them. The out of sorts Aguero couldn`t latch on to a fantastic cross by Kolarov early on and that looked to set the pattern for another dismal day in front of goal.
But cometh the hour cometh the man and five minutes ahead of the break, Yaya was making things happen in the number 10 slot. He exchanged passes with Aguero, then played a quick-fire give-and-go with Nolito before sizing up a shot aimed between the legs of Ward towards the far bottom corner. For once the goal gods were smiling at City and the ball hit Ward`s leg and went into the top corner on the other side of the goal. Yaya was back and back with a bang.
This much-needed goal was just the tonic City wanted, but probably not the one Sue wanted in her gin, as her boys were similarly suffering in the rain at Southampton.
After the break it was end-to-end stuff early on. Chances came and went. Aguero didn`t really look "at-it", de Bruyne failed to open enough doors, Sterling did but found nobody home and Nolito flitted in and out of the game with no real purpose.
Add to that the most ridiculous foul I think I`ve ever seen on a football field, and this is from a man that has seen Chopper Harris, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner, Nobby Stiles, Tommy Smith and even to an extent dear old Mike Doyle all of whom did everything they could to protect the integrity of their goal. Quite how Puncheon survived his combined-harvester attack on Zabaleta, with the ball nowhere in sight, and on the side of the assistant referee remains one for Sherlock Holmes.
Puncheon literally scythed down the Argentino as he was starting to make a run and become available to receive a pass, probably thirty yards out. Hopefully the ref never saw it and the FA can get down to the business of giving him a month off.
One-nil, as has proved the case in recent weeks was never quite looking enough and so it proved just after the hour mark when substitiute Wickham got open in the box and blasted one right through Clownio. For some reason he stuck out a foot and a rather weak arm and never really got into a saving position to keep out the type of shot that was chicken feed for Hart last term.
So, with the away section, as always, packed with Blues, the Eagles were in an ascendancy of sorts with Pardiola now believing he would outwit his more his more decorated adversary with the correct version of the name.
City stepped on the gas. Silva was sent on to replace the ineffective Nolito and Yaya was pushed in behind Aguero who was beginning to look as though his pistol has been bought from a toy shop. Eventually, with only 7 minutes left a breakthrough came.
As I said before, cometh the hour, cometh the man. De Bruyne is the artisan of dead ball situations at the Etihad these days and the corner he took in the 83rd minute was in many cases unique. As the giants of the Palace defence aligned themselves for an aerial bombardment, De Bruyne sent a daisy-cutter into the six- yard box where Yaya had skipped unattended to tap in the winner. At every set piece while he was on the field Benteke has added his considerable size to ensuring there was room for Yaya, but once he was withdrawn, Wickham didn`t have a clue who he was supposed to mark at corners, left an inch of space and it was boomtime for Yaya.
Despite one last scare City eased out the remaining forever minutes of the match to register a well-needed 2-1 win at a stadium where it is generally difficult to reap the rewards. This places the Blues on equal points and equal goal difference with Susan`s dearest (I used to think it was me!), but behind on goals scored.
Fernandinho was once again impressive in almost all of his work again in this match. Otamendi had one of his better matches and for me Sagna gives a back 3 a much more solid look than do Kolarov or Clichy. De Bruyne looked to be maintaining some kind of form, the sort we will need against Monchengladbach this week, but my concerns lie at the feet of the misfiring Aguero.
The deadhead weeks of the International break have seen City, in the eyes of some scribes, linked with Sanchez from Arsenal and the inevitable Messi, but right now their fortunes lie at the toes of Kun Aguero, referred to as the only world-class footballer in the Barclays Premier League, at least in the eyes of Alan Shearer on a recent MOTD show.
His goal tally so far has been pretty good, but his non-verbal communication is telling me a different story. It tells me all is not well with the goal machine. It tells me he is playing nearer to functional than academic. His exploits in front of goal tell me much the same story. It`s almost as though he is sulking because he didn`t get one against Barcelona. Or is it because he doesn`t like Pep letting him know who`s the gaffer? The Catalan certainly let Yaya know when he wanted to come off and was told he was staying on. Maybe life was too easy in front of the Engineer.
But City got over this testing fixture with only Kompany heading to the doctors for what is now a customary sick-note.
Elsewhere, both Arsenal and Liverpool suffered similar effects against the Stretfords and Southampton respectively and their point-sharing results benefited City to an extent but more importantly Spuds against a West Ham team that snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory in 2 stoppage-time minutes. As City did, Liverpool bombarded Southampton and came up empty with a series of chances being scorned and Van Dijk digging into the defensive trenches to keep the scores level.
At the Theatre of Nightmares, Mata looked as though he`d settled the matter against an out of touch set of Gooners, who equalised with an excellent headed goal from Giroud in the last minute, when all looked lost. Where were their so-called world-beaters? The fantastic Ozil had another of his days off and was shocking. Sanchez was trying to do the work of the midfield and attack, in essence trying to set up a goal for himself, looking like a slightly upmarket version of roly-poly Rooney and as for Walcott..the great English hope. He was essentially useless. It was inevitable when Wenger`s final throw of the dice, the introduction of Oxlade-Chamberlain to provide pace and Giroud to provide a different form of challenge to the Stretford mastermind, Phil Jones, that this axis would finally grant Arsenal a goal. And poor old Phil looked as stunned as he did in 2012, when in the 123rd second of him becoming a champion, the joy was stolen away from him by Aguero 150 miles away.
The top of the table is still in a cluster and Chelsea can go top today when they whack Middlesbrough-Nil.
December is City`s defining month when they match up with Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester before spending the new year in Liverpool. New Year`s eve could be defining moment in my relationship with Susan. Will she get her birthday present in January?
Writer: Pedmachine
Date: Sunday November 20 2016
Time: 12:15PM
Do the sportswriters of this world really think that we want to be bombarded day-in day-out learning about the antics of a Stretford deadbeat, whose days have been numbered in both the Barclays Premier League and for England? A man clinging to the desire to overturn the scoring feats of Sir Robert Charlton, another Stretford knighted for no real reason.
It`s time the pen pushers of what was once Fleet Street give the rest of us some news that we want to hear.
True, I`m a little fed up of Aubameyang, whose goal for Dortmund neat Bayern this weekend, Messi who for me would never cut it in a Premier League where people snap at your ankles before snapping your legs and the weekly assortment of defenders designed to accompany John Stones. Still no mention of Van Dijk though, who would be my choice.
And what of Liverpool fans? Watching the best football they have seen for a long time, 2014 apart, they too are subjected to Rooney and Moaning Maureen in equal proportion as they tuck into their bacon butties each morning.
I don`t mind City sailing under the radar, but am fed up every day when I buy the papers for my lifelong City fan dad, he has to read only about the Stretfords.
There is of course always the danger that your players return lame and it has an effect on your title chances.
Rant over….
City, with pretty much a full squad flying to and retuning from the far -flung corners of the world, do not relish "the match after". Historically, since we have had this type of footballer at the Etihad, City have struggled to overcome anyone in these fixtures.
Crystal Palace away would not have been the fixture of choice, but in this Premier League which fixture is?
It was perhaps laughable that Alan Pardew once referred to himself as "Pardiola", especially if believed that his South East London outfit`s output resembled anything that he was likely to see at the Camp Nou and as for Cabaye? With his peroxide hair and darker beard, does he have an aspiration that he might the London reincarnation of Messi?
Well the free -flowing football that emanates from Selhurst Park and has now yielded 5 defeats on the bounce suggest that the Champions League trophy will not be rocking up in South East London, not only any time soon, but any time full stop. Palace with some of the tools to do the job on an occasion like this showed themselves to be simply rubbish and never really at the races.
City however, as has been the problem seemingly forever since the money came looked a bit disjointed to start with, but a new card was played by Guardiola. With Yaya having apologised for himself and in a veiled fashion on behalf of the agent that seems to be destroying the twilight of his career, Pep decided to select him for this fixture, especially with a vital Champions League match in Germany on the immediate horizon.
The sylph-like figure was a long way from the roly-poly policeman type of character that waddled its way around the pitches last season contributing not much more than a scowl and looking as though his next waddle was to be along Rowsley Street and out of Gate 11.
But today we saw almost the Yaya of old. The guy whose legendary status at the Club was born out of the fact that he could turn matches almost single-handedly, generating important results. Today was also no exception.
With Bravo restored between the pipes and Stones left out of the squad, City set up with Sagna down the right and with Kompany, Otamendi and Kolarov as the back 3. In front was the evergreen Fernandinho with Sterling, de Bruyne, Yaya and Nolito behind the stuttering Aguero.
It was a selection designed to do the job in some comfort, with an adequate bench to turn to if needed. But as always it didn`t go much to script. Palace are not known for their subtlety and are not scared to give you a boot if it gives them chance to get back and defend and the game seemed to be broken up with a series of hard tackles.
Couple that with the fact that Kompany, who was having a successful comeback marking the combative Benteke, was levelled by his own net minder and ultimately forced to leave the field and City were not making life easy for themselves. Zabaleta came on and Sagna moved into the back three, where, I hasten to add, he played very well indeed and justified my call for Pellegrini to play him there last season at a time when virtually all the centre backs were sick.
There were chances for City, yet again, but no one looked capable of converting them. The out of sorts Aguero couldn`t latch on to a fantastic cross by Kolarov early on and that looked to set the pattern for another dismal day in front of goal.
But cometh the hour cometh the man and five minutes ahead of the break, Yaya was making things happen in the number 10 slot. He exchanged passes with Aguero, then played a quick-fire give-and-go with Nolito before sizing up a shot aimed between the legs of Ward towards the far bottom corner. For once the goal gods were smiling at City and the ball hit Ward`s leg and went into the top corner on the other side of the goal. Yaya was back and back with a bang.
This much-needed goal was just the tonic City wanted, but probably not the one Sue wanted in her gin, as her boys were similarly suffering in the rain at Southampton.
After the break it was end-to-end stuff early on. Chances came and went. Aguero didn`t really look "at-it", de Bruyne failed to open enough doors, Sterling did but found nobody home and Nolito flitted in and out of the game with no real purpose.
Add to that the most ridiculous foul I think I`ve ever seen on a football field, and this is from a man that has seen Chopper Harris, Norman Hunter, Billy Bremner, Nobby Stiles, Tommy Smith and even to an extent dear old Mike Doyle all of whom did everything they could to protect the integrity of their goal. Quite how Puncheon survived his combined-harvester attack on Zabaleta, with the ball nowhere in sight, and on the side of the assistant referee remains one for Sherlock Holmes.
Puncheon literally scythed down the Argentino as he was starting to make a run and become available to receive a pass, probably thirty yards out. Hopefully the ref never saw it and the FA can get down to the business of giving him a month off.
One-nil, as has proved the case in recent weeks was never quite looking enough and so it proved just after the hour mark when substitiute Wickham got open in the box and blasted one right through Clownio. For some reason he stuck out a foot and a rather weak arm and never really got into a saving position to keep out the type of shot that was chicken feed for Hart last term.
So, with the away section, as always, packed with Blues, the Eagles were in an ascendancy of sorts with Pardiola now believing he would outwit his more his more decorated adversary with the correct version of the name.
City stepped on the gas. Silva was sent on to replace the ineffective Nolito and Yaya was pushed in behind Aguero who was beginning to look as though his pistol has been bought from a toy shop. Eventually, with only 7 minutes left a breakthrough came.
As I said before, cometh the hour, cometh the man. De Bruyne is the artisan of dead ball situations at the Etihad these days and the corner he took in the 83rd minute was in many cases unique. As the giants of the Palace defence aligned themselves for an aerial bombardment, De Bruyne sent a daisy-cutter into the six- yard box where Yaya had skipped unattended to tap in the winner. At every set piece while he was on the field Benteke has added his considerable size to ensuring there was room for Yaya, but once he was withdrawn, Wickham didn`t have a clue who he was supposed to mark at corners, left an inch of space and it was boomtime for Yaya.
Despite one last scare City eased out the remaining forever minutes of the match to register a well-needed 2-1 win at a stadium where it is generally difficult to reap the rewards. This places the Blues on equal points and equal goal difference with Susan`s dearest (I used to think it was me!), but behind on goals scored.
Fernandinho was once again impressive in almost all of his work again in this match. Otamendi had one of his better matches and for me Sagna gives a back 3 a much more solid look than do Kolarov or Clichy. De Bruyne looked to be maintaining some kind of form, the sort we will need against Monchengladbach this week, but my concerns lie at the feet of the misfiring Aguero.
The deadhead weeks of the International break have seen City, in the eyes of some scribes, linked with Sanchez from Arsenal and the inevitable Messi, but right now their fortunes lie at the toes of Kun Aguero, referred to as the only world-class footballer in the Barclays Premier League, at least in the eyes of Alan Shearer on a recent MOTD show.
His goal tally so far has been pretty good, but his non-verbal communication is telling me a different story. It tells me all is not well with the goal machine. It tells me he is playing nearer to functional than academic. His exploits in front of goal tell me much the same story. It`s almost as though he is sulking because he didn`t get one against Barcelona. Or is it because he doesn`t like Pep letting him know who`s the gaffer? The Catalan certainly let Yaya know when he wanted to come off and was told he was staying on. Maybe life was too easy in front of the Engineer.
But City got over this testing fixture with only Kompany heading to the doctors for what is now a customary sick-note.
Elsewhere, both Arsenal and Liverpool suffered similar effects against the Stretfords and Southampton respectively and their point-sharing results benefited City to an extent but more importantly Spuds against a West Ham team that snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory in 2 stoppage-time minutes. As City did, Liverpool bombarded Southampton and came up empty with a series of chances being scorned and Van Dijk digging into the defensive trenches to keep the scores level.
At the Theatre of Nightmares, Mata looked as though he`d settled the matter against an out of touch set of Gooners, who equalised with an excellent headed goal from Giroud in the last minute, when all looked lost. Where were their so-called world-beaters? The fantastic Ozil had another of his days off and was shocking. Sanchez was trying to do the work of the midfield and attack, in essence trying to set up a goal for himself, looking like a slightly upmarket version of roly-poly Rooney and as for Walcott..the great English hope. He was essentially useless. It was inevitable when Wenger`s final throw of the dice, the introduction of Oxlade-Chamberlain to provide pace and Giroud to provide a different form of challenge to the Stretford mastermind, Phil Jones, that this axis would finally grant Arsenal a goal. And poor old Phil looked as stunned as he did in 2012, when in the 123rd second of him becoming a champion, the joy was stolen away from him by Aguero 150 miles away.
The top of the table is still in a cluster and Chelsea can go top today when they whack Middlesbrough-Nil.
December is City`s defining month when they match up with Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester before spending the new year in Liverpool. New Year`s eve could be defining moment in my relationship with Susan. Will she get her birthday present in January?
Writer: Pedmachine
Date: Sunday November 20 2016
Time: 12:15PM
