***Official City v Sporting Thread***

[Ted Hughes]

Commentator said something about Silva carry an ankle knock for weeks when he was taken off

Pizzaro is the Quarter Back Type that Silva needs like a hole in the head, 60 yard hoofs are not going to get the best out of Silva.
When we pass and move through the MF we are the best in the League by a mile.

We already know that Yaya can't play the defensive mid role without leaving a big fucking hole, so how can we put Pizzaro next to him when we've got Savic & Kolo at CB plus Kolarov at LB ? Peter Barnes could keep the ball for four hours without ever getting tackled by that lot. Baffling selection. Stupid, long ball tactics with big holes in defence= recipe for disaster.

I was sat watching that & for the first time in a long time at home, I thought the wheels had actually come off. Players didn't know what they were supposed to be doing & were clearly getting downhearted about it. The turnaround was incredible but how AJ was yet again taken off (presumably because it was his fault Pizzaro kept hitting 40 yard passes too short to reach him ?) & Pizzaro + Silva stayed on, was strange to say the least. Silva was rubbish.

The latter stages of the game we did everything that City haven't done properly since Bob arrived; proper English style Premier League football. The kind which got Chelsea & Utd to Champion's Lg finals. We did it without ANY worthwhile contribution from Silva; scored 3 & could have had 6.

Now we know we can play with a plan B which doesn't depend on Silva. We have lacked a plan B since Bob arrived but now we have one but we only have Kolarov to deliver the ball.

Imagine Gareth Bale doing that job next season ?

[Goaters 103]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

[Im_Spartacus]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

I was happy with the performance 2nd half, however feel that whilst Kolarov did a valiant job down that flank, he could have done serious damage in tandem with a winger (Johnson), ditto Richards (Milner).

[lets all have a disco]

I laughed my bollocks off when Pizzaro chased back even at full pelt he is a bit too old and those tiny legs didnt carry him very fast.

[Mase]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

I was happy with the performance 2nd half, however feel that whilst Kolarov did a valiant job down that flank, he could have done serious damage in tandem with a winger (Johnson), ditto Richards (Milner).

Did you notice the shot from 50 yards Kolarov had in the 90+ mins?? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry!

[Goaters 103]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

I was happy with the performance 2nd half, however feel that whilst Kolarov did a valiant job down that flank, he could have done serious damage in tandem with a winger (Johnson), ditto Richards (Milner).

Kolarov had a great game going forwards, but his poor defending cost us the 2nd goal. Thats his game in a nutshell - wingback or left midf he may be, full-back and defensive player he is not. Gave a great effort, but too little too late.

[Goaters 103]

I laughed my bollocks off when Pizzaro chased back even at full pelt he is a bit too old and those tiny legs didnt carry him very fast.

We have neither the time, nor the patience to let Pizarro settle into English football and our way of playing.

It doesnt help that he has the build of Tattoo from Fantasy Island and the passing skills of George Weah's phony cousin either. Sixty yard diagonal punts straight to the opposing full-back arent impressive. Strangely this led to Johnson being subbed and Pizarro, bizarro though it was (do you see what I did there?), staying on for the 2nd half. Nonsense. Im not AJ's greatest fan but presumably it must have been his fault for Pizarro's under-hitting long passes to him in the first half.

[Im_Spartacus]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

I was happy with the performance 2nd half, however feel that whilst Kolarov did a valiant job down that flank, he could have done serious damage in tandem with a winger (Johnson), ditto Richards (Milner).

Kolarov had a great game going forwards, but his poor defending cost us the 2nd goal. Thats his game in a nutshell - wingback or left midf he may be, full-back and defensive player he is not. Gave a great effort, but too little too late.

From the first minute you could see that Kolarov/Savic was likely to be a problem defensively. But as has been said plenty of times in the last 12 hours, had we attacked from the off, neither would have had to do any defending

[Ted Hughes]

Having AJ on one side & Kolarov on the other would have made our new found ploy of putting more than one player in the penalty area even more difficult to stop.

[Goaters 103]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

I was happy with the performance 2nd half, however feel that whilst Kolarov did a valiant job down that flank, he could have done serious damage in tandem with a winger (Johnson), ditto Richards (Milner).

Kolarov had a great game going forwards, but his poor defending cost us the 2nd goal. Thats his game in a nutshell - wingback or left midf he may be, full-back and defensive player he is not. Gave a great effort, but too little too late.

had we attacked from the off, neither would have had to do any defending

Nail on the head John.

Mancini also sent out the wrong player in a key spot, and we played utter shit for the first 60 minutes.

[Hazy2]

Agree with that Ted - Pizarro's selection and then him trying to play Hollywood passes all night, conceding possession needlessly and nearly every time, was quite galling. Good point on Silva who's dropped off a cliff since the turn of the year.

I was happy with the performance 2nd half, however feel that whilst Kolarov did a valiant job down that flank, he could have done serious damage in tandem with a winger (Johnson), ditto Richards (Milner).

Kolarov had a great game going forwards, but his poor defending cost us the 2nd goal. Thats his game in a nutshell - wingback or left midf he may be, full-back and defensive player he is not. Gave a great effort, but too little too late.

Balotelli, trip and misses did not happen.