Rodwell

[Grandad Rosler]

I thought Rodwell was solid today, he looked like he could distribute the ball, put in a tackle or two and looked like he will fit in well

Yes he made one mistake but thats the only thing he did wrong today IMO and ultimately it didn't cost us anything

Defensively he got no help whatsoever from Yaya so was left exposed as was Zaba with David Silva having an off day, (and not being the best at tracking back anyway).

All in all 3 points gained and lots of positives, if we had put any of our 4 sitters away we wouldn't have had to do it the hard way

[Blue2]

One of our better players today. One cock up, but apart from that had a good game.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

I also think he had a pretty good game. To me he looked a tad unused to dominating possession and got in yayas way a few times, but overall did pretty well.

A good sign of things to come and at 21 could be the long term replacement for Barry.

[xavi6]

Solid debut apart from the obvious fuck up for the goal. He looks comfortable on the ball and is a physical presence, for 21 he's a big lad and will only get stronger.

By the time he hits 24/25 we'll have a serious player on our hands, I just hope the boo boys give him the time he needs to develop.

[kinkylola]

had a good debut, very obvious the role he was being asked to play ... and I think one upside for him is that he will do the job asked of him. I could see a few times that he wanted to break out and spread the ball a bit more, and he did a bit in a very conservative fashion, but mostly gave the ball off the silva or yaya, which must have been what mancini wanted. Having players who will play the role you want, in the way you want, is imperative ... especially in mancini's system. We see that problem with AJ, who seems to not want/be able to adapt exactly how mancini wants. Granted, it might be a smaller change for rodwell to do what bobby asks, but it's still worth noting, in my opinion.

Yes he gave away the ball that lead to their 2nd goal ... but really, how much of that passage of play was his fault? He gave away the ball with a weak pass on the edge of their area. How did we fail to stop them between there and our goal line? That was a failing of the team, in my opinion. We played to their level, and when rodwell gave the ball away, more than an individual fuck up ... to me he was displaying exactly the mentality that we had fallen into in those 10 minutes leading up to that point. We were knocking it about lazily, almost as if we just expected a goal to come, and not taking Southhampton seriously. We got punished for it.

[s1ty m]

I thought he has OK in the first and fairly shite in the second. We can't judge him on one game, but I cannot see how anyone believes he was a better. Option than NDJ today. The defence was fucking awful and looked so exposed as well as far too deep. Nige provides excellent cover and this was missing. We got out of jail by sheer force of City (we have that these days!) but it was close. That said, talk of battering them, etc was always going to be daft talk. These newly promoted sides are a pain in the first few games, all bouncy and full of confidence.

All said, we created enough to have swamped them.

[daveh1962]

I thought he has OK in the first and fairly shite in the second. We can't judge him on one game, but I cannot see how anyone believes he was a better. Option than NDJ today. The defence was fucking awful and looked so exposed as well as far too deep. Nige provides excellent cover and this was missing. We got out of jail by sheer force of City (we have that these days!) but it was close. That said, talk of battering them, etc was always going to be daft talk. These newly promoted sides are a pain in the first few games, all bouncy and full of confidence.

All said, we created enough to have swamped them.

Do you not see a contradiction there. Battering them was daft talk but if we had taken our chances we would have swamped them............ not such daft talk then. All that was missing today was a bit of sharpness in front of goal which is not surprising considering it was the first game of the season and our leading score from last year was not on the pitch.

If Silva had scored his 2 clear opportunities, Clichy his and Dzeko before they had scored then it would have been a battering but we didnt but lets not get in a flap

Rodwell played cautiously which is understandable and so he just played 5/10 yard passes but he has only met these players and he will need to grow.

As for NDJ he doesnt want to sign the contract on the table De Rossi looks like an option so I think he will be gone

[Mase]

I just hope the boo boys give him the time he needs to develop.

He didn't get booed. In fact at the ground people were going on about how amazing he was.

[xavi6]

I just hope the boo boys give him the time he needs to develop.

He didn't get booed. In fact at the ground people were going on about how amazing he was.

I know he wasn't literally booed. 'Boo boys' is a term for people who tend to get on the back of players if they don't settle in right away, every club has some.

[Wooders]

I thought he had a reasonable debut but he was a bag of nerves and made a couple of silly mistakes, but other than that, I like what I saw & I am glad bobby gave him his debut - that said, in the 2nd half Southampton were outhugging us and it might have been a good idea to bring him off and get the lawnmower on to settle the side down a bit

[Mase]

I know he wasn't literally booed. 'Boo boys' is a term for people who tend to get on the back of players if they don't settle in right away, every club has some.

I know what boo boys are. I was there when Edghill got shit for years.
I don't know why you're using Rodwell and boo boys in the same sentence though? As I said, no one got on his back yesterday. Very far from it in fact.

[simon12]

I thought he had a reasonable debut but he was a bag of nerves and made a couple of silly mistakes, but other than that, I like what I saw & I am glad bobby gave him his debut - that said, in the 2nd half Southampton were outhugging us and it might have been a good idea to bring him off and get the lawnmower on to settle the side down a bit

I agree totally with this. Impressed me in the first half but would`ve subbed at around 60 mins and brought pit bull on.

[Ted Hughes]

I thought he did exactly what he's supposed to do & for the most part, did it quickly. He needs to be shown how our system works, but not so much as Yaya.

[dazby]

I know he wasn't literally booed. 'Boo boys' is a term for people who tend to get on the back of players if they don't settle in right away, every club has some.

I know what boo boys are. I was there when Edghill got shit for years.
I don't know why you're using Rodwell and boo boys in the same sentence though? As I said, no one got on his back yesterday. Very far from it in fact.

Did you leave early?

[Slim]

I know he wasn't literally booed. 'Boo boys' is a term for people who tend to get on the back of players if they don't settle in right away, every club has some.

I know what boo boys are. I was there when Edghill got shit for years.
I don't know why you're using Rodwell and boo boys in the same sentence though? As I said, no one got on his back yesterday. Very far from it in fact.

Is the strawman argument mate, highlight a point no-one made and then condone all the fictional people who hold that view. No-one could possibly disagree with it because no-one agreed with the original point. I think the crowd reaction and our reaction have shown we all know he needs time to acclimate, he did okay without anyone going overboard about it and was obviously has to hold his hand up for their second goal.

[sheblue]

he looked good in the first half for his first game, nigel should have been brought on for him in the second half when he faded

[john@staustell]

Impressed me in the 'Barry role'. Shame about that give-away, but didn't GazBaz do the same against Napoli or someone?

Definitely one in the eye for the 'he'll never get a game at City' fools.

[Alioune DVToure]

Leave Rodders alone. He's young and talented and today made a mistake that just happened to lead to a goal soon after.

He didn't do any better or worse than Nigel would have done imo.He will need a little time to settle,get used the way we play,the movements of the class players around him and what is expected of him from the manager.Not a problem.

Amen

[s1ty m]

I thought he has OK in the first and fairly shite in the second. We can't judge him on one game, but I cannot see how anyone believes he was a better. Option than NDJ today. The defence was fucking awful and looked so exposed as well as far too deep. Nige provides excellent cover and this was missing. We got out of jail by sheer force of City (we have that these days!) but it was close. That said, talk of battering them, etc was always going to be daft talk. These newly promoted sides are a pain in the first few games, all bouncy and full of confidence.

All said, we created enough to have swamped them.

Do you not see a contradiction there. Battering them was daft talk but if we had taken our chances we would have swamped them............ not such daft talk then. All that was missing today was a bit of sharpness in front of goal which is not surprising considering it was the first game of the season and our leading score from last year was not on the pitch.

If Silva had scored his 2 clear opportunities, Clichy his and Dzeko before they had scored then it would have been a battering but we didnt but lets not get in a flap

Rodwell played cautiously which is understandable and so he just played 5/10 yard passes but he has only met these players and he will need to grow.

As for NDJ he doesnt want to sign the contract on the table De Rossi looks like an option so I think he will be gone

No, I don't think I'm contradicting myself. I always think that playing the newly weds on opening day is a lottery. Much better to play them in December, say, when they've had a few leatherings, etc. As it turned out, City could have had a hatful and really should have. Expecting it though, that's a different matter. We're starting the great big engine up, probably at 70%. They played significantly beyond their limts, I reckon. I expected a win like everone else but I thought it might be dicey. What I really loved was that sudden going through the gears and just simply taking the game away from them. All the top sides to do it.

As for NDJ, I hope you're wrong and he stays. Sadly, for me, he appears to be going. Shame.

[Bluez]

Considering it was his first game in a totally new style of play with new team mates and few practice sessions he did alright. He may have give the ball away for the second but that doesn't explain how they managed be to 5 on 3 against us.

Not hugely excited yet, but he is not a Savic yet either.