Barclays Premier League
Wednesday 16th April 2014, 7.45pm KO
Referee: Martin Atkinson
EVERYONE GETS ROBBED IN LIVERPOOL[/center]
On a Sunday afternoon after a game whose build up was startlingly similar to a certain 50th anniversary in 2008 we were left staring down a familiar barrel in our bid to be crowned champions. There are many differences between 2012 and today’s team; most notably in 2012 City had led for most of the way and had allowed a five point little to be whittled away thanks to defeats at Everton, Swansea and Arsenal and it had felt like we had blown our chances and handed it to the filth.
Then as there is now there was a home mid-week game with a sense of last chance salon. Back in 2012 we faced West Brom with the belief that our season had fizzled out, amidst increasing speculation over Roberto Mancini’s future.
Of course we won that night and Wigan defeated Taggart’s crew and the rest is history. This time, of course, we’ve been the ones playing catch up due to victory in the Carling Cup and an extended FA Cup run having had as many as three games in hand at one point. In addition City have rarely been top of the league, mostly due to the latter but partially due to the defeats at Cardiff City and Aston Villa in August and September leaving some supporters with doubts about even Champions League qualification and that sense of catch up still remains.
This season, for at least the second time against key opposition, the stars aligned against us as the existing injury of Sergio Aguero (ignoring Rodwell, Richards and Nastasic for the moment) were compounded by injuries to Vincent Kompany days prior to the biggest game of the season and Yaya Toure just 20 minutes into that biggest game of the season.
NOTE: For the record my ever lasting memory of the 25th anniversary would be 40,000 people cheering an injured player.
For the first 25 minutes game it felt like we were playing under Mancini again, we couldn’t get a foothold in midfield, possession was surrendered too easily, several players went missing and we were punished for it. With the benefit of hindsight you can argue that Vincent Kompany was at fault for the opening two goals (and he was) and that he shouldn’t have been playing on one leg but as a team we just didn’t do enough to justify not being 2-0 down at that stage.
Ironically I thought the injury to Yaya Toure saved us with the introduction of Javi Garcia. I thought Garcia, much maligned since he joined the club for his lack of pace, defensive nous and lack of ability to pass the ball anywhere but sideways or backwards, was the best player on the park for much of the game. He lowered the tempo of the game when in possession of the ball, holding on to it and playing his own way, forcing Liverpool to lower their own tempo which they could not raise again, his passing was excellent, rarely giving the ball away and shielded the defence well and after the first 25 minutes I never thought Liverpool looked like they’d threaten again.
Again with the benefit of hindsight, I thought Pellegrini got his team selection wrong, starting with Jesus Navas and Edin Dzeko when he probably should have started with James Milner and Sergio Aguero and finished the game with the former. I thought first half Dzeko was at his sloth like worst, albeit he had zero support, with only the French Lesbian Nasri utter disappearance outdoing him in the worst performer stakes.
What was telling about Milner’s contribution when he came was not only did he put that runt of man John Flanagan in his pocket (seriously he should be forced to wear a bag on his head) whereas Jesus Navas never took a man out of the game, and his crossing tended be over-hit when he did put a ball in. In addition, Milners introduction also dragged out Gerrard onto the right wing to dish out as much treatment as the England captain can possibly get away with creating more space for Fernandinho and Silva. Silva was at his brilliant best in the second half and any discussion as to best player in the league begins and end with Dave.
Ultimately we can only analyse and atone for our own mistakes, too many big players didn’t put in a performance, individual errors cost us and so did the team selection (how was Jovetic not involved in the game?) but how much Qatari World Cup bung money would we need to dish out to get a decision? Mark Clattenberg has form with City, sending off Boyata after eight minutes against Arsenal and sending off Bellamy for a stone wall penalty at Bolton are the two immediate that come to mind off the top of my head. At one point on Sunday he literally made up the rules in favour of Liverpool in a conceited effort to ensure they got away with as much as humanly possible! I’ll let him off for the Skrtel hand ball/right hook in Garcia’s face in stoppage time but what about Skrtel swapping shirts with Kompany and Fernandinho at every corner? When did the two footed scissor lunge become an accepted tackling art form with not only Suarez after seven minutes but Sakho savaging Dzeko on the stroke of half time! I’m convinced England’s natural xenophobia is firmly entrenched in football referee’s which is why Gerrard, Rooney and Terry have got away with so much for so long!
Liverpool try to justify this by throwing up imaginary cards every time they savage someone, as Flanagan demonstrated on Milner and Silva despite having connected with both of them. However, explain to me how you can award a free kick against someone who has just dived and then not book them for that infraction? Unfortunately it will all be overlooked as he sent off Jordan Henderson for a leg breaker in the dying seconds when it didn’t matter and that will satisfy the FA. NOTE: Second memory of the 25th anniversary will be the standing ovation he received for said tackle!
Of course you are never going to get any proper debate on the subject when the likes of TalkShite, Match of the Day, Sky Sports and the print media are covering the game all pushing each other out of the way to get down on their knees and fellate Gerrard and Suarez. Why properly debate a game of football when you can just write that Brendan Rogers is the greatest manager of all time and sell a million copies of whatever you’re pedalling in Great Yarmouth, Truro and Kent.
Well good luck to you Brendan, I hear Juventus are waiting for you in the Champions League…I can’t think why but I can’t wait!
Sunderland
Sunderland (from): Mannone, Pickford, Ustari, Alonso, Brown, Celustka, Cuellar, Dossena, O'Shea, Vergini, Roberge, Ba, Bridcutt, Cattermole, Colback, Gardner, Giaccherini, Johnson, Ki, Larsson, Mavrias, Altidore, Borini, Fletcher, Scocco, Wickham.
So the Mackems arrive at the Etihad, bottom of the table and relegation now out of their own hands. They arrive seven points behind Norwich in 17th place with two games in hand and just six games remaining. Just to try and jinx it for a second they’ve lost five of their last six Premier League games with defeats to Everton, Tottentham, West Ham, Liverpool and Norwich. They’ve not won since a 3-0 win at Newcastle on Feb 1st. If this was the UFC it would be a perfect match up with this being the ‘rubber match’ having meet twice already and each splitting a win whilst both sides are coming of a defeat. Similar to the UFC the loser of this match would likely be cut from the promotion and defeat for Sunderland will probably mean a swift exit from the Premier League.
I’m not going to try and pick a team but will say I’m always suspicious of strikers who rarely score (Altidore and Wickham), am pretty sure Borini will have a say in tonight’s proceedings, can’t believe Ki was allowed to leave Swansea and will predict that Cattermole will reach double figures in fouls before he is booked!
Manchester City
Manchester City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Clichy, Demichelis, Kolarov, Kompany, Lescott, Richards, Zabaleta, Garcia, Fernandinho, Milner, Nasri, Navas, Rodwell, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko, Jovetic, Negredo,
Well we all know the drill by now don’t we? We’ve lost once, our title challenge is in ruins, Pellegrini will get the sack, we will breach financial fair play rules, the owners will lose interest and all our best players will join the rags so why bother!
To top it off Toure is out for two weeks and there will be natural doubts about the fitness of Kompany and Aguero. It’s difficult to discuss a team selection as unlike last season when the team selection had a huge impact on the team performance with too many people not earning their place in the side and selected regardless of form it’s been difficult to justify someone’s omission. This season, our ‘massive squad’ (TM – Every Sky Sports Pundit) has seen us just use 23 players and every single one of them bar the perennial sick notes has made a positive contribution to the side. None more so than Aleksander Kolarov, a player I’ve been a huge critic of for two years, was probably harshly left out at Liverpool after another good performance against Southampton and leads the league in assists for a defender (do one Leigthon Baines). Tonight’s a must win game but we must be careful not to over-expose players on such a short rest period. Personally I would like to see Jovetic, Garcia, Kolarov and most importantly Milner get a start as recent performances have justified their selection. Jovetic, the new Valeri Bojinov, is a quality footballer has contributed so much in very little football and I was surprised about his omission on Sunday as he would have made a huge difference.
Garcia deserves to keep his place and will with Yaya Toure out injured, although there could be temptation to move him to centre back and rest Kompany. That would mean a move in the centre for Milner but although he probably lacks the pace to ever be a first choice City winger his best games for City have been on the wing. In the middle he’s too selfless, happily to hold a defensive position and let others play and it’s not the best use of him.
Up front it’s a real conundrum as Negredo has been hopelessly out of form since injuring his shoulder at West Ham (yet another horrible challenge that went unpunished), has not really set the world on fire as a lone striker, has forged no partnership what-so-ever with Edin Dzeko and looks desperately short of a goal. Edin Dzeko, as mentioned elsewhere, continues to infuriate as his selection is merited when he scores goals, and he has bagged plenty recently, but when he doesn’t score he offers little else to justify his presence. I’m surprised to learn that he is being offered a new contract in the summer.
A fully fit Sergio is first choice, the best goalscorer and the only compensation for not winning the league would be for him to catch that rat Suarez for the golden shoe. Unfortunately only the physio team will know how truly fit he is and they aren’t going to reveal that so it’s hard to make a judgement on him and understandably he will surely have one eye on the World Cup. (I’ve got his World Cup sticker in swap – PM me for offers!)
Prediction
Well I think we were glad this was postponed back in February when we were in the midst of an injury crisis, that’s still the case now but I am more than confident that whatever side we put out it should be enough to see off anything Sunderland have to offer. The games at the Stadium of Light and Wembley have shown us that they can make it difficult for us but we managed to break down their resilience and that they don’t help themselves having conceded more own goals than a team with Richard Dunne and Frank Sinclair in it.
I’m going to go with 3-0 City
