I don't blame City for today

[Bingo Lewis]

I thought we looked decent today, everytime the ball was in our possesion we went for the goal. the scouse bastards fouled us everytime we did summat and got away with it time and time again.
I can't fault anyones performance, thought our defence was fucking ace and if it wasn't for the ref we'd have won today.

or is that a bit too positive?

;D

[Lees Alter Ego]

Im with you mate. Liverpool would have stopped anyone playing today, they seems to double up in every position and if you look like your gonna cause them any danger theyll take you out.

Wouldnt get to excited about our defence though as the have hardly any attacking threat. Although Kompany and Lescott seem by far our best pairing. hope he sticks with these two for midweek......dont think so anyway, not giving his post match comments!

on another note, that Lucas is SHITE

[King Kev]

I thought we looked decent today, everytime the ball was in our possesion we went for the goal. the scouse bastards fouled us everytime we did summat and got away with it time and time again.
I can't fault anyones performance, thought our defence was fucking ace and if it wasn't for the ref we'd have won today.

or is that a bit too positive?

;D

Top post IMO mate.

In recent weeks we have played clogging teams like Stoke, Hull, Bolton and Portsmouth and it hasn't been too pretty to watch (some people blame City for this, I prefer to blame the oposition).

I have been looking forward to today's match for weeks because I thought it would be a great match between two teams that wanted to play proper football. Unfortunately it turns out that we had a senile old twat as a ref and Liverpool decided to adopt the Stoke City style of 'football'.

Very disappointed today but, I agree with you and don't blame City.

[gillie]

I thought we looked decent today, everytime the ball was in our possesion we went for the goal. the scouse bastards fouled us everytime we did summat and got away with it time and time again.
I can't fault anyones performance, thought our defence was fucking ace and if it wasn't for the ref we'd have won today.

or is that a bit too positive?

;D

Top post IMO mate.

In recent weeks we have played clogging teams like Stoke, Hull, Bolton and Portsmouth and it hasn't been too pretty to watch (some people blame City for this, I prefer to blame the oposition).

I have been looking forward to today's match for weeks because I thought it would be a great match between two teams that wanted to play proper football. Unfortunately it turns out that we had a senile old twat as a ref and Liverpool decided to adopt the Stoke City style of 'football'.

Very disappointed today but, I agree with you and don't blame City.

I will be watching it for the first time on MOTD2 how long do you think we will get?.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I don't blame City or Lpool or the ref. We were ok in a defensive way as were Lpool and although I agree the ref was absolutely shocking I don't think he cost us the match.

Slavan Bilic had it about right when he said he expected either team to take a risk , have some ambition but neither did and just cancelled each other out.

[Ted Hughes]

I think we did ok. Liverpool are the biggest bunch of cynical clogging thugs we've faced all season & the ref helped them do their job, as he usually does.

[john68]

I don't think it is about blame, it is about learnibg.

If we want to rule the roost, we have to learn to cope with everything other teams do to us, whether it be Stoke and their set pieces, Chelsea with their skill or Liverpool who may want to kick us.
The team that becomes the top of the pile at the end of the season is the one that deals with it the best.

My worrry is that we seem to be taking our opponents too seriously and trying to nullify what they are doing.
I would like us to set our stall, dominate with our strategies and let opponents worry about us a bit more.

[avoidconfusion]

I must say I was really dreading this game. I thought Liverpool are gonna batter us but I think we played well today, much better than we played the past few games prior to this. Let's hope we can cover this form to the Stoke and Chelsea game and we should be able to get something out of the two.

And can we all agree on the "fact" that Kompany and Lescott are our best CB pairing?

I thought they were great tonight.

[ronk]

I don't blame City or Lpool or the ref. We were ok in a defensive way as were Lpool and although I agree the ref was absolutely shocking I don't think he cost us the match.

Slavan Bilic had it about right when he said he expected either team to take a risk , have some ambition but neither did and just cancelled each other out.

That's Liverpool for you though: they wait for you to take a risk and promptly deliver a sucker-punch.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

I don't blame City or Lpool or the ref. We were ok in a defensive way as were Lpool and although I agree the ref was absolutely shocking I don't think he cost us the match.

Slavan Bilic had it about right when he said he expected either team to take a risk , have some ambition but neither did and just cancelled each other out.

That's Liverpool for you though: they wait for you to take a risk and promptly deliver a sucker-punch.

Sure as hell the way they are playing at the mo.Both teams were waiting :)

[Ted Hughes]

I must say I was really dreading this game. I thought Liverpool are gonna batter us but I think we played well today, much better than we played the past few games prior to this. Let's hope we can cover this form to the Stoke and Chelsea game and we should be able to get something out of the two.

And can we all agree on the "fact" that Kompany and Lescott are our best CB pairing?

I thought they were great tonight.

They looked the nearest thing to a top PL CB pairing that I can remember seeing at City BUT we don't know how much of that was down to Liverpool's attacking ineptitude so I suggest we wait a while longer & see them in a variety of games. Certainly gives me plenty of optimism though.

[Somerset Blue]

Best performance for some weeks. It's all relative, I suppose, but it is a start. Just hope we can build on it at Chelski...

[MaineRoadMemories]

1 shot on target is nothing to be proud of. The players and manager don't have the balls to take the opposition on any more and the MOTD2 pundits said everything I was thinking since the full time whistle.

[dikdik]

Agree with Kompany and Lescott as best.
Only 2 shots on target for bin dippers and neither needed a save unlike Ade's great shot.

[BlueinBosnia]

I don't blame us, but after giving up for a week, in which I missed a match, I havent been convinced that we'll score 3 goals in a game any time before the end of the season. Whether an opposition team does remains to be seen.

[brite blu sky]

I thought we looked decent today, everytime the ball was in our possesion we went for the goal. the scouse bastards fouled us everytime we did summat and got away with it time and time again.
I can't fault anyones performance, thought our defence was fucking ace and if it wasn't for the ref we'd have won today.

or is that a bit too positive?

;D

BETTER THAN YOUR RAP THAT

[ant london]

Pretty much agree with most of the comments so far.

I was expecting a dicking and, from the moment the team was announced I was pleasantly surprised by several factors last night.

(And I have been feeling pretty bloody negative for the last couple of weeks so it feels quite nice to be able to post this today)

Firstly, a bold team selection. Glad to see Mancio have the balls to set up a decent formation that used our strengths.

That was a bloody decent defense. Thank god he finally dropped the captain and tried Kompany/Lescott. That is the first choice CB pairing for us. Exceptional. Zabba's performance added to the other week's (vs Bolton? I forget) are his two best City showings. Bloody brilliant, mature, level headed, brutally strong and dangerous on the ball. Bridgey also fantastic. If you add in our "reserves" (Micah, Nedum, Javi, Kolo, Dedryk) to that first choice line up then defence suddenly looks good. Credit to the players sure but Mancini has clearly reaped some benefits in some way. They all look significantly improved of late (yes we had injuries under MH but individually these same players had all often turned in lamentable performances. Roberto's role has to be acknowledged.

Adam Johnson...well....we really seem to have quite a player on our hands. Fabio Capello will not be able to ignore performances like that. I'd recommend he cancel his summer holiday bookings. A constant threat throughout but also a great combative and physical shift put in. Like the best bits that Rigsby and Robinho have brought to us with some balls and blood and guts thrown in. Fantastic.

De Jong. Another big game and another giant performance. Take a bow you wrinkly little legend.

Barry. For me that was his best game since the openers of the season. Looked MILES more mobile and was getting to the ball more dynamically and using it very well, really good performance.

Adebayor looked committed and worked really hard. Was unlucky not to score.

The referee was diabolical. It was our fault that we didn't win but he certainly helped the cheating dirty scouse twats stay in the game. Awful performance. I'm glad it seems like we have all our players in one piece as there were some horrible dangerous challengs they were on the receiving end of.

The media....what a bunch of cunts. They are clearly grinding a massive anti city axe in their reporting of last night's match. It was not champagne football from either team but we were the ones who tried to play football, show some adventure and win the game and we got assaulted all night from Liverpool. The match is today dismissed as "dire" (untrue) and we are dismissed as "undeserving of the CL place" (ha). Well fuck them all. On the basis of last night Manchester City deserve 4th infinitely more than those cheating bindipping twats. They were clearly afraid of us winning and it showed in their "gameplan" (aka kicking strategy). We were not bold enough in attack but they were clearly frightened, negative and they were on the run. Fuck the media and their hate and envy filled shite.

On the whole the lads made me proud of them last night.

There were some negatives and I should set them out for completeness;

As John68 and others have stated, it does seem/feel like we are giving opponents way way too much respect still. We have the talent in our squad to dominate quality (and lesser) opposition. But we need to be bold and impose our game on them rather than just seeking to contain and nullify them and their strengths.

Stephen Ireland's lack of confidence is worryingly palpable at the moment. I disagree with the posts in another thread slating him. I thought he was much much better last night (and it is so clear that the role his played is how he must be used if he is to play) but he is horribly shot shy. The move in the first half when he should have shot was, IMO, our best chance of the match and was squandered. Let's continue to play him there tho....he'll come good I'm sure.

SWP looked very poor last night for me. Same indifferent performance we've seen too often this year. Absolutely zero chance of him going to SA I'm afraid and I'm gutted for him

[Renato_CTID]

I thought we looked decent today, everytime the ball was in our possesion we went for the goal. the scouse bastards fouled us everytime we did summat and got away with it time and time again.
I can't fault anyones performance, thought our defence was fucking ace and if it wasn't for the ref we'd have won today.

or is that a bit too positive?

;D

Totally agree with you, mate! We were solid like a rock from the beginning til the end, Rafa's squad usually play so boring "non" football!

[King Kev]

1 shot on target is nothing to be proud of. The players and manager don't have the balls to take the opposition on any more.

This applies equally to both teams

[Douglas Higginbottom]

Wow Ant those positive pills really work!
My first game at COMS for an age so watching it live compared to on tv was a very interesting comparison. First thing I would say is I didn't think it was as bad as is being made out to be by the press.Clearly though both teams were more concerned with not conceding than scoring and although you say it was a bold team selection I didn't see it that way. I don't think it was negative either but basically a standard team selection. I have said many times before though it's how a team are asked to play that counts more than the players and team selected.

Defensively I agree we were very good.All the back 4 played really well and surely that is our best central defensive partnership. I do think it happened because Toure got a little niggle yesterday in training though so it will be interesting if it stays with Lescott and Toure.In training prior to the match Lescott was not in the 11 being worked with by Mancini.

Nigel played very well in his typical way and Barry was ok. I think he has been much maligned this season .I know he hasnt been great but equally he hasnt been as bad as many have made out.The trouble is his passing can go wrong and yesterday there was a bit of that evident.Ultimately though I would like to see him venture forward more to get in touch with whoever is playing ahead of him.That's one of the noticeable things for me actually being there. When the ball is with the defence or NDJ/Barry there really are so little options to pass to.It's ok to blame the nomintaed attacking players for not showing but a good team should have a few options for passing and we just don't show up well like that.

That's where we need a lot more movement and desire including the full backs and holding midfield players.They don't have to run wildy past the center forward but they do need to show ahead of the ball more and give better angles for passes.Without that you are relying almost totally on the front 4 attacking players. But of course if the opposition know that all they are likely to contend with is the 4 they can set their stall out quite easily and basically squeeze very tight on them and usually double mark them.

It was very noticeable that whenever SWP and AJ got the ball they were immediately confronted by 2 and even 3 players. Hence their service to Ade was very limited.And of course it basically is only Ade they are trying to service.I was very pleased with Ade yesterday as I thought he tried very hard and caused them a few problems.Stevie was unfortunately off his game and as I said somewhere else it really does look like a confidence thing more than anything else.That chance where he turned the wrong way seemed to say it all but for most of the game when he received the ball he seemed afraid of turning with it and simply laid it back. He IS better than that and needs to be encouraged more to take the game forward and that means taking chances.

I would like to think the same commited performance against a team other than Lpool will reap better rewards.It will against teams in the bottom half but I am not sure it will against the likes of Chelsea, Spurs,Brum,Scum,Fulham who are 5 of the next 8 games.The team simply has to be more positive in its approach to games.